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Hero Builder's Guidebook

Hero Builder's Guidebook Playtest Review by Psycho on 24/11/01
Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 1 (I Wasted My Money)
A good book had it been free.
Product: Hero Builder's Guidebook
Author: Ryan Dancey , David Noonan , John D. Rateliff
Category: RPG
Company/Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Line: Dungeons & Dragons
Cost: $14.95
Page count: 64
Year published: 2000
ISBN:
SKU: TSR11647
Comp copy?: no
Playtest Review by Psycho on 24/11/01
Genre tags: Fantasy
Well, there's not much to say about this book.

Except that it WAS THE MOST HORRIBLE WASTE OF MONEY I INVESTED ON.

What the book proposes:

To give you more creative character building.

What you get:

A book that's way overpriced for what it has inside it.

Dissecating the book:

First chapter: Choosing your race and class

This is the book's best chapter (though not good at all): it describes the relation between each class and race, and gives suggestions about how race X ended up being class Y (in tight, tight text clusters). It has some good ideas, gives you a better idea of each races' cultures. Had this book been worth 5 dollars, this chapter would suffice to compensate the whole book.

Second Chapter: Creating Your Personal History

This gives you some tables to choose/roll randomly (lol) your character's story: his religious beliefs, events in the past, type of family, social standing, etc etc. It gives you some ideas but is almost useless.

This chapter has an allignment test. It's fun, but doesn't give the accurate allignment vision of your character you'd expect. It has too much "black or white" questions.

chapter three: Planning your future career

Suggestions on character's careers (like, to make the ultimate archer). HEllo! WE HAVE BRAINS!!!

Chapter four: The rule of names

Suggestions for names, naming your character do's and dont's. It has some use for desperate players who don't know what to name their characters.

My conclusion:

A book that would've been useful had it been free. You'd better being downloading it illegally than buying this crap (why did I buy it? Why?)
[Editor's note: Though the suggestion the author makes of resorting to piracy is obviously in jest, RPGnet does not advocate resorting to illegal means that puts publishers out of business!]

Psycho

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