ATTACK! MCDM's new rpg and removing the to-hit roll

[soviet]

Tunnels and Trolls has done that since 1975.

Yeah it all feels very heartbreakery doesn't it. 'Here's a little thing I like to call passive perception'.

 

[darjr]

Well for what it’s worth I found a old post of mine very excited about into the odds mechanism.

Lol.

 

[Morrus]

Yeah it all feels very heartbreakery doesn't it. 'Here's a little thing I like to call passive perception'.

This feels a bit mean-spirited.

 

[bedir than]

The constraints aren't the issue - the lack of even attempting good design within constraints is part of the issue, but the biggest issue is a total lack of vision - and it's not unique to WotC.

Why is combining attack and damage rolls considered "good design?"
Why are the much more successful companies bad designers, but MCDM considered good for making a different choice?
Is the phrase "good design" even meaningful?

 

[darjr]

I will note that other places I've mentioned this, and in older posts about Into the Odd, and talking to folks locally, there was a lot who didn't like this idea.

One reason was they wanted to roll the d20 and some went into detail why, they liked the swinginess, but also the KIND OF swinginess was understood and the same from roll to roll, especially for crits and crit fails. Also many seemed to understand it intuitively.

It's one of the things I had to really understand for DCC in higher level play when running on the fly.

 

[Morrus]

Why is combining attack and damage rolls considered "good design?"
Why are the much more successful companies bad designers, but MCDM considered good for making a different choice?
Is the phrase "good design" even meaningful?

Of course, we’re all talking about personal taste. The prevalence of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ design (or worse, ‘lazy’ — that’s just obnoxious) in discourse these days is unfortunate. It would be nice if people understood that “I don’t like this” is not the same as “it is poorly done”. But then, just look at movie criticism; it’s hardly unique to RPGs. Everything is binary.

 

[darjr]

Tunnels and Trolls has done that since 1975.

Like I said. Other games toyed around the idea. T&T used a mass combat wargame mecanic that individuals added to the dice pool. Not individual turns, for instance.

 

[Nikosandros]

When I first read T&T, I scoffed at its "unrealistic" way of handling combat... like D&D to-hit rolls vs AC are particularly realistic!

 

[mamba]

Why is combining attack and damage rolls considered "good design?"

I don’t think that is the case that is being made. The case is that Matt Colville is free to explore and decide what works best for his vision of the game while Jeremy Crawford has both hands tied behind his back by the playtest, and shows no cohesive vision

Whether you think he should be bound to the playtest results, and to what degree, is a different matter

Why are the much more successful companies bad designers, but MCDM considered good for making a different choice?

why do you think that sales equals good design? If that were the case the field would be much more level

Is the phrase "good design" even meaningful?

yes, it is. But just like good design does not equal success, it also does not mean that you personally will like a game with good design when what it is designed to do does not match your taste

 

[EthanSental]

But for the wotc playtests, are their hands tied behind their backs if the xxx amount of player feedback say that like/want what’s in the play test design? I think not since the vast majority of 80% positive feedback shows a lot of players want it and makes it into the game.