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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 6503551" data-attributes="member: 3400">I can think of few ways in which splatbooks may generate ire:1) They complicate the game - a lot. In a game with lots of configuration options, new option scan dramatically increase the number of combinations that may be configured. The longer this goes on, the harder it is to find and mitigate unintended problems. For new options to not create this sort of problem, they'd have to be pretty tightly constrained within limited parameters and generalized effects. I think 4e shot for this model but even then a friend of mine GMing the game found it hard to avoid excessive stun-locking issues. Champions is probably a more successful model since lots of proliferated powers are based on 1d6 effects vs similarly built defenses.2) They generate gaps in player's/GM's understanding of the game. If only one player at the table has read splatbook A, other players and the GM are more likely to be blind-sided by the effect of options from it. More splatbooks and the more you'll find players knowing of parts of this, none of that, little bits of the other (possibly based on the types of PCs they like to run), and nobody having a good grasp of the whole.3) Differing publication regimes lead to differing levels of access. This is a particular problem of 3e that Paizo has largely mitigated by making nearly all PF rule content (though some Golarion-specific IP requires modification) open while WotC did not with 3e. In 3e, it's so much easier to run a core-only game than with full splatbooks because anyone with an internet connection has access to the SRD. Similarly, it's much easier to run a full splatbook game in PF than in 3e, again, because it's all available to anyone with an internet connection or, (just about as good) access to a tablet with PF-based apps (I have a few). This is also why it's harder to run a broadly sourced 4e game than even core 3e or all-option PF - because while the builder contains all of the building content, it's behind a pay way that not everyone can (or is willing to) breach.4) They can change the game - sometimes a positive, but not always. Splatbooks may focus on new options but they often come with new rules as well. New ways to handle weapon proficiency slots, new action types, damage stats for monsters, and so on. These may intended to fix the way the core game runs in some way but the difference in access means spotty adoption.5) and don't get me started on the social pressure to keep up with the game system and players who want to incorporate the left-handed peg leg orcs splatbook (or other new shiny du jour) because that's their favorite character type</blockquote>

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