June Review

This Month’s Subjects

The New Stuff: Dragon: Monster Ecologies, by Paizo Publishing

The Old Stuff: THREE DRAGON ANTE, by WOTC

The Fun Stuff: Sparkly Dice!

Dragon: Monster Ecologies, by Paizo Publishing

Ok, let me start off by saying at first glance this thing is pretty cool. Nice artwork on a shiny cover, of a rather nasty looking blue dragon nesting on a pile of books and scrolls. Paizo always delivers in the artwork department. The artwork on the inside is also top notch. The content, inside this 130 page soft bound, full color volume is chucked full of monster goodness, everything from Chokers to Will-O-Wisp. There are 18 fully fleshed out ecologies, each with notes on history, physiology, psychology and some even have encounters, maps or advanced statblocked examples of the creatures, also each has a Knowledge check side bar and lots of cool stuff that really brings the creatures to “life”. In addition to the ecologies there is a handy Index of all the ecologies ever presented in Dragon Magazine as well as a couple of pages where the game designers talk about some of their favorite monsters. The best part of all they kept the price a reasonable $19.99, not bad in the age of the $30 game book. The only short coming (and it is a small one) is that 99% of all this material appeared in Dragon Magazine, so if you have a subscription or are like me and don’t miss an issue you all ready have access to (and have paid for) most of this material, but now it does come in one handy volume (making finding the ecology of the Kobold easier than digging through your stacks) and you get some nice added fluff besides. All in all I think Paizo has produced yet another fine product that could be useful to players and game masters alike.

The Score Card

Three Dragon Ante, by WOTC

In the introduction is say and I quote” Three-Dragon Ante is the card game played in taverns and gambling parlors throughout the Dungeons & Dragons world.” To this I say, no wonder Adventurers adventure. This is by far one of the worst gaming purchases I have made in my 25+ years of gaming. First off the artwork is substandard; you can get better card art from a deck of playing cards from the local dollar store. The rules, well I’ll put it this way, if you can master the mind-boggling game of GO FISH you will be master at Three-Dragon Ante. As for game use, Dragon did a couple of articles trying to push this gaming turd, suggesting a random character generation using the cards as well a time filler while everyone else was making their characters. I have not tried either so I won’t throw in my two cents (who am I kidding, hell yes I will), but I for one would rather lend a hand to my other players helping them tool out their PCs so we could play a “REAL” game rather than break out the old Three-Dragon Ante deck. Let’s get right down to price. At a hefty retail price of $14.99 you don’t get much for your gaming dollar. Your money would be better spent on a booster of prepainted minies, a copy of Dragon or Dungeon and a booster of your favorite collectible card game. I was lucky enough to buy my copy at a reduced rate (this should have been a hint as to what I was in for), so perhaps one day I’ll find a use for my copy that is even now gathering more dust than a mummy’s tomb chamber on my game shelf. Maybe they would serve as fine beer coasters or bookmarks? So unless you are in the 6^th grade or want to play something gaming related (I use that term loosely) with your kids, I’d take a pass.

The Score Card

Sparkly Dice

These gaudy polyhedrons are produced by many a dice maker, and in this Super Gamer’s opinion they are not only a visual eyesore at the game table, but a hazard as well. Picture if you will the proud owner of these disco-reject dice misplacing one of his precious metallic flake beauties, it could derail the entire game as he searches ravenously through his bulging, Cheeto-stained Crown Royal Bag tossing handfuls dice in such a fury that an eye injury is almost for certain, only to fail to find his precious golden d20. Now he ruffles his mullet and starts accusing other players of taking it, this ends in the only way possible, our sparkly dice owner kicking a chair and speeding away in his half-finished muscle car to the detriment of not only the game group, but society as a whole. So ask yourself, do you really need sparkly dice? I mean Girls are allowed, the dice are sparkly and we all know girls like sparkly things, but come on gamers, do the entire world a favor and just say no to sparkly dice.

The Score Card