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H2 - Thunderspire Labyrinth
If you bought H1, you'll be some what familiar with the format of H2. Like H1, you'll be paying $24.95 for the portfolio style dungeon adventure. Two booklets and one really big double sided poster map. Both are made of the same light weight easy to damage and destroy paper.
Unlike H1, both booklets are design for the DM. The first book is the narrative adventure. The second book is a book of the encounters. Think about the 3.5 adventures. The first 10-20% of the adventure was the actual adventure, the last 80-90% of the book was what you had to flip to for each encounter. So instead of flipping between pages, you now have the two parts of the book separate. Good? Bad? I don't know.. maybe it'll prove to be less wear and tear then flipping between two sections of the same light weight book.
Interestingly enough, like H1 the adventure is designed so that once you know the rules, as a DM, you don't need the Dungeons Masters Guide or the Monster Manual. Heck, you don't even need the Players Handbook if you know the rules. All the stats blocks are included, the XP rewards are listed, and the challenges are fully written up. Not once does the adventure references you to the core products. It's interesting and a bit concerning to see this. Whether the adventure is good or bad, how can third party publishers compete with such ease of use when all they can do is reference a monster in the Monster Manual by name.. they can't even provide a page number reference.
Character Record Sheets
DO NOT BUY THEM! I guess I should have suspected shenanigans when I saw the price tag. The 3.5 character sheets were $14.95 and the 4e ones are $9.95. How the heck can the new character sheets be cheaper you ask? Well that's simple, to quote Admiral Ackbar... "It's a trap!"
What you get here is an exact copy of the character sheet in the back of the Player's Handbook. Two characters sheets are in portrait style, two are landscaped. You get 8 pages of perforated power cards 8 cards to each page which basically amounts to 2 pages (or 16 cards) per character sheet.
WOTC must have bought stock in a folder or paper company because like H1 and H2, the character sheets come with a folder. The folder alone uses more papers then the gaming content they give you here... it probably costs more then the what's inside of it too. I would have preferred they'd kept the folder and give us class specific character sheets that were like the Deluxe Character Sheets. A full page of power information for each class would have been way more useful then the folder. The only nice thing I can say about the folder is unlike the H1 and H2 folder, this one is actually functional. It's a bottom pocket folder and on the pockets they provided space for you to write notes on the left pocket and provided the XP table on the right pocket.... so basically once you fill out the power cards you don't need the Players Handbook to play either (well not until you level up anyway.) NOT WORTH BUYING!
DU1 - Halls of the Giant Kings
Dungeon Tiles... what to say. Like them or not, thank god they're the same size and colors as the DT1-DT7. That means that while the packaging is different, they're still compatible with the tiles you bought, if you use them.
Premium Dice
I can't say anything bad about them because I didn't buy them. It's an overpriced newbie product for people that don't know or don't have a local gaming store to buy dice at. However, if you should buy them.. sucker.
Thanks for the overview!
I suspected "trap" as soon as I saw the character sheets and premium dice on WotC's Products page months ago. Since I have access to the "internet" (Thanks Al Gore!), I don't need to buy hardcopy character sheets or power cards. And since I have more dice than Jesus, I don't need to spring for new dice....even if they are "premium". I'm assuming that means my d20 will always roll a 20.
I haven't been a collector of the dungeon tiles...but I may pick a few of them up. Anyone have anything good to say about them?
I am definitely interested in H2, and I've already pre-ordered it from Amazon. All packaging shenanigans aside, I do like what I've seen so far from the H-series modules. I'm running H1 right now, and even though I've heavily modified it (which I do with every single module I buy anyway) we're having a blast with it.
Can anyone share anything more about H2? Plot details? Writing quality? I'd love to hear more...
I have H2 also and I think it is far superior to H1. I've answered a lot of specific questions about it over at EN World, you can read that thread here.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Thanks for the overview!
I suspected "trap" as soon as I saw the character sheets and premium dice on WotC's Products page months ago. Since I have access to the "internet" (Thanks Al Gore!), I don't need to buy hardcopy character sheets or power cards. And since I have more dice than Jesus, I don't need to spring for new dice....even if they are "premium". I'm assuming that means my d20 will always roll a 20.
I haven't been a collector of the dungeon tiles...but I may pick a few of them up. Anyone have anything good to say about them?
Dungeon tiles are nice, and very durable. They're about the only WotC product I'll be getting still.
Premium d20 has 1-10 missing, because not hitting your target and doing damage isn't fun ;-)
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I haven't been a collector of the dungeon tiles...but I may pick a few of them up. Anyone have anything good to say about them?
Not really. They take time to set up, you have to build everything like twice if you pregenerate your dungeons (once as to build it originally, then again at the table). Maybe when DDI comes out and you can build the dungeon online, print it, and then build it for you table game it won't be so annoying.. but right now.. meh!
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I haven't been a collector of the dungeon tiles...but I may pick a few of them up. Anyone have anything good to say about them?
Love them. For me, its better than drawing out the area on a battlemat and a bit faster. I have tried using Mastermaze but I found that took too long to set up. The tiles were a nice compromise. You can use them "as-is", and they work really well, but I have done some things to dress up encounter areas.
Before I launch into this I warn you, I love props. As the DM I just enjoy having a host of visual material for the players. So this might seem a bit over the top.
I use the tiles but I also use 3-d props and doors. Much like the Heroquest game I guess. I have a ton of props made of all sorts of material; cardstock, metal, plastic, and resin. I also use the Alea Tools magnet counters to mark conditions on the battlefield (red for bloodied, black for fighter marks, green for hunter's quarry, etc.).
I have some future plans as well. I am building a magnetic board. I plan on producing walls with magnets on the bottom to use in conjunction with the tiles. I can throw a tile down and slap some walls around it. Still faster than Mastermaze and it gives me a nice 3-d dungeon feel. Since I already use magnetic counters the board should help prevent the counters from shifting when they get near other counters (a big problem with Alea Tools stuff). I also plan on adding magnetic material to the bottom of my minis and props so everything stays nice and tight on the board.
So, I guess what I am saying is they are great "out of the box" but can stand a good amount of "dressing up" as well. They are very versatile. The only major issue I found was the lack of standard props (tables, beds, thrones, what have you). This was remarkably glaring when I started collecting which was alleviated by my use of 3-d material. But it might be an issue if you don't plan on using anything but the tiles.
Fane of the Forgotten Gods help make up the difference (but not very competently) and I think the latest one has some of these items included as well.
Thanks for the feedback everyone! I think I'll give the tiles a whirl. Two of my players are Hirst molds addicts and they crank out all sorts of plaster furniture and dungeon dressing items for the game all the time.
Since I already use magnetic counters the board should help prevent the counters from shifting when they get near other counters (a big problem with Alea Tools stuff).
That reminds me of a funny quote in our last game session. We're using the Alea Tools magnetic markers as well. The player running the Fighter was having a terrible time with them...pushing the other markers around, knocking over figures, etc. After a few minutes of him fumbling around, one of the other players says (in character): "Come Brander! Though you have slain many goblins this day, you cannot hope to defeat...(dramatic pause)...magnetism!"
OK, maybe it wasn't that funny.
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Thanks for the feedback everyone! I think I'll give the tiles a whirl. Two of my players are Hirst molds addicts and they crank out all sorts of plaster furniture and dungeon dressing items for the game all the time.
Since I already use magnetic counters the board should help prevent the counters from shifting when they get near other counters (a big problem with Alea Tools stuff).That reminds me of a funny quote in our last game session. We're using the Alea Tools magnetic markers as well. The player running the Fighter was having a terrible time with them...pushing the other markers around, knocking over figures, etc. After a few minutes of him fumbling around, one of the other players says (in character): "Come Brander! Though you have slain many goblins this day, you cannot hope to defeat...(dramatic pause)...magnetism!"
OK, maybe it wasn't that funny.
Actually, I found it pretty darn funny. Sounds like something someone in my group would say.
If you have someone cranking out Hirst stuff then they should mix with the tiles well.
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Our group uses many of the markers from World of Warcraft the board game. the price tag is a little steep at $60-$70 but has numerous markers, Warlock curse markers, many differnet colors markers for marks. Plus the game is pretty fun to play as well. I also use a set of dice with conditions on them like pinned, immobilized, etc I got from a dice dealer. They come in handy as well. Any one else use props (big fan of them also) and from where?
Oh how I miss Hero Quest. :)
Ebay!
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Our group uses many of the markers from World of Warcraft the board game. the price tag is a little steep at $60-$70 but has numerous markers, Warlock curse markers, many differnet colors markers for marks. Plus the game is pretty fun to play as well. I also use a set of dice with conditions on them like pinned, immobilized, etc I got from a dice dealer. They come in handy as well. Any one else use props (big fan of them also) and from where?
I use buildings from Miniatures Building Authority. They have been great for my Ptolus game and have worked for my sandbox as well.