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But 4E is slightly different, in that the emphasis both in the pre-release marketing and the end product itself was very heavily on 'we are going to fix the math'. That's the eminent design goal, I'd say. It's certainly very mechanis oriented edition. I could also throw in Wolfgang Baur's remark...

Ehm, frankly, no. After three years of 4E where the design crew (or what's left of it) has consistently failed to fix the game's major flaws - not to mention that the initial release fell a long way short from all the design goals we were promised in the preview booklets - I don't think the...

This, a hundred times this. So I wanted to check up on the latest "What's So bad about 4th Edition?" discussion (here), and it's a train wreck. I have no idea on the actual progression of the debate because RC removed all of his posts. It's precisely to prevent such things that Paizo doesn't...

Some of Essentials was unqualifiedly bad, as the unworkable magic item 'rarity system' they released: it was even more half baked than the release of skill challenges in 2008 in that the numbers weren't just off - they didn't deliver useful information. But the real beef with Essentials (some...

Exactly. As Rob Schwalb put it a couple of months ago:

Well, Gygax is on record for really really admiring Vance's work (and who wouldn't?). For instance, there's the anagram homage in Vecna. But Gygax is also on record for saying that he introduced memorization by way of balancing spells vis a vis non-magic users (source: interview in the DVD's...

You forgot the Elephant in the room: Cordell wrote the 4E Dark Sun adventure Marauders of the x Sea. I quote from an Amazon review, to show that Cordell doesn't care any longer - he has reached rock bottom.

I'm glad that in this day and age a company can promptly react to online customer feedback. Of course, for WotC 'promptly' means five years. Edit. So yes, the news are great, but Cordell's article strikes me like a Gary Jackson strip straight out of Knights of the Dinner Table. He goes into...

Not to side track the conversation, but before you submit things from the 4E DMG Wyatt copied from the earlier Dungeon Mastering for Dummies (written by Baker and Slavicsek for D&D v.3.5), I'd give priority to things Wyatt specifically wrote for 4E. Wilderness exploration itself is delegated to...

Fascinating. I think one prediction can be safely made about 5E: whatever it is, whenever it's out, its primary design goal will to be recognisably D&D. To as many people as possible. 4E went the other way. The 4E design team too probed how far they could go in making a good game without going...

A new direction would be much welcome, but I think it's more likely taht Chris Perkins takes up that shoe. They're downsizing, not expanding/getting in fresh blood.

Looks like a good occasion to share one of my all time favourite blog entries (authored by Jeff Rients), on the topic "How to Awesome Up your Players". Excerpt:

Just for the record - I've much less of a problem with monsters getting updated than with player material. If I run one version of a level 12 vampire lurker this week and another one in the session next week, no one is going to bat an eye - it's not much of a difference than the players facing...

Reading this thread reminds me why I don't like the "Legend & Lore" articles from Mearls that much. On the one hand, I'm really glad that WotC has initiated a column which at least somewhat gives off the vibe that they care about customer input. On the other, I get no real sense that the input...

Quick question - what is Mike Mearls doing these days? Do any of you seriously think that writing these half dignified forum posts on DDI exhausts his work output right now? And what, for that matter, is the rest of the creative R&D 'full salary' staff at WotC D&D doing right now? Slavicsek...

Just for reference, here's a list of all the elements that were errated in the books up to July 2010, so before the waves of errata due to Essentials (I haven't seen an updated index, but it would be considerably larger). The list for PHB 1 and Adventurer's Vault are particularly impressive...

This. Every DM advice book published by WotC in the last ten years (DMGs 1 and 2 for 3.5 and 4E, DMing for Dummies 3.5 and 4E) severely advises against the DM changing house rules mid way through the campaign. Bizarrely, WotC have no problem to do just that on a monthly basis. The CB software...

Edition war is something... ...that first reared its ugly head in mid 2007, gained steadily in momentum in 2008, caused Enworld to nearly shut down in 2009, died a slow death in early 2010, only to be re-ignited as 'Essentials hatred'. But that too is on its way out. Let's hope WotC is fast at...

Haha! Ah, hold on, you were serious. Well, Gorgoroth is spot on. Life's the best teacher for life, and the moment someone treats everything in it analogous to heroine I'm inclined to wonder how much of life they've really taken in. Seems they've been rather busy keeping life at arm's length...

Another voice for Core Rulebook (which contains both PHB and DMG) and Bestiary. I would seriously advise you to invest in the Campaign Setting ("Inner Sea World Guide") before buying more rules hardcovers. If there's one major reason to play Pathfinder, it's the setting. Think of it this way...