GenCon
By now, you've heard the big GenCon news: Catalyst Labs released a new BattleTech boxed set, a new scenario pack, and a new sourcebook for Shadowrun!

Oh yeah, and we finally announced 4e.

(The Catalyst stuff is super awesome - full color interior printing, 24 different plastic 'mechs in the box, very cool. The scenario pack is also 100% awesome. The only drawback to the boxed set is the maps. They're printing on poster quality paper, and mine were folded poorly. Still, not a big deal. The miniatures and book quality more than make up for it.)

Rather than ramble on about the con, I'll point to my convention blog and a video interview I did, along with the latest podcast episode in which Dave and I talk a bit about 4e:

Video Interview - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRzcVi_ymzA
Podcast - http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/pod
GenCon Blog - http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=906391

Never say that I don't give you enough stuff to keep you busy at work.

(Post a new comment)

	dirkcjelli 2007-08-21 05:52 pm UTC (link)
	I understand you need to eat and all... but piles of hate for "4.0" (Reply to this) (Thread)

	mearls 2007-08-21 06:04 pm UTC (link)
	When you play it, you'll forget you ever hated it. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - jdigital, 2007-08-21 11:19 pm UTC

(no subject) - bayushiboy, 2007-08-21 06:37 pm UTC

(no subject) - rushputin, 2007-08-21 07:00 pm UTC

(no subject) - bigredrod, 2007-08-22 06:07 pm UTC

(no subject) - viktoriabufyx, 2008-07-16 01:52 pm UTC

(no subject) - dirkcjelli, 2008-07-16 02:09 pm UTC

	ssines 2007-08-21 06:12 pm UTC (link)
	Well Mike, maybe I'm in the minority but I'm actually pretty happy with the prospect of change. I know the d20/3.0/3.5 system could use work, I suspected the way things were moving after seeing Saga. Keep up the good work, I'll be reading:) Shawn (Reply to this)

	chgriffen 2007-08-21 06:19 pm UTC (link)
	I'm hoping for some Iron Heroes flavor in 4e, only even better :) (Reply to this)

	Blog often! (Anonymous) 2007-08-21 06:25 pm UTC (link)
	I hope you and your other co-bloggers on the WotC blog post often. Especially bug Rob Heinsoo, he hasn't posted over there yet! ;) (Reply to this)

	evilpheemy 2007-08-21 06:28 pm UTC (link)
	I'm shocked, *shocked* I say that you've been working on this project since '05 and never mentioned it on your LJ. And I thought we wuz all friends here. The type of friends that share secrets among each other. *sniff* If I was working on 4e I would have told you. honest. (Reply to this)

	adamjury 2007-08-21 06:39 pm UTC (link)
	At the SR seminar, someone asked us if we were scared of what 4e would do for Shadowrun, and I pointed out that you were first in line for SR4 a few years ago, and wouldn't destroy something you loved... ;-) I'm glad you like the boxed set, Mearls -- sorry I didn't get chance to see you this weekend! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	mearls 2007-08-21 07:40 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, this was my busiest GenCon ever. I basically stopped at the Catalyst booth at 10 AM on Thursday, bought one of everything new, and didn't do much shopping or cruise the convention hall the rest of the weekend. 4e won't harm SR at all. If anything, we'd like to see more successful RPGs out there. Gaming is a hobby, not just D&D. (Reply to this) (Parent)

(no subject) - evahemis, 2008-07-16 05:14 am UTC

dyrecorn 2007-08-21 06:53 pm UTC (link)

Been lurking a bit on your lj, and I just had to say: I was incredibly sad when I first heard that they announced 4e. 3.5 was just starting to have a good books coming out for it, and it seems like every time Wizards stirs the D&D pot they're just in it for the money. Then I heard you were in the driver's seat on 4e. My attitude did an instant 180. I have loved Iron Heroes since it was first released, and have been fighting the hard fight to get the campaigns I play in at home to include the -amazing- core mechanics in IH at least, if they can't give up their piddly magic items long enough to play the full system. Looks like they're going to finally get dragged into the land of awesome mechanics whether they like it or not (and they will, once they give it a shot). Also, love the racial levelling system - I have a friend in town who's house ruled the same mechanic in his games. He has 20+ races including the core races that get levelled benefits racially. Of course, he'd been thinking of publishing some of the work under the D20 license, so now he's a little miffed at 4e, but I think he'll come around eventually. ^_^ Anyway, thanks again for your amazing work, and keep it up! (Reply to this)

lord_tirian 2007-08-21 07:03 pm UTC (link)

If Mearls is in 4E, it will become good - after all, you were responsible for Iron Heroes! I was already psyched about 4E, when I've heard the first news after the announcement, but with your work in it, I'm pretty sure it'll become a fine new edition - perhaps I'm thinking that way, because I've liked 2/3rds of your Monster Makeovers... (besides Iron Heroes and Bo9S). Funny - I've sometimes read on OYT or ENWorld comments like "Mearls, you're here? Go back to work on 4E!" - and they've turned out to be true! Cheers, LT. (Reply to this)

wizardru 2007-08-21 07:29 pm UTC (link)

The initial knowledge that 4e was being announced was, to me, something of a non-event. Publish or perish is the watchword, and I'm not about to begrudge WotC trying to stay in business and keep D&D profitable. The more I hear of 4e, though, the more my "Guarded" turns to "Optimistic". Your quotes on your Gleemax blog and elsewhere convince me that you're guiding the game in a direction I like. Change is scary for some, but it sounds like you're improving the game in just about every way that I've heard, so far. My first 3e game ran from 1st level all the way to 28th. Once 3e hits double-digits, the game becomes harder and harder to run without changing the way you run it. All my players basically have said "Well, we're not jumping for joy...but anything that takes the burden off the DM and makes the game easier for all of us? We're in." I like the changes I'm hearing about....everything sounds like it's being done to make the game more fun and we appreciate that. My group LIKES reserve feats from Complete Arcane. We LIKE Book of 9 Swords. We LIKE feat customizability. We LIKE FUN THINGS. I look forward to seeing what you have in store for us. (Reply to this) (Thread)

mearls 2007-08-21 07:39 pm UTC (link)

This is pretty much the type of reaction I've been hoping to see. The truth is that 3e is a great game and people love it to bits. However, it has some shortcomings, and we want to fix them. Some of those are simple (grapple), but others are deep, structural issues that require a number of changes (class balance, complexity bloat in higher levels, multiclassing). Realistically, until we unveil enough of the game for people to see how all those changes work, why they make the game more fun, and how they make the game more fun, people will be justifiably skeptical. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - wizardru, 2007-08-21 08:26 pm UTC

(no subject) - botrytis, 2007-08-21 08:50 pm UTC

(no subject) - sporks5000, 2007-08-21 08:56 pm UTC

(no subject) - zigguratbuilder, 2007-08-21 10:31 pm UTC

(no subject) - rubynuzip, 2008-07-16 08:41 pm UTC

staticstealer 2007-08-21 07:45 pm UTC (link)

Keeping an open mind about this since everything active must evolve in some way. (either that or it ends up in Florida with a metal detector). I have to say I was quite pleased about hearing a new edition was on its way. Not that 3e was horrible or anything mind you, but from the snippets I've seen it looks like the new edition will be keeping the good bits, and refining. Right away one of my biggest irks about 3/3.5e were put to rest: High level play is easier to create as a DM. I run games, and at about the 15 level mark I find myself taking hours upon hours to create not just 'bosses' that the group might encounter, but even the fodder takes that long to tweak and put points into. I've adopted the Saga way of doing skills and have already cut that number down by a large percentage. If 4e continues with the 'streamlined but with options' approach, I'll be happy. The only thing that bugs me is the need to subscribe to a bunch of different things to learn about or get the best out of the game. I'm hoping that the core books will have all the material to run the game, and that the rules online are simply optional or expansions of the core. But I'm quite hopeful for the future. (Reply to this)

dacuteturtle 2007-08-21 07:47 pm UTC (link)

As a long combatant in those "Fighters suck" threads (defending fighters), it has become quite apparent to me that the quantitative game could be made to work, but the qualitative game had collapsed. What has also been apparent to me, from the start of 3.0, is that 80% of all material focused on spellcasters. With the work coming out of WotC, I think had decided that the designers had their heads on straight. I liked their track. The Magic Item Compendium is a grand example of that. The recommended item level itself is a godsend. The new product was not only respected, but fun. When I heard about 4.0, I had already made up my mind that WotC was on the right track, and that made 4.0 welcome news. (Reply to this)

wisepiscean 2007-08-21 08:12 pm UTC (link)

So, being an enormous fan of your work from Legends and Lore through to Iron Heroes, I'm curious how involved you are in the 4e development? Your grasp of mechanics and game content, not to mention the needs of actual play are outstanding. I personally am looking forward to 4ed ... particularly the idea that FINALLY something is going to be done officially with the D&D magic system. If I can finally in my thirties wqave goodbye to Jack Vance I will buy every book. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	mearls 2007-08-21 09:31 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks! I started as a developer, shifted to design, and now I'm developing once again as we hit the home stretch. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - mytholder, 2007-08-21 09:43 pm UTC

(no subject) - merricb, 2007-08-23 01:19 am UTC

	zakarntson 2007-08-21 08:24 pm UTC (link)
	Looking forward to seeing some 4e! Starting up a lunch-hour gaming group soon here, so we'll be sure to snatch up those core books ASAP. After grabbing Star Wars Saga, and loving the streamlined goodness, I'm really excited about what you've done to D&D. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	zakarntson 2007-08-21 08:55 pm UTC (link)
	Okay, so I watched this design interview, and it's like you read my mind (or my cranky LJ)! Sounds like I wasn't the only person clamoring for easier DMing. Looking forward times ten, now! (Reply to this) (Parent)

richgreen01 2007-08-21 08:49 pm UTC (link)

I went from "oh no, here we go!" to excited in 24 hours as more info was revealed about 4e. Most of the changes discussed, particularly making high level play run more smoothly, appeal to me. I just hope that the system will be backwards-compatible enough for me to still use all the 3.x and d20 books I've bought in the last 8 years! I still use my Planescape and FR stuff from 2e but the rest of it is gathering dust. (Reply to this)

	sporks5000 2007-08-21 08:52 pm UTC (link)
	When I heard about the fourth edition announcement, I spent most of the day (Sunday) jumping up and down with excitement and calling my friends to let them know. Third edition is an amazing game, but there's a lot that needs to be changed and revised. Refined, if you will. I'm so glad to know that it's in good hands. (Reply to this)

dwarf74 2007-08-21 10:44 pm UTC (link)

(Obryn from various boards here...) Well, I was kinda figuring 4e would be announced within the next year when WotC didn't renew all those many licenses a few months ago. When no questions touching on 4e were anwered in the moderated Q&A on ENWorld, I was pretty sure of it. With that said, I'm damned excited that 4e's coming out before long. First off, the fact that you're in the driver's seat is a major plus - I've learned to trust your take on game systems. Second, I like (much of) what I've seen of Saga, and 3.5 is starting to show its warts for me. So - thanks for working on this. I'm really excited and hope that 4e is as kick ass as we expect it to be. (Reply to this)

spiderhood 2007-08-21 11:52 pm UTC (link)

Being an already experienced D&D-er when 3ed came, I was fairly sceptical about it, but I moved to 3.5 when I noticed that half of my home rules are already there and the other half works just as good or better. I have the same feeling to 4ed now: it seems to bring exactly those changes that I either needed or already brought into my game. A small question for information completeness's sake at http://dnd.wikia.com/wiki/Dungeons_and_Dragons_4 - are you the lead developer or just a part of the team? I think I only read about you being in charge once, and I tend not to trust singular sources... (Reply to this) (Thread)

	mearls 2007-08-22 12:22 am UTC (link)
	I'm the lead developer right now, but that's been true only for the past few months. Prior to that, I was a developer then a designer on the project. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - spiderhood, 2007-08-22 12:28 am UTC

(no subject) - kid_prufrock, 2007-08-22 01:49 am UTC

wizofice 2007-08-22 04:39 am UTC (link)

I'm sure it's going to be fine. I like 3rd, but we've all seen cool stuff in other d20 books that could be imported to make it better (some of it even by people who worked on 3rd). Sorry I missed you this year, Mike. Something about events being spread over a much larger block radius made it hard to run into people in the usual places (RAM, RCA or somewhere in between). Now back to work on making my DMing life easier. ;) (Reply to this)

	ok, wait... (Anonymous) 2007-08-22 11:48 am UTC (link)
	you work for Wotc, and the first thing you post about is the products from a different company? Should we be reading between the lines on this announcement? ^__^ (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: ok, wait... (Anonymous) 2007-08-22 11:53 am UTC (link)
	ok, sorry for the snark, on a serious note. I like the changes done to SWSE, and if 4th ed is anywhere near as flexible as Saga, I'll buy a copy. if you are taking opinions, I think you should include the critter rules from Saga in the Monster Manual, to make customizing monsters easier on us. (and maybe save us from having to have 50 bazillion monster books) (Reply to this) (Parent)

buzzmo 2007-08-22 01:26 pm UTC (link)

A long time ago, I said that I'd be cool with 4e as long as Mike Mearls was put in charge of development. Obviously, I'm happy about the announcement now. :) Admittedly, my group has been talking about the joy being bittersweet, more for some than others. We'd all invested a lot of time and money in 3/3.5, and it sounds like 4e is going to be pretty incompatible with all those books on our shelves. That said, the WotC design and dev team has been consistently impressing me, and it sounds like 4e is going to be an improvement. That's really all I care about. Not to mention, I still have 3.5-dependent products like Iron Heroes, Arcana Evolved, and Midnight, so my 3.5 books can just become supplements for them. ;) (Reply to this)

	gwyndolin 2007-08-22 02:08 pm UTC (link)
	I'm excited about 4e -- or at least about hearing more details of 4e. Does the Gleemax blog mean you'll be abandoning livejournal, or will you still be around here? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2007-08-22 02:54 pm UTC (link)
	Does this mean, as I suspected all along ;-) that the monster makeovers were 4e previews? (Reply to this) (Parent)

kryptonianscion 2007-08-22 03:51 pm UTC (link)

So early Thursday, I started reading speculation about the web site image hinting at a 4E announcement. Until someone leaked screenshots of the new 4E forums, I was clinging desperately to the hope that all the 4s were a reference to "the best 4 days in gaming." Once the rumors were confirmed, I was one of those people that was absolutely furious. I spent the better part of Friday at work reading the anti-4E threads on Wizards' forums, stomping my feet and declaring that I would never, ever switch from 3.5. After all, I have purchased every single 3.0 and 3.5 book without a Forgotten Realms stamp on it (except for the drow book). On my gaming group's personal forums, we posted repetitively about how we'd be saving money now, never buying another product from Wizards of the Coast. There were more than a few expletives. Our righteous indignation was relentless. Of course, I did not only spend Friday reading forums. Once the Wizards.com website was back up, I read every article three or four times. I watched every Gamer Radio Zero interview and read every blog. Doubt started to creep into my adamant decision against even acknowledging 4E's existence. "So, wait. You don't NEED a cleric, because druids are just as good at healing?" "Special attacks instead of iterative attacks? You mean we won't spend 20 minutes on a single combat round when we reach 18th level?" Increasing racial benefits. Better-defined party and monster roles. You and the other members of the 4E team were winning me over with the barest information. I was frustrated at first, because I didn't WANT to like it. I wanted to hate it, and wanted no reason to abandon my dozens upon dozens of 3.5 books. I went out to the local Chinese buffet with my friend on Saturday night, and he was still stewing. As we got in the car, he reiterated just how horrible it was what "they" were "doing to us." "Dude. Did you read how they're simplifying high-level play? And that you probably won't have to worry as much about spell preparation?" By the time dinner was over, we had decided to purchase the Player's Handbook and give 4E a chance before making any decisions. And here it is, Wednesday, and I've just read James Wyatt's Design & Development article that hints at some draconic combat abilities. I found myself practically bouncing in my seat, and then sending link to my friend via IM. I followed that up with the following statement: "Oh, wow. I can't wait until May." (Reply to this)

	downtym 2007-08-22 04:49 pm UTC (link)
	And my love-hate relationship with Battletech and Shadowrun shall continue. Battletech: Love the system and the mini's. Hate that I can't ever find people to play it with. Shadowrun: Love the backstory and the world. Hate that the system gives me the probability hives. (Reply to this)

blakesrealm 2007-08-22 05:45 pm UTC (link)

I'm going to try and be neutral when it comes to my thoughts about the 4th edition. I'm going to give you a well earned pass on my usual up-in-arms reactions to things as you've earned it with your great work in the past. My one real question is why are the three core books being released a month apart from one another? With something so epic/game-shattering as this I thought that it would be a good practice to release them together, in order to get the whole of the system into the hands of the would-be players/DMs. That just boggles my mind honestly, though I understand the whole process of creation and printing that can factor in. (Reply to this)

	uli_burb 2007-08-23 03:13 am UTC (link)
	Hah! Mike Mearls has a Livejournal! Hi, I'm new here. I think it's fantastic you have a LJ, I've been looking up to you since Iron Heroes. Speaking of which: any chance traits or similar background-related abilities will make it to 4e? -Ulises (Reply to this)

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