D&D General The Resurrection of Mike Mearls Games.

[darjr]

For me the light bulb came on when playing DCC RPG. You want to customize your character, okay...Quest For It. Instead of picking feats or spells or extra classes or magic items from a menu on level up, turn that desire for the thing into an adventure unto itself. You want a badass magic sword, great...ask around, learn some of the world's history, and sniff out rumors of where such items might be hidden and go on a quest to find it. Want to become a master swordsman, great...ask around, etc and go find that legendary sword master and train with them. It takes the boring mechanical bits and makes them interesting stories unto themselves. To me that's chef's kiss.

Absolutely! This too.

I do note that comments about “does it support campaign play” or “I felt like I had less control” from my players highlights, for me, the need for some players to have those options and that character build mini game.

 

[Shardstone]

Absolutely! This too.

I do note that comments about “does it support campaign play” or “I felt like I had less control” from my players highlights, for me, the need for some players to have those options and that character build mini game.

Agreed! And it's something I've overlooked in my own designs in the past. Players want something to adventure for. Story and combat are great, but loot is and always will be what, IMO, excites players the most.

 

[Neonchameleon]

But like -that option does exist: Playing a spellcaster. Spellcasters are the complex classes for people who want lots of choices, and martials are the simple classes for people who don't. And there's some middle ground like Eldritch Trickster.

Username checks out.

The thing is why should it be complex if you want to set the world on fire? Or simple if you want to trick your way and outmaneuver your foes to success without having magic as a crutch?

 

[overgeeked]

Absolutely! This too.

I do note that comments about “does it support campaign play” or “I felt like I had less control” from my players highlights, for me, the need for some players to have those options and that character build mini game.

Absolutely. Different people have different preferences. Nothing wrong with that. But not all of those preferences are going to be compatible with each other. It's too bad, but just like not every game is for every player, not every table is for every player. There are some differences in taste, playstyles, etc that are simply irreconcilable.

 

[SteveC]

But this restricts martial classes such that none of them have any options, and casters such that only they have options. This is bad design.

I will agree with this to a certain degree. I think that good design would be to have both complex martial characters and simple spell casters. The idea is that you should be able to play the kind of character you want in the powered/martial divide and have that be either complex or simple. It just is such a long standing tradition that the poor fighter (or fighting man as they used to be called...) is the option for simple play. I think we can do better in 2024.

 

[Zardnaar]

I've been thinking of something in that wheelhouse, but a sort of 2e/4e mash-up. Four classes (Warrior, Mage, Priest, and Rogue) that get a completely fungible slot progression, and 0-9 level powers split up into domains. Each class gets a default domain (Warrior - Defend, Mage - Control, Priest - Motivate, Rogue - Strike), and two elective domains (two class domains for humans, a class and a kindred domain for others). You'd pick up new domains at roughly the same rate that a 5e character gets feats.

I've been thinking of a similar Mashup.

 

[deganawida]

For me the light bulb came on when playing DCC RPG. You want to customize your character, okay...Quest For It. Instead of picking feats or spells or extra classes or magic items from a menu on level up, turn that desire for the thing into an adventure unto itself. You want a badass magic sword, great...ask around, learn some of the world's history, and sniff out rumors of where such items might be hidden and go on a quest to find it. Want to become a master swordsman, great...ask around, etc and go find that legendary sword master and train with them. It takes the boring mechanical bits and makes them interesting stories unto themselves. To me that's chef's kiss.

It also improves creativity on the part of the DM. Your fighter is complaining that they never do anything but attack? Watch how they describe it, turn it into a signature move for them, add some mechanics, boom.

It’s nice to break free of the tyranny of the rulebooks

 

[DEFCON 1]

It also improves creativity on the part of the DM. Your fighter is complaining that they never do anything but attack? Watch how they describe it, turn it into a signature move for them, add some mechanics, boom.

It’s nice to break free of the tyranny of the rulebooks

Unfortunately, so many people seem so beholden to the rulebooks... which is why they try so hard to get WotC to change the rules in said rulebooks-- so they can have what they want printed in the format they seem to need.

 

[teitan]

5e 2014 is definitely a brilliant game. Not sure if it's lone genius so much as Mike's ability to get the best out of collaborators.

That requires a certain genius but I’ve followed his work since the D20 boom and his Necromancer Games modules.

 

[S'mon]

That requires a certain genius but I’ve followed his work since the D20 boom and his Necromancer Games modules.

Yeah, me too!