It’s pretty cool so far!
Here’s his assumptions and core intentions from the latest copy:
“Design Goals
Moldvay is designed with the following goals and assumptions in mind.
Assumptions
While designing the game, I assumed:
• You like the core mechanic of D&D 5e: roll a d20, add modifiers (ability modifier, maybe proficiency), apply advantage or disadvantage, compare to a target number.
• You like building a character from a list of options.
• You like having a character that feels distinct from other characters built with the same class due to the mechanics of character creation.
What’s Changed
Here’s what I’ve changed and why:
• Fast character creation. I hate making characters for convention games. I hate that pick-up games for 5e are impossible because making even level 1 characters takes forever. I want to support 100% randomization. If you’re making choices, they are easy to parse and clearly organized.
• Simple characters with a few, impactful abilities. I want the character sheet to feel direct and easy to manage. Since this game is compatible with core 5e, you can always use a PHB character if you want something with more complexity.
• Speed up combat with lower distance resolution. Inspired by Jeff Grubb’s classic Marvel Superheroes RPG, this game uses areas to track range, movement, area of effect, and so on. Think of an area as a giant square, about equal in size to a dungeon room. The game doesn’t worry about tracking movement in one-foot increments.
• Declutter combat with abstract positioning. Your party and the monsters have a front rank and a back rank. Keep your squishy characters in the back rank and your tanks in the front. Whittle down your opponent’s front rank to expose enemy casters and leaders.
• Drop simulation rules in favor of DM judgment. 5e spends a lot of rules text and complexity on trying to model reality. This game explicitly relies on the DM’s judgment to determine if something is realistic.
Here’s his assumptions and core intentions from the latest copy:
“Design Goals
Moldvay is designed with the following goals and assumptions in mind.
Assumptions
While designing the game, I assumed:
• You like the core mechanic of D&D 5e: roll a d20, add modifiers (ability modifier, maybe proficiency), apply advantage or disadvantage, compare to a target number.
• You like building a character from a list of options.
• You like having a character that feels distinct from other characters built with the same class due to the mechanics of character creation.
What’s Changed
Here’s what I’ve changed and why:
• Fast character creation. I hate making characters for convention games. I hate that pick-up games for 5e are impossible because making even level 1 characters takes forever. I want to support 100% randomization. If you’re making choices, they are easy to parse and clearly organized.
• Simple characters with a few, impactful abilities. I want the character sheet to feel direct and easy to manage. Since this game is compatible with core 5e, you can always use a PHB character if you want something with more complexity.
• Speed up combat with lower distance resolution. Inspired by Jeff Grubb’s classic Marvel Superheroes RPG, this game uses areas to track range, movement, area of effect, and so on. Think of an area as a giant square, about equal in size to a dungeon room. The game doesn’t worry about tracking movement in one-foot increments.
• Declutter combat with abstract positioning. Your party and the monsters have a front rank and a back rank. Keep your squishy characters in the back rank and your tanks in the front. Whittle down your opponent’s front rank to expose enemy casters and leaders.
• Drop simulation rules in favor of DM judgment. 5e spends a lot of rules text and complexity on trying to model reality. This game explicitly relies on the DM’s judgment to determine if something is realistic.
