3.5e and 4e were very much driven by an anxiety about controlling the experience of the game, leaving as little as possible to chance
3.5 and 4 were very much driven by an anxiety about controlling the experience of the game, leaving as little as possible to chance. They aimed for consistency of play from campaign to campaign, and table to table.
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) September 15, 2018
The fear was that an obnoxious player or DM would ruin the game, and that would drive people away from it. The thinking was that if we made things as procedural as possible, people would just follow the rules and have fun regardless of who they played with. The downside to this approach is that the rules became comprehensive to a fault. The game’s rules bloated, as they sought to resolve many if not all questions that arise in play with the game text.
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) September 15, 2018
At the same time, 3.5 and 4 were driven by the idea that D&D players wanted as many character options as possible, presented in a modular framework meant to encourage the search for combinations that yielded characters who broke the power curve. These two aims play together in an extremely terrible way, at least from a design perspective. Your core system has to cover everything… meanwhile you are adding more cases and content to your game. Good luck with keeping those things in balance!
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) September 15, 2018
IMO, the basic design premise suffers from a fatal flaw. It misses out on a ton of the elements that make RPGs distinct and doesn’t speak to why people enjoy D&D in the first place. With 5th, we assumed that the DM was there to have a good time, put on an engaging performance, and keep the group interested, excited, and happy. It’s a huge change, because we no longer expect you to turn to the book for an answer. We expect the DM to do that.
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) September 15, 2018
In terms of players, we focus much more on narrative and identity, rather than specific, mechanical advantages. Who you are is more important than what you do, to the point that your who determines your what. In broad terms – and based on what we can observe of the community from a variety of measures – we went from a community that focused on mechanics and expertise, to one focused on socializing and story telling.
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) September 15, 2018
Mechanical expertise is an element of the game, but no longer the sole focus. Ideally, it’s a balanced part of all the other motivators. If balanaced correctly, every has their fun. Enjoyment isn’t zero sum. As D&D is descriptive rather than prescriptive, individual groups had different experiences. However, that was the design trend and what we saw in the community as a whole. It’s been interesting to see things change with the change in rules and the flood of new players.
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) September 15, 2018
4e played more like an MMO or wargame in the way abilities were put together. It tried to keep the basic 3.5 approach intact by making individual abilities much more precisely defined. That ended up making it feel bland and limiting to many players.
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) September 15, 2018
Coming from 2e, I initially appreciated the standardization and clarity that 3E brought to the game but, yeah… the rest of it. The emergent gameplay really changed the game. You can literally see the game’s launch lose steam as people start to understand how the new rules really work.
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) September 15, 2018
I struggle with this as a pacifist who makes games that are at least partially combat simulators. Right? On one hand RPGs make the impact of violence pretty abstract, so it’s not gratuitous. On the other, the violence is abstract so it’s an easy solution.
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) September 15, 2018
And I’ve found abstracting the social resolution to make it as convenient and crunchy as the combat makes the roleplay feel less freewheeling. Argh. I’m actually *this weekend* tinkering with an abstract combat system designed to resolve fights with one round of rolls.
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) September 15, 2018
I’m also not inclined to relegate social interactions to rules so much. Being able to roleplay convincing someone not to commit violence shouldn’t require a player to have a certain feat (or skill set). Story above fight for me. I’ve found that as a DM, I can help players get into it by taking on the job of making their character awesome. If someone doesn’t feel comfortable with the performance end of it, I can take a die roll and spin up a description that makes them look good.
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) September 15, 2018
It’s not perfect, but I’ve noticed a few times that by taking the lead I’ve helped players get comfortable taking risks, doing more acting, and working more collaboratively. For instance, giving prompts on how they succeed at a social task, and then I fill in with a narrative.
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) September 15, 2018
The Cold Lands of Forgotten Realms
I’m looking to start a campaign in The Cold Lands of Forgotten Realms after the Sundering and was wondering if you have any recommendation on where I can find good information on the going-ons in the area? There's very little official, as 5e lore continues to concentrate on the Sword Coast. One thing the Sundering did was plunge many "outland" (Abeiran) creatures (notably monsters) into Vaasa, Damara, and Narfell…they're bewildered and looking for shelter, food, and warmer climes
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 3, 2018
…. So they are roaming the area, marauding and sometimes teaming up and generally making everywhere even more dangerous than usual. Opportunistic adventurers are coming to battle, capture, and/or butcher and process (smoke, pickle, etc.) their remains for transport and sale…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 3, 2018
In the sword coast adventurer’s guide it mentioned the warlock knights of Vaasa. I wonder if they are servants of Zhengyi or Orcus (who Zhengyi served). Also there was rumors of Castle Perilous was going to be used by Tiamat. The warlock knights serve Orcus, yes, but not all of them realize that, as their pacts are with various of his servitors. What they are directed to do depends on what you as DM deem happened in Out Of The Abyss. Similarly, decide how the Rise Of Tiamat played out to determine…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 3, 2018
…if or how she'll use Castle Perilous. In general, deities and powers of all sorts, if they learn anything at all from the Sundering, it's to work increasingly through (usually layers of, many of them dupes) mortal agents, not directly in the Realms (as avarars).
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 3, 2018
How would Out of the Abyss and Rise of Tiamat change the direction of Orcus and/or Tiamat? I’m of the sort that I feel since my campaign is taking place after both of them that they were defeated and sent back to their realm. So any plans they would take would be of subtle nature I agree, they would be pursuing subtle, long-term-to-human schemes to increase their influence on Toril. Yet if they defeated the forces of good (the PCs) decisively in either of those, they would likely have installed or otherwise 'locked up' the loyalties of some mortal…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 3, 2018
…rulers or local kingpins to do their bidding, and would be farther along in such plans. Meaning if PCs blunder in and thwart unfolding plans or even just get in the way, there will be other enforcers already in place to ambush PCs, frame them for things, etc. rather than…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 3, 2018
…simply reacting to PCs victories with slapbacks.
In other words, if Orcus and/or Tiamat "succeeded" before your campaign begins, they've had more opportunity to shape local societies/power structures. If they "failed," they're being much more covert (secret cults, etc.)— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 3, 2018
A pleasure to talk Realmslore with you! A lot of work, indeed, but sounds like you're building a rich campaign where the players can really choose their fates and everything has rewards and consequences…I salute you! HAVE FUN! (It's okay to leave breathing space instead of…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 3, 2018
…detailing everything and making too much work for yourself to keep it fun.)
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 3, 2018
Did some science this morning
Did some science this morning. pic.twitter.com/vQJ4uo9pCT
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) August 29, 2018
Ed’s ghoul
To ghoul ladies, lords are but meat
Wealthy and powerful and handy to eat
And when goblin kings of human lords do think
They too are pondering fresh meat, rich red or pink— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 20, 2018
But at each ruin, hauntings I find
Some of them cruel, some of them kind
Some of them leave faint glows, some somehow write with a pen
Words of longing, and rage, and what they’ll do when they live again— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 21, 2018
Dragon’s in her lair far and far away
Right now, adventurers are slinking past its bed
Asleep’s the wyrm, and deep, and asleep they hope she’ll stay
A’dreaming of adventurers devoured raw and red
Raw and red
Adventurers devouréd and dead— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 21, 2018
I’ll crown thee, lady, with a coronet of bones
And wed thee within the grim and ancient stone ring
Dead am I, soon ye’ll join me ’neath stones
And together, whistling dirges we’ll merrily sing— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 22, 2018
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, do you have any books/ stories/ media you’d recommend to help a DM and players?
@ChrisPerkinsDnD with #Waterdeep: Dragon Heist now out, do you have any books/ stories/ media you'd personally recommend to give a DM or players a better understanding or feeling for Waterdeep?
— Modified Roll Podcast (@ModifiedRoll) September 20, 2018
I recommend Death Masks, a novel by @TheEdVerse. It takes place in Waterdeep shortly before the events of Dragon Heist and features some of the same characters, including Laeral and Mirt. #wotcstaff https://t.co/YCJNtsUJ9V
— Christopher Perkins (@ChrisPerkinsDnD) September 20, 2018
Great question and now I have more to read! If Death Masks had a one-line description, it would be:
"Who Is Killing The Masked Lords Of Waterdeep?"— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 21, 2018