Has the age of the big book arrived?

[Justin D. Jacobson]

I for one thank you. I just wish that all publishers felt the same way. However, those that I support do (Malhavoc, GR, Ronin Arts, Blue Devil, Morrigan, and a handful of others).

Kane

Positively honored to be on that short-list. Thanks.

 

[philreed]

Positively honored to be on that short-list. Thanks.

Same here. That's a great group to be a part of.

 

[whydirt]

I don't care for the trend of larger books. For me, 250-300 pages is the limit of what I can handle well in a single book. After that, the book itself becomes physically unwieldy to use.

For example, I bought and am extremely happy with Arcana Unearthed, but as much as I'd like to get my hands on the Ritual Warrior and some updated rules, I won't buy the newer Arcana Evolved. I don't need or want the setting information, and even if I did, referencing things in a larger book is harder to do.

 

[Crothian]

referencing things in a larger book is harder to do.

And yet referencing things in a larger PDF is not. People seem to forget that many of the large books are also PDF. With bookmarks, I find it a cake walk to find and pull up different pieces of infomation in them. Granted, not everyone has a computer when they game but for those that do PDFs are the easiest way to deal with the biog books that need to be used in a game session.

 

[Voadam]

I like compilations and big books. I prefer one huge book to tons of tiny ones. However I don't need a big OGL book that spends a lot of effort reprinting the srd for the basic rules. I have that already. Multiple sources of having that already.

I have AU and diamond throne so even though AE was tempting at the sale price, I passed on it when deciding what to spend my monthly gaming budget on in favor of other things (like the 224 page xrp beast builder book).

 

[Psion]

I like compilations and big books. I prefer one huge book to tons of tiny ones. However I don't need a big OGL book that spends a lot of effort reprinting the srd for the basic rules. I have that already. Multiple sources of having that already.

But there are others out there who seem to hate the idea of having to use (or sometimes, buy) the PHB.

But that's mostly net prattle. Most of what I hear in meatspace seems to agree with your sentiment.

 

[JoeGKushner]

For a limited time only. The cost of the books is too high to sustain long term growth. I suspect that this will work great for core books but will not be repeated often.

I'm not saying that the 200+ page books will go away, but I don't count them like the 300-400 page behemoths.

Unless the cost comes down that is. Even at $40 a crack, it's not too back, but once you start breaking the $50 barrier, warning signs, at least for me, start to flash.

 

[JoeGKushner]

And yet referencing things in a larger PDF is not. People seem to forget that many of the large books are also PDF. With bookmarks, I find it a cake walk to find and pull up different pieces of infomation in them. Granted, not everyone has a computer when they game but for those that do PDFs are the easiest way to deal with the biog books that need to be used in a game session.

How does that work for people without a computer or who don't want to bring the computer to the desk? PDF has it's benefits but it's still not in wide use yet as I know many gamers who will never use 'em.

 

[Crothian]

How does that work for people without a computer or who don't want to bring the computer to the desk? PDF has it's benefits but it's still not in wide use yet as I know many gamers who will never use 'em.

Then they can't take advantage of the benifits of the PDF and they can go on complaining they can'y use these big all the while the smart customer has the PDFs and ease of use.

 

[Barak]

Hehe. You can not like PDFs and still be a smart consumer. By, like, not buying stuff you don't like, you know?