Running on Fumes?

[Simplicity]

This seemed like an odd way to start off the September and Beyond previews at WotC...

You know when the Check Gauge light comes on in your car, telling you that you're running low on gas? Sometimes it's just because you're on a hill, and the sensor just thinks the fuel's low. And sometimes you're actually about to get the chance to take a hike down the highway to the next Chevron 'cause you really don't have enough juice to make it to the exit. Somewhere in there is an explanation for why this article's a little light (for my taste) on content. But that doesn't preclude the fact that there's a lot of really good stuff hitting shelves this month and in the next couple -- head out to your FLGS and see for yourself. And, if you want an idea of what to look for and what to look forward to, check it out:

(snip)

The preview article is light on content because:
a) He is running on fumes.
b) The 3e product line is running on fumes.
c) The RPG division at WotC is running on fumes.
d) WotC as a whole is running on fumes.
e) All of the above.

Please also indicate why the sky is falling.

 

[Mark CMG]

This seemed like an odd way to start off the September and Beyond previews at WotC...

That *is* an odd choice of tones, isn't it?

 

[JoeGKushner]

I'll go with a.

WoTC catalog is well planned till at least the whole of the first quarter of next year and his column needs some serious work or to be handed over to someone else who might not be suffering from burnout or might have more time for it.

 

[Arnwyn]

I'll go with (a) as well. It sounds like the marketing department are the ones really dropping the ball, here.

(That's assuming that he's part of the marketing dept. Otherwise, I vote (f) Marketing is running on fumes/are lazy/are a bunch of screw-ups.)

 

[Ranger REG]

I'll go with (a) as well. It sounds like the marketing department are the ones really dropping the ball, here.

(That's assuming that he's part of the marketing dept. Otherwise, I vote (f) Marketing is running on fumes/are lazy/are a bunch of screw-ups.)

Considering there is no additional hype to push d20 Modern Dark*Matter (beyond the "origin of Dark*Matter" web article), I quite agree.

Well, they changed the web team earlier this year (not that it does any good for d20 Modern and Star Wars web sites). They might as well go ahead and change the marketing team, too.

 

[Vocenoctum]

This seemed like an odd way to start off the September and Beyond previews at WotC...



The preview article is light on content because:
a) He is running on fumes.
b) The 3e product line is running on fumes.
c) The RPG division at WotC is running on fumes.
d) WotC as a whole is running on fumes.
e) All of the above.

Please also indicate why the sky is falling.

or, because they're going up a hill right now (i.e. busy) and don't have stuff to post, which will give the illusion there is nothing to post/ low on gas.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

I'll go with (a) as well. It sounds like the marketing department are the ones really dropping the ball, here.

Thirded. I think he didn't post much because there isn't a bunch to post!

The fact that the cover of Complete Mage didn't turn from gray to colored until the very absolute end of August (and it's coming out in OCtober!) tells me that they might be running behind schedule in production, also. If production is running behind schedule, marketing will fall behind as well. I just hope that if marketing is running behind schedule that proofreading isn't going to take a hit. The proofreading of the last complete book - CPsi was horrid! [Having said that knock against the Complete Series, I thought PHB II was impressively solid.]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they are running on fumes as a company. The books have typically gotten shorter, larger pictures, and more fluff/less crunch. In fact, if you go through the complete series books and flip open to the "New Spells" section you even see a change in font size/occasional number of columns!

That isn't a complaint, because the fluff can go a long way into making the world realistic and more fun - rather than giving new rules to crunch. But typically I count crunch twice as much as fluff because crunch can be said much quicker. You can explain a set of feats much more quickly than you can explain an organization, affiliation, or helpful ways to define a character background. Thus, since fluff naturally takes longer, I expect fluff books to be longer than crunch books. Both are valuable on my shelf, I just want the same bang for my buck!