The edition wars have hit a new low

[Dannager]

My group and I beat them to it by years.

After trying 4e for the better part of a year, we decided to take all our 4e book along on a camping trip. We used them to fuel the campfire til they were all gone. Meanwhile, we drank and played some Pathfinder (which we defaulted back to as the rpg we were playing just before 4e). Of course we tried 4e because we were sick of the rule bloat of 3e and Pathfinder (even though PF reduced a little of the bloat). We went back to 2e AD&D for awhile until we finally just give up the D&D brand for DCC and a couple old school style rpgs.

We had discussed selling them, but decided that visiting our experience with the system on others would instantly change our alignments to chaotic evil, and the fewer of those books out there, the better.

What a mature reaction to a game you guys collectively had.

 

[Dannager]

It is comments like this that are unhelpful. Burning the 4e books isn't a edition war starter all by itself.

Yeah, they're not trying to make an inflammatory statement at all.

Not that RPG books should be treated as somehow sacred, but imagine if someone publicized a picture of a bunch of holy texts (from a specific religion) burning in a bonfire. You don't think that's intended to make people upset? Come the hell on.

 

[Dannager]

We got more pages in than I expected before the inevitable bash at 4e critics being deranged came up.

Honestly, everyone, burning the books is kind of a punk act but is it really worse than saying "I threw them in the recycle bin"? From the point of view of the book owner, it's no less final once the sanitation workers have come by to pick up the recycling.

Yes, it is worse. And not even subtly worse. Glaringly, shockingly worse.

One example is recycling them because you have no need for them anymore and recycling is what you do with things you don't have any personal use for.

The other example is someone making a public show out of the celebration of destroying something they clearly (and quite vocally) hate, and who feels compelled to spread and share their hatred, with callous disregard for the notion that others (who don't share their absurd hatred) might find it equal parts disturbing (for the book-burning side of things), pathetic (for making such a ritualistic show of burning an "elf game" book, and for needing the same sort of cathartic healing from the grievous emotional wound of a board game edition's release that normal people seek after the traumatic end of a romantic relationship), and offensive (for implying that those who appreciate the game in question aren't enjoying real D&D, and that we are therefore less entitled to the hobby's legacy).

You could have figured that out on your own.

 

[billd91]

Yes, it is worse. And not even subtly worse. Glaringly, shockingly worse.

One example is recycling them because you have no need for them anymore and recycling is what you do with things you don't have any personal use for.

The other example is someone making a public show out of the celebration of destroying something they clearly (and quite vocally) hate, and who feels compelled to spread and share their hatred, with callous disregard for the notion that others (who don't share their absurd hatred) might find it equal parts disturbing (for the book-burning side of things), pathetic (for making such a ritualistic show of burning an "elf game" book, and for needing the same sort of cathartic healing from the grievous emotional wound of a board game edition's release that normal people seek after the traumatic end of a romantic relationship), and offensive (for implying that those who appreciate the game in question aren't enjoying real D&D, and that we are therefore less entitled to the hobby's legacy).

You could have figured that out on your own.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

 

[Dannager]

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Quite true, though perhaps not in the way you might have intended! After all, D&D has seen its share of book-burning in the past. What lofty company these guys now share.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Closing this thread because it is in danger of devolving to the very silliness that the book burners espouse. I also question the value in having this thread at all - what value did it have other than adding "them and us-ness"?

Honestly, we have 5e threads, 4e threads, pathfinder threads... Talk about fun things you enjoy; life is too short to get wound up by someone else's preferences.