[D&D]No more crunch books for me

[DaveMage]

Ah, the days when there was time to try all the classes and races as a PC....

Not anymore!

That's one of the few laments I have with 3/3.5E.

 

[johnnype]

I forgot to mention one other reason why I'm not partial to crunch right now:

A year ago I became a dad.

Between work, my son and my wife I barely have time to breathe much less play. I've resigned myself (for the time being) to just read about fantasy instead of actually playing it. Under normal circumstances I'm as big a fan of crunch as the next guy. OK that's a lie, I find crunch tobe only moderately exciting but nice nonetheless. Regardless, I get more out of setting information than I do about yet another prestige class, feat or spell. Oh, and let's not forget that I already have a gigantic library of 3.x material (much of it crunch) that I've barely had time to read. In fact my list of books is so exhaustive that I think I probably have every spell in the spell compendium already (albeit without the errata). I'm drowning in crunch. I'm not complaining really, it's a nice problem to have.

 

[silver_wizard]

My last D&D purchase was PHB 3.5, and rules-wise it's gonna remain so. If I get the time to run my own game, I'll go for OOP (probably AD&D 2nd ed.).

 

[sckeener]

What is in a setting book is the sort of stuff I cobble together myself. But I find many setting books difficult to read, and often, well, "too complete". That is to say, they may have some dandy ideas, but too far fleshed out making it harder to fit to the exact circumstances of my game.

I think I understood what you were saying, but I am not sure.....are you saying you can create setting books, but are unable to deconstruct them?

I like fluff because I can take a bit here and take a bit there....and unlike crunch, I don't have to worry about balance issues in introducing or changing the fluff to fit my world.

I guess that is why I love PDFs. I like cobbling together my own settings crunch and fluff.

 

[Psion]

I think I understood what you were saying, but I am not sure.....are you saying you can create setting books, but are unable to deconstruct them?

I like fluff because I can take a bit here and take a bit there....and unlike crunch, I don't have to worry about balance issues in introducing or changing the fluff to fit my world.

Honestly, the better the setting material, the more afraid I am of ruining it by deconstructing it. If I am going to desconstruct, I feel more confortable pulling the good ideas out of a so-so setting book than butchering and rendering unusable parts of a great setting book just to make it fit my game. Further, some things just don't fit the current campaign, and it's less work to build up around a few cool ideas than to try to fish the good bits out of a setting.

And, frankly, I just enjoying creating things for myself, and I feel more confident I am doing it "right" when I am the one who cobbled it together.

 

[JoeGKushner]

To me, fluff isn't setting. Fluff is stuff like spell descriptions, magic item descriptions, tactics for monsters that are just STUPID, etc...

Fiction has to walk a careful line in a book too because too much of it and I'm not paying for an overpriced novel.

 

[Psion]

To me, fluff isn't setting.

Me either. To me, fluff is the stuff that is all too common in some game company's books (White Wolf, I am looking at you), the wasted pages at the beginning of the chapters demonstrating either or both:
1) someone is really a frustrated wannabe novelist, or
2) the author remembers how to swear in print.

 

[johnnype]

To me, fluff isn't setting. Fluff is stuff like spell descriptions, magic item descriptions, tactics for monsters that are just STUPID, etc...

QFT. Only recently has the difference dawned on me. Those six page prestige class descriptions? That's fluff (or crap as I like to call it). Setting material is very different and much more enjoyable than that crap that's been padding some of WotC's hardbacks the last year or two.

 

[Psion]

QFT. Only recently has the difference dawned on me. Those six page prestige class descriptions? That's fluff (or crap as I like to call it). Setting material is very different and much more enjoyable than that crap that's been padding some of WotC's hardbacks the last year or two.

See now, I like that stuff. That's the kind of stuff I find very portable. As it has less context, I don't have to rip out extraneous references to make it work in my game, and it can be the basis for new ideas.

 

[Crothian]

See now, I kike that stuff. That's the kind of stuff I find very portable. As it has less context, I don't have to rip out extraneous references to make it work in my game, and it can be the basis for new ideas.

I'm with Psion, I like that and hopefully we will see more of it.