The Next big thing...

[Hand of Evil]

First it was Monster Manuals, then it was settings, then Sea adventing/rules, within the last last week city books.

Great minds think alike and so do publishers it seems. I was just wondering what do you think will be next item to come out.

My feelings? Super-dungeons on the lines of Undermountain.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Crothian]

It seems class and race books.

 

[Codragon]

great job guys!

Thanks to all who voted and replied!

The city in question should not be "riot town", but should definately have some shady areas and not be entirely a "safe haven". That's a little vague, I know. All I can say is it should fall in that "grey area" which I'm sure any published city can do with the help of a half-decent DM.

From looking at all three briefly in stores, I would say Geanuvue is the most detailed, but I don't know how much of the "Kalamarian" feel I want (btw, I'm not familiar w/Kalamar). Freeport seems alright, but I haven't bought any of the modules..how important are they? Also, Freeport is on an island and I kinda want a mainland city IMC. Bluffside stood out, I liked the city layout, the NPCs, and the generic gods. Before this poll, I was learning towards Bluffside.

Again these opinions are based only on one or two brief gaming store purusals which is kind of unfair and may give inaccurate portrayals. That's why we have enworld!

I'll be away till Sunday but keep the votes comin'! I'm making a city book purchase when I get back!

PS: I'm also a big fan of small print, which is a reason (albeit small) I like Ruins of Undermountain 1 and the Hackmaster books. High words-per-page is much more important than page count.

 

[MEG Hal]

IMHO---Modern d20 will be the next big thing.
BUT I was surprised at how many city books came out at once, and race books are coming hot and heavy also, so we may see a theme before Mod20 attacks....just hope it is not desert. Since that is where we are headed next.

 

[Melan]

IMHO race books will not be a really big thing. Just a gut feeling.

On the other hand, supermodules will start coming out. WotC had Return to the Temple not that long ago - and the d20 people will be catching up pretty soon. Earlier ones had 32 or 48 pages. Now even Tomb of Abysthor has 96 (of course, this is needed due to the large room 3e stat blocks occupy), and there are a few big ones on schedule - Necropolis, the Banewarrens, etc.

Superdungeons... Well, Rappan Athuk is one, although it came out/is coming out in three parts. But nothing like Undermountain yet.

Something I haven't seen at all is boxed sets - too cost prohibitive, I guess...

 

[Synicism]

My guess - give it a few months and we're going to see lots of high-powered stuff for all the new epic characters.

 

[MEG Hal]

My guess - give it a few months and we're going to see lots of high-powered stuff for all the new epic characters.

Any word on if epic will be open or closed, if closed you will not see a lot of us doing stuff for it.

 

[TalonComics]

Next are class and sub-class books ala Quintessential HB then with some race books following.

Modern has already started with Cthulhu and Spycraft. By the time D20 Modern rolls around it might have to fight a little bit to squeeze in.

Besides topic trends this past couple of weeks have been hardback city! I counted something like 8 HCs released from game companies in the past two or three weeks. All of them running 29.95 to 39.95 full price. I love HCs but at some point fans just can't afford to get them. Also, the availability of various books becomes less and less as retailers struggle to afford all of those HCs. If a retailer doesn't have any kind of pre-order system they're just not going to be able to buy everything hoping someone will come in and get it.
I think eventually the books end up selling over the long run as people get more paychecks though. Honestly there really isn't anything a publisher can do about releases bunching up. It just happens.

~Derek

 

[Synicism]

Originally posted by THG Hal Any word on if epic will be open or closed, if closed you will not see a lot of us doing stuff for it.

No idea what they're going to "officially" release. It really depends on what the epic handbook does with D&D.

As it stands, there's nothing stopping you from, for example, making a prestige class that requires 25 ranks, the ability to cast 15 9th level spells in a day, or something obscene like that. And any character who met the requirements could take it. Technically, it would be an epic prestige class because only epic characters could qualify for it.

And you could build it entirely out of the stuff that is already out there.

You could do much the same with feats, spells, and so on. Just because a feat requires more prerequisites than a 20th level character can possibly have doesn't mean it violates the license.

Besides, epic gaming can make for a lot of other things as well. Imagine a Dragonstar game where the PC's are *dragons* or something like that. Such a game could make good use of epic-style rules.

Here's a good example of what I mean.

Prestige Class: Wuxia Monk

Requirements: Jump 24 ranks, Tumble 24 ranks, Balance 24 ranks, base unarmed attack bonus +15, Weapon Focus (Unarmed), Weapon Finesse (Unarmed), Whirlwind Attack, Improved Critical (Unarmed)

Skills: Blah Blah Blah...

Class Features: Blah Blah Blah...

As it stands, no 20th level character could qualify for the class just on the skill rank requirements. But I'm pretty sure the class is legit under the OGL.

 

[thg jim]

I think that Hal meant that their are certainly rules changes coming out in the Epic book. If they are not open gaming, then d20 publishers, like us, cannot use them. Subsequently, we would be forced to do as you said, take the rules as they stand and adjust them. The downside to that is that if WOTC releases the Epic book as open gaming, then anyone who spent any time and money modifying the existing rules would be left out in the cold. We all just have to wait and see.

Jim Govreau
COO Thunderhead Games, Inc.