Video Slashdot's Rob Rozeboom Interviews D&D Designer Mike Mearls - Part 2 (video) 43
Video no longer available.
On July 18 we ran Part One of a video conversation (really audio with slides) between Slashdot editor Rob "samzenpus" Rozeboom and Mike Mearls, Senior Manager for the Dungeons and Dragons Design Team. This is the rest of that interview.
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It's not the content, it is the manner in which it is presented.
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Ewwww technology!!! *shakes fist*
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I'm thinking they are trying to get into the content creating business when what people come here for is news aggregating.
I guess they are hoping to be able to sell the content they create which is funny when their own customer base doesn't want to view it.
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transcription? (Score:5, Insightful)
A suggestion (Score:1)
Create a transcription before posting the stories because a large percentage of your audience will not sit though a video when they can read the entire story in around 45 seconds.
Your "editors" are worse at being "reporters" than they are at editing.
Deep in the WoTC Bunker... (Score:5, Insightful)
Back in the 90's my company went out and "saved" TSR, the venerable and rickety enterprise which brought the world Dungeons and Dragons, the popular role playing game. TSR had floundered under idiotic management for years, and WoTC swooped in to take the name, revive the brand and make the game better for all.
What happened however was that the game that WoTC created had very, very little in common with the original TSR version, and along with subsequent iterations, it was all designed to generate perpetual revenue by using the same methods employed in that other, atrocious, WoTC POS card game, "Magic".
WoTC version of D&D was a godsend to the type of player who can't lose, which fit in perfectly in an America where everyone is a winner and all go home with a trophy...
WoTC new iteration of D&D attempts to patch over issues with our last release, however it is all really just another money grab, a way to get more pasty high school nerds to spend what little money they have on overpriced books, supplements, etc; This is the strategy WoTC has maintained and will continue with. So don't be fooled by imitations, only WoTC offers a true consumer experience at the expense of playability and enjoyment.
Enjoy!"
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Oh come on... Magic is built around obtaining rare cards from booster packs. We all know this. Maybe if you don't ever play with anyone using cards out of your base starter pack.. sure.
Pre D&D 3 (I'll admit, in 3-3.5 stories had some tough spots) you had to mostly rely on the DM letting things slide. Good or bad, the new D&D are easier to get into and play for longer because they've been simplified to the point where anyone that's picked up a computer RPG or an MMO can at least play it and unders
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No, Magic is built around combos and system mastery. A good player with a starter deck can easily thump an inexperienced player with a deck full of rares. Buying more cards can give you more options for building a deck, but it doesn't translate into a higher chance of winning any given game.
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My biggest gripes with the new rules are the classes and spell casting. Before, you could make spell casting warriors, but now the classes and spells they get are all pre-defined (ie: you won't get the spells to pick from)
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If you're talking about 4e, you clearly haven't even looked at it. There is a system in 4e for obtaining abilities from other classes (like your arcane-spell-casting warrior), although it's rarely worth the effort. Also, there are multiple choices of abilities for each class, not to mention Paragon Paths which are similar to 3e's Prestige Classes.
If you're talking about NEXT, well, the playtests have (AFAIK) only included prebuilt characters, so of course there's not going to be any choice of abilities.
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because they've been simplified to the point where anyone that's picked up a computer RPG or an MMO can at least play it and understand it without dying too hard.
Exactly...
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Oh come on... Magic is built around obtaining rare cards from booster packs. We all know this. Maybe if you don't ever play with anyone using cards out of your base starter pack.. sure.
I haven't played M:TG since highschool, where what you say was true. But it seems these days, people plan their decks by looking up cards on the net, then go out and buy the singles they want to construct the deck; no luck involved. In fact, these days people just wait until some people on the internet crunch the numbers, assemble the "best" decks, and then fork out money for decks other people constructed.
It seems rather...boring.
Re:Deep in the WoTC Bunker... (Score:4, Insightful)
Except WotC did save D&D... by coming up with the OGL license, which enabled the entire OSR/retroclone movement.
Ehrmagehrd (Score:2)
Mehrk Mearls
he's not a designer (Score:3)
Why not sit down with a bunch of actual designers instead of interviewing the manager?
This is Slashdot (Score:2)
People like to read articles on Slashdot, not watch non-pornographic videos.
At least post a fucking transcript.
We still play 1sd ed rules... (Score:2)
Why fuck up a good thing? :)
RIP, EGG.
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I can see the interview now.
Interviewer: So what's in store for future D&D players?
Gary: BRAINS!
Interviewer: ARGH!
Text instead of video (Score:1)
I like text much better... too inconvenient to watch video 99% of the time.