General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
I suppose I don't trust other people's motivations and intentions, despite what one says.
Ah. But to be honest I do not think WotC views the 3PP's as competition. After all, they (WotC) did choose to allow other companies to play in their sandbox (GSL).
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360 hours played
Gnoguh, human fighter/cleric (kensei->adamantine soldier)
Carric, elf cleric/ranger (radiant servant->saint)
Torn, tiefling wizard/cleric (divine oracle->sages of ages)
Truxas, human feylock/bard (feytouched->feyliege)
Tagron, human rogue (daggermaster->deadly trickster) 22nd level Musings of an Epic Virgin
Interesting stuff. I'm delighted that they're piling into another adventure series so quickly... if they stay profitable, that means we could potentially get an entire 1st to 30th-level adventure series every year! The quality thus far has been a little hit and miss, but if you don't like the modules as written, they're still excellent sources of yoinkage...
Cheap softcover racial handbooks? I'll reserve judgement until I see one, but I'm not averse to the idea.
Spelljamming on the Astral Sea? Now that one I can hardly wait for!
__________________ "The last time I ran into myself, I kicked my own ass." Chasing the DM, a blog for DM's like me who really feel they should know what they're doing by now.
For DM's: 4E Dungeon Index (adventures, conversions, and sidetreks by level, last updated 16th Oct. through Dungeon #171).
As a poor college student, I like the idea of the cheap softcover books a lot. A whole lot, in fact. I will definitely be sure to pick those up from time to time when I want a new D&D fix but lack 30-40 dollars to throw down.
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I wonder if this is WotC's response to Goodman releasing several 4E racial books.
From everything we have read, the WotC 4e development process is painfully slow. These books may have been conceived of before 4e was even released... if not before it was announced.
And of course they are coming out with Race books… they just had to find some way to make them profitable. And having them in paperback form at a low price point is obviously what they decided on. I am also betting that 80% of the books are going to be fluff (which is a good thing) and thus won’t be in the compendium nor the character builder and would have cut the development costs down a heck of a lot.
From everything we have read, the WotC 4e development process is painfully slow. These books may have been conceived of before 4e was even released... if not before it was announced.
WotC's development process is slow. This is not new to 4e, or even confined to D&D; Star Wars books routinely take well over a year from concept to print. So did 3e books.
Also, pirates in (astral) space? Count me in, I love spelljamming ships.
HELL, YEAH! though it means more ships for me to model in 3D for me diabolical art proggies, mmm....Astral Dreadnoughts vs Spelljamming ships, muhahah!!!!!
The racial books will probably be a reprint of the ecology article + a discussion of how the race handles for every class with "helpfull" hints.
__________________ Everything about RPGs is subjective, so everything I say about them is I my opinion and not hard facts
Having a backstory is good. Using this backstory in game is better. And for that you need background skills.
4E, the game where you play HSMFOS
Heroic
Only good, or at least unaligned adventurers are supported and no monster you can fight is good aligned.
Super-
The PCs become masters in any skill automatically and it is impossible for them to be bad at a mundane task
Mutants
Compared to NPCs of the same strength, PCs poses a ungodly amount of HP and can withstand huge mountains of punishment. That or they can spontaneously regenerate wounds.
From Outer Space
Yet despite no matter how powerful the PCs become, they can never do anything special what the "natives" (=NPCs) can do like animating a skeleton.
though it means more ships for me to model in 3D for me diabolical art proggies, mmm....Astral Dreadnoughts vs Spelljamming ships, muhahah!!!!! 
Linear Mode
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