D&D 5E What do you want from Legends & Lore

[DEFCON 1]

Along with the "here's what we're looking at/changing/wondering about now" would be some more, especially as the months go by, "This is HOW IT IS. This is WHAT WE'VE DECIDED"...your the developer, DEVELOP! You're the boss, make the tough choices, the executive decisions! All the polls in the world matter for squat. Sooner or later a decision NEEDS to be made to say "we're going to do this not that."

This is a completely ridiculous idea.

Have you not followed the development of ANY properties over the past several years? Almost every single developer of some sort of property has learned (by being burned over and over again) that you DO NOT release concrete information until right before the actual thing itself is being released.

Why?

Because the internet is full of whiny, self-serving, easily-bruised dunderheads who go apo-fudging-plectic when something is "promised" to them, but then it turns out can't actually get done at the exact damned second that the company had said it was because some issue popped up or some other change resulted in a problem needing to be fixed. The caterwauling that occurs by all of us idiots out here then drowns out EVERYTHING else that could be said.

So for anyone to expect any company to make an official statement about X, Y or Z being DECIDED and OFFICIAL, and THIS IS HOW IT IS... when we still have over a year for any of those things to no longer be decided and official and this is how it is (because during a playtest design and development things change)... has not been paying much attention to all the other times that companies have done it and seen it blow up in their faces.

We, the internet of whiny, self-serving, easily-bruised dunderheads may constantly demand information we can't have... but we're a much more respectful lot during that period than we are when we've been "promised" something and then didn't get it. Then, we become the worst dregs of humanity.

 

[steeldragons]

I couldn't disagree with you more.

Fair enough.

Good design means trying new things, even when what you have works.

I would dispute this as a definition of "good design." Though, I suppose it is a certain piece that could be construed as "good."

You test your ideas, and if they aren't working for the design, you kill them, even if you love them. Your design is finished when you either run out of ideas, or more often, you run out of time.

Well, yes and no. I'm all for testing ideas. They've been doing it for over a year. The truth of the matter is, as you note with acknowledging running out of time, is that the guys in charge sooner or later, need to make decisions. "We've looked at ideas for over a year. Tested out a half dozen. there's another twenty on the table? Ok, this one. This is how we're doing it. Close that chapter. Ok, what's next?"

You can not, in almost any case, simply continue on, indefinitely testing out ideas...there will always be MORE ideas to try!

So far, the results have been great, but there are still some significant subsystems (such as skills) that need to be experimented with before they can consider locking down the game and polishing.

Yes. I'm not saying there aren't. I'm saying all those things that have been getting "pins put in them" need to be pulled down off the board. Things need to be tested so they can be set! Things they've been getting tested for the passed few months to a year should be SET. So you can go continue working on different things! Not just keep throwing ideas at the wall cuz you have them.

This is a completely ridiculous idea.

Have you not followed the development of ANY properties over the past several years? Almost every single developer of some sort of property has learned (by being burned over and over again) that you DO NOT release concrete information until right before the actual thing itself is being released.

-snippity snip-

Ok fine. Yes, I see you point and you're correct. So they don't have to tell us...or not until immediately before release...if not release itself, is that better?

My point wasn't so much the "tell us" part but the "make the decisions/get things done!" part. Nothing is going to ever be set in stone, anyway. It's D&D. A chalkboard is the best we're going to get. Things are always mutable when the actual game is in your hands. But, you can not produce and release a project that is in a constant state of flux...and at point 20 say, "OO! New idea. Let's go back and start over from scratch!" Doesn't, or in only the rarest of instances and luck, work.

Decisions must be made and adhered to...so that when you move on to other areas, things [mostly] don't break. Because you know, going into this next section/phase/element, what you already have.

This is a creative process, yes. But there's a reason why, and needs to be a line drawn somewhere, that there is a managerial structure. There are decisions needed, the proverbial buck needs to stop somewhere, that turns an amorphous creative blob into an actual solid thing...which we, in theory, can then buy and have fun playing.

Some people are able to see and do this themselves...some people need others to do it for them.

-Steel Dragons ...which is apparently a very Lawfully oriented genus of dragon, today.

 

[Salamandyr]

The Cthulhu & Melnibonean Mythos.

 

[Saplatt]

Legends & Lore is the big weekly touch-base with what the design team is doing. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's weak, but the one constant is that Mike Mearls always catches some flack for it. Fortunately, he has a fairly thick skin, but maybe we can help out.

I think he's doing fine. He's going to catch some flack from some people for anything he does, because they've already made up their minds to despise anything the design team does or doesn't do.

I'm confident that time will prove that their bark is far bigger than their bite.

 

[1of3]

It's pretty simple: "Write something unexpected."

Then, it might not be well regarded depending on content, but people will not think they are wasting their time there. More often than not L&L is summarizing and explaining things that were revealed before or can be deducted easily. Don't do that.

 

[howandwhy99]

I suspect L&L may soon be over like the Wandering Monster column. Both have been successful and highly informative. And while not everything was overwhelmingly accepted, there was controversy, I think that points to being on the pulse of what is going on in the D&D community at the moment. I think we as a community may have learned as much as the designers did through these articles and their responses. I'm hoping future columns may be as important.

 

[Dausuul]

I want the current state of the rules posted in its entirety in PDF format, free of charge and polished enough to use.

...But coming back to earth, I'm mostly pretty happy with L&L as it is. I'd love it to be longer, of course, more informative and in-depth, but Mike Mearls only has so many hours in the day and better he should spend them building the game.

 

[Falling Icicle]

Dunno if this has been suggested yet or not, but for me...

Along with the "here's what we're looking at/changing/wondering about now" would be some more, especially as the months go by, "This is HOW IT IS. This is WHAT WE'VE DECIDED"...your the developer, DEVELOP! You're the boss, make the tough choices, the executive decisions! All the polls in the world matter for squat. Sooner or later a decision NEEDS to be made to say "we're going to do this not that."

I'm kinda just sick of the vacillations and "thinking about", "examining", "trying out", "retrying" and "reexamining"...OO! and "considering". Reallllly tired of the "considering." You had plenty of time for all of that. You've had your polls. Gotten your feedback. Now, MAKE A DAMN DECISION...AND, this part is key, then STICK TO IT!

If people want to whine and cry about that decision, tear their hair and gnash their teeth, so. be. it. I hold no delusions that I'm sure there will be elements, fluff or rules, that I will completely disagree with and, thence, ignore in my games. BUT, to end up with a game at all, you need to set the parameters. And all of the theoretical and philosophical "want to please/include everyone" is well and good...but it does not create a game.

Make decisions and tell us what they are. That's what I want to see.

I disagree. It seems to me like a big part of what L&L is for is to put forth some of the ideas that they're considering and see how people react to them. Like the idea of putting all of the arcane caster classes and even psions under one, massive "mage" class. I'm very glad that they were willing to listen to us and change their minds about that, rather than, as you suggest, simply saying that's how it's going to be and too bad if nobody likes it. There will come a time when you get what you want - when the books are published. Until then, nothing's set in stone, nor should it be.

 

[Ruzak]

I want the current state of the rules posted in its entirety in PDF format, free of charge and polished enough to use.
...

This is inadequate. I want the physical books free of charge, delivered to my dinning room table.
On second thought, since my time is limited, I want Mearls to ride in my car and read the completed books to me on my daily commute.

 

[Thaumaturge]

This is inadequate. I want the physical books free of charge, delivered to my dinning room table.
On second thought, since my time is limited, I want Mearls to ride in my car and read the completed books to me on my daily commute.

Read the books? Mearls should DM for us. Really, it's the least he could do.

Thaumaturge.