Mayday! Mayday!

Welcome to May.  This is probably my busiest month of the year, so I'll try my best to post something every day, but please forgive me if I fall behind.

The title also refers to the news that Monte Cook has left Wizards of the Coast and that Mike Mearls announced the Open Playtest for 5E beginning May 24th.

A lot has been speculated about why Monte left.  I don't know Monte or what his disagreements were, but what we do know is that his life has changed quite a bit in the last year.  And as much as we'd like to return to places in our life that we remember fondly, you can't always "go home again".  I hope Mr. Cook well in his future endeavors and respect his skills as a writer and designer.  From what I've played of 5E, I deeply appreciate the contributions he's made.

As for the Open Playtest, it's format is a bit puzzling to me.  I understand providing information in small packets, but Pre-Gens with an adventure seems odd, and compares poorly to Paizo's Pathfinder playtest.  As a positive I will say that I've thoroughly enjoy the rules I've seen and ask everyone to be patient.

I think many people see Hasbro & Wizards of the Coast as the same company.  From my interactions with both companies, they couldn't be more wrong.  I hope that 5E DnD Next can live up to its potential and that means Hasbro has to stand back.  I guess we will see what happens.