• The Challenge of High Level Play is examined briefly by Monte Cook in his weekly Legends and Lore article. I don’t want to call anyone out but this is a wide spread problem and not “only if you look at it a certain way” to quote Monte. Are the majority of the fans that wrong and Monte has the secret? Great talking points in this piece and make sure you take those polls. EN World fans are talking here.
  
  
• Jeremy Crawford gives insight into what went into Developing Heroes of the Elemental Chaos for Design & Development. I enjoyed seeing the thought that went into the book and which elements the designers chose to focus on. The EN World fans are talking about the new supplement here.
  
  
• Rulebook: Lords of Waterdeep provides you with the downloadable rules for the new board game. You can check out a couple of the Lord cards in the article as well. To let you get a look at this much of the game shows that WotC has confidence in the quality of their new game. I can’t wait to give it a try.
  
  
• Keith Baker focuses The Eye on Eberron on Baator in Dragon 408. This prison for rebellious immortals is written with any edition of D&D in mind and adds some higher level adventure ideas for your game. I found the section on using Baator in the world extremely useful for any campaign.
  
  
• Rule of Three by Rodney Thompson answers questions about adventures, the magazine content, and the future of rituals. The breakdown between spell and ritual in 4e is something that I think the designers of the next iteration need to keep in mind.
  
  
• Check out Broken NDA’s and Elaborate Trolls here at EN World by Morrus for the official word about the supposed leaks of the new playtest material. Trevor Kidd debunks one of these posts. I am glad that people are sticking to their NDA’s (myself included) and you shouldn’t buy in to what anybody who says they give their word and then goes back on it anonymously has to say.
  
  
• If you think you know your D&D then check out the +5 Crossword of Slaying Part 5 by Chris Perkins. Finishing one of these without resorting to resources to find the answer is now going on my bucket list.
  
  
• With the re-design of the website, From Wardukes to Websites by Bart Carroll for D&D Alumni shows you that it isn’t the first time the site has changed. I had totally forgotten about some of these changes to the site over the years. So far I am pleased with the redesign.
  
  
• The Circus Is In Town from Chris Perkins in The Dungeon Master Experience delves into what a party and campaign can really look like after the players select from a thousand bizarre options for their characters. We have to keep in mind that heroes aren’t always like everybody else and options are great if they are balanced. The editor in chief and the fans are taking about race in D&D here.
  
  
• If you need some D&D swag then check out this list of where you can purchase D&D Merchandise thanks to Bart Carroll. I have always thought that the Gale Force Nine stuff was pretty amazing. I saw the Dungeon Master’s Keep at Wizards of the Coast and was blown away. This is a great list to shop from so beware.
  
  
• Greg Bilsland delivers Blog: D&D Playtest News to catch you up on where we stand with the playtest and what we can expect next for the new edition. The rest of the blogs from the Wizards of the Coast crew that we can expect this week are also listed for your convenience.
  
  
• Cover art has finally appeared for Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster’s Forgotten Realms. Check it out on Amazon here . I hope this is a glimpse of the style the artwork will take moving forward.

The new page features all the latest and greatest on D&D Next including articles from Wizards, discussions about the future of the game, and seminar transcripts from the recent D&D Experience event. It will also soon house features like Live Chats, a calendar of upcoming events and, once playtesting begins, materials will be available for download through this page. (Please note that this new site does not signify the start of playtesting – we will, of course, let you know once that begins!)

Looking over your post, this doesn't sound like our playtest or playtest material, so I'm not exactly sure what you're referencing. If you would like to talk to me about the playtest material, you can PM me on this site or the Wizards site.

For everyone reading and commenting though, I do want to stop the misinformation right now - this doesn't look at all like our playtest process or material.

Trevor Kidd
Community Manager
Wizards of the Coast

• Monte Cook talks more in Uniting the Editions, Pt. 3 about what we can expect to see and not see. The poll is a great idea and pretty inclusive. See what the readers at EN World are saying about this article and poll here.
  
  
• Greg Bilsland and Matt James collaborated on the Attack of the Tyrantclaw, the new Lair Assault beginning March 1st. Perhaps starting at sixth level will increase your odds of survival but I wouldn’t count on it. Make sure to check out Matt’s work on the upcoming Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook in May.
  
  
• Claudio Pozas delivers a megapiece called Elemental Patrons and Palaces. This is a great backdrop piece to be worked into your existing campaign or a brand new one. I like the continuous delivery of sample quests as these save me time when I am looking at an article and asking myself, "Ok now how do I use this in my game?" You have to be excited about all the support the Players Option: Heroes of Elemental Chaos is receiving.
  
  
• Ed Greenwood delivers a Sembian fortune in The Enchanted Painting of Manyshield Hall for the Eye on the Realms series. I am enjoying the attention that the Realms is receiving and this article tells the story of a wonderful plot hook to paint a great adventure.
  
  
• Lords of Chaos: Olhydra and Yan-C-Bin by Michael E. Shea delivers threats at sea or in the air. There are some tough minions of the elemental princes for your players to battle, or the elemental princes themselves. We can't have enough epic tier threats.
  
  
• Designing Chaos: Class and Themes by Robert J. Schwalb discusses how to use the many options from the Player’s Options: Heroes of the Elemental Chaos in your games. There is even some talk of Dark Sun and Al-Qadim and how this books works in those campaigns. I really want to see what they have done with the sorcerer. There is still a lot of time for 4E campaigns.
  
  If you missed Monte Cook's Blog: Wizards Like to Roll Dice Too then you need to stop what you are doing and go read it. I think spell casters are such a part of the game that you have to give them the time they deserve. Just keep it balanced. Other gamers are talking about this here.
  
  
• Rodney Thompson answers your questions about the game in Rule of Three. This week it is, you guessed it, three questions about the next edition of D&D. It is good to see so many fans asking great questions about their hobby. I think the next edition and the community are on the right track.
  
  
• I sat down to read Bookwyrms: Everlasting Characters by Nina Hess expecting a pretty standard review. What was delivered was a much meatier guest piece by Richard Lee Byers, author of The Masked Witches, Brotherhood of the Griffon Book IV. This look at what goes into a book is easily applied to a campaign.
  
  
• Robert J. Schwalb also gives some of his insight in Blog: Fighter A-Go-Go. As is pretty standard he also puts a poll so that your opinion on the topic can be heard. What does fighter mean to you? I think 4th Edition changed the way a lot of gamers looked at the iconic class. Not so second fiddle anymore. Here is a thread where everybody is talking about it.
  
  
• Chris Perkins shows you his skills at Map Fu in The Dungeon Master Experience. Chris goes over the pros and cons of using wet erase maps at your table. A couple of clever suggestions for putting together good maps are also provided. I really like the one about how to draw realistic looking rubble.
  
  
• Blog: A Close Call with Negative Hit Points by Bruce Cordell quickly examines the negative hit point mechanic in the previous editions. The focus then turns to what would work best for the players in a new edition. One opinion is definitely the front runner on the poll. That is why house rules were/are invented.

Lisa Stevens (CEO of Paizo Publishing) has posted the

"2012 marks Paizo’s 10th anniversary. I plan to do monthly blogs for the rest of the year that relive the highlights (and some of the lowlights) from our first ten years of business, and then I’ll take a look into the future as the year comes to a close. There will be side anecdotes and hopefully more than a few embarrassing pictures. And at the end of it all, I hope our readers will have a better sense of where Paizo has been—and where we’re going!"

It's somewhat tangential to RPG news, but has relevancy in that Magic: The Gathering is D&D publisher WotC's largest brand by far - and thus speaks to WotC's importance as a division of Hasbro, their RPG lines notwithstanding. ICv2 is

Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner told analysts in the company’s conference call this week that Magic: The Gathering is “…the largest game brand in the U.S.” (apparently excluding videogames from the comparison). And for the first time, a Hasbro exec has characterized the size of the brand, implying that it’s $200 million or more. In praising the Wizards of the Coast management team Goldner noted that the team had taken Magic, “which totaled less than $100 million in revenues in 2008 and was on the decline, to where it is today,… more than double the size it was just three years ago.”

• Elemental Rewards, a Heroes of Elemental Chaos Excerpt by Bart Carroll unleashes a few new magical options for your players. Take a look at a new suit of armor, weapon, and two other magical rewards. The Gift of Chaos is the sort of magical reward that I prefer to use in my games because it never requires being traded out at a later level and the randomness of the item keeps things interesting.
  
  
• Jeff LaSala talks epic tales in History Check: Corellon and Gruumsh. This level of detail is an excellent read and the plot hooks are spot on. This is the second installment in the History Check series and so far I have not been disappointed.
  
  
• Monte Cook elaborates further on the new edition in Uniting the Editions, Part 2 for Legends and Lore. I agree with Monte when it comes to the feel of the new edition having an OD&D feel with some excellent twists. The poll responses from last week are surprising. The fans here at EN World are letting their opinions be heard here.
  
  
• Bart Carroll shows you what is to be expected soon in February: In the Works. Details of a new column we can look forward to reading as well as some upcoming products and DDNext are included.
  
  
• A new theme, the Sentinel Marshall by Jeff LaSala allows your players to become more like the long arm of the law (even if they are halflings). It was a relief to see that the starting feature benefit wasn’t only a situational benefit and the Marshal’s Interdiction power is an intriguing mechanic.
  
  
• Warrens of the Stone Giant Thanes by Christopher Perkins is part two of a four part series although you can always play the 14-16th level adventure as a stand-alone. I loved Against the Giants when I was a kid and this adventure series has me more excited than any other adventures I have seen from Wizards of the Coast for 4th Edition. The gamers are talking about the adventure here.
  
  
• Dating In D&D: No One Parties Alone by Jared von Hindman is an amusing look at affairs of the heart and the obligations, complications, and rewards. With Valentine's Day on the horizon it is a perfect topic to introduce a little reality to your fantasy game.
  
  
• The Dungeon Master Experience by Chris Perkins examines that Shiny New Thing, and how it kills campaigns prematurely. This is very common and I as a DM have been guilty of this sort of behavior and perhaps some of these tips will help us all to avoid abrupt endings to campaigns.
  
  
• Joining the Party by Tracy Hurley looks Beyond Maps and Minis. She discusses briefly using props, sounds, and 3-D terrain in your game. She also collects some links of other blogs and resources to use in your game and draw inspiration from.
  
  
• The +5 Crossword of Slaying –Part 4 by Chris Perkins give you something to occupy your mind and see if you are in fact a sage with D&D as a major area of study. Sages don’t use Google.
  
  
• Rule of Three by Rodney Thompson is the one regular article that I absolutely can’t wait to read every week. The in-depth answers that Rodney gives on subjects such as the influence of skills and powers in the new edition, as well as where the miniature game is right now, and where it is going are excellent. Read over the last few weeks again and you will see what I mean.
  
  
• Christopher Perkins talks Forgotten Realms in his Editioral:FR’eak. I believe I told you the day the big news broke that the Forgotten Realms would be the supported world out of the gate when we broke the news here at EN World. Seems to me like Wizards of the Coast is getting started early and I am glad.