So what's gold gonna be for?

[allenw]

Godzilla is not a mammal. Big Bird is not a mammal. They have "not being a mammal" in common, and so for the purposes of argument from analogy, Big Bird is identical to Godzilla.

Or perhaps analogy is more than just linking together two unrelated concepts by virtue of trivial similarities.

Certainly, we should focus on the non-trivial similarity between Big Bird and Godzilla.
As Harry Knowles (of Ain't It Cool News) would say::

MANINSUITMANINSUITMANINSUITMANINSUITMANINSUITMANINSUITMANINSUITMANINSUIT!

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

The purpose of the analogy was to provide an example of a situation where giving people what they want is not the morally correct thing to do, because it is not in the consumer's best long-term interests.

Sure, but then you have to explain why butt-kicker-centric books are bad for our long-term interests. The weight of evidence shows that, so far, butt-kicker books have carried the game through three editions, and there is no indication that butt-kicking is going out of style.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Excellent use of the badwrongfun argument.

Hey, I wasnt the one who threw it out.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

What I actually said was that sales data isn't always a reliable metric. Which isn't the same thing as saying that it proves one playstyle is more popular than another. At all. In fact, it's kinda the opposite of that.

But hey, you're free to read my words any way you like. I'm not possessive.

According to you, people dont buy books about stuff they like. Thats why empire building books dont sell.. becomes everyone loves those types of games. People buy books about stuff they dont like. Hence the huge sales of feat/prc/magic item/spell splat books. Because there are more empire builders than butt kickers.

When you make some sense, I might take you seriously.

Hell, lets assume that there are in fact TONS of players who want to run resturaunts, town militias or what have you. Apparently very few of them actually buy books on the subject, as represented by the low sales of related supplements. Lets assume that theres just a tiny group that seems to enjoy books based on new abilities. They apparently support tyhe bulk of RPG sales. Why would WOTC want to ignore them and support a group that doesnt spend?

 

[Irda Ranger]

I've skimmed but not read in full more than one or two posts in the last two pages. Can you guys please take this to e-mail?

 

[Mallus]

When you make some sense, I might take you seriously.

If you're not going to be civil, you could at least be funny. It's not much to ask...

<end pointless hijack mode>

 

[Doug McCrae]

There are three possibilities for high level play:

1) It doesn't occur. Campaigns end when the sweet spot (levels 5-14 or so) ends.
2) It's much the same as low level play except you fly to the dungeon instead of walking and the BBEG is threatening the universe instead of a village.
3) The game changes significantly, becoming more focused on politics and rulership.

Mallus's experience is (3). Mine has been (1). Of course, being biased, we all expect our own experience to accord with the majority.

 

[Lanefan]

There are three possibilities for high level play:

1) It doesn't occur. Campaigns end when the sweet spot (levels 5-14 or so) ends.
2) It's much the same as low level play except you fly to the dungeon instead of walking and the BBEG is threatening the universe instead of a village.
3) The game changes significantly, becoming more focused on politics and rulership.

Mallus's experience is (3). Mine has been (1). Of course, being biased, we all expect our own experience to accord with the majority.

While my experience has largely been (2). But in all three, the question remains: what are they gonna spend their money on?

Lanefan

 

[JDJblatherings]

books on empire building...we dont' really need them to do an empire building campaign.

All one needs is the cost of men at arms, a simple mass combat system ,how to calculate tax revenues, the cost of castles along with simple siege rules (hardness/hp of walls and siege engine dmage ratings).

I've played in many campaigns that had empire building and the original DMG had almost all of what one needed to do so (no mass combat system). The BECM series of D&D boxed sets made it even easier (more detail in running a domain and a mass combat system). D&D has historically had this stuff and it didnt' take volumes and volumes to do it correctly just a few pages here and there.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

D&D has historically had this stuff and it didnt' take volumes and volumes to do it correctly just a few pages here and there.

A lot of stuff that D&D has historically had are goin' bye-bye. With every new edition we lose a little bit more.

The crucible of Design continues to fire the impurities out of the gold.

This is not to say that a lot of this stuff is unwelcome or ultimately prohibited-- simply that it should be properly separated from the essence of the system.