Jake Johnson
First Post
Okay. As a returning player/DM, I'm intrigued by the speculation and discussion around so-called splatbooks. I had to look up the term. It wasn't around when I played back in the day. For thos who don't know it, here's the Wikipedia definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splatbook
Most of the conversation here concerning splatbooks in 5E seems to be speculation as to whether or not we will see them, and if so, how many we might see. I notice a generally negative tone, as if it would be undesirable for such material to be published. I could agree with this negative thinking if we are to assume that any splatbooks would automatically become part of the core rule set. The problem seems obvious. You buy the three core rule books. You start happily running games. Your group is playing along just fine. Suddenly, a bunch of new core rules come out every five minutes, forcing you to keep up. Unless you have the time, money, and desire to keep up, you're kind of stuck dealing with a situation you don't want. Players in your group may want to use the new material. You may feel a sense of anxiety about it. It's a potentially bad scene.
Every time I see this like of thinking, I wonder if it would really be this way. Would WotC really engage in this sort of rule-update anxiety inducing behavior. Mearls and company must know that such an approach creates problems, and may even cause sufficient nerdrage to turn public opinion against the franchise. Isn't it more likely that any splatbooks we might see would be purely optional? If such is the case, what would be the problem? Let's say a new setting comes out, or a book with a some new character races and classes drops. What would be the downside?
My perspective: As long as the splatbook in question doesn't render a single word of text from the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, or Dungeon Master's Guide obsolete, I have no issue.
What do you think?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splatbook
Most of the conversation here concerning splatbooks in 5E seems to be speculation as to whether or not we will see them, and if so, how many we might see. I notice a generally negative tone, as if it would be undesirable for such material to be published. I could agree with this negative thinking if we are to assume that any splatbooks would automatically become part of the core rule set. The problem seems obvious. You buy the three core rule books. You start happily running games. Your group is playing along just fine. Suddenly, a bunch of new core rules come out every five minutes, forcing you to keep up. Unless you have the time, money, and desire to keep up, you're kind of stuck dealing with a situation you don't want. Players in your group may want to use the new material. You may feel a sense of anxiety about it. It's a potentially bad scene.
Every time I see this like of thinking, I wonder if it would really be this way. Would WotC really engage in this sort of rule-update anxiety inducing behavior. Mearls and company must know that such an approach creates problems, and may even cause sufficient nerdrage to turn public opinion against the franchise. Isn't it more likely that any splatbooks we might see would be purely optional? If such is the case, what would be the problem? Let's say a new setting comes out, or a book with a some new character races and classes drops. What would be the downside?
My perspective: As long as the splatbook in question doesn't render a single word of text from the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, or Dungeon Master's Guide obsolete, I have no issue.
What do you think?
