D&D Next Playtest

As I agreed to Wizards NDA I cannot give specifics regarding the most recent D&D Next playtest notes - but an NDA doesn't cover my "feelings" about what I've seen so far.

So, without "letting the Cat out of the Bag" here goes -

All in all, I've been left feeling quite optimistic.

So far I am pretty impressed with what I see. Everyone who knows me is aware I wasn't the biggest fan of 3.X in the world - and even though it's SIMILAR in places, but also a lot more in depth and less arbitrary that 3.X was.

I was also really quite impressed at how little of 4E is present within this playtest "sample" - and the whole feel of the way it's presented is very much like a "Classic" Fantasy Roleplaying Game.

There are advantages and disadvantages to everything I've read so far (including one would imagine character generation - though there are only pre-created character examples) but I've tried to focus on the best aspects of what I have read so far.

Although I am still not 100% convinced, it was quite a pleasant surprise!