D&D 5E Who Will be The Next Monte...

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Add the web presence and his good marketing to it (designer diaries)... and you get Monte.

I don't know if this idea is age-old, but my first contact with it was the 3rd Edition.

Design Diaries (and "Behind the Curtain" boxes) was one of the best many good ideas that I saw in 3rd edition and Montes work. Not only do you get rules to play with, you are told why they work the way they do. Maybe it's only something for tinkerer, but I absolutely love it.

 

[Henry]

• Monte Cook designs games in his sleep instead of awake, because he doesn't want to put other game designers at an unfair disadvantage.
• Monte Cook doesn't do any alternate history work, because he doesn't want to alter the space-time continuum with his words.
• Monte Cook creates singularities in his day job just by writing about his campaign.
• Monte Cook can beat up not just 5th graders, but all the grade schools put together, attacking at one time.
• Why does Ry'lyeh stay hidden? Monte Cook.

 

[jester47]

Lineage of the Crown:

Consuls Gygax and Arneson create D&D, greatly expanding the TSR Republic
1st gaming civil war- Gygax Sides with House Blume. Consul Arneson is exiled. Gygax takes much territory with his creation of AD&D.
The Consulship of Arneson is allowed to persist and passes down the line of Holmes/Cook/Moldvay/Mentzer.
This is not the one true game but rather a way of placating those looking to bring back the former republic.
Lord Gygax solidifies his empire and sets out into the west to conquer the great lands of Teevee.
However at home the Great Empire of Gygax is beset by treachery, and in these dark times the crown of design is given into the care of the competent Consul David Cook. Throughout this time Skip the Shopkeep through regular hard work begins making his way up the ranks.
Meanwhile in a distant land, Prince Monte, also of house Cook takes the Iron Crown. A strange wandering prophet, "The Tweet" begins to appear in the lands.
The empire decays, and the Great Wizard Generals Dancy and Atkinson conquer the empire. Having gained "The Tweet" as retainers, and having gained the confidence of Prince Cook, and Shopkeep Skip, they task the 3 with creating a new game, Prince Cook rises as a leader, eventually handing off his work to the Lord Mearls.

So Gygax/Arneson -> Gygax -> David Cook -> Monte Cook -> Mike Mearls.

So the question really should be who will be next in line after mearls. A new champion shall arise.

Granted, a lot of people are key in making this game and to focus on one guy is really to do a diservice to the others. Though when it comes to "rockstar designers", I think this is the lineage.

 

[RodneyThompson]

Man, Mearls is never going to live this thread down. (I'll make sure of it).

So everyone already knows Mearls because he was pretty active on the interwebs before 4E was announced. I wonder how having large number of R&D blogging and cruising the forums more and such will affect everyone's perception.

As an aside, having seen a large chunk of the 4E design/development process, I find it a bit amusing when small numbers of names (2-3) get tossed around as "the" designers or "the" developers of 4E. It's been pretty interesting, but there are whole teams designing and developing the book, and there's crossover between them every day. Heck, they pull me in off of Star Wars work to help develop things on a regular basis, and I'm not even on the D&D team officially. It's really a team effort, and I think people would be surprised at how much so. There are certainly people who are designing/developing more than others, but a lot of people contribute a significant chunk of work on a daily basis.

 

[Henry]

As an aside, having seen a large chunk of the 4E design/development process, I find it a bit amusing when small numbers of names (2-3) get tossed around as "the" designers or "the" developers of 4E....There are certainly people who are designing/developing more than others, but a lot of people contribute a significant chunk of work on a daily basis.

Kind of like video games: The days of one or two designers working in their garage or home office to create the next big thing are disappearing.

 

[Scribble]

• Monte Cook designs games in his sleep instead of awake, because he doesn't want to put other game designers at an unfair disadvantage.
• Monte Cook doesn't do any alternate history work, because he doesn't want to alter the space-time continuum with his words.
• Monte Cook creates singularities in his day job just by writing about his campaign.
• Monte Cook can beat up not just 5th graders, but all the grade schools put together, attacking at one time.
• Why does Ry'lyeh stay hidden? Monte Cook.

The Rod of Law broke into seven parts when Monte looked at it funny.

 

[jester47]

The next Monte is The Full Monte.

Moridin:

So true, someone has to design those "fijords." Every team needs a Slartibartfast.

"Thr ranger's track ability in 4e... Yeah, that was me."

 

[RodneyThompson]

The next Monte is The Full Monte.

Moridin:

So true, someone has to design those "fijords." Every team needs a Slartibartfast.

"Thr ranger's track ability in 4e... Yeah, that was me."

If you don't stop posting comments about the 4E design team, you'll be late. As in, the late jester47. It's sort of a threat, you see. I’ve never been very good at them myself but I’m told they can be very effective.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I am Monte!

[/spartacus]

"I'm Monte and so's my wife!"

 

[Bacris]

I am Monte. And so can you!