So a couple of weeks ago, Margaret Weis made the claim in her forums that she has secondhand confirmation from mutual industry friends that Monte Cook is working on 5e D&D.

Now, the question is whether this is accurate or not?  Apparently, Weis has been pissed off at WoTC for some time, on account of how they treat Dragonlance, and because like many medium-tier players in the industry because she imagines that WoTC is "the competition" for her own company (its not; her company is of no meaningful competition to WoTC, and she's suffering from delusions of grandeur for imagining it).

So what do you think: does Weis actually know people who know Monte who would actually be in a position to confirm that Cook is working on 5e? Or did she just make it all up because she dislikes WoTC and wants to fuck with them?

RPGPundit

It really isn't an "either or" type of question that you ask.

It is possible (likely) that she knows Monte or people that know Monte.

It is also possible that she would want to mess with WotC, whether the info of him working on D&D 5e is true or not. Or perhaps not.

Who would know for sure?

And why would it matter? The cat is out of the bag, so to speak.

Not that speculation isn't entertaining....

That seems like quite a grudge to hold.

She's a successful author, and a business owner (I have no idea how successful her business is). While Dragonlance was probably her most successful book series, she had other best sellers unrelated to D&D (Deathgate cycle, Darksword, etc)

Even though WotC is on a different tier, they are still competitors. Sun Tzu says you should ally with those less than or equal to you against someone stronger than you.

Besides that, everyone who has ever posted on a message board has written something they possibly shouldn't have. That could be the case with her; a little too much wine, a lack of sleep, and presto! Monte Cook writing 5ed.

Like no one knew that already.

Plus, it isn't like what she said will have any effect on Wizards anyway. The people I know who play 4th ed don't read message boards. I'm assuming most 4th ed gamers (and most gamers in general) do not read message boards either. And even if they did, are they going to stop buying the 4th ed stuff still coming out based on what she said? Probably not.

This is vintage Pundit: polemics about exactly nothing.

Yes, it was vaguely dickish of her to divulge the 5e thing. But really, what else could Monte be doing. I don't exactly pay a lot of attention to WotC or 4e, and even I could see that coming from a mile away.

If it was meant as "vengeance", it was a pathetic failure, even for the petty and small-minded standards of Internet exchange. And I don't see how it could have been "whistle-blowing", in the usual sense of the idiom.

Quote from: The Butcher;485556This is vintage Pundit: polemics about exactly nothing.

Quelle surprise! :hatsoff:

...as if there wasn't going to be a fifth edition.

Maybe I'm missing something but I think it'd be stupid to assume WoTC isn't working on 5e.  4e has been out for a couple years now.  Regardless of the success of it.  Now is the time that they'd start working on a 5e anyway.  It's not like 4e was going to be the final version of the game.  They start working on 5e now and release it in a maybe a year but more likely 2 or three years.  I fail to see where the scandal lies.  

WoTC's product is D&D.  That's what they do.  They need to keep pushing editions from time to time to refresh the product cycle.  They aren't a company like FFG that can put out an RPG, put out some stuff for it and then move on to an entirely different game.

5E. Meh. Its only a matter of time before the larger companies finally realize that tabletop rpgs are never going to produce the kinds of revenue that would give the boardroom suits a hard on.

When (and if) they ever get to this then the industry can settle down with smaller companies and focus on making decent games for hobbyists rather than trying to transform hobbyists into rampant consumers of products.

I'm pretty sure Margaret and Monte worked at WotC at the same time, so it's very reasonable that she'd know him. Not to mention all of their coworkers.

Now if she's vindictive or not, who's to know? Like as has been mentioned, maybe she was a little drunk while posting and put out her 5e post then. I will say she should have known better than to spell it out that 5e was being worked on on a forum for everyone to read.

I don't know. I do remember Monte Cook himself used to be a bit hostile to WOTC (when 3.5 came out for example). But whatever the case is, it isn't like she let out the secret formula for coke or anything. I mean everyone pretty much knew he was working on 5E. I didn't need her to confirm it for me.

Quote from: The Butcher;485556This is vintage Pundit: polemics about exactly nothing.

You say this as if it's a bad thing.

More importantly, by burying his excellent observation in a subsidiary post, The Butcher wasted a golden opportunity for another traffic generating thread of which this site (desperately) needs more - didn't he?

Dear Diary,

Some weeks ago, Pundit posted a thread about Margaret Weis posting about Monte Cook posting about (not) working on 5E. I think it's hogwash and much ado about nothing, and merits all the non-attention on the intarwebs it can garner.

Don't you agree?

Outragedly yours,

Butch

Quote from: RPGPundit;485547So what do you think: does Weis actually know people who know Monte who would actually be in a position to confirm that Cook is working on 5e? Or did she just make it all up because she dislikes WoTC and wants to fuck with them?

RPGPundit

What is it with your narcissistic butthurt posts about people you don't like, RPGPundit? It's possible she mentioned this because it's a piece of minor industry gossip and she's passing it along. It get no feeling from that brief post that this is either "whistleblowing" or "vindictiveness", but rather "I heard this from mutal friends." It's not exactly like revealing Valerie Plame is a CIA agent, now is it? The name Monte Cook didn't even register with me, and I'm guessing most people, so how can it constitute "whisteblowing"?

Your post is just further proof that the smaller the sandpit people live in, the more they like to throw the sand around.

I'm pretty sure nearly everyone here knows who Monte Cook is, for good or ill.

I'm also pretty sure at this point, based on several posts here, that Margaret Weis is an alcoholic, since she apparently only posts while drunk...

Dragon Lance touched some of you in the naughty parts.

Shit talking Weis. Weak.