Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Too Many Books. . .?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 2895890" data-attributes="member: 14159"><p>Recalling the recent thread about the state of the game industry, with it being remarked that the industry is putting too many books out too fast, I've got to say there is merit in that statement.</p><p></p><p>Back in 1st Edition, a new hardcover rulebook came out roughly once a year. There were 13 hardcovers for 1st edition IIRC: Players Handbook, Dungeon Master Guide, Monster Manual, Monster Manual II, Fiend Folio, Manual of the Planes, Deities and Demigods, Unearthed Arcana, Dragonlance Adventures, Greyhawk Adventures, Wilderness Survival Guide, Dungeoneers Survival Guide, and Oriental Adventures.</p><p></p><p>Actual new rulebooks were big events, and they were something all the dedicated players had and knew well. Now, if you blink, you miss one. There are so many rulebooks that aside from the core 3, I'd doubt that many gamers have a whole lot in common unless they are particularly dedicated to buying everything.</p><p></p><p>One of the big admitted problems with TSR's later days was they fragmented the market by producing too many product lines, too many books. So many books coming out at once that nobody could keep up with all of it, and it was all spread throughout so many product lines.</p><p></p><p>That it was really going back to being like this was hit home yesterday at my FLGS. I've been spending a lot of time with my new girlfriend, so I hadn't kept on top of gaming for about a month and a half. I finally stop by my FLGS to look around, and see several new WotC hardcovers. Books I was vaguely aware were coming out, like Complete Psionic, another FR region book that I didn't know was coming out but wasn't surprised to see, to books I'd not even heard of, like Fiendish Horrors I: Codex of the Abyss (I think that was its name).</p><p></p><p>I'm a Forgotten Realms fan, but I had to give up on getting all the new region books quite a while back, I just couldn't afford to keep up with buying all those new books, on top of other gaming books (core D&D and other systems). I stopped buying every new book about two years ago, instead buying books that I thought I'd like, or could really use. Now, it just feels like WotC is drowning us with so many books we can't keep up. Even if I had more money, I wouldn't have more time to keep reading and keep up to date on what is in so many new books. Is it really a return to the later days of 2e, with too many books coming out?</p><p></p><p>It really hit home a few months ago, when a member of my gaming club wanted to come up with a house rule on how to do something for his campaign. He asked me what he wanted, I thought about it for a few minutes, and gave him a suggestion, and he got upset because apparently a new book from WotC I'd not read had the same suggestion and he was wanting an alternative and was upset that I wasn't being original. To me, I was flattered that my suggestion I came up with after two minutes of thinking was the same idea as what the professionals were writing, but since I didn't know the newest, hottest rules, to him I was obsolete and not worth asking anymore.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="wingsandsword, post: 2895890, member: 14159"] Recalling the recent thread about the state of the game industry, with it being remarked that the industry is putting too many books out too fast, I've got to say there is merit in that statement. Back in 1st Edition, a new hardcover rulebook came out roughly once a year. There were 13 hardcovers for 1st edition IIRC: Players Handbook, Dungeon Master Guide, Monster Manual, Monster Manual II, Fiend Folio, Manual of the Planes, Deities and Demigods, Unearthed Arcana, Dragonlance Adventures, Greyhawk Adventures, Wilderness Survival Guide, Dungeoneers Survival Guide, and Oriental Adventures. Actual new rulebooks were big events, and they were something all the dedicated players had and knew well. Now, if you blink, you miss one. There are so many rulebooks that aside from the core 3, I'd doubt that many gamers have a whole lot in common unless they are particularly dedicated to buying everything. One of the big admitted problems with TSR's later days was they fragmented the market by producing too many product lines, too many books. So many books coming out at once that nobody could keep up with all of it, and it was all spread throughout so many product lines. That it was really going back to being like this was hit home yesterday at my FLGS. I've been spending a lot of time with my new girlfriend, so I hadn't kept on top of gaming for about a month and a half. I finally stop by my FLGS to look around, and see several new WotC hardcovers. Books I was vaguely aware were coming out, like Complete Psionic, another FR region book that I didn't know was coming out but wasn't surprised to see, to books I'd not even heard of, like Fiendish Horrors I: Codex of the Abyss (I think that was its name). I'm a Forgotten Realms fan, but I had to give up on getting all the new region books quite a while back, I just couldn't afford to keep up with buying all those new books, on top of other gaming books (core D&D and other systems). I stopped buying every new book about two years ago, instead buying books that I thought I'd like, or could really use. Now, it just feels like WotC is drowning us with so many books we can't keep up. Even if I had more money, I wouldn't have more time to keep reading and keep up to date on what is in so many new books. Is it really a return to the later days of 2e, with too many books coming out? It really hit home a few months ago, when a member of my gaming club wanted to come up with a house rule on how to do something for his campaign. He asked me what he wanted, I thought about it for a few minutes, and gave him a suggestion, and he got upset because apparently a new book from WotC I'd not read had the same suggestion and he was wanting an alternative and was upset that I wasn't being original. To me, I was flattered that my suggestion I came up with after two minutes of thinking was the same idea as what the professionals were writing, but since I didn't know the newest, hottest rules, to him I was obsolete and not worth asking anymore. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Too Many Books. . .?
Top