Got D&D Insider; Don't need books

[Nifelhein]

AH yeah I did reply that survey, but I agree the encounter part is not a total waste, even though if I had to choose, it would be fluff all the way.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

I also wonder if other game companies are paying attention to the draw that DDI has on the 4e crowd including those who might otherwise drift off to other game systems if it wasn't for the fantastic usefulness of DDI.

The second part of my OP dealt with this. Do you think any other game companies are taking a que from this? I hope so. I'd love to see things like Pathfinder or nWoD or Runequest or... I think you get the point... have this wonderful online presence and tools. Sure, they don't have as many fiddly bits (feats + powers + classes + etc), but I think the ease with which DDI makes playing and creating for 4e might translate to some other games.

Anyone heard anything?

 

[Keefe the Thief]

The nWod has continuing hints about a new online model, although nobody knows for what. I think some designers said on RPG.net that it´ll be mainly about electronic publishing for adventures and non-essential books.

And nWod NEEDS a database with all stuff. Badly. The organization is horrible, horrible.

 

[unan oranis]

I just realized that while I don't think ddi will alter my wotc book buying; it certainly makes me reject almost all 3rd party books out of hand.

If it's something that should be in the CB or the MB, I'm almost certain to not buy it directly because of ddi.

It would be cool if they licensed out the software, like game consoles do, so 3rd party people could have a disc in the back of their books to update your personal copy of dungeon master tools or whatnot.

Otherwise it's just too much of a hassle to not have the reference in ddi (if you use ddi).


It's kind of funny to think of such a niche program outlasting high profile mmorpg's, but I think even without the game table (which was my most wanted feature) this thing might really take off, I wonder how many subscribers they have now?

I'm hooked for life, other rpgs have to have this now if they want me as a customer.

 

[Dannager]

Oddly, I only started buying 3pp material after 4e came out. I never bought from Paizo before, but now that I'm converting their adventure paths to 4e I am.

Nothing to do with DDI, of course, but still kind of funny.

 

[The Coffee Cat]

Hm, I'm starting to think I should give DDI a try the next time they offer it at a discounted price (missed the last one, obviously, but I'm in no particular hurry).

Is there anything from the books other than fluff that you miss out on by relying on DDI only? (Not that I buy any books other than DMG, PHB and AV anyway - I use monsters from MM1 or just make up my own.)

I expect I'll keep buying the DMGs no matter what, but for my players, will the DDI make future puchases of AV and PHB books unnecessary? And I can of course have all my players use a shared DDI account, right?

EDIT: What do you lose when you end your subscription, by the way? Simply access to the tools or all your saved characters/monsters etc. as well? (I assume they can be printed and/or exported to a human-readable format, but still.) Maybe I'm a little paranoid here, but I just can't make myself believe they'd let someone go back to being a non-subscriber without some form of punishment.

 

[Angellis_ater]

If you've downloaded the Character Builder & Monster Maker, you are essentially not missing anything except new updates. I'd suggest going in an picking up a single month after that months update has been released, download both programs and see whatya like. Oh, also remember to download ALL the Dungeon+Dragon PDFs which also come free with that one month subscription.

I use the yearly sub because I like the Compendium, but the more I use the CB/MM, the less useful the compendium is to me.

 

[The Coffee Cat]

That sounds like a good idea. I had no idea the CB/MM would continue to function after the subscription ended in this age of DRM and greed. Kudos to Wizards if this is intentional and they plan to keep it that way.

What (if anything) is in the Compendium that the CB/MM doesn't cover, by the way? The only thing I can think of at the moment is items, but then again, maybe the CB contains those as well?

 

[Angellis_ater]

CB covers items as well - it's just a little more roundabout.

Rules - so a good suggestion is picking up the Rules Compendium this fall. And any and all "fluff" is generally not there, neither is most of the DM stuff either. So a DMG is a good choice.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

That sounds like a good idea. I had no idea the CB/MM would continue to function after the subscription ended in this age of DRM and greed. Kudos to Wizards if this is intentional and they plan to keep it that way.

What (if anything) is in the Compendium that the CB/MM doesn't cover, by the way? The only thing I can think of at the moment is items, but then again, maybe the CB contains those as well?

Just one warning - if you uninstall it or switch to a new system, you will need to resubscribe to get the full content beyond the demo version. Unless you figure out which parts of your system to back up for it and can bring that backup to your new computer.