GTS 2009 D&D Seminar - the Rouse discusses D&D

[alleynbard]

Well, either "what makes people play your game" got misidentified, or Robyn Laws' theories on narrow focus deserve to stay academic, IMO.

Eh....seems to work for a lot of people. To each his own, right?

Your opinion is valid though, so *please* don't take that as a criticism. We all find different things appealing.

Robin Laws is a rather interesting writer. Did you pick up the DMG2 for 3.5? He worked on that book and I found his insights very helpful. If you haven't seen it, it might worth finding a used copy for that material alone.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

I may have missed your answer, but do you have any clue when the next Mailbag podcast will be? With all the new stuff from PHB2, the new stuff we are learning about MM2 and PHB3 I am sure people will have questions, including myself So do you have any info on if/when there would be the next one?

Thanks

No idea

 

[nnms]

XML output for Character Builder Char sheets data.

!!!

Awesome. I can't wait to see what people come up with for automatic character sheets that import the produced XML files.

 

[rounser]

Eh....seems to work for a lot of people. To each his own, right?

No. The focus has gone from broad to narrow. Why should a significant section of the former audience be excluded for the gratification of another section of it? At least release such a product under another name, and keep the broader one going (yes, I know, impractical, so don't go down the narrow path at all then).

Robin Laws is a rather interesting writer. Did you pick up the DMG2 for 3.5? He worked on that book and I found his insights very helpful. If you haven't seen it, it might worth finding a used copy for that material alone.

I've read articles from him. I know he sounds plausible and logical, but so do many generalisations, quotes, ideologies and extreme stances that fail when they meet the real world, if implemented without moderation. That's why they're referred to as "academic".

There was a link to a famous article about "what D&D can learn from spaghetti sauces" that seems plausible and logical too. It also doesn't jibe with a narrowly focused game design theory.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

No. The focus has gone from broad to narrow. Why should a significant section of the former audience be excluded for the gratification of another section of it? At least release such a product under another name.

I've read articles from him. I know he sounds plausible and logical, but so do many generalisations, quotes, ideologies and extreme stances that fail when they meet the real world, if implemented without moderation. That's why they're referred to as "academic".

Can you guys fork this or move on? The 4e DMG2 isn't even out yet so the discussion isn't needed in this thread

 

[alleynbard]

No. The focus has gone from broad to narrow. Why should a significant section of the former audience be excluded for the gratification of another section of it? At least release such a product under another name.

I've read articles from him. I know he sounds plausible and logical, but so do many generalisations, quotes, ideologies and extreme stances that fail when they meet the real world, if implemented without moderation. That's why they're referred to as "academic".

Well...okay. I tried.

 

[alleynbard]

Can you guys fork this or move on? The 4e DMG2 isn't even out yet so the discussion isn't needed in this thread

I'm sorry this derailed the conversation, Scott. I certainly wasn't trying to do that. The topic isn't worth a fork, honestly.

But you are right, this thread is not the place for me to play peacemaker. Please accept my apologies.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Erhm. Okay. Saying that a podcast of a D&D session is PA content makes little sense to me though. But your mileage obviously varies.

I've been playing D&D a lot longer than I've been reading webcomics but I considered it Penny Arcade and PvP content. I wasn't listening to it to hear a random bunch of guys playing D&D, I was listening to it to hear the Penny Arcade and PvP guys crack jokes and play D&D. Having said that, it obviously brought traffic to the D&D site and that was largely the point of the exercise for WotC. I thought it was a good initiative.

Hooray! Obsidian? Bioware? In house? pretty please?

Obsidian, perhaps, although I believe it would still be published by Infogrames - when they bought Hasbro Interactive they also got the rights to make D&D computer games until at least 2015. Bioware, very unlikely, even if they hadn't become a subsidiary of Electronic Arts.

A while ago we talked about how we were going to focus on one swing at a time and then move onto the next thing. The first swing was the Character Builder and the next is the Campaign Tools. That means we are not actively (as we also posted here today) working on a game table but doesn't mean we won't work on it in the future.

Considering that the electronic game table was a major feature of the announcement presentation - an early version was demonstrated in the presentation, albeit described as a prototype - if it's now the case that it's not being worked on then I'm having my doubts that it will be completed. That would be a shame; it clearly needed some work but looked to be on the right track, and that was nearly two years ago.

 

[JoeGKushner]

If any general questions are being answered, I have two.

1. Will we see something similiar to the Dungeon Delve but for other areas? For example, the old Book of Lairs, Book of Encounters, Tales From The Outer Planes, etc... provided the GM with little encounters that he could slot into his own campaign with little preperation. I know that the sourcebooks have these pre-made lairs but I'd like some themed ones of short duration, like Dungeon Delve, as well.

2. Will we see independent adventurers again? As neat an idea as the Adventure Path is, Paizo still does independent adventurers. As many people who have played through Savage Tide or Shackled City, I can't imagine that those numbers compare favoably with say, White Plume Mountain or other single adventurers. They have the same benefit as #1 above but are meatier. A good place to put more new monsters, magic items, rituals, etc... (as has been done with current adventurers by WoTC 4e.)

 

[Scott_Rouse]

If any general questions are being answered, I have two.

1. Will we see something similiar to the Dungeon Delve but for other areas? For example, the old Book of Lairs, Book of Encounters, Tales From The Outer Planes, etc... provided the GM with little encounters that he could slot into his own campaign with little preperation. I know that the sourcebooks have these pre-made lairs but I'd like some themed ones of short duration, like Dungeon Delve, as well.

In short yes. I don't have any details to talk about but there will be some of this content. Plane Below should have some of this and there is a title in early 2010 that will have more. I don't know if it will be as concentrated as Dungeon Delve, but there will be more of this type of content

2. Will we see independent adventurers again? As neat an idea as the Adventure Path is, Paizo still does independent adventurers. As many people who have played through Savage Tide or Shackled City, I can't imagine that those numbers compare favoably with say, White Plume Mountain or other single adventurers. They have the same benefit as #1 above but are meatier. A good place to put more new monsters, magic items, rituals, etc... (as has been done with current adventurers by WoTC 4e.)

Yes, there are more of these types of adventures coming out in 2010.

Between now and then there will be these types of adventures in Dungeon and there is Revenge of the Giants and Seekers of the Ashen Crown this summer.