Which to buy?Underdark or Serpent Kingdom?

[spidertrag]

I finally have some 'mad' money to spend & have narrowed it down to buying either the Underdark book or the Serpent Kingdom book.---I need some help figuring out which one to get----whichever one i buy will be used in both a homebrew & Eberron game (or at least mined for info)---so please post opinions/suggestions 0n the two---I'll be heading to the store in about 4 hours---thanks!

 

[Davelozzi]

I finally have some 'mad' money to spend & have narrowed it down to buying either the Underdark book or the Serpent Kingdom book.---I need some help figuring out which one to get----whichever one i buy will be used in both a homebrew & Eberron game (or at least mined for info)---so please post opinions/suggestions 0n the two---I'll be heading to the store in about 4 hours---thanks!

I don't have Underdark but I do have Serpent Kingdoms and I'd recommend it. You can use the snakey goodness in your other games, and in Eberron it might work particularly well for either of the southern continents or some lost island.

 

[Mystery Man]

You're better off getting the Serpent Kingdoms if its going to be Eberron. Unless you want some wierd, cool underground stuff then Underdark is for you. Hell, just go buy both.

 

[GlassJaw]

Both are great books, probably 2 of the best WotC has put out in recent memory. For some reason, the editing and balance issues are much better in the FR books than the generic books. FR gets a lot of abuse for being more powerful but I find the balance and mechanics to be quite good.

For your campaign, you would probably get more mileage out of SK but you can't go wrong either way. Get both if you can.

 

[durin]

City of the Spider Queen is the way to go.

I don't have Serpent Kingdoms, but I can tell you Underdark is both beautiful and resourceful. There are lots of new underground races, several campaign threads that I was previously unaware of (Deep Imaskari, phaerimms under the Anauroch Desert), and lots of stuff on the drow.

Plus, if you buy the campaign book, City of the Spider Queen, you have something to complement your Underdark book. Or rather, the Underdark book s a great compliment to City of the Spider Queen.

I am currently running the City of the Spider Queen campaign with one seasoned gamer, an experienced gamer, and a new gamer. They all love it. The story is great, the villains are tough and smart, and the lion's share of the work is done for you. Add into the mix that there is plenty of space to personalize it and I would recommend City of the Spider Queen over the Underdark book. Hands down the best DnD product I have purchased to date.

durin

 

[GlassJaw]

The story is great, the villains are tough and smart, and the lion's share of the work is done for you

Wow, I have the exact opposite experience. I ran the first two sections with a group of all experienced players. We got bored very quickly. It's heavy on combat and extremely light on any sort of role-playing or problem-solving.

I also found it a bear to run. Drow are just annoying with their SR. The book is also laid out in a way that you need to do a lot of preparation beforehand because the battles can get pretty big. Flipping back and forth in the book just doesn't cut it. You also need to do some work to update it to 3.5 (almost every encounter starts off with casting Haste).

 

[Grealis]

If you plan to go underground I would recommend the Underdark book, it is as already stated a valuable source of information on that and could probably be adapted to whichever world you prefer.

-G

 

[Camarath]

I have both books and I would recomend you get Underdark. Serpent Kingdoms is a good book but not as useful and adaptable as Underdark IMO.

 

[Tetsubo]

My vote is for Underdark. I was severely underwhelmed by Serpent Kingdoms.

 

[spidertrag]

Woo-hoo, got both