"Not 4.5" is coming soon. Thoughts?

[Obryn]

As a note, I'd be pleased, but utterly shocked, if the Rules Compendium had the Familiar and Animal Companion rules between its covers. Unless, that is, Familiars and Animal Companions make an appearance in Essentials classes.

-O

 

[MrMyth]

Why can't the Rules Compendium be that book? Just because the 3E Rules Compendium was a gathering of rules published elsewhere doesn't mean this one must be. It could be exactly what it says it is: a place where all the major rules are presented. Nothing in that definition requires that everything in the book also have appeared elsewhere.

But that's exactly the problem. I'm fine if the Rules Compendium is a really detailed guide of how the rules work and compilation of all the fiddly bits that crop up here and there. If it is the only source of the main rules, and those are missing from the Red Box or DM's Kit or Heroes book... that's not cool, because that is a blatant money grab to force people to buy more products.

I don't expect that to be the case, mind you. I expect the Red Box alone will have just about everything you need to run the game, and either the DM Kit or Heroes books will cover other key stuff. But I can understand the concern - the more books you need to start playing the game, the more of a monetary burden is being put on new players.

 

[Camelot]

See the Essentials_Wizard yet? They have daily powers. Good news, or bad?

 

[TerraDave]

in regards to the mage preview

Keeping in mind that essentials on 4e might be great (I liked schools and the new at wills). Also rememberıng B/X was backward compatible, 2E was, 3.5 basically was.

This is ´updated´rules, new crunch, new format, new line of products from which you can restart your game and not buy any old ones...

...but its not a new edition...



So what should we call this then?

 

[Jhaelen]

So what should we call this then?

Essentials!

 

[Scribble]

in regards to the mage preview

Keeping in mind that essentials on 4e might be great (I liked schools and the new at wills). Also rememberıng B/X was backward compatible, 2E was, 3.5 basically was.

This is ´updated´rules, new crunch, new format, new line of products from which you can restart your game and not buy any old ones...

...but its not a new edition...



So what should we call this then?

Re-formatting.

When I bought my scion XA it was the original looking one. It had a solid grill, and the stereo had an XM satelite input.

A year or so later they changed out the grill to be a mesh grill, and the stereo to have an ipod input/control thing instead.

Any parts I bought for a scion XA going forward would still work with mine, and any parts already developed before they changed the grill still worked with the new one.

It looked a little different and some of the features were slightly different, but overall it was still the same car. (I could even swap out the grill or radio in my car for one of the new ones if I decided to...)

I feel like the same is true here.

Anything that comes out in the future will work with what I have game-wise now, and vice versa. No math adjustments, or updates needed to make them work, it's the same game- these are just new features combined with a new paint-job.