Mike Mearls, I am calling you out! (Legends & Lore 6/28)

[I'm A Banana]

So last night, I whip up a little blog entry beginning to break down the idea of "adventure based design" that I've posted about around here before. I begin at the most logical place: showing what an adventure based design would need, and showing where we are with the current state of the game.

I leave it overnight, then go to work, get back home, edit it a bit, and slap it up in the blog-o-sphere.

Well, I think mearls hacked into my computer...or possibly has been stalking me on ENWorld for two years.

In fact, it's not just this "D&D is about more than combat!" idea! It's like when I told him about scaling complexity, he's taken the idea and run with it!

And, given the last paragraph of today's article, I'm thinking he's gonna go onto talking about how combat mechanics are just another kind of conflict resolution, and about how a "roll a d20 and add modifiers, then subtract damage from a point pool" is not just limited to fighting! That it is a good mechanic all by itself and that it can be used for things like exploration and "roleplay" too! Just like I've said!

I know Mike Mearls has ruined everything, but I never thought he would ruin my mind like this! I feel so....violated!

Now, I suppose it's possible that this is an unconscious Clark Kent thing. That D&D Superhero "Mike Mearls" and struggling writer/designer/WILL ROLL DICE FOR FOOD sign holder KM are really the same person, only on different sides of the country, born years apart. It's true that we've never been seen in the same room at the same time. It might also be some New Galactica Gaius Baltar mind-Cylon thing where he has visions of me in sexy poses with almost no clothes guiding him to D&D's True Destiny.

But if the MRI scans turn out negative for schizophrenia, and also if I turn out not to be a sexy blonde, I think I am forced to assume that Mike Mearls, RPG Group Manager for D&D R&D, is a biter.

Because the only other alternative is that great minds think alike and that Mike Mearls has gone on to live a gamer's dream with his great mind while I struggle to dork out in poverty in my NYC apartment letting all this great design talent go to waste. And that's just not [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017922"]FAIR[/ame].

*sigh*. Anyway, I agree with his ideas and I'm glad he's at the helm.

Now to go re-edit my resume, submit it into the eternal sucking black void of potentially rewarding employment, and try not to cry too hard at the futility of existence.

 

[I'm A Banana]

[sblock]Oh, and yes, my tongue is firmly in my cheek, and this is really just a hilarious coincidence and me noting that I heartily approve of this particular instance of Legends & Lore. So, pre-emptively, lighten up. [/sblock]

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Kamikaze Midget is just a Mearls alt, isn't it?

We're watching you, Mearls!

 

[Crazy Jerome]

It's worse that you think. Time Travel was involved. I hope the coming paradox is not too traumatic.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Evil Twin.

But which one is evil?

 

[El Mahdi]

Kamikaze Midget is just a Mearls alt, isn't it?

We're watching you, Mearls!

Or is Mearls watching you...while you sleep!

 

[Nahat Anoj]

Evil Twin.

But which one is evil?

Which one has the goatee?

 

[wedgeski]

or is mearls watching you...while you sleep!

why must everyone wtach me sleep!?

 

[invokethehojo]

Did you ever see that movie Trust with Ryan Phillipe? Maybe you are just paranoid enough...

 

[delericho]

Quite simply, I don't agree with the categories, or rather, I think that one of them is overly-specific. Specifically, I don't agree with his "combat" category.

I think a better division would be:

Exploration

This includes the obvious wilderness/dungeon exploration, and the finding of traps, but also mysteries, and puzzles.

Here, I don't think the game is actually lacking much. Honestly, the most appropriate resolution is probably "the players declare what they're doing; the DM describes what they find." Sure, you'll need some mechanical support, to decide whether they actually find the trap/clue, survive the wilderness, or understand the symbolism in that painting they found (or whatever).

But I don't think it's appropriate to have a massive, rules-heavy resolution method here. By and large, these scenes aren't exciting in and of themselves, so any heavy rules would just drag the scene out. Let the players get on with their explorations, I say!

Roleplaying

This includes interactions with NPCs (and intelligent items!), diplomacy, and the like.

Again, I don't think the game is actually lacking much here. Once again, the players will largely drive the action, with the DM narrating the results. And, again, there is a need for some mechanics to determine success or failure, but again I don't think this wants the same level of detail as combat scenes.

After all, a lot of people find that the use of Skill Challenges cause roleplaying scenes to become stilted and unnatural, so how much worse would grafting on a "social combat" engine be?

Action Scenes

These include:

- Chases
- Combat, one-on-one (duels)
- Combat, skirmish (includes one-on-several)
- Combat, massed armies
- Combat, vehicular (ship-to-ship, Rohirrim vs Oliphaunts)
- Deathtraps (these were "Encounter Traps" in 3e)

I'm sure there are more.

The difference between these and the exploration/roleplaying events is that these tend to be (hopefully) exciting, fast-moving scenes with immediate life-or-death consequences. As such, it's entirely reasonable for the game to move to a much finer granularity of resolution here.

Downtime

Anything that typically happens between adventures. Notably, this would include item crafting, spell research, and shopping for gear. Oh, and levelling up.

I would argue that this should be as mechanic-free as possible. Either the character can perform the action, or not (no rolls, including for haggling). This would allow such things to be done very quickly and, in particular, between sessions, thus not taking up time at the table.