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| Roleplaying Book Reviews; Please contribute with your reviews | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 9 Sep 2009, 15:09 (492 Views) | |
| Ankhanu | 9 Sep 2009, 15:09 Post #1 |
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Dark Lord
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We've all got varying levels of experience with different roleplaying game systems and their supplements, and book collections of varying sizes (paper and digital). I thought it might be handy to make a thread (possibly later split into game specific threads) of book reviews to help one another find the most useful or appropriate books for our games, and help determine if they're worth laying down some hard earned cash for (for those of us who actually buy books). So, if you'd like to provide some reviews, it would be greatly appreciated. Good, bad, neutral reviews, they're all useful. Providing the book title, game system/publisher, price (if known), and perhaps a cover shot, along with the review would be awesome. I'll provide a couple a little later, I have to go to work soon, so don't have time to get one properly written. If a couple appear before mine get written, I'll be pretty happy. |
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In Real Life ™, people who aim to maximize their potential for lethality are called "dangerous psychotics" and are typically avoided by everyone who isn't forced to endure their company until someone has the opportunity to put them away or else put them down. No one likes that guy. Don't play that guy. Donate to Ankhanu Press | |
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| Ankhanu | 10 Nov 2009, 22:53 Post #2 |
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Dark Lord
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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game - Core Rulebook Revised d20 Fantasy Adventure Paizo Publishing August, 2009 ![]() Dead tree - $50USD PDF - $10USD With Wizards of the Coast abandoning the Dungeons and Dragons 3.x framwork in favour of a completely reworked 4e and moving 3.x to OGL, Paizo stepped up to revamp D&D 3 for Wizards. The result is Pathfinder, an updated, alternate dimension 4e that maintains what made D&D 3.x great. My table-top group has been playing Pathfinder since the Alpha and Beta versions last year, and the game play has been pretty solid. The main updates are to the structure of the classes, leveling rates and level dependent bonuses, feats, a few spells and some of the more tactical combat aspects (ie. grapples, etc.). Pathfinder classes are a bit more powerful than in D&D 3.x, with a few new abilities in the classes, or changes to how old abilities work, to make them more engaging as well. There are three level gain rates, with differing XP goals to level if the DM wants the party to level quickly or slowly, and feats have been changed to every odd level, rather than every 3rd. Many feats have been rewritten, changing their flavour slightly and the logic behind them. The extended combat systems have been streamlined and balanced somewhat, though not perfectly, as we've found in our last couple sessions. The book itself is a heft 576 page full colour hardcover full of art. The book essentially combines what would have been split between the Player's Handbook and the Dungeon Master's Guide if WotC had published this system. There are pros and cons to this decision: Pros - the cost is reduced, as you only need the one book; all of the commonly accessed information is in one resource, classes, feats/skills, spells, magic items, combat rules, etc. Cons - Both players and the DM need to use the same book, so some swapping is required. The sections are well laid out and there are few mistakes that I've seen in the text (aside from a couple typos, an errata has already been provided, and is a free download from Paizo). Each of the main sections has a two-page image to open the theme of the section, with a small narrative text block furthering the theme. Throughout the sections there is a smattering of images as well, perhaps not as many as I would like, but it's not exactly lacking either. The artwork is in an American quasi-anime style, which had been adopted by WoTC towards the end of the D&D 3.5 run. The style works, though is a little disappointing for a fantasy setting. Video overview of the book from Paizo. All in all, this book is very well put together. You really feel like you're getting your money's worth out of it. If you didn't like D&D 3.5, the changes here probably won't tip the scales for you (though they may), but if you enjoyed D&D 3.5, you'll probably quite enjoy the changes to the system, while maintaining the familiarity of what you loved. For new gamers, the Pathfinder system isn't a bad place to start, though there is the same level of complication inherent in all iterations of the d20 system... but it shouldn't be hard to grasp. |
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In Real Life ™, people who aim to maximize their potential for lethality are called "dangerous psychotics" and are typically avoided by everyone who isn't forced to endure their company until someone has the opportunity to put them away or else put them down. No one likes that guy. Don't play that guy. Donate to Ankhanu Press | |
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| Ankhanu | 8 Feb 2010, 21:02 Post #3 |
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Dark Lord
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Dragon Age RPG Set 1 Player's Guide January 2010 Green Ronin ![]() Cost - $30 (set) Dragon Age: Origins is a pretty sweet multi-platform dark fantasy video RPG with a pretty rich story and setting from Bioware. Wanting to capitalize on the awesomeness of the video game, the rights to produce a pen and paper rpg version of the game/setting were released and picked up by Green Ronin games. I was pretty stoked when I heard about it (see this thread) and have been waiting for the delayed release of the game and system since. My biggest complaint with the game is with how it is being released and sold to the public; in 4 sets covering 5 character levels each (Set 1 covers levels 1-5, Set 2, 6-10, Set 3, 11-15, Set 4, 16-20); only the first set has been released thus far, consisting of a Player's Guide, Game Master's Guide, a map of Fereldan and 3 dice. I can only assume that this is a blatant cash-grab, and a pretty displeasing strategy. I was preparing to place my book order through Green Ronin when I discovered this tactic and decided I would not give the company my money as a result. I found a download of the set and have begun reading the Player's Guide. I'll cover the Game Master's Guide later. Green Ronin chose to build a new game system for Dragon Age to try and maintain the feel of the game. The result looks fairly promising from what I've read. While the system uses as 20 level class system like the various incarnations of Dungeons & Dragons, it does away with the polyhedral dice and exclusively uses d6s. Rolls are made with 1d3, or (1 to 3)d6 and modified by ability scores and various ability/skill focuses. Interestingly enough, even if a character has multiple focuses that may apply to a single check, they may only apply one focus to a roll, reducing the potential for extreme modifiers. They've chosen to make use of a mechanic they refer to as a Dragon Die, a differently coloured die, used to determine how well you succeed at certain tasks, to generate Stunt Points, which help you spice up your battle scenarios or break tied rolls. All in all, the mechanic seems simple and streamlined. Character creation, Class and Race, seems to take a calling back to 1st and 2nd Ed. D&D. There are 8 abilities that define your character, which are rolled to determine your starting scores. Like in old school D&D, you roll for each ability in sequence, taking what you roll for that ability, whether it fits with your concept or not; you can, however, exchange the scores of two abilities once you're done to take some of the random element from creation. More or less, you're stuck with what you get. Similarly, as in old D&D, race and class are heavily linked. There are distinct character backgrounds that you choose which confer certain benefits, but restrict your options for race and class; for example, the Circle Mage background will give you certain add ons to your basic character, but limits your race options to human or elf and your class must be Mage. For those who love options and flexibility, this might feel confining, and it might feel like home for old school D&D players :) There are three races and three classes; humans, elves and dwarves, and rogue, warrior and mage. Despite the inflexibility within the prior context, there is a lot of flexibility to exactly how you develop within your class. The classes are more like broad categories than regimented progressions, a la D&D. The book itself is fairly well laid out and very accessible. It seems written in a way that makes the rules very accessible to new PnP players; clear, concise and with plenty of examples. The chapter layout is logical and sensible. The art is decent; nothing particularly spectacular, but it doesn't feel cheap or rushed either... all in all it's fairly solid. My biggest issue comes exactly where you'd expect it to, given the release format; you encounter, "you'll learn more about this in Set 2", "this will be covered in later sets" and the like throughout the book. This serves as a reminder that you're getting screwed over if you're forking over hard earned cash for the game... but possibly provides the incentive to continue on and get the next installment. All in all, I can't really say it's a great idea to go out and buy this game set... the game looks like it will be a lot of fun and very easy to play, but the multi-set format feels like too much of a rip off, and will only increase the shelf real estate the game will require. If Green Ronin decides to release Dragon Age as a single book, or a Player's Guide and Game Master's Guide covering all 20 levels each, I believe this system/game would be a "must have", however. Download it and look it over, it's worth a read. Perhaps send an email or two encouraging Green Ronin to release the game in a more sensible format, and buy it if they agree :) |
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In Real Life ™, people who aim to maximize their potential for lethality are called "dangerous psychotics" and are typically avoided by everyone who isn't forced to endure their company until someone has the opportunity to put them away or else put them down. No one likes that guy. Don't play that guy. Donate to Ankhanu Press | |
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