Have you been disillusioned by the latest WotC books?

[shaylon]

I have been pretty happy with the DMGII and Waterdeep. The material is useful to me. I have not seen HoB or WoL so I can't comment.

My only complaint is that the printer was changed and the books feel less durable to me. Time will tell how they hold up, but they definitely have a different feel that books before the change. There were several threads about this though.

I will admit that I have not been terribly impressed by what is on the horizon. We'll see.

-Shay

 

[pogre]

I had not bought a WOTC book for a very long time but I got a gift certificate for Barnes & Noble and picked up DMGII. I wanted it to convert over to the new stat block format, but like Vascant became very impressed with it overall. I do think veteran DMs can get a few things from it - at least I did. This book has made it more likely that I will a WOTC book in the future.

 

[Breakdaddy]

Merric, is there anything WotC has put put that you haven't liked?

I think when they define "fanboy" for WOTC, there will be a pic of Merric close by

 

[GlassJaw]

I think when they define "fanboy" for WOTC, there will be a pic of Merric close by

You said it, not me.

 

[Nightfall]

*sides with Li about this whole "Very bad penalities for mostly nothing* But I honestly love and like the usefulness of the DMG II AND the addition of the Saltmarsh is a GOOD thing.

Otherwise, I'm disillusioned by the threads starting with the phrase "Are you disillusioned....?"

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Wouldn't it have been more useful if it presented the DM with 100s of good ideas for battles and guidelines for crafting good ideas for battles? The way you describe it makes it sound as if the book is only useful to DMs that have already spent a lot of time thinking about how battles will affect their campaign and the players.

Heh, that pretty much sums up my games... Which may be why I found HoB useful. (And I would not have looked at it all that hard if I hadn't read a review panning it and thought to myself 'Hey, that doesn't sound half bad!'

The Auld Grump, war, the ocean and quite often steam find their ways into my games on a frequent basis...

 

[MerricB]

Read my review of Map Folio II one of these days.

Races of Destiny came very close to utter uselessness. I think it has some very useful stuff, though .... in the wrong book.

Cheers!

 

[philreed]

(And I would not have looked at it all that hard if I hadn't read a review panning it and thought to myself 'Hey, that doesn't sound half bad!'

I know what you mean. Sometimes I read a fairly negative review of a product and realize that I like everything the reviewer hated.

 

[Li Shenron]

Read my review of Map Folio II one of these days.

C'mon Merric, we know you did that review only to prove yourself "neutral" before our eyes, but then you secretly called WotC's customer service to atone and renew your vows to da gods of gaming

 

[MerricB]

C'mon Merric, we know you did that review only to prove yourself "neutral" before our eyes, but then you secretly called WotC's customer service to atone and renew your vows to da gods of gaming

It's probably correct to say that I praise the books I like and stay silent about the books I don't. (The exception being Cry Havoc). I tend to react well to books I like part of. This is partly because I've never used 100% of a supplemental book.

Could I become disillusioned with Wizards? Absolutely. I spent most of 2e not buying any stuff.

Here's Merric's Guide to 2005 D&D products he's seen so far (scores out of 5):
Complete Adventurer - 4.5
Grasp of the Emerald Claw - 3.5
Races of the Wild - 4.0
Lost Empires of Faerun - Meh
Sandstorm - 4.0
Lords of Madness - 2.5 (Meh)
Races of Eberron - 3.5
Champions of Ruin - Meh
Heroes of Battle - 4.0

I have used CV, GEC, RotW, SS and RoE in my games this year. (Sandstorm was excellent).

Cheers!