Shade
Monster Junkie
It's that time of year. A time when everyone reflects on the past year and posts their best of/worst of lists. WotC's got theirs up. Now it's your turn. What D&D products did you feel deserved these honors?
Here are mine.
Best
1. Fiendish Codex 1: Hordes of the Abyss - Quite possibly the best 3x product to date, this truly is as close as possible to a "final word" on demons. James Jacobs, Erik Mona, and Ed Stark set the benchmark for uniting the various editions of the game, even asking for input on these very boards. Finally seeing the pre-tanar'ri in all their glory didn't disappoint: the obyriths are a significant addition to the game. The appendices listing all the layers and rulers is inspiring. With the page count they were given, the pages swell and burst with demonic goodness. Truly a case of the right authors matched with the right subject matter.
2. Dragon and Dungeon - The magazines just keep getting better and better, and continue to provide the best value for my gaming dollar. The Demonomicon series is probably the greatest ongoing feature in the history of the magazine, and James Jacobs continues to break new ground with the demon princes while remaining true to both their D&D and real-world origins. Kotchtchtie went from one of my least favorite archfiends to one of my favorites thanks to his treatment. The return of the Creature Catalog and the cohesion of Class Acts (and the inclusion of psionics!) were greatly appreciated. I was humbled to be allowed to update the Elemental Princes of Evil with my good pal BOZ, and I hope they didn't disappoint. Andrew Hou's artwork was jaw-droppingly good. The Adventure Paths in Dungeon continue to be the highlight of the magazine, and the recent addition of the Wandering Monster makes me an even happier subscriber. I renewed both with a big smile on my face.
3. Player's Handbook II - A watershed book for 3rd Edition, the designers finally dropped their gloves and made some feats that can really compete with those found in the core books. Dual-schooled spells are another nice innovation. The duskblade is quickly becoming one of the most popular class outside of the core rulebooks. The icing on the cake is the rules for retraining your characters. I didn't expect much out of this book, which amplified my enjoyment even more.
4. Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells - Another great book that takes every advantage of its page count, this one nearly does for devils what FC1 did for demons. The lack of development of the Ancient Baatorians and some of the nerfing of a few of the updated devils (i.e. amnizu) was a bit disappointing, but the book delivers in nearly every other area. Bonus points for labeling the lower-CR archdevils as "aspects".
5. Tome of Magic - This is another book that surprised me, as I was only marginally interested in it. The artwork is absolutely breathtaking, and I love the layout that is essentially three books in one. Vestiges are one of the coolest concepts new to 3e, many of the monsters are quite fascinating, and the new magic systems are innovative.
Honorable Mention: Complete Mage, Dungeon Tiles, Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Dragons of Faerun, Complete Psionic, Dragon Magic.
Worst
1. Monster Manual IV - Although many people applauded the focus on making a monster book for those who don't have much time, it fell very short for those of us who wanted a true monster manual. The inclusion of classed monsters from the original Monster Manual was the greatest atrocity, but the massive amount of spawn of Tiamat was a close second. While the book contained some good ideas (simplifying some redundant text into the aligned strike and metal strike abilities, expanded ecology), and a few cool monsters (the balhannoth, concordant killer, avatars of Elemental Evil) it contained just as many duds (more spiders, another slight hobgoblin variant, yugoloths that barely resemble yugoloths, and so forth) as well as outright rules mistakes (the deathdrinker demon relies on quickened greater teleport for its tactics, yet greater teleport is beyond the maximum spell level allowed by the feat; the Lore DCs are based off CR, when the PHB and MMIV glossary state that it should be based off HD). The biggest disappointment of the book though, for me, is the opportunity cost. Due to the bloated presentation, and the inclusion of the other things listed above, we ended up with less monsters than the barely-thicker-than-a-copy-of-Dragon Monsters of Faerun. Plus, with numerous great monsters from past editions still awaiting conversion, and numerous quality creatures in the various issues of Dragon, Dungeon, and WotC's web site that could have been compilled and given shiny new artwork and flavor, the inclusion of more humdrum monsters was all the more disappointing.
2. Mysteries of the Moonsea - I prefer my regional sourcebooks and adventures as separate products. I hope future sourcebooks go back to the Silver Marches/Unapproachable East format, giving us oodles of lore and flavor. Leave the adventures to their own products, please.
3. Power of Faerun - Not a bad book, just not what I was expecting. As someone who runs an epic campaign and plays in another, I was starved for some more epic material. This was more geared towards behind-the-scenes plot devices, of which I'm already comfortable.
Overall, it was a good year for gaming. The fact that I could only find 3 things for my "worst of" list (and the third was simply just a case of not what I was expecting), leaves me pretty satisfied.
Here are mine.
Best
1. Fiendish Codex 1: Hordes of the Abyss - Quite possibly the best 3x product to date, this truly is as close as possible to a "final word" on demons. James Jacobs, Erik Mona, and Ed Stark set the benchmark for uniting the various editions of the game, even asking for input on these very boards. Finally seeing the pre-tanar'ri in all their glory didn't disappoint: the obyriths are a significant addition to the game. The appendices listing all the layers and rulers is inspiring. With the page count they were given, the pages swell and burst with demonic goodness. Truly a case of the right authors matched with the right subject matter.
2. Dragon and Dungeon - The magazines just keep getting better and better, and continue to provide the best value for my gaming dollar. The Demonomicon series is probably the greatest ongoing feature in the history of the magazine, and James Jacobs continues to break new ground with the demon princes while remaining true to both their D&D and real-world origins. Kotchtchtie went from one of my least favorite archfiends to one of my favorites thanks to his treatment. The return of the Creature Catalog and the cohesion of Class Acts (and the inclusion of psionics!) were greatly appreciated. I was humbled to be allowed to update the Elemental Princes of Evil with my good pal BOZ, and I hope they didn't disappoint. Andrew Hou's artwork was jaw-droppingly good. The Adventure Paths in Dungeon continue to be the highlight of the magazine, and the recent addition of the Wandering Monster makes me an even happier subscriber. I renewed both with a big smile on my face.
3. Player's Handbook II - A watershed book for 3rd Edition, the designers finally dropped their gloves and made some feats that can really compete with those found in the core books. Dual-schooled spells are another nice innovation. The duskblade is quickly becoming one of the most popular class outside of the core rulebooks. The icing on the cake is the rules for retraining your characters. I didn't expect much out of this book, which amplified my enjoyment even more.
4. Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells - Another great book that takes every advantage of its page count, this one nearly does for devils what FC1 did for demons. The lack of development of the Ancient Baatorians and some of the nerfing of a few of the updated devils (i.e. amnizu) was a bit disappointing, but the book delivers in nearly every other area. Bonus points for labeling the lower-CR archdevils as "aspects".
5. Tome of Magic - This is another book that surprised me, as I was only marginally interested in it. The artwork is absolutely breathtaking, and I love the layout that is essentially three books in one. Vestiges are one of the coolest concepts new to 3e, many of the monsters are quite fascinating, and the new magic systems are innovative.
Honorable Mention: Complete Mage, Dungeon Tiles, Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Dragons of Faerun, Complete Psionic, Dragon Magic.
Worst
1. Monster Manual IV - Although many people applauded the focus on making a monster book for those who don't have much time, it fell very short for those of us who wanted a true monster manual. The inclusion of classed monsters from the original Monster Manual was the greatest atrocity, but the massive amount of spawn of Tiamat was a close second. While the book contained some good ideas (simplifying some redundant text into the aligned strike and metal strike abilities, expanded ecology), and a few cool monsters (the balhannoth, concordant killer, avatars of Elemental Evil) it contained just as many duds (more spiders, another slight hobgoblin variant, yugoloths that barely resemble yugoloths, and so forth) as well as outright rules mistakes (the deathdrinker demon relies on quickened greater teleport for its tactics, yet greater teleport is beyond the maximum spell level allowed by the feat; the Lore DCs are based off CR, when the PHB and MMIV glossary state that it should be based off HD). The biggest disappointment of the book though, for me, is the opportunity cost. Due to the bloated presentation, and the inclusion of the other things listed above, we ended up with less monsters than the barely-thicker-than-a-copy-of-Dragon Monsters of Faerun. Plus, with numerous great monsters from past editions still awaiting conversion, and numerous quality creatures in the various issues of Dragon, Dungeon, and WotC's web site that could have been compilled and given shiny new artwork and flavor, the inclusion of more humdrum monsters was all the more disappointing.
2. Mysteries of the Moonsea - I prefer my regional sourcebooks and adventures as separate products. I hope future sourcebooks go back to the Silver Marches/Unapproachable East format, giving us oodles of lore and flavor. Leave the adventures to their own products, please.
3. Power of Faerun - Not a bad book, just not what I was expecting. As someone who runs an epic campaign and plays in another, I was starved for some more epic material. This was more geared towards behind-the-scenes plot devices, of which I'm already comfortable.
Overall, it was a good year for gaming. The fact that I could only find 3 things for my "worst of" list (and the third was simply just a case of not what I was expecting), leaves me pretty satisfied.
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