Monte's secret project confirmed

[333 Dave]

Call me a skeptic, but I want to see a scan or a link to a WotC page about this before I believe it.

 

[Psion]

A copy of AEG's Evil?


Funny how it seems like a lot of WotC stuff is rehashing of either old edition stuff or stuff from d20 publishers.

Damn, Arcady! Are you striving to be the new Dragoth?

I'd be worried about it being a rehash of EVIL if EVIL had done a great job in the first pass. It had some decent ideas, but it isn't even close to having the last word on the topic.

In other news: boo hoo! I was wrong! Woe is me! (Unfortunately, I knew my guess was wrong about a month ago, BID.)

 

[Napftor]

OK, we all knew it... but now it's official.

"The Book of Vile Darkness" appears in WotC's spring catalog (I haven't seen it, but that's the scoop I got. Still hoping someone can send me a scan.)

*Sigh*

Still not particularly exciting...

 

[mearls]

A copy of AEG's Evil?


Funny how it seems like a lot of WotC stuff is rehashing of either old edition stuff or stuff from d20 publishers.

No problems on the first, that's expected with a new edition; but the second seems fishy somehow.

I've noticed the rehash of d20 publisher works here and there in the splatbooks and Dragon.

Arcady,

WotC works on a much longer production schedule than any d20 publisher. If today both I and an in-house WotC designer had an idea for an RPG book about sentient squids, my book would more than likely be out at least 12 months before WotC's version.

The Book of Vile Darkness was probably already in the works before EVIL's outline had been written up.

 

[Kichwas]

No just saying I've noticed it.

Starting with the Chain Spell feat, and going on to rules about trap design, vehicles, and some others I'd have to look up again to be sure on.

OGC is all set for copying. But that's not what I see going on. I see them doing a non OGC version of anything that looks like it has potential as an idea. Usually 1-3 months after for the cases above.

One may or may not like the Evil book, but doing another Evil book is in essense rehashing somebody elses book.

 

[kenjib]

Kenzer also has an upcoming villain design handbook coming out officially licensed. I wonder how that one will relate to the Book of Vile Darkness as well.

 

[Nightfall]

So if one does a BETTER version of say...Deities and Demi-gods...then does that make it less useful than the original?

*note, I don't care that much about Book of Vile Darkness because right now I got enough evil to spare! *

 

[Nightfall]

Kenzer also has an upcoming villain design handbook coming out officially licensed. I wonder how that one will relate to the Book of Vile Darkness as well.

Is this on the site or on the boards over there Ken?

 

[kenjib]

Is this on the site or on the boards over there Ken?

They mentioned it both on this board and on the Kalamar board. Here was the announcement:

ALL NEW! This Kingdoms of Kalamar supplement is perfect for the Dungeon Master who wants to easily create fantastic villains with detailed histories and motives. This is more than simply a book of NPCs! This handbook contains dozens of new villain archetypes that DMs can use as a foundation for creating their own villain, prestige classes, feats and anti-feats, as well as information on giving villains real motivations and obsessions, the criminal psychology of the villain, the villain’s place in society, building levels of intrigue, how to avoid common stereotypes, prestige classes, feats, anti-feats and more! A new Kingdoms of Kalamar adventure is also included! Like all Kingdoms of Kalamar products, the Villain Design Handbook is an official, fully licensed D&D campaign setting (all text and images are approved by both KenzerCo and Wizards of the Coast) – it’s more than just a d20 product!

Link:

http://pub49.ezboard.com/fkingdomsofkalamarfrm10.showMessage?topicID=6.topic

There's seems like it will be focused mostly on NPCs so if the WotC book is on PC's there won't be much overlap. However, either way they cook it there will probably be overlap with either AEG or Kenzer or possibly even both. I don't see much room in between.

 

[Nightfall]

Really it's on this board? Where's the link?

Mmm sounds interesting...though how much of this will be portable? I know that most of what they use in KoK TRIES to be portable, but I wonder how much will be with this book.