D&D 4E Was Monte's decision to retire influenced by 4E?

[Menexenus]

You know, it suddenly occurred to me that Monte Cook had lots of friends who worked for WotC. So, chances are good that he knew 4E was coming up soon. A new edition of D&D had the potential to make all of his lines (Arcana Evolved, Iron Heroes, Ptolus) obsolete. In addition, Monte has previously decried the lack of playtesting that WotC and others do for major releases since the beginning of 3rd edition.

When Monte first made his announcement that he was leaving the gaming industry for a while, it seemed crazy to me at the time. He had literally just released Ptolus. But now I think I'm starting to see where he was coming from. It is possible that he simply had no interest in revising all of his company's work to fit a 4th edition that he believed would be fatally flawed out of the starting gate due to lack of sufficient playtesting.

At least, that's my speculation. Anyone want to jump on board the speculation train with me? Alternatively, does anyone want to shoot down my opinion as patent nonsense? What do *you* think - did the advent of 4E have anything to do with Monte's decision to retire?

 

[Doug McCrae]

When Monte first made his announcement that he was leaving the gaming industry for a while, it seemed crazy to me at the time. He had literally just released Ptolus.

Wouldn't immediately after completing one's magnum opus be the perfect time?

 

[Wormwood]

It is possible that he simply had no interest in revising all of his company's work to fit a 4th edition that he believed would be fatally flawed out of the starting gate due to lack of sufficient playtesting.

At least, that's my speculation. Anyone want to jump on board the speculation train with me? Alternatively, does anyone want to shoot down my opinion as patent nonsense?

Well, until you provide a little supporting evidence for your assertion, I'm going to have to go with 'patent nonsense'.

 

[F4NBOY]

A new edition of D&D had the potential to make all of his lines (Arcana Evolved, Iron Heroes, Ptolus) obsolete.

Arcana Evolved and Iron Heroes are stand alone games, they are not even d20 games(i mean they don't have the d20 seal). Saying they become obselete is the same as saying SWSE or M&M become obsolete too. It makes no sense.

About Ptolus, it's 90% fluffy setting material, 4E doesn't make it any obsolete at all. My old 2E stuff is useful until today.

Actually the word "obsolete" is meaningless in RPG. It's not like a computer that gets old and can't run the newest software. RPGs books don't get obselete, but RPG players do .

I thought it was strange and mysterious they way Monte "retired". But I think he just had a lot of work with ptolus. That book is huge he worked his ass off to put all that up. I think it drained some of his Game Designers levels. He needs some time to recover, and to have some fun too! All work and no play makes Monte a dull boy.

 

[carmachu]

Nice, but flawed. As Doug just said....leaving after his magnum opus was the perfect time for him to leave....I wonder what he's going to do.

 

[Christoph the Magus]

While a think the term "fatally flawed" is a bit presumptous, Monte is in a odd spot, much like Gygax was when 3E was released. In many ways, 3E was Monte's game, and I wouldn't be surprised if he likes it better than anything else that WOTC may have coming down the pipe, much as Gygax feels that OD&D IS Dungeons and Dragons and 3E is a new game.

Plus, from a marketing standpoint, things were golden for Monte with 3E. His name was on a core book, for crying out loud. Now he'll be knocked dow a peg and put on an even level with a lot of other D20 publishers, and maybe it just doesn't make business sense to continue.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

Nice, but flawed. As Doug just said....leaving after his magnum opus was the perfect time for him to leave....I wonder what he's going to do.

He's said that he's decided to move on to writing fiction. IMO it's likely that after 10 years as a game designer, part of that as a publisher, he just wants to do something different.

 

[Vigilance]

You know, it suddenly occurred to me that Monte Cook had lots of friends who worked for WotC. So, chances are good that he knew 4E was coming up soon. A new edition of D&D had the potential to make all of his lines (Arcana Evolved, Iron Heroes, Ptolus) obsolete. In addition, Monte has previously decried the lack of playtesting that WotC and others do for major releases since the beginning of 3rd edition.

When Monte first made his announcement that he was leaving the gaming industry for a while, it seemed crazy to me at the time. He had literally just released Ptolus. But now I think I'm starting to see where he was coming from. It is possible that he simply had no interest in revising all of his company's work to fit a 4th edition that he believed would be fatally flawed out of the starting gate due to lack of sufficient playtesting.

At least, that's my speculation. Anyone want to jump on board the speculation train with me? Alternatively, does anyone want to shoot down my opinion as patent nonsense? What do *you* think - did the advent of 4E have anything to do with Monte's decision to retire?

So, if (god forbid) Monte had had a health problem of some sort immediately after the announcement, would you be organizing a lynch mob right now, since it would be obvious that 4th edition was more than he could bear?

I think the best bet is to go with what Monte actually said and accept that writing a novel is a really tempting offer.

Or you can keep scanning the Zapruder film looking for that second gunman.

 

[The_Gneech]

I suspect that if it was really that big of a factor, he'd willingly have said so. Monte's pretty straightforward about such things.

-The Gneech

 

[Odhanan]

It is possible that he simply had no interest in revising all of his company's work to fit a 4th edition that he believed would be fatally flawed out of the starting gate due to lack of sufficient playtesting.

Nonsense.

I don't know what Monte thinks of what we know about 4e (though I would say some design points are actually in accord with his own opinions of how the game could evolve), and I'm sure we'll have some matter of opinion in the weeks to come in one form or another, but you certainly cannot say that "4e" for him "would be fatally flawed due to lack of playtesting".

You're downright putting words in his mouth, for one, and two, we know that the actual work on 4E started a while ago. So my piece of advice: don't do that. Wait and see. Don't create a problem that does not and will not exist. Thank you, my friend!