Page XX?

[Allensh]

Page 176 of the DMG: "See "Bonuses and Penalties" on page XX of the Player's Handbook"
Page 191 of the DMG: "Refer to page XX in Chapter 4 for details of different sorts of doors and portcullises"

That's all in the three core rulebooks (I think).

Not too many, but still: surely it's an error that is laughably easy to catch. Just search the proofs for XX... it would take, what, half a minute max?

Yep, those you listed do indeed appear in the print version.

Allen

 

[Lizard]

Page 176 of the DMG: "See "Bonuses and Penalties" on page XX of the Player's Handbook"
Page 191 of the DMG: "Refer to page XX in Chapter 4 for details of different sorts of doors and portcullises"

That's all in the three core rulebooks (I think).

Not too many, but still: surely it's an error that is laughably easy to catch. Just search the proofs for XX... it would take, what, half a minute max?

Unless the 4e Style Guide said "Use XXX for Unknown page references". Then someone makes a typo and types XX, and a search for XXX comes up clean, so...

(I've used Framemaker for long documents, and it eliminates the need for Page XX crap...you can just reference the page, and the number updates automagically as the document changes.)

 

[Maggan]

Could they not get someone to take one last pass before it went to the printer?

They did. There was a last pass.

What they didn't do was another last pass. And then another, and another and a fourth and fifth final pass.

Or to put it in other words: a final pass is always made, but won't catch all errors. Ever.

It's a reality of creating complex books like the D&D core rules.

Sure, the "page XX" is easily caught if you look for it. But I'm totally sure someone was banging with a hammer on the heads of the people putting the print masters together, screaming "ARE YOU DONE? ARE YOU DONE YET? WHAT ABOUT NOW? ARE YOU DONE NOW? I HAVE TO SEND THIS TO THE PRINTER NOW! NOW! ARE YOU DONE YET? CAN I HAVE ICE CREAM? ARE YOU DONE? I'M SO TELLING THE ROUSE IF YOU'RE NOT DONE NOW!".

Publishing is not a business for quiet contemplation.

/M

 

[wedgeski]

Unless the 4e Style Guide said "Use XXX for Unknown page references". Then someone makes a typo and types XX, and a search for XXX comes up clean, so...

I think you just nailed it.

 

[Kwalish Kid]

Page 191 of the DMG: "Refer to page XX in Chapter 4 for details of different sorts of doors and portcullises"

This may be a strange in-joke. In the 1E DMG, there was a reference to "Doors" in the index that indicated a page that had nothing to do with doors.

 

[evilbob]

While not a good thing, I think we can all imagine less responsible things that would rank higher.

"The height of irresponsibility for a publishing company to publish a book that is specifically about wording and rules." -fixed

And re: Maggan
Your point is a good one, but my position is that "you take as many final passes as it takes" to get it right. The 3.5 DMG didn't have a "see page XX" in it. They've done it before; it's just gotten worse.

I'd much rather companies (software, publishing, whatever) emulate Blizzard's example: "it's done when it's right, so be quiet till then."

 

[wedgeski]

I'd much rather companies (software, publishing, whatever) emulate Blizzard's example: "it's done when it's right, so be quiet till then."

Huh? At any one time WoW has hundreds of outstanding bugs, some so serious that they're hot-fixed almost immediately. The core gameplay is rock solid, though, pretty much all the time.

This is directly analogous to Wizards and 4ed.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

1st edition Clanbook: Malkavian FTW!

 

[hong]

"The height of irresponsibility for a publishing company to publish a book that is specifically about wording and rules." -fixed

And re: Maggan
Your point is a good one, but my position is that "you take as many final passes as it takes" to get it right. The 3.5 DMG didn't have a "see page XX" in it. They've done it before; it's just gotten worse.

I'd much rather companies (software, publishing, whatever) emulate Blizzard's example: "it's done when it's right, so be quiet till then."

Of course, sometimes that doesn't quite work out. Cf Duke Nukem Forever.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

Of course, sometimes that doesn't quite work out. Cf Duke Nukem Forever.

Why must you bring up that which causes me pain, Hong?