Gristlemane
Sergeant
623 Posts
    
 | | 04/05/2006 9:47 PM |
| Some older 2E books, such as Volo's guides for the Forgotten Realms, were written from a first person perspective where the info is described as a character in game would see it. DM's are generally expected to fill in the info that isn't know by the average person. The vast majority of 3E books are written with an omniscient perspective. That is, more of a textbook format.
I myself find myself wishing for the old style sometimes. It was more fun to read, whereas I often skip large sections of the current books. On the other hand, it's nice to have things presented topically so you can refer back to them later at the table. Thus I think I like having generic books like Complete series with omniscient narration, while the first person narration is better for setting related books.
Which do you all prefer? | |
It's deja vu all over again. | |
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zenthrus
Commander
4836 Posts
SLC, UT
| | 04/05/2006 10:01 PM |
| Omniscient third.
When I buy gaming supplements I spend the money for information.
When I buy novels I spend the money for a good story. | |
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Can of the Cave Beer
Commander
2838 Posts
| | 04/05/2006 10:44 PM |
| If I have to take "either/or" I'll go with Third Person Omniscient. I can fill in the creative stuff as I need to, including changing things up to fit my individual needs.
But I'd rather not have to "fill in the blank".
It's different sides of the same coin for the most part, though. Either you're making stuff up to "complete" things or you're making things up to change them....[?][?][?]
My head's gonna 'splode thinking about that. | |
Champion of the Werewolf Lord, Knight of Anything Duergar, and Squire of Things Gnollish
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LargeMarmot
Sergeant
463 Posts
| | 04/05/2006 11:41 PM |
| | Some of the older scource books were neat in first person, like the Mystara one written by the world traveler or Van Richten's Ravenloft guides. I don't like my core manuals to be like that but they were fun. | |
Champion of the Tohr-Kreen.
WotDQ Called Shot: Fang Dragon. | |
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madda
Sergeant
714 Posts
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Sulaco
Underboss
1605 Posts
| | 04/06/2006 10:46 AM |
| It depends.
When you read a manual do you want an overview of the topic (third-person) or one individual's limited (and perhaps biased) view of that topic (first-person)? The former is best for crunch, the latter for fluff.
Personally, I like both. I want the hard-and-fast top-down thrid-person stuff so that I really know what the situation is and how I can apply it in my game, but I also like bits of the the bottom-up perspective dotted throughout that serve to give you a real personal feel for the people and places involved. | |
Champion of the Gelatinous Cube. Nemesis of Gnomes and Dinosaurs.
Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil... prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. ~ Terry Pratchett | |
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reezel
Sergeant
555 Posts
| | 04/06/2006 10:47 AM |
| | I think the 3rd person voice works the best, but I like what White-Wolf does in a lot of thier books. When they open up a topic they have a quick first person paragraph that gets you interested in it and wanting to read the meat and potatoes part of it. | |
Champion of the Beholder and Beholderkin
The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. | |
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nyjastul69
Commander
2710 Posts
Rhode Island
| | 04/06/2006 11:16 AM |
| | I prefer 3rd person omniscient in just about everything. | |
You know, I keep thinking that after the new design team gets done with D&D 4e, D&D won't stand for Dungeons and Dragons anymore, because well, that's just not fun. It's old and stuffy. - Originally Posted by BabWryter on Kenzerco.com | |
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Knight of the
Round Table
Thenameless
Warlord
9044 Posts
The Fortress of Solitude
| | 04/07/2006 1:58 AM |
| | I prefer the 3rd person voice for my informative text. 1st person feels too much like entertainment - I can hear my grade 9 & 10 English teacher telling me now about how unprofessional the 1st person voice sounds. | |
Over 270 successful online DDM trades. | |
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Luisjoey
Underboss
1704 Posts
Caracas Venezuela
| | 04/10/2006 2:36 AM |
| I'll go with Third Person Omniscient too
But the first person is really nice, it makes you feel the world on a NPC eyes [:D] | |
Knight of the Quori
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