Brian James's page

I have no animosity towards WotC for trying to release an updated game after only 5 years or so. That's pretty much par for the course for a lot of the systems out there and they are a business after all. Ford doesn't go 15 years between redesigning Mustangs.

Books can last a long time. There is no need for me or anyone I play Pathfinder with to ever overhaul our rules or get a new core rulebook. I can play this game as it is, forever. Just because businesses make these decisions every 5 years doesn't mean that customers need to buy anything new. The old ones still work just fine. I would rather have a complete set of one system, then a few books from every system that comes out. I pick one, and I stick with it. For every new player that starts gaming with us, we will break them in using the PF rules only. We are going to live happily ever after, while others will forever wish for a new version.

Brian James wrote:

I refuse to buy any more WOTC D&D products. I stopped at 3.5. I'll let someone else continue to waste their money on new core rulebooks every 4 years or so. The world already has enough fantasy RPG materials. We do not need more of what is already available (older editions of D&D, and non-D&D systems).

If everyone shared your attitude, fantasy tabletop gaming would be a shivering husk of itself in twenty years or so.

No, it would be fine without WOTC. Their time is over. They are not the only kids on the block anymore.

I refuse to buy any more WOTC D&D products. I stopped at 3.5. I'll let someone else continue to waste their money on new core rulebooks every 4 years or so. The world already has enough fantasy RPG materials. We do not need more of what is already available (older editions of D&D, and non-D&D systems).

Shadowborn wrote:

I don't find GM screens to be "toxic," whatever that means. I've been using them since 1st ed. AD&D. They're full of handy reference tables at a glance, block player sight of my notes, maps, and anything else I don't want my players to see (including my dice rolls). They also give me a good bounce surface for my dice, so they don't go rolling across the table.

I've explained what I meant by "toxic" a few times, now. What I mean is "potentially condusive to ill-will between players and DM". That takes too long to say, though.

Screens and hiding rolls have been a part of the game forever, and are not news. If you bring your own conspiracy theories to the gaming table, that is on you. He didn't generate that mistrust, you did.