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Gladiator: Sands of Death
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<blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2011160" data-attributes="member: 18387"><p>How can everyone be so harsh on this book?</p><p></p><p>The other reviews do a good job of summarizing the content, so I'll skip straight to the contrasts.</p><p></p><p>There are better values out there, but every time I flip through this book it makes me want to start a gladiatorial campaign. The Sands of Death game in the last part of the book can be easily adapted as a campaign structure (you handle different schools, not the PC's) that promises all the roiling politics and dirty dealings you could ever want.</p><p></p><p>Mongoose has a habit of making a lot of "crunchy bits", and ever time I pick up a new Mongoose book I feel afraid that they'll start making stupid PrC's (if it's better off as a feat path, don't make it a PrC!), but they continue to keep their stuff together well in this respect.</p><p></p><p>The different event types and guidelines for arena logistics are really helpful to those of us who haven't spent hundreds of hours studying the subject in real life, especially if we could care less about ancient civilizations. Who gets paid, where the money goes, and suggestions for betrayal and mayhem outside the arena were a lot of help for me.</p><p></p><p>The sample arena were a real treat, complete with back-stories and easily dropped into a campaign site.</p><p></p><p>Arena combat, at first glance, sounds like a last-resort throwback in RPG's. You kill stuff. You don't have to worry about anything else. This book really got my attention with loads and loads of material to the contrary. I actually liked the Sands of Death game as a nice little integrated tool to run ongoing campaigns, even if I only had minimal interest in playing it as a seperate game. The two could feasibly be combined (players play Sands of Death and then duke it out in the arena with actual D&D play), and the book doesn't suffer for its addition.</p><p></p><p>New skill uses and appropriate Dirty Tricks were another nifty treat niblet, but I'm hesitant to use many of them outside the arena. Then again (as has been said before) this book isn't meant for "outside the arena" use. This could be construed as a shortcoming of the book, but I tend to think of it as "sticking to the point."</p><p></p><p>So what's the problem? I may not be the final authority on gaming material, but I loved it and I recommend it highly.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Messageboard Golem, post: 2011160, member: 18387"] How can everyone be so harsh on this book? The other reviews do a good job of summarizing the content, so I'll skip straight to the contrasts. There are better values out there, but every time I flip through this book it makes me want to start a gladiatorial campaign. The Sands of Death game in the last part of the book can be easily adapted as a campaign structure (you handle different schools, not the PC's) that promises all the roiling politics and dirty dealings you could ever want. Mongoose has a habit of making a lot of "crunchy bits", and ever time I pick up a new Mongoose book I feel afraid that they'll start making stupid PrC's (if it's better off as a feat path, don't make it a PrC!), but they continue to keep their stuff together well in this respect. The different event types and guidelines for arena logistics are really helpful to those of us who haven't spent hundreds of hours studying the subject in real life, especially if we could care less about ancient civilizations. Who gets paid, where the money goes, and suggestions for betrayal and mayhem outside the arena were a lot of help for me. The sample arena were a real treat, complete with back-stories and easily dropped into a campaign site. Arena combat, at first glance, sounds like a last-resort throwback in RPG's. You kill stuff. You don't have to worry about anything else. This book really got my attention with loads and loads of material to the contrary. I actually liked the Sands of Death game as a nice little integrated tool to run ongoing campaigns, even if I only had minimal interest in playing it as a seperate game. The two could feasibly be combined (players play Sands of Death and then duke it out in the arena with actual D&D play), and the book doesn't suffer for its addition. New skill uses and appropriate Dirty Tricks were another nifty treat niblet, but I'm hesitant to use many of them outside the arena. Then again (as has been said before) this book isn't meant for "outside the arena" use. This could be construed as a shortcoming of the book, but I tend to think of it as "sticking to the point." So what's the problem? I may not be the final authority on gaming material, but I loved it and I recommend it highly. [/QUOTE]
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