D&D General Kobold Press Going Down a Dark Road

[Parmandur]

I used to really hate the prequels... But as time passed I started to focus on what I liked about them isntead of my criticisms. Today I think it's okay, I even rate episode 3 higher than episode 6.

That's fair: at this point I'm fairly cold on StarbWars, since there are more mediocre movies than good, and more bad than great. Doing better than Star Trek, at least.

 

[Bolares]

It's even more of a mystery coming from the generation (not saying Bolares is part of it, but I hear it from my generation most) that felt the need to make literally every small and innocent thing into a horror monsters or creepy motif. Sure, Chuck E Cheese needs to have dead kids and Winnie to Pooh needs to kill people with an axe, but a teddy bear village can't Rambo their way through the guys who have sucked and failed through three and a half movies?

I am not a fan of grimdark stuff but, as a teenager it was hard for me tu buy ewoks as a threat to the empire. I'm not saying I'm right, or that my opinion on this reflects all my tastes (and I know that was not something you were implying), but I don't know, it didn't work for me

 

[GMforPowergamers]

It's even more of a mystery coming from the generation (not saying Bolares is part of it, but I hear it from my generation most) that felt the need to make literally every small and innocent thing into a horror monsters or creepy motif. Sure, Chuck E Cheese needs to have dead kids and Winnie to Pooh needs to kill people with an axe, but a teddy bear village can't Rambo their way through the guys who have sucked and failed through three and a half movies?

the part that bugs me is they are not teddy bears they are dwarf bears, and bears are monsters... an intelligent dwarf bear cannable seems to be something that can take down soldiers to me

 

[Vaalingrade]

Between you and me and the internet, I was scared of the ewoks as a kid. Those human lips on teddy bears, man...

 

[MichaelSomething]

But Ewoks serve the same narrative purpose as halfings! They're examples that even the smallest among us have the ability to affect great change.

 

[Rabulias]

I would have preferred Lucas's original idea of the Wookiees instead of the Ewoks for Return of the Jedi.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Literally all there is to the hame: the core math and fluff.

This is very wrong. Games are about game structures and procedures--math only matters in service to these procedures.

Which is a bigger change to Monopoly: doubling the amount of money you get when you pass Go (change to math), or letting you choose whether to roll one die or two on your turn (change to procedure)?

D&D has several core mechanics and procedures such as gaining XP and leveling up; dying when you run out of HP (and fail with death saves or whatever last-chance mechanic the DM is using); entering a room in a dungeon/scene to trigger actions from the things in the scene (some DMs will have offscreen monsters actively doing things but it's challenging--it's an almost universal convention to wait until players can observe things, except for stuff like loud noises triggering monsters to wander closer).

I haven't paid close attention to OneD&D but I did notice WotC fiddling around with stuff like the critical hits, in a way that has a hugely deleterious effect on the Champions in particular and a significant impact on the DM (no crits for monsters) and all players (death saves become safer if monsters cannot crit). These are large changes. I think some of them have been rolled back but like I said I haven't been paying close attention.

Games are far more than just "the math" though. Even sometime as simple as changing who rolls saving throws (GM or player) can have a large impact on the experience of play.

 

[Nightfly]

Milennials despise Jar-Jar. And for good reason.

We Gen-Xers despise Ewoks. Also for good reason.

 

[Parmandur]

This is very wrong. Games are about game structures and procedures--math only matters in service to these procedures.

Which is a bigger change to Monopoly: doubling the amount of money you get when you pass Go (change to math), or letting you choose whether to roll one die or two on your turn (change to procedure)?

D&D has several core mechanics and procedures such as gaining XP and leveling up; dying when you run out of HP (and fail with death saves or whatever last-chance mechanic the DM is using); entering a room in a dungeon/scene to trigger actions from the things in the scene (some DMs will have offscreen monsters actively doing things but it's challenging--it's an almost universal convention to wait until players can observe things, except for stuff like loud noises triggering monsters to wander closer).

I haven't paid close attention to OneD&D but I did notice WotC fiddling around with stuff like the critical hits, in a way that has a hugely deleterious effect on the Champions in particular and a significant impact on the DM (no crits for monsters) and all players (death saves become safer if monsters cannot crit). These are large changes. I think some of them have been rolled back but like I said I haven't been paying close attention.

Games are far more than just "the math" though. Even sometime as simple as changing who rolls saving throws (GM or player) can have a large impact on the experience of play.

Those procedures are math. And no, the playtest has not involved any significant change in the basic procedures, particularly in latter packets where they have rolled back a lot of early tests.