Overkill

[Whizbang1963]

Is it just me or has WOTC/TSR/Hasbro gone freaking overboard with v3.5?

How many freaking books and supplements and whatever do we need or can we possibly use?

From a shearvolume of rules perspective, ASL has become easier to play and has tons less to remember...

 

[freightshaker]

It's all about the money.

 

[Maedhros]

It's all about the money.

...and lack of imagination, and perhaps free time.

There is a market for endless supplements. I have a fair bit of free time, so I can spend hours painstakingly crafting detailed world maps, campaign threads, backgrounds, etc. Many people either haven't the time or lack the creative spark to make their own, so they'd rather just buy supplements.

When it comes to game systems, I'm a minimalist. I play FUDGE, which can be downloaded for free and is so completely flexible that it can bend around any conceivable campaign concept. However, it's pretty thin on pre-packaged worlds/adventures, so it may not be for everyone.

 

[Dr Zaius]

I don't mind additional material that is clearly intended to be optional and/or inspirational in nature. I would hate to see a new generation of D&D players evolve into a bunch of rules lawyers who nitpick everything to death -- like wargamers! Oh the agony!

It would be a crime to start seeing players who rebel against DMs because DMs aren't "doing things by the book."

The way I see it, all this stuff has to be treated like optional content to help flesh things out and not "rules." If it is treated that way, then as way pointed out by someone above, D&D would become even harder to play and more rules intensive than ASL. That would surely kill off interest among many people who would move to simpler, more user-friendly gaming systems.

 

[Maedhros]

I don't mind additional material that is clearly intended to be optional and/or inspirational in nature. I would hate to see a new generation of D&D players evolve into a bunch of rules lawyers who nitpick everything to death -- like wargamers! Oh the agony!

It would be a crime to start seeing players who rebel against DMs because DMs aren't "doing things by the book."

The way I see it, all this stuff has to be treated like optional content to help flesh things out and not "rules." If it is treated that way, then as way pointed out by someone above, D&D would become even harder to play and more rules intensive than ASL. That would surely kill off interest among many people who would move to simpler, more user-friendly gaming systems.

The problem I had with AD&D 2nd Ed. (the last one I played) was just that - some stupid supplement would be published (such as the Fighter's Guide/Handbook/Whatever) and ever after the players would DEMAND to use some annoying nitpicky rule from it.

CASE IN POINT: Two-weapon fighting.

The "two weapon" specialization in 2nd Ed. stated that the secondary weapon had to be shorter in length (? or something) than the primary weapon. The intent being that if you used a Mace as your primary weapon, the secondary weapon would need to be something like a Hand Axe or Daggar.

HOWEVER, in the "Fighter's Handbook" there was an example in the sidebar in which one of the characters was using two longswords. Everafter, every Ranger in every game ever played used two longswords, even though the rules specifically stated it was not possible - barring that one unfortunate example.

Sigh. Munchkins.

 

[Aries]

If it's in print, someone will want to use it. If you buy the book, yer pretty much condemned to carrying it to the game, if you are unlucky to not enjoy playing on home turf.

Not that the books are poorly made, but, when they made it open season on d20, every doofus with a wordprocessor got it in their head they could publish something worth getting.

What has happened, is the glut has largely over taxed the hobby. It's currently choking on the crud. I suspect there will be a lot of "deaths" in the hobby in a few years, because it can't be sustained. I have ONE only store I know of serving ALL of central ontario. There's enough gamer's admittedly, but the market is not viable to a publisher.

 

[freightshaker]

I don't mind additional material that is clearly intended to be optional and/or inspirational in nature. I would hate to see a new generation of D&D players evolve into a bunch of rules lawyers who nitpick everything to death -- like wargamers! Oh the agony!

It would be a crime to start seeing players who rebel against DMs because DMs aren't "doing things by the book."

With the advent of 3.5 it seems this is the direction we're heading. A rule for everything and a die roll to go with it. My DM's campaign uses 2nd Ed and we're all happy with that.

 

[Maedhros]

With the advent of 3.5 it seems this is the direction we're heading. A rule for everything and a die roll to go with it. My DM's campaign uses 2nd Ed and we're all happy with that.

Rules systems are not all that important, IMHO. Sure, players can nitpick the rules all they want, but what makes a good game is a creative GM and players willing to work with her to make a good story. Sometimes it can be difficult to get a player to turn off the targeting computer and trust the Force (lord knows, I've tried and failed in many cases). I wish I had some magic wand I could wave over a player to make them realize that it is not necessary to dominate everyone, everything, all the time in order to have fun in an RPG (the need to do so being, again IMHO, the root of rules lawyering).