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

[rounser]

In many ways, 3E was Monte's game

I don't get that impression at all. Look at the credits pages in your books.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

I remember reading a blog entry on his site a while back that basically stated that when he went independent from WotC, he had a bunch of non rpg plans that he had put on hold that he thought he would finally have a chance to get around to.

Then a few years later, after doing a bunch of D&D related PDF projects, he realized he still had not gotten around to doing those things. So he figured it was time to put his D&D related pursuits aside for a while, and go after those plans much more directly.

As an aside, the amount of wild speculation and rumor flying around, as well as the conspiracy theories, are highly entertaining, if wildly inaccurate. Not that I am in any position to be better informed than anyone else, mind you.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Christoph the Magus]

I don't get that impression at all. Look at the credits pages in your books.

I do, and after looking again, still do. YMMV

 

[Acts]

Isn't he writing novels now? I'd imagine that his devotion to that new line of work might be more explanation. Monte's been pretty honest with the public on his thoughts about Wotc, D&D and faulty game releases before (demonstrated in your assertion), and his thoughts are pretty neutral on 4E. I don't see why he would be neutral suddenly when he's been pretty scathing in the past. That wouldn't make sense.

 

[Mike_Lescault]

A couple of days before GenCon, I was able to interview Monte on my podcast. We talked about a lot of things, including his career. Even though he was visiting WotC at the time and had been in many meetings the day before, getting the scoop on 4E, it was my pre-con podcast, so we weren't able to talk about 4E.

However, if you're interested in hearing his thoughts in his own words, you can check it out here. http://webcast2.wizards.com/podcasts/07gencon/grz_009.mp3

 

[Khairn]

A couple of days before GenCon, I was able to interview Monte on my podcast. We talked about a lot of things, including his career. Even though he was visiting WotC at the time and had been in many meetings the day before, getting the scoop on 4E, it was my pre-con podcast, so we weren't able to talk about 4E.

However, if you're interested in hearing his thoughts in his own words, you can check it out here. http://webcast2.wizards.com/podcasts/07gencon/grz_009.mp3

Do you have a transcript?

 

[Arkhandus]

As an aside, the amount of wild speculation and rumor flying around, as well as the conspiracy theories, are highly entertaining, if wildly inaccurate. Not that I am in any position to be better informed than anyone else, mind you.

END COMMUNICATION

Aye. Monte went independant only to produce his own material and find the time to work on his non-RPG-related goals, then realized he had been too busy with Malhavoc Press, and put that aside for now to work on his earlier goals that had been put on the back-burner. It has nothing to do with 4th Edition.

 

[rounser]

I do, and after looking again, still do. YMMV

I got the impression that 3E was a huge group effort, with at least three main developers, a lot of input from Peter Adkison, playtesters etc. etc. But I could be wrong.

It's a curiosity to me that the position of "author of the DMG" has made Monte Cook the new Gygax in a lot of people's eyes. A cult of personality seemed to develop around him which sort of explains the kind of comment you've made there, and probably had a huge contribution to the success of Malhavoc Press. Do you have inside information that suggests 3E was mostly his doing?

 

[Numion]

It's a curiosity to me that the position of "author of the DMG" has made Monte Cook the new Gygax in a lot of people's eyes. A cult of personality seemed to develop around him which sort of explains the kind of comment you've made there, and probably had a huge contribution to the success of Malhavoc Press. Do you have inside information that suggests 3E was mostly his doing?

The perception that Cook was behind 3E might've come from his stronger presence on the net, and especially here at ENWorld in the first years of 3E. He was most willing to explain reasonings behind design choices of 3E, so maybe people (faultily) attributed those design choices solely to him.

He's a solid designer, don't get me wrong, my favorite and all that. But 3E DMG was a bit underwhelming when the PHB and MM were so much better (IMO) than past edition equivalents.

I don't think his cult personality affected Malhavoc's success that much; at least I hope it was the quality that did most of the work.

 

[glass]

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

I was thinking just that as I read the OP. I was even going to use the words 'magnum opus'.


glass.