Notizia captata tramite un canale Discord!
Al momento ci sono solo due post nel suo canale Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/mikemearls/posts/d-d-5e-1989-163304707

I vividly remember picking up the AD&D second edition Player's Handbook. I bought it at the Methuen Mall. I think it retailed for $15 at Waldenbooks. It was the first D&D product I bought with color interior art and headers. That was wild stuff back then!

After stopping at the mall, my parents ran a number of errands. I was happy to hunker down in the back seat of our station wagon, devouring the book's contents.

People mock THAC0 these days, but at the time it was a massive improvement over AD&D's sprawling attack matrices. One number in a monster stat line, and I could handle any attack. I was also bowled over by the new ranger, intrigued by the bard, and livid at the missing monk and half-orc. Those omissions ensured that my AD&D 1e books remained part of my active library for years to come.

Over the 4th of July weekend, I had a weird thought. What would AD&D 2e look like if you sent the design concepts of 5e back in time to the TSR offices in the late 1980s? I started tinkering, and pretty quickly had turned my draft of Ruins & Reptiles, a cut down version of 5e, into a hybrid of AD&D and 5e.

I can't go back to a world without ability modifiers and checks, but I wanted to capture AD&D's static saves. To do that, these rules set all checks and saves as succeeding on a 10 or higher. Want to make something more difficult? Use disadvantage! Want an easier check? Use advantage?

I have to admit, trimming down DCs felt good. It is especially useful for making it clear how well monsters can resist spells.

I also decided to convert the class-specific AD&D skills - the suite of thief abilities, the assassin's disguise feature, and the ranger's tracking - into a rough skill system. Skills are rated separately from abilities. Your skills are all +0, while certain classes can put ranks into them to improve their function.

I had a lot of fun writing this. I admit that I kept my variant 5e monster system. I can't go back to CR. Plus, a more concise stat block felt fitting for an era where monsters could be summarized in a few lines.

The PDF of the rules is below the paid cut. Also, since I want to feel old, I have a simple question you can answer in the comments:

Where you playing D&D in 1989 when AD&D 2e came out? What did you think of it at the time?...

https://www.patreon.com/mikemearls/posts/kits-in-5e-1989-163549362

I am calling my 5e hack of 2e (or is it a 2e hack of 5e?) 5e.1989. That's a name that is fully intended to be a working title, which of course means it will one day be the official title under which it is published for commercial sale. If you're familiar with TTRPG history, you might know that's how GURPS ended up with its name.

I want kits for 5e.1989 to hit the following design goals:

• Optional. You can play the game without them. Everything they offer has to sit outside the core rules or call back to existing mechanics. They can't become load-bearing elements of the game.

• Power neutral. They give you horizontal growth (you can do more stuff) rather than vertical growth (you do more damage). Clever players will find ways to turn them to their advantage, but that's an element of play skill I am ok with.

• Identity. I want you to be able to say, "My character is an X!" and that shows up in play. When it's time to do the thing that the kit is good at, the party should naturally turn to you.

So what could this look like? Let's try tackling two options, the mariner and the merchant. My experience is that players like these types of characters. Both are archetypes in the excellent Dragonbane TTRPG (very highly recommended!) so let's see if I can make them work in this game.

I'd like to keep kits light, mainly to avoid cluttering the character sheet. I also think that this approach to kits can replace secondary skills or non-weapon proficiencies. Agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments.

Mariner

You have sailed the high seas and know your way around the largest trade galley to the smallest punt. You've picked up a few tricks over the years.

• You have a swim speed.

• You have a kit skill, Mariner, at a +4 bonus. The bonus increases to +6 at level 4 and +8 at level 8. You can use this skill for any check or skill check that involves watercraft, bodies of water, or interacting with water. You use your kit skill bonus or the bonus provided by an ability or a skill when rolling.

Merchant

Commerce, trade, and economics are second nature to you. You have traveled far and wide, buying goods in one city to sell them in another. Making money is second nature to you, as is navigating the complexities of negotiation.

• You learn two additional languages.

• You have a kit skill, Merchant, at a +4 bonus. The bonus increases to +6 at level 4 and +8 at level 8. You can use this skill for any check or skill check that involves assessing the value of an object, bartering over a price, negotiating a deal, or understanding the subtle body language that betrays what someone else wants.

Spero che ci sia un'anima pia disposta a tradurla per gli altri... io non lo faccio perchè sono troppo lento e stanco epr farlo, e leggo l'inglese senza problemi.
Cosa ne pensate?

Le bombe di @MattoMatteo !

Mi sembra sia uno dei trombati della Wot a faC, probabilmente sta sondando il mercato.

Il ragazzo è quello che ha lavorato sia alla 4e che alla 5e... che oggi voglia parlare di hackerare Ad&d con la base di 5e che ha ideato... anche se gli riuscisse è secondo me comunque fuori tempo massimo. Le possibilità le ha avute e se le è giocate. Per quanto la 5e abbia avuto molto successo, non è stata la qualità del sistema a renderlo tale, ma tutta una serie di 'allineamenti planetari'.

II suo prossimo gioco, per quanto potrà essere anche un buon gioco, non sarà D&D, ma uno dei tanti cloni rubacuori di nicchia... Mearls non ha ne il nome, ne il talento di tanti altri game designer...

spezzo una lancia a suo favore: la sua cura editoriale ha secondo me saputo gestire bene la 5e (che con tutti i suoi difetti, è un'edizione che ho apprezzato tanto). Non è nuova la sua stima per ad&d 2e (ricordo di aver letto diverse sue interviste in cui dichiarava di avere appreso a piene mani da alcuni elementi di design di quell'edizione, principalmente la modularità delle varie regole opzionali) e, se devo aggiungere un parere personale, è proprio da quando lui ha ceduto il posto ad altri designer che la linea di 5e ha iniziato a deragliare. Insomma, secondo me un po' di talento ce l'ha.

Su questo clone specifico invece finché non si legge di più è difficile dare un'opinione fondata: le magie di divinazione stanno solo in d&d. Sicuramente mi incuriosisce, e se rimarrà o meno un prodotto di nicchia mi importa poco: se un gioco merita al mio tavolo lo provo a prescindere dalla sua diffusione

54 minuti fa, DrGeek ha scritto:

è proprio da quando lui ha ceduto il posto ad altri designer che la linea di 5e ha iniziato a deragliare. Insomma, secondo me un po' di talento ce l'ha.

È facile che sia come dici, in ogni caso queste sue caratteristiche e preferenze, possono fare capire a ritroso quanto il lavoro fosse buono per i livelli bassi, meno per quelli alti.

Piccola intuizione mia da profano.

Te, da come scrivi, sembri uno che ha seguito abbastanza le vicende.

Modificato 1 ora fa1 ora da Zaorn