WotC's2007 releases

[johnnype]

The Forgotten Realms get 5 books this year. Four of them adventures and one a hard copy of a book that's been available for free on the net for months.

Eberron gets 4 books this year. One of them a paperback adventure.

For the "core" we get compilation books (magic items and rules), a couple "completes", a race book (drow), dungeon tiles up the wazoo, an environment book, three or four monster books and more adventures than you'll ever need.

How much of this do you plan to buy? I'll probably buy at least half. Mostly the fluff material. The rest doesn't appeal to me.

It's probably just me but I get the impression WotC is running out of material to write about. Not that I blame them really. God knows that 3.x has more books published than all of 1st and 2nd edition combined. OK, I know that's an exageration especially when you consider all the small supplements that came out with some of the settings but it makes me wonder where they'll go next.

I know I'm in the minority when I say this but I'm ready for 4th edition. Then again I buy RPG's and supplements the way some people buy groceries. Another $100 or so isn't going to affect me all that much.

[Wizdoc]

I'll definitely buy the Star Wars Saga Edition book.

[ShannonA]

I think the adventure books look pretty cool. I'm trying to decide what mega-adventure to kick off when the players get done with The Temple of Elemental Evil, and I've been seduced by many different 3.5 adventures, from The Shackled City to the new Dragonlance trilogy to some of the stuff WOTC is putting out this year.

[Black Mamba]

I will be buying the new Star Wars material and Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk. That will probably be it for me.

[Sangrolu]

How much of this do you plan to buy? I'll probably buy at least half.

Probably 1/3 or less. I normally only get 1 of the 4 or so titles a month (the crunchy core book), and I normally skip WotC adventures (Necro/Paizo/Green Ronin fill that bill for me) but I'll be hitting Drow of the Underdark, Undermountain, and Castle Greyhawk, as those are topics of interest to me.

I know I'm in the minority when I say this but I'm ready for 4th edition.

Eh. I'm too deeply invested in 3.5. Anything that nulls my investment won't receive a warm welcome unless they come up with something that is really going to improve my gaming experience... and I am having a hard time seeing them pulling that rabit out of their hat.

[mhacdebhandia]

I'm not sure about Eyes of the Lich Queen, because I'm running the Savage Tide Adventure Path in Eberron and would prefer a bit of variety if I ran something else while that's going on, but I am absolutely up for The Forge of War and Dragons of Eberron.

I'm actually quite looking forward to Complete Champion, because I find religion in roleplaying games fascinating and it seems like it will delve into the details more than Complete Divine did.

I'm quite interested in both Exemplars of Evil and Elder Evils, too.

[Wolfspider]

one a hard copy of a book that's been available for free on the net for months.

Hmmm?

[Piestrio]

I'm really looking foward to Undermountain.

Piestrio

[Olive]

For the "core" we get compilation books (magic items and rules),

Do you mean spells rather than rules? Or is that a different book?

[mhacdebhandia]

Yes, the Rules Compendium. Amazon link. (http://www.amazon.com/D-Rules-Compendium-Chris-Sims/dp/078694725X/ref=sr_1_1/103-8678933-5506210?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178243364&sr=1-1)

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51+KNIu3QnL._SS500_.jpg

[Wolfspider]

Maybe I was too subtle.

Let me try it again.

What book is WotC publishing that's been available on the net free for months?

[Varyar]

Maybe I was too subtle.

Let me try it again.

What book is WotC publishing that's been available on the net free for months?

Grand History of the Realms (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/fracc/9780786947317).

I'm going to guess they're adding a fair bit of material to the web version.

[Wolfspider]

Grand History of the Realms (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/fracc/9780786947317).

I'm going to guess they're adding a fair bit of material to the web version.

Thanks!

[Varyar]

Thanks!

No problem. :)

[johnnype]

Grand History of the Realms (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/fracc/9780786947317).

I'm going to guess they're adding a fair bit of material to the web version.

you are correct of course. The web version is 105 pages. The catalog lists it as 160 pages. Even allowing for new art, one has to figure WotC will add material from other sources.

[Alnag]

I am not impressed by this years WotC production (well, not counting SW Saga - in that case I am hell lot impressed!!!).

I wonder of what nature would Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress. It might be either good fun or absolute crap. I'll have to check it first.

The same applies for Exemplars of Evil and Elder Evils. Also I have an impression, that it should have been one book at the beginning and because of the amount of material it was devided into two.

My only must have is Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk.

And that's pretty much everything.

[Kaewin]

I'll probally get the Realms stuff myself. I hope that somehow someway there will be some good background info in it unlike the Mysteries of the Moonsea. And undermountain should rock. I had the orignal box set along with the second one.

Power to the gamers.

[johnnype]

The same applies for Exemplars of Evil and Elder Evils. Also I have an impression, that it should have been one book at the beginning and because of the amount of material it was devided into two.

Chris Pramas from Green Ronin has a couple interesting things to say about those two books in episode 16 of the 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction (http://www.2d6feet.com/)podcast. His colleague Robert J Schwalb wrote both of those books and it sounds like he might have given Chris a hint or two about what to expect.

Actually I recommend the podcast to anyone interested in Green Ronin and/or WotC. Chris has some insightful things to say about 4th edition (keeping in mind that he does NOT have any inside information). He also takes a stab at guessing what 4th edition might look like. Dungeon & Dragon Magazines and his thoughts on where D&D goes from here and why WotC has some difficult decisions to make going forward. No real answers but I walked away from the podcast with a clearer view of why RPG's are not a growing business.

[Alnag]

Chris Pramas from Green Ronin has a couple interesting things to say about those two books in episode 16 of the 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction (http://www.2d6feet.com/)podcast.

Thanx for a tip. It sounds really interesting.

[Zeiram]

Probably most of the Eberron sourcebooks and maybe another book or two from the Complete series. This year, I've already picked up Complete Scoundrel and Magic Item Compendium.

[Joe_G_Kushner]

I see it as rules bloat and now it's time to you know, do something with all those rules. The adventurers use a new format designed to make it easier to run. Takes up a hella lot of space and the editing is still crappy so I'm not seeing any vast improvements.

On the other hand, the tiles are nice. They had a weird effect in that it motivated me to get some of the Cadwalleon stuff and the Game Mastery line from Paizo as well as the tiles.

Pathfinder will probably be my go to for a lot of adventurers for at least a few months to see how it works out. However I'll probably be getting the Undermountain and Greyhawk books provided I don't hear that they're crap.

Complete Champion is probably a go but I'm very leery of Rules Compendium as they actually haven't said what rules. Stuff from the core book like Grapple? Feats from non-core books? It's 1 rule a page so I have no idea what's in that book.

[Chocobo]

Dungeon Tiles are great. I'm planning on getting as many of those as Wizards makes, unless the quality decreases for some reason.

I'm definitely getting Complete Champion, since I've been satisfied with all the Complete books and the second round has been doing some really interesting stuff.

Most of the Expeditions interest me, but I might not buy them all. I will buy the Demonweb pits soon, cause I really like Planescape.

D&D minis have improved in quality greatly so I'll continue getting a few packs of each new set.

Rules Compendium is wait and see. If it is successful at organizing the rules bloat then I'm definitely interested. If it does a clumsy job of it, then I probably won't be interested. If it's just the PHB/DMG rules, I don't need it - I already know where to look those up. If it is more like Unearthed Arcana with a lot of new rules... It'll depend how much I like those rules.

[vitus979]

... but I'm very leery of Rules Compendium as they actually haven't said what rules. Stuff from the core book like Grapple? Feats from non-core books? It's 1 rule a page so I have no idea what's in that book.

I really hope they have an amalgamation of all the optional skills uses that have been thrown out across the dozen or so supplements that have had them in* since 3.5 came out. That alone would sell the book for me.

* misc "Complete" and "Races of" books mostly.

[theotyugh]

Sadly, all of them, like a drug :o

Most looking forward to Undermountain though!