http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd%2F4ll%2F20120611

Thoughts?

It is nice to see the thoughts that are going through Mearl's mind.

But I don't think it is a great write up. I miss Hit Dice, I am not convinced the Impale or Twist and Bite powers are that interesting or even that well done. Still, it's a starting point.

Step 1: Lower monster hit points by at least 1/3.

Step 2: Add HD in addition to flat Hit Points.

Step 3: ?

There are certain things I like because it forces players to be a bit more creative.  For example, I've heard some people say that it's echolocation makes rogues useless.

Not at all true.  Not only can a rogue still hide behind solid objects, but there are tons of things you can do to screw up the echolocation, like a dust storm, bag full of rocks, etc.  Heck, if you knew you were going into a hook horror lair, you could build a bunch of dummies and really screw with the creature's senses.

But to the write up specifically, it definitely seems like a dangerous creature, and has more than enough info for me to set up encounters.  I don't even need an ecology, because I have some good ideas how I would utilize a monster that has echolocation, climbing, and grappling.

*Edit*  Oh yeah, add random hit points, but that's a given for all monsters, not just this one.

I thought it was interesting that he started with 2e as the baseline.  

And, I think they should have interns working to create a unified compendium (for internal WOTC use) that has all the variations over the years of all the creatures, next to each other.  

It's weird to me that Mearls needs to open a 2e compendium, and then go grab books from 1e, 3e, and 4e, just to compare.  WOTC should have a library with all that stuff right next to each other, to show the evolution of those monsters over the years.

Quote from: Mistwell;547868I thought it was interesting that he started with 2e as the baseline.  

And, I think they should have interns working to create a unified compendium (for internal WOTC use) that has all the variations over the years of all the creatures, next to each other.  

It's weird to me that Mearls needs to open a 2e compendium, and then go grab books from 1e, 3e, and 4e, just to compare.  WOTC should have a library with all that stuff right next to each other, to show the evolution of those monsters over the years.

I'm surprised they don't have soft copies of all that, so all he has to do is pull up "hook horror" on his computer and it brings up all version.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;547869I'm surprised they don't have soft copies of all that, so all he has to do is pull up "hook horror" on his computer and it brings up all version.

Indeed.

This is what interns and low-paid data-entry people are for.  

Put those slaves to work, people!

It be really nice for them to have, but as someone with a formation in documentation and sciences of information, I can tell you having an intern create these kinds of documents would take (1) an intern who really knows what he is doing and already has all the primary sources organized (which he'd need to do first), and (2) an immense amount of time to create and organize effectively.

What they would really need to do something like this is to have a center of documentation in the D&D department with a full-time documentalist, and I seriously doubt they can afford it right now.

Quote from: Benoist;547871It be really nice for them to have, but as someone with a formation in documentation and sciences of information, I can tell you having an intern create these kinds of documents would take (1) an intern who really knows what he is doing and already has all the primary information organized, and (2) an immense amount of time to create and organize effectively.

What they would really need to do something like this is to have a center of documentation in the D&D department with a full-time documentalist, and I seriously doubt they can afford it right now.

For digital stuff, sure.  Though, they could just do it with scans in PDFs as a lower-tech version of it.

But for hardcopy stuff? We're talking a guy with the books, a razor blade, and a photocopy machine.

I mean, this is the thing he was praising "I'd also like to thank Tim Beach, David Eckelberry, and anyone else at TSR who took the time to painstakingly photocopy and collate every single monster ever presented in the Monstrous Compendium format for AD&D 2nd Edition. It's a ridiculously useful resource. "

No, no Mark. I'm talking hardcopy, actual room in the WotC offices with that stuff organized, yes.

Quote from: Benoist;547873No, no Mark. I'm talking hardcopy, actual room in the WotC offices with that stuff organized, yes.

Then I disagree with you when you say it would take "(1) an intern who really knows what he is doing and already has all the primary information organized, and (2) an immense amount of time to create and organize effectively. "

For this kind of hobby, it would not be that hard to find people who "know what they are doing" in terms of being able to find all the monsters in the various books.  It's not rocket science: you go through all the indexes, list the names in a spreadsheet, and then sort by names, and you can see where everything is.

Yes, it takes time, and cutting it all out and photocopying it and organizes it takes time.  But, they should be doing that project.  This company is, presumably, going to be around a long time, and that library should have been created years ago and updated on a regular basis since.

Fixed hit-points for non-unique monsters is bad design.  A range, easily broken out into dice (10-60, d6 or d10, for example) is best.  They need to rectify this.

Beholders in the 1e Monster Manual have some ridiculous hit-point range that isn't handy to convert, and I don't like that way either.

Quote from: Mistwell;547876Then I disagree with you when you say it would take "(1) an intern who really knows what he is doing and already has all the primary information organized, and (2) an immense amount of time to create and organize effectively. "

For this kind of hobby, it would not be that hard to find people who "know what they are doing" in terms of being able to find all the monsters in the various books.  It's not rocket science: you go through all the indexes, list the names in a spreadsheet, and then sort by names, and you can see where everything is.

Yes, it takes time, and cutting it all out and photocopying it and organizes it takes time.  But, they should be doing that project.  This company is, presumably, going to be around a long time, and that library should have been created years ago and updated on a regular basis since.

You're free to disagree. I have experience with all the versions of the game, and a professional formation in exactly the type of task you are talking about. I'm telling you: it's not as easy as it looks to achieve. It would take time, and skill, to be able to know how the information you are going to organize is then going to be used by the other professionals using your resources from then on.

Now should they be doing it? Well, with a center of documentation dedicated to a professional use of the Dungeon & Dragons corpus of texts spanning literally thousands of printed volumes and more digitally besides, I could see that as being a very good investment on the long term. Whether the department is able to make that kind of strategic decision and has the funds/manpower/location to realize it is another matter entirely.