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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent book with one caveat., January 20, 2006
This is an excellent, flavor-rich cyclopaedia for the world of Eberron, arranged in 2 to 4 page entries in alphabetical order covering the various nations, cultures, and factions of the world. Within these pages you'll find eloquent summaries to spark your imagination or catch up player knowledge to the point of character knowledge. There are sidebars describing where the new classes from the Complete [character type] series fit into the world of Eberron, along with the various subraces from the Races of [foo] series. These expositions make sense. They show that in a world as crowded with drama as Eberron, there is still room remaining for more of the magic and mystery that other D&D supplements spill. If anything, the babel of fantasy tidbits from other books make MORE sense when put into context this way.
My one concern with this book is the deceiving title. It is a player's guide if one considers the DM a player, too. DMs expecting the book to respect the secrets of the setting, preserving them to be gradually revealed to the players, will be disappointed. Within the first entry of the Guide the names of the secret masters of Eberron have already been ticked off by checklist. This one complaint is hardly enough to detract from an otherwise awesome book.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent overview of the Eberron world., February 28, 2006
This book is divided into two chapters. The first deals with character concepts appropriate to the Eberron setting. These are fairly generic, but useful for players trying to come up with ideas.
The second chapter is where the book really shines. PGTE lists a large variety of topics in an encyclopedia style format, making them easy to find. Each topic is explored in moderate detail, and includes topic related game mechanics (on sidebars), suggestions on how to incorporate other Wizards of the Coast books (such as where other races live, where Warlocks get their power), and interesting tidbits such as what a DC 10 Knowledge (Nature) check tells you about the Gatekeepers.
All in all this is a fantastic book. With full color art, a well done index, and good solid writing throughout you'll be hard pressed to find a better produced gaming book out there. While the price may seem a little steep for the book's relatively small size, the text density and high quality writing more than make up for it.
Know that this is a setting-heavy book. Those interested primarily in game mechanics will not find a lot here, though what is provided is interesting and strongly tied to the entry it is found in.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Stuff; I Just Wish There Was More Of It!, April 18, 2006
I picked this book up somewhat reluctantly - my budget for D&D books is pretty tight - but I'm glad I did. The title is misleading - it's an EVERYONE Guide to Eberron, and if you like the setting, this book is a definate must-buy. My only complaint is that it was too short.
Because Wizards of the Coast limited the book to 160 pages [in line with other, similar releases], there just wasn't enough space to cover everything I wished this book had covered. For example, the Five Nations get a 2-page spread, the Demon Wastes get 4 pages, Droaam gets 52 pages, the Eldeen Reaches get 4 [but that also covers Druidic Sects], The Mournland gets 2 pages, Q'Barra gets 2 pages and Valenar gets 6 pages [including a new prestige class] - but Aundair, Breland, Karnath, the Mror Holds, the Shadow Marches, the Talenta Plains, Thrane and Zilargo, DON'T get their own entries - and they should have. Sure, they get a *little* coverage under other entries, but I would have appreciated a more thorough overview. The information on the other continents and the oceans of Eberron is terrific.
But WotC cut out *everything* that can be found in other references, so this book is almost 100% pure new material - which is its blessing and its curse. If the encyclopedia-style layout bothers you, there is an excellent Index in the back of the book [which is too often missing from WotC products] in addition to a detailed Table of Contents. The book is fun to browse through, and it's easy to find a specific piece of information if you need it.
I especially like the way this book ties together supplemental game stuff into Eberron. Use any of "The Complete..." books and you'll find suggestions for where the new core classes and prestige classes will work. Races for the "Races of..." series find out-of-the way homes in Eberron - so if you use those books, they're covered - and if you don't use them, you lose nothing from the game world. The book is worth the cost just for that help.
I would have been willing to pay more for more content, though - especially if it were of the same quailty as what was included. That is the only reason I rated this book at 4 stars instead of 5. Actaully, I think it deserves a 4-and-a-half.
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