Dungeonscape and Cityscape for Grognards?

[The_Gunslinger658]

Hi-

Been eyeballing those two books but being a veteran DM with books like Thieves World and what not, are these books really needed for us old D&D'ers? Or are these aimed at newbie players and DM's?

Perhaps if a convincing argument is put forth that a grog like me needs such books, I might just buy them.


Scott

 

[JoeGKushner]

Knowing you're an old time player, I found City Scape a 3 and that because I've been playing so long, found it... not boring but not breaking a lot of new ground either.

Haven't seen Dungeonscape.

 

[Gilladian]

I have to agree with Joe. I've been playing since 1st edition, and I found Cityscape to be filled with wonderful ideas - that I had seen and used 20 years ago... There really just isn't a lot of new stuff in it, certainly not enough to be worth the money. But a new DM would probably feel differently.

Looking at the TOC for Dungeonscape made me feel the same way.

 

[freyar]

I'm one of the new DMs. I really enjoyed Cityscape, but I suspected on reading it that more experienced DMs wouldn't find it too useful. Just for myself and my creative juices, though, it was great.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I dunno, I think arcane pollution is a pretty new idea, although maybe I've just been missing it all these years. I don't own Cityscape yet -- too many other books that I need to buy first -- but that jumped out at me in several reviews as something that I'd never used (I've been playing since '79) and would be applicable to my city environments.

Since it's mostly fluff (I believe), I'd say it's probably of more use to people playing other editions of D&D than most of the other environment books.

 

[Thomas Percy]

Grognard? What does it mean? I didn't find this word in e-dictionary.

 

[Henrix]

A grognard is an old gamer, originally an old (historical) miniaure wargamer.

It is french in original, means complainer/mutterer. It was Napoleons pet name for his veterans.



And to keep this on topic - I was also a bit disappointed by Cityscape. I love cities, in particular fantasy cities, but the book didn't do much for me.
But then, I am an old grognard - I have loved and thought about fantasy cities in RPGs for more than 25 years, so I'm not the prime target.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Not a Grognard, Ive been DMing 3e since 2001, other games before then on occasion (Mostly Dragon Ball Z using the Fusion system. It sucks by the way.) But I found Cityscape mostly useless. It wasnt what I thought I was getting. Just thought the general Information was kinda "Duh!" I would basically recommend this for people who dont have much of an Imagination.