Too Many Monster Manuals?

[megamania]

I don't mind the extra Monster Manuals.


As for the humanoid builds.... I wish they would do complex ones. Orcs, Lizard Folk and Drow are easy to do. I want to see various Giants using magical classes. They tend not to be a CR 7+ 6 levels of wizard = CR 13

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Why ask why? Gamers always like the notion that the market revolves around them personally (or should). DMs like monster books. Other folks are usually indifferent.

 

[Nellisir]

It's good for lazy DMs like me or DMs that don't have to time to do the creative part of the hobby, which doesn't exclude the fact that i'm not really the type that is good with the development mechanics of D20 to start building from scratch.

While I suppose they might be "good" for lazy DMs, I've found that the more resources a DM has available, the more creative they tend to be -- or perhaps, more creative DMs tend to buy more resources (like MMs) to express that creativity. It's the unimaginative ones that look at the shadar-kai or joystealers and say "well, those just aren't "real" monsters", and make a virtue out of being hidebound and inflexible.

But i do agree that there too numerous MMs in print and if they were going to do Spell Compendium, Magic Item Compendium and Rules Compendium, i guess we can expect what should be next...

I think a reworked Monster Manual is "in the works", but I don't know if it'll be a Monster Compendium. I'd like to see a Race Compendium, actually, and maybe a Compendium of new/alternate base classes or "fundamental concept" prestige classes (ie, archmage). I'm not sure about that, though.

 

[Steel_Wind]

MM I-IV, Fiend Folio, Lords of Madness, Libris Mortis, Fiendish Codex I and II, not to mention all the other monster statted out in the other supplements...

You'd think we had enough monsters by now.

A MM V? Who needs that? Nobody.

Who'll be buying it?

*sigh*

Me. It's my fault, you see. I'm a sucker for these and I love em.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

But i do agree that there too numerous MMs in print

By what standard are they "too numerous"? A wide range of choice is always good, and buying anything you don't want isn't mandatory.

 

[Razz]

Of course! Just because something is fantasy doesn't mean there isroom at the table for everything. You may have different limits than I do, but we all have limits as to how far our minds will be allowed to dream before we cannot participate realistically.

I'll try to give an example. I once played in a campaign where the setting was in someone's mind. In other words, the characters were essentially members of someone's dreams (or even daydreams). Each night the characters went to bed represented the daytime when the person was awake. When the person would go to sleep, the characters would wake up and participate in this person's dream. The problem was that anything the person dreamed was legitimate. The landscape changed to whatever the DM thought it should - representing a new dream. The laws of physics were subject to the "dreamer's mental state." The campaign was cool for about 2 or 3 sessions. But I quickly found myself loosing interest because it pulled me too far from my comfort zone in being able to suspend disbelief in reality. It wasn't the kind of game I enjoyed.

The monsters within the MM can have the same effect. I occasionally look at a monster and just shake my head. It pushes me too far for what I enjoy. It isn't like I say it doesn't belong in the game - or even that I can't imagine it. It just pushes me outside the type of fantasy that I enjoy.

I see, to each his own in this case. My games incorporate a lot of elements from fantasy japanese anime or anime like Naruto, Bleach, Berserk (pretty much the good ones). Not the actual setting itself, just the tone, atmosphere, and elements of japanese anime is what I do to throw in my Forgotten Realms game. But nothing ridiculous like an awakened fireball-slinging spellcasting turkey or some such.

I find the more MMs WotC puts out, the further I am pushed away - or the more I find classed monsters.

I'm curious, what kind of creatures do you look for in your games?

 

[Aust Diamondew]

I own MMII and a member of our group owns MMIII, I've noticed that we use significantly fewer monsters from those books than the core monster manual. I guess this shouild be expected given that the MM covers most of the more traditional creatures and niche's pretty well.

That said if they want to make a 100 MMs fine by me, I probably won't be buying anymore though.

 

[Agamon]

I bought MM2 when it came out, wished I hadn't, and that was the end of the monster books for me.

 

[Mark Hope]

You can never have enough monsters. There is no explanation needed for this fact. It is a universal law.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

You never bothered with 2e I see, there was almost 20 monstrous compendiums.
MC1 and 2.
2 or 3 Forgotten Realms
1 Greyhawk
1 Mystara
1 Fiend Folio
3 Ravenloft (Well RLMCII was basically just a villians book)
2 Dark Sun
2 Spelljammer
1 Kara Tur
1 Al Quadim
1 Dragonlance
1 Outer Planes
3 Planescape (PSMCI was basically the Outer Planes MC with better pictures and in colour)
4 MC Annuals
And I think I might be missing a couple.

So 5 MM's plus Fiend Folio and Monsters of Faerun means nothing in number compared to 2e.