From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.misc

I recently was in a game store while on holidays, and came across the
new 6th edition Pendragon Core Rules, wrapped in plastic of course, so I couldn't look into them. But I had looked into Pendragon before and
decided that maybe this would be finally the point where I actually
would take the plunge.
Imagine my surprise when the really pretty Core Rules book contained no
DM section whatsoever. It's all on really thick paper, with a layout and illustrations that harken back to theme-appropriate medieval
illustrations. They even have marginalia in there that look quite fun
and appropriate. But despite being physically thicker than previous
editions the contents also have been cut down to only player-facing
rules, with only slight hints towards the background.

It turns out I will have to buy a not yet published GM's book to make
use of these "Core Rules". Or buy a previous edition, because Pendragon
never changed so much that I can't use the previous edition for this.
I find this quite annoying. Core Rules in my opinion are supposed to
contain the actual core rules of a game that you need to actually play,
not just a small subsection.

It doesn't help that other publications for Pendragon also get the
treatment. It turns out the Great Pendragon Campaign, which started as a 78page supplement in first edition, now will be published in multiple
books (I assume at least 5). And yes, it most likely will have a lot of content more, but still it will split up one book into five parts.

And outside of Pendragon I recently learned that the new edition of
Cthulhu by Gaslight also will be split into a Players' and a GM's book.
That also used to be a single book. Something that already annoyed me
with the 7th ed. Call of cthulhu rules.

I know they want to make money, but Chaosium is lately overdoing it
somewhat.

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From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.misc

Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

It turns out I will have to buy a not yet published GM's book to make
use of these "Core Rules". Or buy a previous edition, because Pendragon
never changed so much that I can't use the previous edition for this.
I find this quite annoying. Core Rules in my opinion are supposed to
contain the actual core rules of a game that you need to actually play,
not just a small subsection.

And outside of Pendragon I recently learned that the new edition of
Cthulhu by Gaslight also will be split into a Players' and a GM's book.
That also used to be a single book. Something that already annoyed me
with the 7th ed. Call of cthulhu rules.

I know they want to make money, but Chaosium is lately overdoing it
somewhat.

It seems to be the way games are going. Pathfinder went from a single thick Core Rulebook to Player/GM/Monster Core.

When I wanted to try out Cthulhu, I didn't know I only needed the Keeper Rulebook and bought the Investigator Rulebook as well.

A lot of the indie games seem to stick to a single core book, Kevin Crawford "without number" games are nice standalone books. Shadowdark, Blades in the Dark, Monster of the Week, Kids on... Knave etc (too many to name) There's something nice about being able to play a game with just a single book, a couple dice, pens and paper.
--
gbbgu
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.misc

On 2/10/2025 12:16 PM, gbbgu wrote:

Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

It turns out I will have to buy a not yet published GM's book to make
use of these "Core Rules". Or buy a previous edition, because Pendragon
never changed so much that I can't use the previous edition for this.
I find this quite annoying. Core Rules in my opinion are supposed to
contain the actual core rules of a game that you need to actually play,
not just a small subsection.

And outside of Pendragon I recently learned that the new edition of
Cthulhu by Gaslight also will be split into a Players' and a GM's book.
That also used to be a single book. Something that already annoyed me
with the 7th ed. Call of cthulhu rules.

I know they want to make money, but Chaosium is lately overdoing it
somewhat.

It seems to be the way games are going. Pathfinder went from a single thick Core Rulebook to Player/GM/Monster Core.

When I wanted to try out Cthulhu, I didn't know I only needed the Keeper Rulebook and bought the Investigator Rulebook as well.

Yeah that was me as well, I didn't research properly and first got the Investigator Rulebook, only to realize it was the GM book I actually
needed. I was too used to CoC just being a single book.

A lot of the indie games seem to stick to a single core book, Kevin Crawford "without number" games are nice standalone books. Shadowdark, Blades in the Dark, Monster of the Week, Kids on... Knave etc (too many to name) There's something nice about being able to play a game with just a single book, a couple dice, pens and paper.

I have a fondness for games that manage to actually present their core
rules in a single book, in a way so you never actually need another
book. There's something wholesome and nice about it.
That's why I really got into OSR back in the day: I realized Labyrinth
Lord (which basically was B/X) was a complete game in itself. Same with (Mongoose) Traveller, where it even contained the information how to
create your setting in the game itself.

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From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.misc

On 24 Feb 2025, Kyonshi wrote:

On 2/10/2025 12:16 PM, gbbgu wrote:

Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

It turns out I will have to buy a not yet published GM's book to make
use of these "Core Rules". Or buy a previous edition, because Pendragon
never changed so much that I can't use the previous edition for this.
I find this quite annoying. Core Rules in my opinion are supposed to
contain the actual core rules of a game that you need to actually play,
not just a small subsection.

And outside of Pendragon I recently learned that the new edition of
Cthulhu by Gaslight also will be split into a Players' and a GM's book.
That also used to be a single book. Something that already annoyed me
with the 7th ed. Call of cthulhu rules.

I know they want to make money, but Chaosium is lately overdoing it
somewhat.

I have a fondness for games that manage to actually present their core
rules in a single book, in a way so you never actually need another
book. There's something wholesome and nice about it.
That's why I really got into OSR back in the day: I realized Labyrinth
Lord (which basically was B/X) was a complete game in itself. Same with (Mongoose) Traveller, where it even contained the information how to
create your setting in the game itself.

I guess you make 3x the money by having to buy 3x the books. I used to want to buy all the supplements and additional stuff for any system I was interested
in (and still have that completionist tendency), but lately I'm falling back
to "simple is better". I don't have time to read books full of info, and can't remember it anyway.

I'd rather a simple book that I can reference at the table and make the rest
up on the fly. I've played enough that I can fill in any backstory of a random NPC with hooks if needed. A few decent random tables to glance at help too.

Probably why my latest obsession is shadowdark, it seems like a really nice easy system... but of course if the players _really_ want to play DnD then
I'll run that system.
--
gbbgu
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.frp.misc

On 3/18/2025 12:47 AM, gbbgu wrote:

On 24 Feb 2025, Kyonshi wrote:

On 2/10/2025 12:16 PM, gbbgu wrote:

Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

It turns out I will have to buy a not yet published GM's book to make
use of these "Core Rules". Or buy a previous edition, because Pendragon >>>> never changed so much that I can't use the previous edition for this.
I find this quite annoying. Core Rules in my opinion are supposed to
contain the actual core rules of a game that you need to actually play, >>>> not just a small subsection.

And outside of Pendragon I recently learned that the new edition of
Cthulhu by Gaslight also will be split into a Players' and a GM's book. >>>> That also used to be a single book. Something that already annoyed me
with the 7th ed. Call of cthulhu rules.

I know they want to make money, but Chaosium is lately overdoing it
somewhat.

I have a fondness for games that manage to actually present their core
rules in a single book, in a way so you never actually need another
book. There's something wholesome and nice about it.
That's why I really got into OSR back in the day: I realized Labyrinth
Lord (which basically was B/X) was a complete game in itself. Same with
(Mongoose) Traveller, where it even contained the information how to
create your setting in the game itself.

I guess you make 3x the money by having to buy 3x the books. I used to want to
buy all the supplements and additional stuff for any system I was interested in (and still have that completionist tendency), but lately I'm falling back to "simple is better". I don't have time to read books full of info, and can't
remember it anyway.

I'd rather a simple book that I can reference at the table and make the rest up on the fly. I've played enough that I can fill in any backstory of a random
NPC with hooks if needed. A few decent random tables to glance at help too.

Probably why my latest obsession is shadowdark, it seems like a really nice easy system... but of course if the players _really_ want to play DnD then I'll run that system.

I don't think I could get myself to invest into DnD 5e or whatever is
new anymore. I mean, if it's a game I actually want to run that's
different (I say, having spent way too much money on Mongoose Traveller
2nd edition stuff the last few months). But I just don't want to do 5e
(or 4e, or even 3e) anymore. It's just a style of gaming that isn't what
I want, and I don't care to run it.

And I think that the great thing about being a DM is that you provide
people with the environment to game, it doesn't mean to slavishly follow
all their wants and needs, because the DM also is a player in the game
and needs to have fun.
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