"Designer's Notes" to be included...

[buzz]

Including designer's notes is vital, and I'm glad WotC are finally catching a ride on that clue train. The "Design & Development" column is, hands-down, the best thing WotC has put up on their site since free advnetures, IMO.

 

[Glyfair]

Actually, I found many of the designer's notes in Red Hand of Doom to be pretty blah. Superficial insights rather than in-depth discussion. But, I suppose a published adventure is really not the place for in-depth discussions of game design.

I agree it's not the place for in-depth discussion. Wolfgang Bauer's project is the sort of thing to get into if you want that; discussion while it's being designed. You can ask questions and get focus on the issues you are concerned about.

Which begs the question, is some future D&D book the correct place for in-depth discussion of game design? Do we need to know in the book why something was designed the way it was? Where does it end -- why are there three BAB progressions? Why don't paladins get good Will saves? Etc. ad infinitum.

No, we don't need that. However, it's very useful in areas where DMs are likely to tweak it. It's much easier to tweak something when you know why it's that way in the first place.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

But they did! As evidence, I present the fact that I don't have a baby.

Seriuosly, I'm curious how this will work out. I've more interest in the designer's notes in regards to fluff, rather than rules-crunch, though.

And then I had a vision of ENWorld with a dozen threads crying, "WotC's Designer Notes stole my childhood and ate my baby!!!!"

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

This is great news. When I know what they're thinking behind a design, it's much easier for me to play with the concept and keep any changes balanced. I'm all for this.

Yeah. Sometimes the designers had a good reason for doing something that just will not work in a particular campaign. Some notes indicating their reasoning helps get past wondering if I am nuts or they were foolish, and get to the heart of the issue.

 

[blargney the second]

It makes me think of programming - good coders put in enough documentation that somebody else can understand when something particularly clever is being done. If it's run of the mill stuff, the insights aren't always necessary.

-blarg

 

[John Cooper]

Oh good. I enjoy reading the designer's notes sections.

 

[jmucchiello]

Part of me wants to say that if you have to explain what you are doing outside the normal flow of text then perhaps you should reexamine what you are doing and make it easier to grok. OTOH, I've written designer's notes too because I couldn't get around putting all the information in the normal flow of text so ultimately I think this is a good thing, in moderation.

 

[harmyn]

Mixed feelings on this from me.

On the one hand, it can be useful for getting into the heart and soul of a rule so that when the text seems vague or slightly contradictory you have built in clarification, but it needs to be used sparingly at best. I could easily see it being a web enhancement for books, but that's just me. This could be a useful resource.

Now my fear of what the reality will be - filler to make sure the page count is padded to the correct level and therefore just a drain on my resources. Not saying that is their intention, but when you are on a deadline and desperate to hit the numbers the "head office" handed down this sounds like a quickie way to fill up that space.

So, I will wait and see. And judge after we get a chance to review it in rulebooks and supplements.

 

[buzz]

Now my fear of what the reality will be - filler to make sure the page count is padded to the correct level and therefore just a drain on my resources. Not saying that is their intention, but when you are on a deadline and desperate to hit the numbers the "head office" handed down this sounds like a quickie way to fill up that space.

If there is to be filler, I'd much rather it be design notes than some of the useless, half-baked stuff I've seen in many books.

 

[RisnDevil]

I agree that I am worried about the page count issue. I have not kept up on alot of the recent WotC releases, so my first 160 page count book that I got was the book I was looking forward to more than anything. Sadly though, I was immediately disappointed just when I picked it up and felt how light it was. Now if I had been reading through the book and been accosted by large amounts of design notes, even if they were heavily spread out, I might have cried. OTOH, I WANT them in the book. I don't regularly/often look at Web Enhancements, so would not really benefit from it there. Basically, I want my cake and to eat it too....longer books, with Web Enhancements. (Final Note: Unlike many people though, I would be willing to pay $5 more for a book for the extra pages. Helly, maybe even $10.)