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<blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010688" data-attributes="member: 18387">The first thing that I noticed about this book was the cover.&nbsp; It’s got a very interesting picture of a solid green puzzle.&nbsp; There are a few pieces missing and they reveal hints of something else.&nbsp; The cover was done by Matt Milberger and I really think it fits this book.&nbsp; World Builder is a book about filling in the pieces, the little details of a game session and a campaign world.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; World Builder is 176 pages, hardbound, priced at $29.95, and written by Gary Gygax and Dan Cross.&nbsp; The book is well organized with a good table of contents and nice three page index.&nbsp; These are very important to this book because it is a book of details.&nbsp; It is a book of all the little things like weather, rocks, buildings, fauna, etc. that normally need referenced in about twenty different sources.&nbsp; So, it is really nice to have it all is this one easy to use volume.&nbsp; The art and lay out of the book are rather nice.&nbsp; They do not distract from the pages of information and that is important since it is basically a reference book.&nbsp; It would be much tougher to use if it was not pleasing to the eye and well organized.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The first chapter covers weapons, armor and equipment.&nbsp; They list many new types and give a full definition of them.&nbsp;&nbsp; I like that in the weapons section the picture of the weapon is underneath the description.&nbsp; However, some of the weapons are not really well balanced with the PHB weapons.&nbsp; In the armor section the helmets only give AC bonus to the head.&nbsp; However, they present no optional rules to make that useful as D&amp;D does not use called shots or give different AC’s to different body parts.&nbsp; It’s the little rules problems like that that really make this book less useful then it should be.&nbsp; In the equipment part they list all sorts of equipment but no prices.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The second chapter deals with weather, terrain, flora, fauna, rocks, and gems.&nbsp; This chapter has great lists of different types of weather, terrain, and plants but does not go into the rules sides of them.&nbsp; For instance it lists that the herb Basil will aid in flight but it does not say how it aids or what effect on flying creatures it has.&nbsp; So, as long as the one does not mind creating some rules for these things, this is a very informative chapter. &nbsp; &nbsp; The third chapter deals with dwellings.&nbsp; The types of dwelling and information here is fantastic.&nbsp; But the prices are listed in a different formula and one needs to attempt a conversion to make them meaningful.&nbsp; Prices are not listed for everything though, mostly for labor costs.&nbsp; There is a good essay on costs and the value of money at the beginning of the book.&nbsp; But I think it would have worked better if they fleshed out those ideas and tried to make it more D&amp;D friendly.&nbsp; &nbsp; At the end of the book are pages and pages of random tables.&nbsp; This allows one to randomly roll up anything presented in the book.&nbsp; I’m sure this will be helpful to some people.&nbsp; &nbsp; This is a tough book to really rate or determine how useful it would be to people.&nbsp; It seems like the type of book that won’t be missed by those who do not have it, but for those who pick it up I can easily see this being used multiple times every session.&nbsp; The lack of rules and the rule problems in the book make it a little more difficult to use.&nbsp; However, the DM’s who enjoy creating rules from tweaking them should have no difficulty with what is presented here.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Messageboard Golem, post: 2010688, member: 18387"] The first thing that I noticed about this book was the cover. It’s got a very interesting picture of a solid green puzzle. There are a few pieces missing and they reveal hints of something else. The cover was done by Matt Milberger and I really think it fits this book. World Builder is a book about filling in the pieces, the little details of a game session and a campaign world. World Builder is 176 pages, hardbound, priced at $29.95, and written by Gary Gygax and Dan Cross. The book is well organized with a good table of contents and nice three page index. These are very important to this book because it is a book of details. It is a book of all the little things like weather, rocks, buildings, fauna, etc. that normally need referenced in about twenty different sources. So, it is really nice to have it all is this one easy to use volume. The art and lay out of the book are rather nice. They do not distract from the pages of information and that is important since it is basically a reference book. It would be much tougher to use if it was not pleasing to the eye and well organized. The first chapter covers weapons, armor and equipment. They list many new types and give a full definition of them. I like that in the weapons section the picture of the weapon is underneath the description. However, some of the weapons are not really well balanced with the PHB weapons. In the armor section the helmets only give AC bonus to the head. However, they present no optional rules to make that useful as D&D does not use called shots or give different AC’s to different body parts. It’s the little rules problems like that that really make this book less useful then it should be. In the equipment part they list all sorts of equipment but no prices. The second chapter deals with weather, terrain, flora, fauna, rocks, and gems. This chapter has great lists of different types of weather, terrain, and plants but does not go into the rules sides of them. For instance it lists that the herb Basil will aid in flight but it does not say how it aids or what effect on flying creatures it has. So, as long as the one does not mind creating some rules for these things, this is a very informative chapter. The third chapter deals with dwellings. The types of dwelling and information here is fantastic. But the prices are listed in a different formula and one needs to attempt a conversion to make them meaningful. Prices are not listed for everything though, mostly for labor costs. There is a good essay on costs and the value of money at the beginning of the book. But I think it would have worked better if they fleshed out those ideas and tried to make it more D&D friendly. At the end of the book are pages and pages of random tables. This allows one to randomly roll up anything presented in the book. I’m sure this will be helpful to some people. This is a tough book to really rate or determine how useful it would be to people. It seems like the type of book that won’t be missed by those who do not have it, but for those who pick it up I can easily see this being used multiple times every session. The lack of rules and the rule problems in the book make it a little more difficult to use. However, the DM’s who enjoy creating rules from tweaking them should have no difficulty with what is presented here. [/QUOTE]

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