Is it just me? Tired of huge books

[Morrus]

I like big books, I like small books… I guess I just like books!

 

[CubicsRube]

After owning quite a few types I'm a big fan of the smaller digest sized books (blades in the dark is a good example). Much easier to port and sites well in the hand.

I don't mind having a core book broken into a few books to keep the size down.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I'm one of those old dudes who's been an avid reader all my life, and prefer to have my letters on paper.
For the last years I've actually read a lot on a Storytel digital thingy, and that is fine for lazy fiction. But if it's a good book with rereadability I still buy a paper version for my library.

And I kind of do the same thing for games - first I get it on pdf, if it's good I buy the paper version. And then I want it to be as thick and massive as possible! There is something very special about sitting down with a fresh cup of coffee and a brand new, massive rpg tome to explore.

 

[IvyDragons]

if you told me that the core 3 for DnD was all going to be one book, or even that the PHB and DNG were being combined, I would balk.

Is it just me?

Players only need the PHB so it would feel off. I think the problem with a new TTRPG, lets say 13th age, is that its hard to convince people to buy multiple books, since that is much more expensive, so its book is 300 pages but that is PHB, MM, DMG.

 

[Endroren]

We broke our core book into three books (which is what I wanted to do), BUT I was really nervous about it. Aside from the fact that's just "not how it's done" for setting books, I worried that people wouldn't want to buy multiple books. Anyhow - here is the reasoning behind the decision. Curious if people think it's on track or off track (or fine either way!)

The three books are:

• Adventurer's Guide (No rules, just setting, written 'in character')
• Player's Guide (Character creation, setting specific character rules, etc.)
• Gamemaster's Guide (Monsters, GM Secrets, GM Rules)

The reasons were:

• You probably don't need all the setting color text (Adventurer's Guide content) during the actual game.
• Player's don't need all the GM content. Plus it lets some GM content remain secret.
• All the rules Players need at the table on game night are in one book with no extraneous content.
• Some people won't care about the setting and just want the rules.
• My mom can read the Adventurer's Guide like a story without running into confusing stat blocks.

Love to hear your thoughts.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I don't really want phonebook-sized TTRPG books either. I make an exception for DCC RPG (most of its bulk, really, is just the spells), but these days, slimmer is better for me. If I'm running the game, I don't want to have to flip back and forth constantly, holding multiple places at once. If I'm just a player, I don't want to have to carry around all that extra GM stuff just because it's all together.

 

[beancounter]

I always preferred the short "module" format from the 1E/2E days. Just enough info to run the game.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

I like all books (well 80% since there are probably exceptions), but a good sized book that can be used for hand to hand...magnifique.

 

[Thomas Shey]

My own feeling is that managing too many small books, especially when they're covering related ground, is just extra overhead. I particularly feel that way about PDFs, but to some extent I did back when I bought more physical books, too.

 

[Hex08]

To be blunt, if you told me that the core 3 for DnD was all going to be one book, or even that the PHB and DNG were being combined, I would balk.

Is it just me?

That's basically what Pathfinder did (at least 1E, I don't play 2E so I can't speak for it). There isn't a separate PHB and DMG, it's all just the core rulebook. It actually works out fine. I went from decades of playing D&D with more core books to Pathfinder and it didn't make a difference to me.

PDFs are nice for when I am playing online or working on a game at my computer but if I am sitting around a table give me a hard copy. With AD&D 1e - D&D 3.x/Pathfinder I usually knew the layout of the material in the core books well enough that I would rarely have to hunt for a rule, I would just open the book and would usually be within a few pages of the info I was looking for.