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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5896660" data-attributes="member: 42582">I read and reread a lot of RPG books, looking for new ideas, or reminders of old ideas, or trying to understand how some rule might work, or trying to work out how I might incorporate some mechanical or some story element into my game.I seem to be in something of a minority in not finding the 4e books particularly juvenile or patronising. I mean, obviously they lack the personality and idiosyncracy of the best of Gygax, or Luke Crane in the Burning Wheel books, but they're no more anodyne (in my view) than say the HeroWars/Quest books.For me, what stands out about WotC books (3E and 4e) isn't any particular tone. Rather, it's just their bad writing - and particularly their bad fiction.Here is a passage from 4e's MM3 (p 12) that is completely typical:Over the ages, a few spells of epic magnitude have reverberated throughout history. Spells that provide enough power to slay gods, bind primordials, annihilate empires, and create astral dominions leave behind some of their essence. In time, that essence can form a living spell, which stalks the universe and destroys everything in its path.That is just drivel. It's repetive ("over the ages", "throughout history", "in time"). It has poorly formed noun phrases. I mean, what the hell is this: "Spells that provide enough power to slay gods, bind primordials, annihilate empires, and create astral dominions "? And after that overblown thing, look at the boring verb phrase that follows it: "leave behind some of their essence". There is also an error of usage - I'm pretty sure that these things aren't stalking the universe but stalking through the universe.Unfortunately, the amount of this sort of guff in Monster Manuals has been increasing over the lifetime of 4e. Hopefully, the D&Dnext books will be more tightly written, particularly where they include fiction.And for the curious, here's my first pass at rewriting the objectionable passage:[sblock]A few spells of epic magnitude reverberate throughout history: spells that provide enough power to slay gods, bind primordials, annihilate empires, and create astral dominions. These leave behind some of their essence when cast, forming a living spell that stalks through the universe destroying everything in its path.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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