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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rounser" data-source="post: 5600710" data-attributes="member: 1106">On that point, I think Mearls may need to consider that it's about as much what he leaves out of the recipe, as what he puts into it.Chocolate mudcakes might have flour, eggs, cocoa and sugar in them, but if you throw in anchovies and beef stock, then that chocolate mudcake you're making might no longer be a chocolate mudcake.Likewise, identifying the core components of a "universal D&D" isn't enough.  Consider what may un-D&D a game to a large segment of players, such as through:1) Disassociated mechanics like healing surges that break simulation and suspension of disbelief.  I gather it is rumoured that healing surges are Mearls' favorite 4E rule, so may be in for inevitable disappointment there.2) Including in the core mundane yet fantastic equipment like gluebags, absurd dual weapons and absurdly effective spiked chains that harm D&D's ability to model a pseudomedieval setting.  Save it for the splatbooks, IMO.3) Quirky and specific choice of core races and classes in the core PHB, and the resulting specific nature of the worlds they suggest, as I've already talked about.I like Hackmaster, but Hackmaster isn't an "everyman fantasy" game which is a good basis to build worlds on in the same way D&D used to be.  Not every world I want to make has these specific elements that Hackmaster pushes.  4E has made that same mistake, IMO - in attempting to stay current with fantasy fashion, they've traded in the game's utility as a fantasy toolkit.  If Mearls is casting around for ideas as to supplements for 5E, maybe add a "High Fantasy Handbook" and a "Dark Fantasy Handbook" for those who want to take the game in different directions.  That way, the dragonborn spiked chain wielders and gluebags can sit in the high fantasy book, and whatever low magic people want can sit in the other.</blockquote>

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