overgeeked
Open-World Sandbox
Mike Mearls seems to be on an interview tour lately. Today the video of his interview with Ben from Questing Beast dropped. Really not a fan of all the clickbait titles and thumbnails YouTubers I like are using lately.
D&D General Mike Mearls sits down with Ben from Questing Beast
- Thread starter overgeeked
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dave2008
Legend
Well mike is probably trying to drum up support for projects he is working on (like his riff on 5e)Sheesh, feels like more interviews than the post OGL debacle apology tour from that other guy!
Ruin Explorer
Legend
His riff on 5E is kind of neat, I have to admit.
He even got my key "demand" in lol (as if I can make "demands") which is that spells can always fail! You have to roll! That alone would I think do wonders for D&D.
Also I weirdly liked the default races, which is very rare for me.
TheAlkaizer
Game Designer
Around 15:00, Ben brings up something interesting that I thought about often.
For context, I started with 3E, played a ton of 4E, life forced me to focus on other things and I got back with 5E in 2016 before splitting into the OSR and indie RPGs around 2020.
Around 2014, I was in the middle of a long break of RPGs. Yet, with the announcement of D&D Next I was reading news and keeping up with what was happening. I remember vividly tons of old-school players saying that D&D was finally going back to it's root after the high-abstraction of 4E and the high simulationism of 3E. It was my first contact with a huge crowd that still played older editions (2E, 1E, B/X, etc). I definitely remember what Ben describes, this so called call to victory by the old school players.
And now, a decade later, 5E is being torn apart from what seems to be a similar or adjacent crowd as being the antithesis of what an Old School game is. I don't know why it has became cool to naughty word on 5E. I do not like Wizards as a company and I'm done creatively with 5E, I've exhausted that design space. But it's clear to me that it's a well designed game that open the gates to so many new players.
Am I crazy? Is it anecdotal or others remember this shift too?
For context, I started with 3E, played a ton of 4E, life forced me to focus on other things and I got back with 5E in 2016 before splitting into the OSR and indie RPGs around 2020.
Around 2014, I was in the middle of a long break of RPGs. Yet, with the announcement of D&D Next I was reading news and keeping up with what was happening. I remember vividly tons of old-school players saying that D&D was finally going back to it's root after the high-abstraction of 4E and the high simulationism of 3E. It was my first contact with a huge crowd that still played older editions (2E, 1E, B/X, etc). I definitely remember what Ben describes, this so called call to victory by the old school players.
And now, a decade later, 5E is being torn apart from what seems to be a similar or adjacent crowd as being the antithesis of what an Old School game is. I don't know why it has became cool to naughty word on 5E. I do not like Wizards as a company and I'm done creatively with 5E, I've exhausted that design space. But it's clear to me that it's a well designed game that open the gates to so many new players.
Am I crazy? Is it anecdotal or others remember this shift too?
dave2008
Legend
OK, I have read some of his blog, but haven't joined the patreon yet. Is this information in his patreon? I don't remember these details from his blog posts (but I am a bit out of date).
Ruin Explorer
Legend
It was on the free bit of his Patreon, he linked to it on BlueSky I think, but I imagine its still there.
User51
Explorer
You can download a PDF of Odyssey. I did a couple of days ago.
dave2008
Legend
Thanks! I lot of what I have heard him say mirrors what I have had on a low simmer for my 5e-ish D&D draft. So I didn't want to recreate the wheel if he has already figure out some of the issues I want to address.
He's designing it on his Patreon. I am enjoying watching the process, and I agree with most of his design decisions so far. (not all).
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