These past few weeks have left me with absolutely no time to devote to the blog, and I apologize for that. I would like to get back into the swing of things and share some of the stuff I have been working on in the spare time I have managed to find. No promises, but I will make a real effort to make this happen.
Anyway, back to the real reason I am posting today. I read Mike Mearls' new Legends & Lore article, "Minimalist D&D." The title alone drew me in, since I have been on a Microlite20/75 tear hereof late. First, let me say, I agree wholeheartedly with everything he says in this article. Personally, I think making ability scores the cornerstone of a character is essential. I also agree that ability checks can replace both saving throws and skills.
One thing I wanted to point out, which is obvious to almost everyone in the OSR, is that Castles & Crusades has been doing this for years! It is the main thing I love about C&C, and something I have ported over to other games. I am not quite sure why Mr. Mearls is presenting this game mechanic in his article as if it is something completely new. (Or at least that is how I read it) If he did not realize this fact, then I find that damn irritating. A manager for the Dungeons & Dragons research and development team at Wizards of the Coast should at least have had a look at the competition just to see what the "other guys" are doing. If he knew that C&C is designed around ability checks, then I find it even more irritating that he is rolling this out like he has had some kind of epiphany!
That's it. That's the only point I needed to make. If it sounds like I am being overly critical of Mearls' comments in his article, you are probably right. I am in an incredibly bad mood today. Anyway, now that I have that off my chest I feel a lot better!
10 comments:
Well this is a representative of the same company that talked up "skill challenges" like it was the new vanilla.
bah.
What are you busy with? A new kid or something? ;)
Seriously though, I bet he probably realizes it is not new and the tone of the article is the way it is because of the assumed audience, not the authorial perspective.
Between Mearls article and Rick Marshall's new WotC series, I'm wondering if '5th Edition' D&D is going to actually be '3.85'...
Soon he'll present his revolutionary new concept, 'Dice Pools'. Yes indeed, they'll be all the rage by the end of this year, which according to many of his notes must be roughly 1985.
I think we first did some form of ability score check in 1978 or '79 or thereabouts.
As you noted yourself, you've been on a Microlite kick, something possible since the OSR movement and Microlite20 have been around for a while now.
Mearls seems like an ok guy but he and the design team at WotC often sound like they're on the cutting edge of 20 years ago.
I must assume a lot of the 4E/WotC audience for this may not have even heard of Castles & Crusades. Don't forget just how far-reaching WotC products and D&D are, and how small a niche ALL the other spinoffs and OSR type games are. Nice to see him address the idea of mimimalist D&D anyhow. I really hope they make 5th edition somethign that can bring various gamers together on some level rather than drive the wedge deeper or splinter off new groups (again) as per WotC's usual method.
Ability checks have been a part of D&D for as long as I can remember. Even when they were not specifically mentioned in the rules. Ability checks to handle saving throws isn't something I encountered until I played C&C. Other games may have taken this route before C&C, but I am not aware of any if they did. Mearls probably realizes all of this, but it is the tone he took with the article I found irritating. It is the kind of over conceptualizing found in this article, and many of the other articles that Mearls has put forth, that took D&D down the wrong path to begin with. Over thinking the rules leads to over complicating them. Now he is trying to think his way out of 4th edition... Seems like a vicious cycle to me.
He reads Planet Algol and plays OD&D. I'd be surprised if he's never perused C&C.
Anything Mears says on the WotC website is going to be tainted by the fact that the webiste exists solely to sell Hasbro products. No way in hell are they going to mention their competitors in the context of a good idea that D&D might be stealing for their next ed. Much how when Ford announced it was getting in on the Hybrid game, they presented the technology as if it was the product of a brainstorm in Dearborn, MI--despite the fact that Priuses had been selling like hotcakes for years already.
Had Mears posted this article on his own personal blog, say, then, yeah, it would be important for him to credit The Troll Lords--or whoever--to establish his credibility as a person of integrity and someone familiar with the gaming landscape. But when he's writing on the WotC website he's a shill for Hasbro, not an academic pontificator.
@ Barking Alien: Will I have to turn in my key to the OSR lounge if I admit that I don't know what dice pools are?
@Timrod - No, perhaps quite the opposite it would seem.
While dice pools have been around forever and a day, the OSR is usually concerned with them. As a matter of fact I'm really not sure why it isn't just called the TSR-R since the only 'Old School' game I see addressed is D&D and Gamma World.
I'm old school but I ain't old school. ;)
Chaosium's BRP system has skills but a lot of actions hinge on characteristic/ability rolls.
Resistance rolls (saving throws?) such as resisting poison are based on characteristics also.
Nothing new.
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