D&D 4E Monte Cook on 4E

[Reynard]

I may be scooped -- I am not sure how old this is, but there was an interview over on Net Book o' Feats with Monte Cook and he makes the following statement regarding 4E:

As for the impact of 4.0, well, I don't know. We'll just have to see. Obviously, there's a lot of potential for success, but they face some very different challenges than we did with 3.0. The biggest difference is that there just wasn't a lot of 2.0 interest or support when 3.0 came along. Now there's still a lot of people who continue to enjoy 3.0 or 3.5, and they've got to convince them to switch. To put it another way, our challenge was to get disaffected people to come back to D&D, or start playing rpgs again, and there's is to get already (at least fairly) satisfied people to switch rules. That's a completely different approach.

The entire interview is here.

Discuss.

 

[Driddle]

I may be scooped -- I am not sure how old this is, but there was an interview over on Net Book o' Feats with Monte Cook and he makes the following statement regarding 4E:



The entire interview is here.

Discuss.

Yes, you are correct: The interview was at the link provided.
Does anyone disagree that it wasn't there?

 

[Plane Sailing]

An interesting little interview, with some interesting analysis. Although I agree that the biggest difference is that there wasn't much 2e support and interest when 3e came along, it glosses over the second biggest difference (which I would guess is actually closely related to the first one) which is the relative maturity of the web.

Compare the web today vs the web of 1999. The Wizards site was pretty limited and their initial forums were so poor that Erics original forums (big indented list of topics with their replies) looked fantastic in comparison.

So with 4e WotC face the dual issue of

a) current baseline (3.xe) is probably more satisfied with what they have than 2e was.

b) internet communities much larger, much more well established, which makes conversations (and disputes) larger and easier to have.

Cheers

 

[Reynard]

An interesting little interview, with some interesting analysis. Although I agree that the biggest difference is that there wasn't much 2e support and interest when 3e came along, it glosses over the second biggest difference (which I would guess is actually closely related to the first one) which is the relative maturity of the web.

Compare the web today vs the web of 1999. The Wizards site was pretty limited and their initial forums were so poor that Erics original forums (big indented list of topics with their replies) looked fantastic in comparison.

So with 4e WotC face the dual issue of

a) current baseline (3.xe) is probably more satisfied with what they have than 2e was.

b) internet communities much larger, much more well established, which makes conversations (and disputes) larger and easier to have.

Cheers

While I would agree that "a" is probably true, I am not sure "b" is *that* important. (After all, "internet opinions don't matter" comes up a lot as a counter-argument (or non-argument) around here.) It really only seems important because WotC hasn't started with their traditional advertising push yet. I am guessing (and I am no ad-man, so I could be way off base) that there's a three pronged ad-attack:

1)Convert the hardcore gamers (i.e. those that hand out on message boards/websites devoted to gaming).
2)Convert the typical gamers (i.e. those that go to Borders or AMazon to buy their books)
3)Get new gamers (???)

 

[Darklone]

Plane Sailing-Monte Cook 1:0

Well, not really, but I agree more with PS than with MC. Yet both are right.

 

[Irda Ranger]

The internet matters as a means of distribution, and for us news junkies to get our fix, but I don't think it's that important.

The main difference (IMO) is the existence of the OGL / D&D 3.5 SRD / True20. WotC doesn't control the market the way they did was 3E came out. WotC doesn't just have to convince players to switch, they need to convince players and developers to switch at the same time. Without players playing D&D 4, the independents will keep writing for 3.5. Without non-WotC products supporting 4E, the players may stick with 3.5 / OGL games. They have to come over together, or they may not come over at all.

 

[TerraDave]

One thing that has been discussed in other threads is that, on his homepage, Monty has noted how he is using various house rules--"more then 1 per day" options for spell casters, more hps at first level, feats at every level, spell level tied to charecter level...--that sounds like stuff we are hearing for 4th ed.

Could just be "great minds think alike", it could be these people all knowing and talking to each other. But his attitude towards 4thed is interesting in light of what he has said and is doing.

 

[Mistwell]

The internet matters as a means of distribution, and for us news junkies to get our fix, but I don't think it's that important.

The main difference (IMO) is the existence of the OGL / D&D 3.5 SRD / True20. WotC doesn't control the market the way they did was 3E came out. WotC doesn't just have to convince players to switch, they need to convince players and developers to switch at the same time. Without players playing D&D 4, the independents will keep writing for 3.5. Without non-WotC products supporting 4E, the players may stick with 3.5 / OGL games. They have to come over together, or they may not come over at all.

I think you overestimate the interest in non-WOTC products. Most players of this game really don't even bother to look at non-WOTC products.

 

[Patlin]

My reaction to 3.0 was "Why should I even consider going back to D&D, when I'm perfectly happy with my homebrew system?" I had never been sold on 2e. My friends convinced me to look it over, and I was eventually sold.

4e's job is easier in some ways and harder in others. Easier, because I am actively playing 3.5 and I am therefore very interested in what's coming for 4e. Harder, because I have high expectations of 4e, as opposed to the low expectations which got blown away by 3.0.

3.5 is a great game. Unless 4e is a substantially better game, it's going to dissapoint.

 

[DaveMage]

Good points all around.

I really wish we had more open information (sales figures, etc.) as this whole edition change unfolded.

I'd love to be able to compare the various editions both at launch and through the years.