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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ratskinner" data-source="post: 6171483" data-attributes="member: 6688937">I agree that the statements aren't exactly specific (how could they be), but I don't think that they quite achieve the level you're talking about. While the first sentences of each point probably come close, the supporting sentences add a little more weight to them. As KM mentioned in his post, these actually do indicate different directions in design choices. Despite your marginally fanciful portrayal of 4e and its design choices/goals, its rather obvious how it would have been a failure wrt to some of these desires. Of course, 3e would also be lacking, as would most of the previous editions. (All in their own peculiar ways, of course.)Having said that, I don't see the article as particularly profound or enlightening, either. I mean, if you commence a large public project with certain goals in mind, and then poll the people who come to participate, its hardly surprising that they have desires that line up fairly well with your project's stated goals. ::shrug::What would really be interesting would be to see commentary from similar processes from each edition's design phase. I have come to suspect that with each edition is (at least in part) designed to respond to complaints about the previous edition(s). Naturally, as each edition runs through its life, people become more aware of its liabilities and want changes. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that that leads to an "ever upward" effect on the game, as we may revisit some "liabilities" from previous editions, but see them now as virtues. For example, we nowadays balk at the tendency in the WotC editions to have a rule for everything and to "lock down" play. However, I seem to recall that there was a great outcry against "bad DMing" and a great desire for "unified mechanics" as the d20 system was being created. Will we be here again in 10 years decrying how 5e re-invented the capricious DM? Will there be a desire for 7e to return to a "rule for everything" to protect players against such villainy? Will we be bemoaning how "open-ended and unpredictable" some of 5e's mechanics are?</blockquote>

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