And John saves me another $35

[Vrecknidj]

I've been reading Paranoia XP lately. I think it's Mongoose. It's not d20, and perhaps it was put together by not-the-usual-guys staff. But, it's pretty good. (Proviso: I never played any of the previous Paranoia games.)

Dave

 

[Man-thing]

Paranoia XP is a Mongoose product and it is excellent.

I'm disappointed that Monster Encyclopedia 2 has 36% of its monsters with errors in it making it have the same percentage of errors as Monster Manual 3.

I am pleased that it is 36% and not 100% like Ultimate Monsters. I'm glad John did a review so I have errata for it, so I don't need to spend the time doing it.

I don't agree that there has been no improvement. Adrian's Bott's Drow War just received two 5 star reviews so I'm willing to keep giving Mongoose my support as they continue to improve.

Reading ME 2 I didn't mind it. Some of the monsters I'll never use and I agree that there were too many "EVIL" variation on a standard monster. But there are some keepers that will soon vex my players.

 

[John Cooper]

Oh, I quite agree that Mongoose has put out some really excellent products (and continues to do so). I've given them 5-star reviews on many occasions. I don't think it's a matter of thinking that "Mongoose hasn't improved" as a generic statement, just that "Mongoose hasn't managed to eradicate their numerous stat blocks errors in all cases." (At least, that's my take on it.)

 

[Eridanis]

Let's keep it civil, please; talk about this book and its review, not old grudges.

 

[Pinotage]

I understand that a lot of people will be peeved by stat errors in monster books. I still don't think I'd refrain from buying a book with errors, because, well, errors can be fixed and John has done that work for us already! (Thanks, John!). What I'd be more concerned about is the quality and originality of the monsters. Stat blocks can be fixed after all. That said, I really like to see their pdfs a little cheaper.

Pinotage

 

[Psion]

Yeah, reading John's review made me MORE likely to buy the book, not LESS. I know this is a big divide on the forums, but a point here and a point there don't concern me. Seeing some creature ideas that intrigued me in the review, however, piqued my interest.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

Although Errors really bug me....

I can deal with them if they unless they are on the level of Mongoose's Ultimate Monster 1 or Goodman's Primeval Groves.

A few minor errors is fine. If I know about them! If a publisher releases an errata sheet later & tells me all the errors that crept in. Fine, I can go through with a pencil & make the corrections. (as in MM3).

As long as the book doesn't look completly re-written by the time I'm done. The problem is that many publishers don't release errata sheets (even when all the problems are mentioned by someone like Cooper). Thus I either have to go by those errors others have found, or try to hunt through and find them all myself.

Having finished ME1, I can give it a 'it's ok' mark right now. I didn't a lot of errors, but I wasn't looking for them. If I knew Mongoose would later put out an errata file, I'd probablly up my 'it ok' to 'a good general monster book'.

PS. I was going to Rant about how I hate companies that release an 'errata' sheet with like 3 things, when a product has dozens of errors. I was mainly referring to Goodman Games Primeval Groves, which I was pretty sure had really horrible monster stats, in addition to the editing errors they released a errat for. But, I don't have it handy, can't remeber for sure. Thus I will not condem a product or company falsely.

Expect a follow-up tonight.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I'm sure you mean that for ALL new product release, not just limited to Mongoose, correct?

Actually, no.

There are some companies, Green Ronin, Malhavoc, and others, that I TRUST. I don't trust Mongoose.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

Actually, no.

There are some companies, Green Ronin, Malhavoc, and others, that I TRUST. I don't trust Mongoose.

Exactly, Mongoose got kicked off my buy 'Sight Unseen' list several years ago.

They then went to the 'Cold day in Hell' list along with FFE.

They are now on the 'Spend at least an hour going over it before buying'.

I'm still not impressed by Mongoose, but at least they are now competing for my gaming dollar (which is something they HADN'T been doing for around 2 years).

Not bashing Mongoose. They've improved. They just seem very hit or miss lately.

And WotC & Green Ronin are the only 2 companies still on my 'Sight Unseen' list. One, because of their quality and the other because I know I'll buy it eventually anyway.

 

[Kanegrundar]

Actually, no.

There are some companies, Green Ronin, Malhavoc, and others, that I TRUST. I don't trust Mongoose.

Same here. As long as I'm interested in the subject matter I'll buy anything from WotC, Green Ronin, Malhavoc, RPGObjects, and Ronin Arts. Everything else is on a "look and see" basis.

Kane