Which Environment book would you buy?

[GoodKingJayIII]

From what I've read off store shelves (not quite living up to the OP cash requirements, myself) I would choose stormwrack or cityscape. What I would actually do is go onto the wizard's site and download copies of all the articles from their old environment series and put it all in one binder.

DJCupboard wins the thread!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I loved those old environmental articles, but it's surprising how much of those pieces WEREN'T used in the environmental books. They actually make a nice supplement to the books, rather than a replacement.

 

[edemaitre]

D&D3.5 environmental books

I have all of the D&D3.5 environmental books, but my favorite in terms of unique value is Sandstorm. I've used all of them, but that's the only one without a D20 rival that has more extensive rules (Frostburn/Frost & Fur, Stormwrack/Seafarer's Handbook and various other nautical books, and Cityscape/Cityworks), not to mention books such as the Wilds or Classic Play Book of Adventuring.

They're all decent, but none is as concise or comprehensive as the AD&D "Dungeoneer's Survival Guide" and "Wilderness Survival Guide" were in their day, IMHO. Of course, I could be biased toward the D&D3.5 Sandstorm text, since I'm running a desert-based campaign right now, but I have half a bookshelf's worth of books for just about every other terrain.

 

[TroyXavier]

Don't have Cityscape, but I have the others and love them all. I voted Sandstorm but Frostburn and Stormwrack are great as well.

 

[Arnwyn]

Stormwrack, by leaps and bounds. (Though I haven't perused Cityscape.)

 

[Davelozzi]

Yeah, I don't have Cityscape either but I like all three of the others. I'd have to say, when this series was announced I thought it would be lame but I have been very impressed. I voted for Stormwrack, which I resisted buying until about a week ago (mostly because the new races left such a bad taste when I flipped through it originally) but am glad that I finally bought it -- great selection of spells, and the naval rules are well done. I give it the edge only because I think that rules for seafaring are a more important niche to fill for your average campaign than arctic or desert rules are.

 

[Pants]

1. Frostburn. Though it has some wonkily overpowered stuff, it's a great book to get ideas from. Especially the two mini-adventures in the back.

2. Stormwrack. Just good and solid.

3. Sandstorm. Kinda bland and boring. Every new creature felt like an attempt to 'show off' the new mechanics while being just sorta boring. The Prestige Classes were blah and I didn't get nearly the amount of cool ideas from this book as from the others.

Haven't read Cityscape yet.

 

[Starglim]

I have Stormwrack and Frostburn and prefer Frostburn for original ideas useful to a campaign. I would have said Stormwrack was the more generally useful book, if it was actually about storms and things that float and wash up (that is, sea surface conditions, coasts and ships), but it's more underwater adventuring.

I don't have any particular use for Sandstorm and can't speak for Cityscape, though that product will have to be something very special (and well beyond WotC's recent standard) to match many of the third-party products out there.

 

[tylermalan]

From what I've read off store shelves (not quite living up to the OP cash requirements, myself) I would choose stormwrack or cityscape. What I would actually do is go onto the wizard's site and download copies of all the articles from their old environment series and put it all in one binder.

What was that old environment series called?

Also, I haven't really flipped through Stormwrack, but I thought it was about adventuring on the sea, as opposed to IN the sea. Am I wrong?

 

[Pants]

I don't have any particular use for Sandstorm and can't speak for Cityscape, though that product will have to be something very special (and well beyond WotC's recent standard) to match many of the third-party products out there.

Besides FFG's Cityworks (which I hear opposing viewpoints on), what other books are there for running urban adventures, building cities, and whatnot? I love running urban adventures, but sometimes I'm just at a loss as to how to run some facets of urban adventuring.

I'm really looking forward to Dungeonscape (yes I have the equivalent FFG book, no it doesn't really do what I want it to do).