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I think it was a thing McKinsey implemented to help cut costs by generating more turnover among older employees.

WotC is very unstable right now, at least from what I hear. There were people on Sigil who were there less than a year. They shut down a video game studio in Toronto even though they hired people on to it less than six months ago. Hasbro/WotC is having mini-layoffs every month to cut costs. I...

Just popping in to say I have had a very busy week, but am trying to keep up with the discussion and will reply when I finally have time.

The reaction to my thread is interesting, and I've enjoyed reading some of the commentary around it. It stems from my reading of the philosopher Bernard Suits and his definition of a game: "The voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles". It fascinates me, because at Gary Con I...

Yes. The person who said it clearly did not mean to and just let it slip, but we were all thinking it (or some variation).

Personal Anecdote about Working on D&D: If at any point in working on a new edition someone on the team is compelled by a presentation to say, "We're making New Coke, aren't we?" immediately scrap the project.

One other note - I don't add monster mods to attacks or damage. It's irritating that 5e forces accuracy AND damage up. I like being able to vary it, so I used a 4e-style approach where stats don't have a direct, mechanical influence on attack and damage numbers. The influence is more thematic...

I think that modern D&D is too non-swingy on the DM's side, or at least doesn't make enough use of high variability. Based on my own experiences of the past few years: Players like reliability. They have a thing they can do, and they do it. If a player wants a swingy character, they can opt...

I'm tackling this over on my Patreon! The key files are all free. First batch of stat blocks is available here: Mearls Patreon Monster Test As I've worked, I've found that a 4e style approach works best for getting monster stats into a good place. With stat blocks as written, I'd recommend...

To pull a random example of how I use AI: It's very useful to me as a search tool. I can ask it a question like, "Are sharks territorial?" and go from there. That's useful for concepting out a monster. The current AI models also have a deep understanding of D&D rules and content. I'm not sure...

The question for me is simple - What problem is it solving? WotC wasn't able to give a clear answer to that with the revised core rulebooks. That doesn't give me confidence that something that is much more complex will be easier for them to solve.

AI, by its nature, is a subscription-based model. With how the tech works right now, you can't offer it up as anything other than a subscription. Combine that with the staff cut backs they think it enables and it's every c suite executive's dream. The root challenge is that we play these games...

When I was there, we never shipped a loss leader but we could go for a lower profit margin if it made sense. With the 2014 starter set, we wanted to remove character creation to make it pick up and play. That also meant we could make a good case for aiming at a lower profit margin, since players...

For many tabletop games, the single most expensive component is the box! Mainly because it has to be durable enough to hold up in shipping and serve as storage for years after you buy the game.

That sounds high to me. Based on the Pathfinder boxed set, and some pricing I did a month ago on an unannounced Chaosium product, I think the price should be around $30. OTOH, if they're printing in the US it might end up around $50 especially if they don't have a ready source of dice. Depends...

I don't see any plastic components (the stand ups look like they have cardboard bases), so the price might be relatively low.

I think a good starter set is appealing to long-time players, because they are the ones most likely to buy it and run it for newbies. With that said, while I'm not crazy about either the cover art or the promo art they've shown off (the piece recreating the B2 cover), the components and...

I love the dungeon maps! This looks like a really clever way to approach a starter set.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm aiming for! I ran Shadowdark and OSE for my regular groups. While they love those games, they missed having robust characters with different combat options and special tricks they could use.