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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
[COMPLETE] Looking back at the limited series: Player's Option, Monstrous Arcana, Odyssey, and more!
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<blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 8578036" data-attributes="member: 8461"><p><em>Magica, oh Magica, say have you read Magica</em></p><p><em>Oh, Magica, with items aplenty</em></p><p><em>It has gizmos nerds adore so</em></p><p><em>As a reference even more so</em></p><p><em>Magica, oh Magica, that Encyclopedia</em></p><p></p><p>If <em>The Magic Encyclopedia</em> is an example of how not to do a multi-volume compendium of magic items, then surely <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/120126/Encyclopedia-Magica-Series-2e-BUNDLE?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Encyclopedia Magica</em></a> must be the correct way.</p><p></p><p>At least, that's the prevailing opinion (as near as I can tell, anyway), and it's not hard to see why. Even the <em>Encyclopedia Magica</em> itself seems to agree, as its first volume openly references the major shortcoming of its predecessor - which was only barely in the rear-view mirror when this book came out; the second volume of TME came out in 1993, whereas the first volume of EM came out at the end of 1994 - saying, "The older encyclopedia is an index of magical items and where these PC trophies can be found among the myriad TSR products. Unfortunately, most of those older products are unavailable––many are now collectors' items. We decided to do something about that."</p><p></p><p>Certainly, I'm glad they did. As a reference work of truly expansive scope, this four-volume set is comprehensive in the extreme. Every item presented here is given with all of its original descriptive text (including new spells and/or monsters, if they had them), along with updated XP and GP entries, cites their source (and notes which items are new), and has a <em>massive</em> index of tables which can be rolled on if you want to use this to randomly roll up magic items for your party (which I first saw when it was published early in <em>Dragon</em> #217). It even has (and this, of all things, is what made my nerd heart sing when I saw it) a set of monetary conversion tables between the standard D&D coin conventions (i.e. platinum pieces, gold pieces, electrum pieces, silver pieces, and copper pieces) and those of Dragonlance, Dark Sun, and <em>Oriental Adventure</em>'s Kara-Tur.</p><p></p><p>Calling this work a masterpiece isn't so much an opinion as it is a statement of fact (generously overlooking how the first printing of the first volume replaced "mage" with "wizard" in a find-and-replace that ended up being <em>wildly</em> overbroad; "1d6 points of dawizard per level" indeed)...and yet, I can't help but regard this product with the tiniest hint of disappointment.</p><p></p><p>I might as well get this out of the way now, since it applies to the next two entries in this overview as much as it does this one, but the incomplete nature of this reference work has always bugged me. The EM covers magic items through the end of 1993, and the fact that there are still nearly seven years of subsequent items that aren't here is something I can't seem to bring myself to overlook. As much as this a <em>definitive</em> collection of magic items for AD&D 2nd Edition, it's not truly <em>comprehensive</em>.</p><p></p><p>Now, I know I can't hold that against the people who made this series. A massive undertaking like this can only be justified while the game is still extant; even overlooking TSR's looming financial troubles and subsequent purchase by Wizards of the Coast, there's no way to justify doing something like this after a particular edition has been moved on from. And yet, I find myself wishing that there was one more book in this series: <em>Encyclopedia Magica, Volume 5: Everything Else</em>, covering through the end of AD&D 2E.</p><p></p><p>Which isn't to say that I don't love this series; I do. I wish it had done more, even though I know it couldn't have, but what's here is still a huge point of inspiration. I suspect I'm not the only person on these boards who enjoys pulling a reference work off of the shelf and flipping through it randomly, seizing on some point of inspiration. Or, if you have dice handy (and who among us doesn't?), actually rolling for a random magic item using those expansive tables and seeing what you get? This book is an idea-generator as much as a compendium (and exceeds the next two series in that regard, I'd say, since what's here isn't necessarily restricted to wizards and priests the way spells are), and in that regard I think that the print version remains far more useful than its PDF iteration.</p><p></p><p>It's a shame, albeit an understandable one, that no subsequent edition has tried to put together anything like this. 3E's <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/54389/Magic-Item-Compendium-35?affiliate_id=820" target="_blank"><em>Magic Item Compendium</em></a> is a far cry from what's here, to the point where the comparison feels off (as that book had different goals than EM). And as noted before, the era of digital references means that we probably won't see anything like this again anytime soon.</p><p></p><p>But at least we'll always have the inspiration that comes from being able to flip through this series and give your party a ((rolls dice)) ...<em>cheese of vile odors</em>.</p><p></p><p>Oh Magica, you're the king of them all.</p><p></p><p><em>Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alzrius, post: 8578036, member: 8461"] [I]Magica, oh Magica, say have you read Magica Oh, Magica, with items aplenty It has gizmos nerds adore so As a reference even more so Magica, oh Magica, that Encyclopedia[/I] If [I]The Magic Encyclopedia[/I] is an example of how not to do a multi-volume compendium of magic items, then surely [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/120126/Encyclopedia-Magica-Series-2e-BUNDLE?affiliate_id=820'][I]Encyclopedia Magica[/I][/URL] must be the correct way. At least, that's the prevailing opinion (as near as I can tell, anyway), and it's not hard to see why. Even the [I]Encyclopedia Magica[/I] itself seems to agree, as its first volume openly references the major shortcoming of its predecessor - which was only barely in the rear-view mirror when this book came out; the second volume of TME came out in 1993, whereas the first volume of EM came out at the end of 1994 - saying, "The older encyclopedia is an index of magical items and where these PC trophies can be found among the myriad TSR products. Unfortunately, most of those older products are unavailable––many are now collectors' items. We decided to do something about that." Certainly, I'm glad they did. As a reference work of truly expansive scope, this four-volume set is comprehensive in the extreme. Every item presented here is given with all of its original descriptive text (including new spells and/or monsters, if they had them), along with updated XP and GP entries, cites their source (and notes which items are new), and has a [I]massive[/I] index of tables which can be rolled on if you want to use this to randomly roll up magic items for your party (which I first saw when it was published early in [I]Dragon[/I] #217). It even has (and this, of all things, is what made my nerd heart sing when I saw it) a set of monetary conversion tables between the standard D&D coin conventions (i.e. platinum pieces, gold pieces, electrum pieces, silver pieces, and copper pieces) and those of Dragonlance, Dark Sun, and [I]Oriental Adventure[/I]'s Kara-Tur. Calling this work a masterpiece isn't so much an opinion as it is a statement of fact (generously overlooking how the first printing of the first volume replaced "mage" with "wizard" in a find-and-replace that ended up being [I]wildly[/I] overbroad; "1d6 points of dawizard per level" indeed)...and yet, I can't help but regard this product with the tiniest hint of disappointment. I might as well get this out of the way now, since it applies to the next two entries in this overview as much as it does this one, but the incomplete nature of this reference work has always bugged me. The EM covers magic items through the end of 1993, and the fact that there are still nearly seven years of subsequent items that aren't here is something I can't seem to bring myself to overlook. As much as this a [I]definitive[/I] collection of magic items for AD&D 2nd Edition, it's not truly [I]comprehensive[/I]. Now, I know I can't hold that against the people who made this series. A massive undertaking like this can only be justified while the game is still extant; even overlooking TSR's looming financial troubles and subsequent purchase by Wizards of the Coast, there's no way to justify doing something like this after a particular edition has been moved on from. And yet, I find myself wishing that there was one more book in this series: [I]Encyclopedia Magica, Volume 5: Everything Else[/I], covering through the end of AD&D 2E. Which isn't to say that I don't love this series; I do. I wish it had done more, even though I know it couldn't have, but what's here is still a huge point of inspiration. I suspect I'm not the only person on these boards who enjoys pulling a reference work off of the shelf and flipping through it randomly, seizing on some point of inspiration. Or, if you have dice handy (and who among us doesn't?), actually rolling for a random magic item using those expansive tables and seeing what you get? This book is an idea-generator as much as a compendium (and exceeds the next two series in that regard, I'd say, since what's here isn't necessarily restricted to wizards and priests the way spells are), and in that regard I think that the print version remains far more useful than its PDF iteration. It's a shame, albeit an understandable one, that no subsequent edition has tried to put together anything like this. 3E's [URL='https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/54389/Magic-Item-Compendium-35?affiliate_id=820'][I]Magic Item Compendium[/I][/URL] is a far cry from what's here, to the point where the comparison feels off (as that book had different goals than EM). And as noted before, the era of digital references means that we probably won't see anything like this again anytime soon. But at least we'll always have the inspiration that comes from being able to flip through this series and give your party a ((rolls dice)) ...[I]cheese of vile odors[/I]. Oh Magica, you're the king of them all. [I]Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.[/I] [/QUOTE]
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[COMPLETE] Looking back at the limited series: Player's Option, Monstrous Arcana, Odyssey, and more!
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