Champions of Ruin Contents

Nightfall · May 4, 2005

Eh I think the Kraken society got a decent debut back in Cloak and Dagger...

But extra coverage, not a bad idea.

Ryltar · May 4, 2005

Sadly, I've completely lost interest in this one. The only thing that's interesting (to me) is the "Champions of Evil" chapter, but no way I'm gonna shell out 30 € for that.

Shazman · May 4, 2005

Yeah, I think the section on playing evil characters and anti-heroes will be the best part of the book. If it's well done, I don't mind paying 20 bucks for it at amazon, walmart.com or overstock.com. One of my gaming groups is about to start a campaign were the party will be mostly evil-aligned, and I could really use help in this area. I don't do evil very well. Of course the Vengence Knight and Nightmask Deathbringer PrC's sound really cool. I hope these classes live up to their names.

Arnwyn · May 4, 2005

Shazman said:
Yeah, I think the section on playing evil characters and anti-heroes will be the best part of the book.

That's going to be the worst/most useless section for me (and what initially steered me away from this book). Hardly something FR specific...

As with Ryltar, the section most interesting to me is the "Champions of Evil" chapter.

Ryltar · May 4, 2005

Yeah. I mean, without any disrespect to the authors, this book seems to fill exactly the niche I'd feared it would: "Ye Evil Booke for First Time Evil Players" a.k.a. "BoVD Black and White". WotC have a history of reducing everything even remotely philosophical to, well, triteness.

Nightfall · May 5, 2005

Triteness to an extreme here. I mean this could have been WAY better than LoD which I felt was kind of weak. Not in the sense it didn't add much but mostly all LoD did was cover basics and didn't delve too deep into unknown orgs or even discuss how one becomes a fiend worshipper.

kilamanjaro · May 5, 2005

The preview is up on the WotC page.

Nightfall · May 5, 2005

@preview/excerpt

I was hoping for some more details. Obviously they are scared that if they reveal too much people will not want it.

Shemeska · May 5, 2005

Oddly enough the preview is keeping my interesting rather than lessening it. I'll still be looking at the book before buying it, but the preview is amusing if only for the artwork and the hot hot Drow/Cornugon loving going on in page 3. *polite chuckle*

It does seem to be keyed in some ways to people who've never really incorporated evil characters heavily into their game, and that's of little use to me. Given my reputation of running a campaign that makes NIN look like KC and the Sunshine Band by comparison, I don't need that guide, but if WotC does it right and it helps others in a way that isn't superficial I will be pleased.

The 'evil nodes' remind me oddly enough of the classical archetype of fiendish schools of sorcery beneath european cities with no price upon those who enter save that the last person to leave every 24 hours loses their soul. Heh.

Brakkart · May 5, 2005

Well I'm glad it includes the Cult of the Dragon, hopefully it has updated info for them with regard to what that group is up to in the Year of Rogue Dragons. I'm really disapointed though that amongst the major evils there are no stats for Sammaster. I'd have thought a former chosen Lich Wizard/Wearer of Purple who is arguably one of the most knowledgeable beings on Dragons and Necromancy in the Realms would warrant inclusion, especially considering the chaos he is inflicting on the Realms in 1373DR. Maybe he'll show up in a web enhancement.