Wizards of the Coast’s vote of confidence
Random thoughts
4 airports, 6 time zones, and 18 hours later I am finally in Montreal. I will be jet-lagged to death for the next 2 days.
Vote of confidence for D&D 3.5
No, this is not a typo! Wizards just released the Rules Compendium for D&D 3.5! Bravo! The timing is superb!
Aren’t they releasing a new version of D&D in a few months?
After spamming the web with “4e will kick buttocks” articles and videos, WotC has changed its mind – edition 3.5 ain’t that bad and they’re still tweaking the rules. That’s what the Rules Compendium is, the ultimate tweaked up rulebook for the current edition of the game! So much for 4e hype.
Who’s going to buy it?
We’ve all been playing D&D3 or D&D3.5 for a few years now. Why a rules compendium now? I’m flabergasted. I know a few readers told me they don’t think they’ll switch to D&D4e, or at least not right away. But is anyone really spending 30$ on a book of 3.5 rules now?
What’s your take on this?
(Note: I hate Camtasia, my screen capture software. But we sought counsel and I think that Camtasia and I will work out our issues and work together again soon.)
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It seems pretty useless to me. Wizards is talking about how much more convenient it will be to have one book to look up rules in, rather than relying on several. Looking at the table of contents, it looks like it mainly contains the most complicated or obscure rules. In my opinion, the people who care about these rules already know them well enough, and those who don’t have already developed ways to get around them. I’m not really interested in paying $30 for reprints of what I already have.
Not only am I not going to buy this book, but I pretty much refuse to buy any of the other books for 3.5 that I don’t already have.
I love playing 3.5, but just can’t justify the expense of extra books right now when I will buying a new set of core books in just a few months. I will be saving the money to go toward those.
I’m willing to buy some fluff rulebooks if they’re cheap. The ideas will still be useful.
But I just can’t figure out this rules compendium. Maybe I’ll go to the local gaming store and check it out to see exactly what’s in it.
This entire post is a bit disingenuous to me.
“How can you like two different things? Impossible, it cannot be!”
It’s going to be more than half a year until 4th edition. This product is a final update in the meantime, and if you’re just getting into the hobby, or wish to update from 3rd ed finally (I never bought 3.5, just relied on web supplements and friends’ books), the ability to get the most comprehensive and up to date rules in one book is very nice. It actually saves a lot of money, and I bet this product fills a strong niche for many games.
I do not see what’s wrong with the statement “3.5 is good. 4th edition is better.” Many gamers are not excited about 4th edition. So, for them, this book is a nice physical update. If you are looking forward to 4th edition and just want to coast until then, don’t buy it.
Fourth edition has prompted a lot of blogs to stir up controversy, and at this substance-less post, I am taking “Dungeon Mastering” back off my Google Reader. I’d much rather have some content than a poorly thought out attempt to rant.
The rules compendium incorporates all the errata to 3.5, and has annotations to help understand some of the more obscure rules better. If I were going to continue with 3.5, this would be the book to own.
But 4e is going to be where it’s at, seriously. Running my current 3.5e game with new players has proven that to me.
I’m somewhat disappointed in WOTC for coming out with 4th ed already. It really doesn’t seem that long ago that 3.5 came out, but I’m sure it has been awhile. I don’t think I’m going to be buying into 4th edition for a good time after it comes out and I don’t think i will be buying any more 3.5 books. I have, however been playing more swrpg saga edition and I’ve been told the rules will be close to 4th ed dnd. The rules are streamlined if not a bit dumbed down, but nevertheless well built. At least most of my campaign books (Ebberon) can be easily used in 4th. I feel out for all my players who get the shaft and have to buy all of the player materials yet again. My buddies are actually considering boycotting 4th, and I’m almost with them.
Good to hear your up in igloo country btw lol. wrong side of the continent from me though.
@PhasedWeasel
Well I guess that answers my question of who’s going to buy it. I’m still not sure it’s a strong niche though.
I’m with Dave on this one Yax. Much like the D&D Rules Cyclopedia of Yore, the new Cyclopedia is a goodbye Book for those who won’t make the jump to 4e.
You can say what you want of WotC’s business practice, this book will probably be purchased by the naysayers.
I’m still on the 4e bandwagon, even though I stopped reading about it so I can focus on my current and quite possibly last 3.5 game…
Did you say Igloo country? *Sigh*.. Rick Mercer was right..
Anyway, personally, I think it’s a great idea. Having one book to work with can really make things more convenient, and let’s GMs have a book of their own while passing around the DMG and PHB to players.
I am one of those “not excited” for 4e. After watching that whole thing on the website where someone attempted public speaking was painful at best. I’ll be the first to admit that DnD could be a lot better – Armour Class is silly, as is the need for magic to advance properly and not break the system. When I first heard they were coming out with 4e, I did get excited – really excited. I thought finally that WoTC was going to make something truly customizable for the GMs – and then I got the reality smack down.
Anyway, if WoTC makes money on this 3.5 rules compendium thing, more power to them. There will always be people who will buy it (or download it).
Cheers!
T.
I think their idea that they’re going for is, that it’s a sort of memento, and has all the rules you’ll need all in one place, as opposed to having to reference the DMG, PHB, and other books. Of course even that’s not enough to make me buy it, I’m switching, and I’m not going back.
“After spamming the web with “4e will kick buttocks” articles and videos, WotC has changed its mind – edition 3.5 ain’t that bad and they’re still tweaking the rules.”
Changed its mind? How so? The Rules Compendium has been planned for about a year now, announced about the same time as the Spell Compendium and the Magic Item Compendium. They’re still going forward with what they have planned, WotC has NOT changed its mind… silly rant!