NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gothmog" data-source="post: 1385636" data-attributes="member: 317">I think you're going to find some dissenters on this one.  While the WotC stuff has probably the best production values out there, good production values, playtesting, and editing does NOT always equal superior product.  Sure, its nice to have lots of playtesting, but what works for one group might not be right for another and be completely broken- it all depends on the style of game each group runs.  So the massive playtesting arguement only holds water if you play exactly the kind of game WotC anticipates in the core rules.  When I buy a game book, I buy it for the quality of ideas contained therin, not for how pretty it is, how much it was playtested, or how well edited it is.  Nothing WotC has produced in the last 2 years (3.5 aside) has stacked up against releases from other D20 publishers such as Conan, Book of Fiends, Unveiled Masters, Hammer & Helm, MMS:WE, Darwin's World 2nd, the Midnight line, Book of the Righteous, Testament, Skull & Bones, Fields of Blood, the Penumbra line, and the list goes on.  The WotC stuff is technically good, but it doesn't have the spark that really gives it oomph and makes me want to use it immediately.  The stuff I listed above does have that special something.  IMO, much of the WotC stuff focuses too much on "crunch" and doling out cool powers to the players, and forgets to take into consideration the notion that a good game book should make your jaw drop considering something interesting that hasn't been done before.  To be fair, Unearthed Arcana has some really cool new ideas in it, but there are only so many new rules, PrCs, spells, and magic items that can be used in a game before it becomes saturated.</blockquote>

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