Lost in the new product shuffle

[JoeGKushner]

Have you ever waited for a new product to come out and then when it did, it was drowned out at the time by a horde of new products. And then you were like, well, I'll get to it when some more product support comes out for it?

Sometimes I feel that way with a lot of my campaign settings. Morningstar has some great elements to it, but I think Dragonmech and Blackmoor both have more going for them, and all three are from the same company. The Player's Guide to the Wilderlands updates one of my favorite campaign settings, but the Judge's Guild material support has been slow and Eberron is now demanding I read it.

For supplements and splat books, it seems a lot easier to find time to read and use them but settings take more out of me to read, digest and determine how to use. Heck, I'm still going through Dawnforge. There are some elements I really like but I haven't run more than a few play testing sessions iwth it.

What about everyone else?

 

[Arnwyn]

No, never. I keep track of what products are going to be released when, and then simply buy whatever I want when they come out... and I only buy products that I know will be suitable for my personal campaign (strictly following my 80% rule).

Further, I have (and will only have) one campaign setting - so "waiting for campaign support" is a complete non-issue for me. Who has time for more than one setting? I sure don't.

 

[Treebore]

I bounce from campaign world to campaign world, so my only real problem is not having enough time to use all the ones I like. Which are Ravenloft, Rokugan, Wilderlands, Erde, and FR.

So I am not really interested in any of the new ones coming out. so far they do not appear to have anythign truly new to offer. Same ideas changed around and presented in a different way to make them appear new. Eberron and Dragonmech are directions I am not interested in going. The only new "campaign" sources I am interested in are Mesopotamia and Hamanaptra (sp?), since I would really like a campaign world with solid Egyptian and Middle Eastern feel to them. The only reason I am even considering Blackmoor is because of its "old" ties to WL and Greyhawk, plus it sounds like good stuff. The only other stuff I am interested in is Gygax's Castle Zagyg through TLG. But I am far from certain I will even buy them.

 

[Turanil]

Eberron is now demanding I read it.

You failed your saving throw?

Well, I could buy Eberron just for the read, as it appears to be interesting. However, I plan for running a Grim Tales campaign (which thus will be a homebrew), so will have no use of any other product. As for buying new books, I have spent too much money on rpg products recently, without counting d20 future which is ordered and waiting. So, no, even if it appears to be scores of cool things popping around everyday, I have stopped purchasing them for some times now. Plus there isn't space on my rpg shelf left to put others!

 

[Voadam]

Most of the books I buy never get used in a game but I like the read and idea generators, plus the ability to look for just the right element to pop into an ongoing game.

For instance I recently decided to modify a module's CR 16 warlord from a half red dragon duergar to some physically tough LE reptilian race with black half dragon template for campaign reasons. My options included lizardmen or yuan ti from the srd/MM/XPH, quissians from Mythic Races, and Samat from Nyambe which could all work well. This would be the first in-game time I used anything from Nyambe if I used the samat.

Campaign settings are nice reads in general but I don't usually add that many areas and worlds into an active campaign. I have plenty of settings already, but it is fun to get and read about different ones.

 

[Belen]

Man, I feel your pain. There are way too many books that I want to buy right now and the next few months just get worse.

 

[Buttercup]

I find that if I don't purchase a book in the first three months or so after it has come out, the odds get smaller as time goes by that I'll buy it at all. I have neither the money, the space nor the inclination to buy everything that comes out for D20 these days, so if I don't cough up the dough when a title is new, other products will likely crowd it off of my "must have" list.

For instance, for a while I was buying all the Rokugan titles. I stopped about 18 months ago though, because there were so many things I wanted more. Now there are 11 Rokugan books that I don't have! No way am I going to drop the $300 necessary to buy all of these, since I'm focusing on Iron Kingdoms now, and since I'm still planning on buying all the Wilderlands stuff when it finally comes out. Then too, I buy all of the Green Ronin offerings, and most of the Bastion Press titles, and most of the Necromancer Games modules, and sooner or later Ed Cha will come up with his next World of Whitethorn book, and there are two Midnight titles in the pipeline....

 

[Treebore]

Between overstock.com and stiggybaby.com you can get a lot of the Rokugan books for 40 to 50% off. You must search overstock by the books title. Also, stiggybaby has a lot of the older Necromancer modules on sale for 50% off right now, such as Necropolis ($13.50), Hall of the Rainbow Mage, Morrick Mansion, Raise Dead, Book of Taverns, and a number of others. So if your collection of Necro isn't complete?

They even have some Malhavoc and Mongoose on sale, such as Banewarrens and original quintessential books, as examples.

So if the $300 is hard to justify maybe $150 will be easier.

 

[Turanil]

I find that if I don't purchase a book in the first three months or so after it has come out, the odds get smaller as time goes by that I'll buy it at all. I have neither the money, the space nor the inclination to buy everything that comes out for D20 these days, so if I don't cough up the dough when a title is new, other products will likely crowd it off of my "must have" list.

For instance, for a while I was buying all the Rokugan titles. I stopped about 18 months ago though, because there were so many things I wanted more. Now there are 11 Rokugan books that I don't have! No way am I going to drop the $300 necessary to buy all of these, since I'm focusing on Iron Kingdoms now, and since I'm still planning on buying all the Wilderlands stuff when it finally comes out. Then too, I buy all of the Green Ronin offerings, and most of the Bastion Press titles, and most of the Necromancer Games modules, and sooner or later Ed Cha will come up with his next World of Whitethorn book, and there are two Midnight titles in the pipeline....

I am amazed! And i believed I did spend too much money in rpg books. Mmmmh... well, this gives me an idea for a new thread.

 

[BradfordFerguson]

Have you ever waited for a new product to come out and then when it did, it was drowned out at the time by a horde of new products. And then you were like, well, I'll get to it when some more product support comes out for it?

Sometimes I feel that way with a lot of my campaign settings. Morningstar has some great elements to it, but I think Dragonmech and Blackmoor both have more going for them, and all three are from the same company. The Player's Guide to the Wilderlands updates one of my favorite campaign settings, but the Judge's Guild material support has been slow and Eberron is now demanding I read it.

I think that support for a setting makes a difference. It saves the DM time by giving them supporting stuff that is tailor-made to the setting instead of the DM having to make it up himself or searching for similar products in similar genres that may not even quite work out. Eberron is getting a tremendous amount of support.

I haven't played much in Forgotten Realms because I wasn't gaming when FR was hot but now that I'm starved for time, I would definitely look on Forgotten Realms and Eberron favorably.

There's a lot of average d20 books out there, but there are also dozens of good to great d20 books out there too. It is definitely hard to take everything in. First you gotta pick out among the 40+ print products to choose from each month, then once you buy it, you gotta decide what to read and then read it. Only so much time to go around. And many of us have big d20 libraries where half of the books haven't been read yet...