D&D 4E 4E PHB II & DMG II 1 year after release (and a new one every year after that)

[TerraDave]

In one of these podcasts, Chris Perkins (?) said that they tried to do one hardback a month.

The problem: release 1 hardback a month, 12 months a year, for 8 years:

96 hardbacks.

Thats a lot of books. You can slice it different ways, but that is a lot of books.

Even with 3 core sequals a year--and these will hit diminishing returns pretty quickly--you still need to come up with 9 others each year.

One Hope: Like Unearthed Arcana (as mentioned by GG), they freely recycle Dragon and Dungeon content. Some people wont like it, but I would strongly prefer to 1) have the "good" content included in Dragon and Dungeon and 2) have less, but better, content overal. And this way I could see most of it, but only buy the HB that had enough to really warrant a whole book.

 

[Khairn]

I suppose each new PHB will have a code to unlock the new races, classes and feats for your DDI characters. And perhaps a subtle power creep to make sure players feel like they need to upgrade to each expansion.

Based on how past editions fealt the power bloat, that would seem to be the best guess. Then there would be the new classes (and other feats, spells abilities etc) in the sourcebooks / settings as well. But as long as you've signed up for the DDI, you'll already be getting the e-zines which will have their own character content that will come for free.

 

[Kaodi]

Actually, I think I know which class would best qualify as the Martial Controller, though it may not be in the core or it may be a " path " for the Fighter; the Knight.

 

[The_Gneech]

Oy ... and people thought the splatbooks were a problem for ever-increasing rules bloat? What's going to happen when the minimaxers (munchkins, or other "problem players" of your choice) have six PHB's to choose from? DMs are supposed to keep up with all this rubbish? What happened to streamlining?

I may be wrong, but I foresee "PHB IV -- Mooksplatter Class Totally BROKEN!" threads coming soon to an ENWorld near you.

-The Gneech

 

[Khairn]

Oy ... and people thought the splatbooks were a problem for ever-increasing rules bloat? What's going to happen when the minimaxers (munchkins, or other "problem players" of your choice) have six PHB's to choose from? DMs are supposed to keep up with all this rubbish? What happened to streamlining?

I may be wrong, but I foresee "PHB IV -- Mooksplatter Class Totally BROKEN!" threads coming soon to an ENWorld near you.

-The Gneech

But it wont be a problem to run those core and prestige classes as they can be managed through the DDI. What's there to be concerned about?

 

[The_Gneech]

But it wont be a problem to run those core and prestige classes as they can be managed through the DDI. What's there to be concerned about?

...

Aheheheheh.

If you're kidding: good one.

If you're not kidding, suffice to say that my concerns about the D.I. could fill an entire thread, and I suspect they probably have. Long story short: I ain't renting no online content. That's a sucker's game.

-The Gneech

 

[Nebulous]

...

Aheheheheh.

If you're kidding: good one.

If you're not kidding, suffice to say that my concerns about the D.I. could fill an entire thread, and I suspect they probably have. Long story short: I ain't renting no online content. That's a sucker's game.

-The Gneech

I foresee rules bloat being just as bad if not worse than 3rd edition. so long as the core rules are solid, i don't see this as a real problem though; as before, we just take what we need and scrap or ignore the rest. As of now, i don't have any intention of joining the D.I. That might change in the future if they roll out a carpet of exceptionally compelling material, but i doubt it.

 

[Woas]

All I hope is that all the spines of the core books (or better yet the covers too) including the PHB/DMG/MM2,3,4,... have art that you can line up and make a larger picture once all lined up.

I will buy 4e only if it does this!

 

[Shadeydm]

PHB2 and DMG2 were excellent books IMHO so this sounds like something to look forward too. It probably also gives WotC some stability to sales projections based off the popularity of them. If they are indeed calling them core books ( I don't know if this has been confirmed) then all the more likely they will sell really well. If they are directly tied to the DI then I would expect it will also provide more motivation for subscribers to keep renewing.

 

[Baby Samurai]

All I hope is that all the spines of the core books (or better yet the covers too) including the PHB/DMG/MM2,3,4,... have art that you can line up and make a larger picture once all lined up.

I will buy 4e only if it does this!

I like it – at least you're original.