Save my Game: Do the Right Thing.

[justanobody]

Good article. Why are players of a RPG game threatened by something like this. The advice is to ignore/change/alter/make up on the fly rules that benefit the game.

We do this all the time, and I have a lot of players wanting to do things all the time - so should I just not allow them?

The problem I have with ALL these articles is that, from what I understand, these type of things were the free web enhancements on wizards.com.

Now, this article serves to help new players it seems from what you and others say, as well as older ones, that just might not yet know.

But for those who are not subscribed a new player may get the wrong idea from the blurb about what is being said, and then either takes away the wrong thing for not being a subscriber, or must shell out money to get something that should have been free advice to help all gamers, not things just for a subscriber.

I still have not read the article, because I will not subscribe. I can write my own program of use one of the many online to help make a character and adjust my numbers for me, and currently only need the PHB.

So it is what the articles has a goal to do, and then how it does it that I find a problem with.

If you are going to help player, then do so. I would hope things like this were not only columns in the Dungeon magazine in the past. (Again or those who may have missed it I own one old Dungeon mag, and read others only during the free DDI period.)

So if the article is intended to help everyone then it shouldn't be something that forces someone to subscribe to help them run/play the game.

That isn't what insider content should be.

So it isn't being threatened by what is said, rather than how what is said is delivered to the gaming public that offends some. Well also what the blurb says about the article pretty much summarizes what it seems to say anyway, and that may make people question WotC and its ability to make books if they are to have something worded to imply to just throw the rules out because you don't need them anyway!

Of course you don't need the books anymore after they sucker you into buying DDI just tor read the article.

The idea of your are only worth helping/supporting if you are buying the latest product, is just plain offensive.

 

[Obryn]

But for those who are not subscribed a new player may get the wrong idea from the blurb about what is being said, and then either takes away the wrong thing for not being a subscriber, or must shell out money to get something that should have been free advice to help all gamers, not things just for a subscriber.

You really spend a lot of time worrying that someone, somewhere might misinterpret something that WotC says. This is about the third time I've seen it. I am going to make a leap of faith and assume that, for the vast majority of the population, these kinds of misunderstandings are rare and don't cause any problems.

Also, making DM advice subscriber-only is hardly new. The paper versions of both Dungeon and Dragon contained advice and rules information, and though you could browse them in a bookstore, they still weren't free.

-O

 

[Connorsrpg]

@ justanobody: OK - we are on two tangents here. I was more talking about players who cannot understand playing a game beyond RAW.

Fair enough for your speel about being advice for everybody. I reckon an article like this would serve as a better 'free' article - I mean it is nothing we haven't seen on forums before from high profile dnd writers. (Mind you this was very well written and did include a couple of 4Eisms).

However, articles like this appeared in the Magazines of the past and I don't remember receiving those for free (even though I agree an article like this would be in the best insterests of Wizards to be free).

Oh, and I don't feel suckered at all by paying for DDI. Here in Australia it could cost up to $20 for EACH mag when they were print. It is a no brainer for me. I am on just for the mags. The rest is a bonus, if I use it at all (thought the complete rule search is cool). Clearly you have a problem with Wizards charging for their work and products. I am certainly willing to pay for other people's time and effort. I don;t understand this "I want everything for free" culture. Maybe that is just me. (BUT please remember I am with you on this being a freebie, as it would also benefit Wizards I believe). Rambling now...cheers, C

 

[justanobody]

@ justanobody: OK - we are on two tangents here. I was more talking about players who cannot understand playing a game beyond RAW.

Fair enough for your speel about being advice for everybody. I reckon an article like this would serve as a better 'free' article - I mean it is nothing we haven't seen on forums before from high profile dnd writers. (Mind you this was very well written and did include a couple of 4Eisms).

However, articles like this appeared in the Magazines of the past and I don't remember receiving those for free (even though I agree an article like this would be in the best insterests of Wizards to be free).

Oh, and I don't feel suckered at all by paying for DDI. Here in Australia it could cost up to $20 for EACH mag when they were print. It is a no brainer for me. I am on just for the mags. The rest is a bonus, if I use it at all (thought the complete rule search is cool). Clearly you have a problem with Wizards charging for their work and products. I am certainly willing to pay for other people's time and effort. I don;t understand this "I want everything for free" culture. Maybe that is just me. (BUT please remember I am with you on this being a freebie, as it would also benefit Wizards I believe). Rambling now...cheers, C

I can completely understand breaking rules lawyers in half, but al the more reason an article like this one that helps the entire gaming community should not be hidden in a subscription area.

That is my biggest problem with it and how it can be misinterpreted by those who are not subscribers.

ANYTHING that serves to help D&D and the gamers should be free and accessible to all, without needing or feeling like you should pay for it since this is really global information.

I have my own ways of breaking people from RAW, but may not be as nice as the article.

With combat now, it seems more hard to break people of RAW with all the specifics surrounding the powers and the minis game combat feels like.

That is where breaking from RAW needs to most work and seems the last place it may see help....unless it was in the article that I cannot read.

 

[Fifth Element]

I feel the same way, not having read the article, but only being given the blurb about it for non-subscribers.

Hmm...the two admitting to not reading the article agree with each other. I wonder if they'd still agree with each other if they had actually read the article?

 

[Fifth Element]

ANYTHING that serves to help D&D and the gamers should be free and accessible to all, without needing or feeling like you should pay for it since this is really global information.

Hmm? The 1E DMG was not free. Dragon magazine has never been free. I think your "ANYTHING" assertion is rather too broad, I think.

 

[catsclaw227]

ANYTHING that serves to help D&D and the gamers should be free and accessible to all, without needing or feeling like you should pay for it since this is really global information.

For what it is worth, if you play 4e, especially DM 4e, then the DDI is really awesome. I think the value is WAY higher than the price, and the quality of subscriber articles is very high. Plus you get 3 or 4 adventures each month, side treks for your H-P-E series adventures and other stuff that really adds nicely to the game.

Sure, I can make it up myself, but the Gladiator article alone saved me about 2-3 hours of prep time, it was creative and had a lot of fluff and crunch. As only one article in the DDI for that month, its individual cost is way less than $1. The 2-3 hours of my time saved is worth much more than that.

 

[justanobody]

For what it is worth, if you play 4e, especially DM 4e, then the DDI is really awesome. I think the value is WAY higher than the price, and the quality of subscriber articles is very high. Plus you get 3 or 4 adventures each month, side treks for your H-P-E series adventures and other stuff that really adds nicely to the game.

Sure, I can make it up myself, but the Gladiator article alone saved me about 2-3 hours of prep time, it was creative and had a lot of fluff and crunch. As only one article in the DDI for that month, its individual cost is way less than $1. The 2-3 hours of my time saved is worth much more than that.

For some I am sure... When I DM, not 4th or 3rd....; I rarely used anything whole cloth unless the adventure was perfect for my group.

I always bent, spindled, and mutilated anything to fit my world, so most times creating it from scratch was much easier than retooling something someone else had already done.

That aside, I still think the agenda with DDI is not entirely focused where free content that would both help sales, and gamers alike are concerned and the more people you can get playing happy, THEN the more people you can expect to look into DDI while they can still use the parts they want prior to the price hike that is on the way. (see DDI #16)

 

[catsclaw227]

For some I am sure... When I MD, not 4th or 3rd....; I rarely used anything whole cloth unless the adventure was perfect for my group.

I always bent, spindled, and mutilated anything to fit my world, so most times creating it from scratch was much easier than retooling something someone else had already done.

Sure, I understand. I don't use the stuff whole cloth either, but saving me 2-3 hours is still a big deal. It only took me about 30min to add a good 5-6 hours of fun to my game around some Gladiator games. Note, that at the PCs level in 3.5, it would have taken me 2x-3x longer to integrate outside sources, so I can see why you would understand that tweaking a third party's work would be more pain than pleasure. My experience shows that in 4e, it's really quite easy.

That aside, I still think the agenda with DDI is not entirely focused where free content that would both help sales, and gamers alike are concerned and the more people you can get playing happy, THEN the more people you can expect to look into DDI while they can still use the parts they want prior to the price hike that is on the way. (see DDI #16)

I think that the DDI price hike will only affect those that subscribe with the Character builder and the other tools they are planning to introduce, but this was explained long ago. I was under the impression that the Dungeon/Dragon subscriptions, along with Compendium will stay priced the same. I could be wrong about this though.

 

[justanobody]

You may want to check out the latest form Randy, and comment in the thread around here about it in the price of DDI and what is implied in there, so we no longer clog this thread about that...even though I think this is your thread and you can do what you want, but for the sake of others and the topic it was made for.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/245271-d-d-insider-16-a.html