Product page for Volo's Guide to Monsters updated

Oh that is a nice preface.

 

[pukunui]

I want a better idea of what will be in the Dungeonolgy book before I get excited.

Check out the Dungeonology thread. There's a link to a pretty comprehensive review, complete with pictures.

 

[MechaPilot]

I would have preferred seeing the table of contents to the preface; I'm mostly interested in Chapter 2 of the book.

I will say the preface doesn't fill me with a great deal of desire to buy the book from an entertainment perspective. Elminster's comments come off like the critics from the Muppet Show, but with far less quality in the humor. By way of contrast, the original Van Richten's guides are still an entertaining read for me anytime I pick them up, and I haven't played AD&D 2e in several years.

 

[Desrimal]

I don't really see how additional Monter Lore or more Character Races are going to improve my game. More monsters (and NPCs?) however, are always welcome. I wish they'd just made a Monster Manual 2 in a style similar to the original MM, which, in my opinion, is the best MM ever.
EDIT: I Can see that I've posted the same text twice. Sorry about that - I didn't think the first post had been sent

 

[Remathilis]

Think of it like this.

Paizo chose to sell the following separately.

The Monster Codex: Detailing 20 monsters with additional info, ecology, and variants.

Advanced Race Guide: Additional info on races, plus new races.

Bestiary 2: More monsters.

Paizo sold each of these as $44 books. Now, Volo's Guide isn't as big as all three put together, but we have a chunk of each for $50.

A WotC not so long ago would have gone the Paizo route and sold us each separately as well. I'm kinda glad they didn't.

 

[gyor]

Check out the Dungeonology thread. There's a link to a pretty comprehensive review, complete with pictures.

Thanks, I didn't reize it was out.

 

[Desrimal]

Think of it like this.

Paizo chose to sell the following separately.

The Monster Codex: Detailing 20 monsters with additional info, ecology, and variants.

Advanced Race Guide: Additional info on races, plus new races.

Bestiary 2: More monsters.

Paizo sold each of these as $44 books. Now, Volo's Guide isn't as big as all three put together, but we have a chunk of each for $50.

A WotC not so long ago would have gone the Paizo route and sold us each separately as well. I'm kinda glad they didn't.

Since all I want is more monsters, I definitely prefer Paizos route. I would save $6 and get more of what I want!

 

[pukunui]

Thanks, I didn't reize it was out.

I don't think it is. The reviewer just got a copy in advance.

 

[gyor]

Since all I want is more monsters, I definitely prefer Paizos route. I would save $6 and get more of what I want!

WotC is being severly mismanged right now, so they have extremely limited publishing slots, so the creative types they made a compromise between those who wanted a setting book, those who wanted ecology of articles, those who wanted more player options, and those who wanted more monsters, because they couldn't do one book of each, thanks to the corporate weasels mismanging WotC. So I'm sorry, they're going to ask you to make a compromise you don't want to make, so blame the corporate bean counters.

 

[gyor]

"Chapter 2: Character Races presents character races that are some of the more distinctive race options in the D&D multiverse."

That the races chapter mention distictive races in the multiverse, not Faerun is telling. I think there is a chance that Warforged, Changeling, Kender, Muls, could be in it, at least as quick races.

Of course it could be refering to Planar creatures like Shadar Kai, but my instinct is they're going to throw a bone to fans of other settings.

Oh and the pod cast confirmed Knbolds and Shadow Mastiffs are in the book.

 

[pkt77242]

Just because WoTC isn't putting out the product(s) you want doesn't mean that they are being mismanaged. The info that we have seems to say the opposite, that WoTC is being managed very well. A well run company can't be everything to everyone and blaming the "bean counters" without knowledge of the situation shows a lack of knowledge in regards to how a business is run.

WotC is being severly mismanged right now, so they have extremely limited publishing slots, so the creative types they made a compromise between those who wanted a setting book, those who wanted ecology of articles, those who wanted more player options, and those who wanted more monsters, because they couldn't do one book of each, thanks to the corporate weasels mismanging WotC. So I'm sorry, they're going to ask you to make a compromise you don't want to make, so blame the corporate bean counters.