From the WotC website:
This month, we kick off a new rollout of exclusive material for the Dungeons & Dragons game that you can only get as a D&D Insider subscriber. This exclusive material won't appear in any core rulebooks or supplements, but it will be totally official...How can they have official, which I take to understand as core, material that does not appear in your core rule books?
It was their intention from the start to do this. Soon, it will be exclusively electronic content with login permissions and a customised interface.
ReplyDeleteDon't even try to make sense of that "core" concept. It's just to damn hazy!
ReplyDeleteGotta feed the beast. Or not, as the case may be. Yet another reason I could never be convinced to play 4e.
ReplyDeleteOfficial =/= Core
ReplyDeleteLook at the old days of Dragon magazine in the 3e era - the material was "official Dungeons & Dragons content" but was not included in the core books, and you didn't have to have those magazines in order to use later published material for Dungeons & Dragons.
The key to Core material is that later supplements will reference it but not include the rules for what they are referencing, whereas optional supplemental material which is later referenced will usually be reproduced in the referencing document.
Of course, this is coming from a B/X man, not a 4e man.
Will it be used in Living Forgotten Realms?
ReplyDeleteDon't forget: you can also get exclusive character powers by buying the official 4e minis.
ReplyDeleteI wonder when they'll offer the Secret Decoder Ring?
Don't forget: you can also get exclusive character powers by buying the official 4e minis.
ReplyDeleteSeriously?!?
Future places to get exclusive 4e powers:
ReplyDelete* Prizes in Hasbro's new Corn Syrup & Cavities role-playing cereal
* Monte Cook's exclusive PowerADay.com
* Bribes to down-on-their-luck WotC employees
* Bubble gum wrappers
lol
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the oldschool community pumps out material that anyone can use for free constantly because, I believe, most of us would rather play the games and have fun than worry about what official material we are missing out on.
ReplyDeleteThe mentality of needing to own all of the official material and all of the little add-ons and doodads is fine, being a completist is ok, but when a company will go to these lengths to exploit this it is almost morally reprehensible.
Reading this post is amusing because it reminds me of what we said about TSR (T$R) back in the early 80's.
ReplyDelete