Mongoose Publishing Questions

[Creamsteak]

A good friend purchased the "Elementalists Handbook" or some such title. I found it's playability to be a little hard to integrate, but I liked the target flavor of "Elementalism." Then, I turn around, and I find that the book is organized in a seemingly inverted order, and the book doesn't draw any of my players.

I'm going to be coming into $500 worth of RPG books soon, and I get to decide on the books I want. My questions, because I'm interested in some of your products, are:

1) Is the book that my friend purchased one of Mongoose's "less popular" books, or is it one of your normal productions?

2) Has Mongoose improved upon the layout and chapter organization since that book was printed, in your opinion (reader)?

3) What books are really worth purchasing if I want the very best product by Mongoose?


Just curious, since I'm already sure I'm finally picking up If Thoughts Could Kill, RttToEE, The Stronghold Builder's Guidebook, The Monster Manual 2, The Book of Vile Darkness, The Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide, The KoK Compendium Book, A couple Rokugan Books (Way of Shugenja/Samurai and Magic of Rokugan)... and maybe a set of dice. That is if they will let me purchase those with the "prize" money for my demonstration of how to be a self-motivational player...: D

And my list is apparently empty of products by Mongoose and Necromancer Games... though I'm more than likely to pick up whatever adventure modules are available, under 15 bucks, and have a decent page count (20 page adventures should not cost money, I swear to god WotC is ripping hundreds of people off with those).

 

[Crothian]

Mongoose has a lot of books out. For other opinions you can check out the review section.

Their Quintessential books are very well organized, and in my opinion the best overall line of books they produce. Of those I like Monk, Rogue and Wizard the best in that order.

Their slayers guide are intresting and do have some grewat info in them. However, unless you are really going to feature a particuliar race you might not need these. The one excpetion is Slayers Guide to Dragons written by Gary Gygax himself. Very well done and filled with ideas.

The Arcane and Divine magic books (which Elemntalism is a part of) are pretty good. I really like Chaos magic and Fey Magic the best of these.

They also have city books and ship books, however I don't have any of these.

I'm not officiated with Mongoose, but I am a fan and do have quite a few of their books. Good luck and happy gaming

 

[Ghostwind]

I've found Mongoose's Cities of Fantasy line to be the most useful so far. They feature original, well detailed and fairly well thought out cities that can be added into any campaign.

The Encyclopedia Arcana/Divine line is certainly respectable. Chaos Magic and Fey Magic are probably their two best offerings (IMO).

The Quintessential series offers good material for rounding out your classes. However, you do have to be careful about balance issues with some of the stuff contained in the books. The best explanation to sum up this series is think 2nd ed. Kit books and you're on the right track, although there is more to them.

The Slayer's Guides have been a bit of a disappointment to me (even Gygax's Dragons). I think they could go into better detail and do more with the material than what they do.

I haven't seen the book of prestige classes or book of feats yet, but I suspect they would be worth the investment more than anything.

Just my .02 worth...

 

[Gez]

I've bought Seas of Blood and will more than probably heavily use it. I've had the opportunity to read the Quint. Fighter, and liked most of the rules I saw. The art was a problem, though. Not because of the nearly naked women; I'm a Frenchie, not a Yankee, so I'm not afraid of tits. But because most of the illos were badly drawn, and I've personally seen amateur painter make a far better job. I'm of the "better no art than poor art" school myself, you see ?

But you don't buy a rulebook for its art, so that's not much of an issue.

Speaking of rules, I've heard there would be an errata for the QF, if it has been released yet; where is it hidden ?

 

[Eternalknight]

I find the Quintessential books to reminescient of the old "Complete" books TSR produced for 2nd edition. If you liked them (I did) then these are excellent products. The Slayer's Guides I find less useful, though they have given me ideas for my adventures. There Encyclopaedia Arcane books (I only have Battle Magic and Necromancy) I like as well; many great ideas.

 

[Bagpuss]

Pick-up the "Slaine" D20 RPG if you want some of the best of Mongoose.

 

[Alzrius]

Admittedly, I don't have many Mongoose products at all, but most of the stuff Ive heard about their Quintessential line has been great, and the stuff on Encyclopedia Arcane and Divine has been very good also.

The two books I do own, Demonology and Necromancy, are, in my opinion, great great books. Demon/devil-summoning has never been fleshed out to my liking before, and having Demonology answered virtually all of my questions about that practice. Similarly, Necromancy seriously upped the power of the Necromancer as a villain in my campaign (and it could be used for PCs too).

The only complaint I have about those is, like many of their books, they introduce new core classes that need to be taken to truly get the full benefits of the new magic introduced, and the rest come pretty much only with new prestige classes. But thats a minor quibble really.

 

[Arnix]

Slayers guide to dragons was very good (There are posted reviews of it, so no need for repeating). But I am a huge fan of almost all of Gygax's works (I may be the only person to buy Dangerous Journeys).

I am waiting on the Quint. PsyWar, which I have on order.

The Quint. Fighter is pretty good, though it was tough to find. Some neat ideas and fairly balance PrC's.

I have thumbed through the Quint. Wizard, which looked decent, and may pick it up after I have the Quint PsyWar.

I picked up the Ultimate Guide to Prestige classes (name?) and it seemed ok. Several fo the PrC's in there I had already seen and the artwork appeared to be reused. It is a good source of PrC's all in one volume though.


Also from Necromancer Games (which you mentioned above), Necropolis has gotten great reviews, I liked Rainbow Mage, and they will be releasing Judges Guild products after the first of the year (CSIO is pretty high on the list I believe).

Hope some of this helps.


Arnix (tm)

 

[Tsyr]

Of the "encyclopedia" line, pick up: Demonology, Chaos Magic, Fey, and Shamans, at the very least. All of those were very solid titles.

You should also pick up Slaine D20. Period. That one isn't even an option. Get it. Every part of it is great. The book just oozes quality. It's in my top 5 non-wotc D20 books right now (Rokugan D20, Occult Lore, Kalamar Campaign Setting, and Sov Stone D20 Campaign setting are the other four, if you want some more suggestions to spend your money on)... heck, it's easily better than some of the WotC hardcovers too.

 

[Crothian]

You should also pick up Slaine D20. Period. That one isn't even an option. Get it. Every part of it is great. The book just oozes quality. It's in my top 5 non-wotc D20 books right now (Rokugan D20, Occult Lore, Kalamar Campaign Setting, and Sov Stone D20 Campaign setting are the other four, if you want some more suggestions to spend your money on)... heck, it's easily better than some of the WotC hardcovers too.

I can't agree with this more. And it's easily better then most of the Wizards books IMO.