GenCon Swag

[philreed]

Wow. My whirlwind tour of GenCon was tons of fun and I came home with TONS of great new stuff. The Monsternomicon and The Assassin's Handbook are currently the two D20 books from the show I was most impressed with and I've posted a brief review/overview/rambling mess about The Assassin's Handbook on my website for anyone who cares about what I have to say.

http://www.philipjreed.com

The Monsternomicon, again, is great. Easily the best of the D20 monster books currently available.

 

[JoeGKushner]

While I didn't get the swag in Monstronomicon, I agree that it is a beautiful book. Reminds me a lot of old Talislanta with P D Breeding artwork.

I didn't think that the Assassins handbook did the same job in treatment that Shaman handbook did. I like the Assassin concept better than the Shaman, but thought Shaman had a lot more meat to it and less fluff. My review should be hitting OgreCave soon. Already done Hammer & Helm, and the two Compendiums.

 

[philreed]

Fluffy Assassins

I agree that the Shaman's book was crunchier but as I get deeper into the fluff in the Assassin's book I still think it's a better book. The detail on the two organizations is interesting and the entire book is a fun read.

And the Monsternomicon makes me want a novel set in that universe. So far I've found very few (tiny) mistakes and most of those are layout mistakes other people would never even see.

 

[kingpaul]

Swag?

Forgive my ignorance, but I am not understanding what you mean by swag from the context. I've always been told that swag means:

Scientifc
Wild-
Ass
Guess

Quite obviously, this definition does not fit in this context

 

[EricNoah]

LOL! I'd never seen that acronym before.

Here ya go, focus on definitions 3a and 3b:

Main Entry: swag
Function: noun
Date: 1660
1 : SWAY
2 a : something (as a decoration) hanging in a curve between two points : FESTOON b : a suspended cluster (as of evergreen branches)
3 a : goods acquired by unlawful means : LOOT b : SPOILS, PROFITS
4 : a depression in the earth
5 chiefly Australian : a pack of personal belongings

I was travelling light so I couldn't handle too much swag but I came away with a copy of The Hermit (Troll Lord Games) autographed by Gary Gygax, and three packs of counters from Fiery Dragon. I wanted to grab a copy of Nyambe but I think I'll get that at my local game shop.

 

[kingpaul]

LOL! I'd never seen that acronym before.

Really? I thought it was a fairly common one...but then again, I'm an engineer by trade and training...even have my EIT to prove it.

Here ya go, focus on definitions 3a and 3b:

Thanks Eric.

 

[jaldaen]

The Monsternomicon, again, is great. Easily the best of the D20 monster books currently available.

I'm glad you like it... I helped tame and trim some of these beasts and it was a blast!

Here are the ones I was directly responsible for:

Assassin Fly, Boatman, Bog Nymph, Crypt Beast, Eldritch (my favorite ;-), Lizard-Monkeys (might have changed to name though), Mountain Nymph, Oasis Ooze, Sand Beast, Tatzylwurm

Let me know what you think of these... now if only I could get Matt to send me my freebies ;-)

Joseph Miller
PP Freelancer

 

[JoeGKushner]

Re: Fluffy Assassins

I agree that the Shaman's book was crunchier but as I get deeper into the fluff in the Assassin's book I still think it's a better book. The detail on the two organizations is interesting and the entire book is a fun read.

It wasn't the fluff that bothered me per say as lack of the goods. Where was the folio sheet addendum? Where was the notes on using Assassins in Freeport? Where were the monsters used for assassinaton? Where where more playable PrCs? Where were artifacts of assassination? I liked the core class, don't agree that it's not suitable for use in a campaign with a PrC assassin (after all the DMG assassin is really "Greyhawk Assassin). I also thought that instead of providing two example guilds, a better use of space would'be been showing how a PC can make such a guild. Make it more of a player product.

 

[philreed]

Hmm.

This sounds like an agree to disagree situation to me.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Well, you don't disagree entirely. From your review, you note only the crunch bits and in those notes, "I can only see the shadow mage being used by players." Which indicates to me, unless I'm reading this wrong, that you felt there should have been more focus on some playable PrCs. Am I wrong?

You also note about the assassin's killing blow but dont' speak on the vulnerabilities the assassin goes through at low levels to use that attack nor why the assassin shouldn't be used in a campaign with a PrC assassin. More details please.