A small handful of new 5E designers' quotes: Design Goals, Healers, Art, OGL

[Morrus]

I've added the following quotes to the D&D 5E Info page. As I add more information to that page, I'll periodically summarize the additions here in the news to help you keep track.

• "I'm the lead designer of a project that will likely evolve into a new iteration of the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset. It's meant to be a set of rules that unites all the previous editions, and the players of those editions. It's a big project, and we plan on involving all comers to playtest and voice their opinions, because really, what's the point of designing a game no one wants to play? And who knows better what D&D players want than, well, D&D players. " - Monte Cook.
• "I don't think 'requiring someone to be a healer' is a sacred cow, but having healers in the game is. I wouldn't want to see D&D do away with healing, but I don't think there's anything keeping us from exploring a version of D&D where players can simply play anything they want, ignoring concepts like role and function when putting together their party." - Rodney Thompson.
• "So if you are a diehard BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia enthusiast or have embraced 4th edition, loved 2nd edition, 3rd edition, or never moved on from 1st edition, we’re creating this game for you. Imagine a game where you can play the version of D&D you love best. And then imagine everyone plays at the same table, in the same adventure." - Robert Schwalb.
• The Future of Dungeons & Dragons by D&D's Senior Art Director, Jon Schindehette (who will also be writing some articles for DDI "to talk about the creative process involved with the creation of D&D, and the art and artists of Dungeons & Dragons" starting in February).
• Teos Abadia was another one present at WotC for the early playtest, and his thoughts are here. (Thanks to Shawn).
• "And although of course no one can possibly speak with actual authority of the future on this topic, I can assure you that the OGL issues that plagued 4th Edition's release are lessons that did not go unheeded." - Bruce Cordell. (Thanks to Daniel for forwarding me that).

Please feel free to email with your scoops!

 

[bhandelman]

"And although of course no one can possibly speak with actual authority of the future on this topic, I can assure you that the OGL issues that plagued 4th Edition's release are lessons that did not go unheeded." - Bruce Cordell. (Thanks to Daniel for forwarding me that).

This is something I find very interesting. As much as I enjoyed the OGL on the customer end, I would find it hard to argue with the idea that their main competitor exists solely because of the OGL. I like that Pathfinder is around, competition is always a good thing and D&D needed it, but from the WotC perspective having such a large competitor is probably not something they were happy about; the idea that when an edition change occurs people may switch to another companies product. Very interesting. Either way I guess we benefit.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

[*]"I don't think 'requiring someone to be a healer' is a sacred cow, but having healers in the game is. I wouldn't want to see D&D do away with healing, but I don't think there's anything keeping us from exploring a version of D&D where players can simply play anything they want, ignoring concepts like role and function when putting together their party." - Rodney Thompson.

I was blathering on about this very subject elsewhere. I love this philosophy.

 

[Ormazd]

[*]"So if you are a diehard BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia enthusiast or have embraced 4th edition, loved 2nd edition, 3rd edition, or never moved on from 1st edition, we’re creating this game for you. Imagine a game where you can play the version of D&D you love best. And then imagine everyone plays at the same table, in the same adventure." - Robert Schwalb.

This is fascinating to me. Like using xBox games in a 360, the idea of being able to use the piles of old books on my shelves is extremely intriguing. I have to wonder, though, how literal Rob is being here.

O

 

[TrippyHippy]

Could they possibly promote the idea of supporting all previous editions by releasing their PDFs for public consumption?

 

[The_Baldman]

Wish I had time to put all my thoughts into something readable like Teos did. I'm always afraid of saying something I'm not supposed to (those who say knowing things is cool have never had to know something really cool they cannot talk about).

 

[Echohawk]

Could they possibly promote the idea of supporting all previous editions by releasing their PDFs for public consumption?

We know from a Gencon slip that WotC already has (or at the very least had) plans to make the Eberron back-catalog available electronically (possibly via DDI). Give this week's news, I'd be extremely surprised if there isn't a more general strategy to make older edition material available again.

 

[delericho]

"So if you are a diehard BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia enthusiast or have embraced 4th edition, loved 2nd edition, 3rd edition, or never moved on from 1st edition, we’re creating this game for you. Imagine a game where you can play the version of D&D you love best. And then imagine everyone plays at the same table, in the same adventure." - Robert Schwalb.

I don't see how this can be possible, without loading a whole lot of work onto the shoulders of the DM. Unless '5e' is actually some sort of Universal Translator app for D&D.

But even then... the design assumptions of different editions are so different, I don't think merely translating will work. How do you square up 4e's heavy grid reliance with a story-oriented 2nd Edition player who hates the notion of using a grid, for instance?

I really like the concept of what they're trying to do. But I really don't see how it is possible.

 

[zoggynog]

I really like the concept of what they're trying to do. But I really don't see how it is possible.

This.

There are going to have to be some tough decisions made about the direction of D&D.

To me the crux of the issue all comes down to Lawful vs Chaotic players.

There are some D&D players (Lawful) who love the structure of pen and paper RPGs.

They want rules for everything. They want no metagaming. They want fairness.

These are the folks that love Grid play, skill challenges, balanced classes/races, in-depth rules for charging, grappling, sliding, flying, etc. They want the feel of a chess game on steroids, where their clever build ideas give them a numerical edge.

Then there are the others (Chaotic) who feel all of this bogs down the game. How can you get into the story of the game, when every three seconds you are having to refer to one of fifteen books for how something proceeds?

These are the folks that love grid-less battle with easy to remember base rules, vancian magic, DM's "winging" it, and lack of balance when it makes since story-wise. They want to feel as if they are actor's in a play being written on the fly.

Sadly, I DM for a group of buddies where I have extremists on both sides. Someone's not going to be happy. Should be fun to see how this all pans out.

 

[vagabundo]

I don't see how this can be possible, without loading a whole lot of work onto the shoulders of the DM. Unless '5e' is actually some sort of Universal Translator app for D&D.

But even then... the design assumptions of different editions are so different, I don't think merely translating will work. How do you square up 4e's heavy grid reliance with a story-oriented 2nd Edition player who hates the notion of using a grid, for instance?

I really like the concept of what they're trying to do. But I really don't see how it is possible.

What I really think they are saying is that all these playstyles will be available "out of the box" and that there is an opt-in for complexity - maybe in character creation somewhere.

Ultimately the DM will have to decide where certain sub-systems come in to play, when to place the grid down or when to just just imagination.

I'm personally excited as this is how I prefer to run my games just winging minor combats and encounters and then using the grid for the Boss/Big Bosses.

I'm also hoping that the default basic character creation is dead simple and that it could be added too later. So roll up a new wizard real quick and then before next session fill out some more of the details if desired, but the basic character is perfectly usable in the game as is.