So which book should I buy?

[Crothian]

What are you looking for in a book? What gaming needs do you have? Any books you have that you really like? Are you just looking at the books on this list or are you open to other suggestions?

I ask becasue that's a wide range of books and it just seems like a populiar list instead of a needs list.

 

[Nightfall]

Which is why he probably can't think of anything he needs and wants a popularity contest.

 

[Cedric]

Not trying to be inflammatory, but I'm having a hard time understanding why people should buy testament. It's a period in history I don't find particularly attractive for roleplaying....war, disease, famine, oppression, etc.

What's the attraction for buying testament?

Cedric

 

[Wombat]

Not trying to be inflammatory, but I'm having a hard time understanding why people should buy testament. It's a period in history I don't find particularly attractive for roleplaying....war, disease, famine, oppression, etc.

What's the attraction for buying testament?

Cedric

Sounds like every other roleplaying setting, doesn't it? Characters are pretty much all about war. Disease is common in every society and time period, including today. Famine, too, is a constant problem -- ask any farmer from 3500 BCE to 2000+CE. And oppression? Depends on who is defining the word.

Of course the "period" of history you are talking about also lasts 1000+ years. I'm sure there were at least a couple of years in there without the war, disease, famine, and oppression.

The background material is excellent and can be ported into almost any other setting -- the rules on idol making alone made it worth it for me. The war rules are simple, elegant, and allow players to affect the outcome of major battles with a minimum of fuss. Overall it is a treasure trove of ideas for almost any setting.

Don't look upon Testament as only being useful of the "Biblical Era", but as an idea-mine for almost any game.

 

[d4]

several of the classes and prestige classes are good examples of how to tailor magic-use to give flavor to a particular culture.

we've all seen lots and lots of prestige classes that differentiate how Nation X's fighters fight differently from Kingdom Y's fighters. there hasn't been as much material for differentiating spellcasters by culture before.

the Levite Priest, Hebrew Psalmist, Hebrew Judge, Hebrew Prophet, Khery-Heb (Egyptian "reader of scrolls"), Ren-Hekau (Egyptian "master of true names"), Babylonian Magus of the Starry Host, Canaanite Qedeshot (temple "prostitute"), Idol Maker, and Royal Astrologer are all great flavorful classes that could easily be transported into a homebrew world to give various cultures different magical traditions and flavors.

 

[Gothmog]

Goth,

Can't believe you said skip AU. This is not to knock Testament but come on! In any case Greeny enjoy your purchases.

Well Nighgtfall, I have AU, read it, and it just doesn't do much for me. Its not nearly as innovative as everyone was lead to believe, and while I like the truename idea and scalable spells, there was too much that was just wonky or a powergamer's dream. Dire weapons? Fuzzy races? I can find that stuff in Synnibar, though Monte did it with more taste. Testament however, is really unique, innovative, and has stuff I can lift out without having to makeover the whole dang system from the way I have it now. So I am sticking with my answer.

 

[Davelozzi]

I voted Dragonlance. I picked it up a few weeks ago as something to read for a weekend when I was home sick and have been really enjoying it. That said, I don't own the other books that you listed but am definately interestend in checking out Testament.

Surprised Dragonlance only got 3 votes, though. Guess not many Dragonlance fans, here.

Yeah, this board always seemed pretty lacking in Dragonlance fans. I'm not a hardcore DL fan by any stretch but the new book is really good and I'm suprised by how little it's been discussed here.

 

[Cedric]

several of the classes and prestige classes are good examples of how to tailor magic-use to give flavor to a particular culture.

Ok, so it's not just historical then, it's historical fantasy? Now that makes a lot more sense. When you say roleplaying in the Biblical Era, I think purely historical...

Cedric

 

[Green Knight]

Not trying to be inflammatory, but I'm having a hard time understanding why people should buy testament. It's a period in history I don't find particularly attractive for roleplaying....war, disease, famine, oppression, etc.

What's the attraction for buying testament?

I think you just listed pretty much everything anyone can want in a campaign.

Seriously, I remember buying the GURPS IST book YEARS ago (Got a friends copy lying around here, as a matter of fact) and after reading it it really didn't light anything under me. Why?

Because it was so BORING. The world was practically perfect. There were still a couple bad guys here and there, but the good guys were predominant and most of the world was at peace. It's like Post-Federation Earth. How interesting would a Star Trek campaign based entirely on Earth be? Who wants to play in a campaign world which is lacking in conflict (Unless, of course, you're a fan of Farmer: The RPG )? Hell, I want to run a campaign in GURPS IST just so I can see if I can make it more interesting while staying within the bounds of the timeline.

What are you looking for in a book? What gaming needs do you have? Any books you have that you really like? Are you just looking at the books on this list or are you open to other suggestions?

I ask becasue that's a wide range of books and it just seems like a populiar list instead of a needs list.

Which is why he probably can't think of anything he needs and wants a popularity contest.

Well, as I said in my original post...

There's nothing I need at this moment, so whatever I buy would be just for the enjoyment of reading it and for possible use at an indeterminate point in the future.

Don't actually need any of these. Just these 5 sound interesting, so I'd like to give them a looksie, and hope I can use them in a game, eventually. But if not, oh well. I'm just looking for interesting reading material which I might find some use for at some point in the future.

 

[Nightfall]

As I said Greeny, what ever you pick is fine. Me I would have gone differently, but that's me.

Goth,

Bah. I don't consider more power gamey than Oathbound. And people like that setting!