D20 Dragon Lords of Melnibone?

[blackshirt5]

I read on the WotC board that there's a D20 Dragon Lords of Melnibone book out.

Does anybody know if this is true? If it is, who publishes it, and is it any good?

 

[Mr Fidgit]

chaosium (but i haven't seen it, myself...)

http://www.chaosium.com/woec/2017.shtml

 

[blackshirt5]

Alright, thanx for the info, I'll check it out.

Still, anybody read it/own it, know if it's any good?

 

[HellHound]

It's a cut-and-paste job of the latest edition of the Elric rules to d20.

It's not a great job, but if you don't have any of the various Elric / Stormbringer games, it is ok.

I like it, although one of the reviewers I trust the most (Psion / Alan Kohler) hates it. The reality is the game rules in said book are moderate to poor, but I love the setting so much that it blinds me.

 

[haiiro]

I own it, and overall it seems pretty good. I don't know much about Melnibone and the Elric mythos, but from what I do know it appears to do a good job of describing the setting and conveying the mood/tone/etc. The art ranges from good to lovingly terrible, the writing is good, and the treatment of demons (and their summoning, control and role in the game) is excellent -- easily the best part of the book, IMO.

I have only a passing interest in the setting, so take this with a grain of salt.

 

[blackshirt5]

Alright, I might pick it up for the demon summoning rules that psion mentions in his review. It's gonna end up as part of my setting, I'm sure, and it's also just such a great setting.

 

[Crothian]

The rules are poorly done. I've tried to use it but it takes a little to a lot of work for it.

 

[V_Shane]

Man, sorry to hear that! I grew up a big Elric fan, I would have loved to do the art for something that. Whelan and Brom expressed the character really well. Who did the art for it?

 

[haiiro]

Man, sorry to hear that! I grew up a big Elric fan, I would have loved to do the art for something that. Whelan and Brom expressed the character really well. Who did the art for it?

Cover:

Frank Brunner

Interior:

Heather Bruton
Riccardo Crosa
Daniel Frazier
Alain Gassner
Earl Geier
Petri Hiltunen
Anthony Hopp
Hidetoshi Hujii
Drashi Khendup
Angelo Montanini
Paolo Parente
Giorgia Ponticelli
Reijo Purotakanen
Marc Schirmeyer
Guillaume Sorel

Woodcuts:

Eric Hotz

In many cases, the illustrations don't offer a means of identifying the artist, so I didn't try to mention quality alongside the names. Ballpark, I'd say 50% of the art is good, 25% is so-so and 25% is lovingly terrible.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

The rules are poorly done. I've tried to use it but it takes a little to a lot of work for it.

I must concur with this. They try to bring things into d20 fair enough, but it was too much too early (Elric really requires Epic Rules, IMNSHO). The OGC quantity is extremely weak (if you care about such things, that is, like I do).

The Alignment replacement (called Allegiance & Apotheosis) is fairly decent, and easily expands from the Law/Chaos/Balance focus to include Good and Evil if you put a bit of thought into it.

The Demon binding rules are also nice; While not OGC, I've found it helpful in developing a similar system.

I guess that's just off the top of my head. If you've questions about specifics items, ask away. Otherwise, that's my "overview" opinion.