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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Windjammer" data-source="post: 4519497" data-attributes="member: 60075">I think it was mentioned before in this thread that, among other things, what put people off playing 4E was the rabid fans on the net who deteriorated into personal attacks and feeble ad hominem argumentation in response to arguments that were neither. You might want to consider that.Ridiculous. Mearls exchanged the creative freedom he had at Malhavoc for the coolest thing ever: to officially design his own D&D. I suggest you read Book of Iron Might and Book of Nine Swords side by side. If you think Mearls' design principles haven't changed inbetween these products, I conclude you don't really care about the man beyond him sticking his name on a book. Another very, very good comparison would be to see how Keep on the Shadowfell fares with Necromancer's <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=893" target="_blank"> Siege of Durgam's Folly </a> (in my humble estimate, Mearls' finest adventure to date). It's basically the same plot idea, except that the execution couldn't differ more: the first one is low on non-combat resolution, hyper-linear and an offense in railroading of the very worst sort, where Durgam's Folly shines in non-linear module design and endless opportunity for non-combat roleplaying challenges. To see how much WotC' ultra-linear delve format is out of touch with Mearls' own creative principles - hence, to see how much of creative control he had to sacrifice for working on 4E - read <a href="http://kotgl.blogspot.com/2008/09/borderlands-style-adventures.html" target="_blank"> this article </a>. And to see how much Mearls' design principles changed on the side of crunch, I recommend this <a href="http://www.thealexandrian.net/archive/archive2007-08.html" target="_blank"> insightful article on the "Design Ethos at Wizards"</a>. (It chimes well with what Psion said in this thread, if I may say so.) For the nuts and bolts of the arguments to back up the last line, follow the link I just gave. </blockquote>

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