Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
For folks complaining about price, the average PDF on DriveThruRPG/DMs Guild apparently goes for $1 per four pages, so @M.T. Black appears to be undercharging everyone by $121.
D&D General M. T. Black made his own 5e clone. Iskandar Players Handbook.
M.T. Black
Hero
Dave2008 asked about hints, tips, etc. This double-page is a good example of what I mean. The regular text is straight 5E, but the boxed text is stuff I've added. Hints ("Remember..."), a tip ("Perception vs. Investigation") and an Optional Rule. I can't say how many of these I put in, but somewhere between 50 and 100??
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
I swear, we have the Perception vs. Investigation discussion every single game.
dave2008
Legend
I do think it is an incredible value. If you don't have the PHB, probably makes a lot of sense to pick this up instead.Hi folks,
I appreciate you taking the time to chat about my new book! I think there are going to be a lot of 5E clones released this year after the OGL situation, and I know they will be a bit contentious. I think this will be similar to the OSR where a lot of retroclones were released and people picked their own flavor, but everything was roughly compatible.
As others have pointed out, a big chunk of this book is a reprint of SRD content. I have reworded more than a few items (such as surprise and alignment) and I've also rewritten a few rules, such as the overland travel. Otherwise, where I've got optional rules I've included them as sidebar comments. It's a bit of a challenge for those of us publishing 5E clones - Black Flag is facing the same issue where some folk are saying "But this is just 5E." Truthfully, the low price point is meant to help head off this discussion, even though I put a crazy amount of labour into this book.
For some, where the value comes in is with the subclasses, ancestries, new/remastered spells, and setting lore, which might be 80-100 pages of the total. Most of that should be reusable in any setting, but I've very much presented it as an integrated package for my Iskandar setting. There are folks charging $4 for a single subclass, so I hope $4 for all that content represents some value
Regarding the single column digest-sized layout, I've adopted that for all my books the last couple of years. As dnd_reborn noted, it's so you can use the material on mobile devices. If reading on a regular screen, I recommend you go 2UP.
cheers,
MTB
dave2008
Legend
I will take a closer look at those sidebars when I read through it again this weekend - thanks! And I like the optional rule in this example!
EDIT: I took another look, here are my thorough thoughts: Iskandar PHB 2nd Look.
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see
Pedantic Grognard
Well, you don't actually have to get rid of them. A valid alternative is to just rename them to something other than "elf", then buff them to be clearly superior to any other option.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Paul Farquhar
Legend
It's okay, you can have aelfs instead.
dave2008
Legend
OK @M.T. Black , I went through the book in more detail this morning and I need to adjust my thoughts a bit. I will go back an update my previous comments, but here is my update:
So, what is this book? IMO, this is a really good replacement for the PHB. You don't get art, but the organization is superior (IMO) and the tips and hints are really helpful. The optional rules are less inspiring, partially because many I have seen before, but there are a couple that perked my interest. Overall, it is a good book for what it is trying to do. My mistake initially was not understanding what it was trying to do and purchasing it on a false premise (one of my own creation I will add).
Anyway, nice work Mr Black!
- I said previously I didn't really care about the classes, which is true. However, I will note that I do like that the spell list for each class is with the class. I also caught a couple fun hints and optional rules in there that I would have normally missed.
- Tips: On the second look there a definitely quite a few tips. For the most they are a good advice, particularly for a new player/DM. They definitely clarify a lot of things people have found confusing. The actually clarified some rules for me that I thought I knew and apparently didn't!
- Optional Rules: On a second look there are definitely optional rules. They are just easy to miss on quick glance as they are so understated (like the tips). However, they are there and they tend to be interesting and useful, if very simple (which is generally a good thing). Some Optional Rule (OR) highlights for me (many other good ones that I have seen before, but these were new to me):
- Tool & skill proficiency stacking OR
- Disengage OR
- Climbing Kit OR
- I didn't really comb through the spells to see what is new and updated. I do wish the spell descriptions included which classes had access to the spell.
- I did not read the History of Iskandar section.
So, what is this book? IMO, this is a really good replacement for the PHB. You don't get art, but the organization is superior (IMO) and the tips and hints are really helpful. The optional rules are less inspiring, partially because many I have seen before, but there are a couple that perked my interest. Overall, it is a good book for what it is trying to do. My mistake initially was not understanding what it was trying to do and purchasing it on a false premise (one of my own creation I will add).
Anyway, nice work Mr Black!
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