2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
great book but only for hardcore fans, 12 Aug 2008
By Andre "just a reviewer" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Races of Ansalon (Dragonlance Campaign Setting) (Hardcover)
If this review reads a lot like the "Dragons of Krynn" review it's because pretty much the same observations apply to both books...
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book but I'm defintely not certain it's worth even the discounted amazon price of thirty six dollars... if you're a hardcore Dragonlance fan like me who also lives for (D&D) gaming then yes by all means buy it... however if you don't fall into both of those categories I'd hesitate to recommend it unless you can get a cheap used copy for about twenty dollars or so (which is entirely possible in the near future given the release of D&D 4th edition and that this is a third edition book). Well written, fun to read, but unless you plan on running a tinker gnome (in which case there's an interesting section that goes into more detail about how their gadgets work) not a huge amount of "crunchy" game specific stats and rules you can easily plug into your campaign... more like a lot of background info on the various races... granted if you play a non-human character (the section on humans was quite simply awful but the other sections did a good job of explaining how a Krynn-ish elf, dwarf , et cetera views things) it will give you a huge amount of "flavor text" and personal insight into the perspective of the races of Krynn on their world, which in turn will really help a DM flesh out his campaign and also help players do a good job of role playing their character's personality.. I just can't get past that steep thirty six dollar price tag, it just seems too high given what you get in the book... Again, unless you can find a cheap used copy online, you'll be just fine with the dragonlance campaign setting and war of the lance books (both excellent books that I highly recommend if you're planning to run a dragonlance campaign or even just a dragonlance fan who also enjoys playing D&D... although again given they're both 3rd edition books if you're planning to run a 4th edition D&D game they will be of limited usefulness)...
Also like most RPG books out there nowadays there's a variety of errors, in this case in the afforementioned draconian racial progression tables... do a search on google for races of ansalon errata and you'll come up with a link to the dragonlanceforums website where the author of the book, Cam Banks, addresses these issues and offers corrected information. I would print out any pertinent comments he makes and keep it in your hardcopy cover of the book like I did.
Finally regarding the other reviewers complaint about draconians - I agree the draconian racial progression tables and background info on draconians should have been made a part of this book. However for anyone who's interested that info is covered in the other Dragonlance gaming publication, Dragons of Krynn.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great book, but with one glaring omission, 30 Sep 2007
By Dark Helmet - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Races of Ansalon (Dragonlance Campaign Setting) (Hardcover)
This is a book that summarizes the history of each of the 'traditional' races of Ansalon: humans, elves, dwarves, goblins, gnomes, kender, minotaurs and ogres. There's even a short section at the end on lesser known races like the centaur and thanoi.
Each entry has notes on the society and cultural outlook of said race, as well as a 'day in the life' of a typical member of that race. Some of them are quite amusing. There are sections on how each of the races interact with members of other races, as well as interactions between factions within their own race. Also included are a few new classes suited to specific races, as well as spells and notes on inventing for the gnomes. I'd call it THE comprehensive guide to races on Krynn except for the fact that...
There's no chapter on draconians! How could they leave out draconians? Yes they are normally considered monsters, but then again so are some the other races that are covered like goblins, minotaurs, and ogres. Draconians were given a small group of females so they could reproduce as a race, and Kang and the other First Dragonarmy Engineers are working on building a society of their own, as documented in the novels The Doom Brigade and Draconian Measures. Heck, they could have at the VERY LEAST reprinted the notes at the end of the second book. But no, there's nothing. Not even an explanation on why they weren't included.
What is there is excellent, but would it have really killed them to include a chapter on draconians?
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dragonlance Races of Ansalon, 18 Dec 2007
By Jason Bailey - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Races of Ansalon (Dragonlance Campaign Setting) (Hardcover)
This book as a must for any gamer that loves Dragonlance full of information on all the stander races of the world Kryn.