interesting, I see no reason to try to keep up with any release schedule, I buy what I am interested in and not the rest. At best I see how too many crunchy releases could be an issue for people who want to keep up with those, but skipping some adventure or setting I am not interested in....
I don't see where this is a problem. My players bring me stuff all the time. I look at it and say yes or no. Generally yes. It's really not hard to glance at something and see whether or not it will be actively disruptive to the game.
The trouble is that I will buy 3 books that I'm somewhat interested in if that'sall there is, but will buy 0 books if there are 12 I'm somewhat interested in.
Adventures aren't a problem. As you say, they're easily ignored. But, player option books crop up all the time. Every time WotC releases anything player facing, I wind up having to weather a deluge of requests to use all the new bells and whistles. New spells, new powers, new whatever. Comes up all the freaking time. And, frequently, the players have only a ... tenuous grasp on the actual mechanics which means i have to police characters constantly.
You are far better at this than I. I'm constantly running into stuff that trips me up. I almost never get to play, which means I don't pay any attention to the player side of things, trusting that the players will. And repeatedly, it bites me on the ass as players interpret rules in a ... generous way.
I dont mind player options at all. In fact, I love supplements. Though, I do get what you are saying about players wanting the new hotness and not grasping how it works. So, as GM im pretty stern about allowing stuff with the caveat that you need to be an expert in this one class because its all you are playing. If the player consistently shows a lack of understanding of the new class and/or mechanics, I make them switch to something else.
ha, in that case I probably end up with the 4 or 5 I am most interested in
That seems abstractly reasonable, but it doesnmatxh my lived experience or what studies have found about consumer behavior in the aggregate.ha, in that case I probably end up with the 4 or 5 I am most interested in
Yeah, it's the paradox of choice. Give people a relatively small number of choices and they make a decision fairly easily. Give people a ton of choices, not only do they have a hard time deciding, they're ultimately less likely to be happy with their choice.
