Review of Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium by WotC

So after gushing about this book for several paragraphs, you gave it 3.75 because of the availability constraints? Really? How about you add that in a post-script, but not have it affect the score? I'm sorry you had to drive and get the book, and maybe WotC will learn from this fiasco, but in a month's time are any of us going to remember or give a crap about this roadblock? Remember, there was a time when this was NEVER going to be available. We're lucky to have it at all.

 

[Chaderick]

Great Review

Thanks for such a credible, well-conceived review. I have to admit that, having skimmed through it myself, you put words to all of my thoughts. The only thing that I thought personally that wasn't in your review was a little more edition fatigue.

Adding in mundane items like broadswords and scalemail after such a long time without them just struck me as too little, too late. In my estimation, the game world has been constructed without these items, and the life of 4E is well-lived, some would say that it's getting on in age. These would have been welcome items when the rules were first published, but adding them now holds considerably less excitement for me.

Of course, I was one of the people who didn't like that frost giants were kept out of the first Monster Manual so there would be something recognizable and exciting in Monster Manual 2, so I'm biased in that regard...

Regardless, I think your estimate of the new supplement is right on. Thanks!

 

[callinostros]

Personally, the mundane items are of more interest to me than all the magic items and a big reason of why I want this book.

 

[the Jester]

Nice review.

The availability constraints should absolutely effect the review of the book imho; the only reason I haven't bought this is because I have a 3 hour drive to the nearest place that can get it, and I have learned not to buy gaming material sight unseen. That means it isn't a $30 book, but a $30 book + approx $25 in gas plus six hours of my time. Jesus Christ! That better be an amazing piece of work, and I don't think it's that good.

I understand the desire to support FLGSes and I approve of it in principle; this particular approach, however, just ends up with guys like me not buying what would otherwise be an almost certain sale.

 

[Windjammer]

And I never made any claim that D&D fans had been "clamouring" for a new design type. But I did note that MME had substantial origin "fluff" information regarding magic items, plus many entries containing 4E interpretations of "old school" magic items from previous editions, and new rules for armor, weapons, cursed items, etc.

Any "clamouring" mentioned in my review was with regards to experienced D&D gamers finally getting access to magic items they remember fondly from previous editions on their old characters.

The line in your review I thought mispresentative of AV 2 was this one:

The new design paradigm of creating interesting stories behind the magic items

I got AV 2 on my lap now, and the fluff entries for items - when they are there (pp. 56-81 especially) - are often more substantial than those in MME. Now it could be the case that MME features a higher number of such entires overall (I haven't checked), but the line I just quoted strikes me as misrepresentative as ever. There is no "new design paradigm".

Yes, Ioun Stones were in AV2, but MME introduced 6 new ones. I think using words like "a lot" to discuss the amount of previously released magic items from AV1 and AV2 in MME is exaggeration, and can't be taken seriously.

For example:

Arm Slots - 11 new, no reprints
Feet Slots - 7 new, no reprints
Hand Slots - 5 new, 1 reprint
Head Slots - 14 new, 4 reprints
Neck Slots - 11 new, 5 reprints

I hardly think that 10 items out of nearly 60 named here counts as "a lot" - but then it's a subjective term, and open to interpretation. You're certainly entitled to your opinion and interpretation.

I thank you for giving us these data. I think it fair to mention that you picked a random 20 pages of the book, so while we have a partial impression we are non the clearer on the overall reprint ratio of the book's content. However, as you nicely put it, the data help individual readers to decide for themselves whether 1 in 6 items being a reprint merits the MVRP or not. Thankfully, threads which document further instances of reprints exist on Enworld.
I'd also add that beyond items, we also get henchmen (DMG 2) and alchemy (from AV 1), neither of which are straight reprints but do trade on extant material which they occasionaly copy, and will on the whole do a lot more for people who don't own DMG 2 and AV 1 than for those who do. (A comparative evaluation of the respective treatments would also have be a welcome addition to the review. )

Another interesting question is how useful this book is for players of non-Essentials classes. Suppose I play a druid and want to pick a totem. I could either head over to AV 2 and pick among 29 totems. Or I head over to MME and pick among... 3. I would also note that the new totems fit the revamped role allocation of the Essentials druid and don't really fit the PHB 2 druid well. I'd be interested to hear other break downs for other classes. I picked druid because that's the one I currently play (PH 2/Primal Power build).

PS And what he hell is it with potted plants? One thread and 3 people who've basically registered (post count: 1 (x2), 4) to tell us that it's a) a greaaaaat book and b) totally worth your time and money driving to the FLGS. Seriously, what gives?

 

[BriarMonkey]

I guess it's a good thing I don't do reviews.

Had a book, using this one as an example, been something that I wanted, yet the only way to acquire said book was to drive to my local game store (if there is one), I would give the book an well earned Fail.

As has been said, it is one thing to support the game stores, but it is completely another to limit a product in such a way that interested parties can not obtain said book. (And yes, there are many who do not have a store in a reasonable driving distance, and many more stores that do not have an on-line ordering presence.)

Just another "gimmick" that makes one wonder what they are thinking at WotC.

 

[hemera]

I just wanted to say that I found the review to be pretty much spot on with what my group had to say. (DM bought Threats of Nentir Vale to share with the group, so I bought this) Above average book, but not really worth the full price I paid for it. If I would have gotten it from Amazon, sure it would have been fine, but gas, time and msrp = meh.

And neuroglyph, I've really appreciated the reviews you've done. The Nentir Vale one convinced our group to buy the book.

 

[Neuroglyph]

I got AV 2 on my lap now, and the fluff entries for items - when they are there (pp. 56-81 especially) - are often more substantial than those in MME. Now it could be the case that MME features a higher number of such entires overall (I haven't checked), but the line I just quoted strikes me as misrepresentative as ever. There is no "new design paradigm".

Windjammer, I think the misrepresentation is suggesting that AV2 was anything like MME. It wasn't, and there is definitely a new attitude at WotC concerning creating useful background information and hooks. I'm not sure how you possibly missed that EVERY magic item in MME, including magical ammo, potions, alchemy items, and other consumables has a "fluff" paragraph or two introducing it - and in some cases, a sidebar comment from Mordenkainen. I'm not sure how, if you bought MME, you could have missed that comparing it to the AV2 in your lap, which only has a few sidebars scattered throughout the book, and many items have no origin information at all.

I think it fair to mention that you picked a random 20 pages of the book, so while we have a partial impression we are non the clearer on the overall reprint ratio of the book's content. However, as you nicely put it, the data help individual readers to decide for themselves whether 1 in 6 items being a reprint merits the MVRP or not. Thankfully, threads which document further instances of reprints exist on Enworld.

I can't help but notice you inferring that I selected a specific sampling of the MME's pages which was not representative of the whole. Since you seem very concerned about clarifying the overall reprint ratio, I took the time to complete a full accounting of MME's items:

Mundane Armor - 7 new, 0 reprints
Magic Armor – 17 new, 0 reprints
Mundane & Superior Weapons – 6 new, 16 reprints*

Magic Weapons – 26 new, 0 reprints
Magical Ammunition – 7 new, 0 reprints
Superior Implements – 37 reprints**

Magic Implements – 39 new, 0 reprints
Magic Arm slots – 11 new, 0 reprints
Magic Feet slots – 7 new, 0 reprints
Magic Hand slots - 5 new, 1 reprints
Magic Head Slots – 14 new, 4 reprints
Magic Neck Slots – 11 new, 5 reprints
Magic Rings – 6 new, 0 reprints
Magic Waist slots - 3 new, 4 reprints
Wondrous Items – 18 new, 15 reprints
Consumable Items – 22 new, 7 reprints
Other Consumable – 14 new, 0 reprints
Artifacts – 7 new, 0 reprints
Cursed Items – 15 new, 0 reprints
Adventuring Gear - 36 new, 6 reprints
Buildings – 14 new, 0 reprints
Trade Goods – 16 new, 1 reprint
Alchemy Items – 16 new, 4 reprints


*Some reprints were needed to change some weapon categories or add new properties (like Small)

** Some reprints added DDI only content (Dragon Magazine) items to an official supplement.

This gives a total of 317 new items and 100 reprints. Of the reprints, 60 are mundane weapons, adventuring gear, and superior weapons or implements, which took up around 5 pages in Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium. If you remove those 60 items from the tally, unless you really want to quibble over mundane items which covered a minuscule fraction of MME's pages, you have a ratio of 11% reprints out of a total of 357 items. So actually 1 in 6 was indeed an unfair sampling, when the total is more like 1 in 10.

I hope that this new data helps you and other D&D gamers to make the decision about buying your own copy of the MME or not, and to decide whether the information in MME is worth the added cost of a trip to the FLGS.

 

[Windjammer]

This gives a total of 317 new items and 100 reprints.

Yes, and once we discount that 24% of the items are reprints and that other stuff like "the Henchmen and Hirelings article from DDI is reprinted in its entirety" (amazon.com) then 100% of the stuff in MME is new.

I hope that this new data helps you and other D&D gamers to make the decision about buying your own copy of the MME or not, and to decide whether the information in MME is worth the added cost of a trip to the FLGS.

Absolutely. Thank you again for the effort of providing these data. We may draw vastly different conclusions from the data, but it's of great service that you provided these. Many thanks, and XP gladly given.

 

[Neuroglyph]

Had a book, using this one as an example, been something that I wanted, yet the only way to acquire said book was to drive to my local game store (if there is one), I would give the book an well earned Fail.

As has been said, it is one thing to support the game stores, but it is completely another to limit a product in such a way that interested parties can not obtain said book. (And yes, there are many who do not have a store in a reasonable driving distance, and many more stores that do not have an on-line ordering presence.)

Just another "gimmick" that makes one wonder what they are thinking at WotC.

I would have to agree, and that WotC "gimmick" is one of those great mysteries of this book that will almost certainly never be adequately explained to the D&D fans. There are plenty of places in the US alone that don't have a cnearby FLGS, and where mail order is the only reasonable way to purchase our D&D materials. I'm sure there are plenty of folks who had to travel much farther than I did to get to their "local" store, and will be mightily overcharged for this book if we add the MSRP and the price of gas for the trip.

If WotC REALLY wanted to take a stab at leveling the playing field, they would offer incentive packages to the brick-and-mortar stores so that they can offer D&D products at the 20% discount the online stores do. Or maybe even throw in a bonus item, only available at real stores that the bookvenders.com don't get to offer the customers.

Of course that solution would bite into the profit margin on the books, so it's clearly better to just let the fans foot the bill for WotC's "generosity" to the FLGS's, right?

 

[Samurai]

I ordered this at my FLGS, but it's still not in yet. I didn't know it had reprinted material in it when I ordered it, that might have made a difference. However, some of it is from DDI (which I don't subscribe to), and some it seems was changed. Why were the other items reprinted though? If it wasn't changed in some way, and had already been printed in a book rather than just online, why bother to reprint it? Just to fill space? That's really disappointing.