When does detail become tedium?

Sigurd · Nov 13, 2009

So D&D is about to release their second draconomicon for their fourth edition.

Maybe I'm just getting old but I feel like having another shopping cart full of categorized and quantized mythical creatures is beginning to feel like somebody telling me about their stamp collection.

I'm waiting for the monster books that build monsters based on the type of cleaning equipment they use. Say the Dusting Silver Dragon, Elves (Vacuum Using), or perhaps one-eighthling rogue metal polishers.

Does the game really support all these permutations or are we buying books we won't use? Dragons are an exciting historic bit of legend but I just don't need one monster extrapolated over as many variations as are possible.

It seems to me that at the end of the first day a publisher should be able to say 'I have a great game'. More is not necessarily better.

/rant

Sigurd

Stalker0 · Nov 13, 2009

To me new monsters are about 2 things:

1) new mechanics
2) new fluff

Now with a book all about dragons you probably aren['t going to get a lot in the fluff department. So for me its about seeing what kind of new attacks and abilities the team has thought of.

I have found more in 4e than in 3e that monster abilities are transmutable. Sometimes I take an ability from one monster and add it to another, or just create a brand new monster. Having more options improves that ability.

There is always a limit for everyone, you can always have more things than you will use. Which is why some people buy 1 monster book, some people buy 5. It just depends on what your limit is.

ExploderWizard · Nov 13, 2009

The great thing about supplements is that thier nature is..................................wait for it.......................supplemental.

Buy what interests you and skip what doesn't. What I don't understand is the mentality of needing "official" whatever in order to add the concept to one's game.

We can't do X.
Why not?
There are no official rules for it yet.

TerraDave · Nov 13, 2009

What, buy books we don't need. I am sure nobody on ENWorld does that.

Rel · Nov 13, 2009

Yeah I feel no real compulsion to purchase this book, just like most of the 4e stuff. That doesn't mean I think the material is worthless. I just get most of it already in the Compendium as part of my DDI subscription.

That's not to say that I don't have a decent collection of some of the published books. I've got the starter 3 of course and the MM2 (which I got with a gift certificate from a friend for my birthday). But that's about it. And I don't feel like I'm missing out. There is a ton of stuff on the Compendium that I've never even looked at, just waiting for me to use if I need it.

I think this is one feature (I won't call it a good or a bad one) of the format of many of the 4e books (monster books in particular). Since there isn't a lot of fluff anyway, and since I'm getting the crunch via the Compendium, there isn't much need for me to own the hardcover book.

knifie_sp00nie · Nov 13, 2009

I guess you missed the release of 4e when there was a huge bout of nerdrage about the lack of metallic dragons in the MM. It was just too hard to recolor the chromatic dragons and play them as nice.

So WotC is just giving the public what they want since so many people want tons of dragons.

Chainsaw · Nov 13, 2009

Back when I first starting DM'ing/playing RPGs, I used to buy and read every supplemental (the 2E Complete book days) with great enjoyment. At that time, when I was new, they never struck me as shameless, recycled or anything negative at all. I had so little experience with RPGs that it all seemed "pretty cool." Now, of course, after 20 years of gaming, I almost never buy the types of products you're talking about. Still, I can see how they might be interesting for newer players or players like Stalker0 that are probably more "students of the game" than I am.

MichaelSomething · Nov 13, 2009

ExploderWizard said:
The great thing about supplements is that thier nature is..................................wait for it.......................supplemental.

NO WAY MAN! You're like; blowin' my mind! Wooah!