| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Mournblade |
Posted - 12 Aug 2005 : 01:11:07
I was jsut wondering how popular these books were. 2 hours in Borders books pretty much convinced me that they were money making garbage. Fortunately I was able to read them in Borders and figure out they were of no use BEFORE I bought them. I hope they used recycled paper, because i would hate to think some trees died to publish those books.
Was there anything useful in it? Most of the psychology and lore has been printed in a myriad of other sources through the editions. The prestige classes seemed rushed and stretched. No real good idea. Of course I am developing the opinion there are too many prestige classes already.
What did you guys think? |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Xysma |
Posted - 27 Aug 2005 : 03:52:03
It looks like I am alone here, but I loved Races of Stone. I think the Goliaths are an excellent race, and to me thay have a very "Realmsian" feel. Just drop them in any mountain range as a reclusive and dwindling race. I thought the racial feats were good, and I really liked the whisper gnomes and chaos gnomes. As far as Races of Destiny goes, I was sadly disappointed. I have found this book practically useless. Some of the "city" type stuff was cool and I think one of the half-orc PrCs interested me at one time, but I can't recall now what it was. On to Races of the Wild, I like the Raptorans, I think they are well designed, and very cool. As far as working them into the Realms, what's the point? We already have avariels as a "lost" flying race, who needs two? Races of Eberron, I couldn't care less about Eberron, but I like the Warforged and the Shifters, so I may eventually check this book out, but so far, I have not read it.
|
| Chosen of Moradin |
Posted - 17 Aug 2005 : 15:08:03
quote:
Why were they a waste Chosen of Moradin?
Do you have any of them? Were there some parts you liked and other not... or did you just find them all unappealing?
I take a look at the Races of Wild and Stone. First of all, I don“t like of the new races. If they use that pages to give more insight about the knows races (halflings, gnomes, dwarves and elves), then the material will be more focused. New gods? To fullfil how necessity? The space that they used to talk about new deities (where was these deities before?) was better used, IMO, describing the known deities... And, after new races and new deities, we go to the fantastic new list of PrCs, feats and spells... Now, there is one or other usable there (the Champion of Corellon is highly "faerūnian" for me, but there are too few briliant stars shining in the miriad of constelations of the prestige classes...). And add the feats in my last coment...
So, it“s this. There are good points in theses books. But they are few, given the quantity of pages, in my opinion. In the Planescape campaign setting, IIRC, there are very few pages talking about the demihuman planar homes, but that pages are filled with a so good lore, that we feel totally imersed in the flavor of to be a dwarf, or an elf... |
| Crennen FaerieBane |
Posted - 17 Aug 2005 : 14:39:40
When it comes to the new gods presented, I think WotC was just giving something extra (or new) to those players that are new to D&D for 3E. They know that we veterans won't magically say, "Oh, of course it's a new pantheon, we'll use it!". I think it was just another way of wrapping something differently...
Not all the new demihuman gods were bad... I loved the Elven God of Drinking and Partying!!! Woohoo! Now you know those elves can get down!! (Can I get some YMCA?!)
C-Fb |
| warlockco |
Posted - 17 Aug 2005 : 09:24:57
quote:
Originally posted by Lady Kazandra
quote:
Originally posted by warlockco
quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
Cough,
Let's get back on topic people. :)
Party Pooper  
My biggest gripe with Races of Stone, Wild, Destiny, is how they rewrote the gods of the Demi-Human Pantheons. Added in new gods, dumped other gods, and basically just rewrote everything.
Despite the fact that the gods of the Elves, Dwarves, etc have been set since 1E in both Greyhawk (Core) and the Realms.
How did you feel about the "crunchy" material presented within?
For myself, I felt that some of the PrCs presented seemed rather bland, with no really defined place for them among the racial cultures detailed. They seemed to be included . . . for the sake of being included.
Some of the PrCs were good, but most were just "what the..." and overlap with other PrCs or they were just made to be made. |
| Lady Kazandra |
Posted - 17 Aug 2005 : 07:08:40
quote:
Originally posted by warlockco
quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
Cough,
Let's get back on topic people. :)
Party Pooper
My biggest gripe with Races of Stone, Wild, Destiny, is how they rewrote the gods of the Demi-Human Pantheons. Added in new gods, dumped other gods, and basically just rewrote everything.
Despite the fact that the gods of the Elves, Dwarves, etc have been set since 1E in both Greyhawk (Core) and the Realms.
How did you feel about the "crunchy" material presented within?
For myself, I felt that some of the PrCs presented seemed rather bland, with no really defined place for them among the racial cultures detailed. They seemed to be included . . . for the sake of being included.
|
| warlockco |
Posted - 17 Aug 2005 : 06:40:39
quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
Cough,
Let's get back on topic people. :)
Party Pooper
My biggest gripe with Races of Stone, Wild, Destiny, is how they rewrote the gods of the Demi-Human Pantheons. Added in new gods, dumped other gods, and basically just rewrote everything.
Despite the fact that the gods of the Elves, Dwarves, etc have been set since 1E in both Greyhawk (Core) and the Realms. |
| Kuje |
Posted - 17 Aug 2005 : 05:34:37
Cough,
Let's get back on topic people. :) |
| Mournblade |
Posted - 17 Aug 2005 : 05:32:46
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
Hehe... I thought you'd be the type to keep things in order as well Mournblade  .
Only on the battle field my dear sage! I have too many things I'm working on to put all the scrolls back where they belong. I need them open to the correct page so that I might get my work done:)
|
| The Sage |
Posted - 17 Aug 2005 : 03:13:49
quote:
Originally posted by Mournblade
It was bad enough having to keep your voice down so Alaundo would not hear.
When it comes to things like this, I always recall the one absolute rule of Candlekeep - "He who destroys knowledge, with ink, fire, or sword, is himself destroyed. Here, books are more valuable than lives".
quote:
But Sage has better ears! I should of known Sage was going to follow in Alaundo's footsteps. All you organized scribes. Sometimes a mess is nice, it lets you know the library is being used! In my laboratory My tomes may be all over the place but I know EXACTLY what spell is in each and what I did with it.
As long as SAGE does not come in to straighten it up, my organization is infallible.
Hehe... I thought you'd be the type to keep things in order as well Mournblade .
quote:
The generic Races of..., in my opinion, was a waste of a good idea. And this is a pity. The general concept was good, but the final product stay, IMO, too much distant of the target...
Why were they a waste Chosen of Moradin?
Do you have any of them? Were there some parts you liked and other not... or did you just find them all unappealing?
|
| Mournblade |
Posted - 17 Aug 2005 : 01:29:05
Indeed! I always find what I need!
|
| warlockco |
Posted - 17 Aug 2005 : 00:08:58
quote:
Originally posted by Mournblade
It was bad enough having to keep your voice down so Alaundo would not hear.
But Sage has better ears! I should of known Sage was going to follow in Alaundo's footsteps. All you organized scribes. Sometimes a mess is nice, it lets you know the library is being used! In my laboratory My tomes may be all over the place but I know EXACTLY what spell is in each and what I did with it.
As long as SAGE does not come in to straighten it up, my organization is infallible.
Ah, so you use the organization by Chaos method too? |
| Mournblade |
Posted - 16 Aug 2005 : 22:26:28
It was bad enough having to keep your voice down so Alaundo would not hear.
But Sage has better ears! I should of known Sage was going to follow in Alaundo's footsteps. All you organized scribes. Sometimes a mess is nice, it lets you know the library is being used! In my laboratory My tomes may be all over the place but I know EXACTLY what spell is in each and what I did with it.
As long as SAGE does not come in to straighten it up, my organization is infallible.
|
| Chosen of Moradin |
Posted - 16 Aug 2005 : 19:56:07
And, going back to topic, I want to echo the opinions of the other scribes: Races of Faerūn is one of the greatest 3rd edition FR books! It is the real "Player“s Guide to Faerūn", IMHO. Races of Eberron I don“t look (I have said this in Paizo boards, and repeat here: there“s no market for Eberron here in Brazil. Dragonlance? Yes! Ravenloft? Yes! Forgotten Realms? Ooh, yes! But Eberron? Until now, no, thanks...). The generic Races of..., in my opinion, was a waste of a good idea. And this is a pity. The general concept was good, but the final product stay, IMO, too much distant of the target... |
| The Sage |
Posted - 16 Aug 2005 : 15:03:25
quote:
Originally posted by Edain Shadowstar
Anytime I hear the word "theorists" I chringe. It usually means someone is going to turn the Death Star on some sacred idea or belief and send the lot of us purists to Baator. Really, fleshing out Dabus' history? Whoever suggested that should be Mazed. Now. If there's one thing I loved Planescape for its that it had stuff that it more or less said "We're not gonna explain and neither will anyone else. It's unknown and thats the way it ought to be,". You didn't know anything about Dabus except they cleaned stuff, spoke in symbols over their heads and had kicking hair. Thats all you need to know.
I find them rather assuming actually, especially those "theories" that try to connect totally disparate planar elements.
But yes, as I said (slightly) before... the entire premise of PS works best when all things are UNEXPLAINED.
And now that we've slightly diverged from the main topic, I think I'll have to put on my MODERATOR cap and head us back over to the discussion of the various Races sourcebooks.
|
| khorne |
Posted - 16 Aug 2005 : 13:04:01
quote:
Originally posted by Edain Shadowstar
Anytime I hear the word "theorists" I chringe. It usually means someone is going to turn the Death Star on some sacred idea or belief and send the lot of us purists to Baator. Really, fleshing out Dabus' history? Whoever suggested that should be Mazed. Now. If there's one thing I loved Planescape for its that it had stuff that it more or less said "We're not gonna explain and neither will anyone else. It's unknown and thats the way it ought to be,". You didn't know anything about Dabus except they cleaned stuff, spoke in symbols over their heads and had kicking hair. Thats all you need to know.
I have a feeling that if some clueless berk would try too hard to find out the dark about the dabus, then the Lady would either maze or flay him. |
| Lady Kazandra |
Posted - 16 Aug 2005 : 05:49:49
quote:
Originally posted by Edain Shadowstar
Now, as for the Races series: Races fo Faerun was bloody useful. A superlative tome; every Realmsian scholar or pseudoscholar should have it. As for Races of Destiny, Races of the Wild and Races of Stone, I thought they were decent books, not particularly useful for a Forgotten Realms campaign from my viewpoint, but definately useful for other settings, especially custom ones. Of course, I'm always a fan of books that flesh out the mindset and society of the demihumans. It adds depth to the game.
I rather enjoyed Races of Faerun. And George's further comments on the sourcebook posted here in the past have only reinforced my positive opinion of this work.
I for one am just glad that the concept of upper and lower Netheril was successfully entered into the "official" FR lore.
|
| Edain Shadowstar |
Posted - 16 Aug 2005 : 03:18:58
Anytime I hear the word "theorists" I chringe. It usually means someone is going to turn the Death Star on some sacred idea or belief and send the lot of us purists to Baator. Really, fleshing out Dabus' history? Whoever suggested that should be Mazed. Now. If there's one thing I loved Planescape for its that it had stuff that it more or less said "We're not gonna explain and neither will anyone else. It's unknown and thats the way it ought to be,". You didn't know anything about Dabus except they cleaned stuff, spoke in symbols over their heads and had kicking hair. Thats all you need to know.
Now, as for the Races series: Races fo Faerun was bloody useful. A superlative tome; every Realmsian scholar or pseudoscholar should have it. As for Races of Destiny, Races of the Wild and Races of Stone, I thought they were decent books, not particularly useful for a Forgotten Realms campaign from my viewpoint, but definately useful for other settings, especially custom ones. Of course, I'm always a fan of books that flesh out the mindset and society of the demihumans. It adds depth to the game. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 16 Aug 2005 : 02:16:06
quote:
Originally posted by CrennenFaerieBane
True - but unlike the Dabus, they can't continually make new and different symbols to talk to people, which I always thought was the coolest.
There are more than a few "theorists" over at WotC who are suggesting that the illumians may have in fact been an earlier evolutionary stage of the dabus.
For me however, I prefer the origins of the dabus to remain... unknown.
|
| khorne |
Posted - 15 Aug 2005 : 21:19:45
quote:
Originally posted by Mournblade
AND Torment may have been the best computer game yet!
I love Torment. I don`t know which one I like better, Torment or BG2. |
| Mournblade |
Posted - 15 Aug 2005 : 21:16:01
AND Torment may have been the best computer game yet!
|
| Crennen FaerieBane |
Posted - 15 Aug 2005 : 15:33:11
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
quote:
Originally posted by CrennenFaerieBane
The problem I had with the Races books were that it focused too little on the races it was supposed to describe (i.e. Stone - Dwarves) and too much on those new, weird races (Illumian, Raptoran, Goliath, etc).
Actually, I rather liked the coverage of the illumians -- they remind me of the dabus from PS  .
True - but unlike the Dabus, they can't continually make new and different symbols to talk to people, which I always thought was the coolest.
I had a game one time where my players were running around Sigil looking for a key to a portal to Tarterus. They came across a Dabus on a mission from the Lady of Pain and what occured afterwards was 2 hours of me drawing things on pieces of paper to explain the game. PS was a weird, but very fun, campaign setting! 
C-Fb |
| The Sage |
Posted - 15 Aug 2005 : 15:01:24
quote:
Originally posted by CrennenFaerieBane
The problem I had with the Races books were that it focused too little on the races it was supposed to describe (i.e. Stone - Dwarves) and too much on those new, weird races (Illumian, Raptoran, Goliath, etc).
Actually, I rather liked the coverage of the illumians -- they remind me of the dabus from PS .
|
| Crennen FaerieBane |
Posted - 15 Aug 2005 : 14:56:01
The problem I had with the Races books were that it focused too little on the races it was supposed to describe (i.e. Stone - Dwarves) and too much on those new, weird races (Illumian, Raptoran, Goliath, etc). And then, the second half of the book was the obvious WotC "let's drown them in PrCs!".
I don't know... they had a lot of potential, they just failed to meet the mark
C-Fb
P.s. - the above does NOT apply to Races of Faerun, which, as we all agree, was awesome! |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 15 Aug 2005 : 04:14:55
quote:
Originally posted by AlacLuin
I still have issues with warforged in Faerun, even if there has recently been a mention in the Waterdeep book that may be a good place for warforged to come from.
My idea wasn't for a straight warforged, obviously -- that was just a starting point. And there would only be a couple of them, anyway. And it was tied to a bit of lore from another part of the Realms, which could make it work. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 15 Aug 2005 : 04:11:29
quote:
Originally posted by AlacLuin
It's an ego thing, my limited knowledge of the realms compared to many of those here, I have little to add to conversations.
At wizards, I can usually act like I know something.
Hey, we all had to start somewhere. Only Ed walked into the Realms knowing what he'd encounter, and since it's become a shared world, even he gets to learn new stuff.
Besides, new eyes often have a different perspective.  |
| AlacLuin |
Posted - 15 Aug 2005 : 03:43:03
quote:
Welcome to the Keep Alac Luin, just realized you have wandered over here from the Wizards boards. That or you just don't post much over here
Thanks for the welcome, but I've been here for some time.
It's just that I've been hiding in the corner, yea thats it
It's an ego thing, my limited knowledge of the realms compared to many of those here, I have little to add to conversations.
At wizards, I can usually act like I know something.
|
| warlockco |
Posted - 14 Aug 2005 : 01:04:21
quote:
Originally posted by AlacLuin
quote:
Was a bit disappointed in the Races of Eberron book, because to me it focused too much on the new races. To me Races of Faerun was a much better book, in regards to their respective settings.
Wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment
Welcome to the Keep Alac Luin, just realized you have wandered over here from the Wizards boards. That or you just don't post much over here |
| AlacLuin |
Posted - 14 Aug 2005 : 00:04:30
quote:
Was a bit disappointed in the Races of Eberron book, because to me it focused too much on the new races. To me Races of Faerun was a much better book, in regards to their respective settings.
Wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment |
| warlockco |
Posted - 13 Aug 2005 : 23:42:52
quote:
Originally posted by AlacLuin
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by AlacLuin
I've found use for "Races of Faerun".
I've also found use for "Races of Eberron", for Eberron that is :)
I haven't even looked at the others, and don't plan to.
I love Races of Faerūn. That Eberron one is on my list, but it's a ways down. I'm thinking that the warforged section may prove to have some nifty concepts for an idea I've been tinkering with.
The warforged chapter is arguably the best chapter of that book.
I still have issues with warforged in Faerun, even if there has recently been a mention in the Waterdeep book that may be a good place for warforged to come from.
I really wouldn't put this book high on a "to get" list, I got it as I'm somewhat of an Eberron fan.
Was a bit disappointed in the Races of Eberron book, because to me it focused too much on the new races. To me Races of Faerun was a much better book, in regards to their respective settings.
As far as the other books go, I have picked up Races of the Wild, Races of Stone, but not Races of Destiny. Races of Destiny just seemed very weak to me, so is the backburner of my list of things to eventually get. Races of the Wild has a few interesting things, but Races of Stone is the one of the 3 that has seen the most use by me so far. |
| AlacLuin |
Posted - 13 Aug 2005 : 23:25:42
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by AlacLuin
I've found use for "Races of Faerun".
I've also found use for "Races of Eberron", for Eberron that is :)
I haven't even looked at the others, and don't plan to.
I love Races of Faerūn. That Eberron one is on my list, but it's a ways down. I'm thinking that the warforged section may prove to have some nifty concepts for an idea I've been tinkering with.
The warforged chapter is arguably the best chapter of that book.
I still have issues with warforged in Faerun, even if there has recently been a mention in the Waterdeep book that may be a good place for warforged to come from.
I really wouldn't put this book high on a "to get" list, I got it as I'm somewhat of an Eberron fan. |
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