Eric Noah's Info

Vigilance · Aug 4, 2006

Razz said:
I don't see how they've run out of ideas. I can come up with a few now.

Expand on what they already created. Which, I believe, is what they're finally doing what with Complete Mage and Complete Scoundrel coming along. Do an Epic Level splat book.

They have a Monster-theme line still running, they need to do a Fey book ala Draconomicon/Libris Mortis/Lords of Madness. There's still the "Book of Perfect Balance" idea they can wrestle with, the neutral version of BoED and BoVD. A "Races of the Mind" would be an interesting supplement for psionic campaigns.

That's just the general books, there's still tons of stuff they can do for FR and Eberron. And from the looks of it, they took back the Ravenloft license and made "Castle Ravenloft" so we might see a 3E return of that setting. Possibly.

Again, we all might as well wait until Gen Con, a week from now. Though I assure you, to me, this will be one looong week now.

We can all come up with ideas. The thing is though, there's a sweet spot with popular books most people are going to want: the core books and the splat books.

They've redone the core books for 3.5 and they're on the verge of finishing the revised splats.

Once you go through that ground twice for one edition, it's time to start thinking about a new edition.

Your ideas for what they could do were fine, but we're sort of at "peak oil" stage in the game's life cycle. All the popular ideas have been done, so they're writing books at the same expense for the same amount of work and expect them to not sell as well.

mcrow · Aug 4, 2006

BryonD said:
Wherever it is that you stop roleplaying.

I don't find that I roleplay 3.5 any less than I did way back in 1E. So no issue there in my camp.

Then you could get the same experience out of playing Decent.

I just think that the minis tend to place a lot of emphasis on how you move your minis. It also seems to encourage playing outside of character knowledge.

All that fiddling with mini and such just seems to take away from RPing IME. :\

Clefton Twain · Aug 4, 2006

ColonelHardisson said:
The fact that they release errata at all distinguishes them from most other game companies. At least they acknowledge they have mistakes. I doubt anyone believes that all those other games and game products by other publishers that never release errata are perfect.

Correct! And I'm not saying errata is a bad thing. However, I liken somewhat to the way many current software developers operate--those who release a billion patches for the same game, usually fixing really stupid and obvious bugs that may not be showstoppers but detract from the game. The mentality seems to be "push the product out even if it's not polished because we can always release a patch."

I know errors are going to happen. Nobody's perfect. But, wow. Some of their errata is just plain ridiculous. Not only that but we usually have to wait quite a while to actually receive it.

However, I do see errata and corrections for pretty much most of the games I own (board games mostly). It irritates me that there actually *is* errata but I am also happy that they released the corrections. Most reputable publishers seem to adequately cover their butts.

So I really pretty much agree with you. But I tend to think that much of the motivation these days to release the errata is because a) people gripe about the errors and b) they probably knew it was there and sent it on anyway. If they spent a little more time polishing it before it shipped it would save them the increased amount of time it takes to write errata.

--CT

TheAuldGrump · Aug 4, 2006

Rodrigo Istalindir said:
D20s are too good for you. You're going to get pelted with all those d12s we never use.

And don't forget to sharpen a bunch of d4s and scatter them along his most obvious escape routes!

The Auld Grump

LostSoul · Aug 4, 2006

Festivus said:
But Spell cards, feat cards, treasure cards... all those really could. I use them already in my game (well, not feat cards) and they simplify things a ton and make it more tactile (read: mini-centric). I was just thinking about it from Hasbro's side, how might you get people to pump money into the game... make it random and collectable.

I am not saying it's a bad thing at all, I actually would enjoy seeing the game go this route. *ducks behind the bar for cover from the d20's sure to come my way*

Me too. I think it would be cool. When you get a Rare treasure or something like that, it would mean more. "Sweet! The Vorpal Blade of Hexor! I've never seen one of these before!"

Of course, it would be more expensive... oh well.

I wonder... if they went down this road, what would happen if you had Roleplaying Cards? Like relationships with other people, and a bonus that you get when you're dealing with them. Or something like that.

Morrus · Aug 4, 2006

Festivus said:
But Spell cards, feat cards, treasure cards... all those really could. I use them already in my game (well, not feat cards) and they simplify things a ton and make it more tactile (read: mini-centric). *

I do too, and I believe they really add to the game. I even use Monopoly money for GP.

Rodrigo Istalindir · Aug 4, 2006

Morrus said:
I do too, and I believe they really add to the game. I even use Monopoly money for GP.

Do you hold the Monopoly money behind your back and tell your players 'Give me 5 pounds and I'll give you this fake money in random denominations?'

BryonD · Aug 4, 2006

mcrow said:
Then you could get the same experience out of playing Decent.

Very fun game. If you don't see a difference between it and D&D then I don't know what to say.

I just think that the minis tend to place a lot of emphasis on how you move your minis. It also seems to encourage playing outside of character knowledge.

All that fiddling with mini and such just seems to take away from RPing IME. :\

shrug

I don't see why.
But those limitations do not exist between the covers of the PH.
You are creating them.
It is not the game's fault that a piece of plastic drains away your ability to RP.
And it is not my fault that I seem to be immune to this attack.

Heck, I play outside character knowledge a lot less than I did in prior editions. But I think that is a function of age, not ruleset. Either way, I don't see how the minis have any impact outside of matters of self control.

Scribble · Aug 4, 2006

BryonD said:
Setting that aside:
There are roleplayers who mini-game.
There are roleplayers who do not mini-game.
There are mini-gamers who do roleplay.

With different but related games, you get something from all three groups and maybe even a few people from the second two groups getting drawn into the third.
If you force it down to a merger, then you screen out the later two groups altogether.
Seems a bad marketing plan.

Eh... Businesses drop their non target audience members a lot... Check out what's going on with cingular right now... They're trying to get rid of their CDMA customers basically... Charging them 5 bux more unless they upgrade, but not offering any kind of upgrade deal... Why? BEcause the CDMA customers generally apparently spend less overall.

So if the new game had that collectible element that would keep the kids a buyin and they could get rid of people like me, who dislike the collectible element and only buy game supplements I lthink will really ADD to my game... (The RPG equivalent of a CDMA phone user?)

Enough people would switch over, the DDM people would still buy, and new kids wouldn't be fragmented between the two areas. Just more more more collectible stuff.

Maybe that's what they mean about selling off the RPG line.

Sell off the D20 system to another company, but keep the D&D brand to thmselves. D20 lives, but D&D turns into a mini/card game...

But again.

<----- wild speculation.

Lanefan · Aug 4, 2006

Re: mini-centricism

Ever since the early days of 1e we've used mini's to represent the PC's and some of the opponents, in kind of a freeform manner. 3e tried to harden up the rules for use of mini's, movement, etc., and turned what was a relatively simple thing into much more of an exercise in tactics. If 4e does end up incorporating lots of aspects of DDM, it'll only be a continuation in the same direction. (whether that's the *right* direction is open for debate...)

Unrelated note:

If anyone is reading this who has any input whatsoever into 4e design: please keep a system that lets us use all the dice in the bag! We have all those d12's, d8's, d4's, etc. for a reason...and some now have d5's, d16's, d24's, and who knows what else.

Lanefan