D&D 5E I just don't see why they even bothered with the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

[Mercule]

Real beginners start in someone else's gaming group and don't buy anything for a while

I guess I was never a "real beginner" then. Yeah, my first game was run by an experienced DM -- at summer camp. I went out and got the red box (found it at Walgreen's, of all places) right away and started a group. So, I've literally been a DM since my second or third session.

While I get that I'm not standard, it's pretty hard for me to be dismissive of beginners and their ignorance on fire. Maybe it was the era in which I learned to play -- I did find Dragon, fairly quickly -- but I also was never really excited about published settings or adventures. Both fell into a category of "suggestions on how a real DM might build their own". The vague sketches of Mystara in the BECMI books and the lore inherent in Gygaxian prose were perfect, and you can still find remnants of both in my home brew. I stole mercilessly from the Greyhawk boxed set, but mostly it was the weather tables, knowing natural resources and alignments for nations, and some good ideas here and there, etc. not the actual setting. With the exception of Eberron, the general rule over the last 30+ years has been that the more detailed a setting is, the less interest I have in it.

 

[Li Shenron]

I guess I was never a "real beginner" then. Yeah, my first game was run by an experienced DM -- at summer camp. I went out and got the red box (found it at Walgreen's, of all places) right away and started a group. So, I've literally been a DM since my second or third session.

That's pretty compatible to what I've said. You started in someone else's game, but you immediately realized you could be a DM. You were a "new player" only for a day, and next day you were a "new DM", so you fall in my second group rather than the first. And that is actually quite similar to what happened to me.

But maybe the whole "new player" term is just generic for both actual players and DMs. I just couldn't imagine why a "new non-DM player" would want the SCAG.

 

[JohnLynch]

I guess I was never a "real beginner" then.

Nor was I. My first experience was running Keep on the Shadowfell for 4e for an online group. I bought not only Keep on the Shadowfell but the original core pack as well. All from Amazon. Oh, and I started putting together a homebrew world before I got the books.

 

[delericho]

I just don't see why they even bothered with the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

Simply put: they thought people would like it, and that people would therefore buy it. I don't know WotC's grand master plan for D&D, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't include deliberately releasing bad books to annoy would-be customers.

This guide really seems like a waste of time and since they are still rather scarce in their releases, a waste of a slot for limited material.

If WotC really wanted to put out more books, they could do so easily enough. Yes, they'd have to recruit more people or work with more contractors, and yes that does mean that there's some lead time, but it's not beyond them. They've put out three hardbacks in 2015 because they want to put out three. If they'd wanted to put out four, or five, or whatever, they would have done that.

And that means that the SCAG didn't take a slot away from something else - it means that if they'd chosen not to do the SCAG, they'd have done nothing instead.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

My only complaint about the SCAG is that it didn't include a subclass option for each class because of complaints that certain classes were shortchanged by the book, creating some ill will by class partisans even if they are perfectly served by the current subclasses in the PHB. Otherwise, this is the first time I have ever bought a FR themed product. I think the people who are complaining the loudest are simply not the target market for this product. As a players guide, especially to someone new to the Realms, it seems to do the trick for me.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I only returned to playing the Realms since the late '80s when I started playing D&D AL last year. I find SCAG an approachable way to become familiar with the lore of the world. I'm happy it's not overloaded with power creep stuff yet the changes are adequate for really differentiating the FR.

 

[JohnLynch]

I only returned to playing the Realms since the late '80s when I started playing D&D AL last year. I find SCAG an approachable way to become familiar with the lore of the world. I'm happy it's not overloaded with power creep stuff yet the changes are adequate for really differentiating the FR.

Sounds like you were the target audience. Good to hear that it's resonating with those it was targeted at.

 

[DEFCON 1]

BTW - for everyone else who is hoping for an Eberron book next... if you are expecting anything more substantial than what was given in the SCAG, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Because Eberron EVEN MORE than the Realms is going to have only the most basic fluff presented on the lands of Khorvaire. Simply because if the timeline isn't advanced... there will be NOTHING in a Khorvaire Adventurer's Guide that would be different than what you can right now get in both the 3E and 4E products in terms of continent fluff. They would literally just rewrite the same exact material they've already written twice now.

Sure... a Khorvaire Adventurer's Guide will be a godsend for the four races, Artificer, and dragonmark crunch... but EVERYHING else will be essentially unnecessary to any current Eberron player.

 

[delericho]

BTW - for everyone else who is hoping for an Eberron book next... if you are expecting anything more substantial than what was given in the SCAG, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Because Eberron EVEN MORE than the Realms is going to have only the most basic fluff presented on the lands of Khorvaire. Simply because if the timeline isn't advanced... there will be NOTHING in a Khorvaire Adventurer's Guide that would be different than what you can right now get in both the 3E and 4E products in terms of continent fluff. They would literally just rewrite the same exact material they already written twice now.

Actually, that's almost exactly what I would like to see - despite having almost new (non-mechanical) material, I found the 4e Eberron books to be really useful, serving to summarise in two books a lot of things that were spread across twelve in 3e. Which served me very well - one book for a quick look-up, and then the full set for when I needed the detail.

Reprinting exactly the same again, but with the 5e mechanics (that I would use) in place of the 4e ones (which I don't) would therefore be extremely useful - yes, I would then retire my 4e books as being obsolete, but I'd still be able to carry just one book around with me, instead of a 4e fluff-summary plus a 5e mechanics guide.

Of course, that is what would serve me well - it's not necessarily what would suit anyone else.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

BTW - for everyone else who is hoping for an Eberron book next... if you are expecting anything more substantial than what was given in the SCAG, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Because Eberron EVEN MORE than the Realms is going to have only the most basic fluff presented on the lands of Khorvaire. Simply because if the timeline isn't advanced... there will be NOTHING in a Khorvaire Adventurer's Guide that would be different than what you can right now get in both the 3E and 4E products in terms of continent fluff. They would literally just rewrite the same exact material they've already written twice now.

Sure... a Khorvaire Adventurer's Guide will be a godsend for the four races, Artificer, and dragonmark crunch... but EVERYHING else will be essentially unnecessary to any current Eberron player.

Not sure how that's a problem. I just Kickstarted Primeval Thule 5e, even though I have the earlier version.