twofalls
DM Beadle
I'm certain someone else has done this thread, I just can't find it and am curious about other peoples impressions on the works. I purchased them as they came out (as illustrated by the thread title) and here were my impressions;
Draconomicron was a fun read. I enjoyed the breakdown of the general habits and attitudes of the various dragon types and thought the new dragons were a bit interesting. I like reading about D&D's version of Dragon physiology and some of the Slayer Concepts. The Prestige classes didn't interest me so much, but then I think that has more to do with my general boredom with prestige classes in general. All in all I thought it was a good book and well worth my money.
Libris Mortis was a total disappointment. I very much wish I had taken a deeper look at the book in the store before handing my money over, and will unlikely ever find anything useful to my game in it. I didn't care for the art, the concepts, or the execution of the book. Feats, spells, PrC... I have tons of all of these already and I wish they would stop putting them in WotC material. The idea of running undead as PC's is actually rather interesting, but is addressed in much more style by both GURPS and White Wolf than by WotC. This book had nothing to offer me, and actually made me very wary of buying WotC material without reading reviews on them here and going over them in detail at the store first.
Lords of Madness is a very good book. The material is well illustrated (the cover art is masterful) and the ideas inside are interesting and useful. The histories offered on the major aberration races are both interesting and can add a lot of depth to an existing game, or generate a central campaign theme all on their own. The new aberrations are interesting and fun, and even the feats and some of the spells are useful (and I don't usually feel that way as noted above). I particularly like the idea of the Illithids returning from the end of the Universe to seed their race across time and space... neat concept.
How did the rest of you react to these titles?
Draconomicron was a fun read. I enjoyed the breakdown of the general habits and attitudes of the various dragon types and thought the new dragons were a bit interesting. I like reading about D&D's version of Dragon physiology and some of the Slayer Concepts. The Prestige classes didn't interest me so much, but then I think that has more to do with my general boredom with prestige classes in general. All in all I thought it was a good book and well worth my money.
Libris Mortis was a total disappointment. I very much wish I had taken a deeper look at the book in the store before handing my money over, and will unlikely ever find anything useful to my game in it. I didn't care for the art, the concepts, or the execution of the book. Feats, spells, PrC... I have tons of all of these already and I wish they would stop putting them in WotC material. The idea of running undead as PC's is actually rather interesting, but is addressed in much more style by both GURPS and White Wolf than by WotC. This book had nothing to offer me, and actually made me very wary of buying WotC material without reading reviews on them here and going over them in detail at the store first.
Lords of Madness is a very good book. The material is well illustrated (the cover art is masterful) and the ideas inside are interesting and useful. The histories offered on the major aberration races are both interesting and can add a lot of depth to an existing game, or generate a central campaign theme all on their own. The new aberrations are interesting and fun, and even the feats and some of the spells are useful (and I don't usually feel that way as noted above). I particularly like the idea of the Illithids returning from the end of the Universe to seed their race across time and space... neat concept.
How did the rest of you react to these titles?
