Monte Cook back at wizards

[CasvalRemDeikun]

I think the one major thing being overlooked here is being good people and congratulating Monte on his return to Wizards of the Coast. Seriously, can't we just wish him well without all the doomsaying and prognosticating? I swear, the D&D community as a whole is downright toxic nowadays. We can be better than this.

I, personally, don't know an incredible much about his post-WotC stuff, but other people have said some good things. Ptolus was a friggin' monstrously huge book of awesome, apparently.

But honestly, good luck Monte!

 

[Crazy Jerome]

I've had Cook's stuff from some of his early Iron Crown days right up until Ptolus. It has all been relatively high quality, adjusted for the environment he was working in. (At ICE, they practically weren't paying anyone for awhile, and support was gone.)

If you read between the lines in some of the 3E commentary, and early Malhovic diaries, it is pretty clear that the 3E design team tried to steer a very narrow course between innovation and tradition. Sometimes, the compromises weren't the best ones. It is implicit in the Malhovic products that the lesson learned from this was: When you want tradition, go full bore for tradition. When you want innovation, likewise. The compromises seldom work in the details. The compromises sometimes work great when element A is traditional and element B is innovative. The trick is picking which is which.

So with what Merric already noted about support, I see nothing but good concerning a both challenged and supported Cook on the job.

 

[Felon]

Color me mildly dreadful. Besides the fact that 3.5 and all of its attendant problems were his baby, he also apparently thought punishing noobs was good game design. He phrases it as awarding system mastery, admits now it was a mistake, but it really is just noob punishment, and that strikes me as something kind of and dumb to deliberately keep in a system. It also misses the point of the way Magic was designed...If this is what consists of the mans resume, yeah, call me anxious if he's doing more than writing a weekly article.

You're basically doing that thing folks on the internet do: seize upon a minor comment, go way overboard dissecting its meaning, and ignore the relevance of timeliness. That's from, what, 2002? 2003 maybe?

So, in summary: old artcile, and admitted it wasn't all that great of an idea at the time. Unclench.

 

[Vael]

I'm not all that knowledgeable of Monte Cook's works, so until I see 4e products with his name on it, I'm going to wait and see what this means. In the meantime, I like that he's taking over the Legends and Lore column, as his ideas have already surfaced there, and I'd like to see how he presents them.

As for 5e ... I don't doubt it's coming, but I don't think it's gone much beyond the doodling on a paper napkin phase. There's still a lot of life left in 4e.

 

[SSquirrel]

As you can tell from reading my sig, I have one of the original copies of Ptolus and thought it was a fantastic book. I was a very big of all the Malhavoc releases. Things like Beyond Countless Doorways (Planescape reunion book) and Arcana Unearthed/Evolved were both great. If you look at later developments in 3.5 you see things lifted from his work at Malhavoc. Arcana Unearthed/Evolved introduced racial levels, which were added during 3.5 and some of the 4E Paragon Paths like Beastblooded Minotaur are certainly a "more Minotaur than your average Minotaur" kind of deal.

AU/AE had an increased emphasis on the implement people were using and they mattered. A Magister was nothing w/o his staff, Swordmages cast their spells thru their bladed weapons, etc. What did WotC do with 4th Ed? Weapons and implements really matter. AU also increased casting flexibility greatly from it's d20 origins, which isn't something that was really kept in 4E, but classes certainly stand out from each other and do a good job of covering all the various tropes. AU stood out b/c it had Humans, but nothing else that was familiar. New races, new classes. Taking big chances. That spirit was certainly in 4E.

As far as nothing publicly replacing his work w/dungeonaday.com, hasn't he had a couple of different non-fiction novels he's spent the last few years working on, besides his work w/Paizo regarding Pathfinder? He's had various irons in the fire. I'm curious what his relationship and involvement w/Paizo is at this point if he's officially working for WotC again.

Monte, big gratis on being back at WotC and I hope this means only good things for you. I also hope this means that next year's D&D setting is Arcana Evolved I think it could translate very well in many ways.

PS If there is a new edition you are working on, remember that feats and talents need to become separate design space.

 

[Kzach]

I think the one major thing being overlooked here is being good people and congratulating Monte on his return to Wizards of the Coast. Seriously, can't we just wish him well without all the doomsaying and prognosticating? I swear, the D&D community as a whole is downright toxic nowadays. We can be better than this.

Hahahaahahahahaahahahahahahaa.

The gaming community has been like this ever since I can remember. Hell, you should see some of the old Greyhawk mailing list and newsgroup conversations. Talk about vitriol! The only thing that is different is that there are more ways in which we can come together and argue with each other

 

[Gargoyle]

I believe that Monte Cook is the one ingredient that was missing from making the 4e soup the tastiest version of D&D. His influence would have probably tempered the changes that Mearls brought into the system and created a 4e that fixed the problems of 3.5e without throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

I look forward to whatever they come up with, though I'm still not convinced it will be 5e any time soon.

 

[Kzach]

His influence would have probably tempered the changes that Mearls brought into the system and created a 4e that fixed the problems of 3.5e without throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

It was an ugly baby anyway.

 

[Sonny]

Couple that with the massive success of Pathfinder, and I really can't see Paizo coming back onboard, unless a huge chunk of their following switch back to 5e. And I can't see that happening either - many of the Pathfinder fans are so fanatical that 5e could be wrapped in pure gold and they still wouldn't buy!

Just about the only way WotC could get Paizo to support 5e would be to buy out the company and then put all those guys in charge of R&D going forward.

There's a portion of the pathfinder audience who are fanatical, but it's not some overwhelming percentage. Their last two supplements (Ultimate Combat and Ultimate Magic) have gotten meh reviews by many Pathfinder players.

Hell, one of the biggest boosts Pathfinder got was Monte Cook's support. And now that will be gone once his name is on a competing product. Many people play pathfinder because they tried 4e and didn't like it. They're not some brainwashed legion dedicated to Paizo's cause.

Even losing only 25 percent of Paizo's audience to 5e would be serious. After all, even Paizo knows one day they would have to release a 2e of Pathfinder and risk splitting their pathfinder audience even more.

Maybe you're right though. And it's just my wishing that both Paizo and WoTC will be using the same edition again, allowing Eric Mona to freelance on Greyhawk material.

 

[Umbran]

It would be pretty easy to anger the PF/3e crowd and the 4e fans.

You know, if 3e/PF fans get upset by whatever comes out in the 4e branch - get angry over developments in a game they no longer play - well, then I think they can be dismissed as being silly.

Really. It'd be like getting up in arms because writers kill off a character in a TV show you don't like and don't watch. I mean, that's just plain silly. No other word for it.