(Please Create) D&D Rules Cyclopedia, 4th edition!

[DracoSuave]

The problem with this is that the BECMI books were really thin paperbacks, so combining them is a lot less work than combining 3 thick hardcover books.

I'd love to have a Rules Cyclopedia-style book down the road. It's just not feasible.

But then the RC wasn't supposed to just be a collection of rules, it was meant to be the rule book for BECMI's final incarnation. It was meant to be a self-contained rpg, complete with everything you needed, including DM advice.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

No, please: not even for a RC, don´t touch font size or whitespace. I don´t want to travel back into the stone age of layouting.

I would say that it is a matter of taste and not "stone age of layouting." It looks different, yes. And some people like the new look, but others don't.

 

[pawsplay]

Since the RC goes from level 1 to 36 and then on to immortality, it is already very similar in structure to 4e.

For a real RC for 4e, you would actually keep most of the "advice" sections, but monster design becomes a single paragraph that warns you to be careful and make them similar to existing monsters. All the classes are fairly simple... there are no more than two types for each base class, there are a few number of paragon paths to choose from (mainly landed/stronghold characters versus independent ones, with fighters also have the option of becoming knights), and there are only a handful of epic destinies, with immortality being the most common. Your Monster Manual gets melted down to a number of representative enemies of each level and type.