D&D 4E I'm Not Sure I Can Afford 4e

[kennew142]

For some people $200 a year may be a lot of money for a hobby. Myself, I have a wife and three kids. It takes us $50.00 just to go to MacDonalds. A day at the movies runs more than $100. I get a lot more enjoyment out D&D than $200 would buy.

I have just about every 3.5 book WotC put out and a few from other publishers. I spend about $100 a month on gaming stuff. If I weren't going to be buying the 4e books when they came out, I would likely be buying more 3.5 books.

The value to dollar ratio of the new edition of D&D increases dramatically when I take into account that my wife and friends play, and my children are just getting interested as well. I want to play with them. When their friends join the hobby, I need to be running a game that they can go to the store and purchase as well. I've spent years trying to teach would be players out of print games. It was occasionally successful, but mostly a failure.

This is the reason I would be moving to 4e, even if the new edition turned out to be inferior. My impression, from what little we've seen, is that it will be a vast improvement.

 

[Khuxan]

If you purchase the three core rulebooks ($69) and the Advanced Player's Guide (Necromancer Games), you should have the best of 3.5 along with a good deal more - new monsters, new classes, new races. If you want more than that, you will indeed need to spend more money - but that is the way of the world.

 

[Dragonblade]

I look at it this way. I have several thousand dollars worth of 3.5 and OGL books. I have shelves full of stuff. I could run and/or play 3.5 D&D for the rest of my life.

But here is the kicker, I don't want to. I hate running 3.5 with a passion and playing it can be fun with the right DM but I'm starting to get burned out on that now too.

I had a good run. I don't regret spending the money. I'll keep my books, but I'm ready for something different and new. And 4e is addressing everything I have ever disliked about 3.5. It may in fact be, the best edition of D&D I will ever play. At least that is what I'm hoping.

 

[kennew142]

I look at it this way. I have several thousand dollars worth of 3.5 and OGL books. I have shelves full of stuff. I could run and/or play 3.5 D&D for the rest of my life.

But here is the kicker, I don't want to. I hate running 3.5 with a passion and playing it can be fun with the right DM but I'm starting to get burned out on that now too.

I had a good run. I don't regret spending the money. I'll keep my books, but I'm ready for something different and new. And 4e is addressing everything I have ever disliked about 3.5. It may in fact be, the best edition of D&D I will ever play. At least that is what I'm hoping.

This describes me as well. I can honestly say that I do not enjoy running 3.5 anymore. I am just four major plot points from resolving a continuing FR storyline involving the rebirth of Auppensor. I am happy with the story, the characters, pretty much everything non-mechanical. I had been experiencing edition fatigue for a couple of years, but didn't have a word for it. The flaws in the system had become more apparent over time. With the 4e announcement, what were annoyances have become major issues for me. I can't wait for the new edition.

 

[Darrin Drader]

For me its a breeze running 3.5, provided that the thing is already prepared. On the other hand, preparing for 3.5 ahead of time can be a real chore because of the interconnectedness of everything in the game. I remember when 3.0 came out and I was surprised that monsters had feats. OK, no big deal. Wait, soon after that I had to design monsters with feats, and they had to make sense with the monster concept I was working with. Skills you say? Hold on, there's a whole different progression for each type of monster?

Really its not so bad, so long as you have a good random character generator, stick to the monsters from the PHB (or add levels to them using said random character generator), and don't add templates. But I want to add templates!

So if 4E makes that easier like they say, then I might buy the core books, maybe do a little bit of design work for it to get to know the ins and outs of the system, and then once the collection has built up to a serviceable point, then switch. But that's a big maybe because I still have so mucch cool 3.5 stuff I'd like to use first.

 

[kennew142]

For me its a breeze running 3.5, provided that the thing is already prepared. On the other hand, preparing for 3.5 ahead of time can be a real chore because of the interconnectedness of everything in the game. I remember when 3.0 came out and I was surprised that monsters had feats. OK, no big deal. Wait, soon after that I had to design monsters with feats, and they had to make sense with the monster concept I was working with. Skills you say? Hold on, there's a whole different progression for each type of monster?

Really its not so bad, so long as you have a good random character generator, stick to the monsters from the PHB (or add levels to them using said random character generator), and don't add templates. But I want to add templates!

So if 4E makes that easier like they say, then I might buy the core books, maybe do a little bit of design work for it to get to know the ins and outs of the system, and then once the collection has built up to a serviceable point, then switch. But that's a big maybe because I still have so mucch cool 3.5 stuff I'd like to use first.

My current campaign doesn't lend itself to predesigned stuff, or monsters straight out of the DMG. The storyline is nearing the climax. Most of the NPCs are PHB races or monstrs with class levels. The prep time is such a drain on my time that it is a total drag.

 

[Agamon]

I plan on buying the annual core books, and that's it. After seeing that I could have just played core with 3.5, I wish I had, with a couple exceptions. Hopefully that doesn't mean I'm playing wrong...

 

[Darrin Drader]

My current campaign doesn't lend itself to predesigned stuff, or monsters straight out of the DMG. The storyline is nearing the climax. Most of the NPCs are PHB races or monstrs with class levels. The prep time is such a drain on my time that it is a total drag.

I feel your pain. Trust me.

 

[monboesen]

I just don't understand the "it is to expensive" or "I don't want to spend X dollars a month" argument.

In my experience most recreational hobbies are more expensive than role playing games. And many hobbies have a monthly cost. Virtually any sport I have ever participated in on a regular basis have had a monthly cost of at least 20 dollars (I'm not american so such things may be cheaper in the USA). Heck, my current fitness membership clocks in at around 80 dollars a month. That is close to one role-playing book a month.

I'm sure that hobbies like Warhammer battles and other miniature wargames essentially carries a decent monthly expense for new miniatures, paint, brushes and terrain (not to mention the frequent rule book edition changes).

Roleplaying games have so far given me the highest time value for the money spend, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

 

[Ranger REG]

So I've done a lot of thinking, and I've decided that while 4e might not be what I, personally, look for in a game called D&D, it looks like it could be a good game in its own right. Certainly, I want to be familiar with it and enjoy the craft that went into it.

I just don't know if I want to get in. It looks like it's going to be quite a parade of sourcebooks. That's hardly a surprise.... it worked for Rifts, which is a (IMO) pretty clunky game, so it should definitely work for something that's pretty good. It could lead to a kind of AD&D 2e kind of expansion, but hopefully with better quality control.

I don't know if I really want to buy a D&D book every three months to stay current. And sure, I could just buy a few and enjoy them. But I know I'm already leery of laying down money for a D&D without a bard or a gnome. How many sourcebooks will I need, just to "catch up?" It's definitely something that's kept me away from Warhammer FRP for a while, as it's gone from a one book game to a good corebook with monsters, magic items, and such spread out among several sourcebooks, so now it's more of a four book game.

I don't even spend that much on GURPS, and I feel GURPS books generally have a much wider utility than D&D add ons. Do I want to spend $200 a year to pound orcs?

It's also occured to me that this may be the last D&D. The print industry is changing, and it remains to be seen whether tabletop RPGs will survice in their current form until the 2020s. I feel kind of uncertain about investing in what might turn out to be the swan song of RPGs. There are games I've snapped up everything I could as they went out of print, but I have a hard time imaginining falling in love with D&D 4e that way. It looks fun, but it just doesn't have the kind of personal grab for me that some other games do, like Talislanta, Torg, and so forth. If that is the case, if this is it, I can probably save myself a few nickels by picking the books up used over the next few years and completing my collection when the whole thing comes to a halt. There are currently more 3.5 books available used, cheap, than I care to own; heck, I've sold off ones I just really didn't like a lot.

I know a lot of people enjoy being able to buy a sourcebook every few months. I just can't get into it. I used to be shocked how much people spent on Rifts (and still do). I own quite a few GURPS books, but even then, I make my purchasing decisions carefully. I've spent maybe $250 on GURPS over the course of three years.

I don't understand. You cannot afford 4e, or do you simply cannot get excited for 4e?

You make it sound like you're the only one with financial problem. I don't buy every book with a D&D label on it. If I had, I would have a shelf full of Eberron products that I'm not in the least bit interested in.

Buy what you want, not because you need to be caught up with the fan community. Look at me. I don't know what the HELL is PoV because I don't have that book that include it. Should I care because of fellow post members here are discussing it? Pbbbttt.

At the end of the day, all you need is the core rulebook set. Screw PoV!