Would a 3e book club be of interest to anyone?

[pabelfly]

An idea occurs to me, and I'd like to gauge interest. Would people be interested in a 3e book club? Like, reading through one of the books and discussing it together in a thread?

If we were to do it, should we start with the basics (Player's Handbook, DMG, Monster Manual) before branching out? Or would we look at and discuss 3rd party material, perhaps alternating between the two?

I think it might be interesting, especially if we start dissecting some of the less commonly-used materials and classes in the books. But I'd like to see what others think.

[Inevitability]

That sounds great fun, actually! I think there's a lot of interesting finds to draw from a close read of a sourcebook, and I'd love to discuss some of them with other people here.

I would suggest going for more obscure books; I don't think much remains to be said about the PHB. As for monster books, maybe focus on those that the LA-assignment threads haven't covered yet? Those had a habit of becoming pseudo-readthroughs.

[Kurald Galain]

Speaking for myself, I'd be most interested in doing this for PF books (because this forum still has a lot of misconceptions about PF) as well as for commonly mentioned third-party systems like Spheres. And, any book with actual rules is more interesting than a book that's mainly a list of feats or spells or monsters.

[TheHalfAasimar]

Speaking for myself, I'd be most interested in doing this for PF books (because this forum still has a lot of misconceptions about PF) as well as for commonly mentioned third-party systems like Spheres. And, any book with actual rules is more interesting than a book that's mainly a list of feats or spells or monsters.

What misconceptions are you talking about? The way things interact with one another?

[pabelfly]

That sounds great fun, actually! I think there's a lot of interesting finds to draw from a close read of a sourcebook, and I'd love to discuss some of them with other people here.

I would suggest going for more obscure books; I don't think much remains to be said about the PHB. As for monster books, maybe focus on those that the LA-assignment threads haven't covered yet? Those had a habit of becoming pseudo-readthroughs.

I think your idea of more obscure sourcebooks has merit. We can probably skip the core three rulebooks and start somewhere more interesting.

As a tentative idea, I would do one book per month, starting with an official (obscure) sourcebook, and then going to third-party stuff, and back to official 3e and so forth.


Speaking for myself, I'd be most interested in doing this for PF books (because this forum still has a lot of misconceptions about PF) as well as for commonly mentioned third-party systems like Spheres. And, any book with actual rules is more interesting than a book that's mainly a list of feats or spells or monsters.

I'd participate in a Pathfinder bookclub but I'm not so familiar with the source material that I'd run it myself. I know there's a lot of Pathfinder lurkers on here, since we did get a bunch of posting when I was doing the Pathfinder tier list. I'd even go so far as to suggest you would do a good job running it.

[Tzardok]

I am not sure if I would participate, as I never took part in a book club and am not sure wether I have necessary insight, but I'm certainly interested in reading the discussions.

[pabelfly]

I am not sure if I would participate, as I never took part in a book club and am not sure wether I have necessary insight, but I'm certainly interested in reading the discussions.

I wouldn't worry overmuch. As long as you read the book you'll naturally have stuff you want to talk about or want other people's opinions on, and people will want to respond.

[Inevitability]

Just to put some suggestions out there for our first book, I think the PHB II could be a very solid option. It's got a little bit of everything, it's setting-neutral, and there's a lot of really cool subsystems in there that never really get attention because their introduction in a campaign is so DM-dependent. Plus I love the PHB II's batch of feats, they're definitely not perfect but there's just so many options in that book clearly written with the intent of letting you do something cool and qualitatively different.

Alternatively, any of the 'races of' books (Races of Stone, Races of the Wild, Races of Destiny, Races of the Dragon) seems like it offers a solid balance of races, PrCs, feats, and worldbuilding lore for us to discuss.

[Troacctid]

I think going a chapter at a time in some books could potentially lead to some interesting deep-dive discussions on things that don't normally get a lot of discussion.

[earthseawizard]

FWIW, these are generally referred to as a "Lets Read" on forums, and RPG.net has hundreds of them as examples if you want some info or layout guidance, particularly in the D&D section of the forum.

You said 3e, do you actually intend 3e or just 3.5?

[Wildstag]

I'm intrigued, but I think starting with core would be best, since it sets a good foundation for us all.

And I echo earthseawizard's query: 3e or 3.5? Fwiw, the only hardcover I've found in the wild (and I search only brick-and-mortar used bookstores) is the 3e PHB, and it's got a LOT of notes and highlights in its text.

[atemu1234]

I'm more interested in obscure third-party content. I'm an avid(ish) collector of d20 supplements that never got a digital release. Right now I'm trying to track down stuff by Eden Studios for their Odyssey campaign setting; all I've got is their bestiary, Liber Bestarius. It's interesting enough to have piqued my interest.

[pabelfly]

Just to put some suggestions out there for our first book, I think the PHB II could be a very solid option. It's got a little bit of everything, it's setting-neutral, and there's a lot of really cool subsystems in there that never really get attention because their introduction in a campaign is so DM-dependent. Plus I love the PHB II's batch of feats, they're definitely not perfect but there's just so many options in that book clearly written with the intent of letting you do something cool and qualitatively different.


I think going a chapter at a time in some books could potentially lead to some interesting deep-dive discussions on things that don't normally get a lot of discussion.

I like these two suggestions. We can do a chapter a week, and we'll keep it contained in the same thread. We'll give it a go and see how people feel about that in terms of time and pacing.

On Monday the first of April, we'll start discussing Chapter One of the Player's Handbook II.


FWIW, these are generally referred to as a "Lets Read" on forums, and RPG.net has hundreds of them as examples if you want some info or layout guidance, particularly in the D&D section of the forum.

I'll probably start with some basic introductory text and a few questions, rather than summing up everything in an extremely long OP. But I can always evolve the thread format as time progresses.


You said 3e, do you actually intend 3e or just 3.5?

If there's no corresponding 3.5 book, the 3e material is fair game to me. I'm looking forward to doing threads on Book of Vile Darkness, Book of Exalted Deeds, Savage Species, etc.

If it's been superceded by a newer 3.5 book, probably not the 3e stuff. There's not much point going through, say, the 3e PHB when the vast majority of us play with 3.5.

Sorry if I accidentally got your hopes up.


I'm more interested in obscure third-party content. I'm an avid(ish) collector of d20 supplements that never got a digital release. Right now I'm trying to track down stuff by Eden Studios for their Odyssey campaign setting; all I've got is their bestiary, Liber Bestarius. It's interesting enough to have piqued my interest.

I'll be alternating between first and third-party stuff. Since I don't have much knowledge of third-party stuff, I'll shoot you a DM once we're getting close to the end of PHB II for a good third-party book suggestion.