Has anyone posted the character sheets from DDXP?

Saracenus said:

So, did anyone sit a table with one of the WotC designers or developers? I heard that Chris Perkins, Mike Mearls, and others were playing Ashes of Athas, Living Forgotten Realms, etc.

What kind of PCs did they bring to the table? How was it to play with them?

Thanks,

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Belatedly replying to this to say that if you've not read Vanir/Direflail's account of DDXP for Critical Hits then it's worth a read: DDXP 2011 Recap : Critical Hits and DDXP 2011 Recap Part Deux: THE EXCITING REMAINDER : Critical Hits as he discusses how it is to meet and play with various designers at various times.

Nullzone said:

Actually we were allowed to keep them, and talk about them; but we can't post pics of the actual sheets or relay specifics on powers/traits.

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What? Did you sign some kind of legal document or something? Because otherwise you can say whatever you'd like and give as much detail as you choose.

Nullzone said:

Actually we were allowed to keep them, and talk about them; but we can't post pics of the actual sheets or relay specifics on powers/traits.

Is there anything in particular you'd like to know about?

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I starting to wonder why this is the case...
Does WotC think that their rules so far are that bad that they don't want to show them to others???

(Or is it a test to get more people visiting DDXP? If this is the case, they should check how many of their DDI subscribers living to far away to join it, even when they do their little secret preview. For us, this policy is just annoying.)

the Jester said:

What? Did you sign some kind of legal document or something? Because otherwise you can say whatever you'd like and give as much detail as you choose.

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There was some consternation at a table by Michael Robles when someone started taking pictures, which they explained was for their blog; Greg Bilsland stopped him and said it was ok as long as they weren't taking pictures of the actual character sheets or posting anything on the blog verbatim such as the powers.

Take from that what you will.

Reminds me of when you were in grade 2, and you'd be drawing, and someone would come by, and you'd then hastily cover it up, "don't look at my drawing, it's really bad."

What do they have to hide?

Maybe the same reason why we aren't seeing previews these days - they know the community would just pick it apart and poop all over their design choices.

Either that or all the sheets were blank. It's the big secret for the upcoming material - blank pages. Black and grey, in the case of HoS. 4e is going freeform. Interpret the swirls of black & grey however you want!

Nullzone said:

There was some consternation at a table by Michael Robles when someone started taking pictures, which they explained was for their blog; Greg Bilsland stopped him and said it was ok as long as they weren't taking pictures of the actual character sheets or posting anything on the blog verbatim such as the powers.

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Yeah, well, he isn't the law. The stuff was given to you, and now you can do what you like with it.

Unless you signed some sort of binding agreement otherwise, that is.

We weren't given any restrictions on what we did with the character sheets when I was there... I actually got the impression they wanted people to share things around, talk about stuff. That usual DDXP hype machine, I mean.

The drow executioner I played didn't seem much different from the web one, so I don't have much to offer there myself. The Binder actually felt like a controller - no real striker damage package, but more multi-target and lots of forced movement. The Blackguard was a striker with defendery touches - he generated temp hp constantly, then burned temp hp for extra damage. The... whatever the dark warpriest was called... was like a selfish warpriest, getting benefits for himself (like temp when he healed, etc), or hindering enemies, rather than helping his allies directly as much.

keterys said:

We weren't given any restrictions on what we did with the character sheets when I was there... I actually got the impression they wanted people to share things around, talk about stuff. That usual DDXP hype machine, I mean.

...

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Great, that is what I hoped for! What sheets do you have (race/class (build))?

There is precedence for this at D&DXP. Last year before the release of Dark Sun they had a preview of it and the players were not allowed to take the character sheets with them and DMs were responsible for returning all the materials they were given when they were done.

I was told by one DM that the various copies had "fingerprints" in them to ID them if they were scanned in and released into the wild. If that were to happen to your copy, it would be a bad thing.

I am sure that some of the stuff that was being previewed was generated from material not locked in at the time of preparation (Heroes of Shadow is at the printer at the time of D&DXP but I will bet when the Pre-Gens were made it wasn't) and WotC has stated they don't want "beta" work reviewed and shared because it doesn't reflect the final product.

In essence you folks got the beta test experience even though the actual materials are done.

Now while I am not shocked that they controlled the character sheets, I am a bit mystified why they don't want people talking up their play experiences with the new classes and races. Word of mouth from folks outside the WotC and play test inner circle should be worth its weight in gold.

My guess there was some poor communication about what WotC wanted folks to talk about. Or, someone really did get a little too paranoid about the whole secrecy thing and they should have just not used the material in the first place.

In the age of the internet it is just silly to think that you can have that many folks play with your toys and then keep quiet. Sorry, but if you want something secret, keep it under wraps until it ships.

This is like pre-viewing a movie and then being told you can't talk about it. It runs counter to the whole point, you want buzz to move your product.

BTW, the whole they must be ashamed of their product meme is a bit ridiculous. If it was meant as satire, it fell flat. It came across as "WotC can't do anything right, so ergo, they must be hiding their incompetency."

There are plenty of reasons (not necessarily good ones) to keep things under wraps besides hiding bad workmanship.

My two coppers,

the Jester said:

Yeah, well, he isn't the law. The stuff was given to you, and now you can do what you like with it.

Unless you signed some sort of binding agreement otherwise, that is.

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Okay, but I also respect what they do and that they may have reasons for asking that. I'm not going to thumb my nose at WotC's own R&D team just because they haven't held me to a legally binding contract.

Edit: It's clear that there was certainly some level of miscommunication going on here since keterys wasn't told the same thing, but who's to say which way the wires were crossed? Did WotC not actually care if it was shared, or was it not spread to the other GMs that it should be handled carefully?

All I know is what I was told. I'm sorry if my desire to respect their wishes offends anyone, and I will certainly not judge anyone who may have heard differently or who makes other choices in the matter; but they are not me, and I am not them. Please don't hold one person to another's standard.