Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder: Is it evidence that new editions don't need to be that different?

[Jasperak]

Not on a quest. Just hoping that WotC releases a version of D&D that will keep my players and I happy and interested for more than 15 years

TSR managed to do that for me

[tangent]I wonder what is more important, the game and its presentation or the company and its business model?[/tangent]

 

[Victim]

*cough* someone forgot about Fusion edition of champions before 5th and 6th which was a radical departure...*cough*

I thought that used a tweaked version of someone else's system. Making it more like a company releasing a d20 version of their game, and then going to back to their normal product line.

 

[carmachu]

I thought that used a tweaked version of someone else's system. Making it more like a company releasing a d20 version of their game, and then going to back to their normal product line.

No. Fusion was Champions 4th editon. I was playing third in college, got out and fusion came along ast 4th and ugh, completely drew me away from the game. even 5th didnt draw me back as I had lost my group anyway.....

All of the above games, as well as nearly all games published by the company, use the Hero System as their basis. While early editions included the system rules with each genre book, this ended with the Fourth Edition of Champions. Currently, the Revised Fifth Edition of the rules is a separate book, and the "genre books" show how to use the system to reflect the conventions of superheroic, fantasy, science fiction, and other adventure genres.
Former exceptions to the "Hero System only" rule are Champions: The New Millennium and its supplements, published in the late 1990s using the Fuzion system.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

No. Fusion was Champions 4th editon. I was playing third in college, got out and fusion came along ast 4th and ugh, completely drew me away from the game. even 5th didnt draw me back as I had lost my group anyway.....

That's not true. I own 4th, 5th, and 6th editions of Champtions. Fusion was not the 4th edition. In fact, both the Fusion edition and 5th edition were being made at the same time. Fusion was a system designed by another company and Hero Games decided to convert their system over to it.

I never quite understood what was going on. Because there was discussion about making a 5e of Hero System at the same time that the Fusion version of Hero System was coming out. It appeared to just be a alternate system for people who were already familiar with Fusion.

 

[Shemeska]

The big difference I notice is that in the old days, TSR put out one or maybe two rulebooks in a year, but it pumped out tons of modules.

Actually that raises a question about how many rulebooks each edition released per year, versus how many primarily fluff supplements (setting specific or otherwise) were released for each edition. My experience is a bit too brief to make a call on the top since I missed 1e and 2e entirely.

Is 4e producing a much higher number of crunch-heavy rulebooks versus previous editions? Or is it just my perception that it is?

 

[billd91]

No. Fusion was Champions 4th editon. I was playing third in college, got out and fusion came along ast 4th and ugh, completely drew me away from the game. even 5th didnt draw me back as I had lost my group anyway.....

That's not correct. Champions 4e, of which I have a copy, came out in 1989. Champions: New Millenium, using Fuzion, came out in 1997.
Champions 4e is right in the main stream of Champions from 1e to 6e.

 

[JoeGKushner]

To be fair, it's not like they had a lot of competition back in the 2e days.

On their level, they still don't.

If we're not talking about their level, they had Role Aids/Mayfair, Rolemaster, Runequest, etc.. .etc.. .etc...

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Huh?

Dragon Compendium I included stuff from all editions converted to 3.5. Compendium II would have done the same - there is/was plenty of stuff already, but we never got to see it because of the edition change.

Dragon Compendium might be a bad example. Though... The release schedule of Dragon and Dungeon could also be considered part of an "aggressive schedule". It requires a lot of material to be written every month, right?

 

[Jhaelen]

If I were running the brand (and not at WotC, which would likely never allow this), I would make the next version "The Definitive Edition" and it would be the last edition made. It would take the best features from all editions, while being modular - allowing you to play, for example, with or without minis, and it would provide guidance to converting older edition materials.

I'm glad you don't run the brand.
Cheers!

 

[Betote]

You know...I actually LIKE this.

I like the fact that if say I have a swordmage class, adventurer vault 2 will have items that benefit my character.

That's one way of looking at it. Another one would be that, unless you have the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, some parts of your Adventurer's Vault 2 will be completely useless to you.

re: Modules

I'm not sure how modules could be profitable. Basically if a group is 5 players and 1 DM, a rules book is doing 6 times the number as a similarly produced adventure.

I can't really speak for the whole gaming community, but I am way more attracted to good modules and setting information than to rules additions. However, for that being the case, the core book(s) should have all the rules content needed to play the game, which is certainly not what happens with 4e.