WotC has a milking machine now (Draconomicon I)

[Imban]

Could the split into 2 volumes possibly be because chromatic and metallic dragons are split up between the Monster Manual I & II? Nah, that's just crazy talk!

It is crazy talk, sorry.

(There was a big hubbub about how Bronze and Brass dragons were canned and replaced by Iron and Adamantine dragons, with a later comment coming out that Bronze and Brass dragons would be in a later Monster Manual. This would have been... quite an unreasonable dialogue if all metallic dragons were in Monster Manual 2.)

 

[Steely Dan]

Humans need magic to survive against most monsters in D&D.

Not in 4th Ed D&D, thank god.

 

[Puggins]

The 3rd edition Draconomicon was a very good book with a good mix of art, fluff and crunch although you might argue that the sample dragons were unnecessary and could have been replaced with more content.

That is, of course, your opinion, and you're entitled to it, even if the majority of other buyers don't share it. And all evidence points to the "don't share it" scenario, given the reviews it got. In fact, it got awfully far up the "best books of 3e" competition here, don't you think?

This doesn't look like a good strategy to me considering that a big part of the players seem to suffer from dragon fatigue after the for the most part poorly written Races of Dragon and Dragon Magic so I don't think that this spread of Draconomicons will make them interested in dragons again.

With all due respect, what case do you think is more likely?

(a) WotC analyzed the sale data for 3e books and concluded that dragons are one of their most popular brand anchors, since every dragon-related book they produced sold extremely well. In order to leverage that concept, they decide to expand it and introduce it early in the new edition.

(b) WotC analyzed the sale data for 3e books and concluded that even though books involving dragons have sold less and less well, they're going to try to stuff another one down the consumer's throat, this time earlier in the edition than ever.

Now I know you really, really, really want it to be (b). But I don't think WotC is that stupid. They make mistakes, certainly (*cough*Dreamblade*cough*Hecatomb*cough), but they seem pretty agile at correcting those mistakes. Most importantly, they seem pretty good at not repeating mistakes. So I think the more likely scenario is (a).

 

[Mercule]

As I'm dragoned out, I don't give a crap.

Obvious statement: You don't have to buy every splat-book – haven't we all learned our lesson from 2nd edition.

I skipped 2E, so I had to learn in 3E.

 

[Sir Sebastian Hardin]

I think the OP is mostly bothered because in 3rd Editon he had to pay 30 something dollars to get a very, very cool book. But now, in 4e to get that similar amount of info he would have to pay arround 80 dollars. His concern (and mine) is if they are going to do this with other splats? We already have PHB I, II, III.... and so on every year. We will have MM I, II, III... (my bet is V and more) I am all for more books, but they should be books with mostly new stuff, not more books on the same topic.(I even think they were going with Magic Item compendium I?)

 

[pogre]

Dragons and Elves sell books. This is a good business decision by WOTC. I know folks who don't play 3e at all who picked up the 3e Dragon book.

I like to use Dragons in my campaigns, but they're made for killing.

I like to use Elves too, and they're made for...

Yeah - I like Dwarves a lot!

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Heh. 3e = rustic, salt-of-the-earth game designers. 4e = heartless, corporate carpetbaggers. No mistaking the bias in that narrative.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I think the OP is mostly bothered because in 3rd Editon he had to pay 30 something dollars to get a very, very cool book. But now, in 4e to get that similar amount of info he would have to pay arround 80 dollars.

You mean double the amount, not similar amount.

 

[Stormtalon]

Aye, the 3.5 Draconomicon comes in at 294 pages; this new one will be 288 pages, and it's only focused on the Chromatics? Color me sold, not just on this one but also on the inevitable Metallics.

Oh no, only 12 pages less than double the original book. What a scam. What a ripoff. The horror, the horror.

PS: Am I the only one who finds irony in the fact that this thread was started by the same fellow who complained that 4th Ed dragons are too dumbed down?

 

[I'm A Banana]

LOL BEWBS

For this, I will gladly offer up my financial udders to WotC. The Draconomicon was one of the best books of 3e, and if they're going to split it up, go more in-depth, and maybe shift the focus a little bit, I'd line up to buy one after another.

The game, after all, NEEDS dragons. I want to be able to chuck dragons at my PC's basically 24/7. It also needs dungeons, but those I can randomly generate if I need to.

So in addition to dragons-as-monsters, we'll get dragons-as-setting material, and, hopefully, dragons-as-allies/PC's.

And I'd expect a host of paths and destinies and even classes having to do with mortals signing up to help, hinder, derive power from, or otherwise consort with the beasties.

When I play D&D, I want my dragons to have a massive footprint. The Draconomicon was the closest 3e ever came to letting me do that (mostly because using a dragon was such an overwrought process, and it only really 'felt right' at higher levels).

Though the argument about milking us with supplements is true, it's been true for the entire lifetime of D&D, and they usually add more hours of enjoyment to my world than they cost me to get it, so YES.