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Why would TSR's business practices be relevant? Or any other RPG for that matter? D&D has been published by WotC for 15 years now. The current release schedule is anomalous by comparison to what the relevant company has done with the relevant property in the past. ... well, except for how WotC...

I think a campaign is story with a beginning, middle, and end defined by a high-level plot arc (e.g., "save world from X") and ideally also character-arcs for the main protagonists, the PCs.

It's frustrating to see PDFs of products from older editions brought up in a discussion of the 5E release schedule.

I feel you Hussar. But rather than rebooting the setting, how about just publishing a comprehensive campaign guide written for DMs new to the Realms. I am in no way new to the Realms but I haven't been paying attention for a while. I bought Elminster's Guide, the hardback release not so long...

I'm not moving goal posts, you're just catching up. My original phrase was "the conceits of Tactics-style video games." Don't blame me for having to reiterate a point for your benefit. Your point about 3E is kind of hard to follow. What you've posted (as opposed to what you may or may not have...

Using mat + minis was indeed the default assumption of 4E ... just like using the board is the default assumption of Monopoly. I guess people could just memorize where all the properties are in Monopoly. If they can't, does that make them idiots? In all seriousness, relative position in 4E is...

Neonchameleon: I have no idea what freewheeling 4E is or could be ... 4E in my experience is anything but freewheeling. It is very locked to the grid and combat takes up a lot of time, irrespective of whether your campaigns frequently or rarely feature combat encounters. shidaku: You sort of...

My impression is WotC doesn't care very much about D&D as a RPG. The 5E core books are very strong IMO but ... are they just a place holder for a licensing-focused approach to the property? "Okay, we have these books in print, let's sell some licenses ... now back to Magic." I can imagine that...

LOL who are you arguing with? First 4E monster design out of nowhere and now Keep on the Shadowfell, equally out of nowhere. It seems like you're assuming I'm here to rag on 4E. Nope. I enjoyed the hours of complex tactical choice that characterizes a 4E combat encounter. In addition to RPGs, I...

If you insist on playing 5E like 4E ... then yes, it is simpler to use 4E. Sure, no argument there. But again, that's totally missing the point. 5E is not 4E. It is not about, or at least does not have to be about, grid-bound tactical movement combos. And if that's what a group is looking for...

I have no idea why you are talking about monster creation rules given the subject is encounter design. But here's how simple 5E encounter design is: Pick some monsters. I expect that could fit on a business card. YMMV. The reason why you don't require any formula whatsoever to design an...

I totally disagree about both points. On the first one, I don't think you quite cotton what I'm getting at -- which boils down to NOT using published modules as railroads. That in turn means all the published encounters may or may not ever occur. The carefully sequenced events are out the...

I don't know if modules really save time. IME, a module is just a springboard for a session seeing as how no DM's plan survives contact with the PCs. Not to say that dishing out a module's content strictly by the numbers is badwrongfun but it's hardly an exercise in what remains the unique...