Alright, I have been a consistent detractor of WOTC products since the Complete Series began. The Races were consistently bad, and the whole thing drove me to destraction. My complaint was that they consistently provided little of value, combined with a rushed job of editing and almost no passable story. WOTC has always done mechanics well IMO. The only thing I have truly enjoyed outside of the Core Books and the various monster compediums have been the Draconomicon (my personal favorite) and parts of Unearthed Arcana (despite the non existiant editing). I feel compelled to point this out due the diligence in my complaints.
Then my lovely wife got me the DMG II and Heros of Battle for my birthday. WOW! I have to say, I thought they were fantastic, and would gladly eat what ever crow WOTC would want to shovel my way. Though I have a few minor critiques, I have to say that the mechanics and quality of both works are fantastic. Throughout the two they seemed to pause and actually think what a player/DM might actually want out of such material.
Heros of Battle - well first there is little/no Greyhawk material, so I will not dwell on it except to say that almost all of it is VERY applicable to a setting such as GH, and would meld in seamlessly. It is well worth the read and is very different from other mass combat books. It is a narrative, character oriented method of resolving mass combat. This is exactly the system I have been developing and using for the last few years IMC. Only HOB's system is more coherently organized, encompasses aspects I never thought of, and is generally better at almost every aspect than that which I created. I am not by nature humble.
DMG II - well this is not an editionless book. That said, it is a resource that should have come out during the 1st edition and been updated with each new version. IMO, it is that good. The sections on organizing a game, handling unusual, and out of the ordinary situations/players/monsters/conflicts etc., etc., etc., are simply excellent. Almost every DM will find a section and say "I have been doing that for years." But I doubt anyone can say that about all the sections. In addition it has an entire section dedicated solely to the GH setting. Specifically, they have detailed the City of Saltmarsh. Very detailed, with NPC's, backstories, government, laws, courts, etc.
Ladies and Gents, I highly suggest both of these works, despite the fact that I was sure WOTC would never again publish a quality volume. And this time, they gave us more than a little.
I just picked up Heroes of Battle and am reading through it. So far I am enjoying how they handle PC's in combat. I was not sure about DMG2 but I will definitely give it a second look. Thanks for the 411.
Have to disagree had the money to burn but after sitting down and reveiwing the numerous pages of the new DMGII page by page with the only thing really recommending it for purchase IMO are the pages devoted to developing Saltmarsh which could be any other campaign town went out to dinner and caught two movies instead. WOC has been putting out some really shoddy products IMO lately and this is one of them.
Have to disagree had the money to burn but after sitting down and reveiwing the numerous pages of the new DMGII page by page with the only thing really recommending it for purchase IMO are the pages devoted to developing Saltmarsh which could be any other campaign town went out to dinner and caught two movies instead. WOC has been putting out some really shoddy products IMO lately and this is one of them.
Anced_Math wrote:
Ladies and Gents, I highly suggest both of these works, despite the fact that I was sure WOTC would never again publish a quality volume. And this time, they gave us more than a little.
Once again Greyhawker's agree to disagree.
Having said that I liked the group feats in DMGII as well as the Saltmarsh stuff, and as far as that goes I liked the Race books. Were they the best things that I ever seen? No, but did I use things out of them in my GH game, yes and that makes it worthwhile IMO. If you didnt like it I'm sure the FLGS near you has a used game bin that you might be able to hoc it for some store credit on HERO system or GURPS. _________________ Canonfire Community Supporter and Forum Justicar
Last edited by Dethand on Thu Jul 07, 2005 10:10 pm; edited 1 time in total
And as, If I am not mistaken, the U series was available for free downlaod some years ago... Great way for basic and cheap campaigning in one of the best campaign worlds ever!
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