Why don't you buy non-WoTC stuff?

[MEG Hal]

For those of you who wanted better cover art here is the first of 2 covers we had Jason Engle do for us, we will be doing more work with him, he is great!

Hope you enjoy!!!

 

[psionotic]

Wow, that's sweet, Hal, he does good work.

 

[JohnNephew]

Not to hijack the thread here, and please keep in mind the only thing I know for sure about the product is what I read on the web page, it seems to be as much of a “City Builder’s Guide” as it does a collection of towns, villages, etc. If this is the case, can I ask a question? Of the 144 pages, how much is dedicated to the actual town descriptions, and how much is dedicated to “reference book” material?

Pages 20-141, inclusive, are the actual city descriptions. To save space, buildings from smaller cities are "re-used" in larger cities. (E.g., T10 is a scribe, described in the Thorp. T10 also appears on the map of the Large City, so you can just transplant the building and NPCs there, if you please.)

The introduction, covering pages 4-19, would be more of the "reference book" type material, as well as describing how to use the book (like explaining how the same buildings can be re-used in the different sized cities, etc.)

I think I understand what you mean about the "make everything a sourcebook" issue. What we've tried to do with Seven Cities and similar books (such as Seven Strongholds, or Backdrops) is provide plug-and-play bits that you can pick up and use in your game with a minimum of effort. In fact, my first outline for Seven Cities was going to be "Seven Hamlets" -- just seven different ready-to-play villages, to make the GM's life easy. We decided to go with the different city sizes instead, to make it a bit more broadly useful, and author Matt Forbeck thought up the great idea of re-using the buildings to make it all possible in a reasonably-sized (and priced) book.

You also might be interested to take a look at "En Route," which is a book of short encounters. It's been doing very well for us (and is likely to sell out soon, in fact; there will be a sequel, En Route 2: By Land or By Sea, next year), and seems to fill that need for smaller stuff (though it isn't exactly random encounter tables, nor monster lairs, but a little bit in between and more). You can find reviews of En Route on this site, as well as other places (such as Monte Cook's site).

 

[Psion]

For those of you who wanted better cover art here is the first of 2 covers we had jason Engle do for us, we will be doing more work with him, he is great!

Yes, Engle is awesome. First started admiring his work in Dungeon.

 

[MEG Hal]

Yes, Engle is awesome. First started admiring his work in Dungeon.

Wait till you see Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns: Let the games begin!

Engle rocked hard on that one also!!!

We should have that one ready in the next few days, art is done waiting on our spine design team (ENnies/GenCon joke).

 

[adndgamer]

I buy as little WotC stuff as I can because I hate the company (err, more exactly, what the company has turned in to).

Support the little guys!

 

[JeffB]

Just to revisit this a bit for me as well…

I buy very little except modules from the third party manufacturers. And I don’t buy many of those either these days

I have a few trusted companies, Necromancer and Kenzer being really the only two whom I pick up adventures from.

I don’t buy any of the crunch/splat books…I bought S&F when it came out and was very disappointed, and I haven’t found the rest of the WOTC or the third party books to be much better…just different tastes I guess…the only “crunch” books I’ve bought have been what’s in the FR books…AFAIC they are the benchmark in D&D/3E supplements…period… They are beautiful, well organized, well laid-out, full of useful info for Players AND DM's (while most 3E material both third party and WOTC produced seems mainly player oriented), and they seem to have the most interesting without being over the top Prclasses…(yeah there are a couple, but overall..they are pretty tame while still being useful and fun).

I suspect If I were to see some more “well rounded” crunch books…I might get those…by well rounded I mean “not narrow in scope”…the majority of the crunch books devote a huge amount of material to ONE thing… traps… monsters (and usually one “type” like Demons, or Oriental monsters, etc,)…. spells…. rogues… elves....swords…etc…I think that’s the main reason why Necropolis has really impressed me, it’s got a huge epic adventure, it’s got a mini monster manual, it’s got a mini Deities and Demi-gods plus new domains, it’s got magic items, etc….It has a little of everything….And I think that’s why the FR books are much to my taste…they have a little bit of everything in them; Prclasses, spells, organizations, background history, adventures, magic items, etc. I’d rather spend my $30 on a book that has A LOT of different things I’d use, Instead of paying the same amount for a book wholly about traps (for example), and only use 1/10th of the content.

 

[The_Gneech]

So, I'm curious, I've seen some stuff on here concerning modules. Do people still purchase modules? I know that a majority of the D20 community has moved away from modules for the time being, but these things are probably cyclical, if I were a betting man.

My vibe is that most people write their own modules. I personally, have never ran a pre-published module all the way through. I've used pieces of a few, but only exceedingly rarely. What's the general consensu, more modules? Or more DM-toolkiit-type stuff?

Mmmm ... modules!

When I can, I like to buy tons of modules.

When I can't, I like to go to the bookstore and read the blurbs off of modules hoping to get cool ideas to build my own.

Most of the time, I use the module as a springboard and tweak the heck out of it; I probably use about 40% module and 60% my own stuff -- but the module gives me the one thing I find hardest to come up with on my own: a starting point.

-The Gneech

 

[Nightfall]

RA provides for frequent breaks... every time the party pushes their luck and gets 2/3 of the party killed off.

This is true.

Btw most of the stuff you want John is already out.

1. En Route and soon En Route 2.

2. Lair series by Necromancer Games. They've just been busy getting all the other COOL stuff out. But there will be more Lairs. For now Demons and Devils might suit your needs. Liches and Vampires are up next.

3. I'm pretty sure can change the text in most anything these days. But then I guess I don't that much huh since I love these kinds of things.

 

[JohnBrown]

Ranes,

I didn’t mean to exclude you…steal all you want

JohnNephew,

Thanks for the response. I’m planning heading to the game store today, I will be on the lookout for En Route and Seven Cities. I’ll take a look. They sound very useful.

Nightfall,

Yes, there is some of what I am looking for out. Just not enough Also, they are clearly being overshadowed at my LGS shelves by other products that have less use to me. I must remember to look harder.

Again, thanks, for the responses guys