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Sat Nov 20, 2004 2:30 pm Gary Gygax's Insidiae

Has anyone read this book and if so what did they think of it?

Gygax Insidiae: Guide to Adventure Game Writing HC
Published by Troll Lord games
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"Its a dangerous business going out your front door." JRR Tolkien
Unless you are a Greyhawk Heretic.

Sat Nov 20, 2004 3:04 pm

never even heard of it...

Sat Nov 20, 2004 3:38 pm

Here is a link to where I saw the book
http://shop.3rdedition.org/product_info.php?products_id=35411&
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"Its a dangerous business going out your front door." JRR Tolkien
Unless you are a Greyhawk Heretic.

Sat Nov 20, 2004 4:43 pm

IMO, all of the "Gygax Series" of gamemaster "design" books from Troll Lords are obscenely priced for what you get.

Leaving price to one side, the contents are fairly rudimentary. There appears to be a lot of padding of the material. Each book has its strong points among the generally more weaker material but the weak material outnumbers the strong.

The books fail my wife's "give me 5 minutes and a photocopier" test for value. If you could get all the good parts in just a few minutes with a photocopier, do you really want to pay the price asked?

Your mileage may vary.

GVD
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GVD

Sat Nov 20, 2004 9:04 pm

Overall, I am not impressed by the series. The books are a bit lackluster. While they do contain some decent information, as GVD said, it is very sparse. New DM's seeking to create their own world might find the series very useful, but veteran DM's will find it anecdotal at best. For these reasons I'd give the series (viewed as a whole) a 6 of 10, as they have some merit.

Sun Nov 21, 2004 11:03 am

How many books are in this series?

Sun Nov 21, 2004 2:53 pm

There are currently five books in print in the series, details on the Troll Lords web site at http://www.trolllord.com/gygax.htm
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Allan Grohe (grodog@gmail.com)
http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html

Sun Nov 21, 2004 3:39 pm

Thanks for the link. There is alot of work going on over there. I had no idea....

Sun Nov 21, 2004 7:41 pm

Thanks for the info. I think you all have saved me some money. I will probably look them over but I am in no rush now.
I have not seen many good DM books. Are the any suggestions.?
I like to check out the Roleplaying Tips web site for ideas.
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"Its a dangerous business going out your front door." JRR Tolkien
Unless you are a Greyhawk Heretic.

Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:48 am

While the series is not absolute trash like some have made it seem to be, the books are a bit overpriced. I do partiularly like the WORLD BUILDER BOOK. WORLD BUILDER provides many words, images, and descriptions to spark a DMs imagination. WORLD BUILDER does a good job at providing those "little things" that may add some serious flavor to your game world.

As for INSIDIAE, it definatly comes off as workbook of sorts to help DM write adventures. While the books is not terrible, it doesn't seem to spark or plant too many good seeds for adventure writing. The book is probably the most helpful tool on the market right now to help a DM get started writing adventures, but to be honest, it's doesn't seem to be all of the helpful either. I'm quite split on INSIDIAE, but overall I think I'll go thumbs down.

.......................Omote
FPQ
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Prince Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Castles and Crusades Society

Mon Nov 22, 2004 9:46 pm

World Builder sold well enough to justify a second print run; I haven't had a chance to check it out in detail yet, but it definitely looks good! :D
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Allan Grohe (grodog@gmail.com)
http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html

Mon Nov 22, 2004 10:41 pm

World Builder and Canting Crew are the two best books in the series. I'd actually recommend picking those two up. Living Fantasy is OK too. The other books are pretty much all fluff.
Scott