D&D 5E Dungeon World Co-Creator Adam Koebel & CRPG Designer Steve Lumpkin Create Some 5E Characters

[dd.stevenson]

Some pretty interesting discussion here about the design of 5E Basic's initial release document.

[video=youtube;vXLL5z17Tb0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXLL5z17Tb0[/video]

 

[mach1.9pants]

As a fan of D&D, DW and the OSR I was interested to see what they had to say. But not 2 hours worth interested LOL, let me know when they do a highlights channel

 

[dd.stevenson]

Open the video in a browser tab and listen while you do something else!

I find that most of my D&D related content consumption is accomplished by treating youtube/twitch as radio stations. I just don't have time most days to actively read a bunch of forums and blogs.

 

[PinkRose]

Just the opposite here.
I have 2 hours during the day to read forums, a post at a time, but I never have 2 hours together unless I'm with my wife.
Videos are not for me.

 

[SigmaOne]

This is a great listen. Very good to have on if you're doing something like painting minis (me) or balling a skein of yarn (my fiancée). However, it's pretty clear in some parts that these guys haven't been paying too much attention to the info that's been released. (For example, when asked which classes they expect to appear in the PHB, Adam (I think) said he expected Psionics to appear in the PHB because its so popular. I'm pretty sure it's been known for months that this isn't the case.)

 

[ccooke]

This is a great listen. Very good to have on if you're doing something like painting minis (me) or balling a skein of yarn (my fiancée). However, it's pretty clear in some parts that these guys haven't been paying too much attention to the info that's been released. (For example, when asked which classes they expect to appear in the PHB, Adam (I think) said he expected Psionics to appear in the PHB because its so popular. I'm pretty sure it's been known for months that this isn't the case.)

They also complain that Advantage/Disadvantage isn't explained before the Character Creation bit... when it is, on page 4.

It would probably have helped if they had at least read the PDF *up to* character creation first.

 

[GX.Sigma]

They also complain that Advantage/Disadvantage isn't explained before the Character Creation bit... when it is, on page 4.

It would probably have helped if they had at least read the PDF *up to* character creation first.

Yeah, Koebel seemed to have a lot of baseless criticisms. It seemed sort of passive-aggressive, actually. It bugged me so much I had to stop listening after 10 minutes.

And he designed a game with this character creation experience, so I was pretty reluctant to listen to it in the first place.

 

[ccooke]

Yeah, Koebel seemed to have a lot of baseless nitpicking. It seemed sort of passive-aggressive, actually. It's why I stopped listening after 10 minutes.

And he's a designer of a game with this character creation experience, so I was reluctant to listen to it in the first place.

They're actually pretty positive, and it's clear if you listen for a bit longer that what's basically going on is that they basically streamed this at the end of a work day, shortly after they'd first looked at the rules. Basically, it's a spur-of-the moment thing.

Woefully unprepared but basically very positive, and interesting to listen to in the end

(They have a couple of issues with accidentally muting themselves, but none for more than a minute or so (I think))

Edited to add: I must have spent so much time looking at the word "Basic" that I can no longer see how often I'm using it.

 

[SigmaOne]

Yeah, as [MENTION=6695890]ccooke[/MENTION] said, I think they were overall pretty positive. With a lot of the criticisms, I think, he acknowledged that WotC didn't really have a choice about. Certain aspects of the game are the way they are and basically have to stay that way to avoid open revolt. They were really quite excited about their characters by the time they got through Background, Ideals/Bonds/Flaws, and Personality Traits. If I recall, they indicated they were planning on streaming some play with the characters.

Honestly, it's nice to see people involved in the design of various games being so respectful and positive toward each other. Mearls always seems very much that way, and Koebel spoke highly of Mearls. You see so many people (I'm loathe to call them "fan boys") who decide one game is the right or better way to RP and try to look down on others. Honestly, Koebel's general coolness made me quite a bit more likely to try Dungeon World out.

 

[dd.stevenson]

Yeah, Koebel seemed to have a lot of baseless criticisms. It seemed sort of passive-aggressive, actually. It bugged me so much I had to stop listening after 10 minutes.

And he designed a game with this character creation experience, so I was pretty reluctant to listen to it in the first place.

I dunno. I'd take Zak's blog over most any indie game, most any day of the week. And I have a pretty negative view of the "rules matter" rpg design philosophy as it actually gets translated into practice.

But I still think you're being extremely uncharitable to Koebel--I don't see any evidence he isn't saying exactly what he thinks, or that any mistakes he makes aren't honest ones.

And they conclude with a pretty positive take on 5E's general direction.