Are You Still Playtesting?

[nerfherder]

I cant give them meaningful information when I dont know the underlying rules of creation in the game. I hate games that just give you the high level rules for play and then tell you to GO ! How can anyone give meaningful feedback when we dont know how the game is made on a low level? What are the thoughts behind the rules? If we see that we can understand the developers insight more than, " this is what we came up with while we were talking, here ya go." I know they have a design and development article every so often but honestly it just seems pandering to the public. Let's see the mathematical models behind this stuff. I ... I hope they have some mathematicians hired and are not doing this by the seat of their pants.

I recently created a zelda RPG which I attached an excel file to see the rate and percentages of successes in the system. I have seen no such document from the D&D game creators on this. I need to see this kind of crap to avoid stuff like the horrendous skill challenge system, and the fact that 4th edition went through no less than 3, THREE, iteration of DCs for skills.

Yeah, the playtest has me irritated.

I don't believe that knowledge of the development is required to give useful feedback in a playtest. A playtester doesn't need to know how the rules were created, just what they are. Similarly with software testing, the tester doesn't need to know the low level design, they need to know the functional requirements (i.e. what the software should do, not how it does it).

 

[Bloody Feather]

Good...so far

I have only played the Pelor priest and the wizard characters so I don't really have a comment for anything else. But I did enjoy playing 5e about as much as I could any other edition of DnD with any other pregen character in a manufactured campaign setting. The advantage/disadvantage system is nice, but I worry about healing in general, especially after hearing the speculations about removing healing spells. In general I like it, but I am ready to play it with a character I created in a campaign setting that I or someone else in my group created.

 

[Mercule]

Do you mean "overview"...? And if yes, why not just say that...?

Yes.

And... because that word didn't occur to me in my quick "clarification".

 

[El Mahdi]

Yes.

And... because that word didn't occur to me in my quick "clarification".

Sorry.

I didn't mean why didn't you say that, but why didn't Evenglare say that...if that's what Evenglare intended, as he/she hasn't responded back. I took a look at his/her profile. I find it hard to believe that someone with that background would have difficulty making themselves understood clearly...

 

[Piratecat]

Wow. I'd love to know what you're doing to keep things moving. We've found 5e to be much faster than 3e or 4e, but I don't think I could have fit half that into one of our 3 hour sessions.

And that was with Plane Sailing playing from England via FaceTime.

As I said, that first skeleton encounter was over quickly due to a cleric spell/ability I won't specifically name. Lightning bolt really helped in another fight (yay, lightning bolt is great again!) We only had 4 players and weren't using a tactical map. But even with that, with me making up the dungeon on the fly and pulling monsters off my iPad, it felt very speedy. Playtesting continues to give great data on rules interactions for us.

 

[jleewatts]

Not playtesting - Yawn!

Took a look at the material, yawned.

This just reminds me why I do not play D&D. There are just so many better game systems on the market. Why bother to play a clunkly old system that just kills the mood to roleplay?

Post edited by Admin to remove edition warring.

Roleplaying is about character conflict with: (1) the environment, (2) society, (3) interpersonal relationships and (4) inter-self conflict. D&D has far too many Role Gamers.

 

[Blackwarder]

blah blah blah....

Piratecat here. Please report problematic posts by using the triangular "!" button to the bottom left of every post, instead of calling troll. Thanks! -- Piratecat

 

[PinkRose]

My favorite posts are from people that have NO INTEREST in 5e and yet are in the 5e forum.

Anyway, yes we are loving the D&D Next playtest. We can't wait for character creation.
Just last night, we started running through the Isle of Dread using nothing but the playtest information and a little reskinning.
Awesome!

 

[Mercule]

(yay, lightning bolt is great again!)

Does it bounce?

We only had 4 players and weren't using a tactical map. But even with that, with me making up the dungeon on the fly and pulling monsters off my iPad, it felt very speedy.

More than anything, what I miss about AD&D was that the system made it easy for me to run a twelve hour (college) session with minimal prep time. If 5e brings that back, it's going to be good for me.

 

[Ichneumon]

What my group's doing now is not so much "playtesting" as "gaming with the current rules". They've taken to 5e and want to continue playing past the Caves of Chaos, so I've handed over the DMing reins. It'll be fun to see what the DM concocts, and the next playtest bundle can't come quick enough!

(Friendly elbow nudge to WotC devs)