Hi, I'm a member of the Spanish community of Anima. I could not help but respond to this thread to throw some light on this issue. Arcana Exxet (Secrets of the Supernatural) comes out in Spain on October 29, for now, and for vol.2 Gaïa not wait until 2011.
Sorry my English is terrible and I used the Google translator XD
Greetings!
I see both sides to the conversation here.
On one hand, the beauty of Anima is the creativity and individualistic nature to the game. I don't even use most the history and lands. I'm created on own world for Gaia, which I am calling Nightfall. It's much like Gaia but with my own interpretations and alternative history, kinda like an alternative dimension whereas history and events were parallel unto a certain point and then a major change in my world the the book's' Gaia did'nt have. More details upon request. LOL.
Anyways, It would save alot of time to have some semblance of a creature codex, but it's fun to use the rule for making your own creatures. Let's face a simple fact about Anima though. It is not a game for the lazy players nor game masters. It requires alot of time and creativity to make it work.
I personally have no interest in "campaign" books since I'm finally making my own world for a game and since Anima is designed for such creative purposes this is an ideal game to do this with.
P.S. comming from other Rpg's into Anima, its refreshing to have only 2 books provide me with everything I need. Unlike Nazi's of the Coast whom simply will never keep thier word on not reprinting more and more books. ugh.
midnightprince said:
P.S. comming from other Rpg's into Anima, its refreshing to have only 2 books provide me with everything I need. Unlike Nazi's of the Coast whom simply will never keep thier word on not reprinting more and more books. ugh.
Did Wizards of the Coast gave you their word they would not print more books? On that line, has FFG given you their word not to print more Anima books?
For profit making companies, this would be the dumbest course of action either of them could make.
Look, I understand why people want more books. But it is nice to have a core book that contains more information in it than most RPGs. Lore books are fine, but I really dont see the point of a creature compendium. What summoner, or GM does not want to make there own creatures. (also players would just buy it to and memorize the creatures like they did in DND). How many creatures are people using per session that creating them takes up to much time.
No, Wizards did not personally give me any words. They released a statement during the release of 3.5 that they were only going to reprint the core material and not every source-book. They gave this statement due to customer complaints about the rate in which wizards was suddently replacing their game content. Since they took over TSR the rate in which game titles becomes "obsolete" has tripled! After they released the statement, they reprinted all the game material in 3.5. Profit organization or not, they still have to look at the loyal customer base, much of which has been lost due to the switch to 4.0 and the business practices that Wizards of the Coast has embraced.
No matter what you they say, companies are companies. What they do, they always have profits in mind. They have to, since otherwise they wouldn't be able to survive.
For me, I admit that having few books saves a lot of cash, but we have to dispel the error everyone seems to be making: aside from the core books (player+DM manuals, essentially), the rest are supplements . If you don't like 'em, don't buy 'em. For Anima, I actually wouldn't mind having more releases for 2 reasons: a) rules that make the game run faster/smoother - which is Anima's huge problem, and b) inspiration/material for sessions. I'm considering buying the Gaia 1, since I'm using the Gaia setting (not terribly original, but it has some interesting ideas, plus I'm running the GM handbook campaign for starters, since it gives me time to work out my own stuff), so additional information on people/places would be quite helpful.
midnightprince said:
They released a statement during the release of 3.5 that they were only going to reprint the core material and not every source-book.
Sorry to sound skeptical, but do you have link to the statement which you believed WotC said this? It seems like it would be a commercially suicidal.
dude, that was years ago now. No, I don't hang on to links to any press statements for any companies for years on the odd chance someone might be skeptical to my word. If you want referenced material I'd have to point you towards one of my college research papers. LOL.