Public D&D Playtests To Begin On May 24th

trancejeremy · Apr 26, 2012

GX.Sigma said:
Correlation does not imply causation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Good thing that wasn't a meme in Newton's day, or he never would have figured out the Laws of Gravitation when the apple fell on his head.

Crazy Jerome · Apr 26, 2012

Looking forward to the playtest. I hope the tea leave reading and astroturfing by the community is set aside by then.

Halivar · Apr 26, 2012

I loved the work Monte did in the 3.x era, but I must admit that every word he spoke in regards to 5E so far has sunk my heart just a little bit further. I'm hoping the design pendulum will swing just a little bit away from the "let's just have a 3.x do-over because everything about 4E sucks" vibe that I was getting (whether real or not).

Daztur · Apr 26, 2012

Halivar said:
I loved the work Monte did in the 3.x era, but I must admit that every word he spoke in regards to 5E so far has sunk my heart just a little bit further. I'm hoping the design pendulum will swing just a little bit away from the "let's just have a 3.x do-over because everything about 4E sucks" vibe that I was getting (whether real or not).

Exactly, let's have a BD&D do-over because everything about 4E sucks.

I kid, I kid

Seriously though, I've already scheduled a session to DM it and am looking forward to having something concrete to discuss instead of grasping at straws.

Halivar · Apr 26, 2012

Daztur said:
Exactly, let's have a BD&D do-over because everything about 4E sucks.

You port some of my favorite 3.x/4E mechanics over to RC, and let's you and me sit down and have a chat LOL.

Kzach · Apr 26, 2012

So, the Mayans were right, 2012 IS the End of Days.

Sunseeker · Apr 26, 2012

BobTheNob said:
So is this public as in snippets are released on Web, or public as in we are holding an (invitational?) event and you will get to see some if you turn up? Cause living in Australia doesnt afford one many opportunity to attend such events.

Same question really. "Public" as in we get an alpha document in our hands to doof around with at home, or "public" as in "if you make it to this highly popular and already sold-out event"? There's a pretty radical difference. But to be fair, either way it goes, "public" probably means "no NDA", which means one way or the other, we'll get to see the documents.

The Shadow · Apr 26, 2012

trancejeremy said:
Good thing that wasn't a meme in Newton's day, or he never would have figured out the Laws of Gravitation when the apple fell on his head.

...What? It's not a meme, it's a statistical fact.

If two trends are correlated, there are four basic possibilities: The first causes the second, the second causes the first, they are both caused by some third thing, or it's a complete fluke.

Correlation really does not imply causation. Your bringing Newton up is nothing to the purpose. Even granting the apple story (which is apocryphal), Newton didn't move from correlation to causation. It's not like it was big news that things fall toward the center of the earth. His key insight was that the orbit of the moon was itself explicable as falling.

Getting back on topic, I am greatly relieved to hear that the playtest will actually occur, and soon. I'm sorry to hear about Monte leaving, but I honestly don't much care which designers are involved as long as they turn out a great game.

Dice4Hire · Apr 26, 2012

Ill be playtesting here:

5ENext : 5ENext

Mercurius · Apr 26, 2012

Tom Servo said:
I feel like I'm being taken for a fool. Announcing the playtest date in the same breath as responding to Cook's departure? Never mind that horrible thing over there, look at this sparkly thingie! And we all go "Ooooooo."

Horrible news horribly dealt with by WotC. It reminds me of all the reasons I stopped supporting that company years ago. Ugh. I'll keep an eye on 5th edition, but my enthusiasm is greatly reduced.

I am not saying that WotC is handling this well, or has handled other issues well in the past--the haven't, at least in the past--but it amazes me how no matter what WotC does, people will quickly jump to the conclusion that they're handling X Issue "horribly." Come on, what are they supposed to do? What can they do? I haven't read the 12-page thread, but it sounds like we don't know exactly why Monte is leaving--whether it is an OGL or design thing, or even personal (maybe he doesn't like Bruce Cordell's shoes).

Obviously Wotc, at least in the Bill Slaviscek era, has a history of bad PR. No, horrible PR. But my point is that it is a bit hasty (that is, knee-jerk) to say that announcing the 5E playtest right after Monte quits as "horribly dealt with" by WotC.

What do you think they should do/have done?