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Mirthless posted:I was so sure this was going to happen, esp. when the intro to 4e was a tactical strategy flash minigame. I just don't understand why we didn't get a D&D game for the entire 4e era... The concepts seem so much easier to move into game form than 3rd ed did. Because as said upthread, the license was tied up with Activision and Activision didn't really want to do much with it. It wasn't that WotC didn't want to so much as they couldn't. It was a case of lovely licensing arrangements and lovely timing.
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Apr 26, 2013 15:32
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Kai Tave posted:Because as said upthread, the license was tied up with Activision and Activision didn't really want to do much with it. It wasn't that WotC didn't want to so much as they couldn't. It was a case of lovely licensing arrangements and lovely timing.
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Apr 26, 2013 15:35
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Payndz posted:Mearls made a noise about slaying sacred cows with Next, but funnily enough they're all 'sacred' to 4e. "Ability scores are used to derive modifiers but do nothing in themselves" is sacred all the way back to the 1970s kingcom posted:Ability scores Ferrinus posted:The power framework is honestly perfect for multiclassing because it's a rationing mechanism that applies to all characters regardless of their class. If everyone gets four (inherently level-scaled, self-contained, non-interdependent) powers to deploy per encounter, it's no big deal if all four of your powers are wizard spells or if two of your powers are wizard spells while two others are fighter exploits.  That and having to split your equipment budget, if applicable.OK, time for ignorance: Where does the word gish come from? I know what it means, but is it an acronym or a particularly iconic implementation or what?
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Apr 26, 2013 15:58
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Splicer posted:I know you kind of covered this under "self-contained", but broad passive booster feats break this concept over their knee And, coincidentally, broad passive booster feats and equipment budgets are among the biggest problems with 4E, and crucial to 5E's design.
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Apr 26, 2013 16:11
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Mirthless posted:This reminds me... What ever happened to the virtual tabletop application they were going to release? It was supposed to be out when the game launched, and then it was delayed for a few months, and then a couple of years, and then last I heard they shelved it. The guy in charge murdered his wife and then killed himself over what was believed to be a pending divorce. I'm not even joking. That...that sort of thing tends to derail projects.
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Apr 26, 2013 16:19
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Jesus I was expecting 'yea they had to cut that department to keep book production good' or something.
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Apr 26, 2013 16:22
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ProfessorCirno posted:The guy in charge murdered his wife and then killed himself over what was believed to be a pending divorce. Holy...wow that's one hell of a thing to write down on a risk management plan.
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Apr 26, 2013 16:31
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Splicer posted:OK, time for ignorance: Where does the word gish come from? I know what it means, but is it an acronym or a particularly iconic implementation or what? It's an iconic implementation, specifically that of the githyanki back in the 1E Fiend Folio (and carried on in later editions). Githyanki combatants basically trained to become, IIRC, fighters, fighter/thieves or fighter/mages, each of which had a special term in their language. Fighter/mages were called gish, and somehow that expanded to become a general term.
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Apr 26, 2013 16:40
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ProfessorCirno posted:The guy in charge murdered his wife and then killed himself over what was believed to be a pending divorce.  What the gently caress!
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Apr 26, 2013 17:00
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It was a horrible, hosed up situation all around, and I can hardly fault anyone at WotC for letting the project drop after that.
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Apr 26, 2013 17:33
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The most civil thing about the edition wars was that nobody tried to leverage that tragedy. It wasn't widely reported thru gaming channels, which probably helped.
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Apr 26, 2013 17:42
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Yeah, it wasn't a nice bit of news. Sad that the only 4e-ish games have been that poor XBLA hack-and-slash game and the upcoming Neverwinter MMO. Though at least we've got Capcom's D&D arcade games getting ported soon.
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Apr 26, 2013 18:39
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LightWarden posted:Yeah, it wasn't a nice bit of news.
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Apr 26, 2013 18:47
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moths posted:The most civil thing about the edition wars was that nobody tried to leverage that tragedy. "Nobody" is a sad overstatement. I saw people do it twice.
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Apr 26, 2013 18:55
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gently caress. I'm lucky to have missed that then. Also goddamn the comments section on that article makes me so mad. I realize it's probably children posting since it's xBox, but gently caress. 
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Apr 26, 2013 19:01
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So in the interest of branching out, I am thinking of trying new whiskeys. My girlfriend picked me up a copy of 'Whisky Advocate', a huge (large dimensions) quarterly magazine detailing new trends, distillers, old classics and the like. It has a list of awards for the year in this issue, with the Artisan Whiskey of the year going to Corsair Small Batch Triple Smoke. The American Whiskey of the Year is Four Roses 2012 LE Small Batch. What I'm wondering is, does the Next thread have any recommendations for particularly tasty whiskeys between the range of $35-$80 USD. My fallback is always Jameson, a whiskey I thoroughly enjoy, as well as its 12 year cousin. I like a rich, smooth whiskey with subtle undertones. Anything you've tasted that fits this criteria? Scotch and Bourbon is acceptable too, but bourbon has always been a low hanging fruit for me, and I tend to avoid it.
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Apr 26, 2013 20:45
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Lord Frisk posted:So in the interest of branching out, I am thinking of trying new whiskeys. My girlfriend picked me up a copy of 'Whisky Advocate', a huge (large dimensions) quarterly magazine detailing new trends, distillers, old classics and the like. It has a list of awards for the year in this issue, with the Artisan Whiskey of the year going to Corsair Small Batch Triple Smoke. The American Whiskey of the Year is Four Roses 2012 LE Small Batch. All these modern whiskeys are poo poo. I want a new modern whiskey that tastes like old rotgut. And then I'm not going to buy it anyway.
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Apr 26, 2013 20:51
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Kai Tave posted:It was a horrible, hosed up situation all around, and I can hardly fault anyone at WotC for letting the project drop after that. I can certainly fault them for making a virtual tabletop a big selling point of their new edition and then hiring a grand total of one guy to make it happen.
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Apr 26, 2013 20:52
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I've heard good things of the Tullamore Dew 10 Year Reserve but then I flash back to my time in college drinking the stuff and I wonder how trustworthy those reviews are. Supposedly everything that's far too light/weak in regular Dew gets brought out more in this one, and moreso in the 12 year, so I guess that's an improvement.
PantsOptional fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Apr 26, 2013 |
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Apr 26, 2013 20:59
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Mirthless posted:All these modern whiskeys are poo poo. I want a new modern whiskey that tastes like old rotgut. Boy, have I got just the drink for you...
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Apr 26, 2013 21:01
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fatherdog posted:I can certainly fault them for making a virtual tabletop a big selling point of their new edition and then hiring a grand total of one guy to make it happen.
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Apr 26, 2013 21:01
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fatherdog posted:I can certainly fault them for making a virtual tabletop a big selling point of their new edition and then hiring a grand total of one guy to make it happen. 
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Apr 26, 2013 21:02
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Lord Frisk posted:So in the interest of branching out, I am thinking of trying new whiskeys Try anCnoc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH8xeWkoOrM edit: sorry, perhaps this is not a good whisky for you after all. I missed the part about you liking smooth and subtle. Try the Balvenie 12 Doublewood, as Accursed recommends. ergot fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Apr 26, 2013 |
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Apr 26, 2013 21:49
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Lord Frisk posted:So in the interest of branching out, I am thinking of trying new whiskeys. My girlfriend picked me up a copy of 'Whisky Advocate', a huge (large dimensions) quarterly magazine detailing new trends, distillers, old classics and the like. It has a list of awards for the year in this issue, with the Artisan Whiskey of the year going to Corsair Small Batch Triple Smoke. The American Whiskey of the Year is Four Roses 2012 LE Small Batch. For smooth and subtle, I always fall back to the Balvenie 12 year Doublewood. It's a single-malt Speyside.
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Apr 26, 2013 21:55
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Accursed posted:For smooth and subtle, I always fall back to the Balvenie 12 year Doublewood. It's a single-malt Speyside. This sounds like exactly what I'm going for. What's the price range?
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Apr 26, 2013 22:04
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Anyone who's happens to be in central jersey, and loves scotch/whiskey, needs to go to Catherine Lombardi's in New Brunswick on Thursdays for their Spirit's Project. They open up a bottle of high end spirits, and sell 1 oz at close to cost (usually $5-10). I have yet to be disappointed, and am sort of spoiled now.
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Apr 26, 2013 22:41
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fatherdog posted:I can certainly fault them for making a virtual tabletop a big selling point of their new edition and then hiring a grand total of one guy to make it happen. He wasn't developer, he was team lead. From what I remember VTT went through two iterations. First, they attempted to lease it out to a third party, which ended up failing. Then they brought it in-house, but the team lead did...what I mentioned above. After that it puttered around a bit, but eventually just sank in I think 2012. moths posted:The most civil thing about the edition wars was that nobody tried to leverage that tragedy. It wasn't widely reported thru gaming channels, which probably helped. Hah hah hah hah hah hah hah! Hah. Hah hah. HAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Nope. I saw plenty of people use it for edition war fodder.
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Apr 27, 2013 01:04
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This is all really depressing. Let's try a different direction, shall we?Mirthless posted:All these modern whiskeys are poo poo. I want a new modern whiskey that tastes like old rotgut.  The above picture is Junior Johnson's Midnight Moon corn whiskey; it's not moonshine if it was produced legally, and I refuse to hear otherwise. Each bottle is approximately 1/10 fruit, 9/10 whiskey. This makes the flavor wonderful and strong, just like the appropriate fruit if it was freshly picked just a day or so short of being ripe. The apple pie flavor uses cinnamon bark instead of fruit, and goes a long way in making the flavor equally rich and warm. All of the fruit flavors (except apple pie) weigh in at 100 proof, or 50% A.B.V., while apple pie and plain are 80 proof (40% A.B.V.) As an added bonus, they all come in incredibly useful 750 ml jars, perfect for storing food, dice, or whatever miscellaneous crap you can fit in there. I can not recommend this sprit enough: if you have an extra twenty dollars in your liquor budget, buy some. note: I am not responsible for whatever dumb poo poo you get yourself into after consuming Midnight Moon.
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Apr 27, 2013 02:35
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ProfessorCirno posted:From what I remember VTT went through two iterations. First, they attempted to lease it out to a third party, which ended up failing. Then they brought it in-house, but the team lead did...what I mentioned above. After that it puttered around a bit, but eventually just sank in I think 2012. I'm not trying to be a dick about it, but unless something was really hosed up about the way the development worked, then the project should have been finished. From a purely business perspective, the guy dieing is no different from him getting seriously sick or even just quitting abruptly, which is something that should be planned for. I've had my team leader die mid-project. It was a really really lovely experience, because while we weren't exactly friends, we'd get beer and pizzas and play Quake after work and stuff. He didn't kill himself or anything, he slipped over at home, hit his head, and never woke up. It was a stupid random accident instead of a murder/suicide, but he was still dead. The project got finished, because one of the project manager's mantras was "what if you get hit by a bus, could people pick up your work".
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Apr 27, 2013 02:44
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Father Wendigo posted:Junior Johnson's Midnight Moon corn whiskey I tried some tonight, independently of this post. The apple pie flavor was Not Very Good and just kind of tasted like an off-market Goldschlager. You know, like how the discount grocery store might have "Apple Snaps" or "Krunchy Kaptain" or "Corm Flakes" instead of the real cereal, except applied to liquor. It was not as terrible as the Shine on Georgia Moon, which was so bad it caused people across the room to recoil from the scent and which tasted kind of... well, it was hard to tell what it tasted like because I was usually too distracted by the oily film it left on my tongue. Good times.
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Apr 27, 2013 04:32
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AlphaDog posted:I'm not trying to be a dick about it, but unless something was really hosed up about the way the development worked, then the project should have been finished. From a purely business perspective, the guy dieing is no different from him getting seriously sick or even just quitting abruptly, which is something that should be planned for. Things like this are what separate well run companies with a lot of built in redundancy that make their deadlines and stay profitable from those who openly demonstrate that they don't know their target audience very well and sacrifice quality in the interests of some theoretical and unrealistic profit model... Basically, no one person should be so essential and responsible for the project that it cannot be done without them. Auteur theory is for films and novels, not commercial products.
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Apr 27, 2013 05:04
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AlphaDog posted:I've had my team leader die mid-project. It was a really really lovely experience, because while we weren't exactly friends, we'd get beer and pizzas and play Quake after work and stuff. He didn't kill himself or anything, he slipped over at home, hit his head, and never woke up. It was a stupid random accident instead of a murder/suicide, but he was still dead. The project got finished, because one of the project manager's mantras was "what if you get hit by a bus, could people pick up your work". Yeah seriously, I am an IT guy. My department regularly has conversations regarding "What if X dies?" If your project goes tits up because one person vanishes, you have done a lovely job of planning.
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Apr 27, 2013 05:16
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D&D has always gotten the like Z team from WotC to do a lot of their stuff, and WotC has always had a bad record with electronic stuff for D&D to boot. It's important to remember that D&D is probably the least valuable of anything or everything that WotC does.
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Apr 27, 2013 05:17
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ProfessorCirno posted:D&D has always gotten the like Z team from WotC to do a lot of their stuff, and WotC has always had a bad record with electronic stuff for D&D to boot.
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Apr 27, 2013 05:33
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Father Wendigo posted:This is all really depressing. Let's try a different direction, shall we? ((I was making a topical joke about Next)) e: (it occurs to me you probably were too) fatherdog posted:Yeah seriously, I am an IT guy. My department regularly has conversations regarding "What if X dies?" If your project goes tits up because one person vanishes, you have done a lovely job of planning. I was briefly a project manager and part of why I got fired was that when a family emergency happened one of my projects blew up and my backup had no loving clue what I was doing because I was so disorganized. Seriously, if this guy dying was enough to grind this project to a halt, I have to seriously question why he was in charge of what was what I consider to be a very important project in the first place. The adventure tools were integral to the game. When they introduced the game, they pitched the adventure tools suite as 25% of the 4th edition experience. You were supposed to be able to do an all digital campaign without using the physical products at all. No miniatures, no books, just a D&D insider subscription and the virtual gametable. Insider is worth the money, and it's definitely the most comprehensive digital offering for a tabletop RPG ever, but it's half of what it was supposed to be, and while gamers have found ways to make all digital games work, it's been an adventure of square pegs in round holes. I don't know how it is now, but at least up until 2010 all of the virtual tabletop software out there was horribly buggy and awful to use. I found myself longing for the days of WebRPG. I can't count the number of times I tried to get people into gametable to get through a scenario only to have somebody completely unable to connect for no apparent reason or have the client crash mid-way through a fight and lose my map and all my counters. Gametable is basically why all of my attempts to run the game online ended abortive. I can't help but feel that if the virtual tabletop had been released, and it had been actually good, we wouldn't be having this conversation about Next and we'd still be getting regular 4th ed supplements. ProfessorCirno posted:D&D has always gotten the like Z team from WotC to do a lot of their stuff, and WotC has always had a bad record with electronic stuff for D&D to boot. Having said all that, considering how trivially easy it is to pirate D&D, I can't blame Wizards of the Coast for focusing most of their business on card games. I didn't pay for a single 3rd edition book. But god damnit, I bought 4th ed. I wanted it to succeed. The game table never materializing killed a lot of my will to continue supporting the system. Mirthless fucked around with this message at 05:44 on Apr 27, 2013 |
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Apr 27, 2013 05:34
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Spoilers Below posted:Things like this are what separate well run companies with a lot of built in redundancy that make their deadlines and stay profitable from those who openly demonstrate that they don't know their target audience very well and sacrifice quality in the interests of some theoretical and unrealistic profit model... "One guy can't be indispensable" is just such basic stuff that it's hard to believe anyone can gently caress it up. I mean, we were the E or F team for a badly run company, and we still managed to get that right.
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Apr 27, 2013 05:37
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Anyone know of a video game or software designer moving into RPGs? This is becoming A Thing with the board game revolution and I feel like another industry's expertise could really make something different. I don't think WotC themselves has ever made a piece of software that doesn't disappoint within 10 seconds of launch, so obviously things don't go both ways.
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Apr 27, 2013 12:08
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There is literally no money in tabletop RPGs, so... not really, no. If anything, a lot of the best talent in the industry has moved on over time to movies, novels, video games, and other industries that can actually pay a living wage.
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Apr 27, 2013 12:23
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I'm honestly wondering why WotC doesn't just separate the 4th edition and 3rd edition product lines, and start releasing new content for both instead of releasing a new D&D edition. (one that is certainly going to fracture the playerbase, again) They abandoned 3rd ed because they wanted people to move over to 4th, but it just created a vacuum where the displaced players who didn't want to change editions just went over to pathfinder instead. With the OGL letting others just pick up the product, the player split was inevitable. Instead of competing with another company, they could have just been competing with themselves.
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Apr 27, 2013 14:45
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Even better, they could market 4E as some kind of intro D&D or lesser product. Maybe even strip some bloat from the system. The Grogs get to keep their smug sense of gaming superiority, and we get more content and more players!
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Apr 27, 2013 14:55
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