More reasons to love Monte

[Turjan]

Is my treatment better? There's never an empirical standard for "Better" in something like this. But I do know I've written the longest work on bards out there, and if you like the kinds of things I detailed, the Enchiridion might just be for you.

I've to admit that I already bought it, but it's still somewhere like point 5 on my "to read" list . I should not spend such a lot of money on d20 supplements . Anyway, your alternate bard sounds very interesting .

Is your treatment better? I will see . I think every treatment of a class that broadens the perspective is better than what the PHB offers. Whereas some core classes are great (wizards for instance), others suffer from a lack of inspiration. Every class must have this special thing to it that is telling you that you really want to take the class from the beginning to the end. Multiclassing is a bad excuse for not providing a bit more of flair.

 

[Numion]

Yeah!

 

[Zappo]

Is there a generic classless, levelless system under the OGL license?

 

[John Smallberries]

Our current campaign uses Monte's Bard, Sorcerer and Ranger--and we love them all.

Persdonally, I can't wait to see him given a larger canvas to work with.

 

[kenjib]

Re: Re: Re: More reasons to love Monte

I would argue that Slaine and Everquest aren't really doing this. It seems pretty clear that Monte's book is intended as "variant stuff for your D&D game", and not "a new game based on the d20 OGL" like the ones you're citing.

Granted it's a pretty minor distinction, but I can see a difference between a product specifically designed to work with D&D (Arcana Unearthed), and a product designed to *supplant* D&D, or at least one that isn't concerned wtih compatibility (Everquest).

...but it *is* designed to supplant D&D -- you will no longer need the core books. There have been products to supplant D&D. There have been products compatible with D&D. The only distinction here is that this one seems to aim to carefully balance both whereas other books are usually weighted toward one or the other. I guess we'll have to see how drastic the changes to the combat system and the like are to really determine compatibility. I mean, Wheel of Time is pretty much compatible with D&D and it's a stand alone book. The distinctions here are really hairsplitting along a continuum.

On the other hand, the only fundamental difference between this and say, d20 Swashbuckling Adventures or Sovereign Stone, is that you don't need to buy the PHB to use it. Of course, since everyone who will buy this book is almost guaranteed to already own the PHB, they are essentially paying for a good amount of material that they already have. To be honest, it almost seems to me like this book would have a better ratio of price to useful page count if it was just a standard d20 book of variant rules, however I can indeed see the benefit of having all such rules presented together in one, cohesive, unit -- less confusion.

 

[dreamthief]

This sounds really cool! Looking forward to it.

 

[Monte At Home]

If you want to find out more, you can read about it here:

http://www.montecook.com/mpress_MHB1.html

You can see the front cover as well as the art piece which will wrap around the entire front cover. It's by Mark Zug and we're really happy with it.

And don't miss the FAQ, since it covers some of the stuff you guys mentioned:

http://www.montecook.com/mpress_MHB1_FAQ.html

Thanks for the kind words. I hope this book lives up to expectations.

 

[Apok]

Well, after reading the product description & the FAQ, I have only one thought.

I must own this book!

One question, though; why not just call it Unearthed Arcana? Is WotC holding on to that name for some specific reason? I know you said they let you use the title in reverse, but why not just keep the original name (which is alot easier to say).

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

I agree with Zappo; UA 3E could be cool. Give me a set of alternate classes, magic systems, combat systems all in one place. If it gets an alternate magic system similar to the weaves in WoT, I'll definately get it.

There's basically a book like this already...

AEG came out with it a few months ago. It's called Mercenaries, for some strange reason...

 

[Dark Psion]

*shameless plug* Have you checked out my Enchiridion of Mystic Music?


--The Sigil

Got it! Like It! Now make me a Psion book


Monte one very obvious question, will psionics be part of this Players Handbook??