At risk of sounding like a cranky old gamer, I am sick of upgrading to new editions. I'm sick of having to buy new books, while not being able to relinquish my old books because they always have a few interesting things that didn't get transitioned to the new edition. I grow frustrated with the need to keep three or four slightly upgraded versions of the ruleset straight in my head. Not that we ever use the old rules after the new ones come out, but I simply don't forget the old ones. So when someone asks me how something works, I have to remember which of the three slightly different versions is the current one. Or I can look it up in the newest book. Which is of course laid out just a little differently than the previous editions. And of course, if there's one thing that never gets upgraded, no matter how much work they put into improvements, it's the index. There's always at least one really important rule or chart that doesn't show up in the index, or the table of contents, and it's stashed in some really counter-intuitive part of the book. Oh, that chart was easy to find in the last edition. But the last edition's chart is no longer relevant, so don't bother consulting that version. It's not even that I mind learning the new and improved edition, despite the confusion for the first few sessions as I try to remember the changes. It's that I resent the fact that as soon as we're finally caught up on all of the sourcebooks for a favorite game, a new edition comes out and we have several hundred dollars worth of obsolete books. And then there's the waiting for each book to be re-released, leaving you with a less complete game experience than you had with the previous edition. Worst of all is when a game company (*cough*White Wolf*cough*) decides to not just revamp the rules system, but to totally change the game to the point that you can't even upgrade your old characters to the new system, because that character type doesn't exist anymore. I haven't even purchased the most recent version of Changeling because it was so alien to the one I knew, and I decided immediately that I was going to be a stubborn gamer and stick with the old, beloved version. I'm starting to suspect that game companies are not even bringing out new editions to improve the game so much as they're milking us like cash cows. Why else publish a gazillion sourcebooks for the game, then suddenly decide that the rules are horrible and start all over again? Don't even get me started on the increased price of books. No, too late, I'm already started. Sixty dollars for the core rulebook for the latest version of Legend of the Five Rings. Sixty dollars for a book that is, admittedly, hard cover with nice glossy pages and beautiful artwork, but which fell apart almost right away. Look, gaming companies, just because D&D is full color on shiny paper doesn't mean that you have to be, too. Most gamers that I know are stuck in lousy jobs because of the economy. Cut them a break and go back to black and white books, maybe even soft cover. It won't even matter if the spine cracks, because hey, we'll just have to buy the new edition in two years anyway.

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Copyright © 2011 By AJ Reardon E-mail AJ at: ErtheFae@aol.com Visit AJ at: www.erthefae.net