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Thoth, Gatherer of Knowledge
MerricB
Underboss
2353 Posts
    
Australia
 | | 06/07/2006 1:34 AM |
| http://merricb.multiply.com/journal/item/92
Enjoy! | |
Merric Blackman
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Most Edumacated
zenthrus
Warlord
5132 Posts
SLC, UT
| | 06/07/2006 4:18 AM |
| Nice article [:D]
quote:
I'd far rather have a small portion of the books I buy be useless to me, but help bring new people into the game - and keep them here
That sums up my feelings on the matter. I particularly like the suggestions for party building/balancing and teamwork play in the PH2. | |
Knight Warlord a.k.a. Commander (#32) in only 6 months. Where's my pie?
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Knight of the Large Dire Chicken
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| The Great
Choco Monster
Ghendar
Warlord
13060 Posts
Mud Lick, Kentucky
| | 06/07/2006 7:08 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by zenthrus
Nice article [:D]
quote:
I'd far rather have a small portion of the books I buy be useless to me, but help bring new people into the game - and keep them here
That sums up my feelings on the matter. I particularly like the suggestions for party building/balancing and teamwork play in the PH2.
In those cases however, I choose not to buy the book that is useless to me. If it truly is useless for me personally, I won't buy it. That's not a condemnation of its content, just an admission that I don't need/want it. It's not useful to me and I will spend my money on the book that is useful to me. The days where I buy every book are long, long gone. | |
WotC - making me wish more and more every day for a return to the TSR days. :(
I fought the snark and the snark won. I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!
Some of my favorite Maxminis quotes
I actually love to be swallowed. - Posted By gss_000 on 09/04/2007 2:32 PM
Could somebody explain Snatch to me? I understand the basics, but not how to enter/use it. - Posted by orcmonk220
G's the man. - Posted By greyhaze on 11/11/2008 8:58 AM
I dont mind butting heads every once in a while. It makes thing interesting. Thats why I'd be heartbroken if Ghendar ever left - Posted By Count Dooku on 04/03/2006 11:58 AM
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TUS
Skirmisher
5 Posts
| | 06/07/2006 2:37 PM |
| | I don't normally run a campaign, but I try to determine if the book would be helpful to me as both a PC and a DM before I buy it. | |
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Stabmastaarson
Sergeant
442 Posts
| | 06/07/2006 4:31 PM |
| I always like your articles Merric. I have to say I agree with you on this one. While the advice given does not always apply to the more experienced player, it does wonders for the newbie.
Well done! | |
Better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you're not
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Competed trades (11) ares71,pagansexy,bradu,Unearthed Arcana, Garate,Arbados dobblegog, blackthorne,aussie_jim, spikegif, Lady Bast | |
| Thoth, Gatherer of Knowledge
MerricB
Underboss
2353 Posts
Australia
| | 06/07/2006 4:49 PM |
| Ghendar - if a book is useless to you, I do think you shouldn't get it. Looking at my quote, my intention was that I don't mind part of a particular book being for newbies; it reads like I don't mind entire books being for newbies. (Also true, just not what I intended).
Cheers! | |
Merric Blackman
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| The Great
Choco Monster
Ghendar
Warlord
13060 Posts
Mud Lick, Kentucky
| | 06/07/2006 5:00 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by MerricB
Ghendar - if a book is useless to you, I do think you shouldn't get it. Looking at my quote, my intention was that I don't mind part of a particular book being for newbies; it reads like I don't mind entire books being for newbies. (Also true, just not what I intended).
Cheers!
Oh, I realize that. Totally
I should have said, those books that contain more info geared toward the newbie, rather than the experienced player.
I don't fault WotC for putting out product that helps new players. I think it's a good idea and helps bring more players into the game.
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WotC - making me wish more and more every day for a return to the TSR days. :(
I fought the snark and the snark won. I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!
Some of my favorite Maxminis quotes
I actually love to be swallowed. - Posted By gss_000 on 09/04/2007 2:32 PM
Could somebody explain Snatch to me? I understand the basics, but not how to enter/use it. - Posted by orcmonk220
G's the man. - Posted By greyhaze on 11/11/2008 8:58 AM
I dont mind butting heads every once in a while. It makes thing interesting. Thats why I'd be heartbroken if Ghendar ever left - Posted By Count Dooku on 04/03/2006 11:58 AM
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jgsugden
Commander
4320 Posts
Walnut Creek, CA
| | 06/07/2006 5:21 PM |
| It is a nice article, but I'm not sure I agree with the conclusions.
There are three things that go into D&D books: Rules are the bread and butter that everyone can use (if the rules relate to subject matter used in your game). They tell you the things you need to know to make the game mechanics work. Feats, monster descriptions, spells, combat mechanics, etc... are all rules.
Advice, on the other hand, provides ways to combine the game mechanics to be more effective. It doesn't tell you what the rules are, it tells you how to use them better. Some examples of advice would be recommendations of ELs to use at certain levels, discussion of how to create vivid descriptions of an area, examples of personality stereotypes for NPCs, example NPCs, etc...
Fluff is the rest of the things in the books. Most of it is artwork, although there are occasional songs or other material tossed in the book. They can be of some use, but are generally provided to improve enjoyment of the product being read, rather than increase the quality of the game. I think fluff has a place in every product, whether it is (otherwise) entirely rules, entirely advice, or a mix of the two.
WotC does a decent job in grouping rules subject matter in a fashion that allows players to collect areas of rules that they wish to use and avoid things they don't. If you like demons, but hate artic conditions, you can buy the Fiendish Codex and leave Frostburn on the shelf.
However, WotC doesn't provide the same split between rules and advice. Merric likes seeing this advice mixed in with rules in his books. I, however, wish they'd keep these things separate. Here are the reasons why:
- Bulk: When a new edition is released, we usually have 3 books to worry about (PHB, DMG, MM). Players can carry around all of their materials easily. However, as time passes, more books are released... and the players start getting burdened by many books. PHB I & II, DMG I & II, MM I - IV, 5 books in the Complete Series (soon to be 7), Exalted Deeds, Vile Darkness, Expanded Psionics Handbook, Spell Compendium Unearthed Arcana, Fiend Folio, Deities abnd Demi-Gods, Epic Handbook, Draconomicon, Libris Mortis, Lords of Madness, Fiendish Codex I, etc... Few players will need all 30+ of them, but many players will need 10 or more of them. That gets readlly heavy. If we were able to separate only the rules portions of these books to bring with us, the load would drastically be reduced. Heck, if you could customize a book to only include the exact rules you were using... a custom built player's handbook with only the rules that were applicable to your PC/party... you'd probably end up with something roughly the size of the PHB.
- Utility in Relation to Experience: We can all learn a few new tricks, but the fact remains that experienced players need less guidance than new players. Accordingly, there are things that new gamers need to see that old gamers do not need to see. A discussion of how to run a low intelligence and low wisdom ogre might be useful for a new DM, but an experienced DM that has spent the time to figure out exactly how he likes to run these guys is not going to gain much, if anything, from reading such a discussion. When they include these advice materials in products with rules, they force experienced DMs to sift through the advice to get to the core rules they need. That takes time and effort that would be better spent elsewhere.
Accordingly, I'd prefer to see this material separated. When WotC releases a new product, I'd appreciate it if it were released in a way that separated rules from advice. I'd love to have seen the Fiendish Codex I be released in two parts: Fiendish Codex I (rules), and Fiendish Codex II (guide).
It'd be great if you could choose to purchase only one of the two books, but if they wanted to package them together (only), I'd be happy to buy both and just leave the guide portion home most of the time. Separating the two into two distinct products would probably result in few sales of the guide portion of the books, so I imagine that if this idea were followed, they have to bundle the guide with the rules to keep the guide cost effective.
What would be truly ideal would be a way to have the D&D rules you want available over the internet. Can you imagine how nice it would be if every book came with a product ID key that would allow you to log into the internet, add that book to your 'account' and then reference those rules over the internet? How cool would it be to be able to drag sections of a book into a character specific online character handbook? This would be a (somewhat) huge undertaking for WotC, but I hope it is something that we'll see in 4th edition...
Regardless, it seems that we're stuck with a mixture of advice and rules in the 3.5 era. It certainly creates burdens for players that like to be prepared, but, As Merric says, it does have some advantages... | |
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