DMG2 & PHB2 - are they worth it!

[Demetrios]

Hi all

Is it worth purchasing the DMG2 or/and PHB2? I've paged through them and wasn't inspired. I don't want classes or PrC, they're borring material for a DM, just more paperwork.
I'm from overseas so we don't get everything here displayed on shelf - have to order from the store.
Is their a book that deals with fortresses,castles & managing kingdoms/baronies?
And is their one that deals with naval battles, mass armies, war and the like?

Thanks in advance
Demetri

 

[airwalkrr]

Yes.

 

[Brakkart]

Is their a book that deals with fortresses,castles & managing kingdoms/baronies?

Stronghold Builders Guidebook from WotC covers building castles and such. Don't think it includes rules for running domains though. Personally I use the system from the D&D Rules Cyclopedia for that (with additional material that Bruce Heard published in his Voyage of the Princess Ark and Known World Almanac columns in Dragon Magazine). Works great.

And is their one that deals with naval battles, mass armies, war and the like?

Stormwrack (WotC) covers all things nautical.

Heroes of Battle (WotC) is where you go for rules on running warfare and such. That or Cry Havoc! (Malhavoc Press). I don't either book so can't say which is better.

 

[delericho]

Stronghold Builders Guidebook from WotC covers building castles and such. Don't think it includes rules for running domains though.

I found "Stronghold Builder's Guidebook" singularly uninspiring. It does it's job, and it does it well, but it is incredibly tedious. Better, IMO, to handwave it than to use this accountant's dream of a system.

For ruling realms and the like, the only Wizards of the Coast book that might cover it is "Power of Faerun" - I don't own it so don't know. Otherwise, I'm sure there are third-party supplements that cover this, but don't know what they are.

Stormwrack (WotC) covers all things nautical.

I found "Stormwrack" to be quite good for undersea adventures, but rather weak above the surface. I'm sure there exist third-party supplements that do this better, but again I don't know what they are. "Stormwrack" may or may not be a really good complement to one of those books, though.

Heroes of Battle (WotC) is where you go for rules on running warfare and such. That or Cry Havoc! (Malhavoc Press). I don't either book so can't say which is better.

I own both. They're very different treatments of the subject, and I find "Heroes of Battle" the superior of the two. "Cry Havoc" is a very detailed mass combat system, dealing with the control of units of troops. It's very mathematical, and left me with the exact same reaction as "Stronghold Builder's Guidebook" - better to handwave it than to get bogged down in all that stuff.

"Heroes of Battle" on the other hand, casts the PCs as a small specialist group within the main army, or as the heroic champions on the battlefield. It recasts the battlefield as the dungeon, and various enemy units as the encounters. So, the end result is that you get a scenario akin to Legolas or Gimli at Helm's Deep - they're not the leaders of the army, but rather key figures that are best used to stem the tide of the enemy where there is most need.

 

[Maggan]

Hi all
Is it worth purchasing the DMG2 or/and PHB2? I've paged through them and wasn't inspired. I don't want classes or PrC, they're borring material for a DM, just more paperwork.
I'm from overseas so we don't get everything here displayed on shelf - have to order from the store.
Is their a book that deals with fortresses,castles & managing kingdoms/baronies?
And is their one that deals with naval battles, mass armies, war and the like?

Thanks in advance
Demetri

1. DMGII/PHII - it very much depends on what you're after, really. Sorry to be so vague, but without knowing what you're missing from you game, the only thing I can say is that DMGII and PHII are well written, have tons of great advice on running the game and is overall two very good books.

2. Apart from the aforementioned Stronghold Builder's Guidebook, I recommend Fields of Blood from Eden Studios. More info here:

http://www.edenstudios.net/odyssey/7005.html

3. Apart from those mentioned above, again Fields of Blood will help partly with this.

/M

 

[delericho]

Oh, yes, I forgot to cover the books you actually asked about!

DMG2 is a good book if you're a relatively new DM - it has lots of very solid advice on play-styles, pacing and preparation. If you're a fairly old hand, you've probably seen it all before, so skip it.

PHB2 is a good book.

 

[Tetsubo]

I thought that the PHB II was one of the best 3.5 books yet released.

I thought the DMG II was absolutely useless.

 

[diaglo]

DMG2 is a good book if you're a relatively new DM - it has lots of very solid advice on play-styles, pacing and preparation. If you're a fairly old hand, you've probably seen it all before, so skip it.

PHB2 is a good book.

both are good for relatively new DMs and/or players. the information in both really should have been included in the first printing of the DMG and PHB.

as for more experienced DMs and players... umm... you've probably already done this stuff or found it elsewhere. so buying them will only complete your collection.

 

[Thomas Percy]

Is their a book that deals with fortresses,castles & managing kingdoms/baronies?
And is their one that deals with naval battles, mass armies, war and the like?

Not at all,
but DMG2 is one of five 3e rulebooks I bought.

PHB2 is full of solid (in system sense) classes and feats.

Here is a link to ours old one pdf of manor (knight's hamlet) management.

 

[diaglo]

Not at all,...

Freebies from WotC

go down to the bottom of the link to the Castles guidebook