Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Halornn_Kaala 06-22-05, 08:45 AM	Each time a new FR sourcebook comes out, I am disappointed (but no longer surprised) to find that there is no index in the back. I know some folks have mentioned this with respect to the Waterdeep book in another thread. I'm wondering if there are any authors or WOTC staff who might be able to give an explanation for why the FR books no longer contain indices (which, I believe, still appears in most core D&D texts). It would make using the books much easier. If it's an issue of no one at WOTC wants to or has the time to do it, I'm sure you'd be able to find a couple of FR fans that would jump at the chance to help pull one together for an upcoming sourcebook (myself included).
Lashan 06-22-05, 10:20 AM	I think that there is a ton of info to put into these books and the decision was made to cut them out to cram in some more info. Let's just hope that info isn't just more PrC's, feats, and cheaty equipment.
Shemeska the Marauder 06-22-05, 03:15 PM	I haven't noticed an index in any recent WotC book at all, though I have noticed ads on the last page or two. That's not a trade off that I like. I don't recall if it was ever stated why they stopped making an index for each book.
warlockco 06-22-05, 10:11 PM	I haven't noticed an index in any recent WotC book at all, though I have noticed ads on the last page or two. That's not a trade off that I like. I don't recall if it was ever stated why they stopped making an index for each book. Personally I think those 3 pages would be better served as Index pages instead of pages of advertisement for products that I usually own or will own.
Blaze the monk 06-23-05, 01:33 PM	Bah! Its just another way for WotC to make some more money. They already charge over £20 for a book that I could buy for £10 if it wasn't made by them. They're trying to get more money from the fans who've already splashed out on a D&D licence to make games, etc for them. Remember when D&D became open source and all of those fan-made adventures flooded the market? You could buy them for a pinch of dirt compared to the official stuff. Now I know why Games Workshop overcharges for their products too. Its because saps like us will pay through the teeth to get the newest supplement (or in GW's case, model). GW obviously learned a very profitable lesson when they severed their ties with D&D. Its WotC's own fault that people just download all of their stuff from Peer to Peer networks.
Faraer 06-23-05, 01:42 PM	Presumably there aren't indexes because the company can't justify the cost of producing them. I'd be surprised if there was any other reason. Since most Realms sourcebooks don't have indexes, the new Waterdeep not having one either can hardly be 'another way for WotC to make some more money'. WotC books are not expensive compared to comparable RPG books, they aren't expensive for the content you get (all trade books are underpriced), and they aren't more expensive than they used to be: $30, adjusted for inflation, has been the standard price for 160-page books -- with a poster map, but not hardback or full-colour -- since the TSR days. And with modern discounting you can get it for much less. 'Books are too expensive' almost always couldn't be more wrong, and certainly so in this case.
Shemeska the Marauder 06-23-05, 01:49 PM	WotC books are not expensive compared to comparable RPG books, they aren't expensive for the content you get (all trade books are underpriced), and they aren't more expensive than they used to be: $30, adjusted for inflation, has been the standard price for 160-page books -- with a poster map, but not hardback or full-colour -- since the TSR days. They're not expensive, not compared to textbooks ;) What I'd like to see is an analysis of the cost per word per page in the new books versus some of the earlier FR books and the 2e sourcebooks, adjusted for inflation of course (which isn't that much at all in the US). And is it true like some have claimed, that newer books are using a slightly larger, less dense? Some of the newer books seem to contain less material than earlier ones, even within the same page count.
Halornn_Kaala 06-27-05, 10:40 AM	I don't have tons of non-FR D&D books, but ones I do have (the 3 core books, plus Book of Vile Darkness, Draconomicon, and the recent DMG II) all have indices. It's interesting that the indices disappeared at *roughly* the same time that the books went to hardcover. If printing cost, number of pages and other related issues are the things that keep FR books from having indices, how about including them as a web enhancement? These are ultimately reference books, right? Not having an index makes it much harder to get full use out of the book. I suppose the optimist's view is that, if enough fans cared enough to have indices, we could each take a few chapters, index them, and merge them into an Excel file that would act as an index to all 3.X FR sourcebooks. That would be a useful file!