Greg Bilsland, I've got my eye on you!

[Bilzlebub]

Greg has the annoying habit of giving the 30,000 foot version of the story and not giving any good details. Because of that, judging his playtest reports is a waste of time because it doesn't tell us viturally anything about 4E. Maybe that is his intent. To tell us pretty stories instead. So far, I consider his playtest reports to be 0 for 2.

If only I got to tell about the good stuff!

 

[Intrope]

If only I got to tell about the good stuff!

Tease!

Oh, and welcome to ENWorld! I've found your two playtests interesting, even if you're very careful about letting good stuff slip

 

[Dragonblade]

And those are legitimate concerns, seeing as I'm actually an editor and not a designer! Maybe someday.

BAM!! And that pretty much ended that line of discussion. Well done.

 

[WhatGravitas]

And those are legitimate concerns, seeing as I'm actually an editor and not a designer! Maybe someday.

- that's a so very clear answer! But keep up these playtest reports. We ain't designers as well! And... can we keep you here? (Just as Scott? And can you make Mearls come back here?)

Cheers, LT.

 

[Aloïsius]

If only I got to tell about the good stuff!

I guess we won't learn any "big" thing before two or three months... And I guess it won't be in playtests anyway.

 

[Sundragon2012]

Not my cup of tea. I actually prefer storytelling as a hook for a series for skirmishes.

I particularly didn't like the use of dreams/visions. These are good when the PCs can control when they view them, but when they are just sent at the DM's whim there's no interactivity. I realised this in my early 20s when a DM made great use of Rary's Replay Of The Past which we'd cast to observe a murder.

The whole thing was pretty cliched too. Mysterious prophecies. Barbarians uniting under a strong ruler. Portentous dreams. Mysterious assassins attack PCs for no discernible reason. Just add a Lovecraftian god or demon prince trying to escape his bonds and you'd have a complete set.

If I may ask, what manner of games do you run? What you call cliches are just some of many plot hooks in fantasy fiction. PCs control their dreams? If anything, a portentous dream is a plot device not designed to be controlled by players any more than a dramatic lightning storm used as forshadowing the coming darkness is to be controlled by the players. However, I would agree with your dislike of mysterious assassins attacking for no reason....if anything mysterious assassins need a reason to attack, a reason that would have been divulged in the portentous dream...hmmm?


Sundragon

 

[KarinsDad]

And those are legitimate concerns, seeing as I'm actually an editor and not a designer! Maybe someday.

Hi Greg.

Course, this point ignores the playtest concern that I mentioned. One out of two isn't bad.

Throw us some crunch. It's obvious that some crunch is allowed, otherwise the other playtests reports would not have been possible.

 

[Felon]

If I may ask, what manner of games do you run?

Well, he's said it himself already: he prefers to use storytelling as no more than a hook for skirmishes. I'm not sure how you can classify basic conventions such as "barbarians uniting a strong leader" or "mysterious prophecies" as cliches (what would be a novel approach? barbarians uniting under a weak leader? prophecies that don't contain an element of mystery?), but if someone sets their own amibtions low, it certainly makes it easy to crticize those who haven't.