*shakes fist* WotC!
Aug. 24th, 2007 10:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alpharaposaD&D 4th edition is coming out.
Which leads to the obvious question. Why?
Well, money, obviously.
I know, T$R didn't have the best reputation when it came to doing things for money. They published tons of source material and optional rules and new settings, and overcharged for a magazine that increasingly had less and less to do with AD&D.
However, one thing TSR didn't do was jump on the edition bandwagon. It took years for 2nd to come out, and even then, it stuck by those rules until it was bought out. On the other hand, some gaming companies delight in multiple editions. White Wolf was particularly bad- every time the world plot changed, they published a new edition to go with it. They went through three editions, a revised, and an end times scenario. All in about ten or twelve years.
So, here comes 4th. About the only thing I've heard that's different is that they're adding 'computer' content so you can more easily play online.
I feel ripped off, and I haven't even paid money yet. Honestly, if you have a set of rules that work, you don't need a new 'edition'. The 3.x rules already scale well into computer scenarios. Just publish a set of computer tools.
I don't care much for the d20 system, but that's because of its crunchiness. Similarly, I don't care for GURPS*, but the system does work. Why mess with it? They want to break into the computer gamer market, that's all, and decided they need new rules to make it work. *sigh*
I suspect there'll be more changes, and I'll have to wait and see what actually comes out. BESM's change from 1st to 2nd was fully justified and made the system much better. (I still need to find a copy of BESM 3rd to see if I like it or not.) Some of the Shadowrun editions were better than others.
And, of course, if all you do is build setting, you run into the Palladium version. Palladium has one edition to its games. There may be one core book, but anybody who's played for a while has a whole library devoted to the game. It's intimidating to new players and GMs.
I suspect the main thing that has me so disgusted is the marketing of this new edition. Buy it! It's new! Shiny! They're not saying that they found some problems in 3.x and decided to re-engineer the mechanics to make the rules work better. No, they're just tacking on things and maybe changing some rules around. It makes me suspect that, instead of getting an improved product, gamers will be paying large sums of money for the same stuff in a shinier package.
And that really chafes. I stopped buying Pokemon collectable cards because there was no way to keep up. If the RPG companies treat gaming the same way, why should I bother?
*As an example of RPGs being used in computer games, GURPS was the core of the mechanics in the computer game Fallout and its sequel. I hate GURPS because it requires a calculator for some of its combat mechanics. When you're playing on something that has the calculations built right in, then it's not so much of a problem.
Which leads to the obvious question. Why?
Well, money, obviously.
I know, T$R didn't have the best reputation when it came to doing things for money. They published tons of source material and optional rules and new settings, and overcharged for a magazine that increasingly had less and less to do with AD&D.
However, one thing TSR didn't do was jump on the edition bandwagon. It took years for 2nd to come out, and even then, it stuck by those rules until it was bought out. On the other hand, some gaming companies delight in multiple editions. White Wolf was particularly bad- every time the world plot changed, they published a new edition to go with it. They went through three editions, a revised, and an end times scenario. All in about ten or twelve years.
So, here comes 4th. About the only thing I've heard that's different is that they're adding 'computer' content so you can more easily play online.
I feel ripped off, and I haven't even paid money yet. Honestly, if you have a set of rules that work, you don't need a new 'edition'. The 3.x rules already scale well into computer scenarios. Just publish a set of computer tools.
I don't care much for the d20 system, but that's because of its crunchiness. Similarly, I don't care for GURPS*, but the system does work. Why mess with it? They want to break into the computer gamer market, that's all, and decided they need new rules to make it work. *sigh*
I suspect there'll be more changes, and I'll have to wait and see what actually comes out. BESM's change from 1st to 2nd was fully justified and made the system much better. (I still need to find a copy of BESM 3rd to see if I like it or not.) Some of the Shadowrun editions were better than others.
And, of course, if all you do is build setting, you run into the Palladium version. Palladium has one edition to its games. There may be one core book, but anybody who's played for a while has a whole library devoted to the game. It's intimidating to new players and GMs.
I suspect the main thing that has me so disgusted is the marketing of this new edition. Buy it! It's new! Shiny! They're not saying that they found some problems in 3.x and decided to re-engineer the mechanics to make the rules work better. No, they're just tacking on things and maybe changing some rules around. It makes me suspect that, instead of getting an improved product, gamers will be paying large sums of money for the same stuff in a shinier package.
And that really chafes. I stopped buying Pokemon collectable cards because there was no way to keep up. If the RPG companies treat gaming the same way, why should I bother?
*As an example of RPGs being used in computer games, GURPS was the core of the mechanics in the computer game Fallout and its sequel. I hate GURPS because it requires a calculator for some of its combat mechanics. When you're playing on something that has the calculations built right in, then it's not so much of a problem.
