The Paladin and the Stirges


log in or register to remove this ad

Leviatham

Explorer
Davethegame, I truly hope this outburst of nonsense won't put you off continuing to report on how the game is shaping up and how much fun you're having with it.

Please ignore the people who, clearly, don't understand what the playtesting and alpha/beta versions of a game are and how valuable the work you're doing it.

You're doing a great thing and we will all be grateful when the game turns out to be a great game thanks to the efforts of people like you!
 


SarahDarkmagic

First Post
One thing that Wizards of the Coast has said repeatedly is that they want this game to empower DMs and players to create the stories they find interesting at the game table. So the fact that Dave could do that and it all still worked shows that they are meeting that goal. The rules aren't anywhere near as important as what we can do with them and, given Dave's report, it looks like we can do quite a bit.
 


catsclaw227

First Post
The way they're doing it now just feels like a PR nightmare -- I've seen threads go on for dozens on pages based on the idea that the "paladin vs. stirge" scenario represented the 5e rules, when it doesn't seem to represent anything other than one particular DM's whim of the moment.
Really? A PR Nightmare?

How about: It was a decisive call from a DM that didn't have the exact ruling, so he made it interesting and flavorful and fun (and maybe even a bit more realistic) for the players and yet they weren't sidetracked and were allowed to continue without being "punished".

I think this is called Awesome DMing(tm) and would be glad to see it at my table. Heck, we've been doing stuff like this for 30 years. It feels rather... um.... Uniting if you ask me! :)
 

Sigdel

First Post
When the "weeks of bed rest" thing was mentioned it was was not stated if it was a hand-wave fluff or rules-dogma crunch. So enough people took it as part of the new rules, and understandably so. Not everyone enjoys that style of play or the thought that weeks of campaign time has to go by so that a PC can continue. After all, the original Keep on The Borderlands has monsters moving back in to empty cave and whatnot almost on a weekly basis. Kinda like weeding a garden, you have to keep at it otherwise the weeds are just going to pop up and you in the same spot you were when you started. Others enjoy the thought of hard-core consequences for damage the PC's take. It's all a matter of taste. But once again the initial statement came off as "crunchy" not "fluffy." IMHO
 

SarahDarkmagic

First Post
When the "weeks of bed rest" thing was mentioned it was was not stated if it was a hand-wave fluff or rules-dogma crunch. So enough people took it as part of the new rules, and understandably so. Not everyone enjoys that style of play or the thought that weeks of campaign time has to go by so that a PC can continue. After all, the original Keep on The Borderlands has monsters moving back in to empty cave and whatnot almost on a weekly basis. Kinda like weeding a garden, you have to keep at it otherwise the weeds are just going to pop up and you in the same spot you were when you started. Others enjoy the thought of hard-core consequences for damage the PC's take. It's all a matter of taste. But once again the initial statement came off as "crunchy" not "fluffy." IMHO

A question in the article's comment section could have quickly cleared that up. Instead people took what they thought was a ball and ran with it and are now upset to find out it wasn't what they thought at all.
 

TheAngryDM

First Post
Let me be clear, here. I think the folderol surrounding Dave's and Mike's posts has been utterly ridiculous and overly emotional. I also think its been freakin' hilarious. But then, I tend to read forums for the same reason I go to the zoo and watch the monkeys: I like watching animals behaving like animals and flinging their poo at one another. Its probably an ego thing. Makes me feel like a paragon of maturity and sophistication by comparison.

That said, I have to concede the OP does have a bit of point. If folks are going to write about their D&D Next playtest experiences, there is going to be a risk of crossed wires. Because non-playtesters won't know what is really "in the system" and what is just "a DM being a DM" unless it is made explicitly clear. And, like any new release, everyone is going to be clamoring to know what the system and the rules look like. I'm not BLAMING Dave or Mike for the vitriol here. I'd probably have talked about it the exact same way if I'd been playing or running D&D Next at D&D XP and it never would have occurred to me to give it a second though.

So, people are going to read all of these things looking for the hidden crunch implied in the story. And, absent any assurances to the contrary, they are going to assume that anything that happens in the story is directly connected to the rules of the game. Right? Wrong? Who's to say. But it's the way people are going to read these things. And even the reasonable ones among us who can somehow restrain ourselves from screaming to the Heavens that this or that or the other "ruins D&D 4evar!!!" because we know that (a) its basically pre-alpha of a core skeleton of a system that is going to be heavily modifiable when it's finished and (b) anything could change in the next iteration of the playtest; even we who know those things are still looking for the crunchy bits in those reports just out of sheer unbridled curiousity.
 

Sigdel

First Post
A question in the article's comment section could have quickly cleared that up. Instead people took what they thought was a ball and ran with it and are now upset to find out it wasn't what they thought at all.

True, but a statement by the OP would of cleared that up just as well. (let me state that in no way am I holding the OP to blame in any way, shape, or fashion. Something he said got away from him, it happens.) Plus, with the nature on NDA's, as far as I understand them, there was no promise of a strait answer. People speculate, it happens.
 

Remove ads

Top