I want to see one book

[Mercutio01]

Here's an idea. Release 2 books, the DMG And the PHB. Then put the MM as an online PDF purchase per page and sell a binder as an accessory. Say make the PDF's a penny a piece or something. That way a DM can purchase the monsters he likes and leave the ones out he doesn't(I find I only use about half the monsters in any given MM), and for the "purist" they can purchase all of the monsters as a single PDF "bundle" for a single price.

This would allow for easy editing of typos, errata, etc. (the PDF purchase being a one time purchase with unlimited downloads) and also create a steady revenue for the company. Every so often they can release a "compendium" of new monsters (new book). Lather, rinse, repeat.

Okay, so, yeah, they will never do it. But it would be an great idea.

That's an interesting take on it. Mutants and Masterminds does something like that with $0.99 pdfs for things like new powers and NPCs.

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

No, six-to-six. Essentials was 4 books, two of which were only available in a boxed set. Heroes of Fallen Lands, Rules Compendium, DM Kit (boxed set), and Monster Vault (boxed set). Not sure what the other book he's talking about is unless he's including Heroes of Forgotten Kingdoms. Even still, that's five books, two of which are only in boxed sets.

And you can easily argue about 4e's "core" books considering the way the game was laid out. At the very least, most groups would have PHB1 and PHB2 since several iconic classes/races were left out of PHB1. PHB2 had half-orcs, gnomes, bards, druids, and barbarians. So it really depends on how you define "core" for that one.

Even if you don't count PHB2 as "core" for 4e, that's still a 50/50 split for the 3 book format.

I don't really consider Essentials the Core of 4E anyway, since it was just an alternate presentation of existing classes, but still the same system. Including Essentials in the mix would include 3.5E in the mix, which ultimately brings the count up to Seven to Six.

Regardless, the three book format is very iconic to D&D, and all of the numeric editions have followed it. It is the most familiar release format for the majority of D&D players. The only thing that would make more sense to me is a Player's Handbook and a DM book that combines the DMG and the MM. The problem with the big DM book is that a 700 page book for DMs is going to be a hard sell. I liked having a separate Monster Manual since that is the book I largely used more of in play, but not so much in adventure design.

One big book that combines the PHB, DMG, and MM is a giant waste of money for the vast majority of players and DMs (considering the newer monster formats). It is at least 60% wasted space for players, and 40% for DMs. That is a very hard sell.

 

[Abstruse]

Here's an idea. Release 2 books, the DMG And the PHB. Then put the MM as an online PDF purchase per page and sell a binder as an accessory. Say make the PDF's a penny a piece or something. That way a DM can purchase the monsters he likes and leave the ones out he doesn't(I find I only use about half the monsters in any given MM), and for the "purist" they can purchase all of the monsters as a single PDF "bundle" for a single price.

This would allow for easy editing of typos, errata, etc. (the PDF purchase being a one time purchase with unlimited downloads) and also create a steady revenue for the company. Every so often they can release a "compendium" of new monsters (new book). Lather, rinse, repeat.

Okay, so, yeah, they will never do it. But it would be an great idea.

Oh my dear lord nononononononoNONONONONONO!!! This is a bad horrible terrible idea. If you bring microtransations int' D&D, you're going to ruin the game and we might as well be playing an MMO. On top of that, I hate the format. Sure, I'd only be paying for monsters I would actually use (and as I've stated, I hate paying for useless stuff), but monsters are one of the few things I want more of in a book. I can look over a monster the first time and dismiss it as something I'd be interested in, but weeks or months or even years later watch some TV show or movie or read a book and suddenly get a great idea for how to use that monster. If it's not in a book, I'm never going to get inspired that way. It would also cut into adventure design, since you wouldn't be able to run a lot of modules (especially with the truncated monster stat block they're going with currently) because you wouldn't have the info to play the monster. I'm paying $10-20 for the module, the last thing I want is to crack it open and find out I've got to pay another $5.94 because there's four monsters I need full stats for.

The only way this would work is if it were subscription based as an alternative to purchasing the books, sort of how the Compendium works now. But this would probably be more damaging to the game's profit margins over time as no one would feel any need to buy the books when they can get all the info with their Insider subscription. "So I can pay $30 once or twice a year and have to recopy all the info by hand or type it out when I write my adventure, or I can pay $8/mo and get all the same info in a format I can easily drop into Word."

 

[Mercule]

As much as I'd love an iOS and/or a web/XAML app to add to my "gaming experience", any electronic tools should be done in support of the print resources. I really don't care whether more people buy print or digital, but the DDI compendium made it really clear, within the first year, that treating tabletop rules like software sucks. There were so many times the (all paper) players had one version of the rules and the (primarily digital) DM had another. So much pain. Even if we were all using the same format, I like to actually learn the game rules and can't do that if they keep changing.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

 

[MichaelSomething]

binder as an accessory. Say make the PDF's a penny a piece or something.

Umm the minimum price for a single monster PDF would most likely be 99 cents, because things always cost more when you're buying them one at a time...

 

[Thunderfoot]

<SNIP>
The only way this would work is if it were subscription based as an alternative to purchasing the books, <SNIP> (read the original if you need the text)

That's fine too. I'm really not married to any idea, my point was, of all the books, the MM is the ONE book where the options versus profits model can be effectively used. Let's face it, WotC want money, they are a business, this isn't a bad thing, it's how this thing called capitalism works. The problem is that WotC ignore the rules of supply and demand, if there is a demand, supply for it, if not you end up with excess inventory and you cut into profits.

While fanboy brand purchasing is still a viable business model in some respects, Pathfinder is starting to throw that model into the chipper/shredder.
Not completely of course, but to an extent. If WotC can somehow come up with a viable subscription alternative to supplement income and then focus on quantity over quality, then they will regain undisputed supreme rule and not have to worry about catching back up to their competitors. If they continue with the every 5 years or so, new edition or three core books a year model, they are going to find they have a problem.

TSR ruled with three core books and several accessory books for years before the Blume finance fiasco started the glut of money/quantity over quality. It is a viable business solution, why doesn't anyone ever remember it? Sorry, rant over.