Post originally by Gerry Saracco at 2003-05-30 23:20:08
Converted from Phorums BB System



atholbrose wrote:
-------------------------------
...the whole shtick about holding content over for future volumes. I resent the carrot-dangling of content; if I'm happy with the way the books are coming along -- and for the most part, I am -- then I'll buy the successive volumes without the tempting.

As it is, though, I do resent it, and I still only own the base rulebook.
-------------------------------


You don't need more than the rulebook to run the game. That is all we use (well ok, I use the Director's screen, but that is it), even though I own the Slayer's Handbook (which I bought simply to support Eden, not because I needed it for my game)

As for holding content: A few things spring to mind here:

A) Eden is a business, and well, for a business to stay that way, they need to have product out there. You can only sell so many copies of a core book, and no matter how complete they could try and make it, someone will find something that was left out.

B) Eden could only cover through Season 6, so anything left out from Season 7 is the fault of FOX, not Eden. Ergo, it wouldn't have been complete for the whole series anyway. I know for a fact FOX told Eden to hold off on doing much with the Watchers, since they wanted to wait and see if Ripper (the series featuring Giles, a co-production with the BBC) was going to take off or not. So certain things being left out was not of their doing.

C) You don't need any of the other books. Sure, the Slayer's Handbook and Monster Smackdown are considered "Core" books. However, they are full of optional material. You don't need the monster creation rules to spawn critters if you don't want. There is enough in the core rules to do so (inmho). As magic is so freeform, you don't need the Magic Box, which is full of spells from the show (which you probably don't really need, as others have made their own versions that can readily be found on the net) and options for customizing spellcasters a little more.

All the other books do is give you expanded options to run/play Buffy, nothing more. You don't ever have to buy anything past the core book.

That's my $0.02