Legends & Lairs question

DMH · Dec 10, 2004

How does Dungeoncraft compare with AEG's Dungeons (which I already own) in terms of ideas for ecology, history, origin, etc. I don't care about classes, feats or monster stats.

Raven Crowking · Dec 10, 2004

Sorry, I don't own AEG's Dungeons...though I am impressed by all the AEG products I do own.

RC

JoeGKushner · Dec 10, 2004

The shipping might be an issue for some people but I guess that would depend on your local stores.

If you don't have any it might still be a good deal, especially if you get more.

I've found most of the books moderately useful and have been referecing the Portals & Planes book quite a lot lately.

Darkness & Dread is the only book in the line I haven't got yet and I'll probably just get that at my local hobby store.

CSB046 · Dec 10, 2004

JoeGKushner said:
The shipping might be an issue for some people but I guess that would depend on your local stores.

If you don't have any it might still be a good deal, especially if you get more.

Of course, it depends on your location too. I'm not sure where FFG is shipping from, but my shipping cost to St. Louis is only $9.87 for UPS Ground. Since that only made my total about $55 for nine books, it was still well worth it.

d20Dwarf · Dec 10, 2004

Jürgen Hubert said:
To give you an idea of my tastes, I'm mostly a Dungeon Master, rather than a player. Long lists of spells, prestige classes, feats etc. bore me to tears. And I'm not really all that interested in simple lists of monsters or new PC races, either, unless they are really brilliant - I'm more interested in presenting existing races and monsters in new and interesting ways. Instead, I'm interested in tools to help me build new and interesting worlds, locations, and adventures - toolkits that make me more flexible and give me more ideas. I like books that get me thinking on new aspects of settings that I hadn't thought of before.

So, which books would you suggest?

For $5 it's hard to go wrong, but given your interests above, I'd recommend the following:

Monster's Handbook-Exactly fits your desire to present existing monsters in new ways...that's all the book is about. Yes it's 3.0, but the conversion is quite simple really, I know you can handle it.

Spells & Spellcraft-No PrCs, a bunch of spells, but....also rules for libraries and ward magic that would probably be a very good fit in Urbis, as well as other things.

Portals & Planes-Actually I haven't read this, but it gets consistently good reviews.

The Path Books-For $5 these probably have enough non-PrC content to justify the cost (especially since per unit shipping drops with each book ordered). Each PrC has an interesting organization detailed with it, and half the books are other types of rules. These might not be to your taste, but might be worth a try.

philreed · Dec 10, 2004

d20Dwarf said:
Spells & Spellcraft-No PrCs, a bunch of spells, but....also rules for libraries and ward magic that would probably be a very good fit in Urbis, as well as other things.

I'll just agree (I like this book).

Calico_Jack73 · Dec 10, 2004

I've got the Seafarer's Handbook and I think it is a pretty good book. The core books never really covered aquatic campaigns which is the main thrust of this book. It's got new spells for most of the spellcasting classes that would make sense for ship-to-ship combat in a fantasy setting and also for races that live beneath the waves.

Jürgen Hubert · Dec 11, 2004

I finally relented and ordered a dozen books. Even with international shipping, it boils down to less than 105 Euro (subject to fluctuations depending on the dollar exchange rate when they process the order), and that's still an excellent price for 11 hardcovers and one softcover.

Besides, if I do want to become a d20 publisher, I'd better have a good look at how other d20 publishers do their stuff...

Now I only have to see whether it will arrive before the 22nd, when I will go home to my parents for the Christmas holidays, or afterwards. Well, with my luck and because this is the Christmas season, probably afterwards...

Chun-tzu · Dec 11, 2004

John, none of the Path books are 3.5. I'd still recommend them, as there are a lot of cool things in them.

Gez, I also cancelled my order of seven books, because the shipping nearly killed the discount. And I live in Canada! But $25 shipping for 7 books ($35) is $60, plus the exchange rate, plus the very real possibility of having to pay duty on the books (I had to pay duty on used books that I shipped to myself just 3 months ago) ups the cost of the books to around $15 CAD per book, and I could get them anytime (if in stock) for about $20 CAD per book from Chapters (free shipping). Still a good discount, but at that point it's just not a "must have" deal anymore.