Why no index is new WotC books? *Update: Received "official" answer... kinda...*

[Varianor Abroad]

In the case of Libris Mortis, I asked Andy Collins that on his boards and his said it was just an oversite. Quite possibly they have so much to do with less staff that it's missed by the editorial staff who forget to harass the designers for one. I wouldn't mind if the ToC became more comprehensive (i.e. combined with an index), but right now it's not enough.

 

[Zappo]

I've been wondering the same thing. Indexes are very useful.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I imagine someone came up with the idea to start leaving them out to save money or something and for the most part no one really seemed to care so they kept doing it.

That's probably what it comes down to. Indexing isn't cheap if you want to do it right, and WotC seems to continually do things to cut costs. That was my guess when I noticed that there hadn't been an index for several books in a row.

 

[Arkham]

My guess is that since they can't do a good one,
they decided not to do one at all. It is cheaper
for them that way.

 

[johnsemlak]

As remarked above, I think that thorough ToCs sometimes (but not always) reduce the need for an index.

Really, in this day and age, if a good index can be downloaded and put inside your book (I haven't actually seen these indices Keith Baker has put up), the index in the print edition might be less crucial than it once was.

Still, I'd definitely rather have an index.

 

[Gez]

I still wish companies would imitate KenzerCo's excellent idea of merging the glossary and the index.

 

[Buttercup]

As remarked above, I think that thorough ToCs sometimes (but not always) reduce the need for an index.

Really, in this day and age, if a good index can be downloaded and put inside your book (I haven't actually seen these indices Keith Baker has put up), the index in the print edition might be less crucial than it once was.

Still, I'd definitely rather have an index.

Whereas I'd say that, if WotC really wants us to think that their products are superior, they need to cough up an index with each published product. IMO even an adventure would benefit from an index.

 

[Oberton]

I think the idea of an online index for their major products at their site would be an excellent idea. Another cool option would be to make it a community supported tool... People could use a web tool for building an index and such.. .Thus enabling the community to build indexes and etc...

 

[diaglo]

I think the idea of an online index for their major products at their site would be an excellent idea. Another cool option would be to make it a community supported tool... People could use a web tool for building an index and such.. .Thus enabling the community to build indexes and etc...

but like most online stuff ... it doesn't last long.

sites upgrade or purge their old stuff too often for people who are still using products years later.

many years later than they have it online.... for some.

 

[Xath]

I'd love to see an online cross-index of all of the 3.5 books. I know sometimes I can't remember where I saw something and I end up looking through 8 books before I find it.