Interesting statement from a WizO on the D&D forum:

[JVisgaitis]

I am not sure your characterization is accurate.

I do the same with comics and music, so I understand your position. Look at it this way though, can you do anything with the Spell Compendium without owning the core books? All the other things you're talking about are self serving. They stand on their own. The Spell Compendium is and always will be a supplement for something else.

 

[Umbran]

The Spell Compendium is and always will be a supplement for something else.

Ah. You're correct that the Spell Compendium is not an entry level product. But neither is the second season of Lost on DVD, which I got for X-mas, though I have never watched a single broadcast of the series. Neither is the second, third, fourth, or nth collection of Ultimate X-Men. Only the first such collection is entry level. That'd be analogous to the Core Rules.

Failing to be entry level does not imply it sould only be published when all is said and done. I think it makes sense to do occasional collections, when the amount of good material piled up is large enough to make a decent-sized book. More frequently, and it isn't sufficiently different from buying the original products. Less frequently, and I don't get my fix often enough

Not that I have the Spell Compendium, mind you. But the logic still holds.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Ah. You're correct that the Spell Compendium is not an entry level product. But neither is the second season of Lost on DVD.

Its not necessarily entry level, but its not without its merit. Someone did buy it for you... I didn't start watching 24 till season 3 or Battlestar Galactica till last season, but I still enjoy them without knowing what came before. If a buy a particular run on a comic, I can still enjoy the stories without knowing a character's origin story. I can still enjoy Rush's 50th live album without listening to anything else. But if I get the Spell Compendium and nothing else, its sill worthless to me. No doubt, it makes sense to collect things like this from time to time, but the bottom line is we'd both be kidding ourselves if we ever expect to see a Spell Compendium II.

 

[Mark CMG]

Its not necessarily entry level, but its not without its merit. Someone did buy it for you... I didn't start watching 24 till season 3 or Battlestar Galactica till last season, but I still enjoy them without knowing what came before.

I don't disagree with your assessment that the Spell Compenidium is a supplement that is not useful without the PH but we differ on some viewing habits. I still haven't tried to tackle B5 because I wasn't able to watch it from the beginning and haven't found the time to start, now that it is such a huge amount of material. I did, however, catch up with BG, but only because I was able to start from the beginning. I would not have jumped in midstream. Same with Firefly. Buffy and Angel, though, were both series I saw some of just before each ended and wound up watching them in a hodgepodge fashion. I'd imagine there are stil a few episodes I have yet to see from each series.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I don't disagree with your assessment that the Spell Compenidium is a supplement that is not useful without the PH but we differ on some viewing habits.

Some stuff I will go back and watch from the beginning. BG is a series where I want to see the whole thing, but I'm not turned off by jumping into something mid-stream. I'd rather find out if I find a series appealing before I decide to invest in a season that I really don't care for.

 

[Mark CMG]

Some stuff I will go back and watch from the beginning. BG is a series where I want to see the whole thing, but I'm not turned off by jumping into something mid-stream. I'd rather find out if I find a series appealing before I decide to invest in a season that I really don't care for.

I can certainly understand that point of view. It may be one of the underlying reasons I haven't tackled B5, in that it would be expensive to even try to rent it, with all of the movies and mini-series attached to the regular seasons, let alone the time commitment (and time is money, afterall). I have a friend who knows a couple where the wife received several seasons of B5 for the holidays. They all got together to do a B5 marathon New Year's weekend. They started on Saturday and didn't even finish season one before Sunday (of their three season goal, IIRC). Even just in "spare" time, one could be at it for months.