D&D 5E (2014) Podcast on the current state of 5e

[SigmaOne]

Some people might find this interview with Mike Mearls on the current state of 5e interesting.

http://media.wizards.com/2015/podcasts/dnd/DnDPodcast_07_10_2015.mp3

Interesting discussion on errata vs. redesign, and discusses the ranger in more depth. Might see a redesign of Ranger in an upcoming UA (not near future). Mearls discusses creating the psionics class.

 

[Jester David]

They requested questions from twitter and the most asked was the OGL. Anything on that?

 

[pukunui]

On a semi-related note, Mearls just tweeted that he's working on a new sorcerous origin:

Me: I'll take Surprise Friday Work for $800

Trebeck: This will make @JeremyECrawford happy

Me: What is designing a new sorcerous origin?

 

[SigmaOne]

No, but there was a comment that there were a large number of questions on certain topics that they still cannot discuss for various reasons. They may have been referring to that, but I don't recall the specific wording of the comment, and I don't specifically recall licensing being called out.

 

[Jester David]

No, but there was a comment that there were a large number of questions on certain topics that they still cannot discuss for various reasons. They may have been referring to that, but I don't recall the specific wording of the comment, and I don't specifically recall licensing being called out.

Quite likely. Sigh.
If they can't even speak in generalities they've really moved back on progress from last year. The 5e OGL is this edition's "virtual tabletop", the vapourware phantom that was promised but might never materialize.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

No. OGL may come. But it will take a while and they explained why it is important.

 

[Nellisir]

The OGL is almost certainly tied up in the question of "what's the long-term plan for 5e", and I suspect that's in flux. At this point, my feeling is that the plan for 5e is a lot more fluid than we thought it was, and WotC is still feeling their way forward on it. They've put out the core 3 and a few adventures, and now they're regrouping and reassessing.

 

[Mistwell]

Quite likely. Sigh.
If they can't even speak in generalities they've really moved back on progress from last year. The 5e OGL is this edition's "virtual tabletop", the vapourware phantom that was promised but might never materialize.

Promised?

 

[Jester David]

Promised?

They didn't promise obvious, I was being descriptive in my language. You'll also notice an OGL is neither a ghost nor an abandoned computer program.

The fact is, it was one of the few things they gave rough dates for. First "end of the year" and then "first thing in the new year". And we had a lot of reports from 3PP who had been tapped for feedback on a potential OGL and WotC saying they wanted to expand the community again.
Now 2015 is half over and they're not only unwilling to give us a ballpark (season/quarter/year) but to even mention it. It's gone from "soon" to "that topic we can't discuss". That's worrisome.

 

[Mistwell]

They didn't promise obvious, I was being descriptive in my language. You'll also notice an OGL is neither a ghost nor an abandoned computer program.

The fact is, it was one of the few things they gave rough dates for. First "end of the year" and then "first thing in the new year". And we had a lot of reports from 3PP who had been tapped for feedback on a potential OGL and WotC saying they wanted to expand the community again.
Now 2015 is half over and they're not only unwilling to give us a ballpark (season/quarter/year) but to even mention it. It's gone from "soon" to "that topic we can't discuss". That's worrisome.

They told us why. They've decided to no longer announce things until the previously announced thing comes out. They want every announcement to be a marketing event rather than dividing marketing attention between multiple projects. Given that context, I don't see how it's worrisome that they're doing what they said they would do.