Interview with Scott Rouse, Chris Perkins & Bill Slavicsek

[Thurbane]

Nothing is inescapable, but it's a matter how much much money are you willing to spend for perfection.

As a rough example. Say you pay someone...20 dollars an hour to write up a PrC. After writing it(2 hours), playtesting it (5 hours), changing it based on playtesting (1 hour), playtesting again (5 hours), last minute edits based on more playtesting and having read through it (1 hour), having an editor go through it and check for errors and consulting with him (2 hours), last minute editing based on editors feedback (1 hour), and meetings discussing deadlines and progress (5 hours).

That's 22 hours there or 440 dollars for one PrC. And that's just the one writer being paid. Assume other people get paid to manage, play in the playtests, edit, market the book, etc....

Then the fact that there are a number of PrC, feats, spell, etc. per book. It adds up. At a certain point you just have to give up and say "We think it's good enough. It might not be perfectly balanced. During that last phase of editing, we may have changed something in the PrC that made the example invalid, but I don't think so. Let's get it out before the deadline and just print it now."

I appreciate what you're saying, but I refuse to believe that adequate prrofreading and playtesting cannot be incorporated into the price of a given WotC product. It's a basic fact that I don't want to pay good money for faulty merchandise, nor should I be expected to.

If I thought that raising the cover price of products by $5 each would eradicate 90% of errors that currently slip through, I'd be all for it.

But I don't really believe it is a cost/time issue, but simply a matter of being lazy since the public will buy flawed product anyway.

...sorry, this is getting well offtopic, apologies...

 

[gribble]

As to Scott's questions of what I would like to see, here's my hopes (and yeah, some of this are pretty far fetched, but what the hell):

• HTML versions of all of the books I own that are all easily hyperlinked (see d20srd.org for an example). Online versions of the book are updated frequently with errata.

• A huge reservoir of NPCs, adventure hooks, character backgrounds, artwork, locations, for Players and DMs that is added to every month.

Quoted, because these will be the make or break things for me. The first would be the #1 thing that would make the digital initiative a must buy for me (worryingly though, I think this would also be the hardest thing to keep in a usable format and also to protect using DRM...). The second is what I would see as a viable alternative to Dungeon.

Either one in some form would make me seriously think about purchasing. Both would make it an almost sure-sell.

Personally I couldn't care less about character/monster/adventure generators and tools for running games online (aka digital tabletops). But thats just me...

 

[gribble]

Information Lookup
I want to be able to search by subject (wiki-style) and get all relevant information for the subject.

For example, if I search for ghoul, I want to see the following on the page:
- stats for the ghoul
- single illustration
- notes on what has been errata'd from the print version
- official rulings and clarifications on the ghoul and his abilities
- expanded rules added after the print version (for example, what you can learn about the ghoul using Knowledge Religion from the Know Your Enemy articles)

Essentially, everything on the main page should be the basics of what I need in order to use a ghoul as DM. However, I also want links to the following:
- alternate illustrations of the ghoul
- expanded articles about the ghoul ("Ecology of the Ghoul")
- D&D Miniatures information such as which sets have ghoul figures and the downloadable cards for those figures
- related information to the ghoul (ghasts, undead in general, the turning rules...)
- a link that imports the ghoul straight into a monster/character generator so I can advance him, add levels or templates, alter his feats or skills, and then print out the resulting character sheet.

That's just a sample for a monster, but I'd want similar style things for classes, races, magic items, rules, etc...

Character/Monster ToolKit
I want a character generator that allows me to build my PCs/NPCs/Monsters. This should be able to:
- create and level-up characters (obviously)
- equip those characters with weapons and magic items and see their stats change appropriately
- take monsters and alter them (add class levels, advance them, add a template, change feats or skills)
- create houserules for my campaign (maybe gnomes get +2 CHR in my world)
- allow any of this to be stored on-line and downloadable by those with access (like google docs)
- easily import characters and monsters from on-line adventures
- incorporate the magic item creation rules
- create new content such as monsters, spells, magic items, etc...
- allow me to create new, but very basic, classes, races and prestige classes
- print the resulting character or monster in a variety of formats
- [Bonus Feature] incorporate the rules for Alter Self, Polymorph, Alternate Form, Reincarnate, etc... so you can easily alter your character for these events

Adventures
I want on-line adventures with these features:
- the ability to import maps, monsters and characters into the toolkits above
- the ability to automatically alter the adventure within 2-3 levels of the intended level
- the ability to automatically convert the adventure to different settings
- included links to the Information Lookup pages described above
- artwork for new monsters, unusual rooms, etc...
- well formatted for the whole adventure to be printed out if necessary
- generate lists of all D&D Miniatures used in adventure
- the ability to easily use the adventure in on-line play (see 2 sections down)

Ok, I take it back.


I *would* like a monster/character generator that was integrated with the "Information Lookup" as described. While I probably wouldn't get a whole lot of use out of a PC character generator, integration with one which allowed you to tinker with existing monsters/NPCs would be great! One feature I especially like (and also wish WotC would do more in their printed adventures) is the integration with D&D minis. Basically say which mini(s) are the chosen monster/character where available, and suggestions for which (if an exact match isn't available) would be a suitable stand-in.

The above I would purchase in a heartbeat (assuming a reasonable subscription rate)!

 

[Kerrick]

Originally Posted by Majoru Oakheart
Nothing is inescapable, but it's a matter how much much money are you willing to spend for perfection.

As a rough example. Say you pay someone...20 dollars an hour to write up a PrC. After writing it(2 hours), playtesting it (5 hours), changing it based on playtesting (1 hour), playtesting again (5 hours), last minute edits based on more playtesting and having read through it (1 hour), having an editor go through it and check for errors and consulting with him (2 hours), last minute editing based on editors feedback (1 hour), and meetings discussing deadlines and progress (5 hours).

That's 22 hours there or 440 dollars for one PrC. And that's just the one writer being paid. Assume other people get paid to manage, play in the playtests, edit, market the book, etc....

Then the fact that there are a number of PrC, feats, spell, etc. per book. It adds up. At a certain point you just have to give up and say "We think it's good enough. It might not be perfectly balanced. During that last phase of editing, we may have changed something in the PrC that made the example invalid, but I don't think so. Let's get it out before the deadline and just print it now."

That example might work if writers and editors were actually paid by the hour, but they're not - they're paid by the word. And, being a writer and editor myself, I can tell you - while it IS hard to get every single typo and mistake, there's absolutely NO reason for the blatant and numerous errors that have been appearing in WotC's books lately. It takes about an hour to spellcheck a 200-page document, assuming the writer is a decent typist and doesn't make a lot of mistakes to begin with. There's no reason the writer can't do a quick spellcheck before sending it off to the editor - it doesn't require a lot of brainwork on the writer's part - all he has to do is look at the word being flagged and click "Change" or "don't change".

Sure, things get changed before the final edit (over and over), and mistakes slip through. That's a pretty well inescapable fact of life. But... the writers should be marking which parts get changed so the editor knows which parts to look over, instead of reading through the entire book looking for changes/mistakes.

 

[Ghendar]

Devyn if you still like D&D you are in my marketing plans and strategy. There is no way in the 9 hells we are going to abandon you.

I hear that online is not for you but if you have a pulse and can still role dice then do we have product for you my friend (in my best infomercial voice). Seriously, we know that online magazines etc are not going to be for everyone. We are not abandoning the table top, play in your kitchen, experience that is D&D. If getting together with your friends, telling great stories, kicking in the door, killing monsters, and having some laughs is the experience you want to have, we will continue to deliver that. Lots of books, maps, tiles, minis, dice, and online stuff too.

It was never my personal fear that WotC was abandoning the table top for electronic play. Some seemed quite concerned about that possibility. I found such implications silly, to be honest.

However, to those of us who want print magazines and not e-mags, it sure seems like abandonment or me and a entire segment of your customer base. I'm not suggesting that a minority should influence corporate decisions, but to be perfectly blunt, canceling Dragon and Dungeon as print mags and replacing them with e-content feels like abandonment to some of us. One very important aspect of print mags is the ability to own it and collect it. I can't "collect" a few pages of stuff I just printed off WotC's website, bit I can collect Dragon Magazine issues 50-the present.

I'm not looking for sympathy here and if anyone feels the need to flame me go right ahead.

 

[EATherrian]

My main concern with this change, aside from the portability issue, is what will happen to Greyhawk. I'm a huge fan of Greyhawk. If fact, the Paizo people brought me back to Dungeon and Dragon magazine with their love of the setting. Without this connection to Paizo and people who actually care about that setting I foresee us getting nothing again. And with so much of Greyhawk being trademarked I see us fans being especially left in the cold now that no allowable apparatus will exist. Unlike most of the really hardcore, I still intend to purchase WoTC products (those that pass muster at least), but this DI service has too much to compete against, since Paizo stewardship was spectacular. I'm giving WoTC the benefit of the doubt, and asking them to shock and surprise me with their skill and ingenuity. I just doubt that the replacement will even be a tenth as good as what it's replacing.

 

[Ghendar]

So I can't have print magazines then?

Sure you can. It's called Pathfinder.

 

[Ghendar]

My read of it isn't that the DI is for everyone, but rather that for those that don't want internet stuff, there will still be plenty of D&D print products, including compilations of the online material.

Perhaps.
But will print compilations contain everything released digitally? I honestly doubt it. If that's the case and I decide I want to purchase the compilations, I'll only be getting a fraction of what was released digitally.

 

[Razz]

Heya, Scott? Could you guys also keep Demonomicon, update material from older settings, bring back Oriental Adventures material and Epic material, keep Creature Catalog, give yugoloths more love, bring back an article on the Slaad Lords of Chaos, give us more material on non-core stuff like Psionics, Incarnum, Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic, etc. and (most important of all) please revise and update all the Hierarch Modrons on your DI?

Since you guys say you can do that (and MORE) and you're not limited by the disadvantages of print, this shouldn't be a hard task.

Thanks.

 

[Mistwell]

Sure you can. It's called Pathfinder.

He asked if there can be print MAGAZINES. Not books, priced like books, with magazine-level content in them