Books Bought on Reviews/Recommendations?

[MonsterMash]

i may still have purchased since i consider the reviewers here a bunch of nincompoops. esp Psion.

Is that everyone that posts reviews or just the staff reviewers?

Personally I'd say that I got the following due to positive reviews and messageboard comments:

• the Grey Citadel - an excellent product and once I finally get to play it my review will be updated.
• Seas of Blood
• Morrick Mansion

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I bought Eberron and its accessories because of the raves here. I'd had no intention of buying another setting.


Jeff

 

[JoeGKushner]

I just wanted to drop a quick note that I didn't mean 'reviews' in the review database specifically but a lot of 'talk' via posting goes on around here which is how I found out about the quality of the Book of the Planes.

I find that while the reviews are indeed helpful that it's good to talk to people about how they're using the books, which is one of the problems with the reviews that I know I suffer from. I hate writing reviews where I haven't had a chance to do a detailed playtest. It took me forever to do Mutants & Mastermidns because of that.

Other books I've picked up based on word of mouth though include Quintessential Sorcerer and Quintessential Monk II, both of which I believe are written by the same author. On the other hand, John's details have saved me a lot of money though as I knew to avoid Sheloth (which I would buy if they'd make a PDF that corrected all of the NPCs and other 3.0/3.5 errors), and Ultimate Monsters.

 

[Wraith Form]

Yes, I use both reviews and "chatter" on the boards to influence my decision. (Incredibly low prices on E-Bay don't hurt, either...I'm likely to take a chance on a product that I'm not too sure about if it costs under $5..!)

There are certain companies that are usually reliable (Fantasy Flight, Green Ronin, others) and if I'm even slightly wavering, a positive comment will influence me to purchase. (I discovered Midnight and Mutants & Masterminds this way--thank you, folks!) Sharn is the most recent influence in this vein.

Then there are companies that, despite glowing comments, I have to wait to see many positive reviews before I'll even think about buying one of their products (Mongoose and their horrendous editing immediately come to mind....Bab5 [the first hardcover] was poor, but Conan [pre-Atlantean version] burned my butt hard and was kind of a final straw for me...had I waited a few more months and overcome the hysteria/hype being generated about those books I'd never have purchased either). The reviews of these products have got to be consistantly outstanding--whether 'official' review or just chat on the boards--for it to win me over.

 

[haiiro]

1. I got Grim Tales simply based on what the writers were saying about it here on the forums.

2. I got A Magical Medieval Society based on people's recomendations here on the boards, as well as various reviews.

Oddly enough, I also picked both of these up based on hearing about them here.

The Eberron CS, AEG's Mercenaries, and my set of Tact-Tiles were also purchased based on EN World (word of mouth on the boards for Eberron and the tiles, reviews for Mercenaries). There are probably others that I can't think of right now -- learning about good stuff is one of my favorite things about EN World.

 

[Darkness]

diaglo, cut out the personal attacks, please. This goes for everyone else as well, of course.

If someone has comments or questions, e-mail me.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

...My set of Tact-Tiles were also purchased based on EN World

Ditto for me and my Tac-Tiles. I am SO happy with this purchase. In 20 years, I will still be using them-- something that can't even be said for my original DMG.

Wulf

 

[JoeGKushner]

More comments about the Tac Tiles eh? Stop it... you're making me think about buying them... argh...

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

Other books I've picked up based on word of mouth though include Quintessential Sorcerer and Quintessential Monk II, both of which I believe are written by the same author.

Yeah, I wrote both of those.

Personally, I buy all sorts of stuff based on reviews, and on word of mouth. Most of the Atlas books I own were bought because of reviews I saw, and I only picked up Draconomicon and Frostburn because of positive opinions I saw online.

Patrick Y.

 

[GlassJaw]

Grim Tales
Steam & Steel
Mutants & Masterminds
Conan RPG

I'm thinking about getting Tact-Tiles and Campaign Cartographer too but mostly from posts in here, not necessarily reviews.