6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but overpriced!, October 23, 2008
This review is from: Dungeon Master's Guide - Deluxe Edition: A 4th Edition Core Rulebook (D&D Core Rulebook) (Hardcover)
This review (my very first)is concentrated on the construction of the book itself rather than the rules content. I can do that when I have read it through. Like the 3.0/.5 books, this book is of quality contruction. A hardy book with a tight and strong binding. I do not expect to see loose pages falling out. And the premium paper is always appreciated. The art in the book is good and spread out enough not to take to much space from the rules text. The font size is about right. Not to small or to large. The 3.5 DMG has rather small font size in my opinion. Iv'e read to chapter 4 and the rules run smooth and are easy to understand. (Not alot of filler and unneccessary clutter).
The foil cover is a nice touch, but does not enhance, for the price this book over the regular core book. Now, if the book had foil cover in 3-D, that would have been something to talk about or in padded leather. It should have included a ribbon marker by the way. The gilt-edged pages was totally unneccessary and even less enhancing than the foil cover, which leads me to 2 bad points about this book.
The gilted edges of this book (silver by the way) seems to have "bled" onto both the top and bottom of the pages. I easily wiped the silver from the top pages (not all the pages, but pages at random) but the bottom pages seem to have set. this is most noticable on pages with full-page cover art which has a dark background. It lightly extends to about 3/16 of an inch up the bottom of the page from the edges. It is light but noticable on random pages.
Secondly, though the pages are cut straight and even, some page numbers at the corners have sometimes been cut near or through part of the first number on the page. especially pages 160+ up to the beginning 200's at random. A fairly sloppy job. I was somewhat disappointed at first, but decided in my case that it was not an overriding factor since many of them in the first printing are probably like this so I will keep mine. I hope the other 2 deluxe core books are better. (It's possible that the gilted edges of the book are actually an alchemical material produced in secret underground chambers by Wizards called "Silver-dust of positive Influence" and it will wear off too late for returns).
The only reason I bought and will buy the other 2 deluxe editions is the wise decision by wizards to include in the printing the updates to these editions. No looking through 15 seperate pages for corrections. This is the reason I put off buying the regular core books. I emailed Wizards of the Coast to find out if they planned to run the regular core books through the printer again with corrections but got no answers.
The books as they are, are not worth the retail price of $75 bucks. Amazon's price is more towards reasonable but I do not think these books should retail for more than $40.
I would have given this book 4 stars if not for the cutting through of some of the page numbers.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's amazons price that really helps, October 31, 2008
This review is from: Dungeon Master's Guide - Deluxe Edition: A 4th Edition Core Rulebook (D&D Core Rulebook) (Hardcover)
I bought all three of the "deluxe" 4th ed D&D books from amazon because I wanted the core books without needing to correct the loads of mistakes that exist in the first printing. And that's what I got, I would never have paid the US$75.RRP Amazons US$47. is a much more acceptable price.
The cover and presentation is very nice, good quality binding, and the text has been properly proof read so no errors to apply "updates" to. The self adhesive page tags are a really good idea and are very much appreciated.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The quality is improved, but the ink smears... inexcusable!, October 27, 2008
This review is from: Dungeon Master's Guide - Deluxe Edition: A 4th Edition Core Rulebook (D&D Core Rulebook) (Hardcover)
What is good: The bindings of these deluxe books are much better than the standard, cheaper printings. And the cover is much nicer (though leather would have been even better). The paper quality is also better. Lastly, and most importantly, these books contain updates/corrections to the rules that the standard printings do not yet include.
What is bad: The ink on the pages of these books still smears, just like the cheaper printings. This alone causes me to knock off a full two stars from the rating. Paying this much money, I expect them to be of perfect quality... and running my fingers across the ink and having them smear is just inexcusable. I only had one other trivial complaint (and no I did not knock off any stars because of this). The gilt edges stick together when you first get them. I fail to see how the gilt makes them look any better and I had to carefully separate them upon my first reading to assure I caused no damage. Without the ink-smearing debacle I would have otherwise given these books a 5 star rating.
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