I don't really have a post for today, but to throw something to all of you who took the time to come looking for one, hey, did you see that Critical Hits have the report of Monte Cook's seminar at Origins 2009?Cook, a former TSR/WoTC guy and lead designer of D&D 3rd Edition, has spent the last decade living in the indie gaming wilderness as one of its elder grognards. In a bit of synchronicity his comments at Origins run scarily close to the arguments I've been having on the official forums the last couple of weeks. It's a bit disconcerting to find myself agreeing with Cook; I feel dirty.
Origins 2009: Monte Cook "Being a Better Game Master" via Critical Hits.
9 comments:
He left WotC in 2001. It hasn't been quite 20 years yet.
I guess I don't feel that dirty for agreeing with him because the topics he spoke on in this forum were pretty bland. A lot of what he says is good advice, but things like "Do I roll the dice behind the screen?" aren't going to make or break a session/campaign/edition.
"What are your thoughts on how quickly PCs should recharge their various abilities?" would be a much more meaty question, although clearly out of place if my understanding of the tone is correct.
Monte is one of the good guys, sure. But he doesn't say anything too controversial here.
Why d'you feel dirty agreeing with him, Greg? You two seem to be on the same page on a lot of issues.
@Bryant - I claim dramatic license. Totally not a mistake. Yup. Not a mistake.
@Xtian - the specific arguments we've been having on the forum are, "Should DMs allow PCs to die before the plot calls for it?", "Is player death the only way to create a realistic perception of danger?" and "Are DMs under any responsibility to let players make evil characters or other disruptive elements?" with me falling on the side of "no" for all of them. Cook apparently agrees, which I'll put down to common sense.
@Maelora - The guy was involved in third edition, which is not a product I endorse, and he has been known to DM both Rolemaster and Call of Cthulhu with both a straight face and genuine enthusiasm. But, no, seriously it's nothing more than knowing that people who speak loudly about games will sometimes sound eminently sensible and then later will say something you want to divorce yourself from completely (as I'm sure all readers here will relate to).
"people who speak loudly about games will sometimes sound eminently sensible and then later will say something you want to divorce yourself from completely..."
Couldn't have put it better myself, Greg >.>
@John - It's the privilege of blogging. If we all made sense all the time someone would just collect us on Wikipedia and we'd settle arguments with links to the relevant page of wisdom.
Besides, most of the greatest things ever said have been in response to the loudness of unreason. It takes ten to be memorably wrong before one can be memorably right.
Gah! Another day no blog. I'm needing my hit Greg, quit holding out on me man. ;-)
Sorry Falcon!
Plan is for something to go up at 10pm Canberra time.
Well, it didn't get up on time, but it's there now. :-(
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