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Design Philosophy: Mark Rosewater
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<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 4991738" data-attributes="member: 3586"><p>For those that aren't acquainted with him, Mark Rosewater is the lead designer of Magic: the Gathering and the de-facto spokesman for the game. Every week, he writes an article on the design of Magic, but this week's article, "<a href="http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/64" target="_blank">Maro on Maro</a>" has some very interesting insights which I believe also apply to D&D.</p><p></p><p>In particular, you have this comment:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I feel that a lot of what Mark says there also applies to 4th edition... but there are drastic differences between the two situations. </p><p></p><p>Monte Cook raised the point when 3.5e was released that, because of the revision, DMs would lose system mastery. I wasn't concerned at the time, for I thought the loss due to 3.5e fairly insignificant, but the point does have relevance: A far more significant loss of system mastery has come from the changes from 2e->3e and 3e->4e. When the mathematics that underpins the system changes to that extent, you end up with a different game, and one that strips away any legacy of system mastery.</p><p></p><p>Does this mean that R&D should not have changed the underlying mathematics? My feeling is that it was justified - for both 3e and 4e. 3e because the old foundation needed to be relaid given how the expectations for the game had changed since the 1970s, and 4e because the major structural flaws in 3e had become apparent. (When those flaws begin to turn away potential DMs, then you have a problem).</p><p></p><p>However, any further changes? Each major significant change is going to have severe consequences on the player base. 4e has shown that. 3e could get away with it because the base of the game was over two decades old. 4e didn't have that luxury, and paid for it.</p><p></p><p>When 5e comes along, it will really be the crunch time for the D&D team. I believe that we'll see that stability will be far more important than complete renovation.</p><p></p><p>Cheers!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 4991738, member: 3586"] For those that aren't acquainted with him, Mark Rosewater is the lead designer of Magic: the Gathering and the de-facto spokesman for the game. Every week, he writes an article on the design of Magic, but this week's article, "[url=http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/64]Maro on Maro[/url]" has some very interesting insights which I believe also apply to D&D. In particular, you have this comment: I feel that a lot of what Mark says there also applies to 4th edition... but there are drastic differences between the two situations. Monte Cook raised the point when 3.5e was released that, because of the revision, DMs would lose system mastery. I wasn't concerned at the time, for I thought the loss due to 3.5e fairly insignificant, but the point does have relevance: A far more significant loss of system mastery has come from the changes from 2e->3e and 3e->4e. When the mathematics that underpins the system changes to that extent, you end up with a different game, and one that strips away any legacy of system mastery. Does this mean that R&D should not have changed the underlying mathematics? My feeling is that it was justified - for both 3e and 4e. 3e because the old foundation needed to be relaid given how the expectations for the game had changed since the 1970s, and 4e because the major structural flaws in 3e had become apparent. (When those flaws begin to turn away potential DMs, then you have a problem). However, any further changes? Each major significant change is going to have severe consequences on the player base. 4e has shown that. 3e could get away with it because the base of the game was over two decades old. 4e didn't have that luxury, and paid for it. When 5e comes along, it will really be the crunch time for the D&D team. I believe that we'll see that stability will be far more important than complete renovation. Cheers! [/QUOTE]
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