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I think that WotC may be catering to the younger, new market in the hope that they'll turn out to be crusted, jaded, buy all the products despite how awful they may be- types.

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The few people who disagreed were the DM's and players who were only introduced to D&D gaming from the outset of 3e.

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<snip> I think that WotC may be catering to the younger, new market in the hope that they'll turn out to be crusted, jaded, buy all the products despite how awful they may be- types. I doubt that'll happen without the razzle dazzle of the fluff to rope 'em in. I guess we'll all see.

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Originally posted by branmakmuffin


That's pretty much what any large producer of commoditized entertainment is after. Conceptually, there's no difference between Star Wars, Star Trek, Tragic: the Blathering, Hairy Palms, Lord of the Merchandising, Stephen King, Dumbielle Steele, Clive Barker, R. A Salvatore, Emril LaGasbag, Martha Spewart, Nintendo, A. D. Nauseum, etc., etc., etc.

All their publishers/producers/people-who-push-it-out-to-the-public want is for the product to get to the point where people will buy it just because it has the name on it. At that point, they're not selling content, they're selling logos. The WotSQ books are a perfect example. They weren't written by Salvtore, but what's the actual title of the series? R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen. WotC would sell R.A. Salvatore's Guide to Tie-Dyeing Shoelaces if they could.

It's easier and cheaper to get a "name" (Drow, Salvatore) and push it from here to the Crab Nebula rather than actually going to the effort of trying to produce new quality material. That's too risky.

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So long as Drizzt and Co. were showing us how it's done, I'd buy it.
(Yasraena ducks the many flying books being thrown her way)
Psyche! Just kidding guys!

I'd have to aggree with you on this bud, with the exception of the example of the WotSQ books. It may be the total marketing gimick to put Salvatore's name on them, but they can (and do) stand on their own as good fantasy novels. (at least so far)
Even though he's not actually writing them, Salvatore does have his hand in them. He personally picked the authors that are writing them and he's also editing them, so having his name on them is kinda justified.
Yeah, I know, that's really stretching the connection, but in this case the quality has remained good, if not great, so no bigee to me.

Names count for a lot in todays world, regardless of what you buy. As you pointed out, some people will buy anything that has certain names on them, regardless of the general consensus of the actual quality. I am definitely one of them when it comes to certain names, because the quality is always at least good, if not great when that particular name is on it. Salvatore is one of those names. Everything he's put his name on has been worth buying (IMO anyway).

Believe me, if I ever saw a book by Salvatore even resembling the Guide to Tye-Dying Shoelaces, I'd not only NOT buy it, but I'd probably travel to his house, slap him upside the head and yell, "What the HELL were you thinking?!?!?!".

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Originally posted by Bookwyrm

And mostly only small changes. Sort of "okay, what can we do here to make it look like we're actually doing something?" work.

Sometimes there are larger changes, like a change in an NPC's whole personality. There's one in Silverymoon (Xara Tantlor) who has been changed to evil alignment (the previous alignment is now a disguise). She used to have a faerie dragon familiar; now it's an imp, usually in a raven form.

I was rather annoyed at that; when I started making my first character, who was from Silverymoon, I only had 2e information. I had figured that the old Xara would be friends with a young mage eager to learn about the world. I had to change a bit of the background when I found her 3e stats.

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Originally posted by Bookwyrm

Oh, I'm sorry, I probably should have said it clearer. What I was annoyed about was having to go back and change it so soon; I'd really just finished that part of the background. As well, I was taking longer to do the whole thing than I would have liked; I had some tough college classes at the time, and I couldn't devote as much effort to getting it ready as I wanted to.

What I changed it to was just what you suggested. I had to get rid of a few things that the old Xara would have done, and added a few that the evil one did. My character believes she and her familiar are just what they look like. Even his familiar (a tressym) doesn't really suspect them (though a few times he's smelled something odd from the "raven").

My character is really interested in knowledge for its own sake, so he frequently would visit Xara's shop. The real reason why Xara is helping him (before it was just because she liked him) is because she's subtly trying to bring him around to her way of thinking. She likes the idea of corrupting a young mage. Of course, now that he's left the city, she can't continue that. And any compainions he brings back might just see her for what she is.

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Erinyes
Spell-Like Abilities: At will: animate dead, charm monster, desecrate, invisibility (self only), magic circle against good (self only), major image, polymorph self, produce flame, see invisibility, suggestion, and unholy blight. These abilities are as the spells cast by an 8th-level sorcerer (save DC 15 + spell level).

An erinyes also can teleport without error (self plus 50 pounds of objects only) at will as the spell cast by a 12th-level sorcerer.

Charm Person (Su): An erinyes can charm a humanoid creature with a look. This is not a gaze attack, and the target need not meet the erinyes’s eye. The ability has a range of 60 feet; an affected opponent must succeed at a Will save (DC 18) or become utterly loyal to the erinyes. The victim will do anything to protect the erinyes, even if that means slaying his or her companions or facing certain death. The ability is otherwise similar to charm person cast by an 8th-level sorcerer.

Entangle (Ex): Each erinyes carries a stout rope some 50 feet long that entangles opponents of any size as an animate rope spell cast by a 16th-level sorcerer. The erinyes can hurl the rope 30 feet with no range penalty.

Summon Devil (Sp): Once per day an erinyes can attempt to summon 2d10 lemures with a 50% chance of success, or 1d4 barbazu with a 35% chance of success.

See in Darkness (Su): Erinyes can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by deeper darkness spells.

Telepathy (Su): Erinyes can communicate telepathically with any creature within 100 feet that has a language.

Tongues (Su): An erinyes has a permanent tongues ability as the spell cast by a 12th-level sorcerer.

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