Abstruse
Legend
Another argument for more books with smaller page count...I hate hate hate hate hate buying things I don't need. I sat on buying Monster Vault for my 4e game for two months because I flat out hated the idea of spending $30 for a boxed set. The Heroes of Fallen/Forgotten Lands/Kingdoms and Rules Compendium were digest-sized paperbacks with a $20 price point*. The Monster Vault was exactly that same style and size book, but also included several sheets of tokens (which I don't use because I own minis), a poster map (which I hate because they can't be re-used, I'm locked into a dungeon design, and it's hard to hide areas from players), and an adventure (that I'd never run because it didn't fit with my campaign and I didn't like the story of) all in a box (which wouldn't fit on any of my bookshelves). Therefore, they wanted to me to pay $10 more for a bunch of crap I had no use for and frankly just got given or thrown away.
What does this have to do with Next? They've stated that a DMG-type book is going to have a lot of advice for newer DMs for how to run a game. I've been gaming since 1992. I'm pretty much always the DM/GM/ST/whatever when I run a game. I've run every edition of D&D (except B/X), Shadowrun, Vampire, Paranoia, Mechwarrior, and dozens of others. I know how to run a damn game.
If the DMG is 250 pages and 100 of those pages are all about advice and guidance for how to run a game, it would annoy the crap out of me because I don't need "Dungeonmastering for Dummies" to be a required purchase to get lists of magic items, random generation tables, rules for creating NPCs, lists of traps, etc. It would be like purchasing the PHB and having a third of the book taken up by that "What is Roleplaying?" article that's in the front of every single game ever written ever. It feels like a waste of money to me.
Now, that sort of advice is good. It's important for newer DMs so they don't have to go around to a dozen different blogs just to get the sort of tips, tricks, and techniques that most of us have picked up over the years through experience. It really should be available for the players who need it. But players who don't need it shouldn't be forced to buy it just to get information they do need.
It also adds however many pages to a book that I'm going to be referencing during gameplay that has absolutely no use during gameplay. I don't want to have to flip past a massive write-up on how to make an NPC seem "real" in order to find out what the attack bonus for a level 5 Noble is.
That's why I think they should split the books based upon how the content is used. Is the information typically used during prep time? Put it in a book to be referenced before the game. Is the information typically used during the game itself? Put it in a book to be referenced during the game.
* For the record, the price points I'm quoting are the retail cover prices and while I doubt anyone's going to pay that much with all the ways to get discounts, it's still going to be the same ratios.
What does this have to do with Next? They've stated that a DMG-type book is going to have a lot of advice for newer DMs for how to run a game. I've been gaming since 1992. I'm pretty much always the DM/GM/ST/whatever when I run a game. I've run every edition of D&D (except B/X), Shadowrun, Vampire, Paranoia, Mechwarrior, and dozens of others. I know how to run a damn game.
If the DMG is 250 pages and 100 of those pages are all about advice and guidance for how to run a game, it would annoy the crap out of me because I don't need "Dungeonmastering for Dummies" to be a required purchase to get lists of magic items, random generation tables, rules for creating NPCs, lists of traps, etc. It would be like purchasing the PHB and having a third of the book taken up by that "What is Roleplaying?" article that's in the front of every single game ever written ever. It feels like a waste of money to me.
Now, that sort of advice is good. It's important for newer DMs so they don't have to go around to a dozen different blogs just to get the sort of tips, tricks, and techniques that most of us have picked up over the years through experience. It really should be available for the players who need it. But players who don't need it shouldn't be forced to buy it just to get information they do need.
It also adds however many pages to a book that I'm going to be referencing during gameplay that has absolutely no use during gameplay. I don't want to have to flip past a massive write-up on how to make an NPC seem "real" in order to find out what the attack bonus for a level 5 Noble is.
That's why I think they should split the books based upon how the content is used. Is the information typically used during prep time? Put it in a book to be referenced before the game. Is the information typically used during the game itself? Put it in a book to be referenced during the game.
* For the record, the price points I'm quoting are the retail cover prices and while I doubt anyone's going to pay that much with all the ways to get discounts, it's still going to be the same ratios.
