[SCOOP] Psionics 3.5, The New Setting, and Dark Sun!!

[WanderingMonster]

Result:
Wizards effectively sells a setting, and a fourth rulebook to everyone who wants to use either setting, and those who've bought the psi handbook and one of the settings will be more inclined to buy the other, because now they own the psi handbook that's required to use it.

A conspiracy theory! I love it. This IS the internet!

 

[Mark]

Mark? You're supposed to be the lighthearted, witty, optimistic one! And now your rose-colored glasses are half-empty?

There's a difference between rose-colored glasses and a rose-colored blindfold.

Sure this might just be internet rumour, I'll grant you that. Would it help if we called it Unofficial News?

heh Call it what you will. I fail to see the wisdom in what is being suggested, whether it is rumor or news, official or un.

And yes, I realize that this post lacks solid reasoning and/or insight. But it has riboflavin and retsyn!

Yum.

 

[Mark]

Can't do that, but I can speculate.
-snip-
Wizards effectively sells a setting, and a fourth rulebook to everyone who wants to use either setting, and those who've bought the psi handbook and one of the settings will be more inclined to buy the other, because now they own the psi handbook that's required to use it.

This would be a serious shift in their marketting strategy which up to now has been to either put out material supporting only their two main settings, material for one-off settings, or material that is only one step removed from their core books.

Not saying they won't change their strategy, mind you, or that psionics couldn't use some more material. I am saying that it would be a switch, that it would be to a niche of the market, and that it is unlikely to be very profitable.

 

[EarthsShadow]

Bring them on, I love psionics in my games. DS was one of my personal favorite games but it was hard to find players that apprecited the world for the way it is.

 

[MerricB]

I think the "main book for the setting" release but little else from Wizards is a very strong possibility. I don't like Dark Sun. Never have. Ditto Planescape.

But if they release them as Fantasy Setting Books for D&D, then let other people license out the ability to create adventure/supplements: then things are great. I'm very happy for all of you who do like those things.

Cheers!

 

[Graf]

WotC might as well do the same thing they did with Dark Sun as they've done with OA/Rokugan, Dragonlance, etc.
They definitely won't be supporting the setting after one book though. Look at Greyhawk....

Having said that DS was cool -- hopefully their licensee will be good. It's good that WotC is mining their old intellectual properties better; there's a lot of stuff that would shine with a new coat of paint.

The odds of there being a new psionic book is 95-98%.
1. It's probably one of the most popular supplements (certainly more than say the MotP or the BoVD). There's a big fan-base of people who use psionics in otheir games and even larger segment of people who would buy the book out of interest.

2. While very good overall psionics could use a lot of tweaking. The author of the book (Bruce Cordel) has already released a significantly altered psion progression system & prestige classes in If Thoughts Could Kill (plus the two more books he's slated to produce soon). Furthermore it's been the subject of several dragon magazine articles with new feats which have a big impact on how the system functions.

3. Parts of it are loathed (i.e. Psionic combat). You could probably remove the psionic combat an replace it with a system involving canned tuna (or collectable rocks) and people would line up to buy it.

Just collecting the published stuff on the net, adding the new feats and the IFCK psion rules (which are OGL) would produce a new, much better book, without much effort. Add in some playtesting feedback and you're done.

The only thing I'm curious about is BC's Mindscapes books (which should be out soon). If those are so good that they become "default" WotC might face a bit of a fractured market. (I'd be pleased if they just turned around and re-incorperated everything good from those books into the SRD but that's unlikely I suppose).

 

[rounser]

A conspiracy theory! I love it. This IS the internet!

Indeed it IS, baby. The internet, that is. But...marketing strategy theory = conspiracy theory?

Must have missed the memo...

 

[Mark]

The odds of there being a new psionic book is 95-98%.
1. It's probably one of the most popular supplements (certainly more than say the MotP or the BoVD). There's a big fan-base of people who use psionics in otheir games and even larger segment of people who would buy the book out of interest.

What are you basing this on?

 

[rounser]

I am saying that it would be a switch, that it would be to a niche of the market, and that it is unlikely to be very profitable.

Well, yeah. But the existence of the survey and the rumour seem to suggest they're considering it. Maybe the Psionics Handbook did a lot better than we might think.

 

[Mark]

Well, yeah. But the existence of the survey and the rumour seem to suggest they're considering it. Maybe the Psionics Handbook did a lot better than we might think.

I'd love to see some numbers. Can you tell me more about the survey? Are we talking about the online survey that they ran half a year ago, or so?

It'd be interesting if one of the expatriated WotC people could drop a print run number on us for the PsiHB...