Just bought Planescape and I, Tyrant...and now I need a pep talk
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Calico_Jack73
First Post
I too wonder what happened to all the fluff. The 2E Ilithiad was and still is one of my favorite books of all time. There really wasn't all that much cruch to the book but you know what... fluff is the stuff inspiration is made of.
adriayna
First Post
I agree with some of the other posters. I own both the 2e Planescape stuff and the MotP for 3.0. If you compare the two products, you'll immediately notice a big difference in style and in flavor. And I'm not necessarily convinced that the loss of flavor in the MotP is such a good thing.
When I started a 3.5 Planescape campaign recently, several of the players were new to the experience and had skimmed through the MotP for the game. Comparing those players with the few who either owned the AD&D sets or had played in the past, I think there was a big difference in RP and attitude toward the setting. True this could be for a number of reasons, but I do believe it was partially because of the difference in style and flavor of the two presentations.
To this day, my favorite RPG products of all time are the Planescape boxed settings. Somehow, I just don't think there is anything that will top those great books.
When I started a 3.5 Planescape campaign recently, several of the players were new to the experience and had skimmed through the MotP for the game. Comparing those players with the few who either owned the AD&D sets or had played in the past, I think there was a big difference in RP and attitude toward the setting. True this could be for a number of reasons, but I do believe it was partially because of the difference in style and flavor of the two presentations.
To this day, my favorite RPG products of all time are the Planescape boxed settings. Somehow, I just don't think there is anything that will top those great books.
Asmor
First Post
It's really not fair to compare the MotP with Planescape. They're very different products. Planescape is a campaign setting with a very unique feel to it that risks alienating people just to be so damn cool. MotP, on the other hand, is, well, a manual. It's meant to be a collection of instructions, knowledge, etc on par with the PHB or the DMG. You don't play a Manual of the Planes campaign anymore than you play a Sword and Fist campaign.
Gargoyle
Adventurer
The game has always been somewhere between role-playing and wargaming, and with 3E it definitely shifted more towards wargaming with an emphasis on crunchy rules.
I have preferred that shift toward rules and away from substance because I have mostly run home-brewed campaigns, and I'd rather pay for good rule systems than pay for interesting reading.
Lately however, I have less time to prepare games (and sometimes no time to play
) so I can see the need for less crunch and more substance.
There is certainly a sweet spot for me when it comes to rules and ideas in gaming books. I think the best game books have great ideas that are backed up by solid game rules.
For example:
- A dissertation on how elves are expert hunters might be interesting.
- An elven prestige class by itself might be useful.
- An elven prestige class backed up by a couple of paragraphs describing how they are expert hunters is ok.
- A section on elves that explains how they are such expert hunters in this part of the world backed up by an interesting elven hunter prestige class, a sample NPC, and a couple of new feats and spells is great.
I have preferred that shift toward rules and away from substance because I have mostly run home-brewed campaigns, and I'd rather pay for good rule systems than pay for interesting reading.
Lately however, I have less time to prepare games (and sometimes no time to play
) so I can see the need for less crunch and more substance. There is certainly a sweet spot for me when it comes to rules and ideas in gaming books. I think the best game books have great ideas that are backed up by solid game rules.
For example:
- A dissertation on how elves are expert hunters might be interesting.
- An elven prestige class by itself might be useful.
- An elven prestige class backed up by a couple of paragraphs describing how they are expert hunters is ok.
- A section on elves that explains how they are such expert hunters in this part of the world backed up by an interesting elven hunter prestige class, a sample NPC, and a couple of new feats and spells is great.
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