From Stone To Steel 3.5

[JoeGKushner]

From the dawn of history, mankind has made war. In every age and civilization, people have developed tools of warfare. From the remotest primitive tribe to the greatest empire, every culture has created weapons for hunting, protection, conflict, and defenses against the same. The record of history measures their successes and failures. No campaign world could ever hope to be as varied and diverse as our own. Despite fantastic races and locations, every fantasy world recycles themes mirrored in our own histories, myths, and culture. But many cultures go unnoticed or un-examined in role playing games. Many games become limited by our narrow views of what fantasy is, and can be. No longer.

'From Stone to Steel' is a book of weaponry and armor, but it is also an examination of history and cultures. From age to age, every culture has approached similar ends and concepts with its own unique perspective. 'From Stone to Steel' is not a simple list of items, but an explanation of their use, their cultural significance, even their drawbacks. Besides weapons and armor, 'From Stone to Steel' contains new feats, new subskills, new prestige classes, and new mechanics. Through each chapter, topics like tactics, special materials, training, and culture are discussed, so that they can be understood and placed in any campaign world. And though these items are based in history, suggestions are made for their inclusion in fantasy world. You'll even find items of myth, fantastic construction materials, new spells to augment weapons and armor, even inclusion of fantasy racial items (based, where possible, on myth or legend).

From stone-age primitives to the height of the Renaissance, history is in your hands. From 'Stone to Steel' - Never look at d20 gaming the same way again!

Written by: Aaron Stimson
Cover by: Allan Pollack
Artwork by: Jim Branch, Fred Rawles
Pages: 352, Fully Bookmarked.

 

[JoeGKushner]

From Stone To Steel 3.5 Edition
Writen by Aaron Stimson
Published by Monkey God
WWW.MonkeyGodEnterprises.com
http://www.highmoonmedia.com/highmoon/products-monkeygodpresents-fsts.html
Electronic Version by High Moon Media Production
$18.00

From Stone To Steel 3.5 Edition, takes the great supplement from Monkey God Enterprises, From Stone to Steel and updates it to 3.5. Or does it?

It comes with the same format, same layout and same art. Now none of those are bad things in and of themselves. The print version may not have been a full color book, but it was priced fairly and the PDF is priced fairly as well. Not a fantastic deal compared to some other companies that do more than 50% off, but I suspect games like Iron Heroes may be the exception rather than the norm.

What I mean by that is that looking through the book, nothing strikes me as being switched to 3.5. But then again, I’m not sure what needed to be. The PrCs don’t rely on skills like Wilderness Lore or Alchemy, so no changes there. They’re also not really of the bard or ranger variety, so once again, no need to go back and change what’s not wrong. In that vein, I'm not going over a point by point of the 'new' version, as my original review is still pretty relevant.

No, instead, the big change comes in the format. The book has a very extensive section of bookmarks. For a PDF of this size, it’s vital to have those links handy to navigate through the chapters, and here, the electronic version succeeds.

One of the things that are a little disappointing is that they haven’t updated some of the minor annoyances in the first printing. For example, on page 153 of my 3.0 book is the the Elite Mongol Horsemen. There is a mistake where the line with Class, Base, Fort, Ref, and Will are on the wrong line. That mistake is repeated in the PDF. Another minor annoyance is that there’s no information on the current publisher of the book, referencing readers to the MonkeyGod website.

Long out of print, the PDF version is a good buy for those who want some extensive lists of equipment along with a few history lessons. The bookmarks make navigating the file a snap. Hopefully we’ll get a file one day with the corrections but until that time, this file should do fine.

For those interested in finding out about the PDF version, check here .

 

[Aaron2]

3.5 edition?

I don't see anything on RPGnow or on Highmoon's web page to indicate that this is a 3.5 version. Is it or isn't it?


Aaron