4e Compendium

[dataweaver]

The one we got for Dungeon Fantasy should be a good model for this sort of thing.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

The big advantage I saw in the compendia is that they collected rules from a wide variety of sources which might be entirely physically inaccessible.

There's not a lot which I see value in collecting in a separate document. The few things which are fall into a category of broad utility. Rules for CF cost adjustments, for example, aren't in Basic, so they have to be repeated across the line in DF, Low Tech, and so on. Assistance rolls and the like from the Action system could also stand repetition, though rather than just duplicating the rules as in DF17, I'd prefer to see a whole book on the topic, creating different kinds of assistance for different settings.

I think mostly the same. I could see themed Pyramid Collections issues like the one proposed for DF for older Pyramids for some topics, Power Ups for others, and some getting their own supplement.
Collections: Settings and Adventures by theme; Thaumatology, Cyberpunk. Action! Size would vary and this might be an issue ith Pyramid volume 3 since they are available. Cheaper to make but it would detract from some Pyramid sales. Tough call business wise I suspect.
Power-Ups: Imbuements 2 to collect the Imbuement articles and add new ones, perhaps even clearer guidelines on building your own.
New Material: There are several ideas I would love to see expanded on, Console Cowboys for example. We have already seen this a few times.

One marketing advantage is the Pyramid forum threads. Those are ready made reviews of what people liked and did not like in various issues. While not comprehensive its an indicator on what might be worthwhile for extra attention.

[Fossilized Rappy]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Power-Ups: Imbuements 2 to collect the Imbuement articles and add new ones, perhaps even clearer guidelines on building your own.

This sort of "Pyramid Power-Ups series" thing could definitely be useful. There's a lot of scattered modifiers across issues of Pyramid that feel like they have enough applicability for wider release, for example: Banish and Malfunction for Affliction, Quickened and Resistible for Weakness, Disfiguring for Dependency, Transformative for Possession, and the many modifiers issue #3-99 has for Obscure, to name a handful.

The only problem is that they're mostly for specific advantages or disadvantages, while Power-Ups 4 and 8 were more general-purpose enhancements and limitations.

[bert]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

The big advantage I saw in the compendia is that they collected rules from a wide variety of sources which might be entirely physically inaccessible. If I wanted, say, the mass combat rules but GURPS Conan was OOP, I'd be out of luck without the appropriate compendium. But with the advent of digital publishing, absolutely everything non-licensed is available in an instant if I really want it. There's no supply chain issue the way there might be for 3rd edition works. A 4e compendium might be modestly convenient since it puts everything in one digital file, but with decent PDF search tools, even that's of limited utility. And, of course, 4e has been better about rules creep than previous editions. Most of it falls within an established framework as worked examples rather than as novel rules.

There's not a lot which I see value in collecting in a separate document. The few things which are fall into a category of broad utility. Rules for CF cost adjustments, for example, aren't in Basic, so they have to be repeated across the line in DF, Low Tech, and so on. Assistance rolls and the like from the Action system could also stand repetition, though rather than just duplicating the rules as in DF17, I'd prefer to see a whole book on the topic, creating different kinds of assistance for different settings.

So, yeah, I don't think it's time for a 4e compendium yet.

I agree from an availability viewpoint. However; the number of supplements for 4e is quite large, and for a newcomer it is hard or even impossible to know that the assistance rolls are in the Action series, or that the rules for scaling weapons are in the low tech companions, or that the rules for Hordes are in Zombies. And so on. Compiling and updating those rules and additions, would probably be of great value to a number of players.

[Antiquation!]

Originally Posted by bert

I agree from an availability viewpoint. However; the number of supplements for 4e is quite large, and for a newcomer it is hard or even impossible to know that the assistance rolls are in the Action series, or that the rules for scaling weapons are in the low tech companions, or that the rules for Hordes are in Zombies. And so on. Compiling and updating those rules and additions, would probably be of great value to a number of players.

I agree with this. Purely on a personal use/utilitarian level, keeping 16 (no exaggeration, I've actually done this) different bite-size PDFs open and trying to transition between all of them during an active game is quite a headache, even if you do already know where to find those things.

Printing out individual reference pages can slightly ease those troubles, but at that point you're just cobbling together your own piecemeal reference book (and often times, the useful references of these supplements are spaced far enough apart that you're looking at printing multiple pages, complete articles/chapters, or for certain ones even the entire PDF).

None of this is insurmountable and admittedly from a business perspective it may be either undesirable or unfeasible, but for both new and old players it's certainly a stumbling block and a barrier to entry worth mentioning.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Fossilized Rappy

This sort of "Pyramid Power-Ups series" thing could definitely be useful. There's a lot of scattered modifiers across issues of Pyramid that feel like they have enough applicability for wider release, for example: Banish and Malfunction for Affliction, Quickened and Resistible for Weakness, Disfiguring for Dependency, Transformative for Possession, and the many modifiers issue #3-99 has for Obscure, to name a handful.

The only problem is that they're mostly for specific advantages or disadvantages, while Power-Ups 4 and 8 were more general-purpose enhancements and limitations.

I agree on both points, but I would go further and also pull in modifiers from supplements not covered in those Power-Up issues.
I'm fine with the decision to focus on general modifiers in those initial issues and most of the time I can recall where I saw something if it was in a supplement. Its a bit harder in Pyramid but I have them in thier own folder so its easier to just check multiple issues quick;y. Still however sometimes it takes too long or I cant find it at all because I dont remember the exact name for example.

[dataweaver]

For what it's worth, I have a PDF Editor that lets me extract pages from a PDF into a separate file. I've been using that to extract individual Pyramid articles to make them easier to find. It takes a fair amount of work, though; and I'd happily pay someone else (i.e., SJGames) to do something like that for me.

[dataweaver]

Another Power-Up I'd like to see would be Meta-Traits. This would collect (and in some cases correct) all Meta-Traits thus far published, and would address issues and possible rules variants related to Meta-Traits.

One such issue would be “boxing”, the concept of turning a Meta-Trait into an Advantage in its own right: when is it appropriate to do so, and how do you go about doing it?

Another issue would be Meta-Traits that overlap, and how to deal with it.

Still another issue would be customizing Meta-Traits, such as introducing Lenses; but also how to create Modifiers that are unique to a Meta-Trait.

There may also be some mention of variations on the Meta-Trait concept, like Meta-Mods (which collect a set of Enhancements and Limitations as a single package) and Styles (which collect an assortment of Skills and Techniques into a single package), in a compare-and-contrast format. Likewise, the relationship between Meta-Traits and Racial Templates.

Mostly though, it would be a compilation of existing Meta-Traits.

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

It seems to me that the Power-Ups line is effectively the successor to the Compendiums, in that it's explicitly about collecting all the examples of whatever it is each volume focuses on, and presenting them in a neat, collected way.

Yup. And the 8 books of the Power-Ups series take up about 220 pages combined. It would be nice to have an actual print book of that from SJGames, but lacking that you could make a nice little book for yourself at a PoD service like Lulu (in fact, I just ordered one for myself a couple weeks ago). Cost is pretty reasonable if you go B&W with color softcover.

[scc]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

One such issue would be “boxing”, the concept of turning a Meta-Trait into an Advantage in its own right: when is it appropriate to do so, and how do you go about doing it?

What are you talking about here? How are Meta-Traits different from Advantages?