Why Sourcebooks?

[Scribble]

Sourcebooks are cool... They add additional rules and options to the game and keep it "fresh."

But why does D&D (and other rpgs) have sourcebooks? You don't see it for other games.

Take Monopoly, for instance. It comes in one box, with a set of rules, and that's it. You don't have extra books with new rules and new chance cards being released every month... It's not like we'll ever see Complete Thimble hit the presses...

So why do RPGs do this?

After all the main D&D rules have an amazing amount of information and options already there. Just using the main rules every new D&D campaign will be pretty different then the last- at least more so then each time you play Monopoly!

I'm not knocking it. I love source books. Just wondering how that model came about, when it seems way different then other games...

 

[Technomancer]

Sourcebooks are cool... They add additional rules and options to the game and keep it "fresh."

But why does D&D (and other rpgs) have sourcebooks? You don't see it for other games.

Take Monopoly, for instance. It comes in one box, with a set of rules, and that's it. You don't have extra books with new rules and new chance cards being released every month... It's not like we'll ever see Complete Thimble hit the presses...

So why do RPGs do this?

After all the main D&D rules have an amazing amount of information and options already there. Just using the main rules every new D&D campaign will be pretty different then the last- at least more so then each time you play Monopoly!

I'm not knocking it. I love source books. Just wondering how that model came about, when it seems way different then other games...

Just off the top of my head I would say that what you are trying to simulate in an RPG is much more complicated than in a traditional family board game. There is just too much to be explained on the inside of a box cover. And the more people play the game, the more situations arise that weren't covered in the main rule book. That doesn't happen in games like Monopoly. Nothing happens in Monopoly that the little game manual doesn't cover. The little thimble isn't suddenly going to start moving backward, or fast travel between the railroads (although that would be an interesting variant).

 

[wayne62682]

Simple: You don't see sourcebooks for Monopoly because Monopoly doesn't have you portraying a thimble in a rough-and-tumble land trying to defeat the evil Uncle Pennybags (or whatever the mascot's name is); it's a simple game. You don't play the shoe in monopoly and embark on a grand quest to rescue your mate from the battleship, or play the dog and look for your missing owner. D&D (and RPGs as a whole) are a lot more complicated than monopoly, with a lot more that *could* theoretically happen, hence why they have sourcebooks.

 

[Khairn]

Technomancer has the right idea.

IMHO, the quintessential sourcebooks were the MERP books by ICE for Middle Earth. They established a high benchmark for detail and creativity that has been met by some (but far from all) publisher. Sourcebooks provide a greater amount of integration and immersion into the setting and the system for GM and players alike.

 

[Scribble]

Simple: You don't see sourcebooks for Monopoly because Monopoly doesn't have you portraying a thimble in a rough-and-tumble land trying to defeat the evil Uncle Pennybags (or whatever the mascot's name is); it's a simple game. You don't play the shoe in monopoly and embark on a grand quest to rescue your mate from the battleship, or play the dog and look for your missing owner. D&D (and RPGs as a whole) are a lot more complicated than monopoly, with a lot more that *could* theoretically happen, hence why they have sourcebooks.

See, either way, D&D gives you the tools to play through adventure after adventure after adventure, and use the rules as is to determine the outcome.

I mean, I could come up with new rules and ideas for monopoly if I wanted to. (like the fast travel to the railroad...) They theoreticaly COULD come out with expansion packs for new chance cards and such... But they don't.

Do you think the majority of people out there who pick up D&D and start playing would ever even concieve of the new rules if there wasn't already a source book available for it? Or would they simply play D&D with the rules as is?

 

[Faraer]

Because Monopoly is a finite game and RPGs are infinite games. See James P. Carse, Finite and Infinite Games.

 

[Merkuri]

I mean, I could come up with new rules and ideas for monopoly if I wanted to. (like the fast travel to the railroad...) They theoreticaly COULD come out with expansion packs for new chance cards and such... But they don't.

My parents actually owned at one point a "sourcebook" of sorts for Monopoly. I never read the whole thing, but it was an actual book, not just a pamphlet, and it had not only tactics and tricks but additional rules (like the common house rule that someone landing on Free Parking gets a jackpot of sorts).

I agree with the the general consensus (that was nicely summed up by Faraer's post) that board games like Monopoly are finite and RPGs are infinite. By definition, you can do anything you want in an RPG, so people can always benefit by coming up with more rules for more obscure situations. Monopoly tells you exactly what you can do and how. There is no room for more. RPGs tell you that you can do whatever you want, and here are the rules to do the most common stuff.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

Also, don't forget the number one reason.

Profit.

Traditional board games generally have a much wider target audience, and are thus in wider distribution; therefore, there's no profit-based need to throw out additional rules. However, in these cases, we get all new games instead. When you're selling 100,000 units a year as opposed to 10,000 units a year, you don't really need expansions.

Also, without sourcebooks, we'd get a new edition everytime a new set of rules were added. And you think you hear grousing about 4e as it is....

 

[Lord Mhoram]

There is time of play. People play boardgames, but do they play the same boardgame for 4 hours a week, week after week. And the ones that likely could be answered yes to (say Settlers) have expansions.

 

[MerricB]

Although Monopoly doesn't have expansions, there are plenty of board games that do.

In fact, even a regular pack of cards has expansions - you have the special cards for versions of 500 and other games (11, 12, 13). Also, a second pack of cards for games like Canasta.

Cheers!