I've got a collection of unused RPG supplements and lately I've been buying quite a lot from ebay. This means I've got several games where newer editions are available. Now, if anyone familiar with the games would care to enlighten me whether upgrading would be worthwile, I'd be much obliged...

- Rifts vs Rifts Ultimate Edition
- Champions Deluxe vs. Hero 5
- Ars Magica 2 or 4 vs Ars Magica 5
- Pendragon 4 vs Pendragon 5
- CORPS vs EABA

My gut tells me the differences between Rifts and Rifts Ultimate are too small to matter to any sane player.  But I don't own the RUE book, I'm just going by a flip-through and reading online.

Let me handle one of these:
 
Rifts vs. Rifts Ultimate: Well, it's likely one of the cheaper upgrades, if nothing else. The Ultimate Ed. sees a lot of the original OCC/classes "upgraded", so to speak, so that they fit in better with the later, more powerful Rifts setting changes and material (though they are still, in many cases, remarkably average or low in power level compared to later books and optional stuff). Some of the equipment has been changed up, and things like combat have been settled from the whole 2 or 4 Attacks Question.
 
Ultimate is nice, feels more up-to-date, but isn't strictly necessary. There are people who will swear you need to upgrade, and others who will swear that it does nothing for you. As with many things, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. The second printing did change a few tweaks, but really, the only real difference organizationally is that the intro, classes, magic, psionics, and world/source material are presented before the chargen rules & such. It's good to have, but you won't be handicapped without it. Hardcore Rifts fans who dwell on minutae, maybe, but otherwise, go on wit' yo bad self.
 
I've heard the R:UE errata should be out in pdf form quite soon, an overdue step that should placate some folks.

CORPS vs. EABA
While one could look at EABA as the upgrade to CORPS, they are really two different games. CORPS is designed to be realistic and revolves around a single die roll (if even deemed necessary). EABA is designed to be more cinematic with lots of dice in hand, keeping only the best three. According to BTRC, nothing new is in the works for CORPS (the last supplement being Timelords), while new supplements are continually being released and planned for EABA.

In the end, it depends what you're looking for in a system.

Quote from: Sosthenes- Pendragon 4 vs Pendragon 5

I'm in a similar situation on this one, but I'm not in any rush to get 5e unless it turns out to be necessary for an imminent game.

My understanding is that Pendragon 5 is largely subtractive, removing the magic rules and all the stuff about playing anything other than a Salisbury knight (though those may be available in future expansions). Partly for this reason, it's also supposed to be a much clearer presentation.

Basically I agree with the renewed focus. I mean, Pen 4e has a section on Jewish knights which while interesting for the historical speculation justifying it, is emblematic of a complete muddling of the literary-Arthurian idiom. And any attempt to rationalize and demystify magic in Mallory is just wrong and destructive, IMO of course. However, I think I could do the necessary surgery on my own if I needed to and I didn't have to stay compatible with other players, and the 4e book is probably more useful if I want to  adapt the rules for more general-purpose fantasy.

I dunno about the Jewish knights.  While running Pendragon for a group of fellow Masons/Knights Templar/conspiracy buffs, we found the Jewish knight option very tasty for invoking Holy Blood, Holy Grail type themes.

But I'm with you on the magic.  Just because a setting has magic doesn't mean your game must systematize it.

There's plenty of cool stuff you can do along those lines, I'm sure. It's just that presented up front it doesn't even benefit from the tension of challenging the core idiom of Arthurian romance. (Also, I don't have the book in front of me, but I don't recall it doing a good job of suggesting key thematic elements that would go along with having Jewish knights. I felt it was more like, "You want to have a Jewish knight? Okay, no problem, here's a justification, now go adventuring with your Christian buddies.")

Quote from: Elliot WilenAlso, I don't have the book in front of me, but I don't recall it doing a good job of suggesting key thematic elements that would go along with having Jewish knights. I felt it was more like, "You want to have a Jewish knight? Okay, no problem, here's a justification, now go adventuring with your Christian buddies."

That's a fair criticism.  The Jewish knight section seemed added as an afterthought.  And my campaign ended prematurely, so it was never discovered that John's PC was a direct descendant of Christ.  We had another PC who was Arthur's bastard son, too.  And he never found out either.

Quote from: Sosthenes- Pendragon 4 vs Pendragon 5

As Elliot suggested, the new 5th edition is a much cleaner presentation of Pendragon than the very meaty, but cluttered 4th edition.  I like it a lot -- it gets back to the real meat of the intended setting as originally presented way back in the 1st edition boxed set, but re-cast in light of the developments that have occurred in the game over the last 20 years.  Honestly, I believe it was intended to be marketed to and played by newcomers to the game -- a complete, but managable and digestible version.  The 5th edition is a neat thing to own if you really love Pendragon, and you may even find it useful in play even if you already own the 4th edition, at least for your basic Cambrian knight.

!i!