D&D 5E Mike Mearls on D&D (New Interview with James Introcaso)

[I'm A Banana]

Hearing about the Mystic makes me super opti...mystic

The story is pretty foundational for me, so "maybe it's kind of from the far realm" stuff didn't resonate. Talking about this "selfhood" is a good direction (even if I still think it's pretty similar to the Sorcerer's story. )

 

[gyor]

While I agree with your preference on crunch, I didn't necessarily get that we won't see crunch-only/heavy products. Just that they won't be called PHB2, etc. I thought it was specifically called out that they were working on a crunch-heavy product for this year.

Hopefully, it's not called "Volo's Guide to the Adventuring Life" or something like that. I'd much rather see something as bland as "D&D Rules Expansions, Volume 1" than something that carries even a trace of setting branding. That assumes, of course, that it's not a Realms-specific expansion. I've been intentionally assuming that "Volo's Guide to Monsters" is not relevant to my game because it's Realms-branded by virtue of having Volo's name on it.

You think wrong, Volo's guide barely has anything to do with FR to the point where the title is outright deceitful. I'm really becoming inclined not to do business with WotC anymore and this, interview just confirmed that decision.

If we won't even get a, FRCG, which many people want, then I have no reason to give them a dime more. And the PHB+ 1 rule just gives me more reason to not spend a dime.

It's like, WotC hates my money.

Thankfully I still have the Chronicles of Darkness 2e (possible Changeling 2e kickstarter, very excited by the idea), and Scion 2e (I supported Scions Kickstarter).

I guess it's time to make my peace with the fact that till the movie FR will not receive any FRCG, so it's basically dead.

RIP FR.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I really liked the way they described the mystic. It goes beyond what D&D has done before, but would work really well for most versions of psionics (unlike the Far Realms fluff which didn't fit a lot of traditional psionics at all). It makes it distinct from traditional D&D magic, but gives is a really cool quality which you could spin as pseudo-science, some form of spiritualism, even Far Realms awakening if you wanted to. That's exactly how it should be -- flexible enough to accommodate various psionic ideas. Of course this is all coming from the summary of the interview. If Mike meant something different, or the summary phrased it unclearly, then I could be getting completely the wrong idea, which would be a shame given how cool the idea I'm imagining is.

I'm a little disappointed that it sounds like we won't be seeing PHB 2, DMG 2 and possibly even MM 2. (From Mearl's comments on some consumers believing those books suggest that the first ones are obsolete).

Yes, books of those names have been stated to be ruled out ever since the playtest era.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

Man it's weird that someone could look at the glut and preeminence of forgotten realms in this edition and come to the conclusion that FR is dead, the only real setting book we have is a greatest hits of info on FR's most prolific region (the sword coast), with OOTA giving fine detail of the underdark and SKT further embellishing the detail on the sword coast. Every single piece of content thusly produced has been Forgotten Realms oriented first, even in Volo's Guide to Monsters all the deities referenced are FR oriented, and all the player races come from there as well, and there aren't any monsters specific to any other setting

There are many things missing from 5e, FR isn't one of them.

 

[gyor]

MM 2, PHB 2, DMG 2 names won't be used, but something will serve similar functions eventually.

 

[Mercule]

Basically, they threw everything (Greyhawk, FR, etc) into one generic FR setting.

I would say this is the mistake. I'm okay with them deciding to have an implied setting, but they shouldn't have gone with an established one. Yeah, yeah. Nentir Vale.

What does "intentionally assuming" mean? Does it mean that even if other people suggest that it isn't really a Realms-only product you aren't going to believe them?

It means that I dislike the current strategy and use of the Realms strongly enough that I'm no longer willing to purchase product associated with the Realms. So, I'm not even interested in the content. It has Volo's name on the cover, so I'm very intentional in my assumption that it's explicitly for the Realms. If it was general purpose, it wouldn't be titled as though it were a Realms book.

5E is, mechanically, the best edition of D&D, to date. The team did an amazing job on the rules and I very much appreciate the effort and the fact that I have everything I need to play, pretty much forever. I think they're doing a very poor job of managing the "fiction" of the game, though. The day a new player buys the SCAG because "that's the setting for D&D" is the day D&D ceases to exist. They've created the Forgotten Realms RPG, which I have no interest in. If you're invited to a D&D game, it really shouldn't imply anything about the maps, NPCs, etc. There have always been fairly broad brush strokes about shared ecology, but that's about it.

I dunno. I'm really annoyed by it, right now. I thought the gray box was uninteresting, at best. Nothing in the last couple decades has improved the Realms. All the flavor bits (Drizzt, Harpers -- god gravy do I hate the Harpers --, RSE, Mystara, etc.) are like bubblegum and Skittles -- weirdly textured and disruptive of anything pleasant underneath. It's like trying to pick the flavor Blizzard you want and having the person behind the counter telling everyone asking "What size vanilla cone do you want?" Maybe they'll eventually burn away most of the Realms and I'll be fine with it. Honestly, I could probably use the SCAG, but only when divorced from the rest of Realms canon.

 

[Willie the Duck]

I get the feeling that Wizards are positioning Volo as a multi-world traveler rather than just a Realms traveler. Nothing specific - just nods and off-hand comments in the flavor text and whatnot. Maybe I get that more from my perusal of the Dungeonology book than the Volo's Guide - Dungeonology seems to suggest that Volo has been to a lot of places, not just on Faerun.

It wouldn't be the first time. Given how much Vecna, the demihuman pantheons, various in game mythologies, races, artifacts, spells etc. have moved between generic D&D and specific world (and let's be honest, it's all just D&D, the hard boundaries are as rigidly enforced as DC or Marvel distinct universes, which is to say not at all), it's hard to keep the whole thing straight, much less care.

 

[Mercule]

You think wrong, Volo's guide barely has anything to do with FR to the point where the title is outright deceitful. I'm really becoming inclined not to do business with WotC anymore and this, interview just confirmed that decision.

If we won't even get a, FRCG, which many people want, then I have no reason to give them a dime more. And the PHB+ 1 rule just gives me more reason to not spend a dime.

It's like, WotC hates my money.

Thankfully I still have the Chronicles of Darkness 2e (possible Changeling 2e kickstarter, very excited by the idea), and Scion 2e (I supported Scions Kickstarter).

I guess it's time to make my peace with the fact that till the movie FR will not receive any FRCG, so it's basically dead.

RIP FR.

It amazes me that WotC can find a middle ground that can successfully alienate both hardcore Realms fans and hardcore Realms anti-fans. They have enough Realms in the mix to offend me, but they're handling it so poorly that it offends you. There's a certain beauty in that balance.

FWIW, I would support* the publication of an FRCG or other Realms-specific material if I could just escape the Realms for my purchases.

* The only reservation I have is based on the gut feeling that the Realms is slowly eating D&D. I have no problem with people who want to play in the Realms. I despise anything that might give the impression that the Realms is the preferred or default setting. It's not. The Realms may be the most popular setting, but that doesn't make it synonymous with D&D.

 

[darjr]

I'm neither, and to me they've managed to strike a great balance with some very cool books.

 

[Demetrios1453]

even in Volo's Guide to Monsters all the deities referenced are FR oriented

No they aren't. Only Dendar and Sseth are FR-specific, and there's a chart right next to them listing deities of other settings appropriate for yuan-ti. Beyond that, with one exception, every monstrous deity in the book is from the old 2e Monster Mythology, which was setting-neutral. A lot of the deities, especially for the goblinoids, have never been mentioned in any FR-specific product (or any product outside of Monster Mythology for that matter) of which I'm aware. The one exception I mentioned above is Raxivort in the xvart entry - who is actually a Greyhawk-specific deity.



Sent from my VS987 using EN World mobile app