Re:Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling
by drxzcl on Monday December 18, 2023 @06:45AM
(#38681335)
Yes. But more importantly, there are lots of creators making excellent stuff for systems that are not compatible with their bullshit player option supplements.
No Steve, you cannot be extra-planar half-staplerkin half-mongoose demi-lich paladin/sorcerer with a lemming patron. I don't care what Tasha's Bulging Cupboard of Crap or Volo's Yard-sale of Absolutely Everything has to say about it.
Re:Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling
by zztop44 on Monday December 18, 2023 @09:55AM
(#38683293)
This was a problem in 3 and 3.5 era too and was only exacerbated by the rise of forums and wikis. I don’t think it’s possible to release one-size-fits-all-the-crap-that’s-out-there campaigns that are going to be actually interesting. At some point the DMs job is to make decisions about what fits and what doesn’t, and to help cultivate a culture of collaborative storytelling.
Re:Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling
by klodolph on Monday December 18, 2023 @10:58AM
(#38684216)
Yes, 100%. I DMed during the 3 and 3.5 era, and the “bullshit player option supplements” were a major problem. Players want to ask for the most out of pocket stuff they pick up from the splatbooks. It was beyond difficult to build a coherent party of players when everyone was using radically different concepts to build their characters. Game balance went out the window. 3 and 3.5 had terrible game balance to begin with, but once you bring in books like Exalted Deeds, it was even worse.
4E fixed a ton of problems here. Character classes were much more balanced and there were not many supplements with new classes and options—partly because it takes a ton of effort to make a new 4E class.
Re:Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling
by vintermann on Tuesday December 19, 2023 @06:16AM
(#38694255)
I DM'd during the 2nd edition era, and yeah... Some player's option supplements had decent things going for them. Others were pure munchkin galore (looking at you, Bard's handbook).
Re:Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling
by soundnote on Thursday December 21, 2023 @10:07AM
(#38721323)
Game balance in 3rd Edition was gone from the PHB onwards, out of like top 5-7 most broken classes in the game, 3 were in the PHB (Wizard, Cleric, Druid). A lot of stuff people consider broken (eg. Tome of Battle) isn't even really a power level boost for melee classes, just lets them in on the same move action + interesting option playstyle casters were doing since release (just at a much lower power level) vs. charge-> full attack full attack.
Not to say there wasn't broken shit in splats, but like half of broken nonsense was Core to begin with.
Re:Hasbro laying off Wizards of the Coast staff is baffling
by klodolph on Thursday December 21, 2023 @06:54PM
(#38728887)
Yeah, core 3 and 3.5 was broken. You want to make an overpowered character? Play a straight cleric, but don’t bother healing the rest of the party. I have no desire to replay those editions.
good thing WotC isn't the only company writing adventures for D&D 5, then?