The Gaming Den

RandomCasualty2 wrote: Well no, it implies that an RPG based off LotR wouldn't reward people for taking non-LotR actions.

True. But I would point out that Gimli and Aragorn don't tell us anything at all about the sleep cycle of a LotR character, because LotR characters hardly ever have more than one encounter in a day.

They seriously could be on five minute workday, what would change?

-Username17

Zinegata wrote: Where's the Xmas Tree Items post though? Who said it?

James Wyatt. Has his name on the cover. Out of the current crop of 4E designers he's probably the best one they have right now. He wrote my favorite 3E sourcebook (Oriental Adventures) but also had his name on some of the more bafflingly awful sourcebooks like Book of Exalted Furries.

But anyway, X-mas tree magical items.

http://www.dungeonmastering.com/intervi ... ion-part-2

JW wrote: Magic items! I’m not very happy with how the magic items system came out. Tracking daily uses is awkward. The number of slots the characters makes it easy to fill up on too many items and there are too many items in the game that could use a nerfing. So players who are really pay attention to that sort of thing can make characters that are really just broken, primarily through the item system. Probably because of legacy, magic items are trying to do too much. Up through 3rd edition the things that made a fighter cool were magic items. Now he’s got all these powers and the magic items are competing in the same space. At higher level in particular, crowding powers out. That would probably be the top thing on my list to fix.

lol at James Wyatt saying that the problem with 4E magical items that they do too much. I'm going to be generous and say that I think James is trying to say that they have too much overlap into the tightly-controlled boundaries of the advancement system--Adventurer's Vault 1 was the biggest power creep book published for 4E, for instance. If what he really meant is that magical items were too versatile and exciting I take back all of the nice things I said about him.

Thanks.

FrankTrollman wrote: True. But I would point out that Gimli and Aragorn don't tell us anything at all about the sleep cycle of a LotR character, because LotR characters hardly ever have more than one encounter in a day.

They seriously could be on five minute workday, what would change?

Yeah, LotR is really notoriously poor for that sort of thing, because it's not really a D&D adventure by any means. LotR battles are basically fighting huge masses of orcs. Now I'm not really sure if anyone had time to short rest during Helm's deep, but I'd assume probably not.

It really seems LotR is closer to a 3E warblade/swordsage refresh mechanic than the 4E system.

Arguably you could also say they had a per level, or per adventure limit as well, since the special moves executed (pretty much only by Legolas and gandalf) are used exactly once in the trilogy. Not to mention the special stuff like Legolas riding the shield would be far too specific to ever fit into 4E anyway.

Lago PARANOIA wrote:

Zinegata wrote: Where's the Xmas Tree Items post though? Who said it?

James Wyatt. Has his name on the cover. Out of the current crop of 4E designers he's probably the best one they have right now. He wrote my favorite 3E sourcebook (Oriental Adventures) but also had his name on some of the more bafflingly awful sourcebooks like Book of Exalted Furries.

But anyway, X-mas tree magical items.

http://www.dungeonmastering.com/intervi ... ion-part-2

JW wrote: Magic items! I’m not very happy with how the magic items system came out. Tracking daily uses is awkward. The number of slots the characters makes it easy to fill up on too many items and there are too many items in the game that could use a nerfing. So players who are really pay attention to that sort of thing can make characters that are really just broken, primarily through the item system. Probably because of legacy, magic items are trying to do too much. Up through 3rd edition the things that made a fighter cool were magic items. Now he’s got all these powers and the magic items are competing in the same space. At higher level in particular, crowding powers out. That would probably be the top thing on my list to fix.

lol at James Wyatt saying that the problem with 4E magical items that they do too much. I'm going to be generous and say that I think James is trying to say that they have too much overlap into the tightly-controlled boundaries of the advancement system--Adventurer's Vault 1 was the biggest power creep book published for 4E, for instance. If what he really meant is that magical items were too versatile and exciting I take back all of the nice things I said about him.

Interesting! I think your "generous" interpretation is spot on. Don't forget another famous "editorial" (aka blog post outside the DDI pay wall) on the subject, by Peter "WotC fired me this week" Schaefer no less:

http://community.wizards.com/wotc_peter ... nt_publish

Unsurprisingly, the folks at Wizards break their own rules when playing 4E.

Bill Bisco: Isometric Imp wrote:Unsurprisingly, the folks at Wizards break their own rules when playing 4E.

Well, it's not like 4e is playable for more than three or four sessions. What were they supposed to do?

Further re: Andy Collins leaving WotC, it was clear that his position - manager of D&D - opened up. Entirely analogous to what WotC did when they demoted Rob Heinsoo from the position of 4E's Lead Designer, they simply 'filled' the position by Mearls doing double duty. So apart from (former) Lead Developer and current Lead Designer of 4E, Mearls is now also the manager of 4E. I feel personally sad for him since the promotion must feel somewhat less to what it could have been at a time when WotC didn't drastically reduce its staff in terms of number of people but not number of positions. In any case, what's fascinating is how he describes his new position, for, he actually states that it isn't taking over Collins' position but an entirely new one.

mearls;5183377 wrote:This is also a new position in the department. I'm taking on a lot of Bill Slavicsek's responsibilities. Bill's responsibilities have broadened to include more things like boardgames, novels, Heroscape, and so on. There's a lot more to D&D than just the RPG. The RPG is my corner to play in, while Bill looks over the entirety of D&D.

(Quoted from this thread on Enworld.)

Mearls is now 4E? Oh dear.

Zinegata wrote:Mearls is now 4E? Oh dear.

Hahahaha! Oh man, that is way more hilarious than it should be.

Mike Mearls has always had on talent: convincing people that he was good at his job.

Iron Heroes? Iron Heroes doesn't work. The Magic System is not only imbalanced, it's just not functional. The entire system for everyone else is based around the idea that getting less now for more later is somehow OK in an open-multiclassing level system. Also, a tragic misunderstanding of the word "otherwise." It's a pile of interesting and failed design decisions in a big unwieldy pile that would take a brainstorming period as intense as it took to write the damn thing in the first place to untangle it into something halfway playable. And Mike Mearls admits this, more or less. He claims it isn't finished and he went on to make more money writing...

The Knight Class is a fucking travesty. It's "honorable combat" methods are not particularly honorable (can't stab someone who is sliding on oil, but can stab someone after they fall down in the same oil), and even counter synergize with their own powers. But the worst offense of all is simply the fact that they suck. The high level powers don't do anything that matters at high level.

And do you remember his halfway finished Skill Chalenge ideas? The ones he put out every month or so to show that a working Skill Challenge rewrit was just around the corner?

Basically, Mike Mearls writes down shit during brain storming sessions, polishes them off until they look like cool ideas that are going somewhere, and then wanders off. I don't think he has really finished a system or even a subsystem... ever. Putting him in charge of anything involves you being left with some half finished work that is itself half wrong. You'll have some words on a paper, but honestly the work you spend untangling the bad ideas from the good is at least as much work as it would take you to just half way finish it right from scratch. Mike Mearls is a freeloader in the game design world. And it has been fascinating watching him fail upwards.

-Username17

The Dilbert Principle in action?

Mearls is an apparatchik?