New Head of D&D RPG Team?

According to Nerd Immersion WoTC now has put Ray Winninger in charge of the D&D design team. As far as I can tell nobody else is reporting this so who knows. Anyway Ray Winninger is the guy that did the Dungeoncraft essays for Dragon Magazine. I don't remember being blown away with anything unique or creative in those essays. I'll have to reread I guess.

Nerd Immersion would create a 5.5 version of the game repackaging class and monsters into a new players handbook and a new monster book. Not a bad idea to tidy up the product line but it makes me think of Avalon Hill's RuneQuest in which they repackaged RuneQuest products from just a year before and it felt like they had nothing new for a year or two. They lost momentum. Still the idea isn't bad if it didn't take to long or too many resources but I'd keep that on the back burner.

So what would I do? Nothing extreme. 5e is popular, don't fix what isn't broken but two ideas do pop into my head.

1. I'd move heaven and Earth to make a 5E version of Greyhawk and that Greyhawk would be far more Gonzo Sci-fi fantasy to differentiate it from Forgotten Realms or whatever worlds WoTC is selling now. I'd create scenario packs for that setting. Combinations of old modules sold under one title the way they are doing it now, but I'd put them together sandbox style. Start with the Keep as a base of operations and drop a dozen modules (with backstories rewritten as necessary) within range and include notes on how to properly use story hooks and let the players have some agency in selecting where they want to adventure. This would hopefully set it off from the pseudo-adventure paths they've been doing and really show a different style of play. Oh, and I'd get Errol Otus as the lead artist to ensure Greyhawk visually stood out from the vanilla Realms.
2. I'd put together a book on House Rules, Reskinning, and DIY advice. This really is the heart of D&D to many and I don't think TSR or Wizards has ever directly addressed it. They should encourage DIY. I don' think it'll rob sales, in fact it might do the opposite. Right now you don't buy this or that because you'll never use it, but with a DIY attitude you might buy it knowing you can pick it apart to get interesting NPC, borrow the map for something else, and borrow bits of that backstory. DMs pick this up on their own, it's somewhat natural if you've got a long campaign campaign and you have to feed the creativity but Im sure the designers at Wizards have ideas that might be worthwhile.

Beyond that I don't know.

Best of the Web - Monsters With No HP, Campaign Bibles, and Leveling up Monsters

Evlyn Moreau of Le Chaudron Chromatique has a post titled Monsters with no HP in which she throws out a few tables on creature reactions when hit, instead of using hit points. She admits the idea isn't fully formed but it looks to me as if the idea has some nice potential. Not as a full replacement for HP, but as a supplement. I mean most combatants aren't gonna just keep swinging away as their HP drop, these tables could be used to provide actions for a Morale table customized by beast. You could also combine the tables into one big one and use the amount of damage as the determining factor, when they've lost 5 HPs this is what they do, when they've lost 12 this... Lots of potential but possibly too much overhead in use. It is an intriguing idea though.

The Angry GM has a post called the Campaign Bible which is about the sloppy book of notes most GMs build up over the years describing their campain area.  James W West at Doomslakers has a response post called The DM's Notebook vs. The Campaign Bible in which he discusses the idea and brings up the TSR World Builder's Guidebook which seems to be the only TSR product that talks about the idea. If I ever finish my fantasy Heartbreaker I think the GMs book will probably have a bit about it because organization, and having a Swipe file seem excellent ways to juice the creativity on those days its lacking.

Over at DELTA'S D&D HOTSPOT he's got a post called Gygax on Leveling Up Monsters in which he talks about Gygax discussing giving frequently encountered Kobolds in Castle Greyhaw perks whenever they won a combat. This concept should be a staple of Megadungeons. Anything living near to a frequent entrance will be encountered again and again and will likely get boring if not improved. Again, another thing to add to that GMs Book someday.

Found in a Box in Storage: Part 7 - T-Rex

I think they've backtracked on the feathered T-rex a bit but for a time they imagined them covered so I thought I'd try my hand at drawing one.

Found in a Box in Storage: Part 6 - Rock Lizard

I always loved drawing dragon-like faces but for some reason I don't know if I ever drew an actual dragon.

Found in a Box in Storage: Part 5 - Manticore

I called this one a Manticore. Manticores in D&D and RuneQuest were a bit different but this one clearly has the D&D tail. Looking at it I'm not sure if its a Manticore or not but I find the piercings interesting (after all Manticore has no hands).

Found in a Box in Storage: Part 4 - Gnoll

I used to draw a lot, then I found photoshop and my skills decayed. I hope to rebuild them again but photoshop is so much easier. Anyway finding some of my old drawings is helping motivate my re-learning plans.

Best of the Web - Gygaxian Democracy

Dungeon and Possums has a series of fun posts titled Gygaxian Democracy because the posts were aided by followers on Twitter. The posts are basically a list of all the items an NPC is carrying but that doesn't really do them justice. They have unique and colorful items and whimsical illustrations to go with them (I'm not sure which came first but I'm curious).

• Gygaxian Democracy: The War-Witch of the Crimson Forest
• Gygaxian Democracy: The Sorcerer of the Sinful Caves
• Gygaxian Democracy: Black Rahl, the Mercenary Warlord
• Gygaxian Democracy: The Goods of Captain Lobarda, She-Wolf of the Seas
• Gygaxian Democracy: Herb Goodback, Henchman-at-Large

These remind me a bit of the Better Legends Illustrated Equipment Packs only more unique.  I might have to try my hand at something like this for a few of the Thule NPCs and see how it goes.