Codex Interview RPG Codex Interview: Mike Mearls on Dungeons & Dragons and D&D Next

[Azrael the cat]

On the upside, in terms of corporate PR-speak, this is as close as i've seen to an apology since 20th century Fox 'expressed their regret' for cutting and reshooting so much of a then unknown David Fincher's Alien3 in light of his later directorial success.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Just for the record, this interview spawned a pretty interesting discussion at another forum: http://www.enworld.org/forum/new-ho...326859-rpg-codex-interview-w-mike-mearls.html

 

[Infinitron]

Just for the record, this interview spawned a pretty interesting discussion at another forum: http://www.enworld.org/forum/new-ho...326859-rpg-codex-interview-w-mike-mearls.html

Wait... responses on RPGCodex are actually more positive and less bitter than here?

What mixed-up world is this?

 

[Morkar Left]

Just for the record, this interview spawned a pretty interesting discussion at another forum: http://www.enworld.org/forum/new-ho...326859-rpg-codex-interview-w-mike-mearls.html

The fact that 4e combat system has been developed taking into consideration an MMO possible conversion gave me the best combat system I have experienced in D&D (personal opinion, YMMV), precise, clean, solid, and full of options.
A couple of months ago I was playing Skyrim and got to the main quest final scene where all the dragons are meeting after Alduin's death. It was awesome, and felt really immersive. Clearly a videogame can just deliver a moment here or there where you get that immersion, but they are getting better and better every year and borrowing the good things while still keeping up the inherent qualities of a table-top RPG is not a bad idea at all.

Sorry but can't go further than this.

 

[Infinitron]

There sure are a lot of apologists on that forum.

 

[CappenVarra]

Well, they managed to make a larger thread about it than codexia, so there's that... But I avoid enworld whenever I can

I was shocked and disgusted when I read the interview. Sick to my stomach, I closed the web browser and rested my head in my hands. It felt like I had been punched. When Mike Mearls said that 4e was largely modeled after MMOs, he was merely stating something I had suspected for years but could never quite admit to myself. Could it be that complaints comparing 4e to World of Warcraft held a sliver of truth? No. Impossible. And yet...plausible. I took a swig of whiskey to steady my nerves and logged into the thirteen different gaming websites I visited. It was going to be a long night.

 

[Alex]

I am glad the interview seems to have been well received... Well at least here.

I really liked making this interview, and some of Mr. Mearls's answers got me interested. I wonder if they can use the modules to make a Dark Sun that feels more like the early 2e one. Also,I specially liked his answer about the 3 pillars of D&D's design. I think it is interesting because it is fun to see how these make it different from some other RPG authors, specially in the OSR. Lamentations of the Flam Princess doesn't hold combat in such a high regard, for example, to the point that the warrior is the only one of the 4 classes to improve his to hit chance with levels.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you all for reading through, and to thank the staff for green lighting the series and helping editing the questions. Also, besides the obvious thank you to Mike Mearls, I wanted to thank Sheila Tayebi who helped send the questions back and forth to Wizards.

 

[LeStryfe79]

My favorite Enworld Troll posts:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/233881-why-i-dont-like-4th-edition.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/245296-why-4th-wont-last.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/272079-whats-going.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/287595-attractive-players.html

 

[Jaesun]

Excellent interview Alex.

 

[Mother Russia]

Alex, 4th ed already had a Darksun book(s) published: A gorgeous campaign setting book with great art and lots of info. It resets the setting back to the original 2e set, not the popamole revised version released a few years later.

 

[waywardOne]

I don't particularly care for WotC or Mearls, but good for him for doing an interview for a site that doesn't universally adore him or generate ad revenue for him.

 

[Alex]

Mother Russia

Thanks for the heads up, but does it have half giants with double hit points? Ridiculously high ability scores that enable characters to do things in the realm of the demi-gods? Or really crazy campaign rules for character trees, where you can safely advance the level of a preserver using a thief, both keeping the preserver out of harm's way and requiring less experience to actually raise the level? (Ok, the last one is pretty crappy, i gotta agree, but I can't help but like they actually took care to make special rules given the setting deadliness).

 

[kain30]

i´ve been almost all my life an DM of D&D second edition and i continue with it. i didn´t like third or fourth edition neither

 

[SuicideBunny]

and you felt the irresistible urge to necro this dead thread why exactly?

 

[Jaesun]

Joined: Aug 7, 2014

 

[kain30]

yeah sorry, i didn´t notice the date of the topic, i arrived here with the link of a signature

 

[handup]

I was wondering for a second how awor managed to gather enough people to play a D&D game together.

 

[Jaesun]

I was wondering for a second how awor managed to gather enough people to play a D&D game together.