![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I was in the bookstore, and as is a part of my ritual habit I perused the latest in the D&D books. I came across a new title, and plucked it out to take a look.
I promptly lost any shred of respect for Wizards of the Coast that I might have had left.
For a mere $20 (US) you too can pick up the Dungeon Survival Guide. What is this you ask? It is a marvelous hardcover book chock full (all 64 pages) of tips. Tips on how to get through old modules. Explanations of words. I mean really? You need to charge me $20 for this crap? Sure, I know that I, a 28 year veteran of the game, is not your target audience. But who is? Ten year olds? Um....ten year olds have Wikipedia, they have chat rooms. They are practically symbiotically joined to the internet. They don't need you to explain what a flagstone floor is, nor to point out the gotchas in decades old modules. I mean, it's not even up to the standards of a goodcheat book walk through book, as you might find for computer games. There's nothing between the covers of substantive value. These aren't even densely packed pages. There are huge sweeping sections of empty space that have pretty pictures, but no information. Look, cool art is great. Can add a lot to a game supplement, but there's no excuse when it's only 64 pages, to have content that could have fit on 40, with the rest being art. This entire book should have been a series of FREE articles up on the WotC site, or if they *had* to make money off the deal, fine, I could accept it as a weekly/monthly article series for Dragon. I really, really, really hope this tanks. Because for that money a kid could have bought a few damned good novels and had a lot more enjoyment.
But beyond that, do you really need to take the risk out of the game that much? Um...isn't part of the fun for the player to learn as well as his character? Are we such a mollycoddling society now that even when the only risk is to a fictional character that we generated with dice we have to make sure everyone is playing with their safety helmets and elbow pads?
Bleh.
I am SOOOOOO not looking forward to 4th Edition.
I promptly lost any shred of respect for Wizards of the Coast that I might have had left.
For a mere $20 (US) you too can pick up the Dungeon Survival Guide. What is this you ask? It is a marvelous hardcover book chock full (all 64 pages) of tips. Tips on how to get through old modules. Explanations of words. I mean really? You need to charge me $20 for this crap? Sure, I know that I, a 28 year veteran of the game, is not your target audience. But who is? Ten year olds? Um....ten year olds have Wikipedia, they have chat rooms. They are practically symbiotically joined to the internet. They don't need you to explain what a flagstone floor is, nor to point out the gotchas in decades old modules. I mean, it's not even up to the standards of a good
But beyond that, do you really need to take the risk out of the game that much? Um...isn't part of the fun for the player to learn as well as his character? Are we such a mollycoddling society now that even when the only risk is to a fictional character that we generated with dice we have to make sure everyone is playing with their safety helmets and elbow pads?
Bleh.
I am SOOOOOO not looking forward to 4th Edition.
