Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved

[mythusmage]

Arcana Evolved, or what happens when you give Living Spells (Eberron) Viagra.

"With this specimen you'll note that while Living Mage Hand soon went extinct, it did manage to hang on long enough to get incorporated into the genome of the ancestors of many current species of Living Spell."

 

[Zappo]

Revised Warcraft RPG? Uhm, anyone has any idea of why?

 

[JoeGKushner]

The question that you need to ask is, "What could Mearls be working on that would take him 6 months to complete, before editing, playtesting, and layout?"

Of course, I can't answer that quite yet. I think we'll start talking about it in January.

That does sound promising and it doesn't sound like Arcana Evolved, as that book is actually coming out in January. I'm glad to see that it's something big. I've enjoyed your work in various Fiery Dragon and Atlas Adventures but to be honest, some of it is hit or miss for me. The Book of Hallow Might 2 had some high points but wasn't, in my opinion, your strongest work. For a while there I thought you were working with Monte was like him taking a heavy competitor off the streets.

 

[kilamanjaro]

I remember seeing somewhere Mr. Mearls saying that he wasn't happy with the LA system and that he'd like to work on an alternative to that. I hope that's what he's working on because I don't like the LA system either, and I'd love to see what he comes up with.

 

[teitan]

That does sound promising and it doesn't sound like Arcana Evolved, as that book is actually coming out in January. I'm glad to see that it's something big. I've enjoyed your work in various Fiery Dragon and Atlas Adventures but to be honest, some of it is hit or miss for me. The Book of Hallow Might 2 had some high points but wasn't, in my opinion, your strongest work. For a while there I thought you were working with Monte was like him taking a heavy competitor off the streets.

I have always wondered at this sort of mentality, providing a compliment and then SMACK! a thinly veiled grumbling. Makes no sense to me and is there really a point to it in a thread like this?

Jason

 

[MDSnowman]

Revised Warcraft RPG? Uhm, anyone has any idea of why?

Because all the early prestige classes were painfully easy to qualify for and gave you TONS of special abilities. It could use a minor overhaul I don't know if a revised edition is required though.

 

[Psion]

I have always wondered at this sort of mentality, providing a compliment and then SMACK! a thinly veiled grumbling. Makes no sense to me and is there really a point to it in a thread like this?

Eh. He'll get over it. I mean, I see no problem with constructive criticism. And unlike some thin-skinned authors, Mearls has been one that has historically taken it in stride.

I remember one of my first reviews was AEG's Dungeons, which Mearls worked on. I had some commentary about the way some things were done there. Mike contacted me and we had a nice little chat about the way things were done, and how they could be better.

If you ask me, it's why he is one of the better authors out there. He is willing to introspect about his work. I see a great many authors who are "Good, but could be better", but never get better because they are convinced that they can't improve.

 

[mearls]

That does sound promising and it doesn't sound like Arcana Evolved, as that book is actually coming out in January. I'm glad to see that it's something big. I've enjoyed your work in various Fiery Dragon and Atlas Adventures but to be honest, some of it is hit or miss for me. The Book of Hallow Might 2 had some high points but wasn't, in my opinion, your strongest work. For a while there I thought you were working with Monte was like him taking a heavy competitor off the streets.

I think Legacy of Dragons is much more indicative of the quality you can expect - BOHM 2 was the first book that requires Monte and I to work together closely, and we definitely learned a lot about how to effectively collaborate. Like any process, there's going to be bumps in the road as we iron everything out. With Legacy of the Dragons, we didn't need to work as closely together.

That said, I think BOHM 2 is a good book. I just think that, looking back, it provided us with a lot of important lessons in how to manage our schedule and handle each release. The Book of Iron Might is much closer to how I want to handle our releases in terms of promotion, design, and philosophy.

As Psion pointed out - you can't get better if you don't listen to your audience. I see our development processes at Malhavoc in a constant state of churning lessons from the last book into the next one, and then the lessons from that one into the next, and so forth.

 

[Monte At Home]

No offense to the Malhavoc people but Mike was doing a ton of stuff and his output at Malhavoc seems, well pitiful for a guy who can do so much.

None taken. We pride ourselves in not churning out books. Plus, we take the time playtest everything. I'd rather have one really well-written book by Mike, playtested and edited by Sue, than three that he rushed out the door.

But in addition, just for a grounding in publishing reality, I've got to ask, you do realize that any (non-rushjob) book you see on a shelf was probably written at least 4-6 months before that point (due to editing, layout, printing and shipping times) and Mike's only been with us about 5 months, right?

I'm quite literally looking down at my desk at three different printouts of Mike Mearls books in various stages of development, plus the really big, ultra-cool thing he's working on now.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I'm quite literally looking down at my desk at three different printouts of Mike Mearls books in various stages of development, plus the really big, ultra-cool thing he's working on now.

More teasing, more torture! Really big, ultra-cool? Hmmm...Its obviously a book about Kobolds!