Surprised by the non-suckage

[Fishbone]

Sovereign Stone, 2002 edition. Serious, check this out. There is no way in hell that a 200+ page hardcover of this quality should go for under 10 bucks shipping and handling at Amazon. There is no reason for the magic book being sold for under 10 bucks from just about everywhere. The fact that you can get it very easily in trades and at drastic markdowns at nearly every game store I've been in is ludicrous. For 3 or 4 color, good bound hardcovers using 3/3.5 rules for well under 20 dollars is insane.

 

[Odhanan]

I'm a confessed BRP (Chaosium) purist, but my GOD the d20 CoC book is amazing! I say, take 'em both! If you don't like BRP, use d20, and vice-versa!

I'm not a BRP "purist" by any means, but fan I am, and indeed, CoC d20 is really, really good. Any Cthulhu fan would like to have both BRP and d20 editions. The d20 version has a lot of fluff and really good GM advice that the BRP editions do not include, for one, and the d20 treatment is itself of prime quality.

As for the non-sucking surprises, none really come to mind at this point. If I think a book sucks, I just don't buy it, usually. Exception would be the MMs. I'm liking MM4, so far, didn't want to buy it at all originally and obviously changed my mind when I had it in front of me at Chapters.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Incarnum isn't bad, but it's a bit hard to use in-game.

See, the thing about Incarnum is that it's sorta neat, but I have yet to figure out what an Incarnate is supposed to do in a party.

Brad

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmm, for amazing non-suckage, at least from my PoV... I purchased Mongoose Publishing's Quintessential Fighter purely for the mass combat system (I already owned Seas of Blood, which has the naval rules for same).

I was pleasantly surprised by two things with that book - the quality of the rules for the most part, and the amount of cheesecake thought that went into the fighting schools. Not useable out of the book, but a few months later they had a downloadable update that added an XP cost to learning them.

The Auld Grump

 

[gribble]

Book of Nine Swords, which I spent the last few days reading.

Some might be surprised to hear me say this (especially if you've read the proto-review thread), but I'm with Mouseferatu here. I expected to not like this book at all, but I really do like it: great flavour, great mechanics, and just oozing with cool.

I do have an issue with the power level of the warblade, but it's reasonably straight forward to fix that (house rule to d10 hp and that they can only make a single melee attack in the round they regain their maneuvers, and I think they'll be about right). And other than that one issue, I love the book!

An honorable mention goes to Tome of Magic. I expected not to like this book (I was thinking: I don't need yet another magic system), but was very plesantly surprised. Again, I love the flavour, but I think the mechanics were generally a little too weak (except for the binder).

 

[ChristianW]

Book of Erotic Fantasy

I saw a copy of the Book of Erotic Fantasy last night at the Borders in Westwood. I read several pages and thought it was intriguing. My wife wants nothing to do with role-playing games (the rulebooks intimidate her), but when I told her aout the book, she was intrigued. Perhaps romantic/erotic/social intrigue might be a fun way to introduce SOs to the hobby?

Whaddya think?

 

[Fishbone]

I'm thinking you're totally out to lunch on this one. Find another form of foreplay that doesn't involve 3 hours of explanation and a pocket calculator.

 

[GAAAHHH]

I really liked the Monster Manual II. Considering how many people dislike it here, I'm surprised.

My favorite monsters:
Corpse Gatherer - come on, who doesn't like a walking graveyard?
Hook Horror - a classic underdark monster
Ragamoffyn - That pile of rags in the corner might not get ignored anymore
Gem Dragons

Why exactly do people not like this book? I think I've read about mismatched CR's, but CR is a vague measure at best, and depends largely on the party makeup.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I'm thinking you're totally out to lunch on this one. Find another form of foreplay that doesn't involve 3 hours of explanation and a pocket calculator.

Must... resist... urge... to... add.. to... signature... file....

 

[Pants]

Why exactly do people not like this book? I think I've read about mismatched CR's, but CR is a vague measure at best, and depends largely on the party makeup.

Not that I *hate* or dislike the MMII by any means, but it is by far, my least favorite of the Monster Manual series for two, primary reasons:

1) Lots of really stupid/bland/poorly executed monsters. The Deathbringer, Hellfire Wyrm, Abeil, Desmodu, Loxo, Jahi, Famine Spirit, Clockwork Horrors, and the Flesh Jelly are all prime examples, at least for me. Sure, the book has some really cool and iconic monsters, but they don't balance out the overabundance of 'bad' critters.

2) The art is either really, really good or really, really bad.