Thursday, July 11, 2013
QT Games is Alive and Well, But We've Moved Blogs
Hi All,
This blog was getting sleepy with few visitors and due to my working a lot of hours (some on our Cosmothea Blended-Genre Roleplaying game, and some at my day job). Just wanted to let you know that just as our company has changed gears and is now working on Cosmothea 5.0, we started a new blog earlier this year. Check it out here and follow us! We're posting regularly, showing off some artwork, talking about the setting and game, tackling some tough questions and getting a bit transparent as we edge toward publication of a number of cool projects. Hope to see you there. Thanks!
Bob
Thursday, November 17, 2011
D&D 4E Inspires me to play something else
It's been awhile since I've blogged. Lots has been going on, some good and some not so good. I'll update you more later. I kind of hate to make my first post in awhile be a rant, but heck, maybe a kick in the pants will get someone off their duff and do a better job. Who knows?
It seems like every time I read an article about D&D 4E or read something in one of the rulebooks, it inspires me to play a different game instead. It's not all bad, however. There are some things 4E does right, but it's a pretty sad commentary on a game that was once great as far as rpg's go. Of course, even when it was great, it had many problems.
Fortunately, a good GM and good players can help make any game more fun. But GM's and players shouldn't have to work so hard at it. Just one of the reasons why I set down to revamp my own RPG in the first place. And just as WotC is looking back on 4E now and trying to sort out what to do about the mess they made and how to fix it, I've looked back on Cosmothea, even in the middle of revamping Cosmothea 4.0 and saw that some of my own design decisions should be reconsidered. And so I'm working on a 5th edition now.
Now mind you, my own players could gripe about plenty of things they don't like about Cosmothea, since it's incomplete, with more holes than Swiss cheese, and we're still using some temporary rules, but that's just it - those are temporary holes and issues - I'm not claiming my game is all done and the hottest thing out there, like WotC was. I'm not working on Cosmothea 5E because I want to make a boat-load of money. WotC has no choice in the matter. No matter how good D&D were to get, they are forced to change it. Period. Whether for the better or worse, they have to change things.
So, what are the sorts of things I read in DnD 4E that bug me? Well, lots of things, like healing surges, lack of an interesting magic system, the way roles hamstring creativity, the way the class powers largely all feel the same, item creation, lack of significant non-combat skills, the combat lag issue, just to name a few. It's just a shame that WotC had so much talent and potential and still managed to put out a game that fails on so many levels.
Now, if you are enjoying 4E, I'm not saying you are a knucklehead or anything, I'm glad you're having fun. I'm just saying they could have done a much better job and it's a shame for those that want to play DnD that they didn't.
And then we have indie designers like myself, who barely have two pennies to rub together, and so of course we can't afford to invest like the bigger companies to put out a beautiful product, though we can put out one with decent rules, given enough time. Me, I'm stubborn, and I insist on putting out a product with high production values or none at all. But that's another issue - we aren't designing 8 hours a day - we just don't have time for that sort of thing, so games like Cosmothea take forever to produce.
My own budget is still languishing, but I'm not giving up. As I said, games like DnD 4E inspire me that there's still room out there for better games! Gamers aren't stupid, nor are they silent about what they dislike. They will only stand for WotC's games for so long, and then as many have already jumped ship to Pathfinder and other games, more will follow.
So this means that WotC is backpeddling fast, as some of their articles suggest. Mike Mearls all but said 4E was a blunder. The sad thing is how many people spent money on DnD 4E when they could have invested in better games. I used to be a WotC online guide of sorts and so WotC gave me my 4E Phb free as a "thank you for my service," but I must admit I did pay for a few of their products to check them out. And I must admit that when I heard they were coming out with a 4E years ago, I never suspected they would toss D&D into the trash, make a totally different game, and call it DnD.
Like I've said before, they did some things right, but I still haven't found a game that will replace Cosmothea for me, and so I'll keep plugging away at it, on a poor man's budget till something changes. Meanwhile, a full staff of WotC designers, Green Ronin Designers, and other designers who actually get paid to design full time, will work at a much faster rate to try and do something worth playing.
It seems like every time I read an article about D&D 4E or read something in one of the rulebooks, it inspires me to play a different game instead. It's not all bad, however. There are some things 4E does right, but it's a pretty sad commentary on a game that was once great as far as rpg's go. Of course, even when it was great, it had many problems.
Fortunately, a good GM and good players can help make any game more fun. But GM's and players shouldn't have to work so hard at it. Just one of the reasons why I set down to revamp my own RPG in the first place. And just as WotC is looking back on 4E now and trying to sort out what to do about the mess they made and how to fix it, I've looked back on Cosmothea, even in the middle of revamping Cosmothea 4.0 and saw that some of my own design decisions should be reconsidered. And so I'm working on a 5th edition now.
Now mind you, my own players could gripe about plenty of things they don't like about Cosmothea, since it's incomplete, with more holes than Swiss cheese, and we're still using some temporary rules, but that's just it - those are temporary holes and issues - I'm not claiming my game is all done and the hottest thing out there, like WotC was. I'm not working on Cosmothea 5E because I want to make a boat-load of money. WotC has no choice in the matter. No matter how good D&D were to get, they are forced to change it. Period. Whether for the better or worse, they have to change things.
So, what are the sorts of things I read in DnD 4E that bug me? Well, lots of things, like healing surges, lack of an interesting magic system, the way roles hamstring creativity, the way the class powers largely all feel the same, item creation, lack of significant non-combat skills, the combat lag issue, just to name a few. It's just a shame that WotC had so much talent and potential and still managed to put out a game that fails on so many levels.
Now, if you are enjoying 4E, I'm not saying you are a knucklehead or anything, I'm glad you're having fun. I'm just saying they could have done a much better job and it's a shame for those that want to play DnD that they didn't.
And then we have indie designers like myself, who barely have two pennies to rub together, and so of course we can't afford to invest like the bigger companies to put out a beautiful product, though we can put out one with decent rules, given enough time. Me, I'm stubborn, and I insist on putting out a product with high production values or none at all. But that's another issue - we aren't designing 8 hours a day - we just don't have time for that sort of thing, so games like Cosmothea take forever to produce.
My own budget is still languishing, but I'm not giving up. As I said, games like DnD 4E inspire me that there's still room out there for better games! Gamers aren't stupid, nor are they silent about what they dislike. They will only stand for WotC's games for so long, and then as many have already jumped ship to Pathfinder and other games, more will follow.
So this means that WotC is backpeddling fast, as some of their articles suggest. Mike Mearls all but said 4E was a blunder. The sad thing is how many people spent money on DnD 4E when they could have invested in better games. I used to be a WotC online guide of sorts and so WotC gave me my 4E Phb free as a "thank you for my service," but I must admit I did pay for a few of their products to check them out. And I must admit that when I heard they were coming out with a 4E years ago, I never suspected they would toss D&D into the trash, make a totally different game, and call it DnD.
Like I've said before, they did some things right, but I still haven't found a game that will replace Cosmothea for me, and so I'll keep plugging away at it, on a poor man's budget till something changes. Meanwhile, a full staff of WotC designers, Green Ronin Designers, and other designers who actually get paid to design full time, will work at a much faster rate to try and do something worth playing.
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