At Least 4 Months For Conversion Documents

Those waiting for official conversion documents from earlier editions of D&D to 5th edition are going to have to wait a bit longer. WotC's Mike Mearls says that "the person who needs to do the final approvals on them is serving on a jury that will take another 4 or so months. Sorry!" So it looks like we're talking July/August at the earliest. Thanks to Adrian for the scoop.

 

[Umbran]

It's called "a joke," and sometimes jokes poke fun at people and how they behave.

And sometimes (actually, often) in flat text, that which is intended as a joke falls very, very flat - maybe you just rolled a 2 on your humor skill check.

Remember that the audience doesn't get the nuance of tone or body language involved in telling simple jokes, and that without this, the verbiage of a joke looks pretty much the same as an insult.

 

[lyle.spade]

It would have to be a d20.

WHAT???!!

Why not a d30??

That's cruel of you.

 

[lyle.spade]

The older I get, the more convinced I become that the best jokes to tell in mixed company, and among strangers, are self-deprecating.

Wicht: I'm going to steal that line - it's a good one.

 

[Kramodlog]

I'm starting from the premise that the only "communication" anyone should expect to get from WotC are release announcements.

A fan asked Mearls a question about the conversion documents and he gave a straight answer. If you were in charge of that communication - you had to answer the question knowing that the conversion documents would be delayed at least a few months - how would you have handled it?

Me? I'm no communication professional. Like Mearls, I do something else for a living. I do know that he tends to over promise* and under deliver.

Mearls announced a conversion document for autumn, fully knowing he is under staff. Heck, the RoT and the DMG's release had to be pushed back. He created expectations that could not be reasonably met. That is not good communications. The same can be said about the OGL and the PDFs. What is happening to those? It is sort of a joke really. The Adventurer's Handbook is another communication blunder we talked about a lot.

People forgot a bit about the conversion docs, but boom, by answering the tweet he revived those expectations. He didn't give a release date. He just gave an excuse for why they are late (jury duty in autumn too, Mike?). He didn't say they were going to be released in four months. All he said is that the trial will last maybe another four months. Other "jury duties" could happen and the conversion docs could once again be put on the back burner. At some point it could just be cancelled all together. People will be disappointed.

A better way to handle communications is to stick to what he actually knows will be made. Since I think even the APs can be cancelled, it is indeed probably wise to not talk about the second one that is supposed to come out this year.

Normally I would say that it is a good thing to announce up coming products to create a buzz. I said on these boards that WotC should be more open about their release schedule. It is good marketing. But WotC can't deliver products (free or not) like it use too and may cancel any of them for unknown reasons. Maybe a total radio license is better for WotC right now. No chance of over promising and under delivering again. Set low expectations and try to impress people by meeting those expectations. That is where WotC is right now when it comes to communications.


*I use the term promise loosely. I'm not saying anything was actually promised, but the saying illustrates WotC problem.

 

[Umbran]

Mearls announced a conversion document for autumn, fully knowing he is under staff. Heck, the RoT and the DMG's release had to be pushed back. He created expectations that could not be reasonably met. That is not good communications.

Well, do we know what looked reasonable to him?

Here we run into a major question - if Mearls *knew* the dates were bad, and communicated them anyway, then it is poor communications. If he thought they were good, but they were bad, that is poor planning (or not, sometimes things to pear-shaped even with the best of plans), not poor communications. Can you state for sure what he thought about the dates? Are you an internet mind reader?

He didn't give a release date.

But didn't you just tell us that in giving dates before, it was poor communications?

So, when he give dates it is poor. He doesn't give dates, he's also in trouble? See previous statements about being damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't.

 

[Kramodlog]

But didn't you just tell us that in giving dates before, it was poor communications?

Not exactly. More like a lack of detail because I didn't think nitpicking was going to happen. My main point, that you ignored, is that WotC over promise and under delivers. With the small crew they have, maybe they shouldn't talk about up coming stuff like PDFs, the OGL and conversion docs until those are a done deal. When a product is done and you know it is going to be released, giving a date isn't a bad thing. Like January the 20th he gave the dates for PotA. At that point the AP was going at the printers or the copies were in warehouses*. The PotA could still not be released, but then we are talking of force majeur. Mearls shouldn't be blamed for a fire in a warehouse.

Um... Well did he call firefighters or did he tweet that there was a fire?


*I assume, of course.

 

[mlund]

I always liked the one where the Scorpion replies "Because I can swim"

Yeah, that's a canon L5R (Legend of the Five Rings) thing.

I think the official Scorpion Clan approach to this situation (the "I can swim approach") would be to relentlessly and hypocritically bag on everything anyone in WotC does, just to try and drive down the brand and get your version of the "One True D&D" promoted in its place - either an existing non-WotC published game or some hypothetical edition that would come into being or be re-issued if you could only get the D&D brand shelved or sold off by Hasbro.

But that would be a filthy plotting of an evil Scorpion Clan Courtier character in Rokugan, not the behavior of any real-life person on a message board.

Marty Lund

 

[Shasarak]

Yeah, that's a canon L5R (Legend of the Five Rings) thing.

I think the official Scorpion Clan approach to this situation (the "I can swim approach") would be to relentlessly and hypocritically bag on everything anyone in WotC does, just to try and drive down the brand and get your version of the "One True D&D" promoted in its place - either an existing non-WotC published game or some hypothetical edition that would come into being or be re-issued if you could only get the D&D brand shelved or sold off by Hasbro.

But that would be a filthy plotting of an evil Scorpion Clan Courtier character in Rokugan, not the behavior of any real-life person on a message board.

Marty Lund

Nah, say there was a designer on the WotC team whose work that you did not like, the true Scorpion Clan approach would be to blackmail him into resigning.

Not that that could ever happen.

 

[bmfrosty]

Not exactly. More like a lack of detail because I didn't think nitpicking was going to happen. My main point, that you ignored, is that WotC over promise and under delivers. With the small crew they have, maybe they shouldn't talk about up coming stuff like PDFs, the OGL and conversion docs until those are a done deal. When a product is done and you know it is going to be released, giving a date isn't a bad thing. Like January the 20th he gave the dates for PotA. At that point the AP was going at the printers or the copies were in warehouses*. The PotA could still not be released, but then we are talking of force majeur. Mearls shouldn't be blamed for a fire in a warehouse.

Um... Well did he call firefighters or did he tweet that there was a fire?


*I assume, of course.

So your argument is that - and tell me if I haven't got this right - WotC shouldn't announce anything until it has a solid release date - maybe when its a month or two from release?

 

[mlund]

Nah, say there was a designer on the WotC team whose work that you did not like, the true Scorpion Clan approach would be to blackmail him into resigning.

True enough. That's only Outer Circle Scorpion scheming, though. The pawns do all the overt dirty-work and crude ops as distractions. Your slanderers, thieves, blackmailers, crime-bosses, loud-mouth courtiers, bravos, and black-pajama patrol operate at that level because that's all they are good for. The real ninjas and masterminds of the Scorpion Clan just puppet those guys as false-flags. The classic scorpion meta-scheme is to send a Pawn Scorpion out to champion a position or cause, causing all the other clans to align on the opposite side - the side you really wanted to win all along. (Bonus points if the Pawn Scorpion gets killed in a duel by an angry Matsu or Kakita duelist giving you extra hooks into further plotting.)

The Scorpion Clan - the Rokugani masters of trolling, baiting, straw men, and sock-puppet accounts in a land without any Internet.

Marty Lund