Who would you pick to design Fourth Edition?

[Richards]

Lorraine Williams *ducks*

Johnathan

 

[booboo]

Gary Gygax, Monte Cook as a team

 

[the_guitar_gorila]

Monte Cook

 

[Yalius]

I'd want a group of the Best of the Best in D&D writers (mostly rules-wise, since the core rules are just that, rules), but not limited to:
Monte Cook
Mike Mearls
Skip Williams
Sean Reynolds

With the following in an advisory role for style and flavor:
Ed Greenwood
Gary Gygax

This makes me do the happy dance. As long as EGG gets to write the actual prose used for every single book.

 

[Greg K]

I would not have guessed this response from a person with three Monte Cook quotes in his sig.

On a serious note, Kenson's an excellent choice but we'd need someone more rooted in fantasy. I wouldn't mind seeing Matt Forbeck getting a chance at 4th edition.

Steve has a good fantasy base as far as I can tell.

Psychic's Handbook (Green Ronin)
Shaman's Handbook (Green Ronin)
Witch's Handbook (Green Ronin)
Numerous DND articles for Dragon (IMO, the best Dragon articles that I have seen for DND)

Blue Rose (Green Ronin)
Earthdawn Survival Guide
Contributor to the EQ Player's manual

 

[Greg K]

I would not have guessed this response from a person with three Monte Cook quotes in his sig. .

I actually quoted him for the subject of his quotes and, while I like much of Monte's work, Steve is currently my favorite designer. Steve's material always seems to be exactly (or very close) to what I like whether it be DND, Shadowrun, or superheroes.

 

[Tessarael]

Well, I'm going to included 3E and 3.5E designers because they are essential to build on the legacy of D&D, as well as some newer folks.

Andy Collins: 3.5E fixed some things, and Unearthed Arcana had some good ideas
Andy Smith: to help put together the 4E SRD
Bruce Cordell: decent job with Expanded Psionics Handbook, need him to help revamp magic
Caliban: we need a rules lawyer to throw coconuts at the design team to fix silly rules
Hypersmurf: we need a rules lawyer to throw coconuts at the design team to fix silly rules
John Cooper: chief editor
Mike Mearls: not happy with some Iron Heroes mech, but good ideas for reducing equipment dependence
Monte Cook: did a great job with Arcana Evolved, very good ideas on how to revamp magic
Ryan Nock: did a good job with Revised Elements of Magic, need him to help revamp magic
Sage: to help put together the 4E SRD
Sean Reynolds: good at number crunching mechanics, good designer
Skip Williams: plenty of experience with Sage Advice and older editions
Sovelior: to help put together the 4E SRD

I'd pick Monte Cook as head of the design team, as I trust his judgement from Arcana Evolved.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Hong Ooi.

 

[Beckett]

Reading Sean K. Reynolds rants on his own site (why there's no infravision, why drow equipment doesn't melt, etc.), I'd want him on the team. Good with rules and math, and also very good on stating why things should work one way or another.

I've picked up most of the Malhavoc stuff that Mike Mearls has done, and based on it, I want him. Again, good with rules, but also his concept of fun seems a lot like mine. Anything with his name on, I can be pretty sure I'm going to enjoy.

Going against the request of the OP, but I have to include Monte Cook. Even without his work on 3E, what he's done with the rules in AU/AE is all good. Racial levels, the magic system, setting up hit dice so noone is stuck with a D4, all very good.

Tessarael has the right idea with people like Caliban, Hypersmurf, and John Cooper. Nonindustry people, but very good at what they do- finding mistakes and bad rules. I'd keep them separate from the design team, but turn them loose on the rules before anything saw print.

Beyond that, I'm not sure. Most of my gaming dollars these days go to WotC, but with all the authors and helpers and whatnot on there books, I can't really point to a piece and say, "Rich Baker did a good job here" or whatever. I'd probably have most of the WotC staff on in some capacity, as I've been liking a lot of what I've seen in the books.

Finally, I want Peter Adkinson at the top. A rich gamer geek overseeing everything, without any corporate masters to get in the way.

 

[buzz]

• Mike Mearls goes without saying.
• Sean K. Reynolds would also be a must.

Um... that's all I can think of.

Part of me would reccomend Steve Kenson as well, but I think we can assume that he has not been living and breathing D&D the way some other desigenrs have. For this reason I am a bit hesitant, even though I'm confident he's one of the top d20 desigenrs around.

Most importantly, I'd really like to see WotC hire a team of dedicated, hardcore playtesters; I think ENWorld would be a great source. I'd love to see peeps like John Cooper, Psion, Hong Ooi, and Priatecat just hammering on prototype D&D rules 40 hours a week, with their opinions weighted just a wee bit heavier than the rest of the hopefully massive amount of regular-Joe playtesters.

It would then be great to see someone like S. John Ross get invovled with layout and formatting. I'd also love to see some professional information designers look at ways to make the rulebooks into powerful tools that aid gameplay. A team of editors to pare down the prose to maximum brevity and clarity would be nice, too. Then, a team of proofreaders (maybe headed by John Cooper) would pour over the final text for months making sure it was error-free.

But I guess we're firmly in the realm of pipe-dreams at this point.

IMO, 3.5 is in little need of revision. However, I do think that some sharp minds (a la Mearls) could make the rules clearer, more useable, more readable, and more fun without making any drastic changes. I don't need a revision, but I do want to see 3.5 made even better.