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

[silvereyes]

I'm with Exile on this.

The "new core" books are the core FR books, and the core Eberron books.

The best part of this is that it could actually make things easier for new players. Only three books get large D&D branding, so it doesn't appear to be too much to learn to get into it. Each setting appears to be it's own game, and once the players get more used to the game they discover that the other campaign settings are very compatible.

Wait, I've seen this model before. It's like White Wolf's model. Many games to get players into the system, and once they are in the options can increase if they want them to. Isn't WW the second largest RPG publisher? And didn't they have to figure out their buisness model without all the history and branding that D&D has?

I'm begining to think that this might be darn good for WotC and D&D in general.

 

[Jhaelen]

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.

Exactly. If the approach works for MMORPG add-ons, why shouldn't it for D&D?

However, this apporoach will not work indefinitely. After about PHB6 you'll have the same insane amount of (prestige) classes, races, feats, etc. that you have now in 3.5.

So, I guess the lifetime of D&D 4th.ed. will be 5-6 years. Then it's time for 5.0 to start it all anew...

 

[Imaro]

I'm with Exile on this.

The "new core" books are the core FR books, and the core Eberron books.

The best part of this is that it could actually make things easier for new players. Only three books get large D&D branding, so it doesn't appear to be too much to learn to get into it. Each setting appears to be it's own game, and once the players get more used to the game they discover that the other campaign settings are very compatible.

Wait, I've seen this model before. It's like White Wolf's model. Many games to get players into the system, and once they are in the options can increase if they want them to. Isn't WW the second largest RPG publisher? And didn't they have to figure out their buisness model without all the history and branding that D&D has?

I'm begining to think that this might be darn good for WotC and D&D in general.

I don't think, assuming this is the way they do it, that you're analogy is the same(at least not as far as price scaling goes). In nWoD you buy a corebook and then buy a specific book meant for one or more of the supernaturals(or just stay with mortals). Everything else is supplemental. So your cost is $20+$35 or $55 for everythjing to run a "core game".

Let's take the model you suggest and apply it to Eberron. PHBI, DMGI and MMI...I'm assuming there's still elves, dwarves, etc. in Eberron. That's $90...now a campaign setting book...(let's be conservative and say another $30) plus the PHB3, DMG3 and MM3...so it tops out at $210 to get the basics for a single campaign setting. I mean it's great for making money, but I think it's definitely overkill if this is how they choose to do it. I can't see my upfront investment for a roleplaying game and setting being over $200. For a group total(with four players and one DM) that's $450. Even if everyone buys both books with the nWoD game it comes to a grand total of $275.

I feel this is just a ploy to get the players in on campaign worlds, instead of just the DM. So basically no more $30 and that's it for players if they want to play in a campaign setting published by WotC...it's at least $60 now. Not sure I like this model too much, especially since I mostly DM. If they do it this way I could see myself never running D&D, but certainly playing if someone else wants to front the lion's share of it.

 

[outsider]

Frankly, I think it's a great idea. PHBII was a fantastic supplement. Probably one of the best supplements released for 3.5. It had stuff that was valuable to everybody, pretty much. If they can manage to bang out a book of that quality every year, I'd happily keep buying them.

 

[Imaro]

Frankly, I think it's a great idea. PHBII was a fantastic supplement. Probably one of the best supplements released for 3.5. It had stuff that was valuable to everybody, pretty much. If they can manage to bang out a book of that quality every year, I'd happily keep buying them.

And this, as stated above, IMHO is one of the main reasons I see for them naming these books like this. PHB II=Good!...Complete Watchamacallit=Bad or mediocore in most current player's minds, even though from the power type description and classification of the books they seem more like a Complete book mash up than what the PHB II was.

 

[Kaodi]

I would have thought that a Controller was all about battlefield control, not about affecting lots of enemies at once necessarily. That is why I would of thought the Rogue would be the Martial Controller instead, because if they have traps that don't cost a stupid amount of resources to make (I don't think Rambo needed a Platinum One card to make his traps.), they would be best as molding the terrain to suit them. As the Rogue is a Striker, I move onto the Knight as a Controller, because he can force enemies to fight him instead of other more vulernable characters.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

It seems weird that they'd wait a whole year to release a Monster Manual II... Other than that, this sounds like a pretty cool idea.

Later
silver

 

[Mokona]

Controller, Defender, Leader, Striker

Perhaps I'm dense but what is a controller? How do they control anything? Of all the terms that seems the least useful because it's not intuitively understood.

Defender = soaks up damage or protects other party members
Leader = benefits other party members or leads by example
Striker = hits things, probably for bucket-loads of damage

Controller = ? :\

 

[Victim]

Battlefield control spells, debuffs, etc. The controller is the set up man. The wizard using Confusion, Evard's, Slow, Ray of Enfeeblement is likely filling the controller niche.

In other words, where the leader is about pumping up his allies and making them work together better, the controller is about doing the opposite to the enemies.

 

[Glyfair]

And this, as stated above, IMHO is one of the main reasons I see for them naming these books like this. PHB II=Good!...Complete Watchamacallit=Bad or mediocore in most current player's minds, even though from the power type description and classification of the books they seem more like a Complete book mash up than what the PHB II was.

Which still requires they put a significant effort into the series. If the PHB II gains the same reputation the Complete Divine had, then that rub they got from the 3.5 PHB is gone.