WOTC's designers use control guides to keep their game mechanics built properily. These guides minimize power creep and keeps game effects balanced for each level. They also point out trouble areas such (such as touchy rules around the polymorph spell). Much of the behind the scenes comments and side bars that are popping up give insight as why game mechanics are built the way they are. The upcoming Rules Compendium promises even deeper designer insight into the more complicated rules and trouble areas of the game.
I want to do our best to reverse engineer the material that would be found in those guides.
Much of this material aids DMs building their own campaigns and coverting or using material in the official books. Personally I love this stuff, I love seeing how the pros work and the ways they see things and I would like to put together a resource of that caliber for our own use.
Examples of what I am looking for:
Basically, when building a game mechanic for D&D (such as a new feat or magic item), what consdierations for buidling it need to be on hand and referenced to make it balanced. What is the art/ science guides that WOTC designers would use to remain consistant.
Tome and Blood is a good example at how they lay out spell design in there, using the most powerful spell of each level as a guideline as to what to benchmark the other material they design by.
I think both of these resources are valuable for DMs, thrid party publishers and upcoming game designers. When software companies work with gaming platforms they are given specs. content standards and control documents to make the best games they can for that platform. This is really no different, and tightens up the very concepts of the OGL.
Lets keep this clean and focused. If you are adding to a previous post, please qoute the necessary parts of the original for refrence. Lets do our best not to repeat what other posters have placed above, only adjust things when necessary. Once we have gathered this material together, then it can be edited and placed in an organized form.
If the material is copyrighted, then just list the author, book, article name and page to find it in. If the material is on a website, then just post a link. I would like to gather all of that wisdom into one place.
I want to do our best to reverse engineer the material that would be found in those guides.
Much of this material aids DMs building their own campaigns and coverting or using material in the official books. Personally I love this stuff, I love seeing how the pros work and the ways they see things and I would like to put together a resource of that caliber for our own use.
Examples of what I am looking for:
- Designer Notes on building races, classes, feats, prestige classes, magic items, etc
- References to articles written by designers on any of these subject matters
- Links to posts by designers discussing game design in D&D
- Posts by forum users on these same subjects, perhaps covering designer information that is not available.
Basically, when building a game mechanic for D&D (such as a new feat or magic item), what consdierations for buidling it need to be on hand and referenced to make it balanced. What is the art/ science guides that WOTC designers would use to remain consistant.
Tome and Blood is a good example at how they lay out spell design in there, using the most powerful spell of each level as a guideline as to what to benchmark the other material they design by.
I think both of these resources are valuable for DMs, thrid party publishers and upcoming game designers. When software companies work with gaming platforms they are given specs. content standards and control documents to make the best games they can for that platform. This is really no different, and tightens up the very concepts of the OGL.
Lets keep this clean and focused. If you are adding to a previous post, please qoute the necessary parts of the original for refrence. Lets do our best not to repeat what other posters have placed above, only adjust things when necessary. Once we have gathered this material together, then it can be edited and placed in an organized form.
If the material is copyrighted, then just list the author, book, article name and page to find it in. If the material is on a website, then just post a link. I would like to gather all of that wisdom into one place.
Last edited:
