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: It does what it says on the label
Summary: 3 Stars
Rate this product for what it is: A discussion of the thought processes behind redesigning D&D. It's not a sneak peek at the new rules or anything; it's just a gallery of images and a snapshot of what Wizards of the Coast was thinking in September 2007, which means it's all subject to change.
That said, the art ranges from OK to very nice, a lot of the ideas are evocative and many of the discussions are informative.
If your only goal is to get the hard nuggets of information, the "good stuff" from this and the companion book are all available online, since many of those who bought it have been free with the information.
It's a nice art book and a nice companion piece to the upcoming game, but it's not a product that everyone will want or enjoy.
Book Review: Hard to provide a substantive review
Summary: 1 Stars
This book is relatively hard to review because there is relatively little substance. So, if you are expecting to find some interesting info, think again. There are some decent pictures in the book, but you can get decent pictures online for free, too.
The real turn-off in this book is you get the feeling the developers are looking at you with pity, shaking their heads and muttering "poor little gamers; we can save them from their pathetic games." I'm reasonably interested in checking out 4e, even after this condescending attitude, but it would be nice if they more effectively made their case that the changes were needed or, in the alternative, didn't act so much like *we* needed those changes. I'm sure we'd be fine without them.
Anyway, I hope there is far more of substance in 4e than the trivial changes of which they appear to be so proud. Some of the stuff was just awful. For example, the developers believe tieflings (a new race) are cool because they look like devils, but DMs are supposed to make sure that the looks don't get in the way of fun. Take away: A cool change in 4e is that evil-curious players get to fulfil their fantasy of playing a devilish creature, and DMs are jerks if the reactions of the villagers cause the player to be shunned and avoided to any great degree. I think I could have come up with that great new change if I thought about it a little while. Of course, I probably would have decided that was silly. So perhaps I'm one of those "poor little gamers" WotC is trying so hard to save.
Don't get me wrong! I play a lot of different systems (D&D, WFRP, GURPS) and like many. It's not the system I'm reviewing; just this book.
Book Review: The winds of change for better or worse
Summary: 4 Stars
Nothing it seems has stirred more controversy among the RPG community then the upcoming 4th edition of D&D. Although this products value will greatly depend on your out look of the new edition, it still offers a small yet insightful look at the design process. Many of the entrees are humorous, and if anything els, explains the rational behind the changes that will appear in the new game.
Many changes and additions to both the ionic classes and races of the game are intriguing, and hold promising prospects for the upcoming edition. Although the absence of game mechanics might put off many, I can honestly say I wasn't expecting them to appear. Yet, if there was a small fault in developers reasoning, it was how only five classes a (Warlock, Wizard, Fighter, Cleric, Rouge) out of the normal eleven are confirmed (the rest are still in a play tested sate of flux). Overall a great glimpse of what is to come.
Book Review: Collectors Only Need Apply
Summary: 1 Stars
Unless you are a collector of the "whys" behind something, this book is of little worth. It is essentially the same sort of thing you would find in a DVD-extras disk. A good 2/3rd or more of the book is available on the Wizards website or under discussion in threads; several of the sections in here are actually reprintings of the electronic Dragon articles (with a bit more on at the tail end).
There's no games rules; no discussion of game stats. Its all information of the hows, whys and what will be, with no real concrete information usable in a game. Unless you really want to know why the old game is being torn down, what the designers (I feel incorrectly) see as wrong with the old game and what the "replacement killers" in D&D will be, this book is a worthless reprinting of information you could find with a couple hours of reading through articles and threads. In the end, this will just be collector's peice, with no value to be brought to the game table.
Save your money for the real books instead of this 4E ad.
Book Review: Pay for advertisements?
Summary: 1 Stars
This book is the kind of thing you would normally expect to find for free on the internet.
As far as the content goes, it describes a bunch of unpopular changes to a well-loved game using a condescending tone towards the developers and fans of past editions of the game.
Save your money and buy some 3rd edition D&D books instead.