D&D 5E Who would want to see rule books annotated with developer quotes on the system's mechanics?

[Cristian Andreu]

That'd be neat. I enjoy when authors include notes on why they made specific choices (like in some of the GURPS books).

I'd buy those.

 

[Rod Staffwand]

I'd love a compiled annotations pdf. Transparency in the game's design and mechanics can only be a good thing for DM's pressed to make judgment calls or looking to house rule.

 

[Neonchameleon]

13th Age, as mentioned does it well. What does it even better is The Dresden Files - which is written as an annotated draft from within the Dresden Files universe and has post-it notes and margin scrawls between Harry Dresden, Bob the Talking Skull, and Harry the Werewolf (the in-universe designer) all snarking at each other, asking questions, or explaining things. The funniest RPG book I've ever read (and that includes Paranoia). The other modern Evil Hat Fate games do almost the same thing - it's just best in Dresden Files.

 

[Psikerlord#]

It's called 13th Age, and I like it a lot.

Yes I had hoped 5e would be as transparent as 13th Ages commentaries, and their explaining what different approaches/options will mean in your game. It makes tweaking and optional rules very easily; you just stick them in the sidebar. Hopefully we will see this style in future UA or OGL products.

 

[SirAntoine]

That would be a fun read. Do we have any compiling of Dev’s quotes to try and build a rough Companion Pamphlet?

It's a mistake. The rules need to be kept as "open suggestions" you are encouraged to change if you wish. You can change anything, just for your personal preference. The rule developer's argument for how they wrote it would tend to work against you if you have a player who argued you should run something by the book instead.

 

[Blue]

13th Age does annotations right

Yes I had hoped 5e would be as transparent as 13th Ages commentaries, and their explaining what different approaches/options will mean in your game. It makes tweaking and optional rules very easily; you just stick them in the sidebar. Hopefully we will see this style in future UA or OGL products.

I absolutely love how 13th Age does this. Some other points on what made it so good:

They talk about 'you could also do this or this, and this would be the repercussions' (or that it should fit in pretty smoothly).

They tag all of the discussions with which designer, and sometimes they both have different takes. You can tell that they do not have the same DMing style with probably one or the other closer to how you DM. Which gives great visibility into how the rules can be adjusted (or not) for fit what works for you at your table.

It's a mistake. The rules need to be kept as "open suggestions" you are encouraged to change if you wish. You can change anything, just for your personal preference. The rule developer's argument for how they wrote it would tend to work against you if you have a player who argued you should run something by the book instead.

The designers explicitly call out that you should modify the rules to fit your table. They invite you to hack the system. Some of the rules, such as a paladin talent that lets you pick up a cleric domain, straight out tells you to "modify the results so they make sense" so they future-proof additional expansions or house rules.

 

[DMZ2112]

I feel like this would defeat the purpose of D&D5's interpretive design. God forbid a player ever got a hold of it.

 

[Rod Staffwand]

I feel like this would defeat the purpose of D&D5's interpretive design. God forbid a player ever got a hold of it.

You sound like you're arguing that vague rules are best because they allow the DM to pretend they are playing RAW for the benefit of the players all the while secretly making up their own way of doing things.

That seems to be a very antagonistic way of playing to me.

 

[DMZ2112]

You sound like you're arguing that vague rules are best because they allow the DM to pretend they are playing RAW for the benefit of the players all the while secretly making up their own way of doing things.
That seems to be a very antagonistic way of playing to me.

Thank you, that's very kind of you to say.

 

[Derren]

Instead of making an extra book to explain the rules, why not make the rules clear in the first place?