DM: Do you allow Mongoose Publishing Books into your game?

[Nightfall]

While I can't judge other DMs, I will say I judge on a case by case basis. That being said with the vast majority of my gaming being in the Scarred Lands and they do a nice job already, I'd probably be less inclinded to use Mongoose now as before. (Course I will say there are some nice stuff to use in them, such as Quint Cleric's conversion rules and Quint Paladins special weapons rules.)

Still with the PGs out there, I think it depends more on the campaign. Example, I run an Oathbound/FR game. I'd allow more latitude. Even a mixed AU game, I'd probably allow some. But overall, I don't bar Mongoose. Just don't use it as much.

 

[Nightfall]

Rather new to the Mongoose genre. I run a Dark Sun campaign and thought that the EA: Elementalism book may add something to the game. Its now being fully incorporated into my DS expansion setting. The second book fared not nearly as well, EA: Star Magic. It was not really that bad, just not quite what I was expecting. I've yet to pick up any of the Mongoose (or Green Ronin) class splats, but I paged through several. They seem fair. Nothing top notch, but not a waste of money either.

I think EA: Necromancy was good, but there have been others just as good. Few though were as fun as arcane necromantic feats.

 

[JohnClark]

I personally on the quintisential gnome, the quintisential wizard and the quintisential sorceror, and I must say all three are excellent. In addition, friends of mine own fighter, rogue, monk, paladin and druid, and of those all are great with the exception of fighter which is a little bland. I really enjoy there books and plan on buying more of them once I scrounge together some cash.

 

[Creamsteak]

I havn't seen a good mongoose book yet. If I add to material taken from a book, it helps though. For instance, one player kept on asking me, "can I have this?" for a number of armors from quintessential elf. I looked over one of them, moon ivy armor I believe, and added the background story that it originates from the night elves, and that they wouldn't take kindly to anyone other than themselves wearing it.

But really, theres just not much other than a bad power curve coming out of those books. I don't like them much at all. I'm not making a flat ban on mongoose, but I will say that I'm a great deal less likely to buy one of their books, and it'll take a double check before I allow any individual things out of one of their books.

Also, my friend bought EA -Elementalism, and we both agree that it was the worst 20 dollars he had ever spent on a book. We have yet to use a single bit from it.

 

[TalonComics]

My players are cheap. You would think they'd try to take advantage of me being a retailer but they rarely do when it comes to books. I think out of all the gamers I normally game with I'm probably the only one who owns any Mongoose books so the subject has never come up whether or not to use Mongoose material.

I must be honest and say that I think many of the Slayers Guides are a waste of paper and would have been better off just being pdfs. I did like some of the Encyclopedias though.

Green Ronin and Malhavoc are still my favorite indy companies though.

~D

 

[Gothmog]

Yep, on the whole, I love Mongoose stuff. Their Quint Rogue, Cleric, Wizard, Paladin, Barbarian, and Psychic Warrior were excellent, and I liked some aspects of Dwarf, Witch, Druid, Sorcerer, and Fighter. In fact, Mongoose classbooks far outshine the WotC ones in EVERY case.

Thier slayers guides are hit and miss, but usually most have a few cool ideas to throw into a game. The Slayers Guide to Undead was superb though- all the undead in the MM are listed as templates!! About time. I liked Seas of Blood a lot, and Crusades of Valor had a lot of cool ideas for a militaristic/crusade type of game. Gladiator was ok, but it does make for a pretty fun stand alone game with each player controlling a stable of gladiators.

Thier Encyclopedia Arcane/Divine series are good overall too. My favorites include Shamans, Fey Magic, Demonology, Necromancy, Illusionism, and Blood Magic.

On the whole, Mongoose is one of the more trusted publishers for me out there. I pick up a majority of their stuff, since I find it innovative, and more creative than WotC's stuff generally. In fact, Mongoose is in my top 5 D20 publishers, along with FFG, Green Ronin, Necromancer, and Atlas. I'd even rank them ahead of WotC. Of course, I review each book and allow only those things I find acceptable in my game, but most Mongoose stuff makes the cut.

 

[pogre]

You know I banned the WOTC splat books from my table pretty quickly after the first couple came out. If a player had a concept from a Mongoose book they loved and convinced me it was balanced I probably would allow it. It's on their dime though - I do not buy Mongoose products.

 

[Dire Wolf]

I also decide on what to allow into my game on a case by case basis. My current policy is that I allow all WotC stuff without my approval, anything else I need to look over before I allow it in my game. I am usually very lienient and allow most stuff in my games.

 

[Psion]

Case by case basis. The utility and quality of Mongoose books are all over the board.

Typically, if it's by Mike Mearls or by Patrick Younts, it's good. Quint Monk and Quint Wizard are awesome books, and Quint Sorcerer and Quint Rogue are very good/usable.

Sam Witt's and Matt Sprange's are a bit more haphazard. F'rinstance, I really liked sprange's EA: Necromancy and Seas of Blood, but found Quint Fighter needed a lot of DM editing. Likewise, Sam Witt had some great ideas in his Quint Psion and Psychic Warrior, but found that most of the classes needed reworking, and really didn't care much for EA: Battle Magic.

Other authors are more dangerous, but there are still a few gems. I generally lean towards the EA series and rather like Shamans, Constructs, and Enchantment, but found Divination, Chronomancy, and Fey Magic tepid. EA was once my favorite series, but I am finding that FFG's School series of book are really filling this role much better.

I don't find Slayer's guides useful in general. The newers ones have more useful material, but generally, I find that they tell me little that I couldn't already guess about these creatures. Gygax and Creffield's books are a bit better, Dragons being very useful and Undead having some use in the form of undead templates and ideas.

I picked up the Ultimate Prestige Classes and use some of them. Some I would never use.

In short: read some reviews, flip through the books, or whatever. A blanket policy excluding Mongoose books will make you miss some gems, but I certainly think some of the books are worth excluding.

 

[Psion]

The name doesn't need to be on the cover. At the store open the page to the list of credits. Heck, I do this all the time to check out the artists, the layout, the editors. There are more people that go into a book then the primary author.

If Patrick Younts wouldn't have told me he wrote the Quint Sorcerer at GenCon, I totally would have missed it, because I stopped buying Quint books sight unseen after, to put a fine point on it, Quint Druid. I don't have time to research the author of every book; I would find displaying the author's name more prominently really helpful.

That doesn't mean they are going to do it, just sayin'...