Guilt Puppy
First Post
Checked up on most of this... Stuff that really caught my eye:
Monster's Handbook... Almost certainly going to pick this up, but a few questions regardless: Does it give instructions for building monsters from scratch (rather than modifying existing ones)? Anything aside from monster-building rules (tactics for running monsters, habitat issues, et cetera)? I checked out the pdf link, and a lot of that struck me as pure genius (when I saw "prestige classes" I automatically cringed, but taking the time to look through them they seem insanely useful and productive). I'm planning on hand-building the majority of monsters for my next campaign, (to negate my players' Knowledge (Monster Manual) ranks) so I can't see this being anything less than invaluable.
Scarred Lands: What is/are the primary sourcebook/s for this? Nothing pops out as a clear, get-this-and-you-understand-the-setting guide... It sounds like a good setting, but is it easily customizable (I don't want to get tied down having to buy other books to run it properly...) Also, in whatever the primary sourcebook is, how "DM-sensitive" is the information? One of my roommates (we switch DM roles a lot) was talking about the kind of campaign world he wanted to run, and Scarred Lands seemed to ring a bell, so I'd want the book to be open for perusing... Would this compromise any important surprises?
Dungeon Magazine: It's a great deal, but I'm a little wary about WotC material, especially the magazines... The first few splatbooks really left a bad taste in my mouth, and the Dragons I read at the time seemed to have the same flavor, so I never bothered subscribing. Dungeon would be far more useful to me (I get the occasional bout of writers' block designing adventures, so it's nice to be able to plug something in at time to time), assuming the stuff that's published in it generally varies in terms of appropriate level, doesn't make too many assumptions about campaign setting, and doesn't rely on too much non-core material. I don't want to run adventures versus Githyanki Wiz8/Alienist4/Duelist4's, basically
Freeport: Lots of good reviews for it, and the three intro adventure modules are nice... How well does it drop into other settings (let's use the Scarred Lands as an example: I'm at least going to run something similar to that)? Do you need the guide to the city to effectively run the trilogy? Are the gaps in the trilogy enough to fit in side-adventures (and scaleable, at that?)
Bluffside: More or less the same questions as Freeport... Heard good things about it, not too sure how well it will fit.
Thanks for the suggestions, and if you have any more, throw them out (I figure I'm not the only one who's got some D&D cash to burn at the moment ). BTW, mearls and others with a "vested interest," push your products as hard as you like. I don't expect anyone's opinion to be unbiased, and it's always nice to hear what a designer has to say about their own product (as opposed to a copy editor, or even a reviewer)...
Monster's Handbook... Almost certainly going to pick this up, but a few questions regardless: Does it give instructions for building monsters from scratch (rather than modifying existing ones)? Anything aside from monster-building rules (tactics for running monsters, habitat issues, et cetera)? I checked out the pdf link, and a lot of that struck me as pure genius (when I saw "prestige classes" I automatically cringed, but taking the time to look through them they seem insanely useful and productive). I'm planning on hand-building the majority of monsters for my next campaign, (to negate my players' Knowledge (Monster Manual) ranks) so I can't see this being anything less than invaluable.
Scarred Lands: What is/are the primary sourcebook/s for this? Nothing pops out as a clear, get-this-and-you-understand-the-setting guide... It sounds like a good setting, but is it easily customizable (I don't want to get tied down having to buy other books to run it properly...) Also, in whatever the primary sourcebook is, how "DM-sensitive" is the information? One of my roommates (we switch DM roles a lot) was talking about the kind of campaign world he wanted to run, and Scarred Lands seemed to ring a bell, so I'd want the book to be open for perusing... Would this compromise any important surprises?
Dungeon Magazine: It's a great deal, but I'm a little wary about WotC material, especially the magazines... The first few splatbooks really left a bad taste in my mouth, and the Dragons I read at the time seemed to have the same flavor, so I never bothered subscribing. Dungeon would be far more useful to me (I get the occasional bout of writers' block designing adventures, so it's nice to be able to plug something in at time to time), assuming the stuff that's published in it generally varies in terms of appropriate level, doesn't make too many assumptions about campaign setting, and doesn't rely on too much non-core material. I don't want to run adventures versus Githyanki Wiz8/Alienist4/Duelist4's, basically
Freeport: Lots of good reviews for it, and the three intro adventure modules are nice... How well does it drop into other settings (let's use the Scarred Lands as an example: I'm at least going to run something similar to that)? Do you need the guide to the city to effectively run the trilogy? Are the gaps in the trilogy enough to fit in side-adventures (and scaleable, at that?)
Bluffside: More or less the same questions as Freeport... Heard good things about it, not too sure how well it will fit.
Thanks for the suggestions, and if you have any more, throw them out (I figure I'm not the only one who's got some D&D cash to burn at the moment
). BTW, mearls and others with a "vested interest," push your products as hard as you like. I don't expect anyone's opinion to be unbiased, and it's always nice to hear what a designer has to say about their own product (as opposed to a copy editor, or even a reviewer)...
