The New Rules Cyclopedia

[frankthedm]

If it was a compiling of the core rules and the best of the splat materials in a smallish font 700 - 1000 page volume i could see paying the $175 amazon.com pricetag on a $300 page book.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

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.

There are plenty of games that I enjoy running that I wouldn't drop a hundred bucks in order to buy. I'd run a game of WFRP but if I had to spend a hundred bucks on it I wouldn't, same for Mutants & Mastersminds, or a number of other games.

 

[thedungeondelver]

I was...gonna say you'd wind up with a book the size of "The World's Largest Dungeon" but FranktheDm beat me to the stick there.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

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."

Right, and my point is $100 isn't a required investment for other major RPGs.

And the notion that established gamers might want to try D&D as a group, and just stay with their current players, isn't hard to believe at all. So we're back to $100 as the arbitrary barrier to entry.

 

[Crothian]

And the notion that established gamers might want to try D&D as a group, and just stay with their current players, isn't hard to believe at all. So we're back to $100 as the arbitrary barrier to entry.

Unless to just use the SRD which is free.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Unless to just use the SRD which is free.

And doesn't have character creation or advancement rules, among other omissions.

 

[delericho]

I can see the value in a product like this. Sort of a 'Greatest Hits' of the existing core rules.

I would strip it down to 4 races (Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling) and 4 classes (Fighter, Rogue, Cleric, Sorcerer). Limit advancement at level 13, and remove all spells of 7th level or higher. Remove the gods, and have Clerics choose any two domains, and strip down the list of domains. From the 'DMG' side, include only the advancement rules, a single chapter on running games and creating adventures, and a stripped down magic item list. From the MM, include no creatures above CR 14, and heavily edit the list.

Don't use a stripped down or modified form of the d20 rules themselves, though. The game should be designed to be 100% compatible with the existing sourcebooks out there. However, since the rules themselves are actually quite compact, and the bulk of the Core Rules content is, for want of a better word, stuff (feats, spells, magic items, monsters), that sort of compatibility should be possible.

At a guess, you could get a version of the game into a single volume about the size of the PHB. Sadly, given the likely sales volumes, I fully expect such a project would not be financially viable.

 

[Crothian]

And doesn't have character creation or advancement rules, among other omissions.

Then they borrow a friend's, check one out of a library, ask on EN World. Even if they feel they have to buy all three core books, I can get them for under fifty and probably less if I felt the need to actually look for them. The 100 dollar price tag is just not true.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Then they borrow a friend's, check one out of a library, ask on EN World. Even if they feel they have to buy all three core books, I can get them for under fifty and probably less if I felt the need to actually look for them. The 100 dollar price tag is just not true.

You're changing the parameters of the problem to make it not be true.

If a group of established gamers want to go play D&D -- not go widen their circle of acquaintances to find some sort of D&D missionary to bring into their group -- they need to drop $100 to get the books new. Sure, they can find one of the few libraries with the books (my city is in one of the largest library systems in the country and they don't have them), steal them, grab illegal PDFs of them, or a host of other options. But the option that WotC has provided as, not just the standard, but the only way to officially do it is to drop $100.

Obviously, they've got the biggest portion of the RPG market, but there's still a large market out there that they're not selling to.

 

[Crothian]

But the option that WotC has provided as, not just the standard, but the only way to officially do it is to drop $100.

So, those marked down books on Amazon and the super cheap used ones at half price book store and ebay are not official? And my local library system does have the books last time I checked. So, they could get lucky there.

Even so, it's only a hundred dollars. Not a lot of money in this day and age. I don't know anyone that wanted to play D&D and couldn't because it was just too expensive.