Am I a snooty gamer? [Book of Exalted Deeds]

[Alzrius]

I think someone hit the nail on the head when they said that a game book should excite your imagination, and I agree that the Epic Level Handbook, the last D&D book I considered buying, didn't impress me in that way. Honestly, I don't use much in the way of rules from 3rd party sources; if I want a new rule, I'll make it up, usually. I prefer books that inspire with their stories, not their mechanics, and while upon a second perusal of the Book of Exalted Deeds I see a lot of interesting ideas, the introduction itself didn't grab me. They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

This, to me, explains perfectly why you didn't like the BoED too much (which I have yet to read myself yet). IMHO, you were looking for something it didn't offer.

It's all well and good that you wanted something with non-mechanical discussions about the nature of heroism and writings on what makes a hero, the nature of faith, etc. The problem is, that sort of material is already out there in droves.

Just not in RPG books.

People have been romanticizing and debating topics like faith and heroism for centuries, if not millenia. It's almost painfully easy to find examples of these topics, from movies to novels to poems to plays, etc. If the emphasis of the BoED was placed on this, it would find itself competing with a much wider range of material. RPG books offer mechanics because that is what's exclusive to them.

You can take inspirational material from literally anything. But making up a rule is, again IMHO, much harder. You have to anticipate the broad range of scenarios that it could apply to, how it could apply, if it is balanced, how useful it is, etc. If you can make up rules yourself, then between that and the wide body of things available at even your local library for literary inspiration, you really don't need to purchase RPG books.

The bottom line is, fluff is everywhere, but crunch is RPG exclusive. They know it, and they're going to play in the market with less competition. That doesn't mean these books should be nothing but numbers, but as we learned with the "Sliver Munches", mechanics are what make the gaming industry go 'round.

 

[Desdichado]

You just now noticed this about WotC books? This was a big part of my gripe with the ELH whenever it was that it was new.

 

[diaglo]

I have not had a chance to read the text yet, but I agree that it seems to be more about mechanics than heroism or faith.

i have found this to be true of most of the newer editions' guides/books. from 1999 on...

edit: ergo why we grognards complain about the loss of flavo(u)r.

 

[BryonD]

I prefer books that inspire with their stories, not their mechanics

It is interesting that I am 100% the opposite.

I like to have the stories be my own. I prefer nice crunchy books that share other people's tools for mechanically describing the world that I invent myself.

Occasionally, my story will be inspired by a mechanic. Quite simply, I'll start thinking, what would the world be like if things worked that way. But more often I'll just look for things that work with the story or setting the way I see it.

 

[Gez]

But then again, you're an axiomatic unicorn, so it's logical you prefer mechanics.

 

[Davelozzi]

You should be buying a game book, first, because its useful for your game, not because its "fun to read".

Why? Shouldn't the reason someone buys anything be their own?

Right now I'm running a D&D campaign yet the most regular game purchases that I make are in the Spycraft game lines (core Spycraft and Shadowforce Archer). I've run Spycraft once, played it once, and never played or ran SFA at all. Yet, the SFA books are the ones that I most lookf forward to picking up. Why? Because they're far more fun to read. YMMV.

 

[BryonD]

But then again, you're an axiomatic unicorn, so it's logical you prefer mechanics.

HA!!!!!!

That's great! Thanks

(And congrats for being one of maybe 20 people who even know what you're talking about )

 

[Dinkeldog]

RW, I think you're snooty, but that's okay. Honestly, my favorite D&D book right now is Mindscapes, which is crunchy, crunchy, crunchy (or crunchy^3). My favorite gaming books overall are probably Exalted or Earthdawn, but with the setting tied so firmly into the game, I need more reference material to have an idea of what's intended for the game (with the knowledge that I'm free to rip the supporting metacampaign at any time). High among the other favorite D&D books for me are the PsiB, Savage Species, and the FRCS/Magic of Faerun/Monsters of Faerun, and everything from Badaxe (personal bias noted ). None of those are particularly fluffy.

To that extent, I'm snooty, too. Just snooty in a different way, and that's okay, too.

 

[Desdichado]

I don't mind mechanics to the extent that they are useful mechanics that I can get some mileage out of. There's so much d20 mechanics out there, though, that finding books like that is more and more unlikely as time goes on. Therefore, having well written idea sparkers and setting info is becoming more and more important to me as time goes on, I'm finding.

 

[Wombat]

I like a decent amount of mechanics; they are, of course, the rules by which the story may be created.

OTOH, I am always a "story first, mechanics afterwards" gamer.

In my game books I like flavour text, a goodly amount of it, but not so constraining in its background materail that I have to fight my way out of someone else's story. In this way Exalted is okay for me, but only just (same is true for most material from Pale Puppy -- they are too in love with their own worlds to imagine that someone might want some wiggle room to create their own vision, rather than follow the Company Line). WotC, conversely, fails on the other end -- too little notion of anything except mechanics.

BoED is not high up on my list of rpg material to pick up; personally, between Arcana Unearthed and Skull & Bones I'm gonna be busy for a long time (hmmm, maybe an Faen Unfettered Master of Fence...?). Overall, I think Green Ronin has done the best job for my money regarding the mix between prose and mechanics (O! The wonder that is The Book of the Righteous!), as far as D20 goes.

But for flavour mixed with mechanics, give me Over the Edge or Nobilis any day!