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What the Subject line said. I have a DDI subscription so I ignored the compilation when it hit the local B&N. However, descriptions point to "never-before-seen notes from the designers, developers, and editors that take you behind the curtain, offering a firsthand glimpse into the origin and evolution of each article." I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff so I'm tempted to purchase the supp. But is it worth my $$$ and coupons?
While it has a strong selection of articles, I didn't think it had enough behind the scenes type information to justify a purchase by this DDI subscriber.
I'm not a 4e player, so I have absolutely no interest in this. Sorry, I will not be buying it; or it's children.
I'm not a 4e player, so I have absolutely no interest in this. Sorry, I will not be buying it; or it's children.
And you're posting here why?
I'm not a 4e player, so I have absolutely no interest in this. Sorry, I will not be buying it; or it's children.And you're posting here why?
Are you saying I can't post where I want to? Is this like a race-war thing?
I'm not a 4e player, so I have absolutely no interest in this. Sorry, I will not be buying it; or it's children.And you're posting here why?Are you saying I can't post where I want to? Is this like a race-war thing?
The OP asked if the Dragon Magazine Annual was worth his money. What exactly did you offer to the conversation, other than to show you can troll?
It's like if the OP asked if he should pay money to go see the new movie "District 9". Your 'contribution' to the discussion was "I don't go to movies, so I have no interest in seeing this. Sorry I will not buy it; or it's sequels."
How exactly does this help the OP decide to buy or not buy the product?
I'm not a 4e player, so I have absolutely no interest in this. Sorry, I will not be buying it; or it's children.
The question posed was whether or not it was worth it for joela to purchase it.
Saying "I don't play 4e so I won't buy it," adds nothing to the conversation. joela clearly does play 4th Edition. You haven't provided anything meaningful about the product itself, nor have you mentioned why it might or might not be useful to someone in its target audience. It doesn't even criticize the product in any way.
I'm having a lot of difficulty seeing a reason you might post what you did beyond wanting to mention, tangentially, to a group of people who don't really care, in a thread where it isn't on-topic, that you don't play 4th Edition.
On topic, I've heard that there are a couple pieces of errata hidden in the Dragon Magazine Annual - specifically on Punisher of the Gods and Reaper's Touch. They'll probably be added to the Character Builder along with the other products from this month at the beginning of October.
See "thread-crap".
I glanced through it at Chapters..while it looks interesting, I find it hard to shell out that much money for a book that is, essentially, repackaging stuff that I am already paying for (I know that they have added some things). I think I will pass and wait on the DMG2.
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What the Subject line said. I have a DDI subscription so I ignored the compilation when it hit the local B&N. However, descriptions point to "never-before-seen notes from the designers, developers, and editors that take you behind the curtain, offering a firsthand glimpse into the origin and evolution of each article." I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff so I'm tempted to purchase the supp. But is it worth my $$$ and coupons?
Really? Scanning through the book at the store, I didn't notice any of those notes or things in it. Looked just like the packaged web articles to me.
I'd say save your money, since you already have a DDI subscription, or take a few of those PDFs to Kinko's if you really want a well made paper copy.
I'm not a 4e player, so I have absolutely no interest in this. Sorry, I will not be buying it; or it's children.
If you're not a 4e player, then don't hang out in the 4e boards. That's not a suggestion. We DO NOT need the edition wars crap spreading around here again.
See "thread-crap".
You called?
Mmm- I think it would have been better if they had released the web content in books specific to the content, like a Demonomicon book with just those articles in it for instance. But, I was still glad that I finally got to see some of the content that I had been missing due to not subscribing to the online mag.
Since I'm not a DDI subscriber (I just log on to fellow players subscriptions when my character levels) I'll likely grab this product. Oddly enough it might kind of backfire in terms of making me a DDI subscriber.
Fundamentally I'm not a subscriber mainly because I don't feel I have enough extra time on my hands to read all the good content. I'm only halfway through Legacy of Fire as it stands so I can reasonably say that I'm already behind in my reading.
Hence this backfires because they have now provided a way for me to get some of the better content for my reading pleasure and I still don't have to subscribe - best of all they have done the hard work of sorting through the material and picked out some of the very best material. How the heck I'd manage to winnow out the wheat from the chaff, if I subscribed, I do not know.
So I'm very happy with the idea of this product - but, at least in my case, it does not really move me to subscribe even for more of the same.
Since I'm not a DDI subscriber I'll likely grab this product. Oddly enough it might kind of backfire in terms of making me a DDI subscriber.
Hence this backfires because they have now provided a way for me to get some of the better content for my reading pleasure and I still don't have to subscribe - best of all they have done the hard work of sorting through the material and picked out some of the very best material.
Maybe this is the whole idea and not a backfire. Maybe they just want you to think it is backfiring, eh? It might be subtly working. If you weren't planning on purchasing DDI in the first place because of lack of time, but the book is an option for you, then it seems like the book would be a success.
First, (I know nothing about book publishing by the way) it would seem easier to gather up some already written and published articles then to fill a book with new content. Probably higher profit margins, I would assume. So I would guess they have to sell less of these to break even then say a normal book loaded with new content.
Second and more importantly, if you're anything like me, and the content in the book really grabs you...wows you..... it may get you drummed up to finally make the leap for DDI. Sure you can wait another year for the next annual to arrive but after being exposed to the material you may not want to wait. They have provided you the best of the content in such an inefficent manor that it may be well worth taking the subscription leap. Either way they are managing to sell you a book without developing a whole slew of new content and probably paying for a lot of new art as I would assume that was already in place on DDI. Hey, I'm not a subscriber so what do I know.
I do plan on buying the book. If I enjoy it, I might be swayed to a DDI subscription.
So, what articles made it into the book? Let's face it, I'm probably going to buy it no matter what, but I'm curious.
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If the articles are DDI content, and you have a DDI sub, I think it would come down to two things:
a) if you're like me and hate reading off a screen and/or
b) if the designer notes and side bars are something that really interest you.
If you're not a DDI subscriber, but do play 4e, then absolutely pick it up. It'll probably add a lot to your game.
I play (more dm really) 4E and I subscribe to DDI, but I doubt I'll bother picking up this book. I will likely pick up the dmg 2 and the primal power book. After that I'm not sure how much more stuff I'll buy. I browsed through it and it looks like they did a pretty good job of pulling out a lot of the best dragon stuff they've published lately, but I still don't really feel it's worth me buying.
Sorry Davi, I only looked through it quickly and I can't really recall which articles are in it. I does have several paragon paths, rituals, magic items, epic destinies, races and things like that which were covered in the last year or so, along with some monster ecologies, monster incarnations and locations.
I can't recall everything, but the few things that I recall from briefly looking at the book were what looked to be the gladiator articles and a description of a location that had a dragon that demanded regular tributes.
While the commentary and design notes looked interesting, I don't think that they are worth the additional price of the book if you already have the articles through DDI.
I just bought this, so I might as well answer my own question the articles are:
- Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Yeenoghu
- Creature Incarnations: Kobolds
- The Ashen Covenant
- Mithrendain, Citidel of the Feywild
- Wish Upon A Star
- The Bloodghost Syndicate
- Intelligent Items, Smart Swords
- Fight!
- We Who Are About To Die... D&D Gladiators
- The Longest Night
- Playing Dhampyr
- Masters of The Planes
- Playing Shadar-Kai
- Art of The Kill
A good bunch of articles for the most part.
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If the articles are DDI content, and you have a DDI sub, I think it would come down to two things:
a) if you're like me and hate reading off a screen and/or
b) if the designer notes and side bars are something that really interest you.
If you're not a DDI subscriber, but do play 4e, then absolutely pick it up. It'll probably add a lot to your game.
Got it for pretty much the reasons above. Thanks, y'all!
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Ok, here's another "I don't play 4x" question from me.
From reading comments on these boards, it seemed that the dead tree products were normally G to PG, while the DDI was PG to PG-13. I distinctly recall teh DDI version of Glazia's realm being more 'icky' than the MoP version for example.
Did any of the PG-13 content make it to the annual?
I found it interesting that there were many references to previous editions throughout this book (largely in sidebars and 'behind the scenes' comments). I wonder if it's a deliberate shift in policy to embrace the game's history, a function of the particular authors involved or just something I'm imagining. Personally, I thought a lot of the little snippets regarding where things tied in to previous editions' lore was a step forward. I hope it's something that will continue.
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Ok ... on a COMPLETELY SYSTEM NEUTRAL note and in line with the OP's request ... I have a follow-up question.
For those of us PFRPG'ers and 3.5 holdouts who do NOT have a DDI subscription (that money is going to Paizo instead) ... does this book have merit?
I remember some articles I saw from others that were backwards-compatible ... is this the case with this published work??
How is it as a collector's item/coffee table book? Gorgeous art, compelling articles ... dish people!
Thanks in advance. I am all for cannibalizing every and any resource I can for spare parts.
Heck, I continued my 2nd Edition campaign for years with the 3rd Edition FR campaign setting! Just 1 example..
Let's see, the crunch is incompatible with previous editions but the fluff should work well enough if you're willing to buy it. Of particular note in terms of fluff is:Ok ... on a COMPLETELY SYSTEM NEUTRAL note and in line with the OP's request ... I have a follow-up question.
For those of us PFRPG'ers and 3.5 holdouts who do NOT have a DDI subscription (that money is going to Paizo instead) ... does this book have merit?
I remember some articles I saw from others that were backwards-compatible ... is this the case with this published work??
How is it as a collector's item/coffee table book? Gorgeous art, compelling articles ... dish people!
Thanks in advance. I am all for cannibalizing every and any resource I can for spare parts.
Heck, I continued my 2nd Edition campaign for years with the 3rd Edition FR campaign setting! Just 1 example..
- Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Yeenoghu (You've probably read the articles from when Dragon was an actual magazine, I don't need to explain this.)
- The Ashen Covenent (Who doesn't need another cult of Orcus?)
- Bloodghost Syndicate (The bugbear mafia. Need I say more?)
All the articles have some fluff, but these are the ones with the most.
Also, this is not really much of a coffee table book. The art is on par with the rest of 4e's art and all the articles are interesting, but it's no more a discussion piece than any other 4e book.