Shamans (MONGOOSE) vs Shamans (GREEN RONIN) - Anyone's experience yet?

[Desdichado]

Crothian:
So, it finally happened. What peopl;e have been worried about from day one. 2 different companies do the same basic book in two different ways, and both are of superior content. I'm looking forward to more hard choices like this.

Didn't this already happen in the case of the seafarer books?

 

[Pramas]

Psion, you gave a 4 to Green Ronin's shaman book, and a 5 to Mongoose's.
Why the difference? What made you see Mongoose's as the better book?

The Shaman's Handbook review from Psion is a 5 actually.

http://www.enworld.org/d20reviews.asp?sub=yes&where=active&reviewer=Psion&product=TSHH

 

[Tuerny]

Well, I feel stupid. I will go scurry back into my little hole over there then.

::scurries off::

 

[Psion]

Psion, you gave a 4 to Green Ronin's shaman book, and a 5 to Mongoose's.
Why the difference? What made you see Mongoose's as the better book?

As Chris said, I gave them both 5's (sorry guys, can't make your choice any easier than mine!) You may be thinking of Armies of the Abyss perhaps?

Hmmm. As soon as more people get ED: Shamans, I may have to start a thread on how to integrate the best parts of both.

EDIT 1.1: Now that I think about it, I think it was a 4 when I put it up because something someone said had me thinking like a skating judge (ahem.) But then, I decided that I shouldn't let that influence me so I changed it to a 5.

Truth be told, I don't put as much stock in the numbers as most people do since I consider the "number" a very personal take. I rarely decide what number I give a product until I actually select it on the reviews page. And even then, I sometimes waffle for a while after I put it up (if you look at the comments in some reviews, like Magic of Rokugan, you will see comments like "this was a 4 before... what happened!? In fact, MoR went from 4 to 3 then back to 4. ).

EDIT 2: If I may go off on a tangent, as to why I don't put too much stock in numbers:

Currently, there is a discussion going on over on the Kalamar boards. It seems that many KoK fans think that I am a Kalamar basher and that I trash Kalamar. I am somewhat tepid about it personally. It has some neat ideas in it here and there, but overall I'd rather play my homebrew than KoK. However, one of these KoK fans quoted from a thread in which I said "I think there are better settings." But in the same breath (er, stroke of typing?), I told the person in the quoted thread that Kalamar was exactly what he was looking for given his description. You see, a game product may not jive with my personal tastes and needs, but it may be just what you are looking for.

A trend of lots of 1's or 5's may tell you something (though not invariably), but rarely does one person's number amount to a whole lot. The content of the review (which should reflect the content of the product, natch) should tell you if the product in question fits your tastes and needs.

 

[Aitch Eye]

I was under the impression that Psion gave it a four as well, was there a change or is it just another damn Folie a Deaux?

(edit: Board delays made that comment superfluous.)

I'm probably going to have to buy both as well, though Mongoose's now seems a bit closer to what I'm looking for. Thanks to both companies for filling the niche so nicely.

 

[Ialdabode]

I think (personally) I'm leaning more towards the Green Ronin book. It's a personal call though - I feel more comfortable using material an ex-WOTC employee oversaw than I do something a straight d20 company came up with. Maybe it's just a silly bias, but what do you expect?

 

[Desdichado]

Psion:
A trend of lots of 1's or 5's may tell you something (though not invariably), but rarely does one person's number amount to a whole lot.

My reviews tend to trend fairly high, but that's only because I rarely buy something that I'm really interested in, so the amount of material I review relative to the amount of material I like is really high. I think I've only give two 3s and one 2, while I've given more than half a dozen 4s and a few 5s. As you say, though, the content of the review is where the real goods are at. However, I often depend on the number to make me even look at the content, unless it's a book that I'm really interested in picking up anyway.

 

[KChagga]

If you guys are interested in shamans you can download free shaman and spirit magic rules at www.netbookofplanes.org They are in the downloads section. Not only are these rules FREE they are also OGC. What are you doing go get it!

 

[Tsyr]

Well, for me it was already kinda a no brainer (I've been converted by Mongoose, I love their work)... but honestly, even fanboy bias aside, I think I'm gonna go with ED:Shamans... it sounds much more like a shaman from Shadowrun, which I always thought were quite cool.

 

[Desdichado]

Y'know what else would be an interesting comparison: if Green Ronin's shaman stays more within the framework of existing core classes, then how does it compare to the Oriental Adventures Shaman, which does the same thing?