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

[Jester David]

You know, that's a really important bit of data for marketing purposes. The Red Box is one of the most iconic D&D products ever, and introduced a lot of people to the game. That's definitely something to consider in any analysis of what works or doesn't work. (I'm pretty sure they've done that analysis, hence the Starter Set. It would be interesting to find out how well the Starter Set has been selling.)

It's tricky to compare. Things are very different now than in the mid-80s. The Basic Rules and ease of ordering books online help.

What they can (and I think should) do, is cover multiple eras in the book. For instance, when covering Waterdeep, they give you the history up to 1358, then talk about the important people and events then, and then continue the history, pausing for more snapshots of the city at important points (I'd recommend that they coincide with the first presentation of each edition), and after giving a snapshot of the current 5e stuff, they give future possibilities, maybe three or four different paths that Waterdeep could take. And they do that for all of the other regions of course.

I think they could easily fit all this into a book without crunch, and considering the very concise prose of 5e products.

I still think the best way to do the Realms is just to throw some support to FR Wiki, and write some text for that.
A big book is nice, but it doesn't have search capabilities. And the larger the book, the harder it is to actually use...

 

[LordEntrails]

Not usable in perpetuity. Can't move to my Kindle or otherwise sit comfortably on my couch and read. Doesn't count.

Uh, the FG versions are usable in perpetuity. The files (both the modules and the software) sit on my computer and if SmiteWorks goes out of business I will always be able to access them.

The Roll20 versions, you are absolutely correct. That's one of the primary reasons I chose FG over Roll20.

Again, precision in words and statements. Just because there isn't a car that can fly, costs less than $10k, and out performs a Ferrari on the road does not mean that there are no flying cars!

 

[LordEntrails]

I'm not the first to say this, but I find it interesting to note that D&D fans that side on the far sides of the love/hate FR spectrum both are upset by the current WotC approach to the Realms.

In politics and negotiating, that usually means that the correct approach was taken.

 

[darjr]

If the version of software that supports those electronic copies from FG no longer works, what then? Can you access that content outside of their software?

 

[Mercule]

I'm not the first to say this, but I find it interesting to note that D&D fans that side on the far sides of the love/hate FR spectrum both are upset by the current WotC approach to the Realms.

In politics and negotiating, that usually means that the correct approach was taken.

The thought has crossed my mind. I may just not be their target customer. I'll readily admit that there probably isn't a huge swatch of folks who share my view on the Realms.

 

[guachi]

With the number of mega-adventures they have under their belt, WotC could have decided that the future release schedule would be one FR release and one non-FR release.

I think that would generate a LOT of buzz as people speculated on just what non-FR setting would be used. I think (and it would have with me if I were young and new to D&D) it would generate a lot of excitement among new players who could learn about all of D&D's history and great settings.

 

[Morrus]

With the number of mega-adventures they have under their belt, WotC could have decided that the future release schedule would be one FR release and one non-FR release.

I think that would generate a LOT of buzz as people speculated on just what non-FR setting would be used. I think (and it would have with me if I were young and new to D&D) it would generate a lot of excitement among new players who could learn about all of D&D's history and great settings.

Well the last three were FR, Ravenloft, FR. If the next one isn't FR, you got your wish!

 

[Argyle King]

The huge error they made for the setting was to do the 100-year leap going into 4e. Before that, even with edition changes and world-shattering events to mark those changes, the date in the setting only advanced 17 years, from 1358 DR to 1375 DR, so much of the fluff information from even the original 1e Gray Box was for the most part still relevant even in late 3e. Had they not decided to do the century leap (and, in the process, radically change the setting's geography and population twice), we could all still be using all the old campaign setting books from way back. I'm all for a mostly-fluff FRCS, just as long as the setting timeline advancement never gets such a huge skip again...

But it is a good point that a huge setting book like that might be intimidating when drawing new players to the game, so it would have to be handled in such a way that it's shown to be an optional, instead of a necessary, purchase.

I'm aware that I'm in the minority, but I actually really liked the 4E version of Forgotten Realms.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I'm aware that I'm in the minority, but I actually really liked the 4E version of Forgotten Realms.

It wasn't the changes that were so bad (although they were a bit on the radical side), it was moving the timeline so far up. If it had been moved to 1385 DR or so, it wouldn't have been so alienating, and old resources would still have had some utility to a point.

Sent from my VS987 using EN World mobile app

 

[BookBarbarian]

I would probably do it in a way to really distinguish it from the rest of the line maybe with different binding and a lot of art and maps, but thick with a lot reference information of nations, organizations, personages and history, everything anyone could possibly ask for in a FR guide except for game mechanics and stats. Have it serve basically as a setting bible and and as a art/coffee table style book with a higher price point to make up for the fact that it is a niche product and outside the normal cycle of releases with player content.

This is *almost* what they did with The Art of Zendikar book, and the Planeshift Zendikar PDF. It lacked the history, and setting info, outside of what was in the Races and Monster parts of the PDF. While it seemed to me it was designed to get Magic players to try 5e D&D, I actually liked the idea a lot. Separate but complimentary products is a pretty cool idea.

That being said, I think most of the FR information we are going to get will be in the form of adventures set specif areas of Faerun.