Interview With D&D Lead Designer Mike Mearls - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Plaguescarred1 Jul 23, 2014 21:28:34	http://suvudu.com/2014/07/interview-with-dd-lead-designer-mike-mearls-gamers-wanted-5e-to-be-fast-flexible-and-easy-to-play.html By Matt Staggs People are passionate about Dungeons & Dragons, and no one knows that more than Mike Mearls, the game’s lead designer. When it came time to design a new edition of the game, Mearls knew where they needed to start first: with the fans.
#2 Plaguescarred1 Jul 23, 2014 21:30:12	Mike Mearls: We’ve already had DMs cook up conversion guides for earlier editions. We’ll be producing official ones that will be freely available in the fall, once we dig ourselves out from beneath the three core rulebooks.
#3 pukunui Jul 23, 2014 22:19:47	Plaguescarred wrote:
#4 hunterian7 Jul 23, 2014 22:51:51	Thanks for the link- it was a pretty good read.
#5 Psikerlord Jul 23, 2014 23:14:16	good read and very glad to hear about (i) the skill dice option in DMG, (ii) focus on quality rather than quantity of books and moving into digital and (iii) fighter expertise dice
#6 Azzy1974 Jul 23, 2014 23:26:19	It is a breath of fresh air to read that they're not going to be doing the publishing deluge like they did dure 3e (and presumably 4e). My wallet can't keep up with that kind of release schedule. With a slower release schedule, there's more chance that I'll collect everything.
#7 pukunui Jul 24, 2014 0:08:53	Azzy1974 wrote:
(Reply to #7) Azzy1974	pukunui wrote:
#9 AaronOfBarbaria Jul 24, 2014 0:02:59	I too will be glad if the slower release schedule promise holds true - with 3.X I actually did manage to buy up each non-setting supplement as it came out, and with 4e I kept up with all releases from Keep on the Shadowfell through to the Shadowfell box set... but in both cases I barely managed to incorporate even a single element from each book into a campaign. It would be nice to have the time to use the stuff I want to before more stuff I want to use comes out and starts competing for my time.
#10 tehsquirrely Jul 24, 2014 0:05:50	I like the once a month release schedule personally. But I can live with most things as long as it isn't as slow as Catalyst; SR5 has been out for almost a year, they have two books. Wow.
#11 pukunui Jul 24, 2014 0:15:40	tehsquirrely wrote:
#12 JohnLynch Jul 24, 2014 1:30:54	Interview seemed a bit soft. Still. Good PR. As for the rate of publishing. Presuming nothing is published in December, we have 3 books in 5 months. Assuming that rate continues we'll see 7 books a year. Personally I think we'll get 1 book per adventure series tied to that adventure series. Than 2-3 DM books per year. Presuming 2-3 adventure series per year that gives us 4-6 books per year. That'd be a good rate for me. Assuming 4th ed's 32 books (excluding essentials and adventures) is the lifespan of an edition it would take 5-8 years before we got a revision or new edition.
(Reply to #10) AaronOfBarbaria	tehsquirrely wrote:
#14 frothsof Jul 24, 2014 2:43:52	Great interview. Shows how they learned lessons from 4e amd incorporated them into some of the innovations. I also liked the skill/proficiency die during the playtest. Hearing it will make the DMG makes me happy.
(Reply to #11) Daganev	pukunui wrote:
#16 Zardnaar Jul 24, 2014 3:40:27	frothsof wrote:
#17 Emanuele_Galletto Jul 24, 2014 3:49:49	Glad to hear I'm not the only one loving the proficiency die! Overall, a really interesting interview. I expect good things in the coming months.
#18 Karnos Jul 24, 2014 4:32:06	pukunui wrote:
#19 edwin_su Jul 24, 2014 4:54:53	Karnos wrote:
#20 SteeleButterfly Jul 24, 2014 5:45:04	This is what caught my eye most: "For way too long the rules have been a deterrent. So, it’s really about focusing on what’s important – campaigns and adventures – and selling that, while removing barriers to entry." People will buy one ruleset, but they can buy a LOT of adventures.
#21 MrHotter Jul 24, 2014 5:56:12	Now I want to know about the suprises. One suprise I'd realy like to hear is them converting their adventures to be used as premium content on Roll20. I'm also a fan of the 'limited' books idea. In 4E I gave up on all the books and just went with an 'Essentials only' game. I hope that the Morningstar has a good filter so we can limit the characters to things we would be able to build with the core books.
#22 Gnarl Jul 24, 2014 7:21:28	Zardnaar wrote:
#23 Gnarl Jul 24, 2014 7:28:32	SteeleButterfly wrote:
#24 Person_Man Jul 24, 2014 8:12:20	"We found that many people in the audience wanted a fast, flexible, and easy-to-play game. That feedback went against nearly 15 years of conventional wisdom in the D&D business." So while I agree that the actual rules for playing 5E are simpler then any previous edition of D&D, the character creation process is way more complex then its ever been. It looks like at least 2/3 of the Player's Handbook is going to be character creation options, and that's a huge amount of material for new players to wade through. It'll be interesting to see how brand new players react to it.
#25 frothsof Jul 24, 2014 8:22:59	Person you are forgetting every section has a little box that gives notes for simple creation, right down to background and starting gear. All you have to do is follow those boxes thru the book and you have a PC. If thats too much, a DM can offer a pregen. That said, if you honestly think making a 5e PC is tougher than a 3.5, PF, or 4e PC, please puff puff give.
#26 Hitdice Jul 24, 2014 8:23:13	We'll have to see the final PHB to say for sure, but system complexity and character creation options are two different things. (Not that I'm endorsing option-paralysis as a great design goal.)
#27 Thalion94518 Jul 24, 2014 8:32:55	Person_Man wrote:
#28 Mommy_was_an_Orc Jul 24, 2014 9:07:11	pukunui wrote:
#29 Karnos Jul 24, 2014 9:14:33	frothsof wrote:
#30 spelley Jul 24, 2014 9:15:26	Mommy_was_an_Orc wrote:
(Reply to #29) frothsof	Karnos wrote:

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

Plaguescarred1

Jul 23, 2014 21:28:34

http://suvudu.com/2014/07/interview-with-dd-lead-designer-mike-mearls-gamers-wanted-5e-to-be-fast-flexible-and-easy-to-play.html

By Matt Staggs

People are passionate about Dungeons & Dragons, and no one knows that more than Mike Mearls, the game’s lead designer. When it came time to design a new edition of the game, Mearls knew where they needed to start first: with the fans.

Plaguescarred1

Jul 23, 2014 21:30:12

Mike Mearls: We’ve already had DMs cook up conversion guides for earlier editions. We’ll be producing official ones that will be freely available in the fall, once we dig ourselves out from beneath the three core rulebooks.

pukunui

Jul 23, 2014 22:19:47

Plaguescarred wrote:

hunterian7

Jul 23, 2014 22:51:51

Thanks for the link- it was a pretty good read.

Psikerlord

Jul 23, 2014 23:14:16

good read and very glad to hear about (i) the skill dice option in DMG, (ii) focus on quality rather than quantity of books and moving into digital and (iii) fighter expertise dice

Azzy1974

Jul 23, 2014 23:26:19

It is a breath of fresh air to read that they're not going to be doing the publishing deluge like they did dure 3e (and presumably 4e). My wallet can't keep up with that kind of release schedule. With a slower release schedule, there's more chance that I'll collect everything.

pukunui

Jul 24, 2014 0:08:53

Azzy1974 wrote:

(Reply to #7)

Azzy1974

pukunui wrote:

AaronOfBarbaria

Jul 24, 2014 0:02:59

I too will be glad if the slower release schedule promise holds true - with 3.X I actually did manage to buy up each non-setting supplement as it came out, and with 4e I kept up with all releases from Keep on the Shadowfell through to the Shadowfell box set... but in both cases I barely managed to incorporate even a single element from each book into a campaign.

It would be nice to have the time to use the stuff I want to before more stuff I want to use comes out and starts competing for my time.

#10

tehsquirrely

Jul 24, 2014 0:05:50

I like the once a month release schedule personally. But I can live with most things as long as it isn't as slow as Catalyst; SR5 has been out for almost a year, they have two books. Wow.

#11

pukunui

Jul 24, 2014 0:15:40

tehsquirrely wrote:

#12

JohnLynch

Jul 24, 2014 1:30:54

Interview seemed a bit soft. Still. Good PR.

As for the rate of publishing. Presuming nothing is published in December, we have 3 books in 5 months. Assuming that rate continues we'll see 7 books a year.

Personally I think we'll get 1 book per adventure series tied to that adventure series. Than 2-3 DM books per year. Presuming 2-3 adventure series per year that gives us 4-6 books per year.

That'd be a good rate for me. Assuming 4th ed's 32 books (excluding essentials and adventures) is the lifespan of an edition it would take 5-8 years before we got a revision or new edition.

(Reply to #10)

AaronOfBarbaria

tehsquirrely wrote:

#14

frothsof

Jul 24, 2014 2:43:52

Great interview. Shows how they learned lessons from 4e amd incorporated them into some of the innovations. I also liked the skill/proficiency die during the playtest. Hearing it will make the DMG makes me happy.

(Reply to #11)

Daganev

pukunui wrote:

#16

Zardnaar

Jul 24, 2014 3:40:27

frothsof wrote:

#17

Emanuele_Galletto

Jul 24, 2014 3:49:49

Glad to hear I'm not the only one loving the proficiency die! Overall, a really interesting interview. I expect good things in the coming months.

#18

Karnos

Jul 24, 2014 4:32:06

pukunui wrote:

#19

edwin_su

Jul 24, 2014 4:54:53

Karnos wrote:

#20

SteeleButterfly

Jul 24, 2014 5:45:04

This is what caught my eye most:

"For way too long the rules have been a deterrent. So, it’s really about focusing on what’s important – campaigns and adventures – and selling that, while removing barriers to entry."

People will buy one ruleset, but they can buy a LOT of adventures.

#21

MrHotter

Jul 24, 2014 5:56:12

Now I want to know about the suprises. One suprise I'd realy like to hear is them converting their adventures to be used as premium content on Roll20.

I'm also a fan of the 'limited' books idea. In 4E I gave up on all the books and just went with an 'Essentials only' game. I hope that the Morningstar has a good filter so we can limit the characters to things we would be able to build with the core books.

#22

Gnarl

Jul 24, 2014 7:21:28

Zardnaar wrote:

#23

Gnarl

Jul 24, 2014 7:28:32

SteeleButterfly wrote:

#24

Person_Man

Jul 24, 2014 8:12:20

"We found that many people in the audience wanted a fast, flexible, and easy-to-play game. That feedback went against nearly 15 years of conventional wisdom in the D&D business."

So while I agree that the actual rules for playing 5E are simpler then any previous edition of D&D, the character creation process is way more complex then its ever been. It looks like at least 2/3 of the Player's Handbook is going to be character creation options, and that's a huge amount of material for new players to wade through. It'll be interesting to see how brand new players react to it.

#25

frothsof

Jul 24, 2014 8:22:59

Person you are forgetting every section has a little box that gives notes for simple creation, right down to background and starting gear. All you have to do is follow those boxes thru the book and you have a PC. If thats too much, a DM can offer a pregen.

That said, if you honestly think making a 5e PC is tougher than a 3.5, PF, or 4e PC, please puff puff give.

#26

Hitdice

Jul 24, 2014 8:23:13

We'll have to see the final PHB to say for sure, but system complexity and character creation options are two different things. (Not that I'm endorsing option-paralysis as a great design goal.)

#27

Thalion94518

Jul 24, 2014 8:32:55

Person_Man wrote:

#28

Mommy_was_an_Orc

Jul 24, 2014 9:07:11

pukunui wrote:

#29

Karnos

Jul 24, 2014 9:14:33

frothsof wrote:

#30

spelley

Jul 24, 2014 9:15:26

Mommy_was_an_Orc wrote:

(Reply to #29)

frothsof

Karnos wrote: