Comments on: There is a price for convenience

By: LC

LC — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:00:00 +0000

About this going against Christian values, although I am not into fantasy stuff, keep in mind that CS Lewis was a fantasy writer and also a Christian, and he was a major influence behind JRR Tolkien’s writing.

By: Buying Outside Your Budget or Spending More for Convenience

Buying Outside Your Budget or Spending More for Convenience — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:06:05 +0000

[...] recently wrote about a decision he had to make in the bookstore over whether to buy a copy of the new D&D rulebook. As someone [...]

By: RobY

RobY — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:25:30 +0000

Regarding Amazon’s Free Shipping

I often come across books while surfing the net that catch my eye. Most of the time I don’t immediately (and sometimes never) need these however I keep a handy list of them. Then when I need a filler item to break the free shipping threshold, I have several to chose from.

Sure beats looking for a useless $2 item that I don’t want.

By: SwizzleStyx

SwizzleStyx — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:25:00 +0000

@Mrs. Micah — I too have to play with friends from college whom are now spread throughout the states. We use two things to play. 1) Fantasy Grounds. It’s a desktop software that has maps and dice. $24 2) Ventrillo. Kinda works like a conference call. Everyone logs onto the server and you can talk back and forth with maybe a 1/2 lag.

I actually play right now without the desktop software. (DM roles for me) That is difficult in imagining what is being said from time to time, but can be done.

By: justin

justin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:54:03 +0000

@Mrs Micah: You can certainly play advanced campaigns with just the base books and imagination. Or the group can own a bunch of the books and share as needed. The DM always needs the core three, however the splat books (advanced character classes) can be used by everyone with only one owned in the group. It’s funny you mention the Draconomicon, out entire group fell into a deal for that book of $11 on an Amazon misprice.

However, when compared to almost any other hobby, it’s much cheaper, increases socialisation and is fun to boot.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:06:41 +0000

@Justin, very true for simpler campaigns. But some people want the Dracomicon (sp?), etc, etc. My DM had about 5 books. Fortunately, he got most as presents from his family. Another friend had 2 more with extra roles you could play, etc.

@Dan, I was fortunate enough to play with guys (& 1 other girl sometimes) who played the game because they decided they were too geeky not to. So the entire thing was sillyness. And while there were lots of stops to check info, it wasn’t very legally oriented. There were other campaigns on campus which looked down on us a bit, but I think we had as much fun if not more.

But my friends all moved to Seattle and now I’m left on the other side of the continent. We tried IM D&D but it’s not as good.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:09:48 +0000

I would’ve bought it since it was in the store and the difference was small. Besides, you’re also supporting a local business.

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:24:20 +0000

@Dan, I don’t know why you think D&D is costly. $15-30 for a new rulebook every few years is not very much money. You only need 6 dice, 7 if you want two d-10s. So, for $17/year (including books, dice, paper and pencils) you can have hours of entertainment. What’s cheaper?

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:21:15 +0000

Mrs Micah, you are correct about the D&D scarcity at the library, a point I should have mentioned before. However, if one is truly sincere about saving money, one will sacrifice costly hobbies and develop less expensive ones. I too was once a D&D geek, but gave it up for a variety of reasons, cost being one of them. Instead, I developed my interest in what I truly loved about D&D, history and mythology. I found I enjoyed such activates as much as or more than I ever did D&D, and the texts were always available quickly at the library, where it is always free.

I will probably regret starting such a discussion, but the need to have the latest texts in front of you during a game is one of the reasons I gave up D&D. To me, the fun was in the fantasy, and frequently games devolved into an endless parsing of the rules, consulting ever more specific tables and charts, and quibbling over speculative uses of magical items. I felt I was playing with a bunch of lawyers half the time, rather than with a group of storytellers. When I ran campaigns as DM, I intentionally put my parties in alternate worlds I made up, where they could not consult their books and argue over interpretations of obscure rules. I tried to encourage pure fantasy adventuring, rather than gaming the system to rack up as many XPs as possible. I wasn’t very successful, alas.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:03:35 +0000

SO….which is the fantasy novel? Both. No justification needed.