Too many books!

[jester47]

About a year ago I became really descriminating in what I bought. Typically it has to win an ennie, or have 4+ stars in the review section. I have to know that I will use it. There is a lot that I am interested in, but oftentimes when I see it it is not anything that I can really use.

This has happened with:

Dungeoncraft
Unholy Warriors Handbook
Desins of Freeport
Ghostwalk
Lots of Malhavoc stuff
Lots of Atlas Games stuff
Lots of Necromancer Games adventures (like Morrik Mansion, Aberations, The chaos one), and Raise the Dead. However I am looking forward to Vamps and Liches, Lost City of Barakus, and the Wilderlands stuff.

I find FR stuff to be good all round and ussually buy it sight unseen.

Even being a supplement snob, I still am behind in the purchasing.

Aaron.

 

[Psion]

It better be, for US$50.

Heh... a lot better value that BESM d20 slipcover edition, which I think was a bit more expensive and about half the size.

 

[NewJeffCT]

I guess I am in the minority in that I am not very tempted to buy a lot of the d20 stuff out there. I bought the original 3.0 stuff from WotC when it came out in 2000, as well as Psionics, Manual of the Planes, Oriental Adventures and the player’s supplement books (Sword & Fist, etc). I bought the original 3E adventure in Sunken Citadel but have not cracked it open.

For non-WotC stuff, I have bought most of Kenzer’s Kalamar books, (other than the adventures) as I have been a fan since 2E days. I also recently bought Midnight because it kind of jumped off the shelf at me.

Other than that, I bought the original 3 Freeport modules based on the rave online reviews. I will not be buying books based on reviews again.

I have no desire to buy any monster supplements. The regular MM has enough for me. And, I have not regularly bought adventures/modules since the 80s.

If I was to buy supplements, I prefer more rules-light stuff filled with ideas and histories. I am not into X numbers of new feats and Y number of new skills in this book, as well as Z number new prestige classes. (We have had one prestige class since 3E came out…)

 

[Ed Cha]

No, no, I'd definately not say the industry is winding down -- quite the opposite (see my first post -- momentum just keeps getting stronger!) I think the phase where we're seeing class/race/feat/PrC books is winding down. That's been done so much that there's not much of a demand for those kinds of books anymore, I'd suspect. I don't see a lot of those kinds of books on the release schedule's these days anymore either.

Gotcha! I went back and read your post. I missed the "that phase" part.

It seems like a lot of setting books are coming out which is great. My first book is what I like to call an adventure setting. Have you checked it out yet? Buttercup picked up a copy at Gen Con and "really, really liked it" as she posted earlier. I just don't see it on anyone's "to get" list though.

Anyhow, I think there's still room for some class/race/feat/spell books. Personally, 've never been big on prestige classes. At least not yet. I'm also trying out non-d20 games. Next week, I'm supposed to play in a demo for the Burning Wheel RPG by Luke Crane:

http://www.burningwheel.org

It's supposed to a "revolutionary advancement system where abilities grow based on how they are used". Sounds interesting enough.

 

[Kichwas]

I can understand this problem...

There's just too much good stuff right now.

So I've decided to make the cut point a very harsh one:

How often will I use this in the game I'm going to start running in the next week or two?

That's cut AU off my shopping list for now. It's also cut a lot of other items off the list, even though they looks really neat.

Oddly enough, it's then gone and put some oddballs on the list, like this new d20 book I saw that had a whole pack of maps of the interior of city buildings along with some brief descriptions. Low on eye-candy factor, but when I looked at it I could see that this would be very useful for my game, even if it wasn't the sort of thing I like to carry to the coffee table and enjoy looking over -like AU would've been-.

 

[Desdichado]

I could never put such a strict limit on my buying. I purposefully buy stuff that I'm not going to use immediately, because it gives me ideas to use way down the line, or because I think it's really interesting and I might want to use it.

Not only that, I don't want my immediate game to get bogged down with more supplements and rules. I typically decide for a given campaign well in advance what rules and materials I'm going to use, and don't add to it much until the campaign's run it's course.

 

[Kichwas]

Oh I wish I could buy more, but the budget is -real- tight right now, so I buy practical stuff only.

 

[Desdichado]

Ah, I understand that completely. I've only recently not had that exact same problem.

BTW, I just moved this weekend, and pulled my d20 books out and put them all on a single long shelf in my roof. Then, just for fun, I pulled out a tape measure to see how "long" my d20 collection is. It came to 34 inches (85 cm). I've always thought of my collection as relatively modest -- but I'll have a meter of d20 by the end of the year easily.

 

[hong]

BTW, I just moved this weekend, and pulled my d20 books out and put them all on a single long shelf in my roof. Then, just for fun, I pulled out a tape measure to see how "long" my d20 collection is. It came to 34 inches (85 cm). I've always thought of my collection as relatively modest -- but I'll have a meter of d20 by the end of the year easily.

Josh, you have to stop taking that "add inches to your d20 collection" spam so seriously.

 

[Desdichado]

Josh, you have to stop taking that "add inches to your d20 collection" spam so seriously.

You only say that because you're not a meter long like I am! You should see how impressed my wife was when I showed her.