Re: [RPG]: Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters, reviewed by mxyzplk (4/4)
So I'll go ahead and be vain and post first. Every time I read one of these things I think that 4e is "one step forward, two steps back." (I reviewed Races & Classes as well.)
I always like the stated design goals in the front of these books. But they seem to apply them very inconsistently. In this book, they talk about getting rid of false parallelism - with the monsters. I totally agree. If something is fire-based, you don't need to crap out another 3 variants of it to "cover all 4 elements".
However, then they go and make the core races with false paralellism so bad it seems like you're playing Magic: The Gathering. "Hmmm, dwarves like mountains and elves like forests. So humans like plains... And halflings - uh, we don't have anything for rivers, they get rivers."
With the combat rules, they talk about removing all the "fiddly" little combat modifiers that turn c round o combat into a math-fest, and they change a lot of stuff to that end. Great! Then they go back in and layer so much crap on top that 4e playtesters are suggesting sticking pins in your minis so you can stack the 3-4 colored beads atop them needed to indicate all the fiddly little modifiers they can get now!!!
It smells like they made a classic design mistake - doing a round and nicely streamlining everything, then sitting there and thinking about it too long. "Oh, let's just add this." "Ooo, and this." "How about a special case for this?" Then after a while you're back where you started in terms of meeting your design goals, just different.
Re: [RPG]: Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters, reviewed by mxyzplk (4/4)
Quote:
Originally Posted by capnzapp
Isn't this kind of book the definition of useless? I'm really speechless how anyone could pay $20 just for promotional material.
The style score I cannot argue with, but a "4" for Substance?
Well, that's why I make sure and note that it depends on your context. If you want a RPG book, this is a 1. If you understand that you're looking for designer insight and "DVD extras," it does deliver on that.
Re: [RPG]: Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters, reviewed by mxyzplk (4/4)
Wow.
Designers' notes as a standalone, $20 publication...
Even Games Workshop (frequently bashed by their own fans for being mercenary) tends to put this stuff on its website for free, or at worst include it as a page or two at the end of the book.
Everything described in the review could be posted as designers' blog entries (in fact, from the review, some bits were), interviews in magazines/webzines, explained on forums and released at conventions.
Hell, even after just seeing the review, I'm comfortable I've got the basics of the relevant setting-changes.
Re: [RPG]: Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters, reviewed by mxyzplk (4/4)
Quote:
Originally Posted by mxyzplk
They even steal the Temple of Elemental Evil from Greyhawk.
Isn't that very D&D-ish, though? Gary Gigax dies, so they pilfer his body (well, his game world) and continue on their "adventure" without batting an eye... ;-) -- OK, admitedly, WOTC did publish a note on Gary Gigax's death, but it would be nice if they kept setting-specific locations in their original context...
The more I read about D&D 4.0 previews, the less I am inclined to get it... Maybe my opinion will change once I see some actual game books rather than promotional material for sale...
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Re: [RPG]: Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters, reviewed by mxyzplk (4/4)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Original Review
This is interesting in that they openly claim these are tenets, and I quote, that "should be true for anyone creating a D&D world." It's also interesting that they directly contravene most of the old, established campaign worlds - I can pull out at least 3 of each of these that are anti-Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Dark Sun... Anything but Eberron, and even that's debatable.
Two of the points in the list this refers to do explicitly contradict Eberron -- "magic is not everyday but is natural" and "one sun one moon". Eberron does have magic as a part of people's everyday lives, especially in the cities, and has twelve moons that correspond to twelve of the planes, with rumor that there was once a thirteenth for the thirteenth, out-of-orbit plane.
Of course, I do have the sinking feeling that they're going to impose the new cosmology, and even more damaging assumptions like halflings-as-river-people, the elf/eladrin split, and throwing half-elves and orcs/half-orcs to the wayside (when Eberron was one of few settings that made playing an orc or half-orc cool) onto Eberron. Excuse me while I go hug my 3.5e copies... -- Pteryx
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