If you haven't been following Mike Mearls' Legends & Lore column over on D&D Insider, you really should check it out. You don't need to be a DDI subscriber in order to read it.
Mike Mearls is the RPG Group Manager for the D&D Research and Development Team. His weekly Legends & Lore column takes a look at the design philosophy of RPGs - and, more specifically, D&D, and includes some novel proposals on how to change some of the fundamental paradigms of the game. In one column he might discuss a new way to approach a skill system (suggested to him by Monte Cook) and in another he covers a minimalist approach to the six ability scores. He talks about the cleric and making healing optional, the difficulties in challenging player rather than character skills, and has several columns which look at the evolution of specific aspects of D&D throughout the decades.
Of course, some out there have suggested that all this means that he and Monte Cook are clearly working on 5th Edition and that some of these concepts might influence the next version of D&D - whether that day is 6 months from now or a decade away. Perhaps some of them will! As Mike points out in a column from back in March, though, WotC has an entire department focused on gathering opinions, conducting surveys, and doing other market research - and this column would not be the ideal way to test out such ideas.
Mike Mearls is the RPG Group Manager for the D&D Research and Development Team. His weekly Legends & Lore column takes a look at the design philosophy of RPGs - and, more specifically, D&D, and includes some novel proposals on how to change some of the fundamental paradigms of the game. In one column he might discuss a new way to approach a skill system (suggested to him by Monte Cook) and in another he covers a minimalist approach to the six ability scores. He talks about the cleric and making healing optional, the difficulties in challenging player rather than character skills, and has several columns which look at the evolution of specific aspects of D&D throughout the decades.
Of course, some out there have suggested that all this means that he and Monte Cook are clearly working on 5th Edition and that some of these concepts might influence the next version of D&D - whether that day is 6 months from now or a decade away. Perhaps some of them will! As Mike points out in a column from back in March, though, WotC has an entire department focused on gathering opinions, conducting surveys, and doing other market research - and this column would not be the ideal way to test out such ideas.
