Which of the following 3PP v.3.5 products should I buy?

[Knightfall]

Okay, I went RPG book shopping today and bought two books -- The Book of the Righteous and Creature Collection III: Savage Bestiary.

When I looked at CC3, my mind thought "Tome of Horrors III." It wasn't until half an hour later I realized that I'd bought a different book. Doh!

Luckily, it's not a book I own. Plus, I own Creature Collection: Revised, which I relly like, so I'll likely get some use out of it. I think in the back of my mind I knew it was a different book but it was such a good deal that I blanked on what I was buying.

It was only $12. 50% off.

I'm pretty sure that Warp Two (in North Edmonton) has a copy of Tome of Horrors III, so I'll be checking there later on in the month.

The Book of the Righteous looks very interesting. And it is huge book! I hadn't realized it was so big. It was at a Wee Book Inn (used book store). I had to struggle to get it. The store's debit machine wouldn't read my card and I didn't have cash.

I tried to get another nearby store to give me "money back" with my muffin & orange juice purchase but they wouldn't do it. Then I remember there was an ATM nearby in an Elephant & Castle (bar/pub). I within the money I needed and went back to the store and finalized my purchase.

And they felt bad about the running around I had to do, so they discounted it for me. I got it for only $23.57.

I forgot, Lore of the Gods is a much better Deity book than WOTC/TSR ever did. I even wrote a review of it here on ENWorld. May have done it under the name of Grimaryl.

I considered that book today.

 

[Ghostwind]

I considered that book today.

Tell you what, drop me an email (creech at dragonwing.net) and I'll send you the pdf version of the book and you can get a firsthand look. If you like it, you will be more motivated to get the print copy. Does that work?

 

[Knightfall]

Tell you what, drop me an email (creech at dragonwing.net) and I'll send you the pdf version of the book and you can get a firsthand look. If you like it, you will be more motivated to get the print copy. Does that work?

COOL!

<e-mail sent.>

 

[Ghostwind]

COOL!

<e-mail sent.>

Check your email inbox.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

FWIW, It is GRIM TALES.

Difference:

Right. Remember: Grim Tales is the one with the slightly erotic Jim-Caveziel-in-bondage lookalike on the cover.

Hope that mnemonic really sticks with you.

 

[Studio69]

The following get my votes; Arms & Armor v.3.5, Black Company Campaign Setting, Eternal Rome, Gary Gygax's Cosmos Builder, Gary Gygax's World Builder, Warlords of the Accordalnds, Wilderlands of High Fantasy and The Witchfire Trilogy.

 

[Knightfall]

Right. Remember: Grim Tales is the one with the slightly erotic Jim-Caveziel-in-bondage lookalike on the cover.

Hope that mnemonic really sticks with you.

I've been seriously considering getting a copy of Grim Tales. I have the 2nd Edition of the Conan RPG, but I don't think it really does that 'genre' justice. Part of me wonders about combining the Conan RPGs fluff with Grim Tales rules.

Does Grim Tales use hit points? How does magic fit in to the book? What else can you tell me about it?

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I've been seriously considering getting a copy of Grim Tales. I have the 2nd Edition of the Conan RPG, but I don't think it really does that 'genre' justice. Part of me wonders about combining the Conan RPGs fluff with Grim Tales rules.

I think that would be a very good fit.

But I will direct GlassJaw here-- since he is a fan of both Grim Tales and Conan. He can probably advise you even better.

Does Grim Tales use hit points? How does magic fit in to the book? What else can you tell me about it?

Yes, GT uses hit points.

Magic in GT is much lower powered, and is dangerous to use (it causes ability score damage).

I think it is fair to say it is "most similar" to d20 Modern. It is a fusion of Modern, 3.0, 3.5, some Spycraft, even some Magical Medieval Society, and lots of stuff of my own creation to hook it all together and fill in the gaps. Consider it a stripped-down d20 toolkit combining the best d20 design available at the time (if you'll permit me to describe my own work as some of the best at the time ). A bare-bones Grim Tales would run a "heroic normals" game. Then you just start adding back the components you need based on the genre you want to run-- magic, fantasy feats, guns, vehicles, etc.

 

[GlassJaw]

I've been seriously considering getting a copy of Grim Tales. I have the 2nd Edition of the Conan RPG, but I don't think it really does that 'genre' justice. Part of me wonders about combining the Conan RPGs fluff with Grim Tales rules.

Does Grim Tales use hit points? How does magic fit in to the book? What else can you tell me about it?

Grim Tales and Conan are probably by 1st and 2nd favorite d20/OGL books. Grim Tales works well for any genre and is fantastic for a Conan/sword & sorcery game.

The Conan system is solid as well and can definitely be run as-is. I actually thought it stays very true to Howard's vision.

Ideally, I like combining the two. Conan's weakness is the classes IMO. Some are good (Barbarian, Thief) but some are a bit flavorless or redundant (the Nomad and Borderer are virtually the same). This is where Grim Tales shines.

I do like the combat options of Conan though, especially the Parry and Dodge rules and armor as DR. Conan also has some pretty brutal massive damage rules as well, although Grim Tales gives a lot of options in that department as well.

Conan has a pseudo-action point mechanic but Grim Tales is far superior. Conan's magic system is good - it's spell point-based - but Grim Tales is worth buying just for its magic system. As Wulf said, it makes magic dangerous to use and works extremely well in the sword & Sorcery genre.

So I would say yes, you are correct to assume Grim Tales and Conan work well together.

 

[DItheringFool]

Can you really find some of these books still? I've been looking for a couple of the older ones for quite some time...