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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 1715884" data-attributes="member: 3586"><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> However, you'll find that I do address the core issues of his complaint in my posts.Two issues were raised:* The Planar Handbook does not aid DMs* Wizards are producing books solely for players and not for DMs.A few posts later, the actual reason turned up* The Planar Handbook (and other recent supplements) aren't inspiring.The first issue: I guess that's why it says "Player's Guide" on it. (Though, as I say below, I think it helps DMs as well).The second issue: I do believe that Wizards has recently produced these books for DMs: Eberron, Serpent Kingdoms, the Monster Manuals, Races of Stone (which has a bunch of adventure ideas in the back as well as several other things to help flesh out dwarven, gnomic and goliath cultures). Frostburn looks very interesting from a DM's perspective... and of course you have the OGL as well, allowing products like Beyond Countless Doorways. Is there really a reason that Wizards have to make everything?The third issue: I feel that this is purely personal taste. Expanding on that somewhat, I gave in the post that MM objected to the following anecdote: I'm illustrating how the book inspires the DM through the players. It's one of the most fascinating and key things about RPGs. In other games, you're generally a slave to the game's rules and design. (Better games may allow you more choices than just one, of course). However, in D&D, the players of the game can influence the designer of the campaign (the DM!), thus creating something far more interesting than if it were just the one person creating it.Going back to the original complaints:In Races of Stone - adventure ideas, demographics and campaign seeds.In Planar Handbook - organisations, encounter ideas, descriptive areas.Here's one example from the Planar Handbook:Now, that's the description of a planar touchstone. You could just use it as written - but surely you should be able to expand on that description yourself and turn it into the starting place for a major adventure?Each of the five organisations described in the planar handbook comes with a couple of items of lore that seem pretty well designed to allow campaigns to be built around them!Sure, there's a lot of just rules mechanics in recent books - but I think there's much else, as well!</blockquote>

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