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D&D for Dummies
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Xaxaxe
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 4:54 pm

No, I'm not kidding:

Dungeons & Dragons For Dummies (For Dummies (Lifestyles Paperback)): Bill Slavicsek, Richard Baker: 0785555899407: Amazon.com: Books

killjoy32
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 5:17 pm

Xaxaxe wrote:No, I'm not kidding:

Dungeons & Dragons For Dummies (For Dummies (Lifestyles Paperback)): Bill Slavicsek, Richard Baker: 0785555899407: Amazon.com: Books

[ Image ]

maybe we should get one and mail it to maxwell? :twisted:

Are we nearly there yet?

Xaxaxe
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 5:31 pm

Actually, once the shock wore off, I had sort of a sad thought: what do you want to bet there's practically NOTHING about the history of the game in this book? I'm sure there will be a couple of pages, but it'll probably be the standard "In 1974, a man named Gary sold 500 copies and quit his job, blah, blah, blah ..." that we've all read before.

I hope I'm wrong, I really do, but my first impression of this book is that it will have a HEAVY 3e/d20 presence. Personally, I would be happy to get a full chapter (10-12 pages maybe) of 1st- and 2nd-edition history, but I doubt it will even be that much ... :cry:

bclarkie
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:20 pm

killjoy32 wrote:
maybe we should get one and mail it to maxwell?

No, that would have to be a different book: "Dungeons & Dragons for Crack Heads" :wink:

Xaxaxe wrote:Actually, once the shock wore off, I had sort of a sad thought: what do you want to bet there's practically NOTHING about the history of the game in this book? I'm sure there will be a couple of pages, but it'll probably be the standard "In 1974, a man named Gary sold 500 copies and quit his job, blah, blah, blah ..." that we've all read before.

I hope I'm wrong, I really do, but my first impression of this book is that it will have a HEAVY 3e/d20 presence. Personally, I would be happy to get a full chapter (10-12 pages maybe) of 1st- and 2nd-edition history, but I doubt it will even be that much ...

I am sorry to say, but looking at just the picture on the front of that book, I'll bet its all feckin 3rd edition. :roll:

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Neitzche

harami2000
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:24 pm

Xaxaxe wrote:Dungeons & Dragons For Dummies (For Dummies (Lifestyles Paperback)): Bill Slavicsek, Richard Baker: 0785555899407: Amazon.com: Books

"...D&D is complex to learn, and this friendly guide helps the curious locate a game, understand the rules, choose or create a character, follow proper game etiquette, and even move up in the hierarchy to become a Dungeon Master..."

complex... hierarchy...

(*shudders*)

=

I think "allowing readers to play using this book and nothing else" hints as to the edition, no?

Hey, but what do I know about any of that "new stuff"...

*writes a warning letter to Santa to avoid, unless he wants to wake up with a hippogriff's head next to him*

Ethesis
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:37 pm

Market research indicates that 4 million American males, ages 8 to 45, play Dungeons & Dragons, while 7.6 million who haven't played say they want to learn how. The popularity of recent sci-fi and fantasy movies has also boosted interest. D&D is complex to learn, and this friendly guide helps the curious locate a game, understand the rules, choose or create a character, follow proper game etiquette, and even move up in the hierarchy to become a Dungeon Master. The four-page foldout cheat sheet will include markers and a model dungeon layout that serves as an actual game board, allowing readers to play using this book and nothing else.

At 432 pages ...

Customers who bought this book also bought

* Deathknell Booster Pack (D&D Miniatures) by Wizards of the Coast (WoC)

* Champions of Ruin (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (D&D): Core Rules) by Jeff Crook

* Monster Manual III (Dungeon & Dragons Roleplaying Game: Rules Supplements) by Wizards Of The Coast

* City of Splendors: Waterdeep (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (D&D): Core Rules) by Eric L. Boyd

* Dungeon Master's Guide II : Rules Builder Series (Dungeon & Dragons Roleplaying Game: Rules Supplements) by Jesse Decker

* Sandstorm : An Environment Series Supplement (Dungeon & Dragons Roleplaying Game: Rules Supplements) by Bruce R. Cordell

Also by the editors/writers:

2.    Core Rulebook (d20 Modern Roleplaying Game)

by Bill Slavicsek , et al (Hardcover - December 6, 2002)

Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

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Other Editions: Hardcover

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List Price:       $39.95

Buy new:       $27.17

3.    Monstrous Compendium Appendix II (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons : Planescape Accessory)

by Rich Baker, Boomgarden (Editor)

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Hmm, cheaper than buying the rules...[/b][/i]

Regards,

Stephen

bclarkie
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:44 pm

Ethesis wrote:Hmm, cheaper than buying the rules.....

WOtC at its best wouldn't you say. :wink:

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Neitzche

Ralf Toth
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 7:05 pm

Both Baker and Slavicsek are very good game designers. Slavicsek has done a lot of great work for DARK SUN and is currently Director of Roleplaying Game Design and Development at WOTC. Baker also has credits for DARK SUN the 2E Player's Option books and is co-creator of the BIRTHRIGHT campaign setting. Both of them joined TSR around '92/'93 and together they created the Alternity RPG for TSR.

Not too bad a choice for this book.

I doubt there will be any history lessons at all. Maybe a tiny paragraph. I think this book is about learning a basic version of the game. Sort of a "First Quest" version for 3rd Edition.

- "When the going gets weird, the Weird turn pro."

Hunter S. Thompson (July 18, 1937 - Feb 20, 2005)

deimos3428
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:59 pm

Ralf Toth wrote:I doubt there will be any history lessons at all. Maybe a tiny paragraph. I think this book is about learning a basic version of the game. Sort of a "First Quest" version for 3rd Edition.

Anybody know when the "D&D For Dummies MP3" is being released? :lol:

MrFilthyIke
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 10:15 pm

Ralf Toth wrote:I doubt there will be any history lessons at all. Maybe a tiny paragraph. I think this book is about learning a basic version of the game. Sort of a "First Quest" version for 3rd Edition.

Thank you Ralf for the intelligent, non "3e BAD!! Napster BAD!!" stuff we 3e fans usually hear. :roll:

I'm glad to see this, it's almost a sort of "geek validation" after 3 decades of basement dwelling.

There are no bad editions of D&D, just Boring Players and Unimaginative DMs.

Deadlord
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 2:15 am

Gak, 3E sucks harder than a hooker in a Navy port. D&D is not hard to learn. 3E is.

If you hit a Rowsdower, you get to keep it.

beyerun
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:06 am

If they could write a rule-set that was easy to learn and follow, then a book like that wouldn't be necessary.

I have a feeling it'll be quite useless though. Teaching a stripped down, dumbed down version. So when you graduate and buy the books, you'll be like, "Whaaaat? This makes no sense!?"

Hope there is some history section, but I doubt it would objective and would confuse a person even more.

Gnat the Beggar
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 12:54 pm

I am too simple to figure out the 3E stuff.... Too bulky and too involved. I like to make a PC and then play... that same night.... Not spend three sessions fleshing them out...

To tell the truth, I am surprised that young folks these days can actually spend so much time on one subject without loosing all interest..... they seem to be the ones most interested in using the rules from 3E.

And then we also have the confusing (To me at least) situation wherein just a few months after WATCO sold 3E to the gaming public, with those all too complicated core rules books for 3E; WATCO basically makes all those Still NEW 3E rules books obsolete by shipping out 3.5E!!!

OK, I'll bite.... what the heck is that all about??????!!!!!!!

Money I say, just plain greed.... And the knowledge that PT Barnum had it right, in that a sucker is born every minute, you just have to attract him to your crap..... and then make the sale.....

"Guys, I am starting to think Tegel Manor might be haunted..."
Stated by me as a PC during a run of Tegel Manor DMed by killjoy at NTRPGCon 2010

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beermotor
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 1:15 pm

harami2000 wrote:
Xaxaxe wrote:Dungeons & Dragons For Dummies (For Dummies (Lifestyles Paperback)): Bill Slavicsek, Richard Baker: 0785555899407: Amazon.com: Books

"...D&D is complex to learn, and this friendly guide helps the curious locate a game, understand the rules, choose or create a character, follow proper game etiquette, and even move up in the hierarchy to become a Dungeon Master..."

complex... hierarchy...

(*shudders*)

WTF? Sounds like some sort of Masonic manual, or one of those L Ron Hubbard Scientologist things.

Whee, I'm a level 5 Dungeon Master!

MrFilthyIke
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 1:23 pm

Aneoth wrote:Money I say, just plain greed.... And the knowledge that PT Barnum had it right, in that a sucker is born every minute, you just have to attract him to your crap..... and then make the sale.....

Was TSR not interested in money? Where is TSR today? :roll:

Yeah, character creation is easier in od&d, but I'd hate to think that old school players, whom I always THOUGHT were intelligent (and probably) nerdy, cannot understand how to play 3e, and especially considering how many of the old school gamers are wargamers (which I don't have the patience to learn). Why must we bicker here? I like aceaum, but some of us here do happen to like 3e.

There are no bad editions of D&D, just Boring Players and Unimaginative DMs.

harami2000
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 1:27 pm

beermotor wrote:WTF? Sounds like some sort of Masonic manual, or one of those L Ron Hubbard Scientologist things.

*looks up <Xemu> in "Discredited Deities and MegaEgos"*

(save against lawyers at -10... *eeps*)

beermotor wrote:Whee, I'm a level 5 Dungeon Master!

Yeah, didn't like that sales pitch... Kinda understand it, though. *shrugs*

Aneoth wrote:To tell the truth, I am surprised that young folks these days can actually spend so much time on one subject without loosing all interest..... they seem to be the ones most interested in using the rules from 3E.

Now that is a good point!

Guess if ya make something look enough like a PC game with myriad power-ups, skills and suchlike, "they"'d still go for that.

(blanket statement; what blanket statement?)

Everyone else can go play Tunnels & Trolls or dig out old Fighting Fantasy rules, I s'pose!

MrFilthyIke
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 2:27 pm

harami2000 wrote:Guess if ya make something look enough like a PC game with myriad power-ups, skills and suchlike, "they"'d still go for that.

(blanket statement; what blanket statement?)

Nothing wrong w/ powering up in roleplaying, this is FANTASY after all. :P

Heck, you want non-powered up use the BRP (I think that's what it's called) from Call of Cthulhu and Elric (and other predecessors) and then you'll be running from combat like crazy.

There are no bad editions of D&D, just Boring Players and Unimaginative DMs.

harami2000
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 3:50 pm

MrFilthyIke wrote:Nothing wrong w/powering up in roleplaying, this is FANTASY after all.

*nod nods*. Is kinda a "one size fits all" approach though, no?

(Would it not be easier to "bolt on" from the basics, rather than pare back from the all-singing, all-dancing version. Dunno. *looks for advice on 3e*).

Mind you, even on the original rules in conservative RPing days, it was merely a matter of months (late 1974) before characters became walking arsenals.

(Hence S1.... *chuckles and grins evilly*. Good one, Gary!

MrFilthyIke wrote:Heck, you want non-powered up use the BRP (I think that's what it's called) from Call of Cthulhu and Elric (and other predecessors) and then you'll be running from combat like crazy.

*g*. Having highest stat in DEX and deliberately avoiding finding out about the "mysteries of the universe" kinda goes against the grain, no?

3e player meets CoC sounds quite fun, in that context, perhaps...

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