Monte Cook on Revised books

[Dinkeldog]

I've got no problems with 3.5 coming out "so soon after 3.0", and neither, apparently do either of my gaming groups. The more casual one might go for just a copy or two among us, but the more serious one will probably have close to a copy of 3.5/player.

I don't have a problem with the project being driven financially, or even instituted for financial reasons. It looks like it's substantial enough to warrant the release without being so drastic as to be a completely new game.

 

[John Crichton]

As for Arcana Unearthed, I just see it as another campaign setting like Kalamar, Ravenloft, Midnight or Rokugan. I'm excited to see it and when it comes out I'll pick it up but I certainly don't think it's a 3.5 killer. That's just silly.

Agreed. There is not now and never will be a 'D&D killer.' It is the most popular and recognized tabletop RPG for a reason. I will be lifting some ideas from AU and I think it will do wonders for my game from what I have seen so far. But it is still based on D&D.

Kudos so far to Monte. I will be buying plenty of AU products but it is all still D&D, which Monte has recognized and said himself. Different breed of the same dog. That said, I am looking forward to both 3.5 and AU with equal excitement.

 

[Hejdun]

While I agree that 3.5 is completely geared toward making money, I don't care. The fact is, given what I've seen about the changes involved, I would much rather buy the 3.5 books than any of, say, the class splatbooks. IMO the splatbooks were also purely about making money, and really lacked the content when compared to the core books. Sure, I don't like paying for them, but from what I've seen, it's a much better buy than other WotC books.

Think about it, which would you rather have, the Tome and Blood, Defenders of the Faith, and Song and Silence or the 3.5 PHB and DMG for the same cost? I know that I'd rather have the 3.5 books every day of the week.

 

[d20Dwarf]

As for Arcana Unearthed, I just see it as another campaign setting like Midnight, Midnight, Midnight or Midnight. I'm excited to see it and when it comes out I'll pick it up but I certainly don't think it's a 3.5 killer. That's just silly.

~D

I don't think anyone said it was meant as a 3.5 killer, but it is a heavy revision of D&D that is much less compatible with the base game than 3.5.

And I think everyone is misconstruing Monte, he's really a Milton Friedman fanboy, so every time he says WotC is doing something for financial reasons, he is really giving them the highest compliment.

Editor's Notes: I don't know Monte's position on Milton Friedman , and I changed Talon's quote so it better suited me.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

As others have said, the idea of villifying a corporation for trying to make money is nonsensical. There's nothing morally reprehensible about WotC coming out with another version of D&D, 3.5 or 4.0 or whatever.

Myself, my only point of contention is that 3.5 has gone farther than merely including the clarifications and extensions produced by Sage Advice, the FAQ, Dragon, splatbooks, etc. And I'm dubious that a lot of those changes are as well thought-out, and have been as well playtested, as the original 3.0. Perhaps if Monte were still a part of the company, I'd be more at ease with it all.

But that's a subject for another thread...

 

[Darkness]

Closed at the request of the thread starter.