Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Mike Mearls: A Paladin, Ranger, and Wizard With Arcane Tradition Walk Into A Tavern
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Iosue" data-source="post: 7648940" data-attributes="member: 6680772"><p>Frankly, I don't think any edition's designers really understood what its players enjoyed about that edition. Often, that enjoyment seems to be an emergent phenomenon, not entirely intended by the designers. OD&D, for example: Gygax/Arenson design a fantasy skirmish wargame, and people start acting out Lord of the Rings. People say to Gygax, "We want rules for X, and Y, and Z!" So he creates AD&D, chock-a-block with rules, and people start ruthlessly cutting through them, keeping the ones they like, and ignoring the rest; an ad hoc modularity. With 3e the designers set out to design a game with greater freedom of character creation, and next thing they know people are mass producing Cure Light Wounds wands and druids are creating bear armies.</p><p> </p><p>I suspect that a lot of the fiction-first and scene-framing aspects of 4e you and Manbearcat have mentioned were not really on the minds of the designers when they built 4e. I think their intention was to create some rules that created balance in combat, and ease of DM prep, and Skill Challenges thrown in as a way to create non-combat XP situations. I think the constant re-iterations of Skill Challenges indicate that not even the designers had a clear idea of how to use them. But the players took what they were given and created the best kind of game they could make from them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Iosue, post: 7648940, member: 6680772"] Frankly, I don't think any edition's designers really understood what its players enjoyed about that edition. Often, that enjoyment seems to be an emergent phenomenon, not entirely intended by the designers. OD&D, for example: Gygax/Arenson design a fantasy skirmish wargame, and people start acting out Lord of the Rings. People say to Gygax, "We want rules for X, and Y, and Z!" So he creates AD&D, chock-a-block with rules, and people start ruthlessly cutting through them, keeping the ones they like, and ignoring the rest; an ad hoc modularity. With 3e the designers set out to design a game with greater freedom of character creation, and next thing they know people are mass producing Cure Light Wounds wands and druids are creating bear armies. I suspect that a lot of the fiction-first and scene-framing aspects of 4e you and Manbearcat have mentioned were not really on the minds of the designers when they built 4e. I think their intention was to create some rules that created balance in combat, and ease of DM prep, and Skill Challenges thrown in as a way to create non-combat XP situations. I think the constant re-iterations of Skill Challenges indicate that not even the designers had a clear idea of how to use them. But the players took what they were given and created the best kind of game they could make from them. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Mike Mearls: A Paladin, Ranger, and Wizard With Arcane Tradition Walk Into A Tavern
Top