Have you been disillusioned by the latest WotC books?
- Thread starter Li Shenron
- Start date
The Lost Muse
First Post
I haven't bought a new book from Wizards of the Coast for at least a year; after skimming through the Draconomicon, and Liber Mortis, and Frostburn, and not really seeing a need for any of these books in my campaign, I just didn't buy them (for once). Now I have a bit more cash, and more room for *good* books.
Kanegrundar
Explorer
WotC is doing OK IMO.
HoB: Wasn't interested in, so I didn't look at it or buy it.
Champions of Ruin: I actually liked this book. It wasn't fantastic, but it was a simply good book for my campaign.
Weapons of Legacy: This is a pretty interesting book. I may tweak how legacies work, but overall I'm very happy with it.
Races of Eberron: This one was OK. It has some neat options for characters made from any of the 4 new Eberron races, but beyond that the fluff was merely OK.
DMGII: This is a great book for new DM's. For more experienced DM's, it can still be very useful, but not nearly as much as if you were just starting out.
Waterdeep: No interest in.
The Complete Series: Good book all around. Divine was the worst of the bunch, but there's still plenty of usable material in there, so it's not a wash-out.
The Races of series: These books get panned a lot. However, I liked each one. Sure, some of the new races weren't the greatest, but each one had a lot more good information (both crunch and fluff) than bad. Races of Stone and Races of the Wild are my favorites in the line.
Five Nations: I'm on the fence on this one. I may pick it up later.
D20 Past: Even with some of the complaints that have been fired at this book, it's full of solid ideas for adventures ranging from Pre-Revolutionary France and the Age of Pirates to the WW2 era. It doesn't cover everything, but I wasn't ever expecting it to.
D20 Apocalypse: This is one of the best, if not the best, supplements for the D20 Modern like. Good expanded rules for mutations, radiation poisoning, weird creatures, etc. Very good.
All in all, WotC is putting out solid products, IMO. I'm not interested in all their books, but I've never been that way. They aren't putting out anything really innovative or ground-breaking, just cruising along putting out decent books. If you want innovative, you really need to look at the 3rd party D20/OGL market.
Kane
HoB: Wasn't interested in, so I didn't look at it or buy it.
Champions of Ruin: I actually liked this book. It wasn't fantastic, but it was a simply good book for my campaign.
Weapons of Legacy: This is a pretty interesting book. I may tweak how legacies work, but overall I'm very happy with it.
Races of Eberron: This one was OK. It has some neat options for characters made from any of the 4 new Eberron races, but beyond that the fluff was merely OK.
DMGII: This is a great book for new DM's. For more experienced DM's, it can still be very useful, but not nearly as much as if you were just starting out.
Waterdeep: No interest in.
The Complete Series: Good book all around. Divine was the worst of the bunch, but there's still plenty of usable material in there, so it's not a wash-out.
The Races of series: These books get panned a lot. However, I liked each one. Sure, some of the new races weren't the greatest, but each one had a lot more good information (both crunch and fluff) than bad. Races of Stone and Races of the Wild are my favorites in the line.
Five Nations: I'm on the fence on this one. I may pick it up later.
D20 Past: Even with some of the complaints that have been fired at this book, it's full of solid ideas for adventures ranging from Pre-Revolutionary France and the Age of Pirates to the WW2 era. It doesn't cover everything, but I wasn't ever expecting it to.
D20 Apocalypse: This is one of the best, if not the best, supplements for the D20 Modern like. Good expanded rules for mutations, radiation poisoning, weird creatures, etc. Very good.
All in all, WotC is putting out solid products, IMO. I'm not interested in all their books, but I've never been that way. They aren't putting out anything really innovative or ground-breaking, just cruising along putting out decent books. If you want innovative, you really need to look at the 3rd party D20/OGL market.
Kane
The monster series books (Draconomicon, Libris Mortis and Lords of Madness) are the books I've least needed or found useful. I haven't even got Draconomicon. Pretty much every Forgotten Realms book is in the same boat.
However, because I like the books that are aimed at my needs (especially Sandstorm and Monster Manual III), I'm still very happy with Wizards' books.
There are books I buy and I expect I'll be able to use them pretty much immediately. (Complete series, Monster Manuals). There are books I buy that I expect I may one day need (Sandstorm, Heroes of Battle, Planar Handbook). There are books I've bought for completion purposes (Libris Mortis, I guess).
I'm DMing three campaigns, and playing in one. I'm having a lot of fun.
Cheers!
However, because I like the books that are aimed at my needs (especially Sandstorm and Monster Manual III), I'm still very happy with Wizards' books.
There are books I buy and I expect I'll be able to use them pretty much immediately. (Complete series, Monster Manuals). There are books I buy that I expect I may one day need (Sandstorm, Heroes of Battle, Planar Handbook). There are books I've bought for completion purposes (Libris Mortis, I guess).
I'm DMing three campaigns, and playing in one. I'm having a lot of fun.
Cheers!
Kanegrundar said:
Actually, I'd debate that: I think Wizards have been putting out innovative material. Not all works, but they're trying things.
Swift and Immediate actions; Substitution levels; Touchstones; Tactical feats; Racial spells; Mindset spells - all these are very interesting innovations.
Heroes of Battle does something I haven't seen before (and is a far cry from the traditional "let's have a wargame" way of handling battles). Weapons of Legacy, whilst not exactly innovative, does refine an idea into a form some people find more appealing.
Oh, and there's Eberron.
Cheers!
DaveMage
Slumbering in Tsar
I do buy all the WotC books, but this is one of the few times when there's nothing coming out from them the rest of the year that particularly excites me.
However, the next huge minis set will probably be a different story.
The three products I'm most looking forward to at this very moment are:
1) Shacked City (Paizo - July)
2) Wilderlands Box Set (Necromancer - August)
3) Rappan Athuk Reloaded (Necromancer - 2006)
However, the next huge minis set will probably be a different story.
The three products I'm most looking forward to at this very moment are:
1) Shacked City (Paizo - July)
2) Wilderlands Box Set (Necromancer - August)
3) Rappan Athuk Reloaded (Necromancer - 2006)
Kanegrundar
Explorer
For me, those are just logical progressions on how the game was built. With the multiclassing system and the modularity that was built into the system, racial substitutions, racial feats, and so forth was where I figured the game would go. They implemented well, IMO, but aren't particuarly ground-breaking in the way that M&M is ground-breaking, IMO.MerricB said:
Long story short, I'm more than happy with the progression of the game. I just don't see anything that I either didn't expect or haven't seen in some form before.
Kane
