tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post5090548299488536416..comments2024-03-13T05:54:27.719-07:00Comments on Rob Heinsoo: OMG! Trilogy! Rob Heinsoohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06577746024668857179noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-76642026732140164642014-07-30T01:01:46.783-07:002014-07-30T01:01:46.783-07:00With the PDFs in hand and some command-line tricke...With the PDFs in hand and some command-line trickery, I'm going to explode these 3, and the Midgard Bestiary, and then look at the recombination options. PHB/DMG/MM (and the OCD in me is always looking for a 3rd letter for that last one) is one possible option.<br /><br />I'm a firm believer that technology should be able to provide a solution here and that we're not even using PDFs to the extent of their true abilities. What's needed is a unified approach that will work across all platforms and provide the same beautiful look - I can take the SRD and create an app that will look and feel pretty much the same across the major devices but it won't be pretty. And if you lose the pretty, you lose a lot of the feel of the game. But there will be a solution out there...John Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14593973456394123461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5877873840763228001.post-22499787707131678992014-07-29T12:14:15.465-07:002014-07-29T12:14:15.465-07:00You know-- instead of denying the reality, maybe i...You know-- instead of denying the reality, maybe it is time to admit that well... maybe those more established publishers fell into their current system hardly by accident.<br />The Dungeons and Dragons editions came as a "here is absolutely everything you need to play" core set that included things for players and dms with all the various monster stats.<br />And the supplements to that were kind of disorganized-- as in they contained a mixture of sort... whatever struck the game designers at the time without it really being relevant to any particular part of the game. 13 True Ways is basically that-- its a splat book that contains quite a few character classes but is mostly focused on setting and then also has a bunch of monster stats...<br /><br />But how is that going to work out in actual play? Oh, I am using this monster but... wait.... was it in the Core Book or True Ways or the Bestiary again? I forgot something in my notes and need to look up how this ability works.<br /><br />So instead of having your monsters centrally located, you have them scattered across three books already and the problem is only going to get worse with future expansions.<br />Important setting information is split between the core book and true ways instead of being neatly condensed-- assuming that whatever is in the bestiary book can be discounted.<br />And players are going to want access to both the core book and true ways when doing character creation and if they multiclass and use a class from each book then they are going to need both books available whenever they level up.<br /><br />It is entirely possible that things couldn't have been done any other way, things were released as they were made and you can't very well have organized things more neatly when you hadn't even dreamed up a lot of what you are putting into the books. But there is no need to declare yourself superior and pat yourself on the back either.<br />Years from now when you get around to doing a 2nd edition, you might want to seriously consider printing it in such a way that character creation stuff is all grouped together in a single book while monsters are all neatly organized in a separate book while all setting information is located entirely in a third and you might even consider creating a book that explains about running games that is dedicated solely to that aspect. That is, if the game ever grows beyond the assumption that it exists for players who have played other RPGS previously rather than trying to appeal to absolutely raw newbies.<br /><br />But, you know... years from now... the way technology is going, who is to say that paper books would even be the best medium for the game's release. By that point some sort of easily searchable E-reader program might be the far superior method for releasing the game... and if that is the case, then it will be a lot easier to expand it in such a way that new information can be collected easily with the most similar previously released information.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05077116392950757591noreply@blogger.com