How did you talk your players into switching to 3.5?

[Hjorimir]

I said, "We're switching to 3.5."

Though I did work with the players and was liberal in my allowances. For example, with the shift in the animal buffs (Bull's Strength, etc) I allowed the cleric to drop Extend Spell if he wanted to because he felt it wasn't really worth it anymore.

So I got the rule changes I wanted and the players were allowed to retune thier characters a bit. Worked out in the end and our first session 3.5 session in my game was a blast.

 

[Flyspeck23]

Tell them: the switch makes sense. Even if their characters get messed up (with 8 people there got to be some rangers, druids and monks, so messing characters up is pretty likely), point out that if their characters change, they will improve, compared to the others. Because that's the driving force behind 3.5: Balance.

Cheap marketing plug (not really, because it's free, and I won't make a cent out of this):
Visit TOGC's Free Stuff , grab the "3.5 Handouts" (at the moment there are 6 PDFs: Core Classes, Skills, Feats, Player Races, Equipment and Prestige Classes) and print out those pages your players will need - really, those PDFs were made for you... or at least people with similar problems. So give them a try - it might help.

Or just use the SRD, of course
But I'd say some kind of handout might be useful to convince your players.

So... some printing costs for you, but no additional costs from your players (unless they want the new rulebooks of course). Sounds fair to me.

 

[hellbender]

I just used the same charm and poise I use around here. That and I bought the books, and with the snappy new Necromancer Games sheet, who could resist a game with me?

hellbender

 

[teitan]

My players have been trying to convince me. Now they aren't running out to buy the books but we do buy pretty heavy on the DnD products so conversion is almost a necessity. I was going to buy just a PHB because mine is falling apart from constant use by the whole group for six months and being lugged around in a backpack since release day, so it was at least a definite and I pre-ordered copies for a player from AMazon but not much else... I really had to be convinced to make a total switch so I am doing it in October with my steamish campaign setting I am designing...

Jason

 

[ThirdWizard]

Lesse, we heard 3.5 was coming out, and we bought the books. There was never any question over whether or not we'd buy them, it was assumed. Same thing with 3E. "There's a new edition coming out??" "Yep." "Guess we'll head over to the gaming store."*

*note: back then we had a gaming store... grrrrr...

 

[fba827]

You can take very different tactics on this. And to know which one really depends on how well you know your players

1) Emphasize all the things that are better
(more smites for a paladin if you have a paladin in the group, additional ranger abilities if you have rangers, more spells, more feats, etc).

2) Emphasize all the things that are the same
they are hesitant to change for the sake of change, well, emphaize that it really the same set of basic rules. They are simply incorporating some of the errata.

Again, which of those two tactics you take will depend on the people themselves... I can easily see how either of them would work in your general situation... it's the specific people that need convincing though.

If cost is a concern, I would highly recommend that you refer them back to the SRD or (if you are willing to go the extra mile) printout PDFs available from
http://www.theothergamecompany.com/
(under free stuff).
Thus, they can keep everything (the books and all) the printouts would just be the class, race, feat stuff.

The other aspect here is whether to do all at once or to go slowly... based on your past experiences, it seems that going slowly and incorporating a couple rules at a time has worked best for you... if you are taking the tactic of "it's really the same" then going slower would be the better way. If you are taking the tactic of "it's better" then making the changes quickly would be of benefit (to demonstrate what aspects are improved).

anyway, just my thoughts.

Hope things work out best for all involved

 

[Dagger75]

I told them I was tired of D&D and needed a break. We are playing CoC. I said when that is done we are going to be playing 3.5 edition. I bought the books, another player bought the books, the husband and wife bought the books, the other guy still hasn't but will play.

Pretty easy, they are looking forward to it. I must thank the naysayers though, with out them we wouldn't have gone through the rules as much. We like about 99% of the changes. Haste and slow are the biggies, they want the old version. They are getting the old version, its going to be one level higher than it was in 3ed. Everybody is happy.

 

[Aluvial]

Thanks for the advice, I have half the group with books now... A few holdouts, but I know how to fix them!

Aluvial