5 comments about The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.

1. My mom is a big scrabble nut, and this made a great present for her



2. While it's nice to have an "official" book around when playing, I've always found that any agreed-upon dictionary works just as well--if not better. Also it's a pain to carry a book around, so I'd rather just define the "official" dictionary with whatever dictionary is handy. And now with the internet, it's just as easy to check an online dictionary.
   
   Then again I play scrabble purely for amusement. Perhaps more hardcore players have valid reasons for needing an "official" Scrabble dictionary.



3. This is a great dictionary for weirdoes like me who enjoy increasing their vocabulary at the cost of their sanity. On the minus side, it's insufferably light on definitions. An example is "PATAGIAL---pertaining to a patagium." O-kayyyy! On the plus side, it is absolutely filled with odd nouns, inflected verb forms, antiquated spellings, and just plain old everyday words. THE OFFICIAL SCRABBLE PLAYERS DICTIONARY is a must if you have six random consonants and two "I"s. Ichthyic.



4. I purchased the Scrabble Dictionary for both of my kids as we are avid players and my old dictionary was not capturing 'today' words.
   My kids are 21 and 31 and they were both happy to receive their very own dictionary.
   thanks! The price was great too!



5. Having received numerous calls from my daughter in Colorado to settle disputes in on-going Scrabble games (mother: the all-wise source), I bought her a copy of the Scrabble Dictionary. She now enjoys peaceful Scrabble games with her family and can save her calls to Mom for chatty conversations about her adventurous daily life.

5 comments about Cash Games (How to Win at No-Limit Hold'em Money Games) Vol. 1.

1. While expectedly falling short of the tournament series which was always going to happen do to cash games being a much more complex topic, these books are perfect for someone wishing to start the transition to cash games from tournaments from a tournament player's perspective.
   
   I for one have been reasonably successful in tournament play for 2-3 years, but have always struggled with cash game play and could never figure out why. This book was very helpful to me in that it explains WHY the two types are different, and the adjustment in perception that has to be made.
   If you are a tournament player this will definitely introduce some ideas that you will not be comfortable with and hands that you have been quite happy to get all in with in a tournament are now hands that are very often beat by the turn and beyond. But if you are open minded and try the concepts introduced here, I think you will see an improvement in your results...As with the previous Harrington books, the hand problems are fascinating and provide a lot of insight...
   These books will likely not help the experienced and successful cash game player much, but everyone else should learn a lot. Coupling reading thse books along with Professional No Limit Poker Vol 1 will improve your understanding. Well worthwhile



2. Whit this book, I improved my skills on cash games, and learnt how to avoid mistakes. Recommended reading for beginners.



3. This book is equally suited for novice and expert player alike. I have not finished reading it, but I can't put it down because every page is full of valuable information that is easy to follow and understand. Congratulations for a job well done!



4. I've played poker of one kind or another for 40 years. Before the "Moneymaker Cascade Event" that propelled tournament poker into the mainstream, I was playing tournaments...and doing well. Got the previous 3 volume series by Dan and immediately improved my tournament results. My cash rate from 2004 to current is 31%. That's up from the 20% I THOUGHT was pretty good! I credit Dan's books for a lot of that success.
   
   This last year, I've been so busy with business, a touring band I'm in, and other things, that I haven't had the time to play tournaments on either circuit. So, when I do have time, I've started playing cash games at a local casino that's 5 minutes from my home. While I generally do well, I was having some pretty big swings.
   
   Finished Volume 1 of Dan's new books, and headed to the casino to play. I feel like a kid in a candy store, and no one's watching me steal the chocolate! Last time out, I got myself seated at a table with 6 sharks and 2 fish. 3 hours later, I've tripled my stack. One of the biggest sharks folded to a raise from me with the statement "I can't beat this guy...he's killed me in every hand today", which was absolutely true. I was getting good cards, to be sure, but I only had the mortal nuts once all day. (Raised pre-flop with JJ, got reraised by KK, hit a set on a flop of J-5-2 rainbow, and got the case J on the turn which got the KK hand's whole stack on the river)
   
   Because of Dan's insights, I felt I knew where I was in virtually every single hand. And indeed, I had no surprises. Just started Volume 2 last night, so I'm anxious to finish it and see what fun I can have on my next trip to the aquarium, err...casino.
   
   Highly recommended.



5. As a low-limit, casual online player, I've been making a reasonable profit on tournaments only to be punished whenever I try to move into ring games. One thing Harrington does a good job of (not surprising given he literally wrote the book on tournament play) is clearly describing how and when the two games diverge. On just the first read-through of this book I was able to spot a number of gaping flaws in my cash game that I didn't even know were there.
   
   I can see how the book would be less valuable to a more experience player, but it was exactly what I needed.

5 comments about Kaplan GRE Exam in a Box.

1. These cards are a helpful review, but if you have the time before you take the GRE you should memorize "root" words.



2. This is a good study guide for the GRE. The small cards can be used wherever you want to study. I haven't taken the GREs yet, so I don't know how many words will be used, but as of now, I've found them useful.



3. While studying these cards I thought they were the best thing ever... Then I started taking practice tests and then I took the real thing, the GRE general exam and realized they were kind of useless. The box has so many words and they are presented in a great easy to study format. Unfortunately though, the GRE uses a lot of the same words over and over again which account for a very small portion of the words in this "exam in a box". In short I recommend buying the GRE Premier edition with CD-Rom. In the book it gives you a list of the 20 most popular words on the GRE, of which I saw about 3/4 of on the test.
   
   In the end I did pretty well on my verbal and I studied the cards constantly so there just might be something to it.



4. I always make my own index cards, but this saves me time and money, actually. Plus, I would never have been able to choose 500 words myself!



5. I used these flashcards to study vocab for the MAT. The words often have meanings other than what I thought they did - good to be corrected. The words did show up and made the difference in getting the analogy correct. Easy to carry.

4 comments about Power Hold'em Strategy.

1. With the game growing so rapidly, there is always a need to get that edge on your opponents. Daniel is a master at his craft, teaching the lethal low ball strategy. I play online, home games, and casino. This book caters to all with sections on online, deep stacks, short stacks, high stakes, low stakes, on and on... it has it all. In my mind, this book is better than Super System I and II. A real must have for any serious poker player!!!



2. I pre-ordered this a long, long time ago and had almost given up on it when I got the the email that it was being shipped.
   
   The funny thing about this is that the most important thing I learned from this book wasn't in the book at all..
   
   First of all: this really isn't a book for beginners. There is a chapter by Evelyn Ng that lays out a strategy for beginners, but that's not the main thrust of the book. This is about power tournament no limit poker and it's the absolute best book I've read yet.
   
   The problem with many other poker books is that you sometimes can't tell what game they are talking about: pot limit, limit, cash games? The strategies for all of those are much, much different than those for tournament NL so the lessons learned can be very harmful. Daniel makes it very clear what he is talking about.
   
   Here's another thing: most poker books aren't really written well. The authors aren't writers, and it shows. Daniel Negreanu writes very, very well and that makes a big difference. I really appreciated that.
   
   There are several other chapters by important players: Brunsen, Lindgren, Ng, Williams and Wasicka all contributed material. Frankly, they could have left all of that out and I would have been just as happy. I don't mean that those are bad chapters, but for me the meat of this book is Daniel's.
   
   So what's that most important thing I learned here? Simply, that I was right.
   
   That is, over the few years that I've been playing, I have slowly come to the same place that Daniel outlines: "small ball" is the path to winning tourneys. But every time I'd express any opinion along those lines, the old-style Doyle Brunsen high-aggression players would insist that I was wrong. Well, if I'm wrong, so is Daniel and I don't think many are in a position where they have any claim to question his play.
   
   Not that I'm in Daniel's league, of course. But so much of what he said caused me to say "Yeah!" and feel vindicated and of course the rest helped me refine and improve the things I have been thinking about.
   
   Of course the thing about poker is that if "everyone" started playing small ball, the old style Doyle Brunsen aggression would once again be the best play. You always have to remember that primarily you have to "play the player" and be ready to switch your style as circumstances dictate. However, right now a lot of the lesser wannabees still know nothing about small ball so the few that really apply these lessons will benefit greatly.
   
   I feel a little funny recommending this book. If everyone I play with read it, I might not do as well as I do. Well, unless they all took this as cookie cutter recipes (something Daniel warns against, by the way). The big lesson here is that good poker is smart poker - that it's not about "always do this if that", but only about looking for (and creating) opportunity.
   
   I'm not a great poker player. I've only been playing NLHE a few years and may never get beyond mediocre, but if I ever do, I know that Daniel's book will have had a lot to do with it.



3. All things considered, I was a little disappointed with this book. I was hoping it would focus on Negreanu's unique style of poker and that it would present ideas not yet covered by the other great poker books (like the Harrington series of books on tournaments and cash games). But it's a 485 page book and Negreanu doesn't even pen a word of it until the last 200 pages.
   
   There are 5 chapters before Negreanu's, each written by a different pro: Evelyn Ng, Todd Brunson, Erick Lindgren, Paul Wasicka, & David Williams. Ng's chapter presented an interesting strategy for beginners that made a lot of sense to me and that I hadn't heard of before, which was good. But the other 4 chapters by the pros were a waste of time. Brunson, Lindgren, Wasicka, & Williams all wrote about very basic concepts that I'd heard of a million times before.
   
   Brunson's chapter was on cash games, but he didn't even scratch the surface of cash game strategy in the way that Harrington on Cash Games did. He spent an entire chapter talking about re-buying, not bluffing, & trap hands.
   
   Lindgren's chapter was about online play. The major flaw with that chapter was that it was written for players that cut their teeth playing in casinos and are now moving online. In reality, I think most of us start online and work our way towards casinos if we succeed online, so the whole chapter felt "backwards". He provided a little more actual in-game strategy than Brunson, but not much.
   
   Wasicka's chapter was about short-handed tables. Outside of Ng's chapter I found this chapter the most useful. Wasicka presented some ideas which were new to me and even the ones that weren't new were at least logical and presented well.
   
   Williams' chapter could have been written in 1 sentence: "Mix up your play so your opponent can't read what you've got." It's the first rule of poker to not let yourself fall into the trap of being predictable and Williams some how rambled on about this for a whole chapter.
   
   With all that being said, Daniel's chapter was great and I thought it was good enough to stand on its own. About 200 pages in length, he describes in depth his small-ball strategy, the math that makes it work, and how to master it. He guides the reader through starting hand selection and position all the way thru flop, turn, & river play, making lots of easy to understand analogies along the way. Although I think the rest of the poker world as caught on to Daniel's methods since his immense success in 2003 & 2004, this strategy is a useful weapon for any poker player to have in his arsenal. Daniel's strategy, when properly employed, should allow the reader to pick up lots of uncontested pots and should keep pots small unless the reader has a big hand.
   
   Taken on a chapter by chapter basis, I'd give the following ratings:
   
   Ng: 4 stars
   Brunson: 1 star
   Lindgren: 2 stars
   Wasicka: 3 stars
   Williams: 1 star
   Negreanu: 5 stars
   
   But as a whole, with all the fluff in there, I'd give the whole book just 2 stars.



4. I received my book about three weeks ago; the invoice showed I had ordered it on March 3, 2006. It is difficult to give an unbiased review after 6 or 7 delays over the last two years but I will try. The publisher has still not updated the description page they created when the book was first being marketed; the original book was to cover limit, pot limit and no limit for tournament and cash games. This book covers only no limit and adds online no limit cash and tournament games. Several of the original authors did not make it into this book. Also, Evelyn Ng is not one of the greatest stars in the game in my opinion although she is somewhat well recognized.
   
   If Daniel Negreanu's contribution had been a stand alone book I might have given it a 5; unfortunately after making many promises and marketing the book so aggressively two years ago I think he was obligated to keep it a multi author book which is partially why I ended up with a three rating overall.
   
   First issue I have with the book is the heavy hand of the publisher, none other than Avery Cardoza. It seems there is an ongoing fued with Cardoza Publishing and 2+2 Publishing and Avery Cardoza is arrogant, audacious and downright rude in the preface which immediately made me question his integrity and the book's integrity. To call this one of the top poker books ever written will be decided in the court of public opinion and by those who know poker not by Avery Cardoza. He should keep his personal issues personal and not taint Negreanu's book with unnecesary garbage.
   
   Evelyn Ng's contribution appears to me to be written mostly by Negreanu; I have read Negreanu's writing for many years and it seems to be his voice. Not a hugely useful chapter and not very original as the main approach is strikingly similar to "The System" put forth in Sklansky's tournament book several years ago and expounded on in "Kill Phil". Primarily a beginner approach to no limit tournaments.
   
   Todd Brunson's contribution is very short in several ways. More advice than strategy and not nearly as thorough as his chapter on high low split in "Super System 2" which I thought was outstanding. It covers high limit cash games which seems to juxtapose the previous "beginner" approach in Ng's chapter. Sequence is important in this type of book and Brunson's chapter seemed out of place as well as my other comments.
   
   Eric Lindgren is also more advice than strategy and covers online no limit holdem. A few ideas to use but again put this into the preface's promises by Cardoza about this being one of the top poker books written.
   
   Paul Wasicka's chapter is short-handed online no limit is short on content also. Only 25 pages and again with its brevity it creates many unanswered question that you will have to search for elsewhere. No limit holdem becomes more complex shorthanded and this brief chapter falls short.
   
   David William's chapter "Mixing it Up" is actually fairly decent but it is an approach and style that lends itself to seriousness variance and is for fearless and skilled players who must still navigate the inevitable traps this approach creates. It is actually complimentary to the small ball approach that Negreanu teaches.
   
   The meat of the book is Negreanu's "Small Ball" which many top winning tournament players have been using with great success. This style is similar to Gus Hansen's style which likes to see many flops, keep the pots small, make good reads and exploit your opponents with hand ranges and position. It's not an easy style to play successfully and requires many intricate and finesse type plays that
   might be challenging to learn from a book. I do feel though that it is a thorough and solid treatment of his style. Thinking through a hand in reverse takes some work and focus and implenting plays based on good reads takes hundreds if not thousands of hours of playing. I have always liked Negreanu's writing style and approach to poker and would buy the book for just his chapter. Too bad he didn't write the whole book; it lost points on the other chapters not on his.

5 comments about Keep on the Shadowfell (Dungeons & Dragons, Adventure H1).

1. A great start to 4E. The adventure feels pretty generic - it's a straight-forward dungeon crawl. However, expect your players to keep occupied with this adventure until the next one in the series comes out. That way you can just keep 'em running on these until you reach Paragon tier and continue the story the way you like it. Good deal.



2. Very nicely packaged, lovely maps that fold out nicely (each map is folded into 8 parts). Great adventure, and the only reason I don't give it 5 stars is because it's pretty much exactly what you expect for a 1st level starting adventure. Fight some kobolds/goblins, clean out their keep, fight the big priest-like fellow at the end. It really is the perfect 1st level game that will remind everyone whose been 1st level before of the keep with kobolds and/or goblins.



3. I've not gotten to play this one yet, but from reading the books, looking at the maps, it's going to be cool. Now, to just find 4 people to play the pc's...



4. As an introductory adventure to 4th Edition, I was expecting something shorter. I was surprised at the number of fold out maps and the thickness of the adventure booklet.
   
   Reading through it, I was reminded of the Village of Hommlet adventure that leads to the Temple of Elemental Evil. The adventure has that sort of classic feel. I'm hoping that the rest of this series of adventures continues in this vein.



5. I'm using this with a group of players who have never played before and it's working great! The new lay-out of player's skills and abilities spells out exactly who can do what and the encounter tables for the monsters are easy to follow with interesting abilities and varied combat tactics. The giant fold out maps are great for helping set the scene and it is simply a very well done adventure and from the DM's perspective it gives a good framework to work from while at the same time allowing for creative work if something needs to be changed. Get this, even if you don't follow it word for word, it will provide a great backdrop for a player crafted adventure.

5 comments about Every Hand Revealed.

1. I can't praise this book highly enough. It is a spectacular description of Hansen's playing style and a great descripton of tournament strategy and and the mathematics involved in poker. The depth of the descriptions isn't overly detailed, and the analysis isn't comprehensive. I'd say it's just about perfect for someone who has watched some poker on TV, played a little, and has a grasp of the basic vocabulary.
   
   Even so, if you're already an expert you may like this as an interesting window into the mind of what is unarguably one of the most well known poker players alive today. If you know a little and are just above a rank beginner like me, you'll be fascinated to watch someone apply poker concepts in an easy to understand conversational style. Hansen really reviews why he does what he does, and even berates himself occasionally when he thinks he screws up.
   
   Will this book revolutionize poker? No, but it is "I can't put it down" material if you're a poker nut like me.
   
   It would make a great counterpart to reading
   1) Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1: Strategic Play
   -- and either --
   2) Caro's Book of Poker Tells or Phil Hellmuth Presents Read 'Em and Reap: A Career FBI Agent's Guide to Decoding Poker Tells.
   
   A great book.



2. This is a great book. I learned alot from the three Harrington on Hold 'em tournament books, and I play ok, but I think this book suggests the next level of play. Hansen offers you information on making objective decisions with hands that I have always been confused on how to play, and he does it with math. Hansen also shows how he deals with the subjective perceptions of his oppents, and gives his opinion on hands where he considers losing the pot would not just cost him chips but also his momentum and his position as "table captain." Something I was considering while reading this book was how tough it would be to play against Hansen. Worth the money for sure.



3. In this book Gus basically talks about all the hands he played when he won the Aussie Millions. Gus tells us whats going through his mind during each hand and on every street upto the river. It's quite interesting to see how he thinks during a hand.



4. Gus has flopped quads with this one. After reading all the "how-to" books I could get my hands on I finally found a book that puts it all together. What a novel and fresh approach to tournament poker. In "Every Hand Revealed" I was able to better understand the concepts that so many authors have tried to teach me. To watch Gus play each hand, to see him push the winners, fold the losers, and not quit when the right play failed has really made me re-look my game. I do believe that had I read this book one month ago I would have finished higher that the top 15% of the Senior's tournament at the WSOP.



5. I've read more than 10 poker books written by world class pros n this is like the 12th or sth. It does cover each hand GUs played in the Aussie million, but then in terms of hand analysis is definitely not in-depth enough if you already have a solid backgroud about the game and are trying to refine that to the next level. His thought process is too simple, and explanation are not as in-depth as you might expect to get from a world-class player like him. i'm sure he thinks much more deeper than how he explained inside the book but then, just similar to his DVD, it's just too superficial, and i see no reason y he will even include simple stuff like preflop button steal with K7o against bunch of rocks, which is only like 3 lines of words in content.
   
   If you really wana know how a pro thinks during a critical hand or some tough decision, i'll recommand Dan Harrington's no limit hold'em tournament series, all 3 volumes, even that they're like my 8th poker book set. Dan's book include more in-depth and comprehensive thought process in gaining information, utilizing table image, handling scare cards, playing maniacs, and sometimes playing marginal hands in tough early position. Also, Barry Greenstein's Ace on the River will b a great choice too (although the hand analysis section is super short, every hands are definitely worth looking) but then sorry, not in Gus's book.

5 comments about Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition.

1. A successful company will identify what about it's product is 1) recognizable by the consumer, 2) successful and generated positive image and sales and, 3) needing improvement.
   
   The new MM follows in the same flawed footsteps of the other core 4th books. Instead of trying to improve on their "brand" product (which generally agreed had it's main success in the 3.5 rule set) they attempt an entire rules/style revision and become an entirely different product. Most successful companies will tell you that will kill your "brand".
   
   "Examine your company's history and figure out how it was branded in the past. Then revitalize the original message, putting your own twist on it. Reemphasizing the message that inspired and unified your firm's original customers won't alienate them." If we go by this...what WoTC is telling me is that they want to abandon it's original fanbase who made the D&D a success up to the 3.5 edition, in an attempt to strike out in an entirely new direction, hoping that an entirely redesigned brand product will tap into the MMO market's larger fanbase as potential new customers.
   
   It seems a decision made simply to satisfy the shareholders, and not one at all made for the RPG community. The same mindset has been carried over into the new MM. Gone are the great descriptions, gone are the non-combat critters who used deception and trickery in favor of a big club, and gone are any other concerns other than stats/powers...it reads more like a recipe book serving up lists of ingredients that went into making the dish, but with no description as to which order to mix them, what temperature to use and how long to bake them. People can claim "it's up to the GM's imagination to make the critter his own"....but if the critter lacks even the most basic of visual description I wonder what the GM paid for. If the book emits the lush descriptions, reduces the critters all to basic combat obstacles and yet the books are still priced in the same manner as previous editions - then yes you guess it - you've been had.
   
   IN regards to the MM and to the 4th edition as a whole - WoTC, get your head out of your *** and start trying to repair your brand right now. Classic RPG fans require a game made by RPG fans, for RPG fans...not by a new generation of MMO player who has no idea what a pencil n paper RPG system should be. The target 13 yr old audience will soon realize' as they get older, they want something more thought out and engaging than the 4th edition serves up.
   
   I applaud the initiative of wanting to completely redfine your product brand..but when it is done with apparently no feedback taken from your current consumer base in development, then you reap what you sow. I smell manure.



2. I've been an absolutely RABID fan of Dungeons and Dragons in all of its incarnations since about 1980. I had all of the 1st edition and 2nd edition books, 3.0 represented a big change for me, but I grew to like it - and then 3.5 really fixed some of the bugs in 3.0 making it one of the most modular systems I'd ever seen.
   
   When the 4th edition of D&D was announced, it seemed premature. When the video of the presentations about 4th edition hit YouTube, I was intrigued - a lot of what I seeing sounded very promising. I began to let myself get excited about the new edition, then I read one of the preview books - and began to get nervous, but I figured, hey, this is just a preview - they'll work out the bugs. After all, version 3.0/3.5 had a few clunky spots, but if you worked through those, BAM, you had an amazingly well oiled machine, right? Then I get the 4th edition rulebooks. Wow, talking about a head shot. We have "new Coke" in game form.
   
   The Monster Manual is absolutely a train wreck. Monsters read like they're simply enemies to be killed - like in a computer game. I felt like I was reading the WOW or Diablo II strategy guide, not the Monster Manual. There is no sense of a larger fantasy world - as that appears to have been "streamlined" away from the process. Steve Jackson has to be doing a double take because D&D is now more Munchkin than Munchkin. Same thing for the Dungeon Crawl guys, WotC seems to have taken the success of the Dungeon Crawl Classics modules a bit too literally.
   
   I sincerely hope that 4th edition is improved as additional supplements are released, but I'm not holding my breath (and I AM holding my dollars until I see evidence of improvement). At this point I see 4th Edition as an interesting game of below average depth and quality. I fear Gary Gygax is rolling over in his grave to see the "Dungeons and Dragons" name on it.



3. Admittedly there are a couple of classics I miss, but it has a good number of critters and some notable new twists on old favourites. The art isn't bad, and the simple stat blocks are very much like the simpler stat blocks of D&D editions prior to 3rd Edition. The only thing it is truly lacking are "ecology" type blurbs.



4. Without comparing this book to its previous editions as many reviewers have done, I'm going to review it based on its own merits.
   
   The art, for the most part, is pretty good....and it's everywhere. There is no lack of visual inspiration to stoke the imagination. There are a few pieces that seem particularly appropriate for a "Monster" Manual...in the first few pages are some truly horrific-looking beasties, and there are more than a couple illustrations that simply scream "I WANT TO DEVOUR YOUR SOUL."
   
   The layout is good, with monsters laid out in alphabetical order. There are several different indexes in the back, allowing players to look up monsters by level, by name, etc. Very handy for DMs who're setting up encounters. Also, it's easy to locate the quirkier parts of the book, like the optional PC races.
   
   The only real reason I give this book a four instead of a five is the lack of fluff. While my imagination is just fine, I would have liked just a little more in the way of fiction for these guys to offer thought-fodder for adventures.
   
   All in all, a decent book.



5. The card based layout of the entries was a poor choice. It makes the book more difficult to read. Some recycled art and, as mentioned by others, no regard for what people want in a monster book.

5 comments about Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition.

1. I've been an absolutely RABID fan of Dungeons and Dragons in all of its incarnations since about 1980. I had all of the 1st edition and 2nd edition books, 3.0 represented a big change for me, but I grew to like it - and then 3.5 really fixed some of the bugs in 3.0 making it one of the most modular systems I'd ever seen.
   
   When the 4th edition of D&D was announced, it seemed premature. When the video of the presentations about 4th edition hit YouTube, I was intrigued - a lot of what I seeing sounded very promising. I began to let myself get excited about the new edition, then I read one of the preview books - and began to get nervous, but I figured, hey, this is just a preview - they'll work out the bugs. After all, version 3.0/3.5 had a few clunky spots, but if you worked through those, BAM, you had an amazingly well oiled machine, right? Then I get the 4th edition rulebooks. Wow, talking about a head shot. We have "new Coke" in game form.
   
   First, I believe it is entirely misguided for WotC to try to turn D&D into a MMO, yet that's effectively what they've done. The various classes are too homogenous, their roles are too rigidly defined, all of the powers and abilities have to work on a square grid. While this certainly "simplifies" and "streamlines" the system, it's effectively thrown the baby out with the bathwater as there's no "system" left. Gone are perennial favorites like the Druid, bard, and monk, and we get the warlord???
   
   Of the three Core rulebooks, the DMG is probably the best. It includes a lot of really good information for new DM's on how to engage players based on their playing style. Unfortunately, it's a part of an edition that has essentially removed the role playing aspect and replaced it almost entirely with "roll playing." With all of the action effectively taking place on a grid - the DM may as well be a decent Core 2 PC programmed to make the rolls.
   
   I sincerely hope that 4th edition is improved as additional supplements are released, but I'm not holding my breath (and I AM holding my dollars until I see evidence of improvement). At this point I see 4th Edition as an interesting game of below average depth and quality. I fear Gary Gygax is rolling over in his grave to see the "Dungeons and Dragons" name on it.



2. I've been roleplaying for years, so a quick skim through of the DMG left me with the impression that there wasn't anything in it for me. A more thorough reading revealed a number of useful rules that, while they could have been elsewhere, make the DMG invaluable.



3. The dungeon master's guide for 4th edition is truly designed with the dungeon master in mind. Gone are the days where the players would need their own DMG for referencing their magic items, item creation feats, prestige classes, and other odds and ends. The DMG now focuses on the how to building encounters, adventures, campaigns, and settings. It starts with an introduction to DMing for new game masters. It runs through the purpose of a dungeon master, expectations that you should have for your group, and how to make the game work for your players. For a new DM, this will help get you off to a good start. For an experienced DM, the section will mostly feel like old hat, but is not without its own insightful tidbits.
   
   The next sections of the book focus on encounters. They talk about combat encounters. They tell you how to build encounters for a given group size and party level. Give you advice and guidelines on how to make encounters that are challenging, interesting, and easy to run. It takes a lot of the guess work out of building encounters, and is a lot more intuitive than the CR system used in the last edition. Let me put it this way, you can throw together a really interesting combat encounter in five minutes that will match well with your party. If you are an improvisational DM, then you know just how awesome that is. After a long discussion on terrain, an oft-overlooked component of combat design, they go into non-combat encounters. Skill challenges are a great concept that gets a lot of development. They formalize what was previously a nebulous concept, using skills to resolve an encounter. They give examples of skill challenges, target DCs by level, advice on building them, and advice on how to improvise along with player ingenuity. They also give some time to traps and puzzles. The puzzles section, in my opinion, was a little bit lacking. They left out entires classes of puzzles, such as spacial puzzles, and focused only on the most esoteric forms that, quite frankly, are very jarring to come across. In the end, though, most of the encounter section gives nothing but useful guidelines and sound advice.
   
   Similar statements can be made on the rest of the book, it's filled with rules of thumb and thoughtful advice. The only really bad thing that I have to say about the book, however, is that it has some blatant advertisement in it. For example, as opposed to saying that you need "something to represent characters and monsters," or even just saying "miniatures," the DMG says that you need "D&D Miniatures." Similarly, references are dropped regularly to other materials like Dungeon Tiles and DnDinsider. Admittedly, these are all nice luxuries for a game, but the product placement seems out of place.
   
   Dungeon Masters should definitely give this book a read through, it will improve your games and make preparation super easy. Don't expect the DMG of generations past, though.



4. I borrowed a copy of this and the PHB from someone and read the pair of them from cover to cover just so I could say that I had read them. I've got all the 3rd edition books (some of which I wish I hadn't bought). Even if I had liked what I read in 4e I wouldn't drop 3.5 to play it simply because, for me and my group, 3.5 isn't broken and we've invested too much and effort into it to drop it for another system. 4e is, as many here have said, Wizards' desperate attempt to appeal to all those kiddies who'd rather be playing WoW or some other MMORG. They're clever buggers though. They raped an rpg called Earthdawn for 3rd edition, why not do the same to the most popular video game of the day. Im sure it'll work for them on the money side. It made them rich with 3.5. Im wondering what Wrath of the Lich King will do to their sales though. Who wants to play WoW without the graphics?
   4e? Its a streamlined, dumbed down, annoyingly uncomplicated DnD. Gone are all the cool things I love about 3.5. Where 3.5 allows for an endless array of characters, 4e looks to me to be not unlike WoW characters who come in about 3 versions per class, one of which is always going to be toted as the best 'build'.
   I've heard a lot of people criticize 3.5 over wizards having spells per day and it being limiting. I play a lot of successful wizards and I never have a problem. 4e though has spells that per day, per encounter, per round, etc. That's no less absurd to me. What the heck is a per encounter spell? That's absurd. What if the encounter is 1 rd and the next 25 rds? Not to mention they removed spells from the game. Its just sad.
   Thank you Wizards for 3.5. I don't need this latest dire wolf in WoW's clothing.



5. Wow, it has been 20+ years since I felt the urge to write a letter to the creators of my favorite game. Back then I wrote to TSR in Lake Geneva to ask a simple rules question and got a hand typed letter back signed by the "Big Guy" himself. I was awed and shocked to get such a response.
   
   Unfortunately this time I feel compelled to write not asking a simple question but to say a complicated good bye.
   
   I have been playing since the very early days of TSR, since that time I have taken my D&D campaign everywhere with me; College, eight years flying around the world in the USMC, through the several moves across five states and now teaching the game to my three children. I am not the streotypical gamer, living in mom's basement and driving a 1977 AMC Pacer-wagon (though my Mom and Dad actually bought a powder blue one when I was in high school, needless to say I walked to school). I am a manager for a multi-billion dollar, multi-national corporation and make a very nice living at it. As such I have been able to collect over the years a rather large RPG library and have sitting on my desk almost every title WOTC has published, with the exception of the Eberron and Dragonlance series which I just not got into for one reason or antoher.
   
   But now it appears that it time for us to part ways.
   
   I purchased the new Fourth Edition rules and devoured them while on vacation. I read the books cover to cover and was completely disheartened at the end of my read. I could have cried. The game that I have played and loved since the 8th grade is dead. It hit me just as it did when GDW switched to the Traveller: New Era rules, the game I loved was gone and the publisher stumbled along with a similarly titled game that was but a shadow of the original.
   
   When my wife, who after a year of MMORPG'ing has only recently switched to tabletop gaming, saw how distressed I was she picked up the books and started skimming through. Although a veteran of only a few D&D 3.5 sessions she too saw this was not the same game we had played with my kids. After an hour or so she looked over the top of the PHB and asked me, "Do you think the guys at World of Warcraft know WOTC stole their game?" We discussed the new rules for quite a while and I began to make a list of what I would need to change in my current campaign so that I could bring the kids into the new edition. That list soon turned into a list titled "GOOD CHANGES" and "BAD CHANGES", thinking I could simply devise some house rules or cobble the 3.5 rules into place where the new 4E rule went against the grain.
   
   As the list progressed I soon found that there was little point.
   
   Lets face it you have shifted your target audience away from gamers like me to the new generation who demand instant gratification and who find that grinding through the lower levels is beneath them. I have had a few of these types play in my games over the years, the "Dave Bozwell type" from Knights of the Dinner Table, who B.A. lures to the gaming table by giving him a +12 Hackmaster Sword as a first-level fighter. As a manager of a business I understand that you have to set your sights on where the money is in the marketplace and it is apparent that you are going after Blizzard's 9-million WoW subscribers.
   
   I am sure you have read many of the naysayers on the forums and reviews of the new books on sites such as Amazon.com. While you will always have those who resist a change from a previous edition, I can honestly say that my objections to 4E are not because of some grognard stubbornness or wistful reminiscences for times gone by, but purely for mechanical and stylistic reasons.
   
   Stylistic? Yes. The theme of the game has changed, the mood, the ambiance if you will. As an example, in the DMG on page 124 under monetary treasure the portion reads, "By the time characters reach epic level, they rarely see gold anymore." Hmmm, so do they shop at Epic Level merchants and eat at Epic Level taverns? When I read this I could just imagine every merchant in town with a hand written sign in their stall at the market "NOTHING LARGER THAN A SILVER PIECE". That would throw a loop into Mr. Tough Guy trying to buy 50' length of rope at the bazaar with an Astral Diamond. Clearly a case of catering to this new generation, and where do I even begin with the pandering to the "It's KEWL to be evil" crowd with the inclusion of the Dragonborn and Tiefling.
   
   After all the years of my mother asking me when I am going to grow up and stop playing games, I am sorry to see that that time is here. I shouldn't say that I am going to stop, that is not true. My campaign will continue, sadly though without your support. I purchased the DMG and PHB the first day they were released with every intention of continuing my support of WOTC and 4E only to find that I was left behind. It all happened so fast I wasn't prepared to say good bye, but now after a few weeks of reading and re-reading the 4E material I have been able to justify my position and can now finally come to grips with the fact that this is the end of an era.

5 comments about Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition.

1. I recently had my first exposure to D&D 4E with my old gaming group. We all met in college and have a combined 127 years of gaming experience (average being 24 years). In all we did enjoy playing 4E and have noticed the effects on MMORPG in this gaming.
   
   Pros:
   1)Easy to pick up and learn for new gamers. You learn the system with one class and then you can play any other class. You just need to familiarize the powers.
   
   2)Synergy in classes and powers. You are rewarded for having a balances party all using their powers for the team goals.
   
   3)Ease of combat. Our group was able to go through combat encounters quicker than previous version of D&D. We enjoyed the flow of the game.
   
   4)Roles. Every party member falls into a roll and all are important to the group's success.
   
   5)Rituals. Give us more. I love the rituals and mechanics for it. Also enjoy that anyone with the training can learn the rituals. Waiting for the ritual supplement
   
   6)Power color coding. This was a nice way to delineate which powers were daily vice encounters.
   
   Neutrals:
   1)requiring Miniatures to play. I like using miniatures to portray the action, but at times just imaging the combat works fine. Pretty much is it mandatory that you have some form of map.
   
   2)Feats in PHB. I would have like more feats in the book and equal numbers of specific feats for races and classes
   
   3)Races. Love the new races, love the unique powers. Disappointed that I think a few more could have been added.
   
   Cons:
   1)Multi-classing. Seems multi-classing is not equivalent across the boards and picking up certain classes over other provide better advantages. This may be flushed out as the game matures.
   
   
   Overall, I would recommend the game for old-timers and beginners



2. I've been an absolutely RABID fan of Dungeons and Dragons in all of its incarnations since about 1980. I had all of the 1st edition and 2nd edition books, 3.0 represented a big change for me, but I grew to like it - and then 3.5 really fixed some of the bugs in 3.0 making it one of the most modular and enjoyable systems I'd ever seen.
   
   When the 4th edition of D&D was announced, it seemed premature. When the video of the presentations about 4th edition hit YouTube, I was intrigued - a lot of what I seeing sounded very promising. I began to let myself get excited about the new edition, then I read one of the preview books - and began to get nervous, but I figured, hey, this is just a preview - they'll work out the bugs. After all, version 3.0/3.5 had a few clunky spots, but if you worked through those, BAM, you had an amazingly well oiled machine, right? Then I get the 4th edition rulebooks. Wow, talking about a head shot. We have "new Coke" in game form.
   
   First, I believe it is entirely misguided for WotC to try to turn D&D into a MMO, yet that's effectively what they've done. The various classes are too homogenous, their roles are too rigidly defined, all of the powers and abilities have to work on a square grid. While this certainly "simplifies" and "streamlines" the system, it's effectively thrown the baby out with the bathwater as there's no "system" left. Gone are perennial favorites like the Druid, bard, and monk, and we get the warlord???
   
   Character races are also subjected to castration, no half-orcs, no gnomes, but hey we get tieflings and dragonborn??? Alignment has gone from a tapestry of various viewpoints and world views to a system that works fine as long as your mentality doesn't branch beyond the 3rd grade level. Spellcasters have less power options and abilities than the characters in any game of Diablo II, and Diablo II does them better.
   
   Don't get me wrong, there are some interesting ideas out there - the Heroic, Paragon, and Epic tiers are a neat idea, but even they seem to be executed poorly - prestige classes in 3.5 did a far better job of doing the same thing.
   
   I sincerely hope that 4th edition is improved as additional supplements are released, but I'm not holding my breath (and I AM holding my dollars until I see evidence of improvement). At this point I see 4th Edition as an interesting game of below average depth and quality. I fear Gary Gygax is rolling over in his grave to see the "Dungeons and Dragons" name on it.



3. This book is the meat and potatoes of the new system. My favourite classes and race from the previous edition are missing from it, but I wouldn't knock even a half star off the rating for it as the system itself is just that much of an improvement.
   
   The system draws inspiration and concepts from ye olde BECM D&D rules, as well as AD&D. And it unmistakably evolved from the d20 rules at the core of 3rd Edition. While the rules are very simple, from a tactical standpoint they offer a certain complexity of action and combat movement that moreso than any other edition begs for the use of miniatures (or a suitable substitute). Normally I would find that to be a drawback, but again the rules are just overall so much better that I don't mind.
   
   If I could rate to the half-star, I might knock off a half a star for the formatting. The classes' by-level abilities are essentially like sawed-off spell lists for each class, and they're printed with each class in a sort of run-together fashion that seems a bit chaotic. And the index is a bit anemic.
   
   And as for any reviews comparing the system to video games, or decrying it as the destruction of D&D - take into account that such things were said about 3rd Edition as well.



4. 4e is an excellent miniature game. It's Heroquest without the cardboard. If that's what I wanted, I would be thrilled. However, I wanted D&D. 4e is an utter failure in that regard.



5. I say this because that's the only thing good about the 4th edition. The new rules are literally computer RPGs in table top form, and the computer game they got it from wasn't all that good.
   
   The races are akward (dragonborn), redundant (eladrin) and lacking (Where are the gnomes? The asimar?). Character classes are flavorless (or should I say "balanced") losing everything that made them a fighter, cleric, wizard, and thief. Now they are all the same "thing" just with different names with similar powers and abilities.
   
   Did they streamline the rules at least one may ask? Well of course they did! They streamlined it to the point that it's no different from an oversimplified table top wargame, eliminating any room for characterization or customization! D & D is now a very linear hack and slash MMORPG that throws off that troublesome burden called IMAGINATION. Now that's progress for ya!
   
   Well maybe I'm just an old curmudgeon who can't see the fact that 4th edition was tailored for those generations brought up on World of Warcraft and Everquest. "These people have the attention span and mental capacity of a gnat!" Pleads the poor WOTC staffer. "We can't stress their brains too much or they'll explode!"
   
   Fine, you need to make a buck I understand.(But it does say something about the generations of today and its FRIGHTENING.) What I cannot forgive is the blatant greed that is infused in the new D & D. You see I'm one of those guys who couldn't wait to get the new rule book or campaign setting because I saw them as more icing for an already delicious cake.
   
   What we have now is a stale pastry that needs a whole lot of extras to just make it palatable. 3.5, 3rd ed. and all the way down to D & D basic were complete games in themselves that allowed people to let their fantasies run wild. The fourth edition on the other hand is deliberately incomplete and made to box people in, forcing them onto one path, which the good people at WOTC know will become very old, very fast. And that's where the "essential" supplements come in, each of them promising to extricate you from the mind numbing blandness which is the Core Rulebooks. For a price of course.
   
   Gygax must be spinning in his grave.
   
   On a final note, when's the Pathfinder RPG coming out?

5 comments about Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set, 4th Edition.

1. they really did 4th edition right. Everything is organized, great rules, it really plays well if you enjoy storyteller style gaming.



2. Here's the gist:
   
   ***If you have experienced, fair-minded players & a good GM & like role-playing over roll-playing, skip 4e. 3.5 offers many more options & you'll be able to pick up the HUGE library cheap on eBay, Amazon, etc.***
   
   ***If you're a newbie, or your GM is a newbie, or you're forced to play with powergaming munchkins, or you enjoy miniatures-based wargaming more than role-playing, snap up 4e.***
   
   
   Note: I'm not slagging 4e here... much. There are a lot of people in the second category who will be well-served by the new system.



3. Having played several sessions using the 4.0 rules system, there are several noteworthy steps forward in the new structure. It is a simpler, more streamlined system to play than the 3.5 and 3.0 editions, and certainly will be easier to run for a novice Dungeon Master. Unlike the earlier systems (even the much older Advanced Dungeons and Dragons rules) sessions don't seem to be dominated by rulebook dives for exceptions and loopholes in the rules. The at-will, encounter, and daily powers given to each character class make each class more distinctive than earlier editions, as everyone now has something "special" to bring to the table (even a basic fighter). In addition, first level characters are now more capable and have a lot more hit points (they seem about equal to 3rd or 4th level characters of earlier editions) so more interesting things can be done earlier in a character's career.
   There are a few negatives though. One immediately notices that the races aren't well balanced- dragonborn and eladrin seem much more capable than others, and dwarves and halflings slightly less capable. Skills are much more generic and less important than earlier editions, resulting in less character choice. These are fairly minor complaints however.
   The biggest likely problem doesn't exist yet, but may eventually overwhelm the system's straightforwardness and ease of play. I understand there are already three more expansion books in the works with more character classes, play options, and rules modifications. This is the same route that earlier rules systems from TSR/WOTC took, and this threatens the major virtue the system has- its streamlined ease of play. This will be lost if players have to look through 11 different books to check multiple rules exceptions for 16 races and 37 character classes. Invariably the new classes are more powerful and flashier to play, so they become the stars and those who play a "basic" class are reduced to supporting roles, rewarding those who have spent lots more money on books and have the time to master many, many more pages of rules. It would be far better to keep the system simple, but the desire to sell more books (and make more money) makes this highly unlikely. I would recommend buying the basic books and having fun with them before the system gets too weighty for its own good.



4. I was really looking forward to 4ed. The idea that you can just pick-up and play without having to decipher lots of fine print and sub-rules and supplements and so on, this seemed like a good idea. (Although, frankly, the mastery of D&D minutiae is most certainly the appeal for some geeks.)
   
   Surprisingly, I've had to literally force my way through the Player's Handbook. It's all so ... boring. Part of the fun of D&D (for me, as a DM) was reading through all the possibilities, and imagining more. 3ed had this in spades: You could do just about anything, and it gave a lot of room to go in interesting and unique directions.
   
   4ed, meanwhile, maps everything out. Everything is classified in terms of how often you can use it, and you add this power or that feat at each level according to a unified formula. It reminds me more of Diablo than anything.
   
   I'm not being dismissive, either. Really, 4ed is an impressive piece of work, streamlining and cleaning up a very messy game. I give it three (of five) stars because it's so easy to read and has big type with every detail clerly spelled out. (I don't like the artwork but that's my own taste.) It will surely be easier for people to casually pick up and play. What I can't figure out is why they--or really, why =I= would want to play it.
   
   I gather that a lot of issues with 3ed came about because of pickup and competition games. There are such things as "powergamers" and "rules lawyers" and they found ways to drag the game down. And, of course, not all classes in previous editions were equally powerful, if you crunched the numbers. (It never occurred to me that this was a problem, but then I do everything I can to keep my players from focusing on the numbers.)
   
   So, I guess 4ed is good in that regard. Every character boils down to one of four combat roles, and all the features they can acquire are centered around those roles, one of which they'll likely specialize in. (It's probably not as boring as I just made it sound there.)
   
   Now, I run a very DM-centered game, and 4ed diminishes that greatly. The races have a back story which implies a pre-made, common world; Clerics pick from a variety of bland, pre-made deities; The magic items are listed in the PHB and a player can acquire them easily based on level, which implies a world where magic becomes banal at some level.
   
   This is great for a pick-up game, I'm sure. And of course, the DM who doesn't care for all this can do as he pleases. But at some point, as you're sitting there thinking, "Well, I can ignore the two gratuitous elf races, drop the half-demon and half-dragon races, bring back the full nine alignments, assume that stuff that I miss, like gnomes, druids and illusionists will be back with the PHB II, bring back real multiclassing and prestige classes...", you have to wonder, "Why 4ed at all?"
   
   Here's a fun fact: In AD&D (what's now referred to as 1ed), you rolled a d20 to attack and checked against a table to see if you hit. Then the monster rolled a d20, etc. Magic-users would use a spell, thieves would try to sneak attack, etc. But that was combat in the original. It was said to represent one minute of fighting, including all the feints, dodges, parries, tumbling, etc. It was detail free, basically, except as the DM described the action. There were no critical hits, there were very tight minimum and maximum ACs. There was no distinction between "touching" and "causing damage" when you hit; it was really very loose and vague.
   
   Of course, the whole thing was a deliberate simplification. And since D&D's roots were in wargaming, with its considerable, meticulous measures and calculations, you can safely assume the creators weren't afraid of complexity. (I run 3ed like 1ed, essentially ignoring the absurdly extensive 3ed combat rules.)
   
   4ed, on the other hand, is basically a tactical board game. The rules--I mean, =all= the rules--are pretty much set up to facilitate putting figurines on a grid and having them combat in turn, taking equal amounts of time, doing roughly similarly powered things, and measuring everything in terms of causing damage.
   
   Hell, you could easily put the character's actions into a computer program and let the players use hotkeys to select which power they want--and I'm sure they're working on it.
   
   A lot of people seem to love the new rules, and it's not that I looked at the changes and couldn't see exactly why they changed them and why that was a "good thing" (except for the elimination of half the alignments). I get it. I really do get it.
   
   It just leaves me cold.



5. You know how the Star Trek movies seem to make bad odd numbered films and great even numbered films? D&D is the opposite. The 2nd edition was a rehash of the first to resell us stuff we already owned, without Gary Gygax' name on the cover. The 1st and 3rd editions - just outstanding!. Let's wait until 5.0. It HAS to be better.
   
   I am not a pre-judgement person concerning revisions. I read the 2nd edition before I came to dislike it. I studied the fourth too, and it is boring. Dumbed down from page one - even the print is larger - the new edition drops all those elements that made 3.5 the best version of D&D. Single class track again, no multi-classing, the races are watered down, the alignments cut by four, crank up the hit points so starting PC's have at least 16 (remember when your first level magic user had 3 HP and you really had to sweat it?) the spellcasting classes don't seem to have much in the way of - hmmm - spells.
   
   Worst of it all, the skills feature, a great improvement to the game, has been turned into pretty much a level check (yawn). It was great for a 10th level party to really need that 4th level PC or NPC who could out perform them all at some skill (open lock, listening, survival, whatever the higher level team lacked). It was one of the most profound effects on the game - and in the fourth edition, they killed it.
   
   The whole of the texts seems to be a collection of bad decisions. As if the focus was to make the game emulate the video games Hasbro puts out. Power up, add a "per event" ability. Push buttons. Get experience. Power up. Blah.
   
   If you have played nothing but the video games and want to play with real people and a DM to see what it is like, this edition is great for you. Not much thinking required here at all. If you are like me, and came from strategy gaming into role playing and found that new dynamic to be pretty awesome, you better keep your money in D&D 3.5 - and wait for 5.0. That will be a good one.
   
   Player's Handbook - Deluxe Edition: A 4th Edition Core Rulebook (D&D Core Rulebook)