This is my general take on the matter. I live in a FLGS-free zone, so I pretty much order all my D&D books through Amazon.
I hadn't bothered to preorder any of these canceled books.
Ampersand: 2011 releases officially gutted
- Thread starter captainspud
- Start date
This is my general take on the matter. I live in a FLGS-free zone, so I pretty much order all my D&D books through Amazon.
I hadn't bothered to preorder any of these canceled books.
ki11erDM
Explorer
What does that even mean? I am a 100% sure that D&D ‘sales numbers’ will drop, because it won’t be traditionally publishing 2 to 3 books ever month ever again. They are moving to an online format that will make the idea of ‘sales numbers’ immaterial. They will only keep Essentials in the stores along with ‘fluffy’ books like campaign settings.
Everything else is moving online.
UngeheuerLich
Legend
Books scrapped - sad day.
R&D approved articles in the DDI - happy day.
So I am neutral right now.
And I want AD&D again. (At least an Advanced DMG book, with monster and trap and dungeon building guidelines)
R&D approved articles in the DDI - happy day.
So I am neutral right now.
And I want AD&D again. (At least an Advanced DMG book, with monster and trap and dungeon building guidelines)
Wednesday Boy
The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
There's also the Neverwinter Campaign Guide (August) and Madness at Gardmore Abbey (September).
That's what I thought too. I have to compiled PDFs for work and it generally takes very little time. But their process could be apples while mine is oranges.
Fail. The new digest format is one of the few things that I thought WotC had done right lately. They are nice quality, cheaper and take up less space on my bookshelf. Going back to the overpriced hardback format is a horrible idea.
That was one of the best parts of the article to me. I vastly prefer a hardcover book, so I'm happy to wait just a little while longer.
Drop them a line and let them know. That's what I did. If they don't hear our opinions they will think everyone likes it.
Nemesis Destiny
Adventurer
This.
Squeaky wheel gets the kick.
Festivus
First Post
I missed it perhaps, but what happened to the Nentir Vale book? That was one I was actually looking forward to.
I am sad that minis are cancelled. Not sad for me but for others who don't already own several thousand. Minis made a nice prize I could buy to give out at events. I really like minis on the battlefield over pogs... they also don't bounce as much when someone bumps the table, and are easier to pickup.
I might have to wait a year or two and see how the aftermarket looks for these, perhaps I have a gold mine in my garage waiting to happen, then take those profits and build a digital tabletop.
I am sad that minis are cancelled. Not sad for me but for others who don't already own several thousand. Minis made a nice prize I could buy to give out at events. I really like minis on the battlefield over pogs... they also don't bounce as much when someone bumps the table, and are easier to pickup.
I might have to wait a year or two and see how the aftermarket looks for these, perhaps I have a gold mine in my garage waiting to happen, then take those profits and build a digital tabletop.
You're kidding. So I just got interested in 4E again due to Essentials and the new format and now it's being dumped. That's excellent.
I have no interest in DDI. Why? Because I like to actually read my books. I like sitting down with a cup of tea/coffee and re-reading things I wasn't clear on, going over brand new content, etc. I also absolutely hate digital devices at the gaming table. What they do is allow people to go on their facebook, look for dumb videos on youtube, check their e-mail and everything else. This doesn't happen all session long but it does happen sometimes, usually one person is worse than everyone else but it can be infectious. I also don't want a laptop taking up all the table space we DON'T have. Nor do I like searching through a pdf and having to tilt the screen vs. thumbing through a book I'm already familiar navigating.
This looks like trying to cut costs and satisfy DDI subscribers/recruit new ones. This is the transition I was dreading and I am really not pleased. I feel I've been abandoned just when I thought WoTC was producing things in book format that I actually enjoyed this edition. Too bad. I've got enough content as it is so that's fine but this is not a positive movement for me personally.
I have no interest in DDI. Why? Because I like to actually read my books. I like sitting down with a cup of tea/coffee and re-reading things I wasn't clear on, going over brand new content, etc. I also absolutely hate digital devices at the gaming table. What they do is allow people to go on their facebook, look for dumb videos on youtube, check their e-mail and everything else. This doesn't happen all session long but it does happen sometimes, usually one person is worse than everyone else but it can be infectious. I also don't want a laptop taking up all the table space we DON'T have. Nor do I like searching through a pdf and having to tilt the screen vs. thumbing through a book I'm already familiar navigating.
This looks like trying to cut costs and satisfy DDI subscribers/recruit new ones. This is the transition I was dreading and I am really not pleased. I feel I've been abandoned just when I thought WoTC was producing things in book format that I actually enjoyed this edition. Too bad. I've got enough content as it is so that's fine but this is not a positive movement for me personally.
For me personally... my response to the fact these books are cancelled is 'good riddance'.
I don't want a completely separate source of game rule information like books... a source that is in no way connected to the main trunk of D&D information, which is their rules database (until they get around to adding the info a month or so after it's been put on the shelves). In fact... it'd be nice to think that perhaps in a perfect world... a crunch article fully vetted by R&D would get posted onto the website and simultaneously get added to the Rule Compendium, CB, MT and VTT (whichever ones apply). THAT would be the best case scenario all around.
While I sympathize with all of you who are clinging to the idea of actual print material... we as a culture are moving on from it. Magazines are going away and being replaced with websites and blogs... books are being replaced with their digital versions on Kindles and Nooks. The need, desire and requirement for printed books is over. And if it saves time and money for D&D to follow that river towards the completely digital sea... then that's the way it's going to go.
So I agree with the posters above... split the new D&D material up two ways. Anything to do with mechanics and game rules gets published via DDI and gets funneled directly into the digital tools. Anything that is primarily fluff... like the Manual of the Planes and its four offshoot books; the campaign guides; the more detailed monster ecology books (Open Grave, Draconomicon, Demonnomicon etc.)... these can get printed and bound and put on the shelves of the local bookstore where people might pick it up and actually read them (rather than have their eyes glaze over from nothing but stat blocks). If they can also appear on the various e-readers too... so much the better.
Put the stuff to actually READ in the places where we would read them. Put the stuff that is nothing but numbers in the place where numbers get stored-- a database.
I don't want a completely separate source of game rule information like books... a source that is in no way connected to the main trunk of D&D information, which is their rules database (until they get around to adding the info a month or so after it's been put on the shelves). In fact... it'd be nice to think that perhaps in a perfect world... a crunch article fully vetted by R&D would get posted onto the website and simultaneously get added to the Rule Compendium, CB, MT and VTT (whichever ones apply). THAT would be the best case scenario all around.
While I sympathize with all of you who are clinging to the idea of actual print material... we as a culture are moving on from it. Magazines are going away and being replaced with websites and blogs... books are being replaced with their digital versions on Kindles and Nooks. The need, desire and requirement for printed books is over. And if it saves time and money for D&D to follow that river towards the completely digital sea... then that's the way it's going to go.
So I agree with the posters above... split the new D&D material up two ways. Anything to do with mechanics and game rules gets published via DDI and gets funneled directly into the digital tools. Anything that is primarily fluff... like the Manual of the Planes and its four offshoot books; the campaign guides; the more detailed monster ecology books (Open Grave, Draconomicon, Demonnomicon etc.)... these can get printed and bound and put on the shelves of the local bookstore where people might pick it up and actually read them (rather than have their eyes glaze over from nothing but stat blocks). If they can also appear on the various e-readers too... so much the better.
Put the stuff to actually READ in the places where we would read them. Put the stuff that is nothing but numbers in the place where numbers get stored-- a database.
Wednesday Boy
The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
Threats to the Nentir Vale? That's still being produced. (Although it's full title is "Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale".)
At one point, there was also to be a Nentir Vale sourcebook this spring. It disappeared a while ago.
I would've been quite interested in that one.
Similar Threads
- Locked
