D&D 5E Open Letter to Mike Mearls from a pro game dev

[Obryn]

...?

This is the kind of coherent, pertinent argument one would expect to find on da internetz

It's not an argument, it's an expression of sheer exasperation.

Because Holy Crap, I've heard and read enough insane arguments about damage on a miss over the past few weeks to last a lifetime and the only thing new you're adding is an insistence that your "credentials" make your opinions on the topic new, interesting, or more relevant than anyone else who's taken a survey.

 

[Gorgoroth]

It's not an argument, it's an expression of sheer exasperation.

Because Holy Crap, I've heard and read enough insane arguments about damage on a miss over the past few weeks to last a lifetime and the only thing new you're adding is an insistence that your "credentials" make your opinions on the topic new, interesting, or more relevant than anyone else who's taken a survey.

The opinions about game rules by pro game developers should be taken more seriously. That's what expertise means.

When people start paying you six figures for your game dev skills, call me.

 

[Stormonu]

I'm sorry, I don't like damage on a miss myself, but your open letter is full of reading comprehension fail. Please go back and carefully re-read the GWF text. Several of your points are invalid and need to be rewritten to be correct.

Note: MELEE weapons only. STR MODIFIER, not STR damage.

 

[Gorgoroth]

I'm sorry, I don't like damage on a miss myself, but your open letter is full of reading comprehension fail. Please go back and carefully re-read the GWF text. Several of your points are invalid and need to be rewritten to be correct.

Note: MELEE weapons only. STR MODIFIER, not STR damage.

A trident is both a melee and a ranged weapon. Throwing it is a rules "maybe", but it's still a bug.

Certainly not elegant, which is one of the design goals. Anything requiring rules lookups slow the game down. If you think Tridents aren't great weapons when you throw them with two hands, then perhaps they should rename GWF to "never can miss fighting style", that would be accurate.

I can, and have, gone through every single one of these counter-arguments dozens of times, and blasted every single one away.

Q) how many thousands of bugs in games have you identified and corrected in your vast game development experience?

When you explain why damage cannot be dealt on a missed ranged attack, you've also explained by the same reasoning why it cannot be dealt on a melee attack. Melee weapons only damage you when they hit you, and HP does not mean stamina, otherwise attacking would deplete your HP as well as dodging.

Imagine fit kobolds dying of exhaustion after 6 seconds of combat vs a guy with a big axe. It's so ludicrous, I won't even debase myself to debate its merits.

 

[Deset Gled]

The opinions about game rules by pro game developers should be taken more seriously. That's what expertise means.

When people start paying you six figures for your game dev skills, call me.

Actually, I respect the opinions of Eric Mona and RangerWicket (and Col Playdoh and Sean K Reynolds and countless other gaming devs who have posted on ENWorld in the past) because they're legitimately nice people who post interesting and insightful things. And because they don't tell me about the fact that they're a professional game developers in every post they make. I suspect you would be taken a lot more seriously if you learned a bit from their example.

On a related note, would anyone else like to speculate how many actual game devs take home a regular six figure salary? Based on the general size of the RPG market, I'm guessing that number is about a dozen or so. Maybe less.

 

[Gorgoroth]

Actually, I respect the opinions of Eric Mona and RangerWicket (and Col Playdoh and Sean K Reynolds and countless other gaming devs who have posted on ENWorld in the past) because they're legitimately nice people who post interesting and insightful things. And because they don't tell me about the fact that they're a professional game developers in every post they make. I suspect you would be taken a lot more seriously if you learned a bit from their example.

On a related note, would anyone else like to speculate how many actual game devs take home a regular six figure salary? Based on the general size of the RPG market, I'm guessing that number is about a dozen or so.

I'm a nice guy in real life, trust me, but this is war, and we are so very close to the finish line that I want him to be made aware once again, for the last time, perhaps, before it's too late. An attack cannot deal damage on both hits and misses, otherwise those polar opposite events (indeed, a miss is defined in the dictionary as a "failure to hit") have no inherent meaning and the game is reduced to mere semantic sludge.. I want Mearls to remove this crud or I will not be able to play this game, or DM it (which I'm dying to do, once I know which way he rules).

CRPG devs routinely make six figures, and the work we do is far, FAR more complicated, widely-scrutinized, analyzed, profitable, and generally pertinent to more people than D&D could ever hope to be. Keeping things simple is not merely a worthwhile design goal for us, it's an absolute necessity. Which is why I recognize Mearls as a pro, and see eye to eye with him in most ways. He's clearly a guy who learned from his mistakes in the 2008 era, and has a love for D&D in the classic sense (i.e. one where associated mechanics result in a coherent interpretation of the game from both the player and the character point of view...which he also mentioned recently as a design goal).

 

[Deset Gled]

CRPG devs routinely make six figures, and the work we do is far, FAR more complicated than D&D could ever hope to be.

So, just to be clear then, you're not an actual, professional, role playing game developer? And you acknowledge that the work you do is significantly different from games like D&D?

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Ignore list longer.

Thread much shorter.

That's the only way to handle these situations.

 

[MortalPlague]

If you think Tridents aren't great weapons when you throw them with two hands, then perhaps they should rename GWF to "never can miss fighting style", that would be accurate.

Do you even listen to yourself? Throwing a trident with two hands and arguing that it counts for a melee feat because it's listed as a melee weapon?

Good luck with your petition, sir.

 

[Gorgoroth]

So, just to be clear then, you're not an actual, professional, role playing game developer? And you acknowledge that the work you do is significantly different from games like D&D?

I've made all types of games, including RPGs. Table-top RPGs, no, but those obey the same set of logic and narrative consistency rules as do many other computer-based ones. Logic is universal, game design is not strictly limited to what type of processor it's run on (the human mind vs a multi-core GPU). Sure, the human mind is vastly superior in many ways, but what I can make a computer do in real time would make most DMs feel like the Reaper kicked in the door to the bathroom stall and said "time's up" while they were on the throne.

Solving game design issues in D&D is actually rather trivial for someone in my profession. I solve much harder bugs all day, every day, 12 hours a day, for years at a time, and ship games played by thousands of times more players than each iteration of D&D ever has.

Besides that, any child knows that a sword that wooshes by your head doesn't hurt you unless it actually connected. Which is why it's so banal that I even have to argue this, or that it's dragged on this long.

Imagine the Archery fighting style dealt damage on a miss. It would be ludicrous, right?

Now explain, in physical terms, how a sword attack can deal damage on a miss. Like, damage. Not tiring you, which is NOT damage.

The physics of why archery cannot result in damage on a miss are the exact same (basic newtonian physics), as those for melee attacks. The EXACT same. We're talking, basic collision detection modelling here. Momentum transfer.

Nobody has ever died of a few seconds of strenuous activity, even an old man with a bum ticker and a harem would last longer than a kobold vs a fighter with GWF.