WotC release schedule thru 2005

[WildWeasel]

regurgitating the same thing from previous editions into the new one isn't necessary for most good DMs. they can do the conversions themselves.

however, the lazy DM or the one pressed for time will benefit most from the WotC policy

Yeah, because ALL DM's have a complete collection of 1e and 2e at their disposal.

You also forgot "DM who likes having a large toolkit/library to draw on to supplement his own creativity." And lazy/prssed for time are not constant states. Maybe I have a game to run this weekend, and my usual planning time has gotten eaten up by a bit of OT and dealing with a sick family memeber, rather than just trying to whip something out wholecloth in a hurry, I have a huge bunch of suff to draw on it.

 

[WildWeasel]

my guesses...

Heroes series... update of NPCs to 3.11ed for workgroups ala enemies & allies. including prc examples, core classes, and new fluff. to help insert the NPC anywhere into an existing campaign.

Not according to http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndacc/860900000

It's about running games in a certian genre...thus the name Genre Series.

 

[Eremite]

On a purely tangental note, can anyone tell me is the whole "silence of Lolth" bit officially over, or will drow-related products continue to have to deal with Lolth clerics not receiving spells? Did we ever find out what the deal with that was, or is it still playing out?

Yes, it's FINALLY over with full details to be revealed next month in the final book of the series (Resurrection).

Essentially it has taken four years to explain how Lolth has moved from the Abyss to her own plane of the Demonweb Pits. Rumours have indicated that she will come back slightly more powerful than before.

I'm pretty sure it has all played out before the end of 1372 DR.

 

[Gez]

Diaglo is just cranky because he missed the First Sold First Edition PHB. He'll be in a foul mood until the pain wears off.

 

[Grizpapa]

Incarnum should derive from the latin Incarnare: to make flesh.

So it could be spirit possession of a body, but we already have Ghostwalk about ghosts and it wouldn't be related to magic items.

Well we have Libris Mortis, so the whole make flesh thing seems a little off. Then again we know WotC isn't very good with Latin anyway.

To me this screams Constructs/Golems/Arms of Nyrr (you know that arm in DotF) type things. The only thing that makes me think I'm wrong is if it were about Constructs/Golems/etc. wouldn't it be a monsters series book.

 

[The Shaman]

I suspect selling products to the masses is some crazy new plan WotC came up with for turning a profit. It's possible that trying to peddlie their products to a select few elitists was a losing business strategy.

I understand your point, but I agree with diaglo to some extent: it seems that many of World's Most Popular Roleplaying Game's books are designed more around making money than creating a compelling product - a boring repetitiveness, retreading the same ground, whether it's converting to 3.5 material from 3.0 that was already converted from 1e and 2e, or making books by rote formula instead of giving a topic a specific, more appropriate treatment (which is why my hat of do2 Past knows no limits).

One way to run a business is to sell exactly what people want. Another is to create a product and use marketing to compel people to want your product. Eberron is an example of what WotC can do if it puts its energies into making a product that isn't (a) a minor variation on an existing theme (hey, for Sandstorm we have sand golems!), (b) republishing old material (hey, it's the stuff you already saw years ago in Polyhedron 161!), or (c) formulaic (hey, we've got FX spells and AdCs for d20 Modern that are variations on stuff you've already seen in D&D as well as 16 pages of adventures in d20 Past because we don't think you'd buy a tool kit for historical gaming!).

 

[seankreynolds]

FYI, Champions of Valor draws on some of the BOED, but it's much more than just "the Book of Exalted Deeds translated to/crammed into FR." It does spend some time talking about what it is to be a valorous hero in FR (rather than just a good character), but it also gives a bunch of new feats, spells, magic items, new character regions (like "raised by the church of Selûne" as your region, no matter what country you're in), large and small writeups of valorous organizations in the Realms, substitution levels for many of those organization, a handful of prestige classes (yes, really only a handful), valorous locations, valorous NPCs (for cohorts or contacts), and valorous-appropriate creatures (like alternate paladin mounts). It's a book for PCs who want to run valorous characters and a book for DMs on how to run campaigns with valorous characters.

 

[thalmin]

Even though I have a very extensive collection of D&D/AD&D material, I don't mind the conversions being done for me. Saves me the time of finding the old articles and then converting. Guess that makes me lazy (or maybe allows me to redirect my efforts to campaign/adventure development.)

 

[JoeGKushner]

Here's a concept that I doubt will ever happen.

You know those books they've got like Fane of the Drow?

Make it a boxed set/board game.

that's right.

Have it come with non-random minatures and a full sized fold up map and an adventure for the GM to run.

Never happen.

 

[Staffan]

I agree with that release schedule, but are you now including things like adventures and DM screens? (Note: I wouldn't count the DM Screen, either).

I did not include them in my count, but I did mention them for completeness.

As for the Magic of Eberron book, I'd like to see some Dragonmarked house coverage, but not too much. I'd like to see some other organizations of magic users created/fleshed out.

IMO, the dragonmarked houses are a large enough part of the setting that they deserve their own book, not being shunted off to part of the "Magic of Eberron" book. MoE would do well to focus on other organizations, like the Twelve, or the Arcanix.