Who's happy about MMV being MMIV again?

[Psychic Warrior]

Wow. Silly me for having an opinion contrary to yours...

That wasn't an opinion.

 

[Troll Wizard]

Yep its a must buy fior this 40+ year gamer, with a wife, kids and other obligations and hobbies.

I DM one game every other week, and barely have 1 hour to prep for it. Books like MMIV provide me the tools to deliver a pretty good game to my players. I use my limited free time to create the overall adventure and the BBEG, just using MMIV to fill in the random and pre-set encounters.

 

[Harlekin]

Lot of flamebait snipped

While you are undoubtedly true that anyone can come up with new elements for games, we buy supplements so that we don't have to. I can take a random picture from the internet and stat up that monster, I can custom-design a knight class and intoduce it into my game and I can envision long storylines for my player to
mutilate. Nevertheless, I am thankful for supplements that do the gruntwork for me so I can pick and choose to do the part of GMing that I enjoy.

BTW, do you actually think any maps would appear on the wizards website if they weren't published before in a supplement?

 

[NiTessine]

I'll buy it, but I'm a completist and I buy everything.

For what it's worth, I liked Monster Manual IV's format, have nothing in particular against classed monster stats, and think that a book that can make the wrackspawn actually cool must be doing something right. Too many spawn of Tiamat, though.

Also, I hope that Monster Manual V will finally have the modrons. We've been forced to wait for too long! We deserve our cubic little constructs!

If the book has modrons, they can put in conversions of every brainless 1E Fiend Folio reject for all I care, and I'll still love it. Hell, I could even live with just the lower ranks, to avoid taking up too much space.

 

[Nyeshet]

I won't be buying it. I can see the utility of having class levels pre-added to the monsters, but I could do that myself - and can choose different classes for different situations, amongst other things. Similarly, I do not use minis. In situations where knowing exact position is necessary, a dry erase marker and a white board with a few dice on it works just as well. Thus the tie in to minis do not interest me. Finally, I actually like to create the situations for random encounters.

Lastly, I still have a few issues with the new format. I like seeing breakdowns in AC, for example, so I can alter it as necessary with ease. I like all skills together (although I could perhaps see separating skills into two or three groups and placing them in blocks one over the other - such as perception, combat and common utility, and remaining skills.


I admit, however, that Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk looks very interesting. I'm quite likely to buy that book. Complete Champion is under consideration. I liked Complete Mage - perhaps a 6 or 6.5 on a 10 pt scale - but these books can differ quite a bit from one another. As with Complete Scoundrel, I'll wait until reviews have come out and read a few of them before I decide whether to buy it or not.

 

[MerricB]

Lastly, I still have a few issues with the new format. I like seeing breakdowns in AC, for example, so I can alter it as necessary with ease. I like all skills together (although I could perhaps see separating skills into two or three groups and placing them in blocks one over the other - such as perception, combat and common utility, and remaining skills.

Err - they do have AC breakdowns.

The AC line is:

AC 25, touch 11, flat-footed 24
.....(+1 Dex, +14 natural)

They also have all skills (and feats) together, however the Listen and Spot skills are repeated at the top of the block for easy reference, and other feats are repeated in appropriate sections.

Cheers!

 

[Piratecat]

Again, I ask where are your imaginations? I never thought D&D would ever turn into a Imaginative Training Game. It used to inspire, not dictate.

Maybe it's just me then. Maybe I'm naturally talented at devising my own backstory, creation myth, ecology, and use of a monster plucked from any RPG book.

Or maybe -- just maybe, mind -- you have more free time than some players. Or maybe you have more experience applying what you've learned to cool backstory creation.

It's cool if the book isn't aimed at you. But I think it's a little self-indulgent to insult all the the people is is aimed at by telling them they have no imagination. Please try to remember that a whole lot of people play D&D, and they aren't all exactly like you or me or some other random person. We're better off not painting with broad strokes - ""where are your imaginations?" - because you end up insulting people by mistake instead of actually making your point. I think your point is an interesting one, and it would be a shame if someone missed it because they're pissed at how you phrased it. A "better than thou" attitude doesn't carry a lot of weight here if you're trying to further a discussion.

Wow! He waited until page two to call us all spoonfed and unimaginative! That really is a record for you Razz. And nice insult to the community at large at the end there. This is easily one of your best flamebait posts in a while. I'm glad I unignored you long enough to read it! Shine on you crazy diamond!

This? This is not helpful. When you see a problem post, please report it instead of encouraging an argument.

 

[BryonD]

Tell you the truth, MMV was probably well into editing and postproduction by the time MMIV was released, so regardless of what the sale figures of MMIV were like, it was too late for WotC to do anything about it.

Yeah, based on what we know about the WotC development cycle, this was my first thought also.

 

[BryonD]

Or maybe -- just maybe, mind -- you have more free time than some players. Or maybe you have more experience applying what you've learned to cool backstory creation.

Absolutely. For me, I don't have the slightest problem with offering this product concept. I just think that doing it one tenth of the way stinks. If you want to help people without the time then offer a book FULL of a range of NPCs with a variety of levels.

 

[BryonD]

Yep its a must buy fior this 40+ year gamer, with a wife, kids and other obligations and hobbies.

I DM one game every other week, and barely have 1 hour to prep for it. Books like MMIV provide me the tools to deliver a pretty good game to my players. I use my limited free time to create the overall adventure and the BBEG, just using MMIV to fill in the random and pre-set encounters.

Do you just recycle the same monsters over and over?

I mean there just are not THAT many to choose from. And it gets even smaller if you assume you are picking from your groups approximate party level.