Sean Merwin

there are games that are much more generic and they serve as a much better toolset than D&D does. But it also gets less use, less attention, not only because it's not D&D, but because it doesn't have that sort of gravitas of story built into the rules. And that

there are games that are much more generic and they serve as a much better toolset than D&D does. But it also gets less use, less attention, not only because it's not D&D, but because it doesn't have that sort of gravitas of story built into the rules. And that

You end up doing just as much work, I think, to build the setting in those sorts of systems as you would do removing pieces from the D&D setting. Now, I do hope that designers will keep this part in mind when they are designing the base rules to remember that it is a tool set, to keep it generic enough that it is easier to use.

You end up doing just as much work, I think, to build the setting in those sorts of systems as you would do removing pieces from the D&D setting. Now, I do hope that designers will keep this part in mind when they are designing the base rules to remember that it is a tool set, to keep it generic enough that it is easier to use.

And I think, like I said, I think they've done that with the clerics of 20... It's a tough ask, right?

And I think, like I said, I think they've done that with the clerics of 20... It's a tough ask, right?

Yeah. One thing a system could do, since we're going to talk about this one more minute, is build the rule set up, but leave spaces. What you said with these are the three questions, do that for every class or do that for every subclass. And this part, this here, whether it's a fee or whether it's a seventh level ability is bring in from your setting.

Yeah. One thing a system could do, since we're going to talk about this one more minute, is build the rule set up, but leave spaces. What you said with these are the three questions, do that for every class or do that for every subclass. And this part, this here, whether it's a fee or whether it's a seventh level ability is bring in from your setting.

And here are three settings that we're going to give you right from the start to model this. And then you can pull in your own settings.

And here are three settings that we're going to give you right from the start to model this. And then you can pull in your own settings.

Next, we will get to a question from Tom Dunn via also our Patreon Discord. What do you do when good design isn't obvious from an initial reading? Designers can use playtesting to determine if something works or not. Players don't have that luxury. They can only read what's on the page and use their experience and intuition to form their opinion.

Next, we will get to a question from Tom Dunn via also our Patreon Discord. What do you do when good design isn't obvious from an initial reading? Designers can use playtesting to determine if something works or not. Players don't have that luxury. They can only read what's on the page and use their experience and intuition to form their opinion.

Are there times when a bit of game design plays well but doesn't read well? Or is reading well a filter on game design that designers simply have to live with? And my attitude toward this is trust but verify.

Are there times when a bit of game design plays well but doesn't read well? Or is reading well a filter on game design that designers simply have to live with? And my attitude toward this is trust but verify.

So when I see something on the page, whether it's from Wizards of the Coast, a third-party publisher, or just somebody publishing on the Guild, I will say, I'm going to read this, and I will trust that it's good, but I will verify it through play. What do you think, Tejas?

So when I see something on the page, whether it's from Wizards of the Coast, a third-party publisher, or just somebody publishing on the Guild, I will say, I'm going to read this, and I will trust that it's good, but I will verify it through play. What do you think, Tejas?

yeah and what i've seen with game designers and myself included is we get locked into we know this works and we know this doesn't and so when we see something that falls outside of this works box we're like nope can't do that you should never do that and sometimes i've noticed that game designers will do that working from

yeah and what i've seen with game designers and myself included is we get locked into we know this works and we know this doesn't and so when we see something that falls outside of this works box we're like nope can't do that you should never do that and sometimes i've noticed that game designers will do that working from

a place of knowledge, but also that knowledge excludes other knowledge they could be getting. So I've tried to myself say, all right, this isn't how I would normally do this, but let's play it out. Let's play this through and make sure that my bias is confirmed and not... It doesn't always have to be the way that you think it needs to be.

a place of knowledge, but also that knowledge excludes other knowledge they could be getting. So I've tried to myself say, all right, this isn't how I would normally do this, but let's play it out. Let's play this through and make sure that my bias is confirmed and not... It doesn't always have to be the way that you think it needs to be.