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3 years ago ::
Sep 24, 2010 - 5:38AM
#1
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Date Joined:
Aug 24, 2005
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 Dungeon 182
Save My Game: Essentials Survival Guide by Stephen Radney-MacFarland Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few months, you probably know that the Dungeons & Dragons Essentials line is the new hotness. But you may also be asking the question, “how essential is it for me?” This month, I’ll help you answer that question. Talk about this Article here.
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3 years ago ::
Sep 24, 2010 - 6:12AM
#2
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Date Joined:
Aug 22, 2007
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So the Rules Compendium has all the rules you need in one handy place for DMs and players alike... except the ones it doesn't. That's disappointing to hear.
I guess I can understand keeping themes and backgrounds (elements that require a list of actual options to go with them) separate, but why vehicle rules? More importantly, why some weapon properties? Why ritual rules? What else are we missing?
I ordered my Rules Compendium because I wanted to finally have everything all in one place, and I've been excitedly waiting for it since it shipped. Now I'm worrying about what kind of minor, small print bait-and-switch I'm in for.
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3 years ago ::
Sep 24, 2010 - 7:51AM
#3
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Date Joined:
Jul 20, 2004
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This article is great content, its wonderful to have some guidance on what to buy. I think I'll probably get the Compendium, as well as the DM Kit and the 2 player books. My main motivation: errata.
As for disappointment that a few rules are left out, that's just silly. There are always going to be rules not included. Brutal weapons are introduced in a splat book. So are vehicles. But what about familiars? You need Arcane Power to know how to use them, and nobody is surprised if those rules are left out of the Compendium. At some point rules are too specific to justify putting them into a printed Compendium.
The Rules Compendium always only promised the rules from PH1 and DMG1, plus a few other key ones. Honestly, I never understood why that was of much value, but I guess I'm spoiled by always having the online Compendium and the Character Builder at my fingertips. I think we've only looked up rules in a book 2 or 3 times in the past year.
Now, if the product was called the "Complete D&D Rules Encyclopedia", it'd expect everything. But that would be both larger and more difficult (and obsolete as soon as something new came out).
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3 years ago ::
Sep 24, 2010 - 8:11AM
#4
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Date Joined:
Sep 24, 2009
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Dungeon 182
Save My Game: Essentials Survival Guide
by Stephen Radney-MacFarland
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few months, you probably know that the Dungeons & Dragons Essentials line is the new hotness.
Good to know O4e is "Old and Busted"
Host of the HTL Podcast Series: http://www.holdtheline.com/media/category/htl-podcast.6/ 
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3 years ago ::
Sep 24, 2010 - 8:31AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Sep 29, 2009
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IMHO this article should not be exclusive to D&Di subscribers but a rather a general article.
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3 years ago ::
Sep 24, 2010 - 10:34AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Aug 22, 2007
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As for disappointment that a few rules are left out, that's just silly. There are always going to be rules not included. Brutal weapons are introduced in a splat book. So are vehicles. But what about familiars? You need Arcane Power to know how to use them, and nobody is surprised if those rules are left out of the Compendium. At some point rules are too specific to justify putting them into a printed Compendium.
I didn't say I expect to have every single rule that has been and will be written in one book. I even admit to understanding why some things would be excluded. I just disagree with some of the stuff that's left out, and its inclusion in a splat book is not reason enough if it shows up in several other books as well. That's not silly.
I'd group familiars in with themes and backgrounds, which I said I understood being excluded. Weapon properties, though, I have to continue to still make sense to include. If they're included in the core book that everyone is expected to reference for rules, that's it. You print them once and it's done. By excluding them you now need to include a sidebar or other entry on brutal, stout, etc. in every single book that includes even one weapon with this property.
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3 years ago ::
Sep 24, 2010 - 10:47AM
#7
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Date Joined:
Nov 29, 2001
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I think this is the first honest Essentials article I've read so far. It's at least the first one that didn't have the undertone of a slimy used car salesman. I think it's funny that the RC has changed from the "complete rules for D&D" to the "grand majority of rules for D&D". Ooops? I also like that the author is straight with the reader and specifically uses terms like "change" and "rehash" and even goes so far as to say "there are a lot of updates" instead of sticking to the original marketing line that there are actually no updates and that nothing is changing. I say make this guy your new head of marketing; I know I appreciate his frankness more than the doublespeak in some of the other articles.
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3 years ago ::
Sep 24, 2010 - 11:39AM
#8
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Date Joined:
Apr 23, 2005
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IMHO this article should not be exclusive to D&Di subscribers but a rather a general article.
I suspect it's a marketing decision. DDI subscribers are already spending a crapton on at least one D&D product annually, so a description of what's in the RC is likely to sway them. Nonsubscribers who are already on the fence might be convinced not to buy it, instead, because they're a lot cheaper in general.
"Edison didn't succeed the first time he invented Benjamin Franklin, either." Albert the Alligator, Walt Kelly's Pogo Sunday BookThe Core Coliseum: test out your 4e builds and fight to the death.
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3 years ago ::
Sep 24, 2010 - 5:13PM
#9
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Date Joined:
May 17, 2001
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So the Rules Compendium has all the rules you need in one handy place for DMs and players alike... except the ones it doesn't. That's disappointing to hear.
I guess I can understand keeping themes and backgrounds (elements that require a list of actual options to go with them) separate, but why vehicle rules? More importantly, why some weapon properties? Why ritual rules? What else are we missing?
I ordered my Rules Compendium because I wanted to finally have everything all in one place, and I've been excitedly waiting for it since it shipped. Now I'm worrying about what kind of minor, small print bait-and-switch I'm in for.
I think you will be 99% happy with it. I'm really happy with it. I noticed the holes in products that affect me the most, but a grand majority of the rules are there, well organized, often clarified, and often augment by brief but enlightening commentary.
It's not worth worrying about.
Stephen Radney-MacFarland
Pathfinder RPG Designer
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3 years ago ::
Sep 24, 2010 - 5:19PM
#10
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Date Joined:
May 17, 2001
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IMHO this article should not be exclusive to D&Di subscribers but a rather a general article.
I suspect it's a marketing decision. DDI subscribers are already spending a crapton on at least one D&D product annually, so a description of what's in the RC is likely to sway them. Nonsubscribers who are already on the fence might be convinced not to buy it, instead, because they're a lot cheaper in general.
It's a editorial decision to have Save My Game on one side of the wall and not the other. It was my decision to write about Essentials i the column. I just figured it might be helpful to DMs...and that's what I try to do in Save My Game.
No guys in suits were hovering over me when I wrote...I swear!
Stephen Radney-MacFarland
Pathfinder RPG Designer
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