The New Rules Cyclopedia

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In its waning days, following the publication of the Immortal Rules boxed set, OD&D got repackaged in an all-in-one Rules Cyclopedia book with character rules, monsters, DM info and the like between two hardcover covers. In other words, for the first time, D&D was following the model of most other RPGs over the years. Although AD&D was still king in those days, the Rules Cyclopedia has a lot of fans and it's been argued a product like that is a great entry level product for new players. (Some of my Midwood players have become DMs for their own groups, and I wince to think of the financial hit they took just taking that plunge without really knowing if it was for them.)

Would you buy such a product if it was offered for 3E? How about as a 4E product?

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

Although AD&D was still king in those days, the Rules Cyclopedia has a lot of fans and it's been argued a product like that is a great entry level product for new players. . . . Would you buy such a product if it was offered for 3E? How about as a 4E product?

In some ways I think it's apples and oranges. The Rules Cyclopedia was not an "entry level" introduction to a game. It *was* the game. A much, much, MUCH simpler game than 3.5. In my opinion, the 3.5 Player's Handbook is a perfectly adequate guide for new players. Remember that the only thing a player needs is the PHB; the DMG, MM, etc. are optional (unless, of course, you're DMing).

D&D 3.5 is a complex game, and I think that's fine. I suspect that trying to create an entry-level product would probably fare as well as the "Basic Game" has, in that it will be either far too simplified (like the Basic Game) and thus not very useful to people who want to move beyond it, or it would be too close to the PHB in complexity, thus rendering it redundant.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Couldn't you trim down the PHB to four classes (cleric, fighter, rogue, sorcerer), cut the spell list in half (or shorter), stick in two dozen monsters and a quarter of the magic items from the DMG and get pretty close to Rules Cyclopedia size, though?

 

[Plane Sailing]

Well, if you meant a rules product that actually covered moving the PCs into the political arena, building territories and assuming that higher level characters didn't just delve into deeper dungeons, then yes- in a shot!

If it was just a collection of 3e stuff then never.

Cheers

 

[Crothian]

No, not interested in this. That book took a bunch of rules form those box sets that all built off each other and put it in one nice place. We don't have that anymore. We have the core rules in three books and trimming that down doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

 

[JRR_Talking]

and also throw in a campaign world and some 2 adventures to get u going and a half dozen seeds for that campaign world.
u cld throw out all magic item creation feats (just give price to buy them) and metamagic feats

 

[JVisgaitis]

Couldn't you trim down the PHB to four classes (cleric, fighter, rogue, sorcerer), cut the spell list in half (or shorter), stick in two dozen monsters and a quarter of the magic items from the DMG and get pretty close to Rules Cyclopedia size, though?

Sure, but who would want that? The idea of a single book sounds appealing, but I don't think its possible given the current format of D&D.

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

Couldn't you trim down the PHB to four classes (cleric, fighter, rogue, sorcerer), cut the spell list in half (or shorter), stick in two dozen monsters and a quarter of the magic items from the DMG and get pretty close to Rules Cyclopedia size, though?

Hmmm. Actually, isn't this pretty much what D&D for Dummies did?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Sure, but who would want that?

Might it bring in people who play other RPGs and don't want to drop $100 to play D&D?

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

Might it bring in people who play other RPGs and don't want to drop $100 to play D&D?

But they don't have to drop $100 to play. All they need is a Player's Handbook. They can easily find a cheap used copy on eBay if they can't bring themselves to spend thirty bucks. And if they want to *DM* D&D, but don't want to spend $100.00 for the *required* books, I'd tell them, "Why do you want to DM if you don't want to spend the money?" It's like someone saying, "I want to ski, but I don't want to spend the money on the equipment or the lift ticket."

However, if, against all logic and common sense, a person wants to DM D&D and doesn't want to buy the three core books, there's always the Basic Game boxed set.