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Generic Dungeons, Universal Dragons
Matthew Sernett, Jeff Grubb, Mike McArtor
Wizards of the Coast
$39.95, 288 pages
A purely functional book for D&D, the Spell Compendium is exactly as the title implies: a text collecting spells. As an 'options' book for players, it's hard to argue with the punch of the content. The book does exactly one thing. Spells from such disparate sources as the Complete series of books, the Wizards of the Coast website, and Dragon Magazine were compiled to provide an interesting, fresh set of magical effects for spellcasting characters. The book focuses solely on providing additional spells; My players objected to the title of 'compendium' considering the absence of the spells from the Player's Handbook (PHB). Unfortunately the search for novelty results in what you'd expect from a product like this: extremely variable. While some entries make you wonder why they weren't in the PHB, there are also many confusing or unbalanced ideas. At forty dollars retail it's hard to recommend a product that has such inconsistency in the content. If only on the basis of player/Game Master (GM) arguments, there's a lot of opportunity for frustration as a result of this book. This is definitely a title you can take a pass on unless you only play spellcasters and have a GM who is willing to negotiate with you.
Races of the Dragon
Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes,Kolja Raven Liquette
Wizards of the Coast
$29.95, 160 pages
The Races series attempts to fill the same niche with player species as the Complete series does with player classes. Each book concentrates on familiar races, gives new background for enthusiastic players, and offers up one or two new races suitable for character creation. Races of the Dragon is somewhat unique, in that it focuses solely on new races for players tired of the standard set. Specifically, it details the Dragonborne, Spellscale, and Kobold races as options for D&D characters. The Dragonborne are a race created, not birthed, a proud warrior race touched by the dragon god Bahamut. Spellscales are vainglorious sorcerers, an impish people with an ingrained sense of style. Kobolds are, of course, the diminutive reptilian race usually slaughtered in large numbers by early-level adventurers. Of the races discussed in the book, the Kobold information is far and away the most interesting to me. An often overlooked race, the simple creatures receive a good deal of fleshing out. As a member of a non-standard party or a quirky addition to your typical humanoid group the Kobold seems to have a lot of potential in this book. The other two races strike me as simple cosmetics: Dragonborne are statistically just magical orcs (though the concept of your character being reborn is an interesting one), and Spellscales feel like elves with shiny skin. The book also touches on half-dragons and dragonblooded creatures, and provides the usual assortment of feats, prestige classes, and spells (my favorite: Gnome Blight). As one of the iconic elements of fantasy, I can understand that there are some folks who just have to play dragons, and they'll find a lot to like here. Similarly if you're looking to complete your collection of the Races books, Races of the Dragon meets the standard set by the other titles in the series. Dungeon Masters (DMs) and non-dracophile players can safely pass; this one's pure candy.
Magic of Eberron
Bruce R. Cordell, Stephen Schubert, Chris Thomasson
Wizards of the Coast
$29.95, 160 pages
Keith Baker's Eberron setting has taken on a life of its own since it launched almost exactly two years ago. The background for Dungeons and Dragons Online, the pulp/noir/fantasy mashup is now Wizards of the Coast's premier product series. Magic of Eberron does a fantastic job of getting across core elements of the setting, elements that have been so far unclear or under-explained. With only two years of development behind it, there is still a lot about the continent of Khorvaire that's not nailed down. For example, creating magical items with Dragonshards is thoroughly covered. Dragonshards power many of the vaguely technology-inspired elements of the setting, and this fundamental flavour element speaks volumes about the world at large. Nightmarish Daelkyr magic, dragon magic, and grafting magic is also explored. Each of these elements not only adds rules grit to the setting, but explains and expands the background presented in the main campaign sourcebook.The tome also manages to balance the fine line between DM and Player content; background information is mixed well with feats, prestige classes, and spells. The Eberron preoccupation with 'places' also works well here, offering up barely sketched out dungeons to add information by example. This is definitely one of the most interesting and informative Eberron resources that has been released to date. Players and Dungeon Masters who are working with this setting should at least take a look. It may not fit your campaign's playstyle, but there is sure to be something here that will spark ideas for later.
Heroes of Horror
James Wyatt, Ari Marmell, C.A. Suleiman
Wizards of the Coast
$29.95, 160 pages
Most D&D products focus on the specific: a sourcebook covering a geographical area, a type of magic, a class or race. Heroes of Horror is the second book in a more thematic series that attempts to add a new twist to the standard Dungeons and Dragons game. Horror, and the previous book Heroes of Battle provides rules and guidelines to focus your campaign beyond the traditional fantasy tropes. As you may guess from the title, Heroes of Horror offers ways in which to include elements from the suspenseful and supernatural we normally associate with games like Call of Cthulu. I'm a big Lovecraft fan, and I was skeptical when I cracked the book if such delicate setting elements could be incorporated via a core book. I should have respected Mr. Wyatt's name on the cover more, because Horror is an unmitigated success. The secret to that success is the light touch the authors take with the source material. Instead of attempting to convey the genre in one go, they break the milieu down into digestible chunks. First they explain how to set the stage for a horror-style encounter (one specific fight, or scene). Then, using the language established with the encounter they expand that to an entire adventure. The Lovecraftian use of suspense, of lurid language, and the need to heighten tension over time is explored with ghoulish examples. Then they take the final step and work with the reader to understand what would be involved in a horror campaign. A series of adventures all with a horror theme could take the players into relatively untrod territory in D&D, and the book is a great guide for the journey. They add a mechanic for 'taint', the psychic residue left behind by dealing with the horrific, but that's just crunch thrown in to make sure you feel like you got your money's worth. Definitely not a book for every Dungeon Master, those that are willing to experiment a little with the traditional D&D experience will find a very worthwhile read here. Players need not apply.
GURPS For Dummies
Adam Griffith, Bjoern-Erik Hartsfvang, and Stuart J. Stuple
Wiley
$13.99, 410 pages
Wiley's series of cheery yellow books continues to expand beyond the borders of technology. This title, along with Dungeons and Dragons for Dummies and Dungeon Master for Dummies seems to represent a new commitment to pen-and-paper gaming. I'm not going to question it, I'm just going to enjoy it. With GURPS for Dummies, there's a lot to enjoy. GURPS stands for Generic Universal RolePlaying System, and is designed with the idea that you can run any kind of game you like using the rules they provide. Anything from fantasy schlock to post-apocalyptic sci-fi to hard-science space adventure can be represented with the system. The downside to the flexibility the system provides is that it's ... a little fussy. GURPS character creation relies on set of advantages and disadvantages, each of which has a point cost or payout. This entry in the Dummies series distills down the complexities into the most basic elements, and then walks the reader through point expenditures step-by-step. Even if used as nothing other than as a first-time player aid, this text is well worth the price of admission. Above and beyond that, they walk through combat, running a GURPS game, and provide some guidance on creating a campaign world suitable for use with the rules set. The combat section is especially brilliant, breaking down options, actions, and skill rolls, and explaining what the best route to finishing a fight is likely to be. My players often joke that no one actually plays GURPS, because the popularity of the system's sourcebook content far outweighs the popularity of the rules-set. Just the same, if you do find yourself looking to get in on a game this is a worthwhile explanatory text for a very ambitious system.
GURPS Space
Jon F. Zeigler and James L. Cambias
Steve Jackson Games
$34.95, 240 pages
While it might be that no one plays GURPS, it's easy to understand why the books sell so well. GURPS supplements are works of art in the roleplaying industry. They're well researched texts, something similar to an informational piledriver. I've known grad students in difficult college courses who refer to GURPS books as a way to get a handle on the assigned subject matter. GURPS Space is a new edition of a classic sourcebook for the line, complete with updated scientific information and new rules to match the fourth edition of the rules-set. Quite simply, this book is the finest resource you will find for running a campaign set in space. It covers, exhaustively, every detail you'll need to consider when your players blast off into the black. The granularity of the subject matter begins quite large, expounding on information like methods of propulsion, interstellar organizations, and the theme of your campaign. It then quickly descends into the nooks and crannies of off-planet science, offering up the rules governing a moon's tidal force on a planet ((T = 17.8 million x M X D)/R^3), as well as the proper placement of planetary orbits around a star. The text has random generation rules for everything from individual alien species to entire solar systems, and ties it all together with a great discussion of future societies at the end. They even include guidelines if your players decide to conquer a planet or two, and what that would entail. ('The Cortez Option', as they call it.) Even if you don't play GURPS, it's hard to recommend against this book if you're considering running a game in the briny black. Heck, even if you don't roleplay, there is enough here to keep a space nerd happy for a month's worth of afternoons.
A Player's Guide to Ptolus
Monte Cook
Sword and Sorcery
$2.99, 32 pages
Five copies of this small sourcebook showed up in my mailbox last week, a harbinger of the release this August of the massive 600+ page Ptolus setting book from Malhavoc Press, in conjunction with the Sword and Sorcery imprint from White Wolf games. The book being released in August is going to be an enormous campaign setting book thoroughly exploring a single city. The five copies I received in the mail were 'rewards' for preordering the book, intended to be given out to my players to excite their appetite for the setting. I'm a sucker for a setting, so here's one of my cynical player's assessment of the book: "Who know if the final price will be worth it, but the little promo looks good. Admittedly I read it pretty late at night, but I didn't notice anything really worth complaining about. I liked how there's a strong element of evil in the setting, not just 'island of civilization beset by darkness' type stuff." In short, the Player's Guide gives every indication that the larger book will offer up a pretty unique setting. Firearms sit side-by-side with swords in the markets, and the populous is well-informed about the dangers of spellcasting. Minotaurs and cat-people walk the streets without incident (or, at least, little more than subtle glares), and every street in the city will be named and numbered. Here's hoping this year's GenCon will see the release of another really worthwhile campaign setting from Malhavoc.
http://forums.palladium-megaverse.com/viewtopic.ph p?t=57048
Doesn't look promising.
"Made up/misattributed quote that makes me look smart. I am on
The fourth edition is really great. Totally reworked a lot of things I thought were broken from the beginning. All skills progress at the same rate now. DX and IQ cost way more than HT and ST now, but they don't increase in cost. Advantages and Disadvantages can be modified with Enhancements and Limitations. The rules have, in general, been simplified and made logically consistent.
I have the "Characters," "Campaigns," and "Magic" books right now and have been waiting for the "Space" book so I can update my third edition space campaign. A new version of "Vehicles" would be nice, too.
Not to be too fanboyish, but GURPS beats any other tabletop RPG hands down for clarity, simplicity, realism, and playability. Plus it only uses 6 sided dice. It has the largest collection of licensed game worlds of any system, including Conan, Uplift and Riverworld, among others. Plus, it has a huge collection of historical supplements allowing people to role play in historically accurate game worlds from the Aztecs to the Vikings.
So all you other RPGers out there who haven't, please give it a try. You have nothing to lose but your huge bag of polyhedral dice.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
http://www.rpol.net/
A good resource for either playing online, via forum/group posting, as well as a player/gm locator for such games, and I do believe they have other resources for finding live tabletop rpg games.
There are also a huge number of Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups games going, not to mention LiveJournal and Greatest Journal rpgs.
You can also find games on IRC, which are a bit more interactive (not to mention faster).
I realize these games lack some of the things a live tabletop game offers, such as the social time and friendly banter, but I think these sorts of forums are good for those who can't find live games elsewhere, or who don't have 6 hours to set aside on a regular basis to roleplay.
Julie Moult is an idiot.
YAY! Nothing like a Well formed opinion on Slashdot! I don't suppose you'd mind telling us what it is, in particular, that sucks about 3E? Based on your complaint about marketing sucking more money out of people, I'll presume its cost. To that I'd like to counter that the basics of the game are available for free as part of the SRD. You want to try 3.5E? Try a website like www.d20srd.org. Everything you need to play the game is right there. The rest of the material is only useful if you want to add to the game (more spells, more prestige classes, new items, etc etc etc). Most of that stuff you can make up on your own if you don't want to buy it. In the meantime, many of us are quite enjoying the new streamlined rules, the abundance of customizable options for our characters (in the form of Feats and Skills to name but two), and the option of having rules for an AC range with more than a 20 point delta.
fun fun!
Ira
Good grief....D&D...D&D...GURPS...D&D.....
/.'s radar:
You make it sound like the only books coming out for pen-and-paper gaming are D&D and GURPS supplements. There's a lot more than that in the past 6 months.
Here's a few new releases that seem to have flown beneath
- Exalted 2nd Edition - http://www.white-wolf.com/exalted/index.php
- Weapons of the Gods - http://www.eos-press.com/products-wotg.html
- True20 from Green Ronin - http://true20.com/
- Shadowrun 4th Edition - http://www.shadowrunrpg.com/
- Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition - http://www.mutantsandmasterminds.com/
All excellent books. I suggest taking a look.
-PARANOIA is fun. D20 is not fun. The Computer says so.
-The Computer
I have had great luck finding games and players over the years with AccessDenied.Net:
http://www.accessdenied.net/index.htm
Goofy, Geeky Gifts and More!
I've been closely following Obsidian Entertainment's development of NWN2 and so far I'm quite happy with their approach. They've completely redone the graphics and toolset, kept the part of the game that worked (rules engine and scripting system), and are focusing on a single player game that so far sounds quite good.
In the last few days, they've released new screenshots (and here), as well as new movies. So far, it looks to be a very pretty game at least.
Slashdotters, please: if you're sick and tired of shelling out twenty to forty bucks for the latest supplement, how about throwing a little money to some of the little guys who are making truly innovative stuff? Look here for some ideas on where to start, and I'll plug a few of my favorites. (Disclaimer: I know one of the authors of some of the following games. He's a great guy. But he doesn't pay me to say this, or to plug his games.
Please make a few indie developers happy. You have nothing to lose but your twenty-sided dice.
As with many mass market items, look to the smaller press for the more innovative and interesting ideas. Not every game is for every RPGer.. it's worth it to check out some of the indie games out there. From the serious and gritty, to the silly, there are a lot to choose from. Below are only a small
y l
sample.
http://www.sorcerer-rpg.com/
http://www.anvilwerks.com/?The-Shadow-of-Yesterda
http://www.septemberquestion.org/lumpley/dogs.htm
http://www.adept-press.com/trollbabe/
http://l5r.alderac.com/rpg/
Have you looked at RPGNow? It's an e-bookstore that sells PDFs of various games--some from the bigger gaming companies, others from small companies that you've never heard of, such as this giant robot RPG that was written by a friend of mine. Many of these are just as imaginative, if not more so, than a lot of the stuff you'll find from the larger companies--but since they're so small you'd never have heard of them.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
One of the nicest RPGs is finally running on the mac, and is rock-stable! On to YASD!
Before you mod this down, I'd like you to know I have my Powerbook on a table, AND I use pencil and paper to write down my Inventory when I die - cheating as much as I can.
All the hallmarks of tabletop D&D'ing. Don't judge me.
I'll stick my head in here and mention that the 2nd Edition of the Ninja Burger RPG is now available at DriveThruRPG, RPGNow and SJGames' e23 as PDFs, with a Print-on-Demand option through Lulu.com at RPGNow.
The new edition is based on the PDQ system that's used in the cult hit Monkey, Ninja, Pirate, Robot from Atomic Sock Monkey Press, which is obviously what inspired the current Slashdot Poll.
Feats and class abilities
Can they be used to make cheese-monkey uber-twinkie characters? Yes. Can they also be used to individualize a character, so that YOUR 8th lvl fighter is different from all of those other 8th level fighters? Yes, Yes, Yes! In 1st / 2nd Ed there were not a lot of difference (mechanically) from one fighter to the next. In 3.5, you can create the character that YOU want to play. There are still plenty of room for house rules and imagination. You just have a lot more flexibility, more options in the core mechanics.
2) The D20 System
A lot of people complain that it is a dumbed down system consuming all the competition, but in fact the game is marvelously elegant in it's execution. There is a reason so many systems have jumped on the bandwagon. It's a good place to be. Saves, Attacks, Skills are all resolved via the same streamlined method. Except grapple checks :) Those are just silly.
The skills are so easy to use once you understand them fully, allowing for a lot of flexibility in what your players can accomplish. Compared to the clumsiness of non-weapon proficiencies? Like night and day. I don't know where all of your bean counting comes in, but the skills system we use doesn't slow down play a bit. I am not saying that there isn't some math once a level, but come on, it's 3rd grade math. Once a level. Sure, large combats with high level characters do take a while, but it isn't the math that is slowing things down. It's all the players. You know, the ones playing the system you hate and they seem to enjoy.
I am not saying that 3E is perfect. But from one crotchety old fan-boy to another, it's actually pretty good.