D&D 5E Justin Alexander's review of Shattered Obelisk is pretty scathing

[MerricB]

The same annoying NPC "plot assistant" existed in the Dragonlance adventure.

I don't think Darrett does anything particularly problematic in Dragonlance. (He's not used well, but he's not solving things for you).

 

[Mort]

At this point, I would have liked a mechanical update on the old setting material they own the rights to. That's about it.

You realize, most of that is easily available online?

Why would WotC do it when there are plenty of people jumping to?

Note, if we were still in the TSR era, TSR would be suing/ threatening to sue all of the people doing the work you want.

 

[Lanefan]

Why do you consider that a problem? Many real world structures are like that. Most people don't want to live in a maze.

True, but most people also want to get from point A to point B efficiently, so having numerous different connecting passages makes sense.

 

[Lanefan]

I really don't see the issue. Was Raiders of the Lost Arc a terrible movie because there was only one path through to the gold idol?

It wasn't a terrible movie but it would have made for a pretty dull (and rather short) D&D module.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I told you what I wanted from them. "Just do it yourself" is not as helpful or respectful and answer as you imagine. There are an awful lot if monsters that never got converted, for example.

I’m not saying you need to do it all yourself. I didn’t convert every monster when I ran Planescape or Dark Sun. I just ran a game in those settings using the 5e rules. I itnored a lot of the fiddly rules that were part of the old settings and to be honest, it went fine. The only part that was remotely an issue was psionics in Dark Sun. I just used certain spells and reskinned them as psionics.

Not saying “do it yourself” so much as “there’s not nearly as much that you need as you think”.

But hey, feel free to ignore me and continue your Eeyore impression!

 

[Lanefan]

What material? It’s not as hard as it seems to just set a game on Krynn or Athas. The old material is all there, so as you say it’s almost all mechanical… but 5e is pretty easy to convert to.

Easy to convert to, perhaps, but not as easy to convert from when trying to use new material in an older system.

Oddly enough, I've found 4e material easier to convert than 5e; but that may be because when coming from 4e I'm approaching the task from an "I have to change everything" perspective where with 5e stuff I'm thinking "This shouldn't take much effort" and then am surprised at just how long it takes.

And WotC haven't exactly put out any official conversion guides since their 2e-to-3e ones; and that's something I've kinda given up on drumming for even though I'd still like to see it: proper conversion guides from every edition to every other edition. If nothing else, this would show a bit of interest in being stewards of the whole game rather than just the current edition.

 

[TheSword]

Wow. I either don't care about or actively dislike every one of those things.

That’s probably why you’re having difficulty and feeling disconnected from the company then. Sorry.

 

[Lanefan]

Consistency, a reliable brand,

Good.

the end to the cycle of editions and subsequent edition wars,

Good if the current edition is the one you prefer. Otherwise a varying degree of bad.

slow release schedule that avoids the bloat that destroyed our enjoyment of Pathfinder.

Good.

Good artwork.

It's art, so opinions vary and always will.

Focus on adventure compilations, Focus on adventure campaigns.

Bad. Focus on standalone adventures instead of paths and compilations would be far better. Not everything has to be a full-size hardcover book.

Maps and artwork that perform well on VTT, products and systems that stay compatible with VTT.

Bad. I'd like the focus to remain squarely on the tabletop where it belongs.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

As a counterpoint, I was a big 4e fan, and I've never felt antagonized by 5e.

Did you see/hear the times when the developers actively mocked 4e stuff? Beyond the Warlord thing, there was also the time a developer spent a whole post allegedly tongue-in-cheek mocking dragonborn fans because he didn't understand their preferences.

Had it been a post on this forum, it would have been infracted for personal attacks. I'm not even joking. I don't remember which designer it was now, but he straight-up acted like it was crazy, irrational, beyond human understanding that someone could prefer playing dragonborn instead of humans or elves or other allegedly normal races.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You realize, most of that is easily available online?

Why would WotC do it when there are plenty of people jumping to?

Note, if we were still in the TSR era, TSR would be suing/ threatening to sue all of the people doing the work you want.

If it were still the TSR era, I would buy TSR's books.