D&D 4E Enough to start playing 4e with the "Wizard's Presents" preview products?

[Insight]

I'm getting the preview books because, if nothing else, it's a four month jump on the PHB, assuming the release dates hold.

 

[Mercule]

What will be the value of these books once 4.0 is out?

That's what I've been wondering since GenCon. I can't imagine there will be any crunch in the previews that won't be reprinted (in a more finished form) in the final release. I would also imagine that the inverse is very true.

My guess is that the preview books are for those people willing to spend money to get just that, previews. It'll be the difference between the trailer and the final movie, with all the potential for misunderstanding that goes along with it.

Now, if the preview books give me what I need to convert my ~20th level game to 4E in a rough way, I'll probably get them. By "convert", I mean adopt a few of the mechanical quirks of the new edition, especially multiclassing, changes in BAB, some of the non-Vancian mage toys, etc. A sampling -- I don't expect a preview to have the full bredth of the final.

 

[The_Universe]

I just leaned over and asked Bruce, and either he misspoke or was misquoted; these things happen at conventions. There are some mechanics details in the books, and I have no doubt that you guys will find every single last one. But their primary purpose is to serve as a primer to 4th Edition. The Classes and Races book that I worked on, for example, starts with the timeline of the game's development and then presents multi-page spreads on most of the races and classes that you'll see in the Player's Handbook. "Most," not all -- we want to save some surprises for later. ^_^ And as noted previously, those spreads are full of design and development commentary about the decision-making process for every aspect of the game.

Plus some amazingly kick-ass William O'Connor art. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Color me disappointed. I was (obviously) really hoping for preview crunch...enough to start messing around with the game itself.

I'm sure you did an awesome job with the book...but it's sounding less and less like it's something worth spending money on.

 

[Michele Carter]

What will be the value of these books once 4.0 is out?

What does "value" mean to you?

If you mean, "Can I use them as reference books when I'm playing D&D at the table?" the answer is no, because that was never their intent in the first place.

They're extensive first looks, first and foremost, but the essays written for these books are not going to be regurgitated in later products...so there might be world-building details that don't appear elsewhere, or only in shorter form. I can already think of a few mechanical details that have already changed from when I turned it over to typesetting, which will provide further insight into the process. Certainly the designer commentary is unique.

Value is relative. I bought the Absolute (super-deluxe) edition of Darwin Cooke's New Frontier comic book not because I expected more of the actual comic, but because for me, uber-comic geek that I am, the sketches and commentary and details about the process of making the comic are just as much a part of the reading experience. Would I be missing anything from the story without them? Maybe not. But those things add a huge amount of value to me.

We're hoping that these books are the same for you.

 

[DaveMage]

What does "value" mean to you?

If you mean, "Can I use them as reference books when I'm playing D&D at the table?" the answer is no, because that was never their intent in the first place.

They're extensive first looks, first and foremost, but the essays written for these books are not going to be regurgitated in later products...so there might be world-building details that don't appear elsewhere, or only in shorter form. I can already think of a few mechanical details that have already changed from when I turned it over to typesetting, which will provide further insight into the process. Certainly the designer commentary is unique.

Value is relative. I bought the Absolute (super-deluxe) edition of Darwin Cooke's New Frontier comic book not because I expected more of the actual comic, but because for me, uber-comic geek that I am, the sketches and commentary and details about the process of making the comic are just as much a part of the reading experience. Would I be missing anything from the story without them? Maybe not. But those things add a huge amount of value to me.

We're hoping that these books are the same for you.

Value in the sense that once the 4e books are out, will these books be redundant? I think you answered it with regard to the essays.

Thanks.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I'll pass, thanks. Nice idea but I'd rather buy products I can use at the game table.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Hmm, I'll be buying these either way, but I can't understand how you can write 96 pages of essays and such. I just don't understand how these are going to work at all. Color me curious.

Edit: Damn, I'm super dyslexic today!

 

[Irda Ranger]

What does "value" mean to you?

If you mean, "Can I use them as reference books when I'm playing D&D at the table?" the answer is no, because that was never their intent in the first place.

They're extensive first looks, first and foremost, but the essays written for these books are not going to be regurgitated in later products...so there might be world-building details that don't appear elsewhere, or only in shorter form. I can already think of a few mechanical details that have already changed from when I turned it over to typesetting, which will provide further insight into the process. Certainly the designer commentary is unique.

Value is relative. I bought the Absolute (super-deluxe) edition of Darwin Cooke's New Frontier comic book not because I expected more of the actual comic, but because for me, uber-comic geek that I am, the sketches and commentary and details about the process of making the comic are just as much a part of the reading experience. Would I be missing anything from the story without them? Maybe not. But those things add a huge amount of value to me.

We're hoping that these books are the same for you.

I can see this. I spent the extra $$$ on the deluxe LotR movies, with all the DVD extras and even the bookends. It didn't make the movies any better (well, maybe a little better); I just was "in" to the material enough that I wanted to know more about how it was made; the process of its creation.

Thanks for the answer. I don't think I'll be getting these books, but this does clear up what we're getting. It's the "annotated" version of several chapters from the PHB. I can dig that.

 

[Drkfathr1]

I can see these appealing to some people, and alot of DnD fans are going to really want them for the "preview", but honestly, most "gamers" aren't going to find much use out of them. I may be interested if they have unique art (in other words, not the same art that's going to show up in later books).

The coffee table books might be cool for casual fantasy fans, but aren't something I think WOTC should focus too strongly on.

 

[Nikosandros]

As I stated in another thread I'm very interested in designers' notes, so I'll keep an eye on those two books.