4 comments about Legends Of The Twins (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Dragonlance Setting).

1. This is an awesome addition to the books made by Sovereign Press. Glad to see the alternate Krynns. This book does a lot of major things in it, including showing Tas, Caramon, Raistlin going back to the time of Istar and Kingpriest Beldinas, along with the Dwarfgate War, Abys, and the Blue Lady's War. The battle section is great. The alternate Krynn's is every DM dream. I highly recommend this to anyone.



2. All the books about the world of Krynn have entertained and this one is no exception. good action and characters give you a book hard to put down. Definitely recommend!
   
   If you like books like this one, might I suggest another I've recently come across. The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. It's another fantasy adventure sure to please. I highly recommend it.



3. No where on this webpage does it say that this is a campaign setting. Yet its titled the exact same as the trilogy name. Quite decieving. Other that that I dont know about the book I returned it.



4. This book is fantastic. There is so many variations included from the main storyline that this book is wwell worth the price.

5 comments about Tome and Blood: A Guidebook to Wizards and Sorcerers (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying).

1. This book is good only for explaining the metamagic feats more realistically.

   Beyond that, it's practically useless.

   I bought it because the books I bought for the druid and bard classes were so helpful, and I thought I'd get more help with my wizard/sorcerer characters.

   I should be so lucky.

   The book lacks many new spells that I think are particularly useful to lower-level players.

   The main reasons one would buy this book is for a more clear definition between a sorcerer and a wizard, and because it explains the metamagic feats in a more useful way than the players handbook does.




2. This is probably the guidebook I use most, since I play a spellcaster in my current 3e campaign. I recommend this book if for no other reasons than to upgrade the type of feats you can draw on as a Wizard or Sorcerer and open up a number of new avenues your mage can explore. I really appreciate the metamagic feats, particularly energy admixture and substitution, which give a battle mage new tools to take on the numerous meanies with resistance to specific energies, and scult spell, which allows you to move beyond the circular blast of a standard fireball and into some very exciting alternatives. Among the new spells, the Orb and Lesser Orb spells are a solid choice for low- to mid-level offensive attacks. I had some difficulty with the PrCs, which struck me as being of limited value. Without a DM who tailors his campaign to the inclusion of the elements needed to tap the capabilities offered, many of them would be counterproductive for a player to take. However, if you have a DM who will work with you, there's some very interesting campaign arcs that can be explored.

   Overall, a solid extension of magic options for the D&D system.




3. "Tome and Blood" is a fairly good supplement with a wide variety of useful feat, interesting prestige classes, and a couple of good spells. Some of the prestige classes, "The Acolyte of the Flesh" and the "Alienist" for example, would be hard pressed to be useful for a player character but would be nice NPC's.

   I was slightly disappointed at the variety of schools, lots of innovation for necromancy, but the other schools, particularly illusion seemed to get short handed.

   Also, compared to some of the d20 licensee products like Fantasy Flight Games's "Spells and Spellcraft" or Malhavoc Press's "Eldritch Might" series, this was pretty expensive for the amount of information given.




4. well I got tome and blood for my birthday and I was looking through and I found some alright prestige classes. after a while I read a little bit farther in the prestige class section and found the Dragon Disiple. Since I am a sorcerer I was Amazed.It is literally the best Persige Class is the entire book. after thati look at the spells and I found the lesser acid orbs. they are like magic missle except a bit better.(at least i thin they are better. all in all i think this is a pretty good book.



5. Wizards must have for D&D

3 comments about More Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home: Dragonlance (Dragonlance: Sourcebooks).

1. MORE LEAVES FROM THE INN OF THE LAST HOME is an excellent compiliation of recipies, maps and short tales of both PRE 5th age and POST 5th age. Well worth the money spent, but it doesn't compare to it's precursor, Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home (which they REALLY should reprint). If you are a diehard Dragonlance fan, I don't see how you could be without this book. If you're a casual DL reader, you could probably get along with out it.



2. This is a pretty good book similiar to two previous Dragonlance compilations (the original Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home, and The History of the Dragonlance saga). This book has contributions from Dragonlance fans who wanted to add their ideas about the Dragonlance world. If you're looking for something new you'll find it in here. Having the first two books makes this book a better buy.



3. IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT I HAVE NEVER ACTUALLY READ THIS, I IMAGINE IT'S SPELLBINDING. I DID READ LEAVES OF THE LAST HOME, AND THAT WASN'T SO BAD. IT WASN'T GREAT EITHER, THOUGH.
   SEQUELS ARE USUALLY DISAPPOINTING, IN MY EXPERIENCE. LEAVES OF THE LAST HOME WAS A BIT OF A BURDEN TO READ, TO BE HONEST. IN FACT, I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND EITHER ONE OF THEM. BUT, IF YOU INSIST UPON READING ONE OR THE OTHER, READ LEAVES OF THE LAST HOME FIRST. OR MAYBE SECOND. OR NOT AT ALL. I WOULD TRY THE FORMER, I THINK.

2 comments about GURPS Fantasy.

1. GUPRS players have long known that its sourcebooks are treasure troves of information and GURPS Fantasy is no exception. It is skillfully crafted to help you either build your own fanasy world or adapt an existing one.
   
   GURPS Fantasy is logically broke down into sections beginning with the level and type of fantasy you want. It then by chapter does in how the supernatural can work, how magic and tecnology interreact and even how magic can replace technology, explores using history as a template, goes into the use of localities from isolated hamlets all the way to cities and empires, the different forms, types, and systems of magic, and finally storylines.
   
   The final chapter brings it all together but in a different form from the old magical psudo-Middle Ages Europe familar to many people. Instead we are treated to Roma Arcana - a Roman empire filled with magic both archane and divine.
   
   Even if you do not play GURPS, GURPS Fantasy will provide some insights to things your campaign may be lacking and provide a breath of fresh air because it goes into things often missed in other Fantasy worldbuilder books.



2. I love GURPS... the "anything you want do, you may do" RPG game. This book is a must for those who like fantasy campaigns!

3 comments about Star Wars Mini Clone Strike Starter Set.

1. What could be better than pre-painted plastic miniatures for your Star Wars roleplaying neeeds? I highly recommend these to anyone playing the game or just into collecting Star Wars stuff. The detailing is better than anything I could achieve if I painted them. Open a box and get ready to play!



2. This is an ideal intro to Star Wars Miniatures, and it's pretty cheap too! If you want to get into Minis start with this one. The only problem is that the board is paper and prone to ripping. Laminate it and you're good to go!



3. This is a great set to start with. It is also good to use with the other sets. I have the Revenge of the Sith and the Rebel Strike. I love playing this game.

2 comments about Dragonlance Dragons of Krynn (Dragonlance).

1. Under normal circumstances, I never could review this book. Being a Dragonlance fan for more than 6 years now, I've stopped with others worlds for RPGs and started to devour every romance and every game product from Margaret Weis. This is a example of a work done with love - the book is so good to read, even for dragonlance readers who do not share love for D&D or RPG. The statistics for dragons works in any D&D game, and the descriptions of new powers for Draconian (and race levels, with adds much more in the way of tougher enemies for the characters), dragons and so, bring this as one of my favorite dragonlance books. MW Productions have made again one of the best Roleplaying book I've ever read! Worth's every cent!



2. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book but I'm not sure it's worth even the discounted amazon price of twenty seven dollars... if you're a hardcore Dragonlance fan like me who also lives for (D&D) gaming then yes by all means buy it... however if you don't fall into both of those categories I'd hesitate to recommend it unless you can get a cheap used copy for about fourteen dollars or so (which is entirely possible in the near future given the release of D&D 4th edition and that this is a third edition book). Well written, fun to read, but aside from the racial progression table (basically lets you start playing draconians as a "1st level" or higher character) not a huge amount of "crunchy" game specific stats and rules you can easily plug into your campaign... more like a lot of background info on dragons, dragon-like creatures, creatures of draconic heritage (kobolds, sligs and nagas for example) which is good for flavor text if you're running a game but not much else... Unless you're planning on running a draconian character you'll be just fine with the dragonlance campaign setting and war of the lance books (both excellent books that I highly recommend if you're planning to run a dragonlance campaign or even just a dragonlance fan who also enjoys playing D&D... although again given they're both 3rd edition books if you're planning to run a 4th edition D&D game they will be of limited usefulness)...
   
   Also like most RPG books out there nowadays there's a variety of errors, in this case in the afforementioned draconian racial progression tables... do a search on google for dragons of krynn errata and you'll come up with a link to the dragonlanceforums website where the author of the book, Cam Banks, addresses these issues and offers corrected information. I would print out any pertinent comments he makes and keep it in your hardcopy cover of the book like I did.

No comments about WoW Dark Factions (World of Warcraft).

5 comments about Stronghold Builder's Guidebook (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying).

1. I bought this book a while ago and have found it informative and useful. The system devised for this book on keep construction is easy to learn and use quickly. Players simply purchase construction "units", which can be any type, ranging from armories, bedrooms, kitchens, temples, etc., then draw/place the units on a map accordingly. This makes the details of creating and building a keep to a minimum, and standardizing tasks so that they are not so mundane.
   
   Other information I found useful was the commentary on working keeps into your campaign as bases of operations, using NPCs and staff to maintain your keep, and defending your keep from enemies.
   
   An essential book if you're a player or DM looking to build or add a keep to your campaign.



2. This is a great resource for handling all the DM and player based questions for building and refurbishing keeps, castles, and even villages. There's little that does work for 3.5
   
   Also look for the dragon magazine article that went along with this. I'm sure it can be ordered from paizo.com.



3. At first glance, this book is a valuable resource for anyone wanting to build their own castle, keep, or even manor house out in the countryside. It has a great deal of information and makes it relatively simple for whatever you're doing.
   
   And then you try to use it.
   
   It seems that whoever wrote this book doesn't own a copy of the basic Player's Handbook, since even a basic tavern for a rough-and-tumble crowd costs over 20,000 gold, when you can buy two galleons for the same price. Heaven forbid you should want to serve wine - that makes it almost 40,000. My players yelled at me when I first started trying to use these figures, and rightly so.
   
   This book could have been a lot more than it was made to be. As it is, it simply isn't scaled to the economy given in the core books. It could serve as a point of inspiration for a DM's own material, but that's it.



4. This is one of those books that should not be judged by it's cover! The publishers were given a good product by the authors and then undersold it with the lame back cover (refer to the editorial review above - it's word for word).
   
   Anyway, the book breaks down into the following five chapters:
   1. Building a Stronghold
   2. Stronghold Components
   3. Strongholds in Your Campaign
   4. Example Strongholds
   5. Lists of tables
   
   The best chapters are by far 1 & 2.
   
   First the bad bits: Chapter 3 has some interesting information on attacking and capturing strongholds - but most of the information was self-evident. The biggest problem here was that the economics of a stronghold were glossed over. A simple table showing income say for various trade goods would've sufficed. But overall this is a small complaint, because a good GM can use the information presented to fill in those sorts of gaps if they are important enough. Often this sort of micro-management is frowned at by players, but I know some who enjoy this aspect of the game.
   
   The second bad bit is Chapter 4. Really quite pointless in my humble opinion. The chapter details five 'sample' strongholds, but couldn't be further from the truth if they tried! Except for the 'Cheap Keep', the rest are so exotic as to be ridiculous. I appreciate that building a stronghold is a high character-level activity and that by 9 - 10th level characters usually have substantial resources and even bigger ideas but this chapter was bordering on the silly.
   
   On to the 'crunchy' bits of the book. Chapter One takes you through the steps of building your stronghold. No additional details are presented, just the basic building block steps that you have to take. So when you get buried in all the detail, you can come back to this chapter to re-orientate yourself. This chapter shows that the rules are robust and functional in thier own right, although have no relationship to the prices mentioned in the players handbook.
   
   A previous reviewer took a very dim view of this aspect because of the costs to establish a tavern using these rules would be in the area of 20,000gp (while I have some sympathy with his/her frustration, it should be put into context) These are rules for building a brand new structure in the wilderness, not for taking over an existing building in a metropolis. I've always thought the prices in the PH were silly, so my vote comes down in favour of the Stronghold guidebook.
   
   Chapter two details all of the components that make up the interior and exterior of your stronghold. This is a very detailed chapter, with maps for just about every component. While this is and of itself a very good part of the book I have big gripe about it. When first reading the book, I thought great, I can photocopy the maps and use them to build the interior of castiles (friendly or hostile). But on further inspection found the maps not to be in scale to each other! What's the point of providing a scale for individual maps that only relate to the items within a paticular room? This chapter does have the handy addition of listing what staff normally go with this type of room and so you can build your staff up from the ground level, knowing what each staff member does, rather than being given, say 200 staff and not knowing what Person A does differently from Person ZZ. Combine this with the staff chart on page 42 and you can have a very detailed staff list.
   
   If WotC were to release a castle interiors set to their dungeon tiles expansion then this problem would be solved, but until then, the maps look nice, but are otherwise useless.
   
   I would like to address another complaint raised by another reviewer. The previous reviewer complained about repetition in the book. i.e. the entry of Bedroom Suite, Fancy was the same as Bedroom Suite, Luxury. Having read the book again, this is simply not true. Each description is different (although in some instances there are superficial similarities).
   
   Overall, the book deserves its four stars and with a little tweaking of the PH price charts you can integrate this guidebook into your campaign without having your players shout at you (like a previous reviewer!).
   
   Enjoy.



5. This is a great resource for dungeon masters who are looking to breathe some more life and depth into their games. It also has very good rules for player characters who wish to build their own strongholds. In the right kind of game, I'd go so far as to call this a core supplement.
   
   First, the price and length are right. The book is long enough, without introducing lots of new systems and mechanics which you'll never see again. It gives you practical information on strongholds in the game both as a player and a dungeon master, without getting bogged down in lots of needless detail.
   
   To respond to another reviewer, I really like the detailed descriptions about the difference between a Basic, Fancy and Luxury Bedrooms. Most of the time, a player-designed stronghold is a location for roleplaying encounters and fluff. Going into rich (but concise) descriptions is important because that's what the rooms are there for. For a DM, this is even more important. When the players are exploring an abandoned castle (or raiding an occupied one), the SBG gives you good fluff text for each room the players as about. When you write your own modules, this is important.
   
   I ought to expand on the rule mechanics point, because I think that it's important. Supplements are often crammed with new systems. The problem with this is that you'll never see the new system anywhere else. The feats are dead-end, the items and skills are situational, and the systems are ignored by future supplements. This is pretty much intentional since you can't demand that every player buys every book. Heroes of Battle is a perfect example of a supplement like this: not much fluff, plenty of "crunchy" material, totally useless for most games. The Stronghold Builder's Guidebook is great because it resists the temptation to create a new system when you can just reference an existing core mechanic. So long after so-called "better" supplements went permanently on my shelf, SBG remains relevant, compatible and useful.
   
   The book handles most contingencies a DM will run into. If the players have free labor, or use magic to speed things up, or tries to use the stronghold as a business venture, the DM is ready with answers.
   
   One VERY nice thing about this book is that while it was written for 3.0, it pretty much works out of the box in a 3.5 campaign. The only strike against it is that with D&D4.0 coming out in Summer 2007, there's little reason to be buying D&D products until then at all.

5 comments about Sigmar's Heirs: A guide to the Empire (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying).

1. This is a great resource for those people who aren't as familiar with the setting. It also brings those familiar to the setting form older books up to date with the current time line. While I'd have like to see a little more for the price it's invaluable for the GM. As well as a fun read for the player with a bit of extra cash who wants to understand the setting better.



2. Too many roleplaying games release expansions that are little more than addenda to the rules comprising of pages upon pages of extra classes, feats and the like with setting information getting a few paragraphs here and there. Sigmar's Heirs reverses this trend - mechanics and rules take a backseat to the exploration of the Empire. All of the Imperial provinces are covered in detail, including local sites of interest, personalities and the like. The Empire itself is also covered including religion, politics and history. The core rulebook isn't required to derive use from this book, it's great for pleasure reading or as an idea mine for your game.



3. This book helps with the background, history, beliefs, people breakdowns, and other useful informationon the Empire. the map could be a little more expansiveas some things in descriptions are not shown onthe map, but otherwise it is quite interesting and one of the first books a Gamemaster should get if running in the Empire.



4. This book is one of the best products by Warhammer I have ever seen.
   As a GM I use it as often as "Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: A Grim World of Perilous Adventure" or PH (Player's Handbook). ))
   
   You have lots of useful information on history, politics, society etc of the Empire.



5. this books got every thing you need to get a good feal for the empire.give you good ideas for campaigns as well great buy!!!

5 comments about The World of Warhammer: The Official Encyclopedia of the Best-Selling Fighting Fantasy Game.

1. I was so dissapointed after reading this book. I read every single part word for word and did not learn anything. At the same time, I could not put it down. I guess thats the story of my life. And what was that stuff about chickens all about.



2. fantastic book from the man who worked as deputy editor for GW's citidel journal... and may I add, put so much bloody sweat and beer into it that it actually got out on time for the few month's he was there... (nice one)

   ...anyhow, the book, ignore the front cover (not my fav piece of artwork) but you should never judge a book by it's cover.. a fantastic read, very imformitive and enlightening and great for both new player and old veterans. :)

   a definate buy for all GW or warhammer fans!




3. this book is a great read for anybody that is starting in warhammer, if you are a veteran player, though, you might want to subscribe to white dwarf instead. the book is informative about almost any army, the magic, the units and the history of warhammer and the grudges that the races have with each other.

   a must buy for warhammer fans!




4. This book gives a great overview of the entire world of Warhammer - covering all the races, their motivations and backgrounds, history (including a timeline) and culture. The art was a bit bright and fancy, but I came away aghast with the depth of this world.



5. This book wasn't bad. Being an experienced reader of Warhammer fantasy i would not reccommend this title for other experienced or hardcore readers of WHFB. However, it would be a great foundation for newcomers to the Warhammer fantasy universe. Overall, the illustrations are quite good and it was a nice refresher - 3 stars.