Who's happy about MMV being MMIV again?

[Maggan]

Or perhaps, the old way is the shortsided way and the new format must be on to something being fairly well recieved, easy to use, etc. New ideas and forward thinking and all that bother...

Naaah ... it's new, so it's obviously rubbish. And a harbinger of 4e.

/M

 

[greywulf]

Joe, I think you've summed it up pretty well, yep.

Where Monster Manuals should excel is in terrific beasties that inspires the GM and makes them think "I could use this!" every time they turn the page. The Monsternomicon is a work of art in this respect; it's probably the bestest bestiary ever written for sheer monster goodness. The Tome(s) of Horror come close, bolstered by their nostalic tear-inducing value. I have, and use them all.

MMIV contains pretty good monsters - on a par with MMIII, certainly - but in a format that's easier for a GM to use. I like that there are themes to some critters too - it adds consistency into the gameworld, if you want it. I've used it more than any other MM after the first, so for value for money, it's a winner.

As you said, it's great for begninning GMs too. All good stuff.

Provided the monsters are of a high quality, I'm glad MMV looks like being more of the same.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

It is kinda boggling that someone would be this short sighted. It would be so easy to give BOTH sides more rather than undercutting support for the stuff that you DO want by chasing off buyers with a different preference.

Maybe MMIV sold really well. So well in fact that they are producing another in the same format. I wonder where I could have come up with such a crazy idea.

Bring on 4E. Hell bring on 5E 3 months later.

 

[Ry]

Personally, it's exactly what I want.

As for the "why" - even if MMIV sold comparably well to MMIII, I think MMIV had more cross-marketing punch, tying back to the minis.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I doesn't matter to me. Yeah, the format leaves something to be desired, but I'll make my own Monsster Manual pages usinfg the format I like in MSWord. Yeah, that might seem like a lot of work, but I'd only convert to the older format as a 'as nedded' basis.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Maybe MMIV sold really well. So well in fact that they are producing another in the same format. I wonder where I could have come up with such a crazy idea.

Bring on 4E. Hell bring on 5E 3 months later.

And MMII and MMIII and Fiend Folio must've sold really bad right?

 

[demiurge1138]

I'm not thrilled about the format remaining the same, but I'm not calling doom upon the heads of WoTC and the hobby over it, either. Even though I didn't much like the presence of the classed humanoids in a Monster Manual, I have to admit I used them for a pickup game and they worked quite nicely. As long as MMV doesn't have a quarter of its pagecount taken up by a single monster theme (I'm looking at you, spawn of Tiamat), I think I'll be pleased with it.

Doesn't mean I won't still covet Tome of Horrors 4 and Monsternomicon Vol. 2, though.

Demiurge out.

 

[MKMcArtor]

Hmm... I think that blurb is misleading in some ways. IIRC, I didn't see anything in the outline to allow for "old monsters with class levels added." I think they mean that the monsters get more information added than just how to kill them and how they kill you.

Of course, I only know four of the people who worked on the book, so who knows what the others were assigned to do...

 

[Harlekin]

I'm very happy

I'm very happy that they include more useful information and cut out Aberration#226, Undead #228A and Outsider#1123, of which we already have more than we ever need in the first three MMs.

I like the classed monsters, even at low classes. While it is easy to add those levels, it is also easy to take a stock monster, add 3 HD, +2 AC and the ability to spew a spider swarm every 1d4 rounds and have a new monster. (+1 CR, I'ld say). I buy a new monster manual because I want critters I can use without preparation.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Hmm... I think that blurb is misleading in some ways. IIRC, I didn't see anything in the outline to allow for "old monsters with class levels added." I think they mean that the monsters get more information added than just how to kill them and how they kill you.

Of course, I only know four of the people who worked on the book, so who knows what the others were assigned to do...

Knowing those four people maybe you should let them know that the blurb is misleading eh?