White Wolf vs. Mongoose

[JoeGKushner]

Out of all of those books (both lists), only Arcana Unearthed. Ravenloft is mildly interesting to me as it was one of my favorites in the 2nd Edition days, but I don't think I'll ever play in it again. Mongoose stuff, Warcraft, Everquest, and Scarred Lands are of no interest to me.

To me, this is awesome. I'm just wondering what Arcana Unearthed has that makes it to the list?

Some have said it's an alternative PHB but so is the Everquest PHB and I'm sure that the Warcraft one will be in the same boat and man, there are a lot of books that look like they do a lot of what AU does.

Is it quality? Name recognition? I'll be getting AU but it's more or less because it's a book full of crunch (one of the main reasons why I'm looking forward to Warcraft) as opposed to it other reasons.

 

[Maraxle]

To me, this is awesome. I'm just wondering what Arcana Unearthed has that makes it to the list?

Some have said it's an alternative PHB but so is the Everquest PHB and I'm sure that the Warcraft one will be in the same boat and man, there are a lot of books that look like they do a lot of what AU does.

Is it quality? Name recognition? I'll be getting AU but it's more or less because it's a book full of crunch (one of the main reasons why I'm looking forward to Warcraft) as opposed to it other reasons.

It's really a combination of things, both for 'why AU' and 'why not the others'.

Arcana Unearthed makes the list for a bunch of reasons. First of all, I have always found the quality of the Malhavoc products to be rather high. Also, their useful stuff to crap ratio has been consistently good. From the preview materials, Arcana Unearthed seems to be on a similar wavelength to my homebrew campaign - the alternate races, the style of magic, the hero points, etc. There appears to be a lot that will translate well.

Ravenloft misses the cut because I played enough of it in 2nd Edition. I don't really enjoy DMing it anymore, though I wouldn't mind participating as a player.

Scarred Lands scared me off with the Creature Collection. The deities strike me as somewhat cliche, the monsters bland, and the world uninteresting. I do own the 2nd Creature Collection book because the reviews were so positive (~4/5), and I heard that it was such an improvement over the first one, but once again I found it uninteresting.

Everquest is of no interest to me because I don't like the computer game. I tried for about a month, but just couldn't get into it.

Warcraft is in a similar situation to Everquest. I played Warcraft II for several months, and to be amusing, but not so much that I want to game in that world.

As for Mongoose books, I have just never found any that I really wanted. I'm sure their stuff is of high quality, but it just isn't my style. "The Quintessential" and "Slayer's Guide to" books are not something I find particularly useful. Slaine is out because I don't like the Celtic thing. Judge Dredd / Babylon 5 are out because I'm not a sci-fi fan.

I know, by now you're probably thinking, "Ok, he doesn't like sci-fi, Celtic stuff, Warcraft, or Everquest. So what's left? What DOES this guy like?" Well, I find some of the Forgotten Realms stuff to be good reading, though I don't play in that world. I like the Book of the Righteous, as I think it has a lot of good ideas in it. I like the Spycraft book. I like the Call of Cthulu book (so far, just recently got it). I like Spells and Magic by Bastion Press. I like a lot of the PDFs I've purchased. Most of all, I like my homebrew campaign, and anything that can find a home in it.

Please remember that my reasons are all a matter of personal taste, and are not meant to bash anyone or anything. If you like stuff that I don't like, great. I'll never try to tell you that you're wrong, because you're not.

 

[JoeGKushner]

That was a very good, well reasoned post that didn't bash or attack anything and explained clearly where you're coming from and what you want out of the game.

Thanks! I know it had to take some time to write that explanation out.

It's funny how one book will really tickle the fancy of one person and be like, "Eh?" to another one.

Have you looked through Everquest though as an RPG book as opposed to a simulate RPG of a game you don't like? There are some interesting ideas, feats and core classes that I thought fit into the standard campaign fairly well. Their use of Xp penalty versus ECL for one is a different take on things, and their feat, Toughened, is a little better long term that Toughness in that it scales as you go up in levels.

Thanks again for the post.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

I've found most of the Everquest stuff to be top notch. I'd probably enjoy it even if I didn't play the game...but I do, so it's even better. I've barely played Warcraft, but I'll probably pick up the book. In fact, I'll probably buy most of the White Wolf stuff, though perhaps not the Ravenloft books.

I'll probably get the Quintessential and Encyclopedia Arcane books from Mongoose, but the rest don't really interest me much. Maybe the Slayer's Guide to Demons.

I just got Testament a few days ago, and really enjoy it. I'm looking forward to a lot of Green Ronin's upcoming releases.

 

[Desdichado]

I picked up the Everquest monster book recently (because it was "100% compatible with 3rd edition fantasy roleplaying".) It's got some kinda cool stuff in it, enough so that I'm considering picking up the main book just to see if any of the classes and magic is worth borrowing. The 100% compatible isn't really true, though, as it uses a lot of custom feats, classes, spells, etc. that aren't in the SRD.

EDIT: And I don't play the online game, and have no interest in it.

 

[2d6]

Re: Re: White Wolf vs. Mongoose

Realisticly? I'm out of work, have been for over a month, and all attempts to get a job (At least twice a week) have resulted in failure... So probably none of them. I can't afford books right now, and have no idea when this will change.

Idealy, however, only Warcraft and Unearthed Arcana.

Are you a computer guy?

and now for something alittle on topic

Definately Termana, probably AU as well.

 

[Richards]

I'll definitely be picking up the Slayer's Guides and the Encyclopaedia Arcane titles, as well as Signs & Portents. (The fact that Signs & Portents #2 will have my chess-based adventure in it pretty much guarantees that last one!)

I'll probably check out Arcana Unearthed as well. From what I've read about it so far, it definitely looks like a winner.

Johnathan

 

[Nightfall]

Maraxle, tell you what, if you pick up Shelzar, I promise you, you'll never look at a gibbering mouther the same way again. Oh and I'm also an NPC. Does that help?

(Btw might want to try R&R2, as it's a pretty sweet book). I still don't see how you can say the gods are bland. I mean come on! Vangal wiped the floor with most of the Titans, Chardun ripped his own mom's CHEST open, Corean fought and forges his sword into Golthagga. Chern created the best damn rift between elves and dwarves (okay dark elves but still!), I don't see it maybe. CC Revised also will be better since now you can template HAGS, along with Unhallowed. Believe it's much better than the first one.

 

[Desdichado]

Yeah, I like the Scarred Lands gods -- I think that's one of the setting's strong points. They're still not as cool as the Book of the Righteous gods, though. Lately, I've been seriously thinking about using the Armies of the Abyss "gods."

 

[Treebore]

I like Ravenloft 3e. Unlike 2e it is surviveable, so you can actually run a whole campaign in it. You can even go epic in it with the main theme being breaking out of Ravenloft, or the freeing of the people in Ravenloft. Course you have to decide what, exactly, the Dark Powers are and what their resources/allies are.

I also like the curse aspect and the lesser fear/madness rules. the heavier ones are just too much for me to do to players. Plus much of the 2e material is useable in 3e, especially the locale info. plus with the material available on the Kargatane website, it is a really rich campaign world.

2D6-

Synnibar rocks!! Too bad people are so intimidated by the big numbers. That is one high-powered, but (believe it or not) balanced game world/system. Too bad it went out of business. Do you know any sources for getting the books?