435 lines
18 KiB
Plaintext
435 lines
18 KiB
Plaintext
============================
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Results: 1st Edition Ratings
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============================
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Compiled by: brooks@odie.ee.wits.ac.za (Goth)
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[Note: This file is one section of the ratings posted on December 22, 1994
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to rec.games.frp.dnd; it is included in order to make the publically
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available ratings as complete as possible.]
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==============
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Points Ratings
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==============
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In order for a product to appear on the points rating table, it must
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have at least five votes. Products are listed in points order, from
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highest to lowest.
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/-------------------------------------------------------\
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| - Key - |
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| |
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| Score = the product's average rating |
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| Low = the lowest rating anyone gave this product |
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| High = the highest rating anyone gave this product |
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| Voters = the number of people who rated the product |
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\-------------------------------------------------------/
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Product Score Low High Voters
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------- ----- --- ---- ------
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A1-4: Scourge of the Slave Lords 8.4 5 10 9
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A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords 8.3 6 10 9
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I6: Ravenloft 8.2 7 10 6
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Dungeon Master Guide 8.1 3 10 21
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A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade 7.8 6 10 12
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Monster Manual 7.4 5 10 22
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A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords 7.4 5 10 10
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H4: Throne of Bloodstone 7.4 5 10 10
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Fiend Folio Tome 7.2 4 10 21
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Deities and Demigods/Legends & Lore 7.2 4 10 18
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A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity 7.2 6 8 12
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Player's Handbook 7.0 5 10 22
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I10: Ravenloft II: House on Gryphon Hill 7.0 5 9 5
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EX2: Land Beyond the Magic Mirror 6.9 4 10 11
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H2: Mines of Bloodstone 6.9 3 10 10
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Manual of the Planes 6.8 3 9 16
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I2: Tomb of the Lizard King 6.8 6 10 5
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EX1: Dungeonland 6.7 4 10 11
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Monster Manual II 6.6 3 9 19
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H3: Bloodstone Wars 6.4 3 10 9
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Unearthed Arcana 6.0 0 10 22
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Dungeoneer's Survival Guide 6.0 2 7 16
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OP1: Tales of the Outer Planes 6.0 5 7 7
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H1: Bloodstone Pass 5.9 4 10 9
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Wilderness Survival Guide 5.5 2 8 14
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========
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Comments
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========
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This next bit is a selection of comments people have sent in. I've
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removed some remarks which were very similar, especially for products
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which provoked large quantities of comment and I've done some minor
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editing for grammar and spelling. Other than that, this is how they
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were sent in.
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General Comments on the 1st Edition Hardcovers
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----------------------------------------------
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Both the PH and DMG have the same problem: the lack of structure. But
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how would one have coped without them!?
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The DSG, WSG and MotP had lots of info, and were good for new ideas.
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It is impossible to use them all, still it's better to have too many
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things, than too few.
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PHB, DMG & MM: What can I say? All one needed for the game (except
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dice), and that helped to incite the imagination. The only criticism
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on the MM was that xps should have been included -- but then the
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players could find out.
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Monster Manual, Players Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide: I find it
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hard to "rate" these three books since with just these three I was
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able to play AD&D for many years before buying anything else.
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Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide: I liked these, although
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they were badly organised and had the worst indices I have ever seen.
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There was always something more to discover in them: hidden tables,
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rules, even sections.
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I think the generally better results from these books (IMHO) is a
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result of their being released when TSR was still making games, not
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just making money. I dunno, they just seemed to honestly care about
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what they put out then, even if it wasn't as flashy.
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The only problem with most of these was the atrocious language and
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editing that came with them. Otherwise, they were great. The Fiend
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Folio, Deities and Demigods, and the DMG all had outstanding ideas
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and concepts.
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The only ones that have remained in my collection are the DMG, MM,
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MM2, Fiend Folio and Deities and Demigods.
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Monster Manual
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--------------
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Both Monster Manuals (and the Fiend Folio) lacked the new 2nd edition
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structure, which I like very much.
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The 1st edition MM is still pretty good, with good artwork, and a
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high density of monsters per page. Still, I like the added info in
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the 2nd edition books (ecology, habitat, etc).
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_The_ original, of course, with all the unanswered questions like
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"why does the peryton have a man-shadow" and "why did they put in a
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joke-picture with the giant lynx, but for no other?" Would be rated
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higher if the XP values were in this book instead of the DMG -- I had
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to write them all in manually.
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Both Monster Manuals were great value for money, but were a little
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sparse on the descriptions of monsters, their habitat, and attitudes.
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Although it costs more, I think I prefer the Monstrous Manual.
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Good selection of monsters for a starter.
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Dungeon Masters Guide
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---------------------
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I liked the many appendices at the end of the DMG, and still use them
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frequently. It also kept more from the players which I like.
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The 1st edition DMG suffered from the author's "creative" arranging
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of information and skimpy index. However, the sheer amount and
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quality of the information it provided is astounding. I *still* use
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this book a *lot* in my 2nd edition games!
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The Dungeon Masters Guide is a pool of ideas and treasures, as badly
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organized as they might be. I love to page through this tome again
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and again and still find new and interesting things. A great thing!
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The lay-out is a bit strange, but the language used is of an
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intelligent level (I looked up a _lot_ of words when I first started
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playing in 5th grade - very educational). Hints on spells, creating
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magic items, and those great artifact/relic power/effect tables....
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The DMG is a great and useful resource, especially if you grew up
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with it and can actually find things you want and have a good idea of
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what's in there. Now if they could have kept all that info and still
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done the editing job of 2nd edition you would have a great book,
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although all the tables for everything would not have fitted in with
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the style of 2nd edition.
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The AD&D 1st edition DMG is one of the best valued books in the RPG
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industry, the sheer amount of info it gives, however badly organized,
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makes it a useful tool for not only AD&D DM's but game masters of any
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fantasy game.
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The DM's Guide was the best, with the '84 cover (DM opening Dante's
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door to Inferno) because of its sheer size and information. Plus the
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little adventure in it was more inventive than some I've seen printed
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in the last few years.
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Wonderful book, many ideas, disorganised.
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Players Handbook
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----------------
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The 1st Edition PHB is much worse than its 2nd edition counterpart.
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I didn't think the PHB was too bad when I bought it, but compared to
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the 2nd edition PHB, it's rating has dropped. Poor organization,
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necessary data is missing, tiny font is hard on eyes.
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What can I say? Originally, this was all a player needed to create
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and run a character -- no need for endless supplements... use your
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imagination if you want more! :)
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The 1st edition PHB is possibly the best thing TSR has ever put out,
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with the 1st edition MM a close second.
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Deities & Demigods/Legends & Lore
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---------------------------------
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I really like Deities and Demigods and, with some modification, would
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treat gods in my world as they are given here rather than going with
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the new avatar stuff.
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I don't like any book that gives stats for the Gods. If these beings
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are supposed to be so powerful, then why do they give them non-25+
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characteristics?
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Deities & Demigods rocked! Except for a few noticeable bare spots in
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the demi-humans section, it laid out pretty much everything you
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needed to know about these deities but were afraid to ask.
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The descriptions in Legends & Lore were very good, giving a lot of
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ideas for adventures, cultural background, etc.
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Research was good to make the pantheons self-consistent, if not
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completely historically accurate. Much detail on the gods, their
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motives, history, heroes, and legendary items. Plus, all the drawings
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of those beautiful goddesses... drool, drool (hey, I was in junior
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high school...)
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I missed out on the 1st print of the D&D, which I regret, but I still
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like it (D&D) better than L&L. Added a dimension to role-playing that
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hadn't previously been covered, and was needed.
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Fiend Folio Tome
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----------------
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Added a whole slew of interesting monsters.
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Great new monsters, great illustrations throughout. Monsters have
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good descriptions and history, as well as being typeset in a nice
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font, and the complete monster tables in the back are nice, too.
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The Fiend Folio was a big disappointment for me when it came out.
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Far too many monsters had the feel of "one shot" monsters or else
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were just plain stupid.
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I think the FF is as good as the MM. A lot of good (and a few less
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good) monsters. I would have preferred more and better pictures,
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preferrably in colour.
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Some of the monsters in the FF and MMII did start looking a little
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too unbelievable.
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Unearthed Arcana
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----------------
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Other than a few new magic items and spells, UA is a waste. Totally
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munchkin, not worth the money.
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UA -- many mistakes, not enough new. Should have just done 2nd
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edition at this point.
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Unearthed Arcana added some much-needed add-ons for the game. If for
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nothing else than the weapons and cantrips lists, this book is worth
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whatever you can find it for.
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Unbalanced the game. No long term value.
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The treasure tables from Unearthed Arcana, Weapon Specialization and
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the Barbarian were some of the greatest inventions I could think of
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at those times. Today I disdain weapon specialization, but then...
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:-)
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The UA energized my campaign at first but many of the rules that I
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adopted later played havoc with my campaign, turning it into Monty
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Haul hell.
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As a player I *loved* this: new classes, more spells, more POWER...
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As a DM I hated it, power munchkinism at its worst :-)
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Crap. Reused material from Dragon magazines (most of which I or
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my friends already had) -- cavalier, barbarian, spells, etc. They
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even reused some of the art! Also, bad planning placing material for
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GM's _and_ for players in the same book -- how can you have one of
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your players borrow it to look over the barbarian when they
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can easily read up on the philospher's stone? How is a player
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supposed to use this as a reference during the game if it has magic
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item stats in it? Grrr....
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Though many claim the information in this book to be munchkinish, I
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got a great deal of use out of this book, in particular the new
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spells.
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I don't believe barbarians nor cavaliers exist (except as role-played
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fighter types), and paladins are a subclass of fighter :-) Acrobats
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are cool though. Cool cantrips, and new magic goodies. Lotta fun,
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adds new elements to the game, but some open to abuse.
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I didn't like the barbarian (not compared to the one that was
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featured in a Dragon Magazine) and I haven't seen anyone try the
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thief-acrobat thief. And what's the use of the cavalier? There is
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something I liked about the UA, but I can't remember what.
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Nice spells, some nice classes (barbarian, thief-acrobat). Underdark
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races too strong for normal campaign because of immunities to
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illusion (duergar & svirfneblin). Some nice items, some too powerful
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items, eg wand of force.
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Monster Manual II
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-----------------
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Not enough worthwhile monsters.
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Crap. Recycled monsters from modules and Dragon magazine. Artwork was
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awful. I think that there were 2 new monsters that I liked
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in that book (I had most of those modules/Dragons anyway -- most
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material was taken from "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" and
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"The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth -- 2 neat modules, but SHAME ON
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THEM for reusing all of that!). Sold it.
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Great book, helped a lot in expanding my AD&D world.
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Almost useless with just a few good monsters.
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Dungeoneer's Survival Guide
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---------------------------
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Both survival guides make a decent job of making the average
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all-night urban player aware of the perils of nature.
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The DSG would have gotten lower marks than it did except that it
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introduced the concept of NWP's, most of the other stuff in it was
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poorly thought out and poorly researched.
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Lots of good stuff, but little of it really essential.
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Wilderness Survival Guide
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-------------------------
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I had very little use for this book except to roll up the weather
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conditions.
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I think the DSG and WSG are good, with information about how to
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handle outdoor climates etc., and I'm using the weather system. I
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should use them more than I do. There were more equipment prices (but
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not nearly enough).
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Manual of the Planes
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--------------------
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The Manual of Planes introduce a new playing field that had been
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lacking a lot of description.
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This was interesting, but confusing and it didn't give enough
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information on the different races and terrains of the planes.
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Although I haven't got Planescape, from what I have heard it sounds
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better.
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A fun book that provided a lot of adventure ideas and locales.
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Slaver (A) Series of Modules
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------------------------------
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The concept behind Scourge of the Slave Lords is excellent. This is
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one of the few modules that I've seen that forces the players to
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role-play rather than rely on hack and slash. It's too bad that TSR
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doesn't make them like this anymore. :(
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In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords (A4) is a great idea, I've had fun
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with this module many times.
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The Slaver modules were cool. The idea was cool. I used them many
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different times. The supermodule A1-4 was sort of useless -- TSR
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could easily have reprinted the original 4 modules.
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I gave (A1-4) a higher rating than the average of the separate
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modules because of its superb "value for money".
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A2 is the only one of the A series that I've run through, and it was
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excellent. It screams "Gary Gygax" but that's ok. I can forgive the
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10' x 10' lodestone after seeing the hallway full of boggles decimate
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a party's items lists. >:)
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Wonderland (EX) Series Modules
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-------------------------------
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Dungeonland and Land Beyond the Magic Mirror were fun to play, though
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stupid.
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Cool. I incorporated this into the Greyhawk Ruins the way Gygax
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intended and my players were pissed!!! They hated the stuff they had
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to put up with to stay alive so much that when they finally got back
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home and found out that they need some of the mad hatter's tea to
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revive a wizard that was guarding a portal to hell who had been
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affected by a strange poison-like gas that somehow escaped from the
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portal that they instead decided that they would rather seek out and
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make a bargain with a lich to find a way to close the portal for
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good!!! Now that's intimidation!!! I could never get them to play the
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second module (EX2) -- they threatened that they would get up as a
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group and go to the movies without me if it even resembled anything
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like it!!!
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As far as EX1 and EX2 go, my feeling is you either love 'em or hate
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'em; depending on how "serious" you like your campaign to be. I like
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a make-sense-kind-of-world so they're not for me.
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Dungeonland was interesting in the way Gygax adapted Lewis Carol's
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characters to AD&D stats.
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Bloodstone (H) Series of Modules
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--------------------------------
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Having, through some miracle, obtained the entire H series, I have to
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say that it was one of the most entertaining series of modules I've
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seen. There are precious few modules out there that allow you play
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your characters if they've reached the higher levels. And as such,
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this is one of TSR's best series of modules. I'd only rate GDQ 1-7
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better.
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Mines of Bloodstone (H2) was a bit much.
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The bloodstone adventures were cool in theory, but the original
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Battlesystem rules *sucked*!!! Any system that will let a group of 50
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archers fire a total of 100 arrows at a single individual and
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determine if they hit by *one* die roll *sucks*. It was *too*
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hilarious!!! I may try this one again with the *new* Battlesystem
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(2nd Edition rules) and see how it goes - I haven't played these
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rules yet but I hope they are an improvement...
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H1-H4 depend much on the role-playing of both players and DM. I
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cannot judge H4 really, as I just read it a few times.
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Bloodstone is by far the most _killer_ series ever. I have yet to run
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a session in it that didn't end up with over 250% character fatality
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_per session_ (thank goodness for rods of ressurection). Of that
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series, H2 was the best, with the most actual "dungeon crawling" and
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the least amount of Battlesystem.
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Call me munchkin, but I've got a soft spot for H4 -- high level
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adventure, the chance to run a 100th level character, some neat (and
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hard!) puzzles, and a really nasty guy at the end you just *want* to
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depose. Everything a good module needs (that is, if you don't
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actually take it all seriously ;) )
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I Series of Modules
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-------------------
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I just love those WIGHTS in Tomb of The Lizard king!
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The original Ravenloft and Ravenloft II were great and very
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innovative, especially the simul-play option for both modules. The
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Ravager was good for showing the effects of aging. Both showed
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imagination and some hard work put into them. They are truly
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classics.
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The sum is better than its parts (referring to I3-5).
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The spellbook curse in I2 is too strong.
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Played together I'd rate I6/I10 an 11.
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Tales of the Outer Planes (OP1)
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-------------------------------
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Some fine little adventures, some really goofy ones, especially the
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low level ones.
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Tales of the Outer Planes was a nice tongue-in-cheek look at the
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planes, I mean, a bar run by Santa? The scenarios weren't all that
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bad either. I especially liked the first one involving Hecate, Enki,
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the H
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[accidental deletia]
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=======
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The End
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=======
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