I was reading Yax’s Janna’s 10 reasons to be thankful for D&D post and it got me thinking: Am I really that excited by holding new D&D books anymore? The answer, sadly, is no.
I completely understand the feeling she’s talking about…I had it for a decade at least, maybe more. Even as it was fading I tried to keep ahold of it, buying every d20 supplement I could get my hands on. After a while, though, I realized that I was giving in to a hoarding instinct more than I was getting delight out of all these new books, most of which I never even read.
But oh how I longed for the days when buying a new D&D book was the greatest feeling. When I was young I would read every book and magazine I bought cover to cover, starting at the beginning and going straight through to the end. I read the ads, I read the masthead, and I read the content in all its glory. These days I have a hard time getting through the parts I’m nominally interested in, much less a straight read on any D&D book. And I think I know why.
There’s nothing new under the sun.
This is not a criticism of 4e, though I’m sure some will take it that way, but it’s been going on much longer than that. Let’s look at the books that have come out for 4e so far: core rulebooks, Forgotten Realms campaign guides, Adventurer’s Vault, Martial Power, Draconomicon, and some adventures (forgive me if I missed something). There’s nothing new in that list at all, no new concepts to drive my imagination.
Now, to new players, these books are no different than my first books were to me, so I can’t criticize them for coming out. I’m just trying to articulate why I, and many other experienced gamers I’m sure, wouldn’t be inspired by these products. We’ve seen them all before.
That was part of what made the d20 boom so great…there were lots of book concepts that we hadn’t seen before…tons. And not just new rulebooks either, we had things like Mongoose’s Cities of Fantasy series, Green Ronin’s historical roleplaying books, Atlas Games’s unique take on social/civil roleplaying, and others. It also produced a huge wave of nostalgia products, which actually might have been responsible for my jaded attitude now. Necromancer Games, Goodman Games, and even Mongoose did the classics, giving me a chance to fleetingly recapture that feeling of being 8 years old and reading through the 1e AD&D books I’d bring home a few times a year.
But now, for me, that feeling’s over, and I look at rehashed products with complete disinterest. I’d like to have my imagination invigorated by roleplaying products once again, but for now it’s going to have to come from somewhere other than D&D.
2:18 pm on December 1st, 2008 1
Right now, I get more excited about filling in gaps in my old collection or finding something that’s out-of-print at a bargain. I’m not really into 4e right now, so the new books coming out aren’t making a splash for me.
3:15 pm on December 1st, 2008 2
Good point, but at the same time I think you’re missing something. Those wonderful products which came out for 3e needed a solid foundation on which to build. Right now, 4e is in the foundation-building phase where the products that WoTC (and a handful of others) are releasing are serving to form a solid base. 4e D&D has a slightly different style and feel to what’s gone before - it’s unashamedly more flashy, combat-based and action oriented than previous editions, and whether that suits your playstyle is purely a matter or preference. Sure, there’s duplication of what’s gone before, but with a fresh lick of paint and a few new twists.
Remember the early days of 3e D&D - there were a lot of very poor quality and product shovelled out, both by WoTC and third parties. The early 4e releases have all been of a consistently higher standard all round.
4:20 pm on December 1st, 2008 3
Ah, keep your eyes on The Wandering Men’s “Project Epic”, my friend!
Soon, you SHALL be excited again! 
8:23 pm on December 1st, 2008 4
First, let’s remember that we’re still pretty early into 4e and with the GSL in place we’re likely to see some delay in the innovation you’re craving. But I can’t argue with your observations.
That said, if you want to find something new under the sun I’m seeing that in Mongoose’s Wraith Recon setting/supplement.
I’m in the midst of working on my review of this book, but it’s decently well put together and a very different sort of game than you’re expecting when you say, “hey, let’s grab this new D&D book”.
So I guess my point is that Wrait Recon, while maybe not for everyone, is proof that there can and likely will be innovation in 4e, but it’s seeing a delay. At least that’s the hope I can offer to you.
Me? I’m still excited about getting new D&D books every month just like I was 20 years ago when I started playing. But I’m a putz.
9:17 pm on December 1st, 2008 5
Yeah, I’ll take a look at Wraith Recon just like I want to take a look at Raider’s Guild…I’ve been kicking around espionage fantasy for a couple of years now so I’m looking forward to getting some books on it!
10:50 pm on December 1st, 2008 6
I think the reason is that all the books are basically the same. A little bit of intro and then a whole lot of rules. Powers, items, etc. It’s like reading an instruction manual rather than a good book. I will say, though, that the new Draconomicon breaks this mold. It’s a really, really good read.
However, like Jeff said, we’re in 4E’s infancy. Once the GSL gets out there and more companies get on board, I bet we see a lot more descriptive books out there. More “fluff,” as it were.
4:05 pm on December 9th, 2008 7
I’m an old school gamer going back to the late 80’s early 90’s.
While I will admit, I was never really a huge fan of D&D from the beginning though 2nd (AD&D. At the time Rifts was big until you realized all of the rules holes, and early 90’s saw the advent of vampire and it’s worlds. I eventually settled into Gurps, because the system was so elegant and you could do anything with it.
But I really didn’t like D&D at all. I think the abstract explanations behind the rules always turned me off. Like the whole memorizing a spell, only to have it wiped from you mind when you cast it, as an example.
Then 3rd edition D&D came out and finally a D&D that I could get into. Much better thought out, they had taken a much more elegant approach of roll a D20 and add a modifier for all rolls in the game. The magic, while mostly the same system, was much better explained.
Then a few months ago 4th edition came out. After good read through of the core books a time or two, and a few game sessions under belt, I put all one hundred or so 3rd and 3.5 books up on ebay and I haven’t looked back.
An elegant and fun combat system, that is tactical and challenging. That makes you have use a bit of strategy to survive some times. At the same time roll playing is rules light, so you can really get into character and not be bogged down by rules that dictate how you react in every situation.
What I think is a really interesting topic though, is not as much Oh I like it and here is why… or Oh I hate it and here is why!
What I think is most interesting is that in every post I have read here and in several forums (en world, WOTC, etc.) is that those who Like or even love 4th edition can’t understand why those that don’t get it… don’t get it. And the folks that can’t stand or even just dislike 4th edition Can’t understand why someone would like this garbage… lol
I can tell you this though. It is not just new players that love the new system. In fact, in my gaming group alone, 3 out of 8 of the our players have been playing D&D from the Red box! and most of them have sold off most of their 3rd edition stuff… and said they’ll never look back to 3rd. Although they still have quite the collection TSR era books
4:51 pm on December 9th, 2008 8
Thanks for the awesome comment, Shmoo. I hope my posts don’t come off as not being able to understand why someone likes 4e, I just definitely don’t like it and talk about why that is. Your story certainly is an interesting one, and I’m glad there’s finally a D&D edition that really rocks your socks off…it’s still the best game ever.
4:00 pm on April 2nd, 2009 9
I’m with Greywulf and Shmoo here.
There are a lot of factors why it’s hard for someone to “move on” and accept new game designs and reworkings of old designs, and inevitably that’s going to happen with a lot of D&D’ers. But you have 4 different version (or more really, and countless versions including houserules) you can choose to play and run your campaign under.
Not liking something or not preferring a certain gaming style of something doesn’t mean it’s poor game design.