AMA with Monte Cook (Numenera, D&D, Monte Cook Games, Malhavoc Press)

[Monte At Home]

Dear Mister Cook, I cannot even begin to thank you enough for all the fun you provided me with the 3.0 Book of Vile Darkness, the many disciples, and thralls Prc just gave unlimited pleasure, especially the disciple of Dispater back when it got out.

I would like know if you will be working on a future 5e version of the said book, as well as 5e version of Planescape,Darksun, F-R, and of course Ravenloft ?

Thanks for your time,

A fan from Québec,

M.Cyr

Thanks. I'm glad you liked it. It was a fun tool for DMs. I will not be working on any 5e products, however.

 

[Monte At Home]

Okay, straight to what really puzzled me on the thoughts of a top pro designer;

What do you think of the so-called "Linear Fighters Quadratic Wizards" problem, that has been ravaging the Internet for at most around 4 decades?

It's a complex issue, but ultimately not as big an issue in my mind as in those of some players. It reminds me of the early days of 3E, right here on these very boards, as we saw individual threads claiming that each and every class (well, maybe not the bard) was overpowered. We knew we'd done something right at that time, because there was no one class that everyone was gravitating toward. The truth is, classes are more fundamental archetypes than they are just a series of stats and bonuses. Someone who wants to play a fighter because of what a fighter is, is going to have fun being that character, and is going to be able to do the kinds of things it feels like a fighter should do. (If that isn't the case, there's something wrong.) The same with a wizard. The fact that you can't perfectly equate turning the ground to mud with cutting down three bugbears in a single swing of an axe is actually a strength of the game. It's when you do try to equate them that you lose flavor. If you're having fun playing your character and doing the kinds of things you want to be able to do, and I'm doing the same with my character, who cares about the rest?

That doesn't mean throw balance out the window, of course. A good designer will be able take those "uncomparables" and hopefully compare them enough to make it feel right. Sadly--particularly at the high end--one mistake really throws a wrench into things. What all of this means is, and I know that a lot of people will disagree with me vehemently, game balance is an art, and has more to do with emotion and fun, and not an exact science, having to do with only mechanics.

 

[Monte At Home]

Hey There Sir,

Why don't we see a lot of evil driven campaigns? Is it really because people like being the hero or goodie-two-shoes?

My current group is going to start book 2 of way of the wicked in a month and I can tell you, it will be sad when all of them are done. I don't think any of us have had this much fun with D&D/Path.

Well, the roots of D&D are far less in heroics than they are in more mercenary-like behavior, and I know some people play evil campaigns (I've certainly done it), but most people find that non-evil campaigns are probably more easily sustained long-term. You've got to get everyone on board and in the spirit of things, and some players aren't going to want to do that and should never be forced to. I suppose you can say that you dodge a lot of potential issues and problems by assuming the PCs are--more or less--the good guys.

 

[Monte At Home]

Hi Monte!

Is the Earth from Numenera about the same size as the Earth from now?

Somebody made a 3D map on the google+ forums and remarked the Earth from Numenera was considerably larger.

Maybe we goofed a bit with the supercontinent. But literally reshaping the globe would not have been impossible (or even overly challenging) for the prior worlds, so any number of changes could have been made to explain any discrepancies.

 

[Monte At Home]

In your Veins of the Earth campaign, just what was Vlondril's plan to take down the entire Drow race?


- Kent

Hey Kent! How's it going?

If memory serves, this all played into how I'd taken the G- and D- module series and turned them on their heads. The giants were manipulating the drow to rise up in the Underdark and foment trouble. All of that made Lolth vulnerable, and I think Vlondril ultimately wanted to take out Lolth.

Probably with the help of the Old Ones. I think she was a secret (?) cultist.

But it's been a while.

 

[Monte At Home]

Do you have the rights to do Cypher System versions of Malhavoc products, such as Ptolus and the setting from Arcana Unleashed? If so, do you plan to do them?

Yes, I own all those properties, but currently do not have plans to covert them. Lots of plans for new stuff, though!

 

[Monte At Home]

Hiya!

My Q: What are the chances of you doing a 5e version of Arcana Unearthed? I really like the classes (and races) and their feel. They all have a sort of "serious fantasy" vibe to them, whereas the standard D&D classes (any edition) have a much more "Saturday morning cartoon" type of vibe to them. I guess I sort of see AU as the "adult version" of the D&D classes. I'd love to see the classes in particular done up fully (not just archtypes)...preferably without resorting to using Feats to accomplish; much rather have the focus on hard-coded class abilities that 'feats'.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

Chances are vanishingly small. I'm really glad you enjoyed AU, though. I loved working on that and it's very dear to my heart.

 

[Monte At Home]

Hello Mr Cook.

I have an expansive custom D&D 3.5e campaign setting that I think has serious potential to become a published product. What would be involved in trying to get such a book approved without getting the pants sued off of me?

I'm very serious about this, as the setting document even now is nearly 200 pages long and I haven't even finished hammering out half of the fluff material yet!

What makes this setting different is that it puts D&D 3.5e 3000 years in the future with space travel, nanotechnology, cyberspace, alien cultures, and even guns making appearances. All D&D 3.5e content is inherently compatible with the setting. It uses a lot of variants from the SRD material, and modifies them to interconnect and be far more fair (such as by rewriting the Spell Points system to be completely unambiguous, balanced, and most-of-all extensible). The setting references a lot of material from various official D&D 3.5e products but doesn't copy from them wholesale (or at least not without changing them as a setting-specific rule so much that they become almost unrecognizable).

There are also a myriad of new variants that change the nature of how the game is played and run. For example, it insists that stories done in this setting have to be run on very short timetables (akin to an action movie) once the players are comfortable with the game, and then adds new variants that support that kind of play style. It also states that everyone growing up in this setting has learned that "caster archetypes" are extremely dangerous (much like someone carrying around a loaded assault rifle in public) and should be feared and dealt with first in a fight. I've also introduced variants that are backwards-compatible with standard D&D 3.5e to "fix" some of the flaws that really irked me as a game designer, such as my "Item Rarity" system which prevents players from going on "shopping sprees", or my "Real Alignments" variant which makes alignment be about motives instead of acts.

While I personally would love your direct assistance in making this setting a published book, I understand that you're very busy and probably won't ever have that kind of time. Is there anyone that you know that you'd want to put me in contact with because they might be interested in assisting me? Please PM me if you'd need to give me information that's private or doesn't fit an AMA format.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to your reply. Please let me know if you'd like me to send you my contact information or my LinkedIn profile (I'm a professional game designer).

If it's 3.5 compatible, you can publish it all yourself by using the Open Gaming License without much problem. If you're worried about the legalities of it, though, chatting with a lawyer who knows about licensing and copyright for an hour is worth whatever his or her hourly rate is.

I don't personally know a lot of companies still doing a lot of that style of OGL content today (I personally am not) that isn't actually Pathfinder compatible, but actually it sounds like that wouldn't be a hard switch for you.

Good luck!

 

[Larcher]

Nice talking to you at Gencon, and here in Brazil. Really some good mechanics in the Cypher rulebook.

MMG is doing a lot of rulebooks, a great deal of settings. Any plans on big adventures?

And is there a plan for more settings for Cypher, like Medieval Fantasy or Horror game?

 

[Knightfall]

Hi Monte,

A quick question about the Cypher System. Do you think you'll ever do a 'lite' version of the system? Would that even be possible with how the system is currently designed?

I will admit to not following ever part of the system's development, so if such a product is already in the planning stage or exists somewhere where I haven't seen it, then forgive my ignorance.

Cheers!