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AVP2 excerpt: Story Items! ARMOR!
- Thread starter Rechan
- Start date
Dice4Hire
First Post
If this is the best parts of the book they have to showcase, then I think I will be canceling my pre-order. I would not mind a chapter about story ideas with lots of tables, like appearance, or history elements and such (I always liked those d100 adventure hooks tables in the 3. Complete series) Takes up minimal space and has lots of ideas. But this stuff just made my eyes glaze over, even reading two of them.
Not good at all. I wonder if the sets will be good as the Immurment, story items and I'm sure lair items will be worthelss, so the sets? CAn it save this book for me? I doubt it, very honestly.
Looks like my next purchase will be PHBIII after getting DP today. So it will be 8 months without a gaming book. Man, I have not gone that long since .... well, 2E.
Not good at all. I wonder if the sets will be good as the Immurment, story items and I'm sure lair items will be worthelss, so the sets? CAn it save this book for me? I doubt it, very honestly.
Looks like my next purchase will be PHBIII after getting DP today. So it will be 8 months without a gaming book. Man, I have not gone that long since .... well, 2E.
White Tornado
First Post
I'm a fluff-lover, and I love the fluff they added to these items.
The items themselves aren't any special, I agree. I think WotC should not have used the term "Story Items", since that implies something special, which it isn't. Better call them "Item Stories", because that's what's new about them, and they wouldn't have created such high expectations due to speculation.
Maybe I would be happier with guidelines and inspirational text to create my own fluff for any magical item I would like to hand out.
The items themselves aren't any special, I agree. I think WotC should not have used the term "Story Items", since that implies something special, which it isn't. Better call them "Item Stories", because that's what's new about them, and they wouldn't have created such high expectations due to speculation.
Maybe I would be happier with guidelines and inspirational text to create my own fluff for any magical item I would like to hand out.
JeffB
Legend
Agreed that I'm a bit underhwelmed in that I wish the items were more "Barsaive" and that there was some mechanical benefit as the item is used over time/PCs level, etc.
But I am glad to see they provided some fluff (especially the little adventure hooks/ideas- I love that kind of stuff): Some > none
Will wait to see how things look on the DDI/some reviews before I lay down the cash on the book.
But I am glad to see they provided some fluff (especially the little adventure hooks/ideas- I love that kind of stuff): Some > none
Will wait to see how things look on the DDI/some reviews before I lay down the cash on the book.
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
The way they presented it seemed like it would be a brand new type of item.
These are the same items, just with some plot hooks thrown in?
Bleh. I like what they tried to do, but if it's just another +1 sword, the history isn't important. Items you're going to have quests and history around should stand out from the crowd in some significant way. They have to be worth paying attention to.
Good intention, poor execution.
These are the same items, just with some plot hooks thrown in?
Bleh. I like what they tried to do, but if it's just another +1 sword, the history isn't important. Items you're going to have quests and history around should stand out from the crowd in some significant way. They have to be worth paying attention to.
Good intention, poor execution.
avin
First Post
Crunch lovers cancelling, I'm pre ordering.
Adventure Vault is like reading a TV set manual. No point having the book if everything is at CB. Hooks and fluff are always welcome (the DMs who claim they made their own fluff *I know* usually are fans of combat-only advetures).
While upgrading stats for upgradint the item story is nice I don't think that would work properly on Character Builder without some check boxes for each item.
Adventure Vault is like reading a TV set manual. No point having the book if everything is at CB. Hooks and fluff are always welcome (the DMs who claim they made their own fluff *I know* usually are fans of combat-only advetures).
While upgrading stats for upgradint the item story is nice I don't think that would work properly on Character Builder without some check boxes for each item.
SteveC
Doing the best imitation of myself
I believe this is the "darned if you do" part of, "darned if you do, darned if you don't." Since the 4E launch WotC has been criticized for all crunch/no fluff. As a result, they've presented fluff...to criticism.
Sounds about right.
Still: I'll agree that someone over at WotC should take a look at Earthdawn's magic items. It's obvious that they have copies, since Weapons of Legacy was their take on that, err, legacy. Try it again, please.
--Steve
Sounds about right.
Still: I'll agree that someone over at WotC should take a look at Earthdawn's magic items. It's obvious that they have copies, since Weapons of Legacy was their take on that, err, legacy. Try it again, please.
--Steve
"Armor is an integral part of any adventurer’s gear. From the wizard’s robes and the barbarian’s hide to the bard’s chainmail and the paladin’s plate, armor’s protection is available to every hero."
ZZzzzzzzz...
Couldn't they have dragged that paragraph out even more? What about sorcerers? Wardens? I guess being an English speaker I have a vague idea of what the word "armor" means but for those that aren't I think they should have included this information in the PHB. There are probably some players out there, whose characters are getting killed over and over, that would really appreciate this information.
And Story Items? Aren't ALL items story items to some degree? Maybe you don't care, but somebody made the +1 sword at some time and used it for something. That's fine if they want to fill a book with a bunch of "cleric visits Sodom and Gomorrah and his armor, apparently, doesn't do a good job of protecting him from them, but here ya go anyway..." but I'd rather this be moved to campaign setting specific areas where the background info has some sort of context.
Besides, the background story would seem to equally apply to ANY magic item with light powers. They should just detatch it from the particular so that it can be matched up with an item that you want to put in your campaign. (Of course it's not hard to do this yourself, I guess). Or maybe I don't use the item at all, and the martyr cleric is used as an adventure hook for something else.
Oh well, obviously they have books to sell and if they can get $30 from me for the 10 pages that will be useful to me then I guess I should be grateful for the fluff since it adds weight to the book so that the 10 useful pages won't just blow out of the car window on my way home from the book store.
ZZzzzzzzz...
Couldn't they have dragged that paragraph out even more? What about sorcerers? Wardens? I guess being an English speaker I have a vague idea of what the word "armor" means but for those that aren't I think they should have included this information in the PHB. There are probably some players out there, whose characters are getting killed over and over, that would really appreciate this information.
And Story Items? Aren't ALL items story items to some degree? Maybe you don't care, but somebody made the +1 sword at some time and used it for something. That's fine if they want to fill a book with a bunch of "cleric visits Sodom and Gomorrah and his armor, apparently, doesn't do a good job of protecting him from them, but here ya go anyway..." but I'd rather this be moved to campaign setting specific areas where the background info has some sort of context.
Besides, the background story would seem to equally apply to ANY magic item with light powers. They should just detatch it from the particular so that it can be matched up with an item that you want to put in your campaign. (Of course it's not hard to do this yourself, I guess). Or maybe I don't use the item at all, and the martyr cleric is used as an adventure hook for something else.
Oh well, obviously they have books to sell and if they can get $30 from me for the 10 pages that will be useful to me then I guess I should be grateful for the fluff since it adds weight to the book so that the 10 useful pages won't just blow out of the car window on my way home from the book store.
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
Well, they're not damned if they do, damned if they don't. They're damned if they don't, and if they do, the better put more than 100 words' effort into it, because otherwise they're just slacking off.
They're damned if they don't use their apparently fabulous design skills to give us "story items" that are actually distinct from every other magic item out there, sure.
I mean, fluff is great, and essential, but half-arsing it isn't going to make many more people happy.
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