Must you have and use every book for D&D

[an_idol_mind]

My head exploded when I bought all the Player's Option stuff back in 2nd edition. For the duration of 3rd edition, I've only used the 3 core books for my campaign. Beyond a few adventure modules and some information cribbed from the SRD, I haven't had any lack of inspiration and unique characters for the duration of my 7-year long campaign.

 

[francisca]

This absolutely astonishes me.

Me too.

Enough people that the concept is used as a base of constant complaints?

Heh. Enough that it forms the basis of the modern tabletop RPG industry.

 

[Wombat]

Let's see...

I bought very, very few WotC books for my D20 games. I bought a fair few 3rd party supplements for a variety of reasons (a lot of Green Ronin and Malhavoc, somewhat less Mongoose and others, as well as a horde of pdfs from groups like Expeditious Retreat, Mad Kaiser Games, and S.T. Cooley).

Most of these were bought with an eye towards a specific campaign, others with the thought of altering basic rules and concepts in the game.

WotC never really fit my needs, beyond the base books and a few scattered bits.

 

[Jhaelen]

A better option would be: "As a DM, I sometimes feel pressured by my players to include more books than I want to." That, I think, is the real issue here.

My game seems to be quite different, since I as the DM are typically the only one who introduces new supplements.

Besides supplements I intend to use in my game I often buy books simply because I enjoy reading them. This is more common with other rpg systems, though.

 

[Arnwyn]

I only get what I think fits my game
I only get what I think will improve my game

No idea what the difference is between these two options. Weird.

Of course, this whole thread and poll are flawed. Ignoring for the moment that the "rules bloat" people and heavy purchasers are not necessarily the same people (and certainly no evidence given that they're the same), it completely ignores the fact that, you know, there are other people involved in a game. Huh. What do we get? Conflict! Those pesky players.

Ignoring group dynamics (a fatal flaw seen all too often in discussions at ENWorld) will result in a flawed analysis and conclusion. One person (the DM or otherwise) not wanting "rules bloat" does not prevent "rules bloat".

See, I read a lot of posts saying that they hear or read others saying this. But I've never seen anyone saying that *they* have Players insisting on this kind of stuff.

I've seen things like, "A lot of Players insist the DM include or allow things from the many supplements," but I'm not seeing, "My Players insist that I include or allow things from the many supplements." Understand what I'm meaning?

Nope, not at all - because I have. I guess we just hang out in different threads. (In fact, the "My players want x but I don't!" are my favorite threads, simply because I love rubbernecking at trainwrecks.)

 

[Quasqueton]

Feel free to post links to those "My Players insist that I include or allow things from the many supplements," posts. Either search for past such posts, or come back to this thread when they pop up in the future.

Quasqueton

 

[werk]

Not me. I only buy the ones I want and ignore the rest. I for one, have never understood the "must buy it all" mentality. *Shrugs*

Ditto. Null vote.

No option for 'I buy what appeals to me, and don't necessarily use all of it.'

I have no collector urge in my entire body, I'm the anti-collector.

 

[ivocaliban]

I get what fits my game.

However, I like a wide variety of game styles and so a wide variety of options. I generally limit the books in play to those that apply to a specific campaign I'm running. This keeps me from having to deal with several dozen books during each session. I also tend to stay away from features which have a different system attached (i.e. psionics).

 

[Atavar]

None of the above.

I have purchased just about everything WotC 3.x (except Forgotten Realms; I've skipped most of those). So, I am sort of a completist. I also have a number of non-WotC stuff as well.

However, just because I get it doesn't mean I *must* use it in my game. I use what I want to use, when I want to use it. What I don't use now, I may use someday. My 3.x books are there as options to be used if and when I decide to use them. For example, just because I don't use Frostburn now doesn't mean I won't run a cold/arctic adventure/campaign someday.

I picture myself using these books over many years of gaming with my children. Once they become old enough to game with....

Later,

Atavar

 

[diaglo]

other.

i buy what completes my collection.

i use none of them beyond the OD&D stuff from Tactical Studies Rules

edit: although, i stopped buying any new products around may of this year.