D&D 4E Two Questions for the 4e Designers

[Rex Blunder]

taint gonna happen ... ?

 

[Dragonblade]

It is always neat seeing the development process. I actually would be slightly intrigued to buy another "Wizard's Presents:" book after June 6th that goes through the entire development process; when ideas were thought up, what stayed, what went, why, etc.

Yes. I would buy that. A tell-all book about the games development with all the crunchy details of how the existing game mechanics and fluff came about.

 

[Hussar]

taint gonna happen ... ?

Ew, ew ew. Strike that man with a dead fish.

Honestly, I could see a number of articles in Dragon detailing the developers decisions. That would make a fairly interesting column for a while I think. Seeing the people involved point of view, from devs to playtesters.

 

[smathis]

I was really, really opposed to standardizing advancement...

I was part of a group that stuck up making sure clerics and fighters were fun to play...

I think that the thing that saw the most opposition, but that won people over, was the entire concept of at-will/encounter/daily powers...

As for Darkness & Dread, I doubt I could do work directly on that book, but I do like dark horror/fantasy.

Thanks for the answers, Mike. It's great to hear the inside stories of what went on in the making of 4e. Maybe you and Dave can share some of the juicy details, hard-fought battles and bloopers on a podcast one day?

I find the design process of RPGs pretty fascinating, although I've thrown my hat in the ring enough time to know I'm not so good at it.

Thanks for sticking up for fighters and clerics. I knew my trust in your work was not misplaced. You on the team did as much to bring me back to D&D as just about anything else.

As for Darkness & Dread, here's hoping you get a shot at a setting similar to Northwall in 4e. Who do I have to email in Renton to get that going? Don't make me picket!!!

Seriously, though, Darkness & Dread is one of my favorite 3e books. I liked it even better than Iron Heroes. And I liked Iron Heroes a lot...

One of the first things I'm doing is trying to convert those Darkness & Dread classes when I get my mits on 4e. I don't know if it's doable. But if it's what I gotta do to tide me over until you get a shot at a dark-fantasy setting book... Then so be it.

Thanks for everything and keep up the good work!

 

[Keenath]

Almost every change was met with some level of opposition from someone, but the good changes were ones that, after playing with the change, people couldn't really remember why there was a fuss about it.

For bad changes, basically stuff that we had to do more work on, people complained even more after playing the new rule.

I hope that means we got all the races right...

Thanks for the response! I was kind of doubtful I'd get any sort of dev response, but -- woo!

You're right, not quite what I was expecting -- but a fascinating answer none the less. It sounds to me like you're right, that they're pretty darn good, if you can't remember what was the old idea.

I never saw Darkness & Dread, but I'll throw my vote in for it -- or some sort of "Heroes of Horror" style book, if the rules can be made more elegant. I think HoH was good from a fluff or DM-suggestions standpoint, but mechanically awkward, and it suffered for that.

 

[FabioMilitoPagliara]

thank you Mike!

 

[arscott]

high elves becoming eladrins? I'm sure that raised a few eyebrows.

 

[Keenath]

high elves becoming eladrins? I'm sure that raised a few eyebrows.

Not really. I, for one, said, "Oh, that makes sense." Elves have been schizophrenic for a long time ("Are we serious shiny magic people or chaotic forest stalkers? I'm confused.") and splitting their two halves into to different races was a pretty obvious step. FR did it a long time ago. All they really did was change the name-label from "Glowymagictype Elf" to "Eladrin".

 

[Xorn]

Mike, Dave, I just want to thank you for every time you post out here on the forums. I have all your podcasts on my iPod and spend as much time listening to them (at work) as I do working. I hear on the podcast as you guys talk about how much fun you have when you actually get to stop designing and look at the forums and share a little bit--and then to see it happening is really something encouraging.

I've mentioned to a lot of my friends, and the owner of my game shop, who is... leery of 4E, that I was on board for 4E after reading the design and development essays in the Wizards Presents books. The fan material we have to get a sneak peak at the crunchy bits is well and good--but it's the enthusiasm and direction that is evident in the essays that have been shared that make me believe 4E is going to be as great as you all feel it is.

The shorter version of that is, I guess, I hope there's a post-release Wizards Presents, too.

 

[Michele Carter]

high elves becoming eladrins? I'm sure that raised a few eyebrows.

You know, it's funny; it *felt* right when it was proposed, but I remember a good bit of nervousness about how the concept would be received. At least around here, it quickly became apparent how well the split works in play and world design, and how well it fits all of the already-established archetypes. I'm playing both an eladrin and an elf at the moment, and I love how culturally different they feel.