RangerWickett
Legend
What designers would you want to be involved in the creation of 4th edition, and why?
(Edit: Okay . . . *clears throat* . . . a request for past and future posters on this thread. For the sake of an intellectual discussion, let us limit selections to people who have not yet been involved in a D&D core design team. I know we all love Monte's work, but it's not interesting to discuss people who have already done a good job. I want to hear who you think would do a good job in the future.
I mean, it's like if I asked, "Who should be in the new Star Wars TV show?" and people started by replying Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill.
So, for the sake of the discussion, let's say that Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, Skip Williams, Johnathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and whoever designed 2nd edition aren't available. Who would you pick then?
Oh, and if folks could include at least one or two products these people worked on, it'd help.)
My ideal fourth edition would naturally be spearheaded by me, but I'd want to pick a diverse group of fellow writers to make sure the game met the needs of all types of gamers, while also pushing the envelope when it comes to designing the rules.
First, I'd grab Peter Ball, of Clockwork Golem Workshop, known on EN World as Arwink. I first worked with Peter on Tournaments, Fairs, & Taverns, where he provided some excellent flavor that no doubt helped make TFT one of the best-selling pdfs of all time. Later I collaborated with him on The Adventurer's Guide to Surviving Anything series in the EN World Player's Journal and EN World Gamer magazines. Peter, with his canny skill at making fantasy settings more flavorful than my mom's Thanksgiving lemon meringue pie, would be in charge of making sure every chapter has material that could spark adventures and characters. Peter's job, in short, is to make you read the books and go, "Damn, I would love to be that character."
For him, I'd almost be tempted to add a fourth core book of locations and mini-adventures. Imagine, the Adventurer's Guide, a combination setting book (FR, Eberron, Greyhawk, . . . PLANESCAPE?), travelogue of places to go questing, and instruction book to help novice and veteran heroes survive their encounters. We have the Player's Handbook (for players), the DM's Guide (for DMs), the Monster Manual (for the foes of the player characters), but so far we don't have a book for the PCs themselves. This can be that book.
Next would be Keith Baker, Minister of Awesome, creator of Eberron. I met him at Gen Con, edited the 3.5 version of his Complete Guide to Wererats from Goodman Games, which did the unthinkable: it made wererats awesome. Keith Baker would inject a nice bit of Matrix-esque style into the game, and I think he's got an interesting enough grasp of rules and setting ramifications to ensure the rules would let you do all the cool stuff you want to do. Keith would be heavily involved with the Monster Manual, to make sure it was designed so the monsters can leap off the page and right into a dramatic, cool combat.
Bruce Cordell would be the go-to man for the general rules. He's willing to take risks, and I've admired his psionics work since the 3.0 PsiHB. He just generally impresses me with how he takes rules in different directions than they were intended and ends up with fun mechanics. I think I'd like Bruce to be lead man in charge of the PHB, and to help with the more technical aspects of the DMG. (I don't actually have much exposure to Mr. Cordell's less technical writings, so I can't gauge how he'd handle non-mechanical elements. I certainly don't want to disparage his talents in that regard; I simply am unfamiliar with them.)
Then there'd be me, Ryan Nock, fan of optional rules, variants, campaign design, and funky magic. I'd claim the DMG.
I'd love to have Monte Cook be involved too, but I think getting to design two editions would be unfair to all the other designers who want a crack at it. I'd consider brining on a fifth member, someone old school and laid back, to make sure we don't try to fix things that ain't broke. Possibly Mark from Creative Mountain Games, or Chris Pramas. Since it'll be at least 2010 before this book comes out, I could see if the elder Gelfling would be interested in offering a younger gamer's perspective as well.
And how would the rules change? I don't care right now. I just know that if I were working with the people above (or any of dozens of other excellent designers), they would rock.
(Edit: Okay . . . *clears throat* . . . a request for past and future posters on this thread. For the sake of an intellectual discussion, let us limit selections to people who have not yet been involved in a D&D core design team. I know we all love Monte's work, but it's not interesting to discuss people who have already done a good job. I want to hear who you think would do a good job in the future.
I mean, it's like if I asked, "Who should be in the new Star Wars TV show?" and people started by replying Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill.
So, for the sake of the discussion, let's say that Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, Skip Williams, Johnathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and whoever designed 2nd edition aren't available. Who would you pick then?
Oh, and if folks could include at least one or two products these people worked on, it'd help.)
My ideal fourth edition would naturally be spearheaded by me, but I'd want to pick a diverse group of fellow writers to make sure the game met the needs of all types of gamers, while also pushing the envelope when it comes to designing the rules.
First, I'd grab Peter Ball, of Clockwork Golem Workshop, known on EN World as Arwink. I first worked with Peter on Tournaments, Fairs, & Taverns, where he provided some excellent flavor that no doubt helped make TFT one of the best-selling pdfs of all time. Later I collaborated with him on The Adventurer's Guide to Surviving Anything series in the EN World Player's Journal and EN World Gamer magazines. Peter, with his canny skill at making fantasy settings more flavorful than my mom's Thanksgiving lemon meringue pie, would be in charge of making sure every chapter has material that could spark adventures and characters. Peter's job, in short, is to make you read the books and go, "Damn, I would love to be that character."
For him, I'd almost be tempted to add a fourth core book of locations and mini-adventures. Imagine, the Adventurer's Guide, a combination setting book (FR, Eberron, Greyhawk, . . . PLANESCAPE?), travelogue of places to go questing, and instruction book to help novice and veteran heroes survive their encounters. We have the Player's Handbook (for players), the DM's Guide (for DMs), the Monster Manual (for the foes of the player characters), but so far we don't have a book for the PCs themselves. This can be that book.
Next would be Keith Baker, Minister of Awesome, creator of Eberron. I met him at Gen Con, edited the 3.5 version of his Complete Guide to Wererats from Goodman Games, which did the unthinkable: it made wererats awesome. Keith Baker would inject a nice bit of Matrix-esque style into the game, and I think he's got an interesting enough grasp of rules and setting ramifications to ensure the rules would let you do all the cool stuff you want to do. Keith would be heavily involved with the Monster Manual, to make sure it was designed so the monsters can leap off the page and right into a dramatic, cool combat.
Bruce Cordell would be the go-to man for the general rules. He's willing to take risks, and I've admired his psionics work since the 3.0 PsiHB. He just generally impresses me with how he takes rules in different directions than they were intended and ends up with fun mechanics. I think I'd like Bruce to be lead man in charge of the PHB, and to help with the more technical aspects of the DMG. (I don't actually have much exposure to Mr. Cordell's less technical writings, so I can't gauge how he'd handle non-mechanical elements. I certainly don't want to disparage his talents in that regard; I simply am unfamiliar with them.)
Then there'd be me, Ryan Nock, fan of optional rules, variants, campaign design, and funky magic. I'd claim the DMG.
I'd love to have Monte Cook be involved too, but I think getting to design two editions would be unfair to all the other designers who want a crack at it. I'd consider brining on a fifth member, someone old school and laid back, to make sure we don't try to fix things that ain't broke. Possibly Mark from Creative Mountain Games, or Chris Pramas. Since it'll be at least 2010 before this book comes out, I could see if the elder Gelfling would be interested in offering a younger gamer's perspective as well.
And how would the rules change? I don't care right now. I just know that if I were working with the people above (or any of dozens of other excellent designers), they would rock.
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