Post by Gilvan Blight on Jul 29, 2005 9:49:13 GMT -5
Overall - DM buyit! Player skip it.
This is basically a monster manual for Warhammer.
My first thought of course is why? Warhammer has never had nor needed one before. This book is hardcover, none to cheap and very thin. In the past all of this information was in the main rulebook. I could see this coming out months or years from now when they want to introduce new mobs to the game but I don't favor it as a 'launch' book.
Luckily the content is awesome. The books is written as a book from the game. The first half is accounts of various mobs from the perspective of commoners, scollars and the mobs themselves. This makes for a good interesting read with much 'holes' in the info. The second half (GM section - more about this in a bit) contains the game rules. I have to admit its odd having the background and rules on different pages, and I can see some flipping during a session that could get annoying, but you probably only need the descirptions once and the rules often.
Beefs:
1st off this is advertised as a book for players and DM's alike. I think this is mainly for marketing purposes. Half of the book is stated as being GM only and personally I feel the first half should be as well. The book goes so far as to state that the common knowledge could be gained from a skill check based on knowledge skills and the scholars knowledge can be gained based on an Arcane skill check. To me this means players shouldn't see this info unless they do the research in game. Sure there are no secret weaknesses in the text but it will make dividing player and character knowledge more difficult. I wouldn't suggest this for players at all as I think it would ruin the fun and mistique of the mobs as well as the fact you are only buying half a book (if you truely don't read the GM section).
My only other compaint about this is that the races and creatures included are from the Miniature game. This is a bonus in a way as well. You have every unit type from current edition of the game which is very nice and actually cool to see the integration of the two systems yet again. The problem is that alot of the unique monsters from the original system are sadly lacking because of this. All you get is the mobs from the mini game, what happed to the Slaan, the Fimir (I loved Fimir), the BoodWorm, the Carion and more?
A last minute thought on a good point: what you do get on the races is much more in depth then ever published before. You don't just get a goblin, you get a goblin shaman a goblin fanatic, etc. The details of each race are really nice with different factions/races/jobs all represented.
Summary - DMs will love this especially if they keep up with the Miniature game. Players would probalby love this as well, but I think the book is not for them.
This is basically a monster manual for Warhammer.
My first thought of course is why? Warhammer has never had nor needed one before. This book is hardcover, none to cheap and very thin. In the past all of this information was in the main rulebook. I could see this coming out months or years from now when they want to introduce new mobs to the game but I don't favor it as a 'launch' book.
Luckily the content is awesome. The books is written as a book from the game. The first half is accounts of various mobs from the perspective of commoners, scollars and the mobs themselves. This makes for a good interesting read with much 'holes' in the info. The second half (GM section - more about this in a bit) contains the game rules. I have to admit its odd having the background and rules on different pages, and I can see some flipping during a session that could get annoying, but you probably only need the descirptions once and the rules often.
Beefs:
1st off this is advertised as a book for players and DM's alike. I think this is mainly for marketing purposes. Half of the book is stated as being GM only and personally I feel the first half should be as well. The book goes so far as to state that the common knowledge could be gained from a skill check based on knowledge skills and the scholars knowledge can be gained based on an Arcane skill check. To me this means players shouldn't see this info unless they do the research in game. Sure there are no secret weaknesses in the text but it will make dividing player and character knowledge more difficult. I wouldn't suggest this for players at all as I think it would ruin the fun and mistique of the mobs as well as the fact you are only buying half a book (if you truely don't read the GM section).
My only other compaint about this is that the races and creatures included are from the Miniature game. This is a bonus in a way as well. You have every unit type from current edition of the game which is very nice and actually cool to see the integration of the two systems yet again. The problem is that alot of the unique monsters from the original system are sadly lacking because of this. All you get is the mobs from the mini game, what happed to the Slaan, the Fimir (I loved Fimir), the BoodWorm, the Carion and more?
A last minute thought on a good point: what you do get on the races is much more in depth then ever published before. You don't just get a goblin, you get a goblin shaman a goblin fanatic, etc. The details of each race are really nice with different factions/races/jobs all represented.
Summary - DMs will love this especially if they keep up with the Miniature game. Players would probalby love this as well, but I think the book is not for them.