Worried that the mistakes of the past are being repeated...

[Anubis]

Seeing all the new books coming out, I'm getting worried. Yes, some of them are good additions (D20 Modern, D20 Future, those books add new elements that are useful), but a lot are needless accessories that 9 our of 10 gamers will rarely if ever use (Races of Stone, Stormwrack, etc.), so I'm starting to get a bad feeling.

TSR and 2nd Edition went under because the market was flooded with too many useless accessory books. 3rd Edition avoided this for a very long time, but now we're again having three or four new books monthly, which is permeating the market needlessly just as before. One new book every month or two (that isn't a new thing altogether like D20 Modern) is a good rate; three or four per month is way too much.

Anyone else got a bad feeling about this nonsense?

 

[Crothian]

What makes you think that 90% of all D&D gamers find these books useless?

 

[Henry]

One new book every month or two (that isn't a new thing altogether like D20 Modern) is a good rate; three or four per month is way too much.

Anyone else got a bad feeling about this nonsense?

Three or four? Pfft! TSR was putting out ten to twelve per month in the last few years of their existance, in some cases three books per setting! Three or four is nothing, in my opinion.

EDIT: I don't want to sound too dismissive of you, because worrying about the state of the company and the hobby is an admirable thing; but WotC has been turning out almost the same number of products now as in early 2001, and most of them seem well-received, at least on these and WotC's forums. I know I have no use for the two titles you mentioned, but I do have use for most of the Eberron stuff, when I can afford them, and for their upcoming Power of Faerun and Complete Psionic, so I don't see them running off the deep end like TSR did.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Three or four? Pfft! TSR was putting out ten to twelve per month in the last few years of their existance, in some cases three books per setting! Three or four is nothing, in my opinion.

And WotC doesn't have the setting bloat that TSR did. TSR had Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Birthright, Al-Qadim, Spelljammer, Dragonlance, Planescape, Mystara...maybe more. WotC has the Forgotten Realms, Eberron and generic books.

 

[nethervoid]

What makes you think that 90% of all D&D gamers find these books useless?

I think his assumption is good, based on common sense. 90% might be a bit of a stretch, but it's a valid argument with obvious points made in other arguments.

Still, the motivation is obvious as well: more books published should equal more profit. Although diminishing returns should create a limit.

 

[Anubis]

Well, just as an example, using Stormwrack, I don't see very many DMs using such things often enough to warrant an entire book. I like releases that have nothing but new and innovative and pertinent information, but a lot of the ones we're getting either rehash old stuff or tell us what we (should) already know or at least have enough creativity to come up with ourselves.

Plus you have third party publishers on top of the WotC products now (something TSR didn't have), and most of them have nothing really new or innovative either. I just assume that most DMs are like me: limited budget and not willing to buy books that don't have mostly new and innovative features.

 

[Crothian]

I think his assumption is good, based on common sense. 90% might be a bit of a stretch, but it's a valid argument with obvious points made in other arguments.

Still, the motivation is obvious as well: more books published should equal more profit. Although diminishing returns should create a limit.

I think its a made up number that has no way to be supported.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I have no idea if 90% of people will never use the books or not, but frankly, "use" doesn't matter.

WotC makes use of substantial market research, and they have a team of staff devoted entirely to business purposes. If such books weren't selling in sufficient quantities, the lines wouldn't be continued.

And let's remember, it was setting bloat, not generic supplement bloat, that had the greatest hand in TSR's sales issues.

 

[Hjorimir]

The numbers to fear are 4 8 15 16 23 42.

 

[Henry]

I just assume that most DMs are like me: limited budget and not willing to buy books that don't have mostly new and innovative features.

No offense meant, but it's not a safe assumption to make. DM's who have a larger entertainment budget include doctors, lawyers, various white-collar positions, and even pre-college students - the picture of who buys D&D stuff is very diverse, and based on sales figures of various d20 companies that they've been willing to share, most of the D&D buyers definitely don't know that much outside of Branded D&D stuff exists. For the past year or so, however, WotC has been swinging its approach back from "all crunch, all the time" back towards some flavor and innovative mechanics material. They seem to have recognized that they did go a little too far in that direction for their more dedicated part of the base.

As for innovative mechanics, I tend to look more at 3rd party companies than at WotC. Spycraft 2.0 for instance (from AEG) has flooded me with so many innovations that I can't digest them all! But it does contain some stuff that I may very well start including in ALL my d20 games, and some things I hope to see (or something similar) make it into the D&D rules, because DM's need all the help they can get.