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Jul 23, 2012 -- 10:18PM, lokiare wrote:

Jul 21, 2012 -- 12:31PM, EnglishLanguage wrote:

I'd prefer casting styles to be a baked-in choice rather than having to waste my theme specialty on it, but meh.

I'm listening to the Podcast now and no where do they say you get a casting style. They say you can get a school specialty or wild magic, not AEDU or Vancian...

We were discussing this in another thread. I guess someone got to excited and read to much into it. I mean you *could* understand it that way. But it could be something completely different:

Jul 23, 2012 -- 10:49PM, Rejnwyrd wrote:

5:23 - 5:42

Other Dude: ...the wizard change is still to come but it's exciting.
MM: Yeah, we're looking at taking things ...[and speak to]?... how wizards use their magic. So things like... maybe Wild Magic or different things like that could become...
Other Dude: ...so specialisation... 
MM: Exactly, so these are different approaches wizards can take, so you take your wizard you're also picking how your wizard uses spells. And then for the fighter...

 

It might mean that, it might not, they were (deliberately?) vague.

Jul 22, 2012 -- 6:45PM, Shasarak wrote:

I would say that you probably play it much like I do, but my son would rather call up his friends with the rocket launchers and my daughter just wants to build stuff which is why I think it is the perfect example of what DnD Next is trying to achieve.

Players like me are happy with plain Single Player Survival, but my son wants Multiplayer Adventure maps and my daughter wants Creative.

And that is the beauty of a modular (or mod-able) game like they want to make for DnD Next.  All three of us can play the same game but end up with completely different experiences depending on what features we have added (or not added).

Personally I would prefer the option to play a Skyrim mod in Minecraft, then I would to have someone come along scoffing at my game and telling me that I can not play Minecraft like that, "just play Skyrim".

if you want to play a skyrim mod in minecraft, that's fine for you, just don't expect me to want to do the same. if i wanted to play skyrim or get the skyrim experience, i'd play skyrim, because i own both games and they botch scratch VERY different itches. 

all i've seen about 5th ed is a promise of compromise, but not the one where everyone leaves happy. one where everyone agrees to to not get what they really want. it seems to be wanting to do a lot, but my fears are that it just doesn't do a lot well.

i buy games, be they videogames, tabletop game, cardgames, board games... because i like the concept they focus on. i could probably create mechanics for 4th ed to emulate a space opera game, or i could buy a game that focuses on that genre and probably does it much better, since it focuses a lot of it's resources to doing that genre well.

i really don't care about making Minecraft, Skyrim, Team Fortress, D&D, Shadowrun, FATE, GURPS, WoD or whatever do things outside their intended scope. i play those games because i like the experience it's trying to deliver... that's why i bought them. i like some of the core gameplay concepts the game expouses and i want to focus on that.

in the case of RPGs, i'll sometimes buy a game because it's cheap/on sale and i want to study how it works... easier for me then trying to hack a videogame and study it's code at least. best way to learn how to design, is to study design, and if i can find a concept or mechanic to enhance my own games, even better.

but what drew me to the game, was first and foremost it's concepts and design goals.

if i wanted a game of near limitless customizability, i have that: GURPS. but GURPS requires a lot of work on the GM's end to make it playable. it's material, however, can actually translate relatively well to other systems... a GURPS sourcebook on a topic is probably the best 3rd party supplement for any game. 

however, if i wanted to play a fantasy game, i'd play 4th ed with a few tweaks. i wouldn't try to hack nWoD to do fantasy nor would i try to build a GURPS fantasy setting... i'd simply take a game that does closest to what i want by default, and make it do it better.

5th ed simply does not seem to be scratching that itch and it's promise of modularity really doesn't do much for me if the core concepts don't interest me.

Jul 24, 2012 -- 8:53AM, oxybe wrote:

Jul 22, 2012 -- 6:45PM, Shasarak wrote:

I would say that you probably play it much like I do, but my son would rather call up his friends with the rocket launchers and my daughter just wants to build stuff which is why I think it is the perfect example of what DnD Next is trying to achieve.

Players like me are happy with plain Single Player Survival, but my son wants Multiplayer Adventure maps and my daughter wants Creative.

And that is the beauty of a modular (or mod-able) game like they want to make for DnD Next.  All three of us can play the same game but end up with completely different experiences depending on what features we have added (or not added).

Personally I would prefer the option to play a Skyrim mod in Minecraft, then I would to have someone come along scoffing at my game and telling me that I can not play Minecraft like that, "just play Skyrim".

if you want to play a skyrim mod in minecraft, that's fine for you, just don't expect me to want to do the same. if i wanted to play skyrim or get the skyrim experience, i'd play skyrim, because i own both games and they botch scratch VERY different itches. 

Yeah, well that is the point of mods right - you mod it to the way that you want it.  If you dont like the Skyrim mod then dont use it.

all i've seen about 5th ed is a promise of compromise, but not the one where everyone leaves happy. one where everyone agrees to to not get what they really want. it seems to be wanting to do a lot, but my fears are that it just doesn't do a lot well.

i buy games, be they videogames, tabletop game, cardgames, board games... because i like the concept they focus on. i could probably create mechanics for 4th ed to emulate a space opera game, or i could buy a game that focuses on that genre and probably does it much better, since it focuses a lot of it's resources to doing that genre well.

i really don't care about making Minecraft, Skyrim, Team Fortress, D&D, Shadowrun, FATE, GURPS, WoD or whatever do things outside their intended scope. i play those games because i like the experience it's trying to deliver... that's why i bought them. i like some of the core gameplay concepts the game expouses and i want to focus on that.

in the case of RPGs, i'll sometimes buy a game because it's cheap/on sale and i want to study how it works... easier for me then trying to hack a videogame and study it's code at least. best way to learn how to design, is to study design, and if i can find a concept or mechanic to enhance my own games, even better.

but what drew me to the game, was first and foremost it's concepts and design goals.

if i wanted a game of near limitless customizability, i have that: GURPS. but GURPS requires a lot of work on the GM's end to make it playable. it's material, however, can actually translate relatively well to other systems... a GURPS sourcebook on a topic is probably the best 3rd party supplement for any game. 

however, if i wanted to play a fantasy game, i'd play 4th ed with a few tweaks. i wouldn't try to hack nWoD to do fantasy nor would i try to build a GURPS fantasy setting... i'd simply take a game that does closest to what i want by default, and make it do it better.

5th ed simply does not seem to be scratching that itch and it's promise of modularity really doesn't do much for me if the core concepts don't interest me.

I guess that my biggest fear would be a type of Forge design game like 4e that was too focused on pleasing a certain type of player.

If you like the same things that the designers like then it is great, but bad luck if you dont.

I mean I could try and hack 4e into something that was reasonably playable but it would be a lot of effort in trying to fight against the base mechanics that would probably be better spent tweaking 2e or BECMI into shape.  Or if Mike does a good job with 5e then I can just use that instead.