|
5 years ago ::
May 07, 2008 - 7:19AM
#1
|
|
|
Bill,
I just want to express some concerns regarding the current plan for Campaign Settings detailed in the April, 30th Ampersand.
I understand that most of the marketing for 4e seems to be geared toward a younger audience (I am 40), but I think limiting adventures for specific Campaign Settings is a mistake. While school age kids may have a lot of time on their hands to create adventures and whole campaigns on their own, I no longer have that luxury. What has become a boon to me is the trend started by Wizards with the 3e Adventure Path series of modules (The Sunless Citadel through Bastion of Broken Souls) and furthered by such companies as Paizo Publishing with their Pathfinder Adventure Paths. Wizards by rejecting this approach to marketing will end up losing my business for Campaign Settings in favor of companies like Paizo which will offer me ready-to-play campaigns for their own proprietary worlds.
Before you say, "But, all of our modules will be playable with some modification in any of our Campaign Settings," let me respond by saying that any modification is too much modification for me. I want ready-to-play adventures with good connectivity for campaign play. I have the time to read an adventure two, maybe three times in preparation for play and that is it.
Wizards made the mistake of virtually abandoning adventures in 3e and 3.5e only to have many other companies step in and reap all the profits from this branch of the hobby. I believed that Wizards had learned a lesson from this with the more recent release of several adventures and especially the "Expedition" series of adventures. It is sad to see that maybe that lesson wasn't learned.
I have purchased every edition of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting from 1st edition through 3rd. However, given the lack of support for Campaign Settings you have revealed, I don't think I'll be purchasing the 4th Edition version of the Realms.
Regards,
Alex D. Karaczun
Kalex the Omen Dungeonmaster Extraordinaire Concerning Player Rules Bias
Show
Gaining victory through rules bias is a hollow victory and they know it.
The argument goes, that some idiot at the table might claim that because there is a "default" that is the only true way to play D&D. An idiotic misconception that should be quite easy to disprove just by reading the rules, coming to these forums, or sending a quick note off to Customer Support and sharing the inevitable response with the group. BTW, I'm not just talking about Next when I say this. Of course, D&D has always been this way since at least the late 70's when I began playing.
|
|
|
|
5 years ago ::
May 07, 2008 - 8:49AM
#2
|
|
|
Before you say, "But, all of our modules will be playable with some modification in any of our Campaign Settings," let me respond by saying that any modification is too much modification for me. I want ready-to-play adventures with good connectivity for campaign play. I have the time to read an adventure two, maybe three times in preparation for play and that is it.
What if the designers were to put in a sidebar with details on how to modify the adventure for use in published settings? This way, adventures can still "connect" with fans of the Forgotten Realms (for instance), but still hold appeal for a wider audience.
+++ +++ +++
I support the current plan for campaign settings (from a business perspecive), but I understand where you are coming from. I'm 38 myself, and like many, I sometimes struggle to make time for my favorite hobby  .
/\ Art
|
|
|
|
5 years ago ::
May 07, 2008 - 10:07AM
#3
|
Date Joined:
Aug 16, 2007
|
No way of knowing how many atentures there will be but...
Dungeon Magazine is still around and will support FR. And including options/reccomendations for campaign settings in otherwise "generic" aventures will be even easier in the current online format, were page-count and formating are more flexible.
Still, I understand wanting more campaign-specific adventures.
|
|
|
|
5 years ago ::
May 07, 2008 - 10:28AM
#4
|
|
|
What if the designers were to put in a sidebar with details on how to modify the adventure for use in published settings? This way, adventures can still "connect" with fans of the Forgotten Realms (for instance), but still hold appeal for a wider audience.
+++ +++ +++
I support the current plan for campaign settings (from a business perspecive), but I understand where you are coming from. I'm 38 myself, and like many, I sometimes struggle to make time for my favorite hobby .
Modifying just isn't an option even with helper sidebars. If given the choice between running a campaign like "Rise of the Runelords" for a non-Realms world where almost no prep is required or spending even an hour modding a WotC adventure to "fit" in to the Realms, the "no prep" option wins. I understand what WotC is thinking when it comes to sourcebooks and such, but I don't think the same business model can or should be applied to adventures. They're a different sort of animal.
Regards,
Alex
Kalex the Omen Dungeonmaster ExtraordinaireConcerning Player Rules Bias
Show
Gaining victory through rules bias is a hollow victory and they know it.
The argument goes, that some idiot at the table might claim that because there is a "default" that is the only true way to play D&D. An idiotic misconception that should be quite easy to disprove just by reading the rules, coming to these forums, or sending a quick note off to Customer Support and sharing the inevitable response with the group. BTW, I'm not just talking about Next when I say this. Of course, D&D has always been this way since at least the late 70's when I began playing.
|
|
|
|
5 years ago ::
May 07, 2008 - 10:32AM
#5
|
|
|
Dungeon Magazine is still around and will support FR. And including options/reccomendations for campaign settings in otherwise "generic" aventures will be even easier in the current online format, were page-count and formating are more flexible.
I would be interested in FR Adventure Paths in Dungeon, but if they are generic with suggestions for fitting them in to a specific setting I'm not interested. Again modding isn't something I have the time to do in preparation for a game session.
Regards,
Alex
Kalex the Omen Dungeonmaster ExtraordinaireConcerning Player Rules Bias
Show
Gaining victory through rules bias is a hollow victory and they know it.
The argument goes, that some idiot at the table might claim that because there is a "default" that is the only true way to play D&D. An idiotic misconception that should be quite easy to disprove just by reading the rules, coming to these forums, or sending a quick note off to Customer Support and sharing the inevitable response with the group. BTW, I'm not just talking about Next when I say this. Of course, D&D has always been this way since at least the late 70's when I began playing.
|
|
|
|
5 years ago ::
May 07, 2008 - 11:13AM
#6
|
Date Joined:
Dec 11, 2006
|
Kalex, Just wanted to throw in that I do know both Goodman Games and Necromancer are doing 4E Adventures. http://www.ogrecave.com/news/goodman_dc … view.shtmlI play exactly like you do, I read the advanture and run with it. I've run most of what GG and Paizo offer in my Eberron world unchanged. I dropped Falcon's Hollow right inside Q'Barra, and the Valley of the Four Pharaohs, well its right there across the Endworld Mountains in the Blade Desert. 
Browncoats Unite...
|
|
|
|
5 years ago ::
May 07, 2008 - 11:35AM
#7
|
|
|
Kalex,
Just wanted to throw in that I do know both Goodman Games and Necromancer are doing 4E Adventures.
http://www.ogrecave.com/news/goodman_dc … view.shtml
I play exactly like you do, I read the advanture and run with it. I've run most of what GG and Paizo offer in my Eberron world unchanged. I dropped Falcon's Hollow right inside Q'Barra, and the Valley of the Four Pharaohs, well its right there across the Endworld Mountains in the Blade Desert.
Thanks Phobos. I had already heard about Goodman Games, but hadn't heard about Necromancer Games. I don't have a problem going to third party publishers for my adventures and Goodman and Paizo have their own Campaign Settings where the adventures take place which works out nicely for me. I just don't understand why Wizards of the Coast have to virtually abandon this idea. Haven't they learned anything from the wild popularity of the Shackled City campaign, or Pathfinder?
Regards,
Alex
Kalex the Omen Dungeonmaster ExtraordinaireConcerning Player Rules Bias
Show
Gaining victory through rules bias is a hollow victory and they know it.
The argument goes, that some idiot at the table might claim that because there is a "default" that is the only true way to play D&D. An idiotic misconception that should be quite easy to disprove just by reading the rules, coming to these forums, or sending a quick note off to Customer Support and sharing the inevitable response with the group. BTW, I'm not just talking about Next when I say this. Of course, D&D has always been this way since at least the late 70's when I began playing.
|
|
|
|
5 years ago ::
May 07, 2008 - 1:38PM
#8
|
Date Joined:
May 12, 2007
|
I can see where you're coming from, although I cannot emphasize with it, being only 12 myself. But for 4E, it seems like an adventure easily converts to different campaign settings, and even more easily to the Forgotten Realms because it is a more traditional Campiagn Setting.
|
|
|
|
5 years ago ::
May 07, 2008 - 6:49PM
#9
|
Date Joined:
Mar 12, 2003
|
Mr. Slavicsek, I entreat you: please, please, please do not use the word "analog" to mean "not digital"! I beg you! Dial clocks are analog. Mercury thermometers are analog. LP records are analog (I think). Books, typically, are not analog. For the general public's edification, here is a link to a variety of dictionary definitions of analog.
|
|
|
|
5 years ago ::
May 07, 2008 - 7:34PM
#10
|
Date Joined:
Sep 26, 2005
|
As a librarian and a gamer I fully agree!!!! The term analog just does not pertain to printed material.
The way you have used the word "analog" verges on being condescending and makes me fear for the future of printed material available for D&D. I had already feared that as DDI becomes a success why keep investing high dollars in the low profit business of printed material when you can swim in the cash of the digital age.
|
|
|
