Mike Mearls

Mike Mearls

@mearls.bsky.social

I spend too much thinking about TTRPGs. I sometimes publish them.

3K followers284 following449 posts

Pinned

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

Before I start posting here, I want everyone to remember one thing: Social media is designed to monetize you, regardless of how it affects you. Don't let anyone make money off wrecking your mental health via doom scrolling, social media addiction, or parasocial constructs.

Mike Mearls reposted

Jaws Slayer 🎃
@jesawyer.bsky.social

Might be worth mentioning Japanese game dev salaries are shockingly low (on average).

Eurogamer@eurogamer.bsky.social

Why do Japanese studios suffer fewer layoffs? Because they have smaller teams and don't pay their execs $30m, says one expert. https://bit.ly/4rfqTRG

Mike Mearls reposted

Chaosium
@chaosium.bsky.social

Our Call of Cthulhu #TTRPG release The Sutra of Pale Leaves - Twin Suns Rising is the 2026 Origins Awards Roleplaying Game Supplement of the Year!

Mike Mearls reposted

This Effin’ GM
@thiseffingm.bsky.social

I used to think you had to be special to write TTRPGs. I was right. I just misunderstood which aspect you had to have that was special. It’s not boundless creativity. I always struggled, feeling not creative enough. It’s the ability to sit down and commit words to paper. That’s the big hurdle.

Mike Mearls reposted

Chaosium
@chaosium.bsky.social

What's happening with RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha? A lot, as Brian, Rick and MOB explained today. This Chaosium Con UK 🇬🇧 panel was recorded and will appear on our YouTube channel in due course.

Mike Mearls reposted

The Abominable Jonathan L. Howard
@jonathanlhoward.bsky.social

Hello! This gig has gone live for a Narrative Designer at Rebellion. A good part of it is implementation rather than writing, but there's some of that, too. Also, HUGE BONUS, you get to be on the same team as me! Hey, where are you going? apply.workable.com/rebellion/j/...

apply.workable.comNarrative Designer - RebellionWe want you to #JOINTHEREBELLION! For 30 years we’ve been independently developing and publishing incredible video games at our multiple studios founded by Jason & Chris Kingsley, but Rebellion is mor...

Mike Mearls reposted

Daði Einars
@mysticartsdm.bsky.social

We made a FREE starter dungeon for 5th Edition #dnd! It's got a built in tutorial that explains to new GMs how to run the game as you go along! Complete with factions, statblocks, multiple paths and choices, and a hook into a future adventure we're releasing soon! Go check it out!

patreon.comFree Dungeon for 5E Beginner GMs | Mystic ArtsFree Dungeon for 5E Beginner GMs by Mystic Arts on Patreon. Join Mystic Arts's community for exclusive content and updates.

Mike Mearls reposted

Jaws Slayer 🎃
@jesawyer.bsky.social

There are a lot of roles in game dev where someone bad in a role can do damage, but a bad producer can be so unbelievably damaging that it truly would be better to have no one in the role at all. Just as good producers are force multipliers, bad producers are like throwing sand into a gearbox.

Owen@olandgren.bsky.social

A good producer is absolutely an incredible force multiplier and allows the folks who are creating the actual artifacts to be more effective. A producer beholden to methodology or who does not understand the needs of the game they're working, however, can do irreparable damage very easily.

Mike Mearls reposted

Electronic Frontier Foundation
@eff.org

Sure, maybe you don't need more dice. But these ones help protect free speech and privacy online 🎲 shop.eff.org/products/li...

shop.eff.orgLiquid Core EFF DiceThese bright red resin dice are sharp-edged, featuring a stunning liquid-core glitter interior and white numbering. The metal clear-view EFF display tin contains a set of sharp-edge dice including 7 pieces: a D20 featuring the EFF logo, D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, and D% dice. Perfect for tabletop games! Warning: These are s
Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

It’s so convenient that the New Years drop at the same time as new Wordle, Connections, and Strands come online, at least here in the PNW. Hat tip to whoever arranged that.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

In my Dalelands campaign, the players have a simple trend. If someone hires them to murder someone, they kill them. Regardless of how obviously the goblin bandit/orc mercenary/weirdo mage is ready to tell them their life story. Except today...

View full thread
Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

(The Zhents charmed the troll and set it loose to attack caravans that were not part of the "Trade Guild", a cross-Dales trade org secretly run by the Zhents. The guy hiring the party to murder orcs and goblins "to keep trade flowing" is the local Zhent king pin.)

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

(This is going to be awkward when the PCs find out who was working with the orcs.) Last week they decided to talk to a Red Wizard mummy who casually devours people's souls. They're working for him now! They fed his traitorous apprentice to him! So I think chaos is their MO. Which is typical.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

In my Dalelands campaign, the players have a simple trend. If someone hires them to murder someone, they kill them. Regardless of how obviously the goblin bandit/orc mercenary/weirdo mage is ready to tell them their life story. Except today...

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

They were hired to track down a marauding troll. They corner it and try to talk it down, nat 20 on a Charisma check before the troll can do anything, and get the entire Zhentarim secret plan to dominate the Dales. At least, the version of the plan that a troll could grok.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

Yesterday I mentioned that the new D&D Starter Set is the best D&D product I own. Here's one of the reason why - the maps. The encounter maps have the perfect mix of utility and character. They're interesting places. I run my games on Maps, and the assets from the Starter Set are my go-to pieces.

View full thread
Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

Combined with the D&D Beyond markup to automate my homebrew monsters' rolls, it's all super easy. (That's also why Maps is my go-to playtest tool for D&D likes. It keeps the mechanics honest, and the die roll log shows me how long stuff takes to resolve and how effective things are.)

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

Basically, the Starter Set is a teaching tool with a versatile DM kit attached. I can see someone running D&D for a long time just using this stuff and their imagination.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

Yesterday I mentioned that the new D&D Starter Set is the best D&D product I own. Here's one of the reason why - the maps. The encounter maps have the perfect mix of utility and character. They're interesting places. I run my games on Maps, and the assets from the Starter Set are my go-to pieces.

View full thread
Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

That dynamic led to a really fun adventure, with the PCs turning mentor and apprentice against each other. The mentor ended up devouring his former apprentice's soul, and the PCs are now sorta-kinda-maybe allied with a Red Wizard against an Orcus cult that has infested the Dalelands.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

All that came from the map, combined with my embryonic idea to have Red Wizards messing around in the Dales. The sticker feature on Maps is great, too! It makes customizing a map by adding furniture, doors, etc., all really easy.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

Yesterday I mentioned that the new D&D Starter Set is the best D&D product I own. Here's one of the reason why - the maps. The encounter maps have the perfect mix of utility and character. They're interesting places. I run my games on Maps, and the assets from the Starter Set are my go-to pieces.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

The maps are compact and efficient, with enough fun texture that each one suggests a lot of different ideas. For instance, I used the nothic lair as a hideout for a Red Wizard of Thay. I stocked it with some guards, and used one room as a prison for the wizard's former mentor.

Mike Mearls reposted

Ms Rachel
@msrachelforlittles.bsky.social

No matter how hard people try to convince us having empathy is wrong, it is right. No matter how hard people try to convince us that diversity is a weakness, it is a strength. No matter how hard people try to convince us that love is limited, it is unlimited.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

It’s been a good day. The pressure is on to deliver, but at least he’s getting the chance.

NPR@npr.org

JUST IN: Mamdani, a democratic socialist and state assemblymember, will make history as the first Muslim and South Asian person — as well as the youngest in over a century — to serve as New York City mayor.

n.prMamdani wins New York City mayoral race, in a historic victory for progressivesMamdani, a democratic socialist and state assemblymember, will make history as the first Muslim and South Asian person — as well as the youngest in over a century — to serve as New York City mayor.
Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

I don't know this for sure, but it sounds right. 4e's flaw were all of process. There was never a design document or a single person who transparently managed design changes. It was a vibes-based approach. Example: I think we had a month of design time for each of the first three adventures.

Distracted DM@distracteddm.bsky.social

I heard that just before 4e's release, someone (don't know who) decided that monsters didn't have enough HP and everything's HP was upped a significant amount (which then resulted in some painful HP bloat)- any truth to that bit of hearsay?

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

Pyramid of Shadows looks like it does because we had to build the individual encounters and staple them together at the end. On Monday I'd do room A, Tuesday room B, etc, until we had enough rooms. Zero time or bandwidth to do anything more elaborate.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

Anyway, I know that we fixed the math in Monster Manual 3. I do know for a fact that the MM creatures had ACs that were too high. I built the math assuming that feats gave an attack bonus, but then they didn't. Somewhere someone decided feats that gave +ATK were too good and didn't say anything.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

If you run D&D 5e, you might find that your boss monsters die easily. There's actually a simple reason for that! The game was built around the assumption that characters would engage in about 20 rounds of combat between long rests. We were probably off by a factor of 5.

View full thread
Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

How do you fix this? I think you need to design boss monsters with a different hit point scale, one that assumes the party is alpha striking. That causes CR to break down, but I think it's a viable path to introducing boss monsters that can stick around.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

I think this approach has an added, fatal flaw - the difference between at-will and alpha damage is so big that opting out of a long rest when you could take one is strictly a misplay. There's a *massive* incentive to long rest as often as possible.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

If you run D&D 5e, you might find that your boss monsters die easily. There's actually a simple reason for that! The game was built around the assumption that characters would engage in about 20 rounds of combat between long rests. We were probably off by a factor of 5.

View full thread
Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

We did the same thing in 5e, and time has shown that it does not work for boss monsters. Why? The gap between daily and at-will damage is far bigger in 5e than in 4e. Spreading that extra damage across every round of a day misses the real benefit of daily abilities - a massive damage spike.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

A party that unloads with their best powers simply breaks the system. Their output is off the scale when you assume that everyone fights for 20+ rounds per day and spreads their at-will powers out. It's quite likely that a semi-optimized party can vaporize boss monsters in a round or even less.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

If you run D&D 5e, you might find that your boss monsters die easily. There's actually a simple reason for that! The game was built around the assumption that characters would engage in about 20 rounds of combat between long rests. We were probably off by a factor of 5.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

The image in the first post shows the gross damage a fighter does at each level. One bar shows the fighter's damage if you use at-will abilities. The orange bar is gross output when maxing out daily features, AKA alpha striking.

Mike Mearls
@mearls.bsky.social

In 4e, we assumed a certain number of encounters per day. In each encounter, we assumed you used encounter powers, then at-will. We spread out the extra damage from daily powers across the day. And it worked! The monsters had too many HP out of the gate, but we eventually fixed that.

Mike Mearls reposted

Monte Cook Games
@montecookgames.com

THANK YOU, backers! Only a few RPG crowdfunding campaigns not based on popular licenses or 5E have ever broken $1,000,000 in a crowdfunding campaign. We are beyond excited and humbled to see Cypher enter those ranks. Thank you for making this an unforgettable campaign! mymcg.info/cypher

Mike Mearls reposted

Tom Cartos
@tomcartos.bsky.social

Hello travellers! Inspired by MCDM's new Draw Steel adventure, this is my take on the Delian Tomb! This is fan art and not endorsed by MCDM in any way. Let me know what you think of the Knightly tomb.