General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
Troll Lords is having a big sale on a bunch of their 3e d20 pdfs though strangely excluding a certain few (Winter Runes, Malady of Kings, The Hermit, st. Anton's Fire).
The Codex of Erde Gazeteer is at $0.50.
Dungeons of Kubla Khan, Tomb of Kubla Khan, Temple of Kubla Khan, Blood Royal, A Lion in the Ropes, By Shadow of Night, The Heart of Glass, Bystle Vale, are all $1.
The individual thirds of the Hall of Many Panes and Cities and Settlements are each $3
Path of Magi and Book of Familiars are $5
Each of the Gygaxian Fantasy series are $10 each.
Anybody used any of these d20 books? I picked up most everything $3 and under so far and I'm interested in hearing your views on them.
The Codex is very dry, very poorly layed out, and has a fair number of spelling and grammar errors. I would say poorly written over all. However I love it as a setting. Been using it for the last 3 or 4 years, in fact.
So you may say, "Well since its so poorly written, I'll skip it." Understandable reaction. Ask yourself this first. If its so poorly written, yet someone fell in love with it anyways, what does that say for the material content?
So $.50 for the PDF is a heck of a steal.
As for Cities and Supplements, I like it a lot. The only thing really original about it is the character write ups. They seemed to try and make each location have rather unique NPC's about it, and did a pretty nice job of doing so.
Book of Familiars, this book is largely about familiars. So unless your interested in going very in depth into familiars this book isn't worth much. Otherwise it had some fairly unique ideas and concepts.
Path of the MAgi is good, but if you own most of the WOTC books about spellcasters I doubt you'll find more than a few ideas to use in this book.
As for the modules. In general the writing and format is not very good. However the stories have pretty cool ideas, locations, and encounter scenarios. Plus I like the fact that they reminded me of late 1E and early 2E modules in how they look. The stand out is the Bergholt module. I also love Winter Runes, but that isn't part fo the sale.
As for the Gygax World books. Well, if you like the old 1E DMG and all its charts and info, then I think you will like most of these books. To a large degree these books take the parts of the 1E DMG about building settings, worlds, economic resources, herbs, etc.... and expanded upon them a great deal.
I also like the book of names a lot. Yes, I could go on the internet and get much the same material, but I much prefer a printed book on my book shelf for me to reach and get. As a PDF, I wouldn't bother getting it except for the fact I run and play in a lot of on line games. So being able to copy/paste name suggestions would be a big help.
As I understand it the print version are on sale for identical prices. If so I would buy the print versions. The price of shipping is worth the price of printing them, especially if your getting any hard backs.
__________________ It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. NEVER hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule book upon you, IF it goes against the obvious intent of the game. As you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general, also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players. Within the broad parameters give in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Volumes, YOU are creator and final arbiter. By ordering things as they should be, the game as a WHOLE first, your CAMPAIGN next, and your participants thereafter, you will be playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons as it was meant to be. May you find as much pleasure in so doing as the rest of us do.
I can strongly recommend the Book of Names. It has names of all regions of the world, with explanations, different timeperiods and of course plenty of fantasy names and namegenerators ... it's the best namebook I have in my collection.
__________________ It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. NEVER hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule book upon you, IF it goes against the obvious intent of the game. As you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general, also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players. Within the broad parameters give in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Volumes, YOU are creator and final arbiter. By ordering things as they should be, the game as a WHOLE first, your CAMPAIGN next, and your participants thereafter, you will be playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons as it was meant to be. May you find as much pleasure in so doing as the rest of us do.
My comments were about the D20 Codex of Erde BOOK, not Gazeteer. I have never read the Gazeteer.
__________________ It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. NEVER hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule book upon you, IF it goes against the obvious intent of the game. As you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general, also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players. Within the broad parameters give in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Volumes, YOU are creator and final arbiter. By ordering things as they should be, the game as a WHOLE first, your CAMPAIGN next, and your participants thereafter, you will be playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons as it was meant to be. May you find as much pleasure in so doing as the rest of us do.
My comments were about the D20 Codex of Erde BOOK, not Gazeteer. I have never read the Gazeteer.
The Gazeteer is something like a 24 or 40 page gazeteer for the setting, not the 300 page Codex of Erde Campaign Setting book. It is sort of like the Scarred Lands 48 page Gazeteers versus their 250 page hardcover Campaign Setting books.
I would have loved to have the full CS in pdf, I keep being tempted by the hardcover.
It is too bad they pulled the d20 pdf version of their first trilogy the Vakhund, Dzeebagd, Felsentheim one when they came out with the C&C versions. I would have liked to have picked those up as well as By Shadows of Night says it is designed to pick up immediately after them.
The Gazeteer is something like a 24 or 40 page gazeteer for the setting, not the 300 page Codex of Erde Campaign Setting book. It is sort of like the Scarred Lands 48 page Gazeteers versus their 250 page hardcover Campaign Setting books.
I would have loved to have the full CS in pdf, I keep being tempted by the hardcover.
It is too bad they pulled the d20 pdf version of their first trilogy the Vakhund, Dzeebagd, Felsentheim one when they came out with the C&C versions. I would have liked to have picked those up as well as By Shadows of Night says it is designed to pick up immediately after them.
Well the print versions appear to still be available for $1.00 each in that link I gave you. + shipping.
You could even get the Codex book for an additional 50% off if you buy that copy of Crusader with it, as advertised on their main page.
__________________ It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. NEVER hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule book upon you, IF it goes against the obvious intent of the game. As you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general, also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players. Within the broad parameters give in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Volumes, YOU are creator and final arbiter. By ordering things as they should be, the game as a WHOLE first, your CAMPAIGN next, and your participants thereafter, you will be playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons as it was meant to be. May you find as much pleasure in so doing as the rest of us do.
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