Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nice job, WOTC!, 27 May 2002
By A Customer
This paperback volume includes almost anything a player or Dungeon Master might need to construct strongholds - be it castles, dungeons or fancy mansions for use with the 3d eddition of Dungeons & Dragons RPG. First chapter deals with the designing of a stronghold - chosing location, size and general design of it, as well as information on which spells are most usefull when creating a castle of your dreams. Second chapter presents lots of different "stronghold components" - starting from a barracks and ending with magic laboratories and inns. Later in the book many magic items and traps are presented - either for players to make their strongholds impregnable for their enemies, or for DM to create near-impossible obstacles for player characters. Information on different ways to assault and defend strongholds are also present.
Last chapter is one of most usefull, as it contains plans and descriptions of strongholds: Keep, Dwarven outpost, Flying tower and Planar citadel, that actualy exists in many different planes at the same time.Some flaws - more information on demihuman architecture could have been expected, as well as some design guidelines for strongholds of monstrous humanoids.
Still, overall, this book is a must have for any player, who intends his character to build a place to call his own, and most DM's will find it extremey usefull as well.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Heroes Castle is his...um..., 18 Sep 2003
There comes a time when every great hero (or villain) feels the need to make their mark on the world with the construction of, or overtaking of, a stronghold of some sort.Until this book came out, it was possible to design such, but it was a bit of a headache, and there was no 'set' system for doing so. That's why this little beauty should be in every GM's collection.
Hardbound and well stocked, this title is just as luxuriously illustrated and well presented as the other Wizards' publications.
Clearly and sensibly laid out, it covers every aspect of building, maintaining and staffing a keep in your D&D campaigns, ensuring that you can design everything from a border guardpost, to a grand palace, and ensure that you have the correct folk living there to keep it in one piece.
Lists of building materials, costs and construction times expand on the rules for such presented in the Players handbook, and take the hard work out of the bare bones groundwork. Then there are chapters that detail the various (and numerous) magical bits and pieces that can be added to your new home, everything from rooms that prevent lies being told, to walls that poison those that try to scale them.
There are even rules for designing fantastical buildings, which can do things like fly, travel between dimensions, or which crawl across the landscape!
To illustrate how all the information comes together, there are several examples of keeps built using them - some mundane, some magical.
Yep, this is a great little book; useful and fun to flick through. Obviously, if you don't make much use of castles or their like in your campaigns, then it's of limited use - otherwise...well you had better get it before the armies arrive and you are overrun! ^_^
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
WOTC back on form, 30 Jul 2002
Even though i don't play 3rd Edition rules this book can be converted to cover any rules system. The book is well written and follows a logical layout taking the reader from chosing the site, selecting materials, and then building the stronghold. Whatever the ambitions of your players, be it a quiet retirement cottage to a sprawling dungeon of death these new rules will adapt. Why only four stars? The book desperately needs some colour illustrations and some pullout summary sheets for the players would have rounded off the book to perfection. Well worth the investment.
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