The New Rules Cyclopedia

[MerricB]

In all seriousness, with the PH in existence filling this niche, what would be WotC's financial incentive to even make such a product?

Hmm - not much.

And bedsides, doesn't the D&D Basic Set serve as an introductory product to D&D? When I demoed it at Gencon last year, it sure seemed that way.

Bedsides, Ghendar?

Yeah, the D&D Basic Set is the introductory product.

Cheers!

 

[RFisher]

I've bought plenty of RPGs that put all the core rules into a single volume. e.g. the original RC itself & Star Wars d20. (Altho', I picked up the RC more as a collector. I looked at it a lot back when it was in-print, but never bought it. But there are plenty of other one-volume-games on my shelf.) So, I don't see why I wouldn't buy a new D&D book like that. (Unless, as with the current edition, I have no plan to run it & there's a cheaper alternative for players.)

I've also bought RPGs that put more than just the core rules into a single volume. e.g. Toon & Pendragon.

There are, however, advantages to having things broken up into multiple books. I'm glad I have two copies of the Expert book for the classic D&D campaign I'm running because I often need to be referencing at least two parts of the book at the same time.

Likewise with the classic Traveller game I ran. I was often glad it was broken up into multiple books & still glad that I had multiple copies of a couple of them. (Although, the Starter Traveller split between rules & tables perhaps proved the most useful.) I acquired the Traveller Book during that campaign, but never used it.

OTOH, I'm working to combine the spell & monster sections of the Basic & Expert books because it's a PITA to find a spell or monster when you aren't sure which book it is in.

 

[smootrk]

I would not want a stripped down version of D&D.

On the other hand, I would enjoy an expanded/error checked/quality controlled rehash of the game that includes information generated from the additional books... most likely this would need to be an online/pdf endeavor.

Broken into volumes like:
Volume 1: Stats and races (including additions from a variety of sources like races books)
Volume 2: Base Classes (including the additional ones from Complete/Heroes/Tome of books)
Volume 3: Skills (including additional/expanded skill descriptions from the various sources) and Feats (could get big here)
Volume 4: Equipment, Mounts, Transport (and rules for them)
Volume 5: Combat
Volume 6/7/8: Spells, Invocations, Psionic Powers, and the like
....... etc.

Just making sure that it is more inclusive, better organized, error checked, play tested, and otherwise quality controlled.

Maybe even make it a Subscriber endeavor, and in some sort of Wiki format, so that the fanbase can refine/error check/add to the endeavor.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The Rules Cyclopedia was the Mentzer BECM (but not I) rules collected in one book, not OD&D. [/nitpick]

The term OD&D has been shifted away from the Basic D&D line in recent years. It's the term that was used for years on the Mystara mailing list, so I'm not going to switch over to a more cumbersome term for a less-used version, sorry.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In all seriousness, with the PH in existence filling this niche, what would be WotC's financial incentive to even make such a product?

You can't run a whole campaign with the PHB, unless it's very different from standard D&D.

And bedsides, doesn't the D&D Basic Set serve as an introductory product to D&D? When I demoed it at Gencon last year, it sure seemed that way.

You can't run a whole campaign with the Basic Set, unless it's very different from standard D&D.

 

[Ghendar]

Hmm - not much.



Bedsides, Ghendar?

Yeah, the D&D Basic Set is the introductory product.

Cheers!

LOL! Damn typos. "Besides"

 

[Ghendar]

You can't run a whole campaign with the PHB, unless it's very different from standard D&D.


You can't run a whole campaign with the Basic Set, unless it's very different from standard D&D.

So what you're saying is that you want an "all in one" volume, ala the Old Rules Cyclopedia but for D&D 3.5? (or 4.0 whenever that happens)

Sorry, I'm a little slow today

I still say there's very little financial incentive for WotC to develop and release such a product.
And you can't use the argument that if TSR did it then WotC can do it because let's face it, TSR made a few questionable financial decisions.

 

[Dykstrav]

Plenty of high schoolers would find $100 to be a significant chunk of change. And a lot of folks playing D&D started much earlier than that.

This is exactly the reason it took me so long to get seriously into D&D. I was able to check out the 1E PHB and DMG from my local library every once in a while, but getting my parents to spend the $15.00 on the 1E Monster Manual was completely out of the question (real skinflints and conservative Christians to boot). It wasn't until I was 15 and able to get a job that I was able to actually start buying D&D material.

I loved the Rules Cyclopedia. I used to loan it out as an intro to D&D type thing and it seemed to work very well in that regard. I don't know what it is exactly, but having everything (albeit simplified and stripped down) in one book seemed to make it much easier to digest for people new to the game.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

I still say there's very little financial incentive for WotC to develop and release such a product.

And you can't use the argument that if TSR did it then WotC can do it because let's face it, TSR made a few questionable financial decisions.

A look over the "Top Downloads" from the major ESD sites (rpgnow, drivethru, Paizo, etc.) reveal that the Cyclopedia is consistently still in the top tiers (usually in the top 10). Someone had a post on it here on ENWorld not long ago, and I verified it myself independently.

For the Cyclopedia to be such a popular item even now, years later (and with the death of OD&D and the advent of 3.5), should at least raise some eyebrows about the viability of an "all-in-one" book, IMO.

 

[thedungeondelver]

I still say there's very little financial incentive for WotC to develop and release such a product.
And you can't use the argument that if TSR did it then WotC can do it because let's face it, TSR made a few questionable financial decisions.

That, however, wasn't one of them. Both were strong-selling product lines that by all accounts complimented each other in terms of sales. At least during the time when Gary had full control of the company. What happened under the Blume brothers, then Lorraine Williams...well, that was their own set of mistakes to make.