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Kiero
2007-05-05, 05:19 AM
The standard business model enshrined for years by WotC was one where they release a corebook (of latter days three of them), then publish supplement after supplement. "The Complete X", "The Book of Y" and so on. Crunch sells, people seem to enjoy buying all this stuff rather than making things up for themselves.

I'd imagine it can get painful for a GM when players go out and buy stuff for themselves, with the expectation that they can make use of whatever they've purchased in the game. I'm also aware that often these things aren't even necessarily balanced against what is already out there, leading to some things that are markedly better than what has gone before. A supplement arms race, if you like, where whomever has the newest stuff has an advantage.

I'm undoubtedly an exception, not just in my tastes (I don't play D&D, haven't for years), but in the fact that I buy very little indeed. With any system I will only buy the corebook (and generally having multiple volumes of said core is a deal-breaker), and run everything from that. I certainly don't buy into any sentiments that I have a "duty" to "support the industry" by buying stuff I don't need. I don't have a monthly gaming budget that I will spend on gaming stuff.

So here's the question: what's your view on the supplement treadmill? Do you tend to buy a lot of product to keep up with what's out there? Are you selective in what you buy, or do you tend to go with a shotgun approach? Does anyone out there make do with just the corebook(s) alone?

ocato
2007-05-05, 05:34 AM
My group typically shares books. So if player A picks up the complete halfling thrower, than player B is typically welcome to use the gnome substitution feat from it.

That's not a real book...yet.

Last_resort_33
2007-05-05, 05:40 AM
I used to make do with the core books alone... I still do mainly, but I only buy things that look interesting... I don't own any of the complete books, but I do own the spell compendium, DMGII, Races of the Dragon and the Book of vile darkness which I bought for a laugh. In our group, everyone has a PHB and we only have one copy of each other book.

so on that note I suppose I have been taken in. I still use the stuff from the others (if it's ok with the DM of course) but we have a rule that core is core and anything that is more powerful than core is just cheese and should not be used. I think WotC have tried quite hard not to make it an arms race. (although there are some things in complete arcane which are a bit on the dodgy side) but then again, who are you trying to beat? the other players?

Dhavaer
2007-05-05, 07:39 AM
I buy stuff that looks useful. So far I have every Complete except Scoundrel, the Spell Compendium, the PHB, PHB2, DMG and DMG2. Strangely, I don't have any Monster Manuals. I don't particularly like them, for some reason. The SRD has more than enough for me.

I also haven't found anything that resembles an 'arms race'. Some things you can see WotC trying to find out what's balanced (see Hexblade/Duskblade) but for the most part outside of Core they tend to err on the side of caution (almost all of Complete Warrior, most of Complete Arcane). The balance seems to be the best in the PHB2, with the exception of the celerity line of spells.

knightsaline
2007-05-05, 07:55 AM
I have the SRD, Spell compenduim and CWar. Cwar seems to be seen as one of the worst books, as a starting samurai seems to be able to fart out a masterwork katana and short sword for free. the only things I liked from it were the swashbuckler, Frenzied Beserker and the new weapons and feats (still trying to work out how to make a monk make infinite circle kicks from one jump. it involves boots of levitation)

the problem with Deepforest is that we are a year behind in D&D suppliments. NO ONE has even heard of the tome of battle, BoED and BoVD are over $70 each and the country is enthralled by idiots playing football.

gods, i wish daria was real

TRM
2007-05-05, 08:02 AM
I have about 4 years' worth of Dragon, The Spell Compendium, DMG II, and ToB…and every Eberron splat book.
I don't have any Complete books (and I never shall! Defiance!).
I try and avoid buying more than 1 or 2 supplements a year (and only the certain-few-books that I like).

ReluctantDragon
2007-05-05, 08:05 AM
The standard business model enshrined for years by WotC was one where they release a corebook (of latter days three of them), then publish supplement after supplement. "The Complete X", "The Book of Y" and so on. Crunch sells, people seem to enjoy buying all this stuff rather than making things up for themselves.


Ugh. Why?

Seriously, I'm not here to defend WOTC, but this "business model" you say WOTC "enshrined"?. Come on.

TSR did the exact same thing that WOTC has enshrined. White Wolf has done the exact same thing that WOTC enshrined. Numerous other publication companies dealing in games has done what WOTC enshrined.

Now I'm just as distrustful of large companies as the next guy. I'm smart enough to realize that they are not out for my self-interests, but their own. However I don't suffer from the Western Consumer philosophy that I deserve for WOTC to give me free stuff, or even good stuff. Free marketplace dictates that I have a choice. As you stated, you don't play D&D, so you made your choice. That's great. But why press some non-existent point that WOTC is the big bad evil Empire that makes it so that I have to keep up with the Jones's and get the biggest, baddest, coolest new thing that comes out. That's Western Capitalism! I'd say most of the Western hemisphere of consumers live by that exact business model(opinion, not fact :P)

Supplement Treadmill. Hah. I like that. To me this question is like asking, "So why do you buy things that are considered recreational and of no use to your survival in life?"

Mmmkay. I'm done. Sorry if this seems inflammatory, its not meant to be, however I get tired of the popular opinion of bashing a company that is trying to make money and continuing the idea of the victimized consumer.[/rant]

Anyway,

RD.

SpiderBrigade
2007-05-05, 08:07 AM
Well, D&D definitely does have power creep, but it works a little differently. It's not so much that New Book 5 will have a bunch of stuff that is strictly better than New Book 1-4. That will happen sometimes, but it's not the general trend.

What DOES happen is that abilities from new books won't be checked in combination with all other published materials. So a character built with just the core books will (often, not always) be somewhat weaker than one built with ALL published material.

TRM
2007-05-05, 08:09 AM
Now I'm just as distrustful of large companies as the next guy. I'm smart enough to realize that they are not out for my self-interests, but their own. However I don't suffer from the Western Consumer philosophy that I deserve for WOTC to give me free stuff, or even good stuff. Free marketplace dictates that I have a choice. As you stated, you don't play D&D, so you made your choice. That's great. But why press some non-existent point that WOTC is the big bad evil Empire that makes it so that I have to keep up with the Jones's and get the biggest, baddest, coolest new thing that comes out. That's Western Capitalism! I'd say most of the Western hemisphere of consumers live by that exact business model(opinion, not fact :P)
Amen! Brother Dragon!

Kiero
2007-05-05, 08:10 AM
Ugh. Why?

Seriously, I'm not here to defend WOTC, but this "business model" you say WOTC "enshrined", come on.

TSR did the exact same thing that WOTC has enshrined. White Wolf has done the exact same thing that WOTC enshrined. Numerous other publication companies dealing in games has done what WOTC enshrined.

Now I'm just as distrustful of large companies as the next guy. I'm smart enough to realize that they are not out for my self-interests, but their own. However I don't suffer from the Western Consumer philosophy that I deserve for WOTC to give me free stuff, or even good stuff. Free marketplace dictates that I have a choice. As you stated, you don't play D&D, so you made your choice. That's great. But why press some non-existent point that WOTC is the big bad evil Empire that makes it so that I have to keep up with the Jones's and get the biggest, baddest, coolest new thing that comes out. That's Western Capitalism! I'd say most of the Western hemisphere of consumers live by that exact business model(opinion, not fact :P)

Supplement Treadmill. Hah. I like that. To me this question is like asking so why do you buy things that are considered recreational and of no use to your survival in life?

Mmmkay. I'm done. Sorry if this seems inflammatory, its not meant to be, however I get tired of the popular opinion of bashing a company that is trying to make money and continuing the idea of the victimized consumer.[/rant]

Anyway,

RD.

You've hared off at a completely random tangent there. I'm examining the behaviour of the consumer here, WotC is only doing what their market wants. They'd go out of business otherwise. What I'm probing is why people feel the need to be constantly buying stuff.

ReluctantDragon
2007-05-05, 08:23 AM
You've hared off at a completely random tangent there. I'm examining the behaviour of the consumer here, WotC is only doing what their market wants. They'd go out of business otherwise. What I'm probing is why people feel the need to be constantly buying stuff.

Hmm. Well I addressed your opening point in your post, but if it was misconstrued then my apologies.

As far as probing the idea that people need to buy this stuff, I believe you can simply examine the psyche of the American(I use American as an example, not as an ignorant slight to the international community) consumer. As in my previous post, I refer to the addage of "Keeping up with the Jones's". Western society is driven by that need for social status recognition. This has migrated itself into the idea of material possessions equating to self worth. This has then migrated over into the idea of the newest thing being the best thing and self having the best thing means I am the best self. Such a philosophy bleeds into every aspect of our lives. Now I make grossly over-generalized statements here, but the essence of the point remains true.

Taken into gaming: The newest supplement might have something that is cool(re:better). I shall peruse it to see if the newness of it attracts my eye. It indeed is fresh material, there are interesting things inside, it is something that will make me stand out in the game, because it is different(re:better). Therefore I also will be better.

Again this is a gross over generalization, but the basic principle persists in Western culture, material possession equals show of status which equals to verifying self worth.

Strangely though, its accepted, because the fruits of the Capitalist economy reward such thinking.

I think that is the essence of what you might be getting at.

However I could be completely and totally wrong.

RD.

Ruik
2007-05-05, 08:54 AM
The standard business model enshrined for years by WotC was one where they release a corebook (of latter days three of them), then publish supplement after supplement. "The Complete X", "The Book of Y" and so on. Crunch sells, people seem to enjoy buying all this stuff rather than making things up for themselves.WotC is a business - like any business, there best way to sell a product is to make what there consumers want... thats capitalism... They create new products because they have a self interest to generate profit. I honestly don't get what you are trying to say here. If they only created a limited selection of products, they would reach a point where their franchise was unprofitable. I really don't get the hate that is directed towards companies like WotC, its a business for christ's sake.


I'm undoubtedly an exception, not just in my tastes (I don't play D&D, haven't for years), but in the fact that I buy very little indeed. With any system I will only buy the corebook (and generally having multiple volumes of said core is a deal-breaker), and run everything from that. I certainly don't buy into any sentiments that I have a "duty" to "support the industry" by buying stuff I don't need. I don't have a monthly gaming budget that I will spend on gaming stuff.*sigh*

Now I'm just as distrustful of large companies as the next guy. I'm smart enough to realize that they are not out for my self-interests, but their own. However I don't suffer from the Western Consumer philosophy that I deserve for WOTC to give me free stuff, or even good stuff. Free marketplace dictates that I have a choice. As you stated, you don't play D&D, so you made your choice. That's great. But why press some non-existent point that WOTC is the big bad evil Empire that makes it so that I have to keep up with the Jones's and get the biggest, baddest, coolest new thing that comes out. That's Western Capitalism! I'd say most of the Western hemisphere of consumers live by that exact business model(opinion, not fact :P)
And that just about sums it up...


No one is asking anyone to go out and spend recklessly or because they have some miss-guided sense of loyalty that complels them to purchase supplements. You can and should only buy those that you find interesting and/or useful. If you can split the purchases between a gaming group or all put in money to reduce costs so much the better, but its not a 'duty'.

They produce products. If you like the products, and have the money to do so, then buy the product. If you don't, have the inclination or the cash, then don't.

It's that simple.

Sulecrist
2007-05-05, 09:03 AM
Hmm. Well I addressed your opening point in your post, but if it was misconstrued then my apologies.

As far as probing the idea that people need to buy this stuff, I believe you can simply examine the psyche of the American(I use American as an example, not as an ignorant slight to the international community) consumer. As in my previous post, I refer to the addage of "Keeping up with the Jones's". Western society is driven by that need for social status recognition. This has migrated itself into the idea of material possessions equating to self worth. This has then migrated over into the idea of the newest thing being the best thing and self having the best thing means I am the best self. Such a philosophy bleeds into every aspect of our lives. Now I make grossly over-generalized statements here, but the essence of the point remains true.

Taken into gaming: The newest supplement might have something that is cool(re:better). I shall peruse it to see if the newness of it attracts my eye. It indeed is fresh material, there are interesting things inside, it is something that will make me stand out in the game, because it is different(re:better). Therefore I also will be better.

Again this is a gross over generalization, but the basic principle persists in Western culture, material possession equals show of status which equals to verifying self worth.

Strangely though, its accepted, because the fruits of the Capitalist economy reward such thinking.

I think that is the essence of what you might be getting at.

However I could be completely and totally wrong.

RD.

I agree with almost everything you've said, but some people enjoy reading for reading's sake. (Not saying you disagree with that, just adding on.) I buy most of my books because I'm going to be riding in a car for a while and need something to read. The facts that I'm getting crunchy goodness AND making my shelf look more expensive are just respective cherries on my D20 sundae.

Knight_Of_Twilight
2007-05-05, 09:44 AM
My group pools books, and we generally end up with most of them, since we have so many different kinds of players.

I don't think WOTC is evil for realising them. Its not like your old books go bad or something, you don't have to buy them.

Kiero
2007-05-05, 09:58 AM
WotC is a business - like any business, there best way to sell a product is to make what there consumers want... thats capitalism... They create new products because they have a self interest to generate profit. I honestly don't get what you are trying to say here. If they only created a limited selection of products, they would reach a point where their franchise was unprofitable. I really don't get the hate that is directed towards companies like WotC, its a business for christ's sake.

I don't get how that has anything to do with what I was talking about - which is the consumer behaviour they're targeting.

Khoran
2007-05-05, 10:11 AM
I know that I'm probobly running on the Tredmill on high speed, but I love getting more books. I like having more options for my character and I found that some of the books have some good Roleplay information. Only books I regret putting into my library were BoED and BoVD, they felt overdone with the way they approached the alignments and I felt the crunch wasn't that good, so terrible in both the things I look for.

Oh, and my group always share books, but sometimes that leads to Books disapearing.

Rob Knotts
2007-05-05, 10:51 AM
So here's the question: what's your view on the supplement treadmill? Do you tend to buy a lot of product to keep up with what's out there? Are you selective in what you buy, or do you tend to go with a shotgun approach? Does anyone out there make do with just the corebook(s) alone?Ironically, since I like to run mostly homebrew settings, I usually start out with a system buying a majority of the rules-related supplements available. With a new game I want to see as many examples as possible on how to use the core rules in different ways. I always end up a lot more picky about buying further supplements, and my buying habits end up varying depending on the game system:

D&D 3x: While I don't particularly dislike D&D, I'm not a big fan, either. However, ever since 3x came out and put D&D back in the forefront of popularity among gamers, until recently I felt the need to be able to run D&D games in hopes of recruiting new players to my old gaming group. For a long time I though D&D supplements would eventually show me enough incarnations of the D&D rules for me to get an intuitive grasp on them.

Uh uh.

While the supplements are usually internally-balanced, they exist in a vacuum as far as other supplements go, and most of the "crunch" that makes it D&D rather than just d20 fantasy is balanced through trial-and-error playtesting rather than internal consistency. If I want to make a homebrew D&D world, with classes, spells, monsters, etcetera unique to that world, I'm pretty much stuck with mixing/matching material from various different books instead of trying to come up with my own material at the risk of severely unbalancing the game. Far too much of the "crunch" in the D&D core books and supplements was simply made up as they went along and balanced/edited through play test, you can't really learn much about writing your own supplemental rules for D&D based on what's already been published.

GURPS: Earlier editions of GURPS had a problem similar to D&D 3x in that rules in supplements often didn't work well together (Supers vs Psionics being the classic example). On the other hand, GURPS setting/genre supplements tended to have more than enough useful "fluff" to make to make them worth buying*.

GURPS 4th edition has made a point of making all the published rules internally consistent, and 4e supplements now tend to be devoted almost entirely to either extensive "fluff" (Space, Fantasy) or rules that expand on what's already in the Basic Set (Ultra-Tech, Magic). Then there's Powers, possibly the most useful GURPS 4e supplement so far, offering a method of grouping together purchased character abilities to reflect the "fluff" of whatever setting you're using (very much like character classes in d20).

For GURPS 4e supplements, I buy them discretely, judging each one seperately by what it has to offer. It's really just a coincidence that this had lead to me buying just about all the supplements published so far :smallbiggrin:

Champions/Hero: The Hero system has always been a lot to take in, and the 5th edition is even more so. For a couple years I was buying just about any crunch-heavy supplement that came along just to see more examples of how to use the core rules. There came a point, however, where a lot of the "crunch" in supplements overlapped, and in more than a few sample characters just weren't written very well and offered a poor example of how to use the rules. Nowadays I just stick to Champions setting supplements, the default setting is a couple decades old and is kind of like an old friend.

As an side, even if you're running a fantasy game in something other than the Hero System, I'd still suggest trying to get a hold of Fantasy Hero for 5th Edition Hero (Storn cover with heroes blocking a castle gate), especially if you can get it at a used price. Massive books like Fantasy Hero are why they created the word tome, but there just a hell of a lot of great general info in there for running fantasy games.

Mutants and Masterminds: I've bought a few supplements for this game for examples on how to write characters (Lockdown especially), but the more I saw the more I realized that M&M just is not that complicated, and any worry I had about character creation was just me overthinking things. In the long run I'm glad I picked up Freedom city, lots of great background meshing ideas from both DC and Marvel, but while I'll always browse through new M&M books, I'm not in a big rush to buy more. On the other hand, as the single source of gaming books in my group I'm looking forward to getting another Pocket Player's Guide, and really wouldn't mind having 3 or 4 copies to hand around:smallwink:

*When the original Ninja Hero (Hero System) book came out, among other books suggested in the bibliography was GURPS China, a book from another game company that had yet to be published at the time. GURPS Japan also earned a strong reputation for it's relative objectivity (as an RPG book) in describing medieval Japan, and the tongue-in-cheek How To Be French sidebar in GURPS Swashbucklers remains a true classic in the realm of RPG "fluff".

Krade
2007-05-05, 10:51 AM
As a whole, I find supplements to be a good place for a feat or two, maybe a PrC, and if I'm feeling really dangerous, a weapon. That's it. Even when I have access to a great deal of books, I still end up using almost exclusively core material. My philosophy on the matter: Why use supplements when you are more than capable of making a badass character with just core. It keeps everything a hell of a lot simpler.

That said, on with what I think the OP was trying to get at. I don't think it was very clear, but here's my take on it.

I don't get how that has anything to do with what I was talking about - which is the consumer behaviour they're targeting.
Ok, here I go.

Psychology. Any basic psychology course (totally not saying everyone should take one, I know most people probably have not or will not take one) will teach you that one of the most basic human drives is to seek out novel stimuli. These stimuli come in many forms, and in this case, D&D books.

Ok, next point.

Combine the previous with what others have been saying about economy and capitalism. This is basically another psychological drive: To be better than or as good as your neighbor.

A successful business venture will recognize and use this basic human drives to line thier pockets with gold. And that is exactly what WotC is doing.

Now, it goes without saying that there will be many individuals who do not (for lack of a better word) succumb to these drives. But those people are by far the minority.

And if that didn't address what you were talking about, I'm going to have to ask you to rephrase your question/topic/whatever you want to call it.

prufock
2007-05-05, 12:25 PM
My groups usually share books, but I seldom use anything beyond the three core texts. I've dipped into Stormwrack when we had a water-based adventure, and taken a few things from some of the Complete... and Monster Manualseries. I don't mind extra rules, but I prefer building stories and character concepts. Now, the rules can help you do that, but I prefer the "bottum-up" approach - forming concepts first, then getting the rules to match - rather than the "top-down" method.
If there are 5 people in a gaming group (DM + 5 players), and each person has 2 supplements, that's a pretty good well from which to draw.

Cade Shadow
2007-05-05, 06:12 PM
I only buy the supplements I can envision myself using. And even then only the ones that seem interesting to me

Galathir
2007-05-05, 08:00 PM
I only buy supplements I use or find interesting. I certainly don't feel any obligation to support WotC but I don't mind paying $20-$30 for a book I'll make use of. Sure the books might be a little expensive but if you figure out the cost per hour of playing it is probably cheaper than most other forms of entertainment.

Viscount Einstrauss
2007-05-05, 08:37 PM
Every time a player finds something new from a book they want to use, I simply ask that they leave me the book for at least a 24 hour period first. It doesn't actually take that long, but there's my ordinary schedule to attend to as well as locating other DMs that have used the supplement before to get their thoughts on it. I know that when I buy a shiny new book, I want nothing more then to use it right away. So, I do my best to let my players have their fun with new purchases.

LotharBot
2007-05-05, 11:14 PM
I own/have bought the following books:

PHB, DMG, MM1 (core rulebooks; I've bought maybe 6 more copies of the PHB as gifts.)
Draconomicon (found it in the used section for like 10 bucks)
Spell Compendium (brilliant book idea. I don't need a Feat compendium because I have the Netbook of Feats (http://datadeco.com/nbofeats/nbofeats012.html) and Forgotten Realms Helps (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/index.shtml), but having all of the spells collected is really nice.)
The Shackled City (http://paizo.com/dungeon/products/books/v5748btpy7dx9) adventure path
Tome of Battle (ordered just this week.)

One of my players has Complete Arcane and Complete Mage. I allow him to use stuff from there if he runs it by me first.

I don't particularly feel the need to buy dozens and dozens of books. The game is reasonable using only core (with a sensible DM / houserules), and adding a module and a couple more books has given me plenty to work with.

BardicDuelist
2007-05-05, 11:32 PM
When I started, I bought everything I could afford to buy. Then I realized I'd never use most of it.
Our group shares books, and I have Complete series (except Mage and Divine), Stormwrack (I DM a LOT of sefaring campaigns), and Core that I take with me and use. Everything else I don't really.

Those of us who get books for X mas or somthing again just share them. Because of this we have a lot books, but we don't usually go past core except for feats and a couple of classes.

Generally we allow any WOTC book, but a DM can ALWAYS say no.

Kiero
2007-05-06, 04:31 AM
Now, the rules can help you do that, but I prefer the "bottum-up" approach - forming concepts first, then getting the rules to match - rather than the "top-down" method.

I'd consider them the other way around. Concept-first is "top down", and rules-first is "bottom up".

ChildOfLuna
2007-05-06, 10:29 AM
I must be running on the treadmill at full speed. I don't play DnD either, instead I opt for Exalted by White Wolf. I buy every single supplement, the day it comes out. Rarely do I use all of the material in any one book, but each Exalted book is interesting enough in itself that it makes for an enjoyable read.
DnD, whose supplements are more dry then my Statistics coursebook, I only purchased the bare minimum for. Even then, I regret buying even the Players Handbook.

Kiero
2007-05-06, 10:37 AM
White Wolf cured me of any acquisitiveness I once had. Buying up nearly every Mage: the Ascension 2e product, then finding not only was there a new edition, but I really couldn't get a group of people to play it either. Selling all that lot off was a humbling experience that managed my expectations down. Nowadays if I can't actually see myself using it (rather than merely reading) in play, I won't buy it.

skywalker
2007-05-06, 11:25 AM
I've recently found myself buying more and more books, even though I'm scared to death that 3.x is on it's last legs and I'll regret it. But I have Exalted Deeds, PHB2, and Magic Item Compendium. I bought Complete Arcane for a friend who only plays wizards for christmas. I don't have any of the core books because they're all online anyway and EVERYBODY has them, so it seemed kinda useless. My DM bought Complete Warrior for the gladiator stuff and Complete Adventurer for the Ninja, which I thought was a probably a waste of money but we've found the other useful stuff in there. I'm a do-gooder type of guy so I enjoyed exalted deeds immensely, as did our group's cleric. PHB2 has the duskblade, which I'm incredibly anxious to play. Magic Item Compendium was a bit mis-leading in the title, in that where spell compendium listed almost every spell, magic item compendium left a boat-load of magic items that I wanted the rules for out, that is the only purchase I would say I am unsatisfied with. I personally don't have the money to buy all the supplements I would like to, but I know they're not a good use of the disposable income I do have, so I would say, no, I am not on the supplement treadmill, but I could be, if I didn't have other things that eat alot of my extra money.

I think my primary draw to supplements is the new rules. Having scoured the SRD and commited alot of it to memory when I first started playing D&D, new books give me new situations to ponder over. I think that is the main reason why I buy them, and why I sit in the borders cafe for hours reading books I know I won't buy, looking for useful stuff. It's just so much fun to play within someone else's rules, I think, that making something up myself is weird.

Deepblue706
2007-05-06, 11:44 AM
Aside from CWar, all my books are D&D 3.0. Among those, I had the core three, the Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting, and Sword and Fist (the non-core materials were actually gifts, though).

I don't like spending a lot of money on this kind of stuff. I mean, I don't find a lot of flavor in what I see, and the tips and ideas sent at readers just seems to be almost entirely "common sense" issues.

The only way a rulebook has really helped me, aside from providing details on the very basics of the game, is help me organize into charts and tables the things I wanted in my games.

Once in a while, I'll browse the new books I find at my local Borders, but I'm never really impressed with the material I see. Usually, I'll only notice one minor detail I like, and then I'll see the price tag. To me, not worth it.

WotC, in my opinion, is trying to desperately to make D&D into a money-machine instead of a quality product.

But that's fine - I enjoy making up my own classes, feats, etc. The only thing that bugs me is that whenever I write something up in my notebook, it's not only after that when I see similar concepts put into D&D books, albeit in a way I find to be very disatisfying.

Matthew
2007-05-25, 02:25 PM
As far as probing the idea that people need to buy this stuff, I believe you can simply examine the psyche of the American(I use American as an example, not as an ignorant slight to the international community) consumer. As in my previous post, I refer to the addage of "Keeping up with the Jones's". Western society is driven by that need for social status recognition. This has migrated itself into the idea of material possessions equating to self worth. This has then migrated over into the idea of the newest thing being the best thing and self having the best thing means I am the best self. Such a philosophy bleeds into every aspect of our lives. Now I make grossly over-generalized statements here, but the essence of the point remains true.
That's not just western society, that's human society in general.

Anywho, people like buying books to see what new ideas are out there. Personally, I am not inclined to do so very often and I wouldn't allow anything into a game without having thoroughly reviewed it beforehand, playtested it and retained the right to lose it. In any case, I'm not on the treadmill, but I don't think it's any big deal (either positively or negatively) if you are.