Best and Worst of 2005?

[MerricB]

Hmmm. Yeah. And the rest.

Definitely.

 

[DaveMage]

Hmmm. Yeah. And the rest.

Ditto that.

 

[philreed]

. . . and 13 Wasteland Hazards.

Thank you. I was surprised at how many people ended up e-mailing me to tell me that they hated 13 Wasteland Hazards. I guess not everyone enjoys Gamma World-level wacky and weird like I do.

 

[Shade]

Best Product of 2005: Lords of Madness. After the disappointment of Libris Mortis, this book restored my faith in the "in-depth" monster series. Dripping with flavor, cruch that actually supports the theme, not just included for the sake of cruch, and beautiful artwork.

Worst Product of 2005: Like most people, I wasn't impressed with either Weapons of Legacy or Magic of Incarnum. Champions of Ruin was a disappointment for the wateed-down elder evils and the amount of old, non-3.5 content that slipped past editing. Although it's not a bad book, I my choice is the DMG II for introducing the new stat block which has made all future monster entries an absolute chore to use.

Best Out-of-Game RPG Moment of 2005: For me, it's a three-way tie between the announcement of the Fiendish Codex series, the book I've always dreamed would be made by two of the people I'd most trust handling it, the Demonomicon of Iggwilv series in Dragon, and getting published for the first time ever in Dragon Magazine (Monsters of the Mind in #337).

Worst Out-of-Game RPG Moment of 2005: The announcement that all future books would be using a slightly modified version of the new NPC stat block for monsters.

Best In-Game RPG Moment of 2005: Finally reaching epic level with my character of 5+ years.

Worst In-Game RPG Moment of 2005: Losing the character who had the party loot in his portable hole. Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket...

Most Looking Forward to in 2006: Fiendish Codex I.

Most Looking Forward to with a Horrible Sense of Dread and the Beginning of an Ulcer in 2006: Monster Manual IV. I pray it has better editing and creature selection than MMIII, and praying that the new stat-block format improves by then.

Least Looking Forward to in 2006: Whatever product manages to make feat descriptions extra lengthy with lots of useless sample information and justifications for use (see new prestige class format...you know it's bound to happen).

Best Movie of 2005: Batman Begins.

 

[barsoomcore]

Best Moment

Last session of my six-year Barsoom campaign. Lotta highlights there:

• After several years of Swashbuckling Cards, I just dumped the huge stack on the table and said, "Choose your favourite two cards." A couple of players got in some AWESOME combo plays (the best was "Any attack deals double damage" combined with, "Instead of taking damage you gain temporary hit points equal to the damage dealth" -- the meat-shield player used the first card on his OPPONENT's attack, then followed it up with the second, and effectively doubled his hit points for the combat. Game-making play, right there)
• The players DID in fact give each other awards. Sort of like Secret Santa, they each drew another player's name a few weeks previously, and had to show up with an award of some type for that player. Very amusing.
• Swag for me! They got me a new backpack, a set of Tact-Tiles and The Order of the Stick book. And a card.
• Swag for players! I got each of them a special "Barsoom" die for them to remember the campaign with.

Worst Moment

Last session of my six-year Barsoom campaign. 'Nuff said.

Favourite Products

Iron Kingdoms everything. World Guide, Character Guide, No Quarter magazine, the whole thing. I heart Privateer Press.

Adamant Entertainment's Narrative Combat. Sheer brilliance.

 

[DMH]

Thank you. I was surprised at how many people ended up e-mailing me to tell me that they hated 13 Wasteland Hazards. I guess not everyone enjoys Gamma World-level wacky and weird like I do.

Phil, I don't care one wit for wacky style GW (wierd I love) but I know some people who do. Here is the analysis by one of them: http://paforge.proboards7.com/index.cgi?board=pagames&action=display&thread=1124032541

Now most of the stuff I have bought from you I like, I really do (look what I did with vs Monsters), but Wasteland Hazards and Nanoaugmentors are not among them. I found the latter to be mostly a rehash of older ideas and the former is mostly full of silly creatures (metal eating ooze that lives in engine blocks?) and other hazards. I have to say out of the whole bunch, Wilderness Hazards is my favorite and those in dragon's lairs and the 2 for underground are useful.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

Best Moment in an RPG: Having a gameday at my house.
Worst Moment in an RPG: DM arguing with a player that he would not have had a chance to cast a buffing spell on the NPC they were protecting. (Unfortunately I was the DM, should have just rolled a d20 to settle it.)
Best Product of 2005 that I actually read: Monster Geographica: Forrest
Worst Product of 2005 that I actually read: I'd rather not say
Most Influential: Alias TV show (I love plots within plots)

 

[philreed]

Now most of the stuff I have bought from you I like, I really do (look what I did with vs Monsters), but Wasteland Hazards and Nanoaugmentors are not among them. I found the latter to be mostly a rehash of older ideas and the former is mostly full of silly creatures (metal eating ooze that lives in engine blocks?) and other hazards. I have to say out of the whole bunch, Wilderness Hazards is my favorite and those in dragon's lairs and the 2 for underground are useful.

No problem. I think I misread your post. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the wasteland hazards (definitely not for everyone). But I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the wilderness hazards.

 

[Psion]

Least Looking Forward to in 2006: Whatever product manages to make feat descriptions extra lengthy with lots of useless sample information and justifications for use (see new prestige class format...you know it's bound to happen).

I wouldn't want it for feats, but fail to consider it a bad thing. In a way, it's an answer to the caterwauling that many have made to the effect of "prestige classes should be prestigious".

 

[BaldHero]

Best rpg moment: My Silver Age Sentinel character, an eighty three year old man using his gadgeteering skills to build a suped up taser out of the super prison's infirmary defibrillator, and then using it on the guard he had befriended becasue the poor sap thought that the old man reminded him of his dearly departed grandfather. The look on my gMs face was priceless when i described how i shocked the guard into unconciousness, then dragged my frail and ancient body into the halls of the prison to find where they had hidden my super wheelchair.

Media influence: Rome on HBO. best show ever. Best movie was Serenity.

Best product: Spycraft 2.0

Worst product ever: Shaintar. So tired it needs a nap.