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Will

Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Posts: 395 Location: This Very Ring
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Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 10:53 pm Post subject: Interesting interview w/ Mike Mearls |
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http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/writersroom/8115-Complete-Mike-Mearls-D-D-4th-Edition-Essentials-Interview
The real thing starts on page 3.
It's interesting that Mike almost seems to think 4e went too far, and that Essentials is really more of a 3.75 than a 4.5...I'm interested.
For my part, DMing is still the hardest part of this game. I think after this campaign is done - and I would very much like to actually complete a campaign - I may be finished DMing, at least for a good while. Unless future versions of D&D make it way easier.
I think the main problem is encounter balance. I'd rather just come up with crazy-ass situations to put PCs in, and then see how the players get through them, without worrying about challenge ratings and encounter levels and encounter templates and treasure and all that. Or, if the game could just make it super-easy to take any random situation or fight and turn it into a balanced encounter with treasure and blah blah blah, that'd be ok too.
Anyway, read and discuss!
-Will |
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Glammo

Joined: 12 Sep 2007 Posts: 453 Location: Finding paths and breakin' hearts
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Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 12:04 pm Post subject: |
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I think screw balance and make PCs use tactics like bottlenecking, divide and conquer, and running the fuck away if things are too rough. As is, our party kinda just always runs into a full encounter and use tactics with no real strategy other than KILL IT WITH FIRE.
Idunno. It might be more fun as a DM to think of encounters that are interesting or just fun and not worry about the "theory" the DMG or MM wants to impose. I mean, they mostly do away with worrying about micromanaging by having monsters use a different, simpler generation rules, but then they confine each into a role.
I'm not saying anything about your DMing, just the impression that I get that 4e tries too hard to parcel everything out and maybe streamlines everything to the point of being robotic. Like it polishes D&D until the paint is all gone. |
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Glammo

Joined: 12 Sep 2007 Posts: 453 Location: Finding paths and breakin' hearts
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Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 9:40 am Post subject: |
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Mearls wrote: | If you look at the Fighter and the way he works in Essentials, we removed the Daily power skills to get more of a sense that "look, fighters and wizards should look really different," because that's how D&D originally approached it. |
This interests me.
I noticed the article the interview mentions has a lot of interesting critiques on 4e, the main point being the game mechanics are dissociated from the game world, in which a lot of powers and abilities require either extensive "house ruling" of fluff to make sense in a roleplaying aspect, or total acceptance that 4e is just a tactics game (the example given is marking, like how does a fighter's challenge suddenly supersede a paladin's divine challenge?).
Mearls wrote: | ...but one thing you can't accuse us of is: we listen. |
LOLZ HE MEANT THE OPPOSITE BUT I'M QUOTING IT AND SAYING BOO-URNS! |
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