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Ryven wanted to say one last bit. He caught all the stuff I’m a bit too emotional to say, and is my chief co-conspirator, so definitely letting him in! -Quinn
As At-Will closes down in its current incarnation, I wanted to take a few moments to say my piece about the state of D&D, especially 4th edition.
I’m just basically done with D&D, at least for now. Quinn cited problems with the community in his sign-off post and while I sympathize with his experiences, that’s not the issue for me. My pivot point is more systemic. We explored combat goals with Paths to Victory. We blew open the doors on skill interpretation with Serious Skills. We expanded the rewards mechanic with Penniless but not Powerless and gave ideas for fine-tuning the individual personality of a character with Off The Grid and the many Theme articles. We turned skill challenges from awkward, forced-feeling constructs into epic battles in the Elemental Sea. In short, we exposed as much of the guts of the system as possible and exploited them to the fullest. Looking around at the ‘workshop’ as it were, I don’t have anything left to tinker with. It’s time to pack up the tools and go somewhere else.
In a way, that’s where 4E itself stands right now as well. 5E is clearly on the way, even if we have no timetable or solid info on it yet. Its arrival is inevitable and any new innovations in the game will begin there. If the Legends and Lore articles are to be trusted, the game may actually be taking some steps ‘backwards’ so to speak – whether that’s a good thing or not is very subjective and not worth detailed discussion at the moment given the lack of real information. We’ll see some new powers and feats, to be sure, but the design space of 4E is full.
I should also state here that I still enjoy playing 4E, and D&D in general. I’ve found over the last year of running a regular game, though, that it’s really not my style. I’m highly improvisational and not much for writing out long involved plots, which D&D requires to maintain narrative continuity. The designers left intentionally left the storytelling almost solely in the hands of DMs and while that’s a perfectly legitimate choice, I grow tired of it. I need a new space in which to get my gaming kicks – one better suited for me.
I want to thank everyone who commented on our articles, be those comments praise or constructive criticism; I hope you all will stick around to see the new stuff we have brewing behind the curtain. I want to thank Quinn, David, Jeff, Jared and all those who have wrote for this site for letting me play in your backyard. Lastly, thank you to WotC for writing the game.
It’s not you, D&D, it’s me. You understand, right?
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Ryven Cedrylle was introduced to 2nd edition D&D by his father at age 8 and has been hooked ever since. When not out somewhere with his nerd-loving wife, he spends an inordinate amount of time staring at small objects - primarily beakers, stars, books about religion and virtual gaming miniatures. Follow him on 
A thanks back for loads of interesting and insightful content!
Best luck on the next endeavor.
Thanks a lot for top-notch content. And yes, on that stage doing stuff for D&D4E is basically doing your own 5E. With blackjack & hookers
All the best to you all guys.
Funny enough, I just told my players the same thing. While I like 4E, the issues were becoming more glaring. You either play THEIR Dnd or you play some other game. There’s no middle way. Too much crunch so you no longer have any idea what’s out there, you cannot modify anything to your campaign because the only way your players are going to keep up with what’s out is with the character generator. Which cannot be modified.
I started working on my own using database dumps but the sheer scale of it made me pause. And then I realised why was I trying to rewrite everything. I could just start with my own system, that fit my campaign world and the way I wanted it to play out. So that’s what I’m doing (modified FATE system).
Ryven, one question — at one point, it was mentioned that you’d be collecting the Serious Skills series as a PDF. If that’s been completed, I’ve missed it. If it hasn’t, I’d like to get a copy if you ever do compile it.
Actually, one other question, since I can’t edit the comment above: is there a place where I can grab the Aberrant Rules audio files from 1-16? My feed only picked up from 17 forward.
Having played every version of D&D over the past 30 years, I have to say that 4e is dead because it (much like 3.x) was crushed under the weight of its own rules. My group and I have returned to 1e and the B/X editions to satisfy our gaming needs lately, as 4e no longer was doing it for us. That being said, I’d like to thank you and all the writers here who actually made 4e playable and fun for us during our time with the edition. Your articles on the skill challenges is what first brought me to your site and the caliber of the writing and material has kept me coming back. All I can say is Thank you.
Thanks, Ryven, for all your work on 4e! I enjoyed your segment the most on the Power Source ;] And the Serious Skills series in PDF would be worth $ as well.
As a D&D DM since ’79, I’ve loved every new edition, and only outgrew an edition when a new one appeared. :] For me, there’s no such thing as ‘too many options’ and having a full design space doesn’t scan… Do you mean no room for new game elements, or new rules systems?