Poll & Comments: What Have YOU Done With Your 3.x Stuff?
November 1, 2008 by e
Filed under Dungeons & Dragons, Geek Life, Geeky Products
Are your 3.x books now gracing the “old books” area of your RPG library?
Did you sell ‘em to make money for your 4e books?
Did you burn them in a bonfire in your backyard while dancing in a circle chanting?
Inquiring minds want to know…
Loading ...My story is that I actually only own ONE 3.5 book – the PHB. It was actually a loaner from one of the students in my old school who wasn’t using it at the time. Since I moved away taking the book with me, I mailed him a copy of the 4e PHB as a replacement.
Tell us your 3.x details below…
E. Foley is a geek girl extraordinaire. She writes amazing online dating profiles for geeks and non-geeks, helping clients all over the world find love. Her writing can be found at Examiner.com, Dating Sites Reviews, and elsewhere as a ghostwriter. By day, she is the Copywriter at ThinkGeek. She lives in Maryland with DaveTheGame and her adorable cats, Mr. Peanut and Don Juan. (Email e, or follow @geeksdreamgirl on Twitter.)
Last check of my main group, we were not going to switch. We play a mix of 3.0 and 3.5. Many of us invested in many books beyond the 3 core books. House rules have fixed the main problems.
I kept the 3.5 PHB, but sold everything else on eBay.
Kameron´s last blog post..Not a fan of Fafhrd
What do you mean done with them?
They are compatible with pathfinder and I’m still not convinced that 4e is a good system.
*smiles*
TheLemming´s last blog post..Curse of Avalon XII – The final fairytale
My option isn’t really on the poll.
I didn’t really like 3.5 and so I only bought the PHB and DMG. Since the announcement of 4E though I’ve been steadily picking up 3.5 source books, especially any of the Eberron books I can find, dirt cheap: My latest score was a sale at Spiel 2008 in which the vendor was selling 3.5 books for “buy 1, get 3 free.”
Much of the interesting info in the books is system agnostic and can serve as inspiration for any fantasy game, whether it’s Burning Wheel, Savage Worlds, or 4E.
Trying to get my group to like 4e (even though I do) is proving difficult. When we get back into a fantasy frame of mind (knee deep in superheroes right now) we’re seriously considering moving wholesale to Mutants & Masterminds for that genre too. I’ll be keeping, and referencing my 3.5e books either way though.
I put that I kept them for reference, but the main issue is that I’ll never sell one of my book. I wanna keep my collection, even if I don’t like 3.5.
Hyb’
I did the same thing with my 3e books that I did with my 2e books (and a few 1e books that I picked up in my 2e days)…I put them in a box and am planning to let them sit there in that box until the day that I die. Occasionally I’ll pull out a setting book (I’m a big Realms guy myself) to give a certain part of the world the once over, but otherwise they collect dust.
I just can’t imagine getting rid of gaming books, though. I’m crazy that way, I guess.
Jeff Greiner´s last blog post..The Tome Ep 87: Rouse at GenCon
I’ve kept mine, still have a 3.5 campaign going on which I plan to finish before any switching. Meanwhile I have been playing and testing 4e since the day it came out, either through one-on-one games with the wife, or through a series of one or two sessions games with the group, at various levels to get a feel for things. While jury is still out for me and I do like the game, I’m starting to feel that I like 3.5 better and will probably switch to Pathfinder when the old campaign ends and I start up a new one.
GrayPumpkin´s last blog post..Happy Big Bang Day: Update
Most of them have migrated to a shelf in my den (as opposed to the pile next to my GM chair). but between the few that I still use as reference and the few I need for a 3.5 game that I play in, they aren’t gathering too much dust.
Oz´s last blog post..Goldfarb fumbles Bluff check
I only heard bad stuff about 4e. Myself, I like the experience of roleplaying and the closest ro reality possible, the better.
I wish to acquire all the 3.x books I can muster!
McFly´s last blog post..No princípio, era o papel…
My option isn’t on the poll either: I’m desperately trying to sell off my 3.5 books (20 some books, I believe), and instead, they’ve been sitting in my car for months as I tried to unload them at TWO conventions this summer and haven’t taken them out.
All you 3.5 fans commenting here, make me an offer!
Dave T. Game´s last blog post..Mean Things I Have Done in Horror RPGs
I haven’t converted yet but I have been reaping the benefits from those who have. I talked about this in my last blog post. Check it out People are getting rid of all kinds of D&D stuff. It is a great oppertunity for those of us we still play multiple editions.
B.G.´s last blog post.."A SHELF FULL O’ BOOKS"
@ Dave – I see how it is. Shamelessly using MY blog comments to promote your capitalist agenda. Tsk tsk.
I am positively shocked at the poll results… 62% have voted they’ve kept their 3E and haven’t switched to 4E. I am sure that will change… I have always suspected this site to be a bastion of 4E supporters. : P
As for meself… 3.5 and Pathfinder for me… Not to mention I will be getting some Sinister Adventure products (currently for 3.5) which are still in development unfortunately. Nick Logue just had some monumental life changes and is still adjusting to them so he has little time to work on his gaming company.
I’ve took one look and DnD 4ed and was sold on the fact that it was NOT my game. Is it a bad game? Likely not. It just doesn’t feel like the game that I want to play.
That said, like a few other posters, I’ve been going the Pathfinder route. The Beta rules I’ve used in two different games has generally gotten positive responses.
@Dave – Like all versions and systems, there are always products that no one wants, you may just have a bunch of them.
I’m surprised at all the 3.x lovers who have come out of the woodwork! Hi guys!
I play GURPS, laden with house rules, so I only buy the D20 books for reference. I mostly get the ones that define cultural and background type information for races and classes. I really likes The Complete Scoundrel.
For clarity, my house rules surround magic systems that I have created and to tie them all together nicely.
That being said, I will probably pick up a few 4e books for reference as well.
Thanks for asking!
I have a pretty big selection of 3.0 and 3.5 stuff, including campaign setting books for Eberron and Forgotten Realms. Currently, they’re sitting on my old TSR bookshelf unit I lifted from a Waldenbooks about 15 years ago. Since this unit is in the basement it is, of course, gathering dust.
Dead Orcs´s last blog post..
@ Dead Orcs – by “lifted” do you mean “purchased” or “stole”?
LOL, E! I used to work there “back in the day”. It was an old wooden display shelving unit that the local distributor (Random House, I believe) gave to the store. When the displays changed, they let me take it home. It’s about 5′ tall, 3′ wide, and has the old TSR logo prominently displayed on it. I’m saving it for my gamer eBay retirement fund…
Dead Orcs´s last blog post..Meeting the Game
@ Dead – sounds like a nice piece for crazy RPG fans that stalk eBay. *e looks over at Hybban*
If I were the regular DM (instead of running all of a six-week Star Wars game in the seven years I’ve been playing with this group), we’d at least have run a demo of 4e by now, but we haven’t even tried the new system yet. On paper, I like it.
e, I don’t know what you are talking about… This week I only got 2 boxes, 4 modules and 1 big book (plus few minis), nothing groundbreaking!
Hyb’
@E – Actually, I’m not surprised by the number of DnD 3.5 ed people over DnD 4 ed. Quite a few people I know can’t see a compelling reason to make the switch. Either they don’t like the rules, the feel, or dare I say the money they would spend for next edition.
Think of it this way. Windows XP vs Windows Vista. There are quite a few businesses that still can’t find a compelling business reason to go to Vista. In much the same way, I think there are plenty of people that can’t find a compelling reason to switch.
Usually, when new versions come out this happens. Usually those a version, after a few years, when they can’t get the version you play anymore switch to the new version. However currently, there are several 3.5 ed spin-offs if you will that will at the very least temp those who play 3.5 to go to a 3.5 spin-off.
I dare say we live in interesting times.
@ Bonemaster – Interesting analogy! I dare say that some of the anti-Vista movement is because Vista sucks, not that XP is necessarily better. After all, they’re both still Windows. Hehehhehe…
Actually, Vista is better than XP in most ways. I’ve been using it for over a year with no issues. The biggest problems have come with running Vista on older machines or machines with hardware compatibility issues, which were just as present at XP’s launch.
But it is a good analogy. I have to agree with it, as I’ve been making the same analogy since last August.
Vista and 4e are both better-designed than their predecessors. But not everyone sees a need to switch. Neither 3.5 nor XP are falling apart at the seams, after all, though they have their problems.
A certain amount of people dislike the new option, and will stick with their current version because they feel it is better. These ones may never adapt the new version.
Some will stick with the old version because there isn’t a great reason to drop it and/or they don’t want to spend the money. Many/most of these will convert when their version is no longer receiving enough support for their tastes (how many people do you know that still use Windows 95, for instance). When all the new products that they want require the new version to work, they will switch and be pretty ambivalent about it. These people are, for the most part, edition-neutral.
And some will adapt the new version quickly because they believe that it is, indeed, objectively better designed, and they want this.
Some, upset by the change and taking it as a personal affront, will abandon the company for a new system. This includes Mac and Pathfinder. (Despite all Paizo’s claims, Pathfinder seems less compatible with 3.5e than advertised.)
@Graham – I’m not sure if Vista or 4e are better designed, but that’s just my opinion, but you make interesting point. I’m not sure people are edition-neutral in the matter. It seems the 3.5ed vs 4ed debate is way to heated to claim that people don’t care about editions.
On the Pathfinder front, I have not had any compatibility issues with the two groups I’ve used it with. Of course you mileage will vary.
From your post, I can see that was have different opinions on the matter of course. As to abandoning the company, I dare say that some people feel that the company abandoned them first.
@Bonemaster -
While neither is better for everyone, and both are fairly large departures from previous versions, I think it can be pretty easily stated that both Vista and 4e were better designed/developed than the previous versions. Note that this doesn’t mean they are objectively better systems, and definitely not that it is better for everyone, just better designed.
Heck, the design processes of Vista and 4e are actually pretty similar. Every edition before them was just building off of an old base, trying to hide or patch whatever major flaws they could. Vista and 4e started from scratch and rebuilt the system, trying to recapture the general feel of the older style while using newer techniques and design criteria and not worrying about getting everything the same as it was.
It is a remarkably apt comparison.
It seems the 3.5ed vs 4ed debate is way to heated to claim that people don’t care about editions.
Remember that the heated discussion is between the vocal pro-side and the vocal con-side. The majority of people are not so strongly for either side to be vocal about it. In fact, the majority of players don’t even participate in the online discussions.
These are the people that will stick with D&D because it’s a brand they know from a company they know, and will move to the new edition when it becomes inconvenient to stay with the old one. Just when this is will differ depending on the person. It may be right away, as support from WotC stops, or it might be never, as they always just played core anyways.
On the Pathfinder front, I have not had any compatibility issues with the two groups I’ve used it with. Of course you mileage will vary.
You can drop in 3.5e monsters easily, I’ll give you. But it a lot of the character options that don’t really fit any more, due to the class changes. The classes all get a boost in power, too, so having someone play, say, a Swashbuckler or Samurai from a 3.5e splatbook in a Pathfinder game can cause issues.
But to drop in monsters and many spells/feats, you should be alright for the most part.
Still, I consider it a new system, just as I consider True20 a new system and 4e a new system.
As to abandoning the company, I dare say that some people feel that the company abandoned them first.
Of course, but they still abandoned the company’s products. Not in a “the company needs all these people to survive and you’re letting them die” way, but in a “moved to other things” way.
This happens with every edition change, and happened with the 3e switch as well. See a recent Critical Hits article for a recap of the 3e switch. It’s actually somewhat amusing how similar many of the arguments are.
My 3E books are going on hiatus for a year. I’m not sure where they’ll end up, as I’ll need some of them for the occasional one shot, but they won’t be seeing active use.
But neither will my 4E books. We tried it. Some liked it, some hated it, some fell in between the two extremes. None felt it would do our Greyhawk campaign justice, so we’ve thrown it on the far back burner (one guy’s sold his 4E books, vowing never to play it) and switched to Star Wars: Saga Edition until Pathfinder comes out. That’s when we’ll do another playtest, and decide whether to switch, stick with D&D 3.x or do something else entirely (like more Star Wars).
Ken Newquist´s last blog post..How Not to Grow a Beard Month 2008
Wait a sec, you’re the “Geek’s Dream Girl” and you only own one 3.5 book? The way you talk about D&D on the site I assumed you were much more ingrained in the hobby. Do you own a ton of 3e, 2e, or older stuff? You just lost some cred in my mind, not that you should care….
@Graham – I think you are right to call Pathfinder:RPG a new system. I think from Paizo POV, as long as you can use modules and monsters from 3.5ed material, they consider it backwards compatible. After all they are e creating it so they can continue to publish their Pathfinder modules.
Since I don’t really do/own splatbooks, I can’t comment on their backward compatibility.
@Bonemaster
Fair enough, man.
I do like that there are still those of us who can have civil conversations about this sort of thing, despite not agreeing on everything.
It always gives me hope for the hobby.
Graham´s last blog post..Pathfinder 26 – One month after the fact.
@ Silent – If you read my About Me page, you’d know that that I’m new to the world of D&D but well-versed in many other areas of geekdom. I’m not claiming to be the “D&D Geek’s Dream Girl” now am I? I know better than that.
We sold our old 3.0 books, but we’ve kept our 3.5 books. But then, we’re change resistant and we’re not entirely ready to give up the good old days of 3.5.
@e: “D&D Geek’s Dream Girl” — that’s funny!
Doesn’t matter to me in what edition you started…. you’re one of the geekiest girls I know!
stupidranger´s last blog post..Visiting the Archives: The Evolution of Your Character
Thanks for not getting defensive as I may have come off a bit harsh. But anyway, I had read your About Me page before and I just read it again. There’s nothing in there that says you’re new to D&D at all. Actually, D&D is only mentioned once near the end. And you say in the first paragraph that you’re an RPG geek. Not to mention the fact that your picture has you posing with a D&D book. Out of all the things you could pick to hide behind for your picture, you chose that. Anyway, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. It just surprised me when I found out this was a new thing for you because you post about it a lot and I found this site through D&D channels. Plus, here you are calling out Shelly when she’s got much more XP with D&D than you do. I just assumed that you had been a gamer for years. Btw, I’m not a fan of Shelly either, but it’s nothing personal.
Again, sorry if this comes off harsh, but well, it’s the internet….
@ Silent – It’s the internet. You gotta shave off about 30% of the snarkiness of any given post. It’s just a given.
I am an RPG geek. Now. I thought the mention of n00b in reference to my D&D adventures would have been enough. Perhaps next time I clean up my bio, I’ll be more clear.
(Now, if I was hiding behind a 2e book, THEN you could call me out for being tricksy!)
In the end, nope, it doesn’t matter. You’ll notice that I have some posts where some rather n00b things come out of my fingers and out onto the blog and folks school me in the comments. It’s all part of the fun of learning and putting it out there on the intarwebs.
My game group is trying out Pathfinder, so I still use my 3.5 books to some extent. I also have my 1st, 2nd, and Basic D&D game books, plus every other game system I’ve tried over the last 30 years, with no intention of selling any of them. I use most of them as idea resources in my current games.
My group has all tried 4E in different venues and we generally have the feeling that only the barest minimum was released to be able to play. Options are actually channels with little ability to move out of a channel once you’re in it. When they get around to releasing the rest of the system, we’ll review it again.
PatrickW´s last blog post..Worldbuilding and Cosmogony
I have a white box set (plus Eldritch Wizardry), Holmes D&D book, the BE boxed sets, the BECMI boxed sets (though not all the boxes), the rules Cyclopedia, all the orange spined AD&D 1st Edition books (plus the Fiend Folio), all the 2nd Edition hardcovers (except the book of artifacts which I have in softcover), most of the 3e books (but no modules and missing some realms books), a few of the 3.5e books (core + a few scattered books), and the 4e core plus the Forgotten Realms Campaign setting (the book that made me swear never to buy another 4e book again).
Of course this shares my selves with my full shelf of GURPS books, my full shelf of TORG books, several shelves of White Wolf books (oWoD, nWoD, Exalted, Trinity, Aberrant, and Adventure!) with shelves with scattered stuff including Star Wars (WEG 1st and 2nd and all the d20 versions), Battletech, Earthdawn, Shadowrun, Call of Cthulhu (including Delta Green), Kult, Over the Edge, Alternity, Paranoia, Indiana Jones, Ars Magica, Cyberpunk 2020, Top Secret (original and SI), Megatraveller, Heaven & Earth, Gamma World, Amazing Engine, Boot Hill, Gangbusters, and some miscellaneous d20 stuff.
and the 4e core plus the Forgotten Realms Campaign setting (the book that made me swear never to buy another 4e book again).
Really? Could I ask why?
I mean, as a setting fluff book it’s not something I’m that interested in buying, but I’m not sure why it would cause someone to swear off the edition.
Graham´s last blog post..Merry Geeksmas – Updated
i have a good bunc of 3.E and 3.5 plus i have about 98% of the forgotten realms books and it took years for first edition to change to AD&D and then 3. 3.5 and 4th have been steam rolling and im just not a person that has an abundance of money to just through at a new edition with probably a bit more play rules and NEW flashy pictures. ill pass 3.5 works fine. WOTC/Hasbro is in it for sales and appealing to the younger generations. i may get into 4th a bit for forgotten realms stuff, but it will be converted to 3.5. a practice that works just fine doesnt need to be updated and its not a computer with vista. D&D is about using your imagination so use the rules that you are fimiliar and keep the fantasy coming.
Sort of the reverse. My 4th edition core box set is sitting on the highest and most out of the way shelf I have reserved for graphic novels I’ve already read and roleplaying systems I don’t get to use. I bought them, ran a few sessions with my group, and while I personally don’t hate the system whenever I mention running a one shot (about all I think I’d want to do with it) they (my players) start eying their dice bags. Not out of a desire to role but out of a desire to use their impressive dice collections as bludgeoning weapons.
That and I’m spiteful. They defiled the Realms which was the setting that really made me love D&D. Suffice to say 3.5 and PRPG and 3.5 based rules sets are fine for me and mine.
I’m also quite poor.
I tried 4th… I really did. I view it as a final nail in the coffin of real pen and paper gaming. If I wanted to play a video game, I would. It’s just not the same.
Translation:
“I didn’t care for it. It’s not my thing. Hyperbole, hyperbole, hyperbole.”
.
(Directed at nobody in particular):
Sigh. Nobody has to like any specific game system. But can we leave the hyperbole and overused fallacies out of it already? It’s been over a year!
Graham´s last blog ..Damn you, Dave! You and your… logic…