Will Constant Errata Kill the Essential Line?

[Plane Sailing]

It depends how important people consider errata to be as well.

In all the pre-www days, my group 'self-errataed' our games. If we thought something was unbalanced or just plain wrong, we would debate until we came up with a workable solution for us and moved on. You could almost say it was part of the spirit of D&D

I'm guessing that in most cases people could just pick up the physical books and start running with them and never come across any problems - and those problems that might come up, they make a ruling and carry on.

Cheers

 

[Jhaelen]

In all the pre-www days, my group 'self-errataed' our games. If we thought something was unbalanced or just plain wrong, we would debate until we came up with a workable solution for us and moved on. You could almost say it was part of the spirit of D&D

Yup! That's exactly how things worked for us back in the days. However, I don't know if it still works like that even for players completely new to the game.

A generation that grew up with the internet at their fingertips is probably a lot more likely to immediately look for the internet to figure things out. I could be wrong, though, since I'm not sure if such an old-school thing as a pen & paper rpg actually appeals to the internet-savvy.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Well, reading the recent comments on the update schedule and the rules compendium for D&D essentials, it seems to me as if they are churning out errata as fast as they can to avoid having to errata the Essentials line. How well this will work out for them remains to be seen.

Also, they seem to be working on avoiding errata-requiring stuff better. Again, whether these efforts will pay off remains to be seen.

Because somebody needs to tell the king, "you're in your underwear"...

What kind of weaksauce version of the tale did you hear as a kid?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Why would they do that?

As I understood, the Essentials line will stay in print. The other books apparantly don't. The Essential also is a good "gateway" drug - you get playable content in one cheap package. If you like it, you can pick up more. You don't have to buy 3 books of unknown content that you might never use because you don't enjoy it. The barrier to entry is just lower.

 

[bagger245]

As I understood, the Essentials line will stay in print. The other books apparantly don't. The Essential also is a good "gateway" drug - you get playable content in one cheap package. If you like it, you can pick up more. You don't have to buy 3 books of unknown content that you might never use because you don't enjoy it. The barrier to entry is just lower.

Hmm, so PHB1/MM1/DMG1 isn't going to be reprinted? Makes sense since the Essentials has updated errata.

 

[Imaro]

As I understood, the Essentials line will stay in print. The other books apparantly don't. The Essential also is a good "gateway" drug - you get playable content in one cheap package. If you like it, you can pick up more. You don't have to buy 3 books of unknown content that you might never use because you don't enjoy it. The barrier to entry is just lower.

Huh? Okay, I can grant this is true for the redbox set (though honestly it's not like there wasn't a starter set for 4e anyway, so I don't see this as "essentials" specific.), but how does this statement apply to the essentials line as a whole?

From what I've seen Essentials is actually more exspensive to get into... though admittedly you get tokens, tiles, dice, etc.

Starter Set = $20
Rules Compendium = $20
(1)Players Essentials Book = $20
Dungeon Masters Kit = $40
Monster Vault = $30

 

[ExploderWizard]

Well, reading the recent comments on the update schedule and the rules compendium for D&D essentials, it seems to me as if they are churning out errata as fast as they can to avoid having to errata the Essentials line. How well this will work out for them remains to be seen.

If WOTC is working fast and furiously to crank out all the errata possible prior to the release of the Essentials line, how will that affect new products released after the essential release?

Unless there is no new planned 4E content that will require errata I don't see this effort stopping the problem.

 

[Runestar]

Still waiting for my tome of battle errata...

You peeps don't know how good you have it...

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Huh? Okay, I can grant this is true for the redbox set (though honestly it's not like there wasn't a starter set for 4e anyway, so I don't see this as "essentials" specific.), but how does this statement apply to the essentials line as a whole?

Yes, it is only true for the Red Box. That's your gateway. It is designed to be beginner friendly and contain enough rules to play those 3 levels.

For whatever reasons, WotC thinks that the existing starter set didn't cut it. (Maybe it's because there is only one adventure, and it's not so exciting from a roleplaying perspective? Maybe because it lacks other introductiory stuff, like an adventure for solo play or DM + player?)

Once you go beyond the Red Box, it might no longer cheaper than buying the 3 core books. But without having seen the actual content of these books, its hard to determine what the differences will be and how it might become more beginner friendly. Maybe there will be a lot more fluff in each book. Or just more supplementary material like tokens.

If WOTC is working fast and furiously to crank out all the errata possible prior to the release of the Essentials line, how will that affect new products released after the essential release?

Unless there is no new planned 4E content that will require errata I don't see this effort stopping the problem.

As they said in the interview, they believe their ability to catch errors before they make it to the page has improved. So they won't need the same amount of errata. No more Battleragers. Maybe that's just a pipe dream. Maybe it what will really happen.

 

[Janx]

There's a presumption there that most people who buy the Essentials books even know about the errata.

For my part, I appreciate the errata greatly. Of course, I also have a D&D Insider subscription, which makes it all a lot easier.

Cheers!

The % of people who are savvy enough to go online and look for errata is pretty small. Us Forumites are the target demographic for errata. We're wired.

If I asked my MN friends what they though about errata, they'd say,"What errata?"

It's the same with all the tech we have.

I upgraded the firmware in my new stereo for my truck the day after I bought it. Being a tech guy, I buy something, I go online right away and look for updates.

Normal people still don't know that their cellphones can be updated. Let alone the rest of the crap in their house.

If iTunes didn't prompt to update its devices, people would have no clue those could be updated either.

Normal people don't know about errata. Despite their ability to use Facebook and Google, they are not that savvy.