Starting a new Midnight Campaign. Do I need the books?

[reveal]

We have decided to start a new Midnight campaign. My DM has assured me that we will not need the books. However, I'm not so sure about that. He has given us the following:

Pointed us to the world history on Midnight on the FFG website
Strictly the numbers on:
Races
Classes
Heroic Paths
Feats

That's about it. Really, there is no background info on anything and he has touched on the spell system. So, my question to you is twofold:

Do we really need the book and, if so, which one? I see there is Midnight and Midnight: Against the Shadow. Reading the description on Amazon, M:AtS looks like more of a players book than a DMs. But then I've never actually read either and would like to know whether I should bother going to my FLGS and getting one or both.

All advice is welcome.

 

[Beastman]

Think your DM's "ruling" here is ok. As a player you do not really need those books, although at some time in the near future, he should brief you on possible prestige classes. I think a strong point of the setting is its flavor. Reading the books can spoil the atmosphere. If your DM is "good", you will experience a non-traditional world (traditional in the sense of FR or Greyhawk for example) and exciting world, and experiencing this world through roleplaying does enhance this feeling even more so; if it is done "right"

 

[Zerakon]

We have decided to start a new Midnight campaign. My DM has assured me that we will not need the books.

...

All advice is welcome.

My advice, without knowing anything about the Midnight books other than what Ashrem Bayle and company tell us here on the boards from time to time, is this:

Buy the book!!

Come on, the author(s) put a lot of work into the setting, it's just cheesy to try to run a Midnight campaign without paying for the actual book(s). Pool your money if you have to and buy 1 copy for the whole group. Sheesh.

edit: toned down my language, for fear of seeming too harsh.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

My advice, without knowing anything about the Midnight books other than what Ashrem Bayle and company tell us here on the boards from time to time, is this:

Buy the book, you cheap bas****s!!

Indeed!

If you have the cash, do yourself a favor and buy the books. They are all VERY well done.

The Midnight Campaign Setting is an absolute must for the DM. He would be doing himself (and his players) an extreme injustice by trying to run the setting without it.

Crown of Shadow is a wonderful adventure, but by no means necessary.

Against the Shadow is a suppliment book. It isn't necessary, but is very well done and has some great info to flesh the setting out.

Minions of Shadow is Midnight's Monster Manual. Again, it isn't necessary, but it really helps flesh everything out.

My point is, you can't run the setting "correctly" without the Midnight CS. The players don't need it, but the DM does. For a good Midnight campaign, the players shouldn't need to buy anything. However, the DM should seriously consider the suppliment books as they all have something to add.

Also, you may or may not know that I am the Chief Editor of the Midnight Netbook, The Tome of Counted Sorrows (Title not finalized). We are looking at about 200 pages of supplimental Midnight info.

Here is a very rough look at the unfinished book's table of contents:

Introduction by Wil Upchurch, co-creator of Midnight

Heroes of Eredane
Commoner NPCs (from Crown of Shadow PbP game)
Commoner to PC class conversion
Human Subraces (Asmadarians & Ahrli)
PRCs
Feats: Soul Stalker Feat, Soul Hunter Feat
Skills: Weaponsmithing and Armorsmithing
RevisedAlternate Mystic Path
Whisper Adepts
Smugglers
Aradil's Eyes
Sarcosan Knights

Sorceries of Midnight
Colours of Magic
God Touched Regions
Destroying a Black Mirror
Changes to standard spells
New Spells
Expanded Astirax Magic Sense
Magic Items: Soul Blades, Ancestral Weapons, Agone's Coil, Erethor Tea

Blood of the Battlefield
Wound/Vitality Point System w/ Damage Threshold rules & New Death and Dying rules.
Defense
Weapon and Armor Degradation
Weapon Hardness and Hit Point Appendix

Ways of the World
Roll of Years (Midnight Timeline)
Revised Cold Weather Exposure rules
Revised Overland Movement and Exhaustion rules
Revised Starvation and Thirst rules
Hunting and Wilderness Survival rules
New Disease Rules
Food Storage and Freshness

Face of the Shadow
Taint of Evil
Black Wardens
Black Blood Dwarves/Dorin Clan

Midnight Campaigns
Advice for Midnight DMs
1d20 Ways to Start a Midnight Campaign
Adventure Hooks
Steel Hill

What Lurks After Midnight - Midnight monster Compedium

Midnight FAQ

3.5 Conversions

Note: Any of the above is subject to change. We are shooting for an October 1st release. It will be free of charge and will be hosted at www.againsttheshadow.org

 

[reveal]

The DM already has the CS book. I was just asking from a player's perspective. As it stands, it seems that I don't need to buy the book.

 

[Rugger]

The DM already has the CS book. I was just asking from a player's perspective. As it stands, it seems that I don't need to buy the book.

If you DM doesn't WANT you to buy it...then I wouldn't. Allow him to introduce you to the world and all its wonders...

But if he doesn't care if you buy the book...

Buy it. Best purchase I've made in ages.

-Rugger
"I Midnight!"

 

[Nifelhein]

This is right now being answered on the Midnight d20 yahoogroups.

The DM wants to keep and air of mistery and buying the book and reading it would ruin it enterely, you may talk to him and know what you could read and so everyone would be happy:
You would read what would be helpful.
Fantasy Flight sells more midnight books that would support the line even more.
Your DM has a player who is interested and accepts his reasoning.

That is what I am gonna do with my upcoming Midnight Campaign, my books are on their way!! Exepct for Minions which Amazon could not send before 1 or 2 months... next month I will order it and wait, just the same with D&D 3.5 Gift Set.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

This is right now being answered on the Midnight d20 yahoogroups.

The DM wants to keep and air of mistery and buying the book and reading it would ruin it enterely, you may talk to him and know what you could read and so everyone would be happy:
You would read what would be helpful.
Fantasy Flight sells more midnight books that would support the line even more.
Your DM has a player who is interested and accepts his reasoning.

That is what I am gonna do with my upcoming Midnight Campaign, my books are on their way!! Exepct for Minions which Amazon could not send before 1 or 2 months... next month I will order it and wait, just the same with D&D 3.5 Gift Set.

Go ahead and order. Mine said it would take 1-2 months, but I went ahead and ordered. It arrived a few days ago. Thier webiste is terrible when it comes to telling you the delay period.

 

[Nifelhein]

Go ahead and order. Mine said it would take 1-2 months, but I went ahead and ordered. It arrived a few days ago. Thier webiste is terrible when it comes to telling you the delay period.

Yeah, amazon truly sucks when it comes to time delay... but won't be able to order it until next month, 10th... I will probably order it and one other book from my list, any suggestion of what would fit well with midnight?

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Yeah, amazon truly sucks when it comes to time delay... but won't be able to order it until next month, 10th... I will probably order it and one other book from my list, any suggestion of what would fit well with midnight?

Oddly enough, I'm in the process of melding some aspects of Arcana Unearthed into my Midnight game.

The races and spellcasting classes don't fit, but almost everything else works great.