D&D 4E: only 2 releases from WOTC for the 4th quarter?

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**Ahtman**

Skriker wrote:You keep moaning about me opening a dead thread and restarting edition wars, but that is all you seem capable of adding to the thread at this point...yeah Mr. Pot meet Mr. Kettle.

You strike me as the kind of gamer that Shuma is (rightfully) critical of. You honestly don't see the difference between posting in a thread that had no activity for almost a month and posting in a thread the same day while the thread is active? It seems your only added value to any thread is "I'm stuck in my old ways, new things scare me so I'll let nostalgia make all my decisions and those who disagree with me must be prepared for my ill prepared arguments and ad hominem fallacies!".

**Skriker**

warboss wrote:[The point is that once a company stops supporting an edition (usually when they're coming out with a replacement), it gets much harder to recruit new people to those games due to decreased availability of the books and no advertising/prominent shelf space at the store. Sure, you can keep playing with your old group until they die or move off but you're not as likely to get new blood onto your table. Pathfinder has done something to change this (as well as the emergence of OSRIC) but those are responses to the original company abandoning players.

Also, your monopoly analogy isn't appropriate as the original monopoly is still available to buy/play where as WOTC doesn't print new copies of AD&D books. If you're talking about obvious limited edition and themed monopoly variants that are specifically sold as tie-in gimmicks (like spongebob or star wars), that's still an apples to oranges comparison. If WOTC came out with a thundercats one-off one-printing book that wasn't compatible with real D&D but used the logo and then didn't support it 10 years later, causing gamers to lament loudly.. that would be similar to your monopoly example. Also, last I checked, it's not possible to sink thousands of dollars into a monopoly game via expansions to the original set... people who "only" spend $20-40 don't complain as much because they simply don't have as much to lose.

Methinks you are being too literal about my Monopoly analogy. The point wasn't that Monopoly is still available today, heck D&D is still available today. The point is that once you own the game and everything you need to play it, it doesn't matter what the company does with later versions of the game. We gamers don't seem to get that concept most of the time.

We continued to play 2nd edition AD&D through the entirety of 3.0 and 3.5 releases, so for some years, and added new players in just fine in the process. I don't expect new players to come to the table knowing all the rules, just wanting to play...rules can be taught. Ebay has also changed the rules a bit too. If you are trying to find a specific copy of an obscure rulebook for a little known RPG it might take you a while, but you should eventually find it. If you are looking for old edition books for any version of D&D/AD&D you can find them just about every day on ebay.

Skriker

**Skriker**

Wow....I just found a book I like in D&D 4th, and it is even an essentials book at that. Got to give the book from the Monster Vault set a looksee last night and I have to say that, while it doesn't include all of the monsters from the 3 MM books, those that it does include have all the interesting details and background descriptions that I have been unhappy seeing missing from the 4th Ed. Monster Monuals. Going to spend some time giving it a good read now.

Skriker