What sort of reviews do you want to read?

[SlyFlourish]

I've written a lot of reviews of products in my life on the internets, everything from movies to books, video games, and even fountain pens.

I would like to write more reviews of D&D related products such as Dwarven Forge sets, Manual of the Planes, Draconomocon, miniatures, and the published adventures.

I don't want to waste your time and mine by writing reviews you don't really want to read. So what sort of information, format, and products are you interested in? How can I best write reviews for you? How short or long do you like them? How casual or formal? What sorts of things do you want me to focus on?

Any feedback is appreciated.

Mike Shea

 

[Oni]

I like chapter by chapter breakdowns. I want to know about quality of editing and layout. I want to know anything that stands out as being exceptionally good or bad. I want to know how the reviewer thinks the book well be useful to them and why. And if I'm feeling lazy and want it all wrapped up in a good conclusion at the end so I can skip the rest of the review (I like longer more informative reviews, but you don't always have the time or inclination).




Also I want a money back guarantee should a recommended book fail to impress.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

I want two things:

1. The reviewer to make a serious effort to understand the product on its own terms, not the reviewer's preferences, and then review accordingly. If the preferences happen to diverge, it's fine to make that clear, but don't spend more of the review inadvertently telling me more about the reviewer than the product.

2. I want an honest review, not one full of text to show me how clever, superior, funny, etc. the reviewer thinks he or she is.

Do that, and it will be review worth my time, whether breaking down contents, or writing analysis, or anything other format or style. Even if I utterly disagree with the reviewer, I'll still get useful information.

 

[Starglim]

Relevant information that the publisher didn't include in the description, or ways that the product differed from what you expected from the blurb, especially if you found the product better, more interesting or more broadly useful than the publisher presents it.

Detailed breakdowns of content, if you have time. I'll often see one particular element that I find interesting out of an otherwise ordinary product. Let me know about particularly innovative and inspiring sections - even if they're a small part of the product, this is more helpful to me than telling me what's trite and useless.

The usual technical failings and whether the value of the product remains strong, is diminished, or is mostly unusable as a result.

Why you bought it (or how you got it if you didn't pay for it) and whether the product served the purpose for which you acquired it. Do you run, like, or know the rule system? Was it value for money and what price do you think is fair for it (since the product's asking price can change)?

I prefer to see 5 stars used very sparingly and am less likely to read such a review. If you think the product is exemplary and without flaw, what else can you say that would influence my decision? Likewise 1 star, because you're basically calling yourself a boob and a sucker for buying it and it makes me question the worth of such a person's opinion.

 

[Starglim]

I'm more interested in your observations than your conclusion.

I prefer to read an objective tone without a lot of chatty approaches or in-jokes from the reviewer - but don't go out of your way to be formal, and state your opinions forthrightly and distinct from facts.

I'm happy for a reviewer to compare other products briefly or suggest improvements, if it clarifies points about what you're reviewing. I want to hear about the product you're assessing and understand it without knowing or looking up various other references.

 

[jeffh]

If you like the product, and/or think a significant part of the gaming population will find it useful, a fair amount of chapter-by-chapter detail is worth including. If neither of these is the case, I'm partial to humorous snark-fests, but not every writer who thinks he can pull those off actually can. Even in the latter sort of review, be able to give a reason for everything you say, though, even if it's just "I've never seen the appeal of X".

 

[SlyFlourish]

Here's an example I posted last night:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpg-book-reviews/247821-draconomicon.html

I tried to make it brief, above all, and talk about the aspects I thought best played at the table.

 

[Blackrat]

I liked that example of yours. You could have elaborated a bit more on what kind of fluff it has but otherwise it was informative enough without being too long.

 

[roguerouge]

I basically want a plot summary of modules and possible settings, although a spoiler warning is probably appropriate at the top of that section. As for what I'm looking for:

What's the set up for the adventure? Hooks vary by campaign but the elevator speech about the module doesn't. Give me a one sentence summary. If there's something unique about the product--the rare wacky DnD adventure, a good soundtrack, gross-out horror--let me know about that.

What's the best battle like? Is it an interesting monster, an interesting battlefield, interesting tactics?

Any good NPCs or starter towns? I buy modules to populate my world too, so Falcon's Hollow was a selling point on those three modules from Paizo.

What major food groups does it appeal to: diplomacy, exploration, ticking clock to save X, hack n' slash, mysteries, puzzles, neat rewards...

How well-written are the descriptions? A good module doesn't require me to rewrite those. Do they make reference to the five senses? Does decor reveal something about the inhabitants? Is it ominous?

Provide a link to where I can buy it. It's so annoying to search through RPGNow to find something once you've sold me on its merits. Do the publishers a favor and provide a link to them or RPGNow or both.

 

[Mark]

What sort of reviews do you want to read?

Positive ones.

Here's an example I posted last night:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpg-book-reviews/247821-draconomicon.html

I tried to make it brief, above all, and talk about the aspects I thought best played at the table.

That's the stuff. Also, I find it important that a review covers the product that is presented, not the one the the reviewer might have wished they had written on a subject, so avoid that trap.