thoughts on Everquest D20

[Platnumb Dragon]

I picked the new Everquest role playing book up about a week ago, and i have mixed feelings about it. I havn't been able to play the computer game alot, so I don't know how well they match up. I guess my main problem with it is that I'm comparing it too much to good ole D&D. I like spells only to go to 9th lv, and i'm just not used to dealing with a mana system. I like how many options the basic classes have, and how they have different levels of haste and slow. Spellcaster pets are pretty cool too. All and all I think it was a good buy, and with some tinkering very usable in D&D

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I haven't bought it yet, but I've looked through it. The sheer size of the book alone makes it worth the $30 US. Plus, factor in the hardcover, the color throughout, and the pretty decent artwork, and this is probably the best value I've seen for a game book in a long time.

 

[Griswold]

I haven't bought it yet, but I've looked through it. The sheer size of the book alone makes it worth the $30 US. Plus, factor in the hardcover, the color throughout, and the pretty decent artwork, and this is probably the best value I've seen for a game book in a long time.

It really is just about the best bang for the buck I've seen for a rulebook. It's OGL rather then d20, but there is still some nice crunchy bits in the skills and feats section that would easity lend themselves to a dnd game. The mana system is nice, though I wish S&SS had included converstion notes for spells from other sources (hope that doesn't make me a heretic ).

If you play EQ online, they stayed true to the flavor of that game.


Gris.

 

[Psion]

I haven't bought it yet, but I've looked through it. The sheer size of the book alone makes it worth the $30 US.

No, it doesn't. It's only worth it if you use it.

I finally got a chance to browse the book over vacation and talked with a friend about it's foibles. Thought there are some neat things (bards, frex), it's just to different from the d20 baseline and too many things (iterative attack speed, frex) that bother me. I came to the conclusion that despite the great price for the package, I just wouldn't ever use it. I'd rather pick up the Power of the Jedi sourcebook or City of the Spider Queen. They aren't near teh bargain, but I would use them much more.

 

[Fenes 2]

If you play EQ online, they stayed true to the flavor of that game.


Gris.

OMG! I Hope you mean the background, not the flavor that develops in play - "That is our monster, find your own!" "Let's camp guards!" "sowplz" etc.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

No, it doesn't. It's only worth it if you use it.

You know what I meant. With all the crappy $30 d20 books out there with not even half the page count, lousy art and layout, and (often) softcovers, I find EQ a far more desirable buy to take a chance on. Without thoroughly reading or using a book, it's impossible to know if it'll be useful or not. EQ makes the potential "pain" of finding out it's not useful to one a lot less keen than its counterparts.

 

[Tharkun]

I was looking through it the other day and decided that even though I've never play EQ I'm going to buy it (full color, HC and it's over 300 pages that sounds worth the 30 bucks to me, plus you can just take anything out of it that's not PI).

Gee...that reminds me that I've not bought a new gaming book in years (just the oldies like Paranoia 2nd Ed. and all the goodies).

 

[SemperJase]

I just don't see this being a popular game. It will be interesting to see how this experiment works.

Plenty of games have been converted to computer, but this is the first MMRPG to table top. I just don't see a bunch of computer addicts wanting to go offline for their game. Too much prep time compared to the instant gratification of online play.

But, I may be wrong.

 

[Breakdaddy]

I agree with the good Colonel (I understood what you meant, even if Psion didnt ), a lot of bang for your buck. What I am REALLY looking forward to are tossing some good old Monsters of Norrath critters at my players (none of whom have ever played EQ in any form), and watching them scratch their heads trying to figure out what the hell it is they are dealing with!

 

[EarthsShadow]

There's no real telling how this game will do until the Monsters of Norrath book and the GM book for EQ comes out over the next three months, each of which is $30.00 in price. Of course, the next two books are each about 200-240pages in length, but still full color and hardback.

I bought the book, and I would run a EQ game, but I won't until I get their monster book and gm book, especially for how their magic items and prestige classes will work.

In comparison to DnD, I have already transferred over the rules for iterative attacks with weapon speeds to their equivalent DnD counterparts, as I think the iterative weapon speeds works and simulates attacks much better than dnd itself. Unfortunately, I don't know if there is a way to convert over the mana system.