What d20 author do you buy sight-unseen?

[MerricB]

No single author - although I'm always interested in what Gary Gygax is doing.

However, I would buy anything from Wizards of the Coast unseen.

This is not because it is automatically good (although much of it is), but because knowing what the makers of D&D are doing with the game is extremely interesting. If there are going to be changes in the future, I'd like to see them flagged in the products now, rather than coming back 10 years from now to see the entire landscape changed.

If I had the money, I'd also be buying the products from the major d20 System publishers, for the same reasons.

(It's worth saying that I relate a lot better to the Wizards design philosophy than that of several other publishers, although I know that's not the case for everyone).

Cheers!

 

[The Shaman]

I buy a product based on content, not who wrote it - to be honest, I rarely even notice the authors' names.

However, I would buy anything from Wizards of the Coast unseen.

Excuse me, I have to go rinse the taste of vomit out of my mouth now.

:\

 

[Greg K]

Excuse me, I have to go rinse the taste of vomit out of my mouth now. :\

ROFL.

Okay, now that I have stopped laughing. Despite WOTC being one of the last companies whose products that I would buy unseen (and this has saved me from buyer's regret on numerous occassions), I think that response was a little harsh. Merric has the right to his choice and it should be respected.

 

[The Shaman]

Merric has the right to his choice and it should be respected.

My intention was not to disparage MerricB or his purchasing decisions - I was merely expressing my own perspective on the prospect of buying a Wizards of the Coast product without reading it...several times...and maybe playtesting it once or twice...assuming I could even be persuaded to pick it up in the first place...

BTW, Greg K, I like the quotes in your signature.

 

[NiTessine]

Apart from Monte Cook...

Well, there's James Wyatt. Jeff Grubb. Ed Greenwood. Mike Mearls. And in the past I've generally made it a point to buy at least one book by every D20 author we've had as a regular chatter at #dnd3e (printed book, that is, since it's currently not even an option for me to buy pdf).

 

[Dinkeldog]

My intention was not to disparage MerricB or his purchasing decisions - I was merely expressing my own perspective on the prospect of buying a Wizards of the Coast product without reading it...several times...and maybe playtesting it once or twice...assuming I could even be persuaded to pick it up in the first place...

BTW, Greg K, I like the quotes in your signature.

Thank you for the clarification, Shaman. I have to agree that your initial posting is quite harsh. In the future, please rethink the message a post sends, thanks.

 

[diaglo]

However, I would buy anything from Wizards of the Coast unseen.

This is not because it is automatically good (although much of it is), but because knowing what the makers of D&D are doing with the game is extremely interesting. If there are going to be changes in the future, I'd like to see them flagged in the products now, rather than coming back 10 years from now to see the entire landscape changed.

If I had the money, I'd also be buying the products from the major d20 System publishers, for the same reasons.

i also buy anything from WotC.

not b/c any of it is any good, but b/c as Merric notes any changes to the game are gonna come by way of their products.

and to complete my collection.

 

[Richards]

Originally posted by Olaf the Stout:

Jonathan, when are we going to see another Challenge of Champions module?

I have figured out 7 of the 10 scenarios for "Challenge of Champions VI." My goal is to have the manuscript finished and sent off to Dungeon by the end of the year. After that, who knows?

And like many others who have posted here, I don't have any authors whose works I would buy sight unseen, but a considerable number whose name on a product will at least get me to look at it with the initial thought that this may very well be worth purchasing.

Johnathan

 

[Psion]

However, I would buy anything from Wizards of the Coast unseen.

Heh. Despite the reaction this has drawn, this is true of me, too. (Well, except adventures).

Stronghold Builder's Guide was the beginning of the end for that attitude in me.

 

[The Shaman]

Thank you for the clarification, Shaman. I have to agree that your initial posting is quite harsh. In the future, please rethink the message a post sends, thanks.

Well, it made perfect sense to me when I wrote it... :\

Until Greg K mentioned it, it didn't occur to me that it could be taken as negative toward MerricB at all. I had to reread it a couple of times to really take notice of it. MerricB's experience is radically different from mine - I'm sure he's much more in the mainstream among gamers than I am in this regard.

Wizards of the Coast's books are so insanely hit-or-miss for me, and the ratio of useful content:stuff I'll never use so ridiculously skewed, that I would never consider buying a Wizards' book without cracking the cover first. That's not a reflection on the authors generally, but rather the consequence of a design philosophy that rarely meets my needs as a gamer.

With respect to Wizards' product, my post conveyed exactly the message I wanted to send. Harsh? Yes, consciously and deliberately so - it's my reaction to the fact that even the supplements I like and purchase rarely have more than a dozen pages of content that may make it into my games. Shelling out the shekels for the one or two Wizards' books I may buy in a year usually involves me throwing up my hands at some point and resigning myself to the odious fact that I'm overpaying terribly for those few pages.

It may not be literally a vomit-inducing experience, but that certainly conveys my feelings about it.