Why Sourcebooks?

[Treebore]

Board Games are definitely expandable. Not only do you have Settlers, you have Axis and Allies and Heroscape as two more highly expandable and expanded games.

 

[MerricB]

Hang on a moment, did I say that Monopoly didn't have expansions? I'm forgetful. It does - or did - at least one.

In 1936, Parker Brothers published the Stock Exchange Add-On. (Chessex re-released it in 1992 with a number of variant chance/community cards as well).

So, Monopoly does have an expansion. An official one as well.

Cheers!

 

[Treebore]

I think Trivial Pursuit is another good example. The variosu editions of Monopoly can be looked at as expansions, since they do have some rules variation for the Star Wars edition, et al.

 

[MerricB]

Board Games are definitely expandable. Not only do you have Settlers, you have Axis and Allies and Heroscape as two more highly expandable and expanded games.

Try Carcassonne.

Three "big" expansions, four "small" expansions. And several derivatives as well. That's a fun game.

Cheers!

 

[Treebore]

I've seen that, but I have yet to buy it or have a chance to play someone elses.

 

[Jdvn1]

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.

Allow me to go a step further here--D&D is about worlds and people and interactions, whereas Monopoly is about getting property and money and beating people.

For a better analogy than Monopoly, look at Star Wars (or Discworld, or Lord of the Rings, or... lots of popular immersive worlds). There's the 'core set' (in the case of Star Wars, the movies), but there are also Star Wars Encyclopedias and Guides to Alien Races and Guides to Spacecrafts and whatnot. If you're into the Star Wars world/system, you buy, read, and talk about these expansion books, which expand your view of the world.

... And that's exactly what we do with D&D.

 

[WayneLigon]

And don't forget Poker, the ultimate house-rule/variant game....

 

[Angel Tarragon]

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

[smallcaps]Axis & Allies^® [/smallcaps] and [smallcaps]Talisman^®[/smallcaps] are shining examples

 

[Nightfall]

Why have sourcebooks? Cause otherwise I'd sit on my box sets all the time.