Why don't companies show people how to use their books?

[Mokona]

90% of the in depth fluff that now comes with WotC prestige classes doesn't fit my worlds or my conception of D&D but I don't fault them for including it. I've seen enough complaints about the lack of ready made fluff for prestige classes to understand that I'm in the minority.

What I need from prestige classes are common fantasy archetypes with rules and a short summary of what archetype the designer was shooting to replicate. I won't complain that extra information is provided for other players. What is "wasted" text is different for each reader so WotC can't please everyone with every word.

 

[Umbran]

Most books have wasted space in them, its hard to find everything in a book useful.

Yes. So, it is a struggle to find a way to write a book with the most useful content. And, lacking market research, the writers and publishers have to guess.

There seems to be two camps - campaign settings, which give you highly specifc "how to use these rules" information, and rules supplements, that tell you very little about how to use the rules. Very little middle ground.

 

[philreed]

I'm not even sure how I would tell someone to use something like Six Planar Gates. I mean, it's a PDF with six planar gates. Just read the PDF and the next time you need your players to travel to another plane grab a gate and go.

 

[Remathilis]

Kinda like how a certain monster might fit in a specific campaign world (MM3)

Or what a houserule can do to change game balance (UA)

Or even how to incorporate a new magic item rule into your game (DMGII)

That kinda stuff? Or perhaps just a nice long list of how to incorporate the Complete/Races of Lines into Eberron (my peeve at the moment)

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I'm not even sure how I would tell someone to use something like Six Planar Gates. I mean, it's a PDF with six planar gates. Just read the PDF and the next time you need your players to travel to another plane grab a gate and go.

I'm not 100% with that.

OK, sure, you're right. You can just drop a gate in and off the PCs shall wander. But you could also make a loose adventure out of it. A potion is needed in Plane X to save somebody, but the potion can only be brewed in a universe with the same properties as Plane Y and ingredients that are only found on planes Z and Q.

But I'm a bit of a nut when it comes to including adventures with books.

 

[philreed]

OK, sure, you're right. You can just drop a gate in and off the PCs shall wander. But you could also make a loose adventure out of it. A potion is needed in Plane X to save somebody, but the potion can only be brewed in a universe with the same properties as Plane Y and ingredients that are only found on planes Z and Q.

That's the thing, most of the stuff I write has implied adventure hooks written into the descriptions. I just don't see a commercial value (since, for me, the bottom line has to be return on invested time) in writing explicit adventure seeds to accompany every entry in a PDF.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

That's the thing, most of the stuff I write has implied adventure hooks written into the descriptions. I just don't see a commercial value (since, for me, the bottom line has to be return on invested time) in writing explicit adventure seeds to accompany every entry in a PDF.

OK, for starters I should probably say up front that I don't have 6PG, so I am being Johnny McTypical internet poster and blabbing about stuff I have absolutely no knowledge of. But if 6PG does have plot hooks and whatnot, then you are telling the DM how to use the book. Right?

Incidentally, I would say the Rumors section in DM's Idea Pipeline 2004 is an absolutely perfect example of meshing game mechanics with a "how to use this book" segment.

 

[philreed]

OK, for starters I should probably say up front that I don't have 6PG, so I am being Johnny McTypical internet poster and blabbing about stuff I have absolutely no knowledge of. But if 6PG does have plot hooks and whatnot, then you are telling the DM how to use the book. Right?

I thought I was. But this thread made it sound as if more hand-holding was requested. And hey, it wouldn't be the internet if we waited for all of the facts before posting.

Incidentally, I would say the Rumors section in DM's Idea Pipeline 2004 is an absolutely perfect example of meshing game mechanics with a "how to use this book" segment.

Yeah, those are fun to write. I've got two PDFs with more fantasy rumors (a dozen each) and there are two PDFs of modern rumors available. I still need to write future rumors.

 

[Crothian]

I thought I was. But this thread made it sound as if more hand-holding was requested. And hey, it wouldn't be the internet if we waited for all of the facts before posting.

I'm not really referring to yourt stuff Phil. I mean most any idiot should be able to figure out how to use a dozen interesting pieces of clothing right? Not that you write for the idiot crowd but your material fits right into almost any campaign with little work and the topics are pretty much easy to understand. I hope people who play this game know what a gate is.

I'm more referring to feats, prestige classes, optional rules that complicate the game and people might not realize exactly what using it intells.

 

[Umbran]

I'm more referring to feats, prestige classes, optional rules that complicate the game and people might not realize exactly what using it intells.

We also have to consider that the authors may not really know. It isn't like they've got huge batches of playtesters to explore the possibilities, and I don't know if many authors have the savvy to work out all the implications in their heads. That's a large part of why there are often balance issues found in products. If you can't balance it, you can't tell folks how to use it properly, now can you?