Princes of the Apocalypse Basic Rules Supplement

I like that they're doing this, I like it a lot!

 

[pukunui]

EDIT: The Player's Companion thing was sort of a special release, hey? Not part of Basic, but released the same way and completely compatible, am I right?

It's like a free splatbook. They released it as a pdf last month to coincide with the start of the Elemental Evil Adventurer's League season. You can now get it as a POD softcover from rpgclassics for like $10. It's got the Elemental Evil trade dress all over it, but there's actually nothing in it that's specific to the Princes of the Apocalypse adventure. However, there is some double-up. Both the Elemental Evil Player's Companion and the adventure contain the stats for the genasi race, as well as all the new spells. However, the companion also has stats for deep gnomes, aarakocra, and goliaths.

 

[JeffB]

Yay Mearls and Crew!

 

[GX.Sigma]

It's a great concept--I can use the free PDFs instead of having to bring the Monster Manual and DMG to every session. It is a little clumsy, though. It would be nice if I didn't have to constantly flip back to the DM Basic Rules every time I wanted the Orc stat block, for example.

It stands to reason, as they release more of the mega-adventures, more and more DMG and MM content will become available for free online. Eventually, it'll be like an SRD split across a huge number of documents. Then maybe they'll condense it into an actual SRD. Hmm...

 

[Leatherhead]

This just covers the gaps on the DM side of things between basic and the AP.

It's a nice gesture. I doubt such a scenario would come up often (seeing as how the book itself explicitly tells you that you need the rest of the books on the back cover), but it is good to see it covered.

One minor gripe: For future APs, such a pdf should be released with the book, and the book itself should have a paragraph or two in the first chapter telling the person reading it where to get the additional rules for free.

 

[pukunui]

One minor gripe: For future APs, such a pdf should be released with the book, and the book itself should have a paragraph or two in the first chapter telling the person reading it where to get the additional rules for free.

They did that with the Tyranny of Dragons modules. Not sure why they didn't do it with Princes.

 

[Leatherhead]

They did that with the Tyranny of Dragons modules. Not sure why they didn't do it with Princes.

They didn't do it because all the rules needed weren't available for free, at the time. However, they did tell you which of the other books to look in for the additional stats.

 

[pukunui]

They didn't do it because all the rules needed weren't available for free, at the time. However, they did tell you which of the other books to look in for the additional stats.

I'm not sure I follow you.

From the foreword to Hoard of the Dragon Queen: "Speaking of those core rules, you need only the basic rules and the Tyranny of Dragons online appendix to play through both this adventure and its sequel ... Both the rules and the appendix can be downloaded for free at DungeonsandDragons.com."

Of course, they ended up releasing separate pdfs for Hoard and Rise, rather than a single appendix for the series, but still ... the point is that they mentioned it in the modules.

 

[Trickster Spirit]

They do not want to sell us the core books (since they are providing all that is needed in the form of free PDFs). They want to sell us the APs.

It is a bit like Pathfinder. Just with their PRD you can play, but if you want to do the APs, you have to buy them. None of the stories/fluff are covered by the OGL.

Of course core books sells are welcomed, they are jsut ancillary to the APs.

I suspect they still want to sell folks the core books, but are just being realistic about the fact that not everyone who is interested in getting into the hobby is going to jump at the opportunity of paying $150 for the core books. Basic is a great alternative, "the first taste is always free" and all that.

The PRD makes everything available. Basic provides everything you need to jump into a friend's AP campaign, but at some point you're going to want to play a Paladin, or a Bard, or a Ranger. APs are probably going to only every be bought by DMs, but if each DM can recruit just one new player over the course of their time running the game, that's and extra $50 per group spent on PHBs. Basic is a great on-ramp IMO, and while they're definitely focused on the APs, I think they're hoping for a vicious cycle type of effect with them, where APs + Basic lead to more Core Book sales, which in turn leans to more APs sold, which helps recruit more players to buy the Core Books...

Time will tell if that strategy brings in the sort of numbers they're hoping to see, but personally I can see it working well enough, especially if they're able to leverage outside interest in the hobby through novels, movies, video games, television series, etc.

 

[Leatherhead]

I'm not sure I follow you

We are discussing PotA and the and the PDF you can download from the link in the first post of this thread.

 

[pukunui]

We are discussing PotA and the and the PDF you can download from the link in the first post of this thread.

OK, so let me see if I've got it right. By "They didn't do it because all the rules needed weren't available for free, at the time. However, they did tell you which of the other books to look in for the additional stats", you meant that there is no mention of a free supplement in the PotA book because it wasn't available straight away, so instead the book tells you to look in the core rulebooks instead?

I suppose that's fair, though technically, the Tyranny of Dragons supplements weren't available on release day either, IIRC. I remember people complaining about it.