Surprise Products

[Edgewood]

Has there ever been an RPG product that, despite the poor reviews or general negative comments, that you purchased and it turned out much better than you expected? An example for me was the Complete Divine. Allot of people panned this product but I decided to buy it anyway and I actuallly enjoyed it. I have used it often in the background of my campaign and I find that I still go back to it from time to time. So do you have a product like that? One that surpassed your expectations despite what you heared about it?

 

[Seeten]

Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords. It got terrible reviews, but I loved it more than any other 3.5 book to this point. It didnt have the greatest polish, and even some of the crunch was...a little all over the place, power wise, but, I simply love it.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Races of Destiny was hated on alot. But when I recieved it as a Christmas gift and read it through I actually could not figure out what was so bad about it.

 

[Cincinnatus]

I really enjoyed Cityscape in spite of nearly everyone online trashing it.

 

[Asmor]

I didn't expect to like PHB II, Complete Mage, Complete Scoundrel or either of the Fiendish Codices nearly as much as I did. Not to say that they were panned in reviews, but I just thought they'd be more of the same and really they've all stood out as really fantastic and invaluable products.

I liked Monster Manual IV and I absolutely love the Book of 9 Swords.

 

[DM_Jeff]

Monster Manual 4. Love the format and have used it to great effect in my games.

-DM Jeff

 

[The_Gunslinger658]

Hi-

Strange, most of the guys who seem to like this stuff are also not the posting mavons of this board either.

On topic, I like cityscape alot, some great ideas in that book that will have my players hating me.

Scott

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In contrast, I was incredibly disappointed in Monsternomicon, despite everyone online insisting it's the greatest presentation of the greatest monsters evar.

I expect to use one, maybe two monsters from it, tops, which puts it below every other monster book I own. Even the fluff isn't presented in a way that's useful to me -- I don't want to hear about the expedition to find the creature, I want to know ABOUT THE CREATURE ITSELF.

 

[mhensley]

D&D Minis Game. I bought it with no thought of ever playing the game itself, but quickly found it to be great fun. My group played it instead of D&D for about 3 months when it first came out.

 

[Masquerade]

Add me to the Races of Destiny and Tome of Battle lists. Found nothing not to like in the former, love the latter.