D&D 5E Mathematical Underpinnings of D&D Next

[fjw70]

Interesting comment from one of the Magic developers posted on the WotC website today.

I recently took about a year off of working on Magic to help build the mathematical underpinnings of D&D Next . . .

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/282

Does this help you feel better about the math for the final game?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

It's been so many years since I stopped playing Magic the Gathering, so I don't know how balanced the current "edition" is.

Then again, card prices and rarity limit the kinds of decks you can play (not to the same extent for everyone), and I have to wonder about the balance of a game that brought the blue lockdown deck/"Legacy deck" (okay, that was just a mocking take on the blue deck)/ghouls freeze you.

Magic the Gathering would be far harder to balance than any edition of D&D, despite having far simpler math. (The formula for mana cost for power/toughness, while not openly stated or set-in-stone, is fairly obvious.)

 

[Halivar]

What's shocking to me is that Magic shared resources with D&D. Have they ever done that? There was some speculation in another thread that WotC is pulling out all the stops for D&DN, and this may be further evidence of it.

 

[TerraDave]

Somebody had to.

 

[GX.Sigma]

Wait. "Recently?" Does that mean the Magic team stopped working on it after the final playtest packet? If so, we're boned.

Edit: Oh wait, he's talking about before devign on Born of the Gods started. That was a few years ago.

 

[n00bdragon]

This is nothing more than wild over-speculation and conjecture, even more than this forum is typically accustomed to. Egads. A person at a division (WotC) of a company (Hasbro) switched from one product line to another? Hold a moment while I contain my surprise.

 

[SteveC]

This actually gives me some hope. Until now, one of the sad things about Next is that math has been an afterthought. The underlying math behind a system is fundamental to its design, and something you nail down very early. It gives you a roadmap for how the rest of your design goals will work, and lets you understand how the game will change as characters level.

If this is just something happening now, I doubt we'll see much impact from it, since the game has to be pretty much tied up now to go to layout and print, but if it's been a year or more in the planning, hopefully...

 

[skotothalamos]

Oldish news.

Here's a magic forum talking about it over two years ago:

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?22638-YES!-Tom-LaPille-is-gone!

 

[Warbringer]

Oldish news.

Here's a magic forum talking about it over two years ago:

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?22638-YES!-Tom-LaPille-is-gone!

1. Over 2 yrs ago, so prob not relevant
2. He doesn't inspire confidence from the posts ( but hell its the interweb)

 

[Incenjucar]

Even if the underpinnings turn out well, doesn't this just mean that the core D&D team is going to be losing one of the people who actually understands the math?