Fast Forward Entertainment: Best Books? (Updated: August/2012)

[pawsplay]

I think it would be hard to justify when you could be picking up used or PDF versions of other stuff instead.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I picked up the five following FFE hardcovers a few years back: Rings of Power (my favorite), Swords of Power, Wondrous Items of Power, Swords of Evil and Demons and Devils vol 1. James Ward wrote a lot of them (might be all of them, I don't remember).

I got each of them brand new and uncracked for $5 CDN a piece.

For the $25 I spent for the five books, I found there was lots there and it presented a very decent value for that money.

$20-$30 a piece? Hell no - but that's one of the reasons FFE went under.

If there's a hardcover 3.xx book out there for $2-5, buy it. Even the crap stuff is well worth $2-$5. You won't EVER kick yourself for buying a cheapie 3.xx hardcover for $5. Ever.

Worst that happens is it sits on your shelf, totally unused and uncracked for a long time. Years down the road you'll sell it at auction in mint condition for about the same as you paid for it. Big deal. (You might even turn a profit if that auction is attended by a few esoteric collectors.)

If it's $10, maybe yes/maybe no. Depends on the book. The ones I referred to above? I liked Rings of Power and Swords of Power. For $10 each, that might be okay, after you did a lot of work on their stats and just kept the fluff (these books are mostly fluff to begin with, I might add). The other ones noted above? For $10? No. I wouldn't pay that for those books. $5 was all they were worth.

 

[Knightfall]

The had a monster book late in their run that wasn't that bad.

Deadliest Creatures Tome is a decent 3.5 monster collection.

I'm assuming you are both talking about the same book. (Link added by me.)

BTW, which of the other FFE books are v.3.5? Anyone know?

I enjoyed the two Encyclopedias of Demons and Devils and the angel one. The stats in the two demons and devil ones are all over the place in terms of usability but it was fun to have a bunch of fluff that conflicted with core D&D and Book of Fiends stuff. I used some of the fluff in my games and was happy with it, though a lot of the stats can be very poor in d20 compliance, balance, or actual usability.

I admit, it is the Demons and Devils books that I'm the most interested in looking at; however, I'm unlikely to buy them if the all the stats are completely out of wack. Still, if I can get them for $5 or less, I might consider them just for the fluff.

And the angel one was like Sentinels from Role-Aids, decent and there are not a lot of angel sourcebooks so this can fill a gap.

I like angel sourcebooks. Anger of Angels is one of my favorite d20/OGL books, so Encyclopedia of Angels quality would have to be at least "fair" for me to consider it.

 

[Knightfall]

The only book that I felt was halfway decent was Cloud Warriors and that was because Skip Williams wrote it.

Hmm, I don't think Cloud Warriors is a book that I'd get much use out of, from what it says here...

Cloud Warriors (2003) :: Pen & Paper RPG Database

Can you give me an overview of what you liked and didn't like? Or point me to a review?

 

[Knightfall]

Temple of the Troll God

Publisher Fast Forward Entertainment. Released Fall 2001. Format Softcover. Game system d20. Setting Green Races. Levels 4-7. Pages 48. Price $12.95.

Wait... so Green Races is a campaign setting? I thought it was a sourcebook for forests and such.

 

[Voadam]

I'm assuming you are both talking about the same book. (Link added by me.)

BTW, which of the other FFE books are v.3.5? Anyone know?


I admit, it is the Demons and Devils books that I'm the most interested in looking at; however, I'm unlikely to buy them if the all the stats are completely out of wack. Still, if I can get them for $5 or less, I might consider them just for the fluff.


I like angel sourcebooks. Anger of Angels is one of my favorite d20/OGL books, so Encyclopedia of Angels quality would have to be at least "fair" for me to consider it.

The Demons and Devils statblocks are all over the place, not all are completely out of whack but there are individual ones that are atrocious. I remember the entry for Ganesha (yes the benevolent Hindu god of removing obstacles gets turned into a fiend) had something like 2 HD with 10/+5 DR and 9th or 19th level sorcerer spell casting, not to mention his pathetically d6 damage weak guns for an attributed affiliation to technology. Others are perfectly useable but those did not stand out in my memory as vividly as the big fails. The Demons and Devils books had a large number of contributing authors, apparently without good d20 editing oversight. I got my copies for $2 each and I'm quite happy with them at that price.

I considered Anger of Angels more a sourcebook for playing PC angels, the Encyclopedia one is much more a Monster Manual/Deities and Demigods type of sourcebook. Some of them range up to the 70 HD/levels range while others are more of a typical adventurer encountering power range. I rate it above a fair on quality, at least a good, though I haven't gone over it that much since I got it. Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary has a very nice selection of 3.0 angel monsters as well if you are into the subject.

 

[Stormonu]

I was so disappointed with my FFE books, I purposely left them out in the rain to get ruined. Trust me, that to me is sacrilege - I'd never do that to any other book I own.

Demon and Devils isn't worth it. It's a poor attempt to stat out D&D's creatures as Outsiders, even when it doesn't really make sense.

 

[DaveMage]

BTW, which of the other FFE books are v.3.5? Anyone know?

Book of All Spells
Cloud Warriors
Deadliest Creatures Tome
Encyclopedia of Exotic Weapons
The Complete Monstrous Undead Compendium

R.A. Salvatore's DemonWars Player's Guide*
R.A. Salvatore's DemonWars Enchanted Locations*
R.A. Salvatore's DemonWars Gazetteer*

*Based on 3.5 rules, but with alterations.

 

[Knightfall]

Book of All Spells
Cloud Warriors
Deadliest Creatures Tome
Encyclopedia of Exotic Weapons
The Complete Monstrous Undead Compendium

R.A. Salvatore's DemonWars Player's Guide*
R.A. Salvatore's DemonWars Enchanted Locations*
R.A. Salvatore's DemonWars Gazetteer*

*Based on 3.5 rules, but with alterations.

Thanks!

I think of all those I'm only slightly interested in these two: Cloud Warriors and Deadliest Creatures Tome.

I don't think I'm all that interested in the DemonWars books. And it sounds like it is its own system as well as a campaign setting. I don't need anything else like that that isn't Arcana Evolved (which I'm still looking for; although, I have the AU books.).

 

[Knightfall]

The Demons and Devils statblocks are all over the place, not all are completely out of whack but there are individual ones that are atrocious. I remember the entry for Ganesha (yes the benevolent Hindu god of removing obstacles gets turned into a fiend) had something like 2 HD with 10/+5 DR and 9th or 19th level sorcerer spell casting, not to mention his pathetically d6 damage weak guns for an attributed affiliation to technology. Others are perfectly useable but those did not stand out in my memory as vividly as the big fails. The Demons and Devils books had a large number of contributing authors, apparently without good d20 editing oversight. I got my copies for $2 each and I'm quite happy with them at that price.

It definitely sounds like a no go for the Demons and Devils books. I'd likely have to spend more than $5 each to get them. I don't think that it is worth it.

I considered Anger of Angels more a sourcebook for playing PC angels, the Encyclopedia one is much more a Monster Manual/Deities and Demigods type of sourcebook. Some of them range up to the 70 HD/levels range while others are more of a typical adventurer encountering power range. I rate it above a fair on quality, at least a good, though I haven't gone over it that much since I got it.

Oh, I agree completely regarding AoA. But it's still great.

Encyclopedia of Angels sounds like it might be interesting. Something to consider.

Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary has a very nice selection of 3.0 angel monsters as well if you are into the subject.

I really like the Penumbra books, but I have been purprosely avoiding the Fantasy Bestiary since it is a v.3.0 book. Knowing it has angels in it might put it on my radar once again.