Wild Speculation: Player's Handbook Revised

[Viking Bastard]

As a new 4e player, I'd buy a 'compendium PHB' in a heartbeat, but I have nothing invested in older releases (the 4e books I have—core PHB/DMG/MM + Dungeon Delve—I borrowed from a friend who wasn't using them).

 

[Prestidigitalis]

My prediction:

WotC will surprise us all by issuing a new version of Dungeons and Dragons labeled "5e". It will introduce entirely new classes taken from South Park: The Stan, The Kyle, The Kenny and The Cartman. They will fill (in order) the roles Main Guy, Foil, Patsy and Clown. The initial adventure will be named "Keep Off The Landfill, Dude!" The DM screen will feature a montage of classic South Park scenes, with the most vivid portions (projectile vomiting, Kenny dying, anything with Cartman) done holographically.

Naysayers will escalate their complaints that D&D has become just like WoW.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'd like to see a new massive player's handbook that compiles information from previous 4e books into one volume.

They already do sell this. They just call it the "D&D Character Builder" and don't print it on paper. This way they don't have to spend money on printing, distribution, and shelf cost. Much easier to put together, much easier to edit, much faster to get to consumers, much better on the environment, and a much higher profit margin on the product.

Unfortunately for you, there aren't enough people like you who actually want a hard copy that it'd be worth it to them to actually print a mega-Handbook.

 

[DracoSuave]

For every revised PHB they'd sell, that would mean that that book would cost them the amount it takes to manufacture that book, and the amount it took to manufacture an original PHB, the amount it took to store it, and the amount it would take to dispose of it.

I heard that's right expensive.

 

[DangerAbe]

I think people do WANT a megabook. A complied 4e Players Handbook with 13 classes would be similar in size to the core Pathfinder rules.
I believe that having everything needed to play in one single book is one of the reasons that Pathfinder is doing so well. The main book contains everything you need to play.
The main Pathfinder book is HUGE and if Paizo can print a successful book of that size then WotC shoudl be able to do the same.
The cost argument against such a compendium has already been proven wrong by a competitor.

And even if the economics of it wouldn't work, a giant monstrous manual with EVERY monster in it would be awesome. I'd shell out $100 for unabridged dictionary of 4e monsters. Though I don't believe that I'll ever see something so awesome.

Note: that I'm not actually calling for ALL the 4e classes, just the "traditional D&D classes" plus the Warlock and Warlord which have become iconic in 4e.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Except you're forgetting two things Abe... one, Wizards is part of a much larger company, and thus their profit margins probably need to be much, much higher than Paizo's. So what would be considered a financial success for Paizo, would be a loss for Wizards. The money WotC would or wouldn't make on that book is not worth the time and effort to put it together, especially when they could spend the manhours on some other project that would be more financially vialbe for them.

And two, Paizo prints a huge book because they have no other option. If they had a online database and character builder of all their material and monthly subscription fees to access it... then there's a good chance they wouldn't have these print runs of books either.

But you're right. Some people do indeed want a megabook.

There's just not enough of you to make it worth WotC's while to print it. If it was... we would have heard about it already. And besides... the whole point of their online initiative is so that they wouldn't have to keep producing these books anymore. Just because some people don't want to sign up for DDI doesn't mean that it's still not a viable method of generating funds. Obviously it's worked out well enough, since they've moved more and more things online and reduced the number of shelf-bound products in the process.

 

[Zaran]

I was put off when I saw that the 3.5 classes were to be split up into two (later 3) books. Also with how the size of the print increased so much. It seemed to me that we were getting alot less content for our money. I guess their scheme worked because I bought all three 4e phbs. I can see how that would make people choose Pathfinder over 4e though.

The thing is I would buy them all again if they were updated with rebalanced content. I like having books. I think they are going in another direction and just not doing errata anymore.

 

[DEFCON 1]

And even if the economics of it wouldn't work, a giant monstrous manual with EVERY monster in it would be awesome. I'd shell out $100 for unabridged dictionary of 4e monsters. Though I don't believe that I'll ever see something so awesome.

Sure you can. Sign up for DDI. It's called the Monster Builder. It includes not only every monster printed in MMI, MMII, MMIII, and Monster Vault, it also has every monster from every 4E magazine article that included one, plus the monsters from every other 4E product that included them.

Again... sure, you won't have them in printed form... but for $7 a month it is a massive amount of monsters for a small amount of money.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I was put off when I saw that the 3.5 classes were to be split up into two (later 3) books. Also with how the size of the print increased so much. It seemed to me that we were getting alot less content for our money.

No... you just weren't getting the same content from your first 3.5 Player's Handbook.

I guess their scheme worked because I bought all three 4e phbs. I can see how that would make people choose Pathfinder over 4e though.

Some people didn't buy into it, but many did, including yourself. That means there was an audience for the new game.

The thing is I would buy them all again if they were updated with rebalanced content. I like having books. I think they are going in another direction and just not doing errata anymore.

They've already don'e plenty of errata for the first Player's Handbook. If there's nothing new to edit, then of course there's no need to do errata for it anymore.

 

[Zaran]

Sure you can. Sign up for DDI. It's called the Monster Builder. It includes not only every monster printed in MMI, MMII, MMIII, and Monster Vault, it also has every monster from every 4E magazine article that included one, plus the monsters from every other 4E product that included them.

Again... sure, you won't have them in printed form... but for $7 a month it is a massive amount of monsters for a small amount of money.

I want both up to date books and ddi. Am I a minority?