D&D 5E Scoopa doopa doop! Legends & Lore in the loop! (6/9/14)

[jadrax]

we din't have print. Or light. We had to feel out the cuneiform marks in the clay tablets that we were carrying uphill in a snowstorm in the darkness. If you got the rules wrong, Gary Gygax would sacrifice you at the top of a ziggurat. And we liked it that way.

Ah, so you are a latecomer to the hobby then.

 

[am181d]

I always thought the younger generations had less patience than us old timers....

When a buddy of mine asked if I wanted to try the Mice & Mystics board game, I agreed. But instead of learning and teaching the rules, he had us sit in front of his laptop and watch the video the gamemaker's company made to teach the game. A 3rd of the way through I was ready to claw my eyes out. "Why couldn't you read the rules and briefly explain them before we play, like we normally do?" "This is more thorough." I'll say it was.

That said, this isn't a bad idea. As long as they expect the GM (or player) to watch it on his own time, rather than everyone gathered around the screen.

Surely the lesson here is that the video was overly complicated. I don't see why a much more concise video wouldn't have been perfectly pleasant.

 

[Agamon]

Surely the lesson here is that the video was overly complicated. I don't see why a much more concise video wouldn't have been perfectly pleasant.

It was the opposite of complex, it was mind-numbingly dull. ...and I think I see the problem now. These things are made for folks that don't have clue one about a game, not advanced users. I watched the video with my eyes glazed, and pretty much missed out on the actually useful info. If I'd never seen an adventure game in my life, I might have been glued to every word and come out better for it.

 

[Blackwarder]

I think that instructional videos is an excellent way to teach the hobby but there need to also be a written down teachable material of the same subject the videos teach.

in education it is well know that some kids are visual earners while others learn better by listening or reading the material from a book, and the same goes for adults (because those learning habits don't go away).

All of this methods should be on the site, a video with an article, and the video should be simple enough and good enough to be able to understand what's happening even if you are just listening (for example while driving or for the seeing impaired among us).

Warder

 

[Remathilis]

This box went from "might buy it to try it" to "nope, I'll wait for the basic rules pdf" to "Well that sounds useful. I'll grab it July 3rd"

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

"Fan Delver."

Phahn-dahl-in.

Phan-DAHL-in, Phan-dah-LEEN.

[cheesy latin accent] Say my name correctly! Faahn Daaahn Goh
[/cheesy latin accent]

 

[RedShirtNo5.1]

More seriously, different people do learn in different ways - for some a demonstration is good, others might absorb from reading. That said, my 8 year old regularly watches YouTube videos in order to learn how to do stuff in Minecraft. I think vidoe instructions would be completely normal if WotC is going after the 12-18 year old new gamer bracket, as long as they are kept fairly short or are entertaining.

 

[tuxgeo]

[cheesy latin accent] Say my name correctly! Faahn Daaahn Goh
[/cheesy latin accent]

Wasn't it spelled "Fandango" but pronounced "Throat-Warbler Mangrove?" (Or was it the other way around?)

Anyway, you misspelled "Macarena."

 

[Quartz]

I'm pleased to see they've picked up on the point that I and many others made about extended playability and making it a level 1-5 adventure path. I'll be picking up this and the basic game download on July 15th.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

The major downside of using the Realms as the default setting is that you're stuck with stupid-sounding names that Ed Greenwood came up with when he was 6.

Did they have an alphabet or other written language back then? Or are we getting phonetic renderings of what some ancient bard remembers that Ed made up when he was 6?