Wizards Presents: Classes and Races (Dungeons & Dragons) Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Wizards Presents: Classes and Races (Dungeons & Dragons)
Book Review: A nice appetizer for the new 4th edition D&D
Summary: 4 Stars
This preview of the new D&D 4th edition realy peak your intrest in the new gamesystem for D&D and the new classes presented in it.
I would though recomend that you buy the core rulebooks instead. Now that they are been released, there is no need to purchase this preview book.
Book Review: Don't buy this book.
Summary: 1 Stars
No one should buy this book. It is nothing more than an advertisement for the upcoming 4th edition D&D. You might as well pay to watch commercials on TV.Book Review: Philosophy and Position
Summary: 4 Stars
Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters (D&D Supplement)
Much has been said about the quality of this product. It is light on pay data, it is a filler product to keep the line going while the products are retooled, and so on. And some of this is correct.
The reality though this is an excellent product for what it is designed to do: provide space for the designers to voice some of their designer notes in an open way to a very vocal and nervous community who has, lets face it, bolted en masse before from missteps in this production line.
People looking for lots of inside information with numbers and tables will be disappointed. These products are designers notes, not mini rule books. For me, who is forever tinkering with rules and trying variants, they are invaluable. For the average mook, they might not be as useful.
I highly recommend this product for anyone who likes to look under the hood of creative products.
Book Review: I resent being expected to pay $20 for shallow hype.
Summary: 1 Stars
A total waste of time. Avoid this like the plague.
This same kind of information, when the game evolved from 2nd to 3rd edition was included in the monthly paper issues of The Dragon magazine (which WOC has killed off) and those articles were much more in-depth as to rules and design philosophy.
Perhaps, most of all, during the switch from 2nd to 3rd, the designers did not talk down to (ie. "no fun" in reference to the old rules) nor insult (see: the 4th edition intro video which features the guy with the fake french accent) their customer base.
After the fiasco WOC has made of the intro of 4th edition, I would hope that they would be reaching out to their customers a little more, rather than trying to feed them what, in essence, one can get online for free from various boards and blogs.
Very disappointed.
Book Review: great preview, even if it has limited usefulness
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved reading this book. I've been pretty indifferent about 4E since I heard it was coming (which is virtually as long as I've been playing D&D). This book got me completely excited about it.
That said, there is little, if anything, in this book that a little web-surfing couldn't tell you. Everything is presented as "we have this idea, but it may or may not be the first thing we give you and may or may not be exactly as we're telling you, now." When 4E is released, this book will be obsolete; we'll have all of the real information.
I am no web bloodhound. I am not about to go scrounging for information all around the net, so this was a great source of gossip-y info for me. $20 does feel a bit expensive, but I expect it at this point. Some reviewers feel like the contributing authors are talking down to the audience, but I never felt that at all. They are players who have their own issues with 3.5 and they are members of the community, who have heard the complaints of their fellows; and we should all know that the complainers have louder voices than the praisers.
This book is a conceptual preview, not an early release of rules. I enjoyed it thoroughly, but will have little value, come June '08.