Sir Whiskers
First Post
I may be off-base here, but it seems to me that the impact of 3.5 is directly proportional to the amount of "crunch" in a product. If a publisher is writing a book on world building, a specific city, organizations, etc., 3.5 will have little impact. Sidebars or a short errata can cover the changes.
Someone publishing a book dealing mostly in crunch, however, is going to have problems no matter what. Look at just some of the important changes: feats, spells, DR, monster CR's. These affect pc's, npc's, and monsters. What does a buyer/publisher do?
*Do I buy a module, then have to re-work all/most of the encounters?
*Do I have to substitute several creatures, because the new versions no longer match the EL?
*Do I buy a book of villains, only to have to rework every single one?
*Or does the publisher write two separate books, one for 3.0 and one for 3.5, then include both in the download (and this assumes we're talking about pdf's here)?
*Do they put out two different products, charging for both?
*Do they put out a product for one and ignore the other?
I admit I have not seen the rules for 3.5, but enough teasers have been released to show that some things will change significantly. When deciding which products to buy, I will certainly consider how much work I'll have to put in to make it usuable for my gaming group - the more time, the less likely I am to buy it. Despite all the people who've assured us that these concerns are unfounded, I'm not optimistic, especially in the short term while groups are still absorbing the new version.
The next several months will be an adjustment for publishers and buyers alike.
Someone publishing a book dealing mostly in crunch, however, is going to have problems no matter what. Look at just some of the important changes: feats, spells, DR, monster CR's. These affect pc's, npc's, and monsters. What does a buyer/publisher do?
*Do I buy a module, then have to re-work all/most of the encounters?
*Do I have to substitute several creatures, because the new versions no longer match the EL?
*Do I buy a book of villains, only to have to rework every single one?
*Or does the publisher write two separate books, one for 3.0 and one for 3.5, then include both in the download (and this assumes we're talking about pdf's here)?
*Do they put out two different products, charging for both?
*Do they put out a product for one and ignore the other?
I admit I have not seen the rules for 3.5, but enough teasers have been released to show that some things will change significantly. When deciding which products to buy, I will certainly consider how much work I'll have to put in to make it usuable for my gaming group - the more time, the less likely I am to buy it. Despite all the people who've assured us that these concerns are unfounded, I'm not optimistic, especially in the short term while groups are still absorbing the new version.
The next several months will be an adjustment for publishers and buyers alike.
