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What were the design goals of 2nd edition?
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<blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 4683485" data-attributes="member: 32740"><p>Well there's no denying that there were reasons for the changes being made and that many of them were at the request of players who wanted those changes. Many, perhaps even most of the changes were indeed for the better - 2E is at this point the edition I would most prefer to play or run. But just having reasons for the changes doesn't constitute <em>design goals</em>, which implies examination of not just a given detail but more importantly of the overall. It implies the sort of naval-gazing and elemental restructuring that was done with 3rd Edition. I've long said that the move to 3rd edition did what the move to 2nd edition really should have done.</p><p> </p><p>What was the essence of the game - a question especially important in the light of its rarity and unusal comparison to more traditional games played around a table? In what ways did players use the game and were existing details best supporting them? Were all the details working together as well as they could or were some still interfering with each other? If one change was made in one area was it the best approach or might there be a better way to go about it? I have never seen any of that evidenced in the move to 2nd Edition. One thing I DO see is that it was done with what in hindsight was, I think, an unfortunate choice of limitations - backward compatibility with 1E. I have come to feel that 2E improved on 1E in just about every way, but it could have - and should have been better still out of the gate. The reason it wasn't would be the absence of design goals.</p><p> </p><p>It's not that I particularly BLAME anybody for the absence of design goals though. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but <em>at the time</em> RPG's and D&D in particular was not rife with game <em>designers</em>, just game writers. I do see a difference.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Man in the Funny Hat, post: 4683485, member: 32740"] Well there's no denying that there were reasons for the changes being made and that many of them were at the request of players who wanted those changes. Many, perhaps even most of the changes were indeed for the better - 2E is at this point the edition I would most prefer to play or run. But just having reasons for the changes doesn't constitute [I]design goals[/I], which implies examination of not just a given detail but more importantly of the overall. It implies the sort of naval-gazing and elemental restructuring that was done with 3rd Edition. I've long said that the move to 3rd edition did what the move to 2nd edition really should have done. What was the essence of the game - a question especially important in the light of its rarity and unusal comparison to more traditional games played around a table? In what ways did players use the game and were existing details best supporting them? Were all the details working together as well as they could or were some still interfering with each other? If one change was made in one area was it the best approach or might there be a better way to go about it? I have never seen any of that evidenced in the move to 2nd Edition. One thing I DO see is that it was done with what in hindsight was, I think, an unfortunate choice of limitations - backward compatibility with 1E. I have come to feel that 2E improved on 1E in just about every way, but it could have - and should have been better still out of the gate. The reason it wasn't would be the absence of design goals. It's not that I particularly BLAME anybody for the absence of design goals though. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but [I]at the time[/I] RPG's and D&D in particular was not rife with game [I]designers[/I], just game writers. I do see a difference. [/QUOTE]
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