Why do they call it "Rookies Guide to Psi-Talent"?

[scottmage]

After discovering Mongoose through Babylon 5 RPG I looked at the local gaming store and found that they also printed a Judge Dredd RPG.

I thumbed through and was really not interested in the game since I had never been a JD fan. Then I noticed the Rookies Guide to Psi-Talent

Grabbed it as quick as my card could zip through.

The let down is when I got it home, it only had the additions to the Psi rules

Now, maybe I am asking for too much, but at least a list of all the Psi-Powers in the back would be nice :wink:

I figured that a Rookies guide to anything would cover everything under that catagory.

I didn't want to buy the whole RPG. Just wanted a suplement that covered what I thought was all there was to know about a subject - Psi-Talent.

I like Psi. That is what attracted me to B5. I don't think I am asking too much to have the basics reprinted in at least a list with maybe Range, Power Point cost, Duration, etc. in the book.

How about a Web pub of that?

It would definantly make me lose the thought of taking the book back and getting the WoC Psionics guide (which I have borrowed from a friend).

I don't think I am the only one that may feel this way.

 

[Matt Sharp]

Including the Psi rules from the main rulebook in the RGPT would have taken up valuable pages which were better served with brand new material, IMO. The other option would be to make the book longer, and thus more expensive - Dredd players (who the book is aimed at, after all) would have been annoyed that they'd had to pay for the same thing twice. Likewise, missing the Psi rules from the main rulebook in order to save it for a later book would have made a lot of people very cross indeed.

 

[Anonymous]

The book badly needed a universal index to psi-talent powers; I tried giving D20 Dredd a shot last year when the game as new but the psi-talent rules among other things had me foxed. Its a confusing mess

 

[Anonymous]

I know...how about less pictures (I have the comics) and more material :!:

Less filler and more meat...isn't that what most people want on their plate as well?

Wizards of the Coast had an entire book dedicated to Psi.

Could Mongoose (who I think is a better company...opps that is BB knocking on the door now :twisted: ) do any less. I thought that this was Mongoose's equivalent - a complete book on Psi. On the back of the book "Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, Third Edition, published by Wizards of the Coast." It doesn't say any other books are necessary.

Lawbade is right. The rules are confusing, and confusing makes me more cross than having to pay for a supplement that keeps me from having to go between 2 different books :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Poor old Mongoose shot themselves in the foot again - sort of. The 'Rookies Guide' series is meant to relate to Rookie Judges in the Judge Dredd sense, not rokie players. The cover does have the judge dred logo at the bottom to be fair, but it still seems to have caused confusion. This is another problem with the D20 Franchise - the reputation for a universal rules sytem implies that all games can be played seamlessly together - which is why most of the JD buyers are picking up JD - not because it is Judge Dredd but because it is the promise of yet another series of D20 rulebooks, more prestige classes, whatnot ...another business strategy for D20 publishers. The books 'may' be crap but the D20 rules expansions will confirm a minmum amount of sales from hardcore D20 addicts. I think that JD has maybe attracted more of these rules fiends than Dredd fans, hence the lack of D20 Dredd fan sites on the net but loads of D20 rules sites

 

[Dredd Times]

I actually think that the Rookies Guide title was meant to be along similar lines to the Slayers Guides and Quintesential books, grouping them all under one banner so to speak.

I was going to call Crazes; the Citizens Guide to Crazes origianly but it was deemed that it should be a Rookies Guide instead.

As for Psi Talent! Well I do think that its one of Matthews better books todate and perhaps the best of all the currently available Dredd products (not including Undercity which I cant comment on as I havent read it as of yet) and that the addition of the powers from the core rulebook into RGPT would have been a waste of space that could have and was filled with more spells, talents and prestige classes!

I love the way that Psi is handled in the new Babylon 5 game and may incorperate some of those rules into my own Dredd games in the future.

Marc

 

[Anonymous]

Rokies Guide To PsiTalent is just a generic 'power book' that can be used for any game. It masquerades as a Dredd book, but has usage for only a small percentage of Dredd players since psi-powers rarely appear in the comics, unless as I said before the main body of buyers are D20 followers who want another catalogue of powers rather than a genre-specific sourcebook. Most of the powers listed have never even appeared in the comics and the writer takes lots of liberites with Dredd psi-powers that I don't agree with... the book's like a Babylon 5 prototype... I cant believe that the once fun Dred game from GW has been ground into the stuffy incarnation of today PLEEEZZEE, no more rulebooks, more SOURCEBOOKS!!

 

[scottmage]

I went back to the local game shop....

$40 for a book that I only want about 15 pages of....

Just can't do it....

Maybe I will sell my Rookies guide to the highest bidder on eBay...

I am ready to give up gaming all together...save the money for DVDs...

 

[Anonymous]

$40 for the Rookies Guide?? Is that right? I paid £10 in England and thought THAT was a rip off!

Good luck on ebay, though I dont think the Mongoose dredd books are much in demand and dont go for much. If you had a Games Workshop boxed set or JD Companion, now THAT would be worth a few pennies

 

[Anonymous]

$40 for the Rookies Guide?? Is that right? I paid £10 in England and thought THAT was a rip off!

I thought teh Rookies Guide to Psi Talent was well worth the money - specially as its a 96 pager. The only thing I was disapointed with was the scratchy, ameraturish artwork in the creeps chapter - very bad in comparison to the comic strips on the other pages! I hope that Mongoose will consider comissioning original artwork from actual 2000AD artists in the future.

 

[scottmage]

I meant $40 for the Judge Dredd Core manual that has...yes I went back and counted....11 pages that have to do with Psi.

I like the overall way that Mongoose does Psi in a d20 environment, that is all I wanted...I didnot realize that it would cost so much...

 

[Anonymous]

The only thing I was disapointed with was the scratchy, ameraturish artwork in the creeps chapter - very bad in comparison to the comic strips on the other pages! I hope that Mongoose will consider comissioning original artwork from actual 2000AD artists in the future.

I'll tell John you said that I don't think Mongoose are wilking to hire 2000AD artists - Dred is kind of a cheapo license. And to be cheeky, if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys - or artists not interested enough to put a lot of effort into the work. Mind you, RPG artists have a bad time of it, the last link in the production chain, so they have to rush their asses off to deliver the goods. Check out John's brill Britcit artwork to compare with Psi-talent - big difference

 

[hassanisabbah]

I remember bad art work....

Monster Manual, Players handbook, and DMG for AD&D 1st Printing (effrit, golem and the monster hoedown).

And inside the monster manual all art work was capable of damaging your eyes...

Then there was fiend folio, with possibly the worst cover to grace an RPG book, one that actually screamed at you to look away or be sick....

The art work is not that bad......

 

[Anonymous]

Its all in the eye of the Beholder {D&D pun there...}. I love the work John did for the Dredd books, he uses a lot of diferent styles. I remember hating the first few art packs for the AD&D Monstrous Compendiums but that doesnt mean the art was bad - i just didnt care for it. If an artist is truly bad, then mongoose would not have commissioned him/her.

 

[hassanisabbah]

Good luck on ebay, though I dont think the Mongoose dredd books are much in demand and dont go for much. If you had a Games Workshop boxed set or JD Companion, now THAT would be worth a few pennies

I got mine of ebay for a £5 - rookies guide to psi, and Dredd for £15, including postage. The GW RPG boxed usually demands a staggering £5-10, the same for Slaughter Margin and the Companion slightly more. Now the JD board Game will command upwards of $40-60.

Personally I rate JD highly as a wonderful setting, especially without Judge Characters. Plenty of options to explore in a city that has seen everything from war, invasion to incursions from death gods and batman....

 

[hassanisabbah]

Its all in the eye of the Beholder {D&D pun there...}. I love the work John did for the Dredd books, he uses a lot of diferent styles. I remember hating the first few art packs for the AD&D Monstrous Compendiums but that doesnt mean the art was bad - i just didnt care for it. If an artist is truly bad, then mongoose would not have commissioned him/her.

Ah second edition when they could afford proper fantasy artists all over the covers....

Monster Manual Illustrions looked like it had been drawn by a friend who could just about draw, and that he was paid by the drawing, and was starting a new job the next day

 

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the Quint. Psion book needs to have anything else like Rookies Psi Guide or does it stand on it's own?

 

[Anonymous]

I took a look at the The Quintessential Psion and right on the cover it states "Requires the Players Handbook"....it does not state that you also need the Psionics Handbook from WoTC.

Just state that or post the basics in .PDF on the site. Range, Duration, Area, etc. (I can figure out how many PP by the Level of the power).

No...on Second thought, I will just buy the Psionics Handbook since it also includes the PP per level, not this +1 level...! What does that mean?

Are you saying base Psi level +1?

What about if my character is 20th Level (since it advertises that this is for up to 20th Level and Beyond) and is adding a Prestige class? How many PP is that?

Oh I know...I have to buy the Epic Level Handbook as well....from WoTC...so now I am up to 3 extra books unlike the ad "The book wraps up with a full index, rules summary and characters sheet, so everything can be placed at the player's fingertips." states on http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/detail.php?qsID=82&qsSeries=Quintessential

I can understand the Players Handbook...

Does Mongoose get a royalty from WoTC?

And hassanisabbah...get a life (with the number of replies you must not have one, or no time to enjoy any RPGs)...or English...

Less art does not have anything to do quality...

 

[hassanisabbah]

deleted

 

[Anonymous]

And hassanisabbah...get a life (with the number of replies you must not have one, or no time to enjoy any RPGs)...or English...

Less art does not have anything to do quality...

Ah Mr Anonymous Guest, I do indeed have a life, and am English, I just get paid exceptionally well in a job that gives me a lot of spare time to kill... :roll: I don't post outside of work hours.... but don't get enough RPG time - once a week... but thats pretending to have a life after all. :twisted:

474 Posts....you call that a life...

"It is not the quality but the quantity that we are seeking" seems you comply with the party line...and you are still not reading the important message.

WE ARE SICK OF FILLER IN THE FORM OF "ART" GOOD OR BAD! Substance over Style, Function over Fashion...Get it?

If you don't...then don't comment.

White-Wolf does that!

They state that the story is more important than the rules. If that is the case, I can create my own story, why bother buying their crapy rules.

I buy an RPG so that with rules that my Players and I know what their character can do a given thing on any given day. After all, the RPG is about rules, not art.

Example: I know that I can hit a Man shaped target in the Head at 250 Meters with open sights on any given day. That may translate to a Firearms (rifle) skill of say 15. I have sufficient skill that I can hit someone at 100 M in the dark in a Gas Mask without inserts (ie. glasses, spectacles) and it is raining (must be a Zen thing...that is another topic), so even with all those negative modifiers you don't want to be downrange of me.

That is what I am talking about. Not a half done job of you still need to buy 3 more books to support the product. If you are working for Mongoose tell your boss to shape up because people are tired of it. I work hard for my money, not sit around and collect a pay check and write stupid comments that show my ignorance (you might need to look that one up) since that is what you are doing.

If you don't work for Mongoose then just keep your opinion to yourself since you seem to have nothing else to do than to complicate the issue and prevent quality from being added to a product. That is the number one reason companies have these forums is real feedback.

What does being English have to do with your understanding of the language? I figured that out based on your location. I guess you have never heard of Sherlock Holmes, a personal hero of mine, long before RPG existed. The more you reply to different posts...the more you show your ignorance and show how shallow your life really is. I game for fun, not to have a life.

The sad thing is that I am sure that I am wasting time on you understanding my frustration with a company that has potential and you are blocking said potential with your inane comments (again see a dictionary since you will not understand, your copious comments show that).

You probbly have an MCSE (I am only guessing since you have so much time at your job with Internet access) and think the world owes you.

Just remember if you are well paid and have too much time on your hands...your job can always be shipped off to India :twisted: