Why don't I get warm-tingly feelings when I buy a 3E product like in 1E/2E/Basic D&D?

[S'mon]

I tend to think it's age. Being jaded about things that were once exciting and new. It works with all sorts of things, not just roleplaying. Some of the movies I thought were great when I was a kid have turned out to be great because I was a kid. :

There's some truth in this - eg as a kid I loved the movie "Ice Pirates", it was on tv recently and full of excitement I settled down to watch... and it turned out to be unwatchable. Star Wars (the original no-CGI version 100%) or Blade Runner (99%) or Aliens (95%) are just as good now as when I first saw them.
Some things we liked because we were kids. Some things really were THAT good.

 

[The Shaman]

That and 3.x cares more about your game than 1e ever did.

1e had no problem in tossing you head first into the fantastic. 2e did and 3e really, really does. The old-school gamers make fun of 3e's persnickety almost nanny-ish attention to balance. But 3e was designed around a gaming group while 1e and 2e were more about throwing the game at you in full color extravaganza.

Ever play Egg of the Phoenix? My group did. It's a huge roller coaster of a module that ended in a demi plane that would blow up if you cast too many spells. There was a percentage chance. Guess what the group rolled the first time? 02. Boom. No more game.

You don't see that in 3e because in 3e we think a 7% chance to end the game is stupid. I think we're right, but there is a certain loss of tension and drama. And don't give me the whole "fudge the roll" routine, because if you have to fudge a save-or-die roll then you have to wonder why the roll was meant to be in there in the first place.

3e is a better game. But it does have to work a little harder at being as grand.

BiggusGeekus, you've summed up many of my feelings about the state of the game quite succinctly - thank you for that.

With a few exceptions, I like the new rules system very much, but at times it feels very sterile, very antiseptic - as a GM I feel I have to work a lot harder to bring it to life than I did my old 1e AD&D games, which is a bit discouraging as my personal maturity and the depth and breadth of the life experience I bring to the game is so much stronger and that 3.x actually offers a great many new options that the old systems didn't. And no, it's not a case of being overwhelmed by all the new stuff - it's that so much of the new stuff seems...forced, perhaps, like it's inserted not because it's WOW! but because it's there to head off trouble at the pass.

 

[Turjan]

Last night MonsterMash leant me his copy of the new 3.5-version City State of the Invincible Overlord, apparently closely based on the original, which I've never seen - I thought it looked fantastic. Likewise I have got the tingles from some other non-WoTC D&D products; eg I liked Lost City of Gaxmoor a lot (terrible mechanical flaws like a CR 21 BBEG in a mid-level module, great flavour) while Bastion of Broken Souls is dryasdust. There's something soulless about default-3e, I find. It's not just nostalgia, more a sense of possibilities & excitement inherent in the scenario or sourcebook.

I know what you mean. I also got really excited when I first looked into the "Player's Guide to the Wilderlands". I had never seen the original, but this small book simply breathed the fantastic . It had so much soul that I could even look past things I usually find annoying, like the arbitrary use of real world gods. It's this infectious passion that is missing from many 3.x publications.

 

[Zappo]

I only got tingly feelings out of Planescape products, but anyway...

Does "evil feeling" from the BoVD count?

 

[Turanil]

I am too late for the great pun.

I would say try something else. Ever considered horticulture? Or sex?

 

[Ourph]

When I used to buy Basic D&D, 1E AD&D, or 2E AD&D products (early era) my heart would be flushed with these warm tingly feelings and I'd kick my legs in delight as I ripped off the shrink wrap.

Why is it that I don't get that feeling in 3E?

It's the smell. Modern roleplaying books just don't smell "right". I think Gary soaked the pages in some sort of pheromone.

For those saying it's age and being jaded, I humbly disagree. I bought the whole lot of WotC 3e products from 2000 through about 2003......no tingles. I bought assorted 3rd party products.......nothing. Started playing Classic D&D again last year. I recently picked up a near-mint set of dungeon geomorphs, monster and treasure assortments, Battlesystem boxed set, assorted modules and the TSR monster cards (for OAD&D). When the packages started arriving in the mail..........you guessed it, warm tinglies! They come back if you buy the good stuff.

 

[dead]

It's the smell. Modern roleplaying books just don't smell "right". I think Gary soaked the pages in some sort of pheromone.

So you keep saying . . . but my 1E DMG still smells like old horse or wet dog.

 

[dead]

I think Gary soaked the pages in some sort of pheromone.

I've never met Gary in person but if he's excreting these pheromones then I'm frightened at what I might do to him.

My 3E FRCS smells like a chemical plant or drug lab.

 

[Akrasia]

I can only speak for my personal experiences, but I feel that a lot of what you are feeling comes from the knowledge that most new 3.x books you are buying will be written in a sterile, monotone voice with tons of crunch and little inspirational material. This is not true for ALL of this material, but I find it to be most true for the WOTC releases and it carries over quite a bit to the D20 stuff out there as well.

Yes, I agree with this. Reading some 3.x books can be like reading undergraduate logic textbooks. (Nothing against logic -- I teach it sometimes -- but it isn't exactly conducive to inspiring a sense of wonder and excitement.)

I have recently begun a game of C&C and some of this feeling has returned to me, which was pretty damn cool.

Same here.

Nice to see that others are getting the same cool 'C&C vibe' that I am.

It's the smell. Modern roleplaying books just don't smell "right". I think Gary soaked the pages in some sort of pheromone.

You know, there is something to this. It think it must be the old acid-resistant paper and ink.

Ooooh... and the matte covers are nice! And the Trampier cover of the PHB...

(I could also say something about 3.x art, but that would only start yet another pointless argument.)

For those saying it's age and being jaded, I humbly disagree. I bought the whole lot of WotC 3e products from 2000 through about 2003......no tingles. I bought assorted 3rd party products.......nothing. Started playing Classic D&D again last year. I recently picked up a near-mint set of dungeon geomorphs, monster and treasure assortments, Battlesystem boxed set, assorted modules and the TSR monster cards (for OAD&D). When the packages started arriving in the mail..........you guessed it, warm tinglies! They come back if you buy the good stuff.

I agree. Indeed, I too recently unpacked a bunch of my old Basic, Expert, and OAD&D modules.

Yep ... tingles!

 

[JoeGKushner]

I know for me, part of it is that there is too much, and at this point, little left to cover that isn't being covered.

One of my friends didn't know what Arcana Evolved was but likes Monte's stuff. When I expalined to him that it's a director's cut, he seemed a little... taken back.

I'm not saying that WoTC makes the only good books these days as Green Ronin is still churing out good stuff but I'm more excited about DMG II, Weapons of Legacy, Five Nations, and Races of Eberron than I am about 95% of most other stuff save maybe the Advanced DMG from Green Ronin and... well, that's all I could think of all the top of my head. Oh, Grimtooth's Traps! Talislanta d20. See, there are other things, but for the most part, it seems that WoTC is highly on top of their game in terms of providing stuff I want.

Maybe it's because they're doing stuff that has already been covered but now it's official. Maybe it's because it's in hardcover and full color and generally at a good price. Maybe it's because it's WoTC. Don't know.