Mearls is the new manager of D&D

BryonD · May 17, 2010

There is a lot to compete with. I don't think "nightmare" is really a valueable word to this discussion.

I've been officially designated a "H4TER". 4E is fine. It is far from a nightmare. It just falls short of dream game status. The bar has been set very high.

There are a lot of great designers floating around. But, for me personally, there are two names that I consider the absolute cream of the crop. Mearls is one of those two names.

He will do a great job designing whatever he works on. But WotC will set the strategy. Like I said, I'm eager and open minded. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes. But I don't actually expect the marching orders to evolve.

Klaus · May 17, 2010

Piratecat said:
I've known Mearls for (holy crap!) something like 17 or 18 years, back when he was in college and we co-ran a Call of Cthulhu adventure together. His vision of what makes a really fun D&D game tends to run fairly closely with mine. While I doubt we'd agree on everything, it's hard for me to picture a "nightmare" version of the game under his watch.

(Not that this should reassure anyone whose gaming style differs from mine, of course. But I'm happy about his promotion, and trust him to keep to a vision of what makes gaming fun. If not, he's never going to live it down!)

I've known Mike for something like 8 years, since we did work together for Fiery Dragon. We talked a lot at GenCon in the few years I managed to attend, and he has a genuine love for this game and for this genre (being a fan of Leiber, Lovecraft, OD&D...).

Chainsaw · May 17, 2010

BryonD said:
The bar has been set very high.

Well, not to mention, at this point, there's no way WotC can make anything that will satisfy everyone - the game has developed several distinct and likely incompatible styles. For some, there's the new stuff. Others are perfectly happy using all the older material and all the new material that systems like OSRIC, S&W and LL have enabled. I think the best that fans of the old editions can hope for is that they're left to their own devices, that WotC doesn't decide to try to repossess or reverse what makes the clones possible.

BryonD · May 17, 2010

Chainsaw said:
Well, not to mention, at this point, there's no way WotC can make anything that will satisfy everyone

I'm not talking about "everyone". I think they can appeal to a significantly wider range than they do now.

Henry · May 17, 2010

MichaelSomething said:
I wonder if you'll still hold that opinion if Mearl's dream of D&D turns out to be your nightmare.

Yeah, I'm sure there are people who hate Stan Lee's work, too.

There have been many things that, on paper, sounded like bad ideas to me, but in practice turned out pretty damned good when I actually saw them. The Alternity game from TSR was one such -- I bought it, tried to get my head around it , couldn't, and dropped it for a whole year, until playing in a convention game demo of it that made it click for me; I ended up running two year-long campaigns of it afterwards.

Also, 4E initially hit me in the same way. I was convinced I wasn't going to like it. After I saw the finished product, however, it clicked for me in a way that 3E hadn't for several years, and in fact not since 1st edition AD&D had clicked for me in that way. Many of the things others have said 1st through 3rd had but 4 didn't, I've likewise determined 1st and 2nd had, but 3 DIDN'T. So, there've been plenty of things I've naysaid on paper, but not in actual practice.

SteveC · May 17, 2010

Chainsaw said:
Well, not to mention, at this point, there's no way WotC can make anything that will satisfy everyone - the game has developed several distinct and likely incompatible styles. For some, there's the new stuff. Others are perfectly happy using all the older material and all the new material that systems like OSRIC, S&W and LL have enabled. I think the best that fans of the old editions can hope for is that they're left to their own devices, that WotC doesn't decide to try to repossess or reverse what makes the clones possible.

I think this is an excellent point. With 4E (and 3x to a lesser extent) D&D changed to a degree where it couldn't go back and the same game it had been earlier. That's not a bad thing, necessarily, because people can and do play earlier editions all the time. The genie has gotten out of the bottle, however, and the game isn't going back to where it was before.

I have a lot of faith in Mike's design ability, and his love for the game is without question, so I wish him well in this new role. I do think, however that even though he loves OD&D, the game is not going back in that direction.

Oh, and apparently I must spread some more XP around before giving Mike another one, so I'll just say "bravo, sir!"

--Steve

BryonD · May 17, 2010

SteveC said:
I think this is an excellent point. With 4E (and 3x to a lesser extent) D&D changed to a degree where it couldn't go back and the same game it had been earlier. That's not a bad thing, necessarily, because people can and do play earlier editions all the time. The genie has gotten out of the bottle, however, and the game isn't going back to where it was before.

I'd like to disagree.
However, I find it very difficult... (Very Very

)

Dark Mistress · May 17, 2010

Congratulations Mike Mearls. I have to agree with a earlier poster. If you really want to generate some good will from current and past fans. Then I would say release PDF's of all the books in the DnD vaults at a reasonable price(reasonable price for PDF's for the going rate on the market). I think that would buy you and WotC a lot of good will from just about everyone.

Also good luck with your plans what ever they might be.

Haffrung Helleyes · May 17, 2010

Mearls and 4E

There was a time when I was quite upset at the direction 4E went.

But really, what do people like me have to complain about these days? There's a game out there called Pathfinder, that is pretty much exactly what 4E would be like if it _hadn't_ gone through a radical change. And most of the people who work on Pathfinder , just like Mike Mearls, did significant work on 3E. It's essentially like WoTC cloned itself so that it could better please all of us.

The two things I am still unhappy about with regards to Hasbro/WoTC these days are the PDFs and the GSL. And really, the GSL has become a whole lot less important to me, since I'm not a 4E gamer anyway. If anything, it probably gave Paizo a good kick in the pants in the right direction.

And I doubt that Mike's going to be in a position to change the GSL or the PDF policy -- I strongly suspect that both items were mandated from above, by people who aren't even gamers.

I _want_ the 4E gamers to have a great system. And considering that Mike basically designed 4E, I can only think that this promotion will be good for 4E and people who play it.

So, again, congratulations!

Ken

Blastin · May 17, 2010

I have been reading this and multiple other RPG sites for Years. I'm mostly a lurker (I was never one that felt the need to post something unless I felt it contributed more than just my opinion).
I've heard and read a lot of what Mr. Mearls has done in gaming over those years. All of it shows how much of a GAMER he is, how much he loves RPGs and this hobby in general. I don't think there is a better qualification than that for this position and why I feel that this is great news.

No pressure at all huh Mr. Mearls?