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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GoodKingJayIII" data-source="post: 3295405" data-attributes="member: 13804">Me, I didn't know -- or care -- who Monte Cook was until he published Arcana Unearthed.  When I read those design diaries, he hooked me.  I can't entirely explain why, but the things he said really caught my attention.  When the book came out, I read it cover-to-cover.  To this day I still haven't done that with another RPG book (I skim mostly, and read what catches my attention).   Sure, it had things I didn't like, but the good far outweighed the bad.It was even better in practice.  Everyone felt this awesome sense of discovery as the game progressed.  It reinvigorated me and my players.  It renewed my sense of wonder, and that has been worth more than any other supplement or alternative rules book.A lot of arguments against AU/AE could easily be said about DnD.  Implied setting (Greyhawk characters, Greyhawk gods, Greyhawk spells), narrow classes (I'm looking at you, Monk and Bard), poor class names (I use weapon and spells, I'm... a duskblade?), unnecessary mechanics developed out of flavor (I'll take Alignment for 200, please).  You can't ignore these points in one game and use them to disparage another.For me, DnD was stale.  But I liked the d20 system and I wanted to stick with it.  Arcana Unearthed gave me something new and unique but let me use familiar mechanics.  I also felt a new sense of discovering reading and running an AU game.  If you don't need this, then yeah, I can see why AE loses some of its charm.  But if you do need something interesting and unique and wondrous, Arcana Evolved provides.</blockquote>

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