This is the second of my ten-part series of articles, in which I look at the Design & Development articles released in the early part of Fourth Edition. This article examines the articles penned by Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford, two of the people currently leading the development of the next iteration of D&D. Please feel free to add coments below, or in the related discussion thread.

Mearls is credited with two articles: Encounter Design in 4th Edition, and The Evolution of Magic Items (the latter of which which he co-authored with Andy Collins).  Jeremy Crawford is credited with one article: Dispel Magic (which he co-authored with Michele Carter).

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford
3. James Wyatt
4. Rob Heinsoo
5. Peter Schaefer and Matthew...

Recently, I have been looking over the Design & Development articles that were published in the run-up to Fourth Edition and it occurred to me that it would be useful to see whether the goals that the designers set for themselves were met, and whether they will be carried into the Next iteration of D&D.  Partly inspired by Style75's discussion thread, the idea of D&D Before was born.  In this ten-part series of articles, I will look at each of the Design & Development articles released in the early part of Fourth Edition.  I stop when the articles begin discussing materials that are to be introduced in the Players Handbook 2, like the bard and barbarian.

Fourteen designers wrote articles for Fourth Edition.  Remarkably, all three of the lead developers for Next -- Mike...

This is an ongoing series in which I highlight what I think were the best D&D-related blogs each month. This is the article for October 2012. The criteria for this honor is:

1. The blog must be on the WotC Blog site.
2. It cannot be made by a featured or staff blogger (the point is to highlight blogs that might otherwise go unnoticed).
3. It cannot be made in the blogs for a specific group.
4. It must pertain to D&D (of any edition).
5. It must be in English.
6. It must not be reposted from or pushing content on another site.
7. It must tickle my fancy.

Note, you really should check out the featured blogs. You can see the current Featured Blogs here and the Staff Blogs here.

While we remain in playtest phase, I'm segregating playtest reports into a separate list.  Please

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This is an ongoing series in which I highlight what I think were the best D&D-related blogs each month. This is the article for September 2012. The criteria for this honor is:

1. The blog must be on the WotC Blog site.
2. It cannot be made by a featured or staff blogger (the point is to highlight blogs that might otherwise go unnoticed).
3. It cannot be made in the blogs for a specific group.
4. It must pertain to D&D (of any edition).
5. It must be in English.
6. It must not be reposted from or pushing content on another site.
7. It must tickle my fancy.

Note, you really should check out the featured blogs. You can see the current Featured Blogs here and the Staff Blogs here.

While we remain in playtest phase, I'm segregating playtest reports into a separate list.  Please

...

This is an ongoing series in which I highlight what I think were the best D&D-related blogs each month. This is the article for August 2012. The criteria for this honor is:

1. The blog must be on the WotC Blog site.
2. It cannot be made by a featured or staff blogger (the point is to highlight blogs that might otherwise go unnoticed).
3. It cannot be made in the blogs for a specific group.
4. It must pertain to D&D (of any edition).
5. It must be in English.
6. It must not be reposted from or pushing content on another site.
7. It must tickle my fancy.

Note, you really should check out the featured blogs. You can see the current Featured Blogs here and the Staff Blogs here.

While we remain in playtest phase, I'm segregating playtest reports into a separate list.  I've also added a new category

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Welcome to the Second Annual HoBby Awards!  For the last twelve months, I have been reading every blog article placed on the website here.  Once a month with the Heroes of Blogging series, I try to get more traffic to those articles worth reading.  At the end of the year (assuming the year actually ends July 31!) I honor those bloggers who have contributed most to the online community.

Unlike other awards, there are no winners.  Everyone who is nominated get a (completely nonexistent) HoBby Award.  The awards honor and highlight the unsung heroes of blogging.  And with great blogs like these, everyone wins!

BLOG SERIES

The following community members are honored for their commitment to blogging about the game we all love.  These bloggers were chosen

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This is an ongoing series in which I highlight what I think were the best D&D-related blogs each month. This is the article for July 2012. The criteria for this honor is:

1. The blog must be on the WotC Blog site.
2. It cannot be made by a featured or staff blogger (the point is to highlight blogs that might otherwise go unnoticed).
3. It cannot be made in the blogs for a specific group.
4. It must pertain to D&D (of any edition).
5. It must be in English.
6. It must not be reposted from or pushing content on another site.
7. It must tickle my fancy.

Note, you really should check out the featured blogs. You can see the current Featured Blogs here and the Staff Blogs here.

While we remain in playtest phase, I'm segregating playtest reports into a separate list, even though this month we have only

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This is an ongoing series in which I highlight what I think were the best D&D-related blogs each month. This is the article for June 2012. The criteria for this honor is:

1. The blog must be on the WotC Blog site.
2. It cannot be made by a featured or staff blogger (the point is to highlight blogs that might otherwise go unnoticed).
3. It cannot be made in the blogs for a specific group.
4. It must pertain to D&D (of any edition).
5. It must be in English.
6. It must not be reposted from or pushing content on another site.
7. It must tickle my fancy.

Note, you really should check out the featured blogs. You can see the current Featured Blogs here and the Staff Blogs here.

WIth the release of the first playtest, I'm segregating playtest reports into a separate list.  Please take a look at the

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This is an ongoing series in which I highlight what I think were the best D&D-related blogs each month. This is the article for May 2012. The criteria for this honor is:

1. The blog must be on the WotC Blog site.
2. It cannot be made by a featured or staff blogger (the point is to highlight blogs that might otherwise go unnoticed).
3. It cannot be made in the blogs for a specific group.
4. It must pertain to D&D (of any edition).
5. It must be in English.
6. It must not be reposted from or pushing content on another site.
7. It must tickle my fancy.

Note, you really should check out the featured blogs. You can see the current Featured Blogs here and the Staff Blogs here.

WIth the release of the first playtest, I'm segregating playtest reports into a separate list, and I'm ignoring most of the Next-related

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