Being threatened by products you aren't interested in

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Magic of Incarnum was great. Though the soulmelds where kinda lacking. Just about everyone in my group who has looked through the book has said the same thing about most of them. There is only a handful worth taking and the others are worthless.

 

[MerricB]

Magic of Incarnum was great. Though the soulmelds where kinda lacking. Just about everyone in my group who has looked through the book has said the same thing about most of them. There is only a handful worth taking and the others are worthless.

I've DMed a NG Incarnate over the course of the last year from 1st to 11th level. He's been a great character - always useful - throughout the course of that time. Although some soulmelds are subpar, situation is everything.

Cheers!

 

[Nightfall]

Meh. I don't threaten WotC. I just want my FC III. They do that, I'm fine with everything else.

 

[Greg K]

The most common complaint about MoI was that people were having trouble trying to figure out to use it since it didn't stick very close to normal fantasy tropes (that and the flavor was abhorrent or something, I seem to recall lots of complaints about that too).

The whole souls thing dead, past, and present was, imo, a terrible approach and just turned me off. I could have seen the mechanics being a great way to represent harnessing ki, but I just refuse to buy a book for which I have no desire to read and would have to rewrite the whole flavor text

 

[FireLance]

I think the key problem is that RPGs are a collaborative hobby, unlike books, movies and computer games, which can be enjoyed by an individual, if necessary.

In a way, your enjoyment of the RPG hobby is contingent on finding other people who enjoy the same things that you do, or at least, persuading or convincing others that they should enjoy the same things you do.

That's why some people who hate Book A, Rule B, Prestige Class C, Feat D, Spell E, Exotic Weapon F, System G, Edition H, Play Style I, etc. put so much effort into deriding them and trying to make others believe that they are bad, too. They are fuelled by fear that others will otherwise be converted into liking what they don't, and they will end up with less and less people who like the same things they do. If that happens, they will be forced to play with things they don't like, or go without a game completely.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

I don't see this much in any other area. I don't see people complaining that Random House is putting out a Tami Hoag and not putting more effort in getting George R. R. Martin to produce more. I don't see complaints that Sony is putting out Across the Universe and not putting enough into a new Spiderman movie.

Is it just me, or is this becoming more common?

Well, I think you are comparing Apples and Oranges. For an Author, there is nothing you can really do to speed them up or push them in one way. Complain away, but they are generally not pused by fan feedback. Plus, most authors follow a yearly schedule, so all you have to do is wait and you will get their next piece of work. How many of you tell artists waht to make and how anyway.

The RPG business is different. There is a finite amount of material put out, and yes, when WOTC puts out an Eberron book, they are not putting out soemthing else, something I might actually buy. Now if you add in 3rd party tothat it gets more complicated, becasue IMHO, there is a glut of 3rd party stuff out there, virtually unknown, and for my part, easily ignored. (Maybe to my detriment, I will admit)

I use WOTC stuff, and every time a FR, Ebberon, or otehr product comes outthat I ahve no use for, i find myself wondering, "What could I be holding in my hands right now?"

From my POV, it is a totally normal reaction. Why the hate for my POV?

 

[trancejeremy]

I dunno, you might not see this in books, but you do see it in video games.

People who like system x get upset that company y is supporting system z instead of theirs. Look in the software forum here, there's at least a dozen people complaining that D&D Tactics is on the PSP, not the DS or PC.


And even fans of the same company get irked. For instance, a lot of people are upset that Sony had the Gran Turismo team make a motorcycle game for the PS2, then work on GT for the PS3, instead of having them do the promised GT for the PSP

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I dunno, you might not see this in books, but you do see it in video games.

People who like system x get upset that company y is supporting system z instead of theirs. Look in the software forum here, there's at least a dozen people complaining that D&D Tactics is on the PSP, not the DS or PC.

That's not quite the same, though. Noone would be upset with D&D Tactics being on PSP if it was on PC and DS, too. They don't begrudge the PSP players the game. They're angry because they can't play the game because they don't have the system in question.

I know that firsthand. There's a number of games I won't be able to play because they're on systems I don't have.

 

[blargney the second]

In a way, your enjoyment of the RPG hobby is contingent on finding other people who enjoy the same things that you do, or at least, persuading or convincing others that they should enjoy the same things you do.

That's why some people who hate Book A, Rule B, Prestige Class C, Feat D, Spell E, Exotic Weapon F, System G, Edition H, Play Style I, etc. put so much effort into deriding them and trying to make others believe that they are bad, too. They are fuelled by fear that others will otherwise be converted into liking what they don't, and they will end up with less and less people who like the same things they do. If that happens, they will be forced to play with things they don't like, or go without a game completely.

You've got a few ranks in Profession(Cook), don't you? 'Cause that's some serious food for thought.
-blarg

 

[QuaziquestGM]

I have noticed one situation where a rpg company has not given sufficient support for a product line while producing many other products.

the company (or liscense holder, i'm a bit iffy on this point) is FanPro.

The product line is The Dark Eye rpg.

This is a game and system almost as old as D&D that was using a d20 type mechanic for decades before D&D3.5 . I understand that it has quiet a following....in Germany.

When fanpro published the English translation 4 years ago one copy made it to my LGS. Pretty book. Interesting mechanic. Full range of classes. But...the magic system was only mentioned, and not included. And they wanted the same price as the new 3.5 phb.

I couldn't justify buying a fantasy game that didn't include the magic system. Oh, it included the Wizard and Priest classes, and how many spell points each got at each level and the basic mechanic for casting the spells, but no spell lists, no descriptions, not even instuctions for creating spells. The company didn't even have to invent them, the spells already existed, they just needed to be translated from German.

Last year, Fanpro released the second english book for the system. Lands of Adventura. It is a campaine setting book. Still no magic system!

How can a company be so boneheaded?

The copy of the first book is in the 1/2 off bin at my LGS, and I still can't justify buying it.