why there is a constant need for some central authority to regularly distribute a rulebook
I don't play myself, but a couple reasons off the top of my head:
Consistency- imagine if you had to go over the entire rule set every time you join a new group.
Laziness- most people don't want to spend hours, days, years developing speadsheets for their own OC.
Did the rules of the previous game just not work?
Balancing- it's practically impossible to fine tune a game perfectly before public feedback. Even then, you'll never please everyone, but that's what home-brewed rules are for.
Patches- I doubt they exhausted all creativity in existence before the 1st release, so new races, spells, actions or whatever you can imagine might get added in later versions.
I've heard the rule books come with their own scenarios/lore etc that could make it easier for new DM's or players to get used to. Some people might even buy them for the art.
What surprises me isn't how popular it is, but rather how few competitors there are. I've heard of Pathfinder, and that's about it.
Yeah, that is curious. Haven’t I seen before that they love to file lawsuits? I’m not sure how they would win, tons of those type fantasy things are just lifted from Tolkien and the like anyway. They can still litigate you to death though.
I think in the end it’s all far too autistic for me. Maybe if I had a group of friends that played only for fun, sure. Going to “public” where to going to mostly people who breathe DnD air, eat DnD cereal, and wipe themselves with DnD toilet paper, well that doesn’t sound too enticing. Interesting to learn about though.
Haven’t I seen before that they love to file lawsuits
You might be on to something.
I participated in a session or 2 and been on the periphery of a few, but it can literally take all day just to roll characters- especially if you're new. I think people tend to bring their own to save on time, but it can take weeks or months of regular, lengthy meetups to get through a single campaign. Even assuming life doesn't get in the way, I don't have the patience for it.
I don't play myself, but a couple reasons off the top of my head:
I've heard the rule books come with their own scenarios/lore etc that could make it easier for new DM's or players to get used to. Some people might even buy them for the art.
What surprises me isn't how popular it is, but rather how few competitors there are. I've heard of Pathfinder, and that's about it.
Yeah, that is curious. Haven’t I seen before that they love to file lawsuits? I’m not sure how they would win, tons of those type fantasy things are just lifted from Tolkien and the like anyway. They can still litigate you to death though.
I think in the end it’s all far too autistic for me. Maybe if I had a group of friends that played only for fun, sure. Going to “public” where to going to mostly people who breathe DnD air, eat DnD cereal, and wipe themselves with DnD toilet paper, well that doesn’t sound too enticing. Interesting to learn about though.
You might be on to something.
I participated in a session or 2 and been on the periphery of a few, but it can literally take all day just to roll characters- especially if you're new. I think people tend to bring their own to save on time, but it can take weeks or months of regular, lengthy meetups to get through a single campaign. Even assuming life doesn't get in the way, I don't have the patience for it.