Splat Books

[Ardantis]

WotC has already released additional game content (spells and alternate classes) in scripted adventures and online content (elemental evil and unearthed arcana article).

Are they releasing anything as rule supplements (fighters book, etc) or will they stick to story books? What do you think?

[JAL_1138]

They've said repeatedly now that they want to avoid splat bloat and are going to primarily focus on adventure paths. Full splatbooks are unlikely, at least in the next few years.

[JFahy]

Splat is a proven seller, though, so we'll see how well they resist the temptation.

[Camman1984]

Splat is a pain to keep track of as a dm, one of my players was a cereal net-list kind of player and would use so many obscure rules and templates etc to abuse the game.

I set a rule that a splat book could only be used if I as the dm owned it. Thinking it would give me greater control, it did, but it also gave me some nice christmas and birthday gifts :)

[JFahy]

Splat is a pain to keep track of as a dm, one of my players was a cereal net-list kind of player and would use so many obscure rules and templates etc to abuse the game.

I set a rule that a splat book could only be used if I as the dm owned it. Thinking it would give me greater control, it did, but it also gave me some nice christmas and birthday gifts :)

Good system. You get an unadulterated game, plus kindling for the fire pit. :smallwink:

[EccentricCircle]

I set a rule that a splat book could only be used if I as the dm owned it. Thinking it would give me greater control, it did, but it also gave me some nice christmas and birthday gifts :)

Our group has the principle of "Habeus Librus*" If you want to use something you have to produce the book, not just have looked it up on the net, or in a pirated copy.


* Apologies to anyone who actually speaks latin, I'd not be at all suprised if we've got some or all of the spelling wrong...

[archaeo]

Splat is a proven seller, though, so we'll see how well they resist the temptation.

Well, it may be a "proven seller," but Mearls & Co. have essentially said that they think it also inevitably leads to stagnation and edition death. Trying to get into 3.5 or 4e close to the end of their lifecycle required dealing with a ton of material, and even if you and your table were committed to a "Core Only" game, all that extraneous material would've been pretty daunting for new players, I think. Even just at the book store, those huge shelves of books made it look like a game that would be impossible for somebody to just start picking up and playing.

It's hard to know where development goes with that idea, though. Where are they planning on making money, going forward? Beyond the adventure paths, of course. Before I thought they were going to start doing an "app store" model, where homebrewers/designers could sell their materials in a central marketplace with WotC getting a cut, but now I really don't know. I think it's entirely possible that that's the problem they're working through right now, and they're loathe to announce anything because they don't want the playerbase to push them to make promises they can't keep.

[CyberThread]

The only splat book we will be getting outside the adventure paths will be setting books. Rumor has it Forgotten realms book will be coming out around halloween . If true will have TONS of stuff possibly besides just lore and DM material , as that setting is rich with player options.


Also to point out, the online extras have been coming out monthly, the players got free views to what they got from the online additions of the elemental evils adventure, and we got freebies from the eberron and varoius other publications we are getting.


So while we may not get splat, we are going spoonfed new materials for free.

[Totema]

I think we can at least expect some campaign setting books in the future.

[VoxRationis]

"Habeus Librus*"
* Apologies to anyone who actually speaks latin, I'd not be at all suprised if we've got some or all of the spelling wrong...

It should be "Habeas Librum", incidentally. "Habeas" is subjunctive 2nd person sing., meaning "You should have", if I am not mistaken (the verb has several meanings and connotations, including, in the legal context, "produce", but the first one you'll find under a Latin-English dictionary is "have"). "Corpus" in the legal phrase from which you derived your motto is accusative singular (corpus, corporis) and should not agree with the verb (since it's the object of the sentence, not the subject); it's entirely coincidental that English pronunciations of Latin tend to make the words rhyme.

Just for your pleasure. :smallsmile:

[JAL_1138]

It should be "Habeas Librum", incidentally. "Habeas" is subjunctive 2nd person sing., meaning "You should have", if I am not mistaken (the verb has several meanings and connotations, including, in the legal context, "produce", but the first one you'll find under a Latin-English dictionary is "have"). "Corpus" in the legal phrase from which you derived your motto is accusative singular (corpus, corporis) and should not agree with the verb (since it's the object of the sentence, not the subject); it's entirely coincidental that English pronunciations of Latin tend to make the words rhyme.

Just for your pleasure. :smallsmile:

"People called 'Romanes' they go the house?" :smallbiggrin::smalltongue::smallbiggrin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIAdHEwiAy8

[Naanomi]

In addition to setting books, I'd like to see some DM material eventually. A few more Monster Manuals wouldn't hurt, and I used to love the old Arms and Equipment/Stronghold/'DM Splatbook' that we didn't see much of (In favor of ever-expanding player options) in 3e and 4e

If adventure path and web releases end up producing enough material I would also like 'compendium' books consolidating all the material into a nice book to sit with the other source books on the shelf. I love the web-distributed model but a nice book in hand (for those who want to pay for it) is nice to have as well

[Wartex1]

Outside of setting stuff, I'd really like to get a Psionics handbook, and maybe one other class-focused splatbook.

[Naanomi]

Outside of setting stuff, I'd really like to get a Psionics handbook, and maybe one other class-focused splatbook.
I agree on psionics; though if 'bundle player content with other stuff' if the model I wonder if psionics might not end up as just a big chunk of a Darksun Setting book.

If we do see 'class/race splat books' I'd like them to be more fluff than crunch; not half the book being new subclasses like 3.X PrC catalogs were. The old 2e books had space dedicated to Kits (some more than others) but most spent a lot of time exploring other stuff as well; and even the kits tended to have more space dedicated to the campaign and setting role of each kit and not just a plot blurb a list of stats

[CyberThread]

I agree on psionics; though if 'bundle player content with other stuff' if the model I wonder if psionics might not end up as just a big chunk of a Darksun Setting book.

If we do see 'class/race splat books' I'd like them to be more fluff than crunch; not half the book being new subclasses like 3.X PrC catalogs were. The old 2e books had space dedicated to Kits (some more than others) but most spent a lot of time exploring other stuff as well; and even the kits tended to have more space dedicated to the campaign and setting role of each kit and not just a plot blurb a list of stats



If they did a psionic and threw it in with an adventure, I think you are looking towards something with the snake folks in it, or planar hopping. I don't see any warrneting any setting or such, so may be a sort of PHB2.

[Totema]

A PHB2 or DMG2 would be alright by me, or even another kind of Spell or Magic Item Compendium.