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So...

The wizard's player had nothing good to say about it.  Sleep felt too good against goblins, and sucked against orcs, and magic missile was just too much of a go to.

The laser effect of the CoP also felt like it was just a long bow.  It didn't feel like magic, just a laser gun with unlimited batteries.

The CoM's player had fun, but the Fighter felt like he wasn't nearly as tough.  Some of that was the theme, but the Fighter didn't have anything, even with Fighter Surge.

Healing got stupidly cheap in some situations.

The rogue's player did have fun popping in and out and scouting.

Alright, so, on to the Rubric!



Against the Rubric
The Game Itself

• The game wants to be simple to run.
• It was simple to run, but boring.  Once we got the grid out we realized the moving wasn't

...

So we have a different cast for this playtest.

Instead of giving a lengthy character description, since this mostly isn't my standard group, I'll instead leap in to the summary with just a few notes.

Wizard and Cleric of Pelor (CoP) shared the same player.

We started off with no grids, but then went to grids when it became a pain for some players to keep spatial stuff in their head.

I statted up a dragon based off of the troll stats and using burning hands to emulate its breath weapon.  It also had a cone of fear that gave someone disadvantage to attacks against the dragon until it was bloodied.  (This effect was called If it Bleeds We Can Kill it! by one of the players.)

Alright.  Strap in for spoilers.

Summary (Spoilers for CoC)

So another group is now after the gem, standing...

So, the feedback I got was interesting.

We used a map, but no grid.  We did use some measurements though, and moved stuff around to give a close approximation.

G. and T. said flat out that they missed the tactical elements.  Specifically that they disliked the power schema; they felt like having Encounter powers encouraged them to use them.

Everyone agreed that they wanted to hold on to the daily spells as long as possible.  Although most felt like they were Meh, in compared to their normal stuff.

W. felt like the lack of tactical mobility stuff, like Opportunity Attacks and Marking, made movement not matter unless you were clogging a hallway or something broke line of site.  She also felt like Searing Light was a waste.  sure, the damage was good, but she had to hit...

So lets dive in.

The party has found its way to the Caves of Chaos, tracking down a legendary gem that was stolen from a king.

(I realized in preparing for this blog posts I should have ramped this up more.  Suggested who might have the gem, for example, to guide them towards the cultists.)

I'm going to break this up in to sections, and label what is and isn't spoilerrific.

Who is Playing What (No Spoilers)

W., my wife, playing the Cleric of Pelor (CoP).  She's 4th edition focused; generally hasn't liked most of the earlier stuff we has played.  She plays a bit of computer games; not as much as I have/did, but a fair bit.  She got in to fantasy through me, in a way.  It became something we shared.

G., playing the Cleric of Moradin (CoM).  He's a soldiery guy;...

So, why did I spend some type rephrasing Monte and Mearls in a bulleted list?  It's because I have...

THE THREE RULES OF GAME DESIGN

I. Start with Design Goals.  These determine what you are trying to do.
II. Try to Impelement these Design Goals in your game, to the best of your ability.
III. The Design Goals are your determination for success.  If you find that your rules don't hit your goals, adjust your rules until they do.  If you find a goal to be untenable, or that once you hit the goal you don't like it, remove or adjust the goal.


This shapes what I think valid criticism is.  You can either debate the validity of a Design Goal (should we have this design goal, shouldn't we?) or you can debate the validity of how it is implemented in the rules (There is a disconnect...

So here is what I understand D&D Next to be about.


 The Game Itself

• The game wants to be simple to run.
• The game wants to be recognizeable at D&D.
• The game wants to be as fun as possible.
• The game wants to encourage a dialog between players and DMs, and make that the source of what happens.
• The game wants to  embrace the tradition of D&D.  This means that some stuff may be done soley because of tradition.
• The game wants to be something every D&D is excited to play.
• The game wants to simulate many different types of fantasy tale.

...