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<blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 6279123" data-attributes="member: 18">I don't think anyone is saying &quot;has to&quot;, and the &quot;little sheep&quot; comment is pretty hilariously inappropriate (this isn't a &quot;macho&quot; or &quot;fight the man&quot; issue).The point is very simple - putting everything in one book, rules-wise, has been a very successful model. That's why people think it should be done. It sells more copies of that book, it means the group can play with just one book (though they usually won't), and it generally makes everyone's life quite a lot easier.The only reasons I can see not to do it are:1) If you can convince people to buy three books instead of one, why wouldn't you?(Of course the issue is that, in practice, the MM and DMG will typically sell only about as third as many copies as the PHB or less - where a more expensive &quot;everything&quot; book will sell a number closer to the PHB).2) Generally it allows better production values (i.e. more art, more space, more everything).D&amp;D can get away with not doing it. That doesn't mean D&amp;D shouldn't be doing it. It obviously doesn't mean it &quot;has to&quot;, either.It has the &quot;right&quot; to do it. That doesn't mean it's smart to do it.There is no level of which this analogy works, I'm afraid. Rules are rules are rules. In the end, they will out. The rules are not worse for being in one book. Indeed, on the contrary they are almost always better (if only slightly).Perhaps your &quot;I will buy it even if I never play it&quot; deal is clouding your analysis here. If you are buying things you have little/no intention of playing, you are buying them for rather unusual reasons. There is absolutely nothing &quot;foreign&quot; or &quot;mad&quot; about the DMG being optional to people who play RPGs rather than thinking about playing them, I'd suggest. I've played dozens of RPGs where it was optional - none of them were &quot;McDonalds&quot;. On the contrary, they were often far higher quality than the D&amp;D edition contemporary to them (particularly 2E).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ruin Explorer, post: 6279123, member: 18"] I don't think anyone is saying "has to", and the "little sheep" comment is pretty hilariously inappropriate (this isn't a "macho" or "fight the man" issue). The point is very simple - putting everything in one book, rules-wise, has been a very successful model. That's why people think it should be done. It sells more copies of that book, it means the group can play with just one book (though they usually won't), and it generally makes everyone's life quite a lot easier. The only reasons I can see not to do it are: 1) If you can convince people to buy three books instead of one, why wouldn't you? (Of course the issue is that, in practice, the MM and DMG will typically sell only about as third as many copies as the PHB or less - where a more expensive "everything" book will sell a number closer to the PHB). 2) Generally it allows better production values (i.e. more art, more space, more everything). D&D can get away with not doing it. That doesn't mean D&D shouldn't be doing it. It obviously doesn't mean it "has to", either. It has the "right" to do it. That doesn't mean it's smart to do it. There is no level of which this analogy works, I'm afraid. Rules are rules are rules. In the end, they will out. The rules are not worse for being in one book. Indeed, on the contrary they are almost always better (if only slightly). Perhaps your "I will buy it even if I never play it" deal is clouding your analysis here. If you are buying things you have little/no intention of playing, you are buying them for rather unusual reasons. There is absolutely nothing "foreign" or "mad" about the DMG being optional to people who play RPGs rather than thinking about playing them, I'd suggest. I've played dozens of RPGs where it was optional - none of them were "McDonalds". On the contrary, they were often far higher quality than the D&D edition contemporary to them (particularly 2E). [/QUOTE]

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