JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Well, take this with a grain of salt as I am an official reviewer and my opinions may be biased! (Yeah, big pay here buddy!)
I bought EN World Journal at the store the other day. My hobby store has a weird thing where for every full $10 bought you get a check on a card and ten checks equal $10 dollars spending cash. Kinda like a 9% discount if you will.
Well, I'm not overly impressed with En World mainly because I don't have time to really dig into it. Like Dragon and Signs & Portents, I'm mainly looking for things I can yank into my own game with little notice.
Reading Morrus column for example, interesting, but hey, I'm here at En World.
Butterboar's Barrels I didn't read entirely, not because it's not a good article, but the time thing again. I do like the idea of magic barrels mind you but worry that when you start pointing out that every mundane object can be magical, that players will take advantage of that.
Weapon Finesse or Simplified Combat Rules? Skipped entirly. Not even interested in changing my system at the moment.
Ancient Tomes and Books of Magic: Clark Peterson hits the nail right on the head here. I've used lots of Phil Reed's PDF supplements to add more details to my game and I enjoy articles like this a lot as it's easy to read, easy to use and has a quick ROI (in this case, time spent reading).
Lesser Races of the Wilderlands by Clark Peterson, Scott Greene and James Mishler: Another great article. Right now I'm running a FR game where pretty much 'everything goes' so these guys will be introduced sooner or latter. Lots of OGC outside of the specific names and background. (Ghul PI eh?)
Iron Rations: Hey, survival 101! Great stuff for those brand new players. Drop the counters and picture of the skeleton though and try to use some actual maps. More mention of wolf pack tactics, the right to retreat, and the right not to fight everything the GM puts in your way should be in next issue.
Dvestri or High Dwarves by Yury Pavlotsky: Looks interesting and even has racial levels. For me, racial levels just click and feel right. I suspect that when 4th ed comes out, almost everything with have options for class and racial levels and templates to really customize something.
Ghostbrand Sword: Looks interesting but once again, haven't read it all yet. Sample weapons make it easy to use.
Sons of the Sea, the Church of Harrimast and the Cult of Yarash: A good look at some of the material in the upcoming Black Sails Over Freeport. Good stuff.
The Adventurer's Guide to Surviving Anything, Part IV by Peter M. Ball and Ryan Nock: Interesting stuff here. I've used some of the materail in past issues so look forward to it digging in and thinking about the way to use it next. After seeing the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I'm more inspired then ever to make the background a part of the combat environment. "Hop onto that table." "Jump onto that ledge." "Fall into that river."
Rapier Wit by Derek Becker: Another one I skipped over. No interest. Art was below average.
Faith & Lies: R. Scott Kennan gives a good idea on how the different ideas of worship work in a Morningstar game. Glad to see it here. Maybe some more material like monsters or PrCs?
My Friend the Formian: A dungeon crawl short adventure for 5th level characters. Good stuff and included as it is, a good price. I love the background. "Really, do you need it? It's a one-hour adventure that's meant to be a drop-in dungeon. Make up something on the fly and go with it."
Tracking: Haven't looked at it as I don't need to go into hyper detail. Perhaps at a latter date I may but for now... also sub art here.
Modern Magical Items: My d20 Modern experience is limited to a few settings so this was another pass.
Lyceum Spell Dueling: Pass. I've got about three spell dueling methods now. Didn't need another one.
A Mid-September Night's Dream: Didn't like it personally.
The cover isn't thin but is tight. Can't explain it, like it's waiting to rip. Interior paper feels pulpy or thin.
The Necromancer Games stuff did the job for me and I felt that I got my money's worth out of this issue.
I bought EN World Journal at the store the other day. My hobby store has a weird thing where for every full $10 bought you get a check on a card and ten checks equal $10 dollars spending cash. Kinda like a 9% discount if you will.
Well, I'm not overly impressed with En World mainly because I don't have time to really dig into it. Like Dragon and Signs & Portents, I'm mainly looking for things I can yank into my own game with little notice.
Reading Morrus column for example, interesting, but hey, I'm here at En World.
Butterboar's Barrels I didn't read entirely, not because it's not a good article, but the time thing again. I do like the idea of magic barrels mind you but worry that when you start pointing out that every mundane object can be magical, that players will take advantage of that.
Weapon Finesse or Simplified Combat Rules? Skipped entirly. Not even interested in changing my system at the moment.
Ancient Tomes and Books of Magic: Clark Peterson hits the nail right on the head here. I've used lots of Phil Reed's PDF supplements to add more details to my game and I enjoy articles like this a lot as it's easy to read, easy to use and has a quick ROI (in this case, time spent reading).
Lesser Races of the Wilderlands by Clark Peterson, Scott Greene and James Mishler: Another great article. Right now I'm running a FR game where pretty much 'everything goes' so these guys will be introduced sooner or latter. Lots of OGC outside of the specific names and background. (Ghul PI eh?)
Iron Rations: Hey, survival 101! Great stuff for those brand new players. Drop the counters and picture of the skeleton though and try to use some actual maps. More mention of wolf pack tactics, the right to retreat, and the right not to fight everything the GM puts in your way should be in next issue.
Dvestri or High Dwarves by Yury Pavlotsky: Looks interesting and even has racial levels. For me, racial levels just click and feel right. I suspect that when 4th ed comes out, almost everything with have options for class and racial levels and templates to really customize something.
Ghostbrand Sword: Looks interesting but once again, haven't read it all yet. Sample weapons make it easy to use.
Sons of the Sea, the Church of Harrimast and the Cult of Yarash: A good look at some of the material in the upcoming Black Sails Over Freeport. Good stuff.
The Adventurer's Guide to Surviving Anything, Part IV by Peter M. Ball and Ryan Nock: Interesting stuff here. I've used some of the materail in past issues so look forward to it digging in and thinking about the way to use it next. After seeing the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I'm more inspired then ever to make the background a part of the combat environment. "Hop onto that table." "Jump onto that ledge." "Fall into that river."
Rapier Wit by Derek Becker: Another one I skipped over. No interest. Art was below average.
Faith & Lies: R. Scott Kennan gives a good idea on how the different ideas of worship work in a Morningstar game. Glad to see it here. Maybe some more material like monsters or PrCs?
My Friend the Formian: A dungeon crawl short adventure for 5th level characters. Good stuff and included as it is, a good price. I love the background. "Really, do you need it? It's a one-hour adventure that's meant to be a drop-in dungeon. Make up something on the fly and go with it."
Tracking: Haven't looked at it as I don't need to go into hyper detail. Perhaps at a latter date I may but for now... also sub art here.
Modern Magical Items: My d20 Modern experience is limited to a few settings so this was another pass.
Lyceum Spell Dueling: Pass. I've got about three spell dueling methods now. Didn't need another one.
A Mid-September Night's Dream: Didn't like it personally.
The cover isn't thin but is tight. Can't explain it, like it's waiting to rip. Interior paper feels pulpy or thin.
The Necromancer Games stuff did the job for me and I felt that I got my money's worth out of this issue.
