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Maurice Tousignant
Canada
Windsor
Ontario
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Quickly: pretty cool, contained some stuff I would say is DM only though, and it's all available online.
Summary: This is a hardback sourcebook for 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons. It contains information that was originally published in Dragon Magazine. For those of you who don't know both Dragon and Dungeon magazine no longer exist in print format. Both are available to anyone with a Dungeons and Dragons Insider account. Articles are posted weekly and then each month a full magazine is released in pdf format. This product is advertised to have the best of those articles from Dragon Magazine.
You've got 158 pages of rules and fluff here broken up into 14 articles. The articles range from new character options to new gods. Most of the information is useful to both player and DM's though some of it seems to be pretty DM specific.
Domonomicon of Iggwilv: Yeenoghu - this article looks at the Gnoll god Yeenoghu and pretty much mirrors all previous write ups of the gods. Yeenoghu is statted out as are his Avatars. There's some great extra info on cults of Yeenoghu as well as key players in the cult (all stated out as well). There's pretty much enough info here to write a campaign based around the Hyena god and if not then at least a pretty good sub plot.
Creature Incarnations: Kobolds. This is a great article on how to better use Kobolds in your games. It includes the hilarious Kobold Victory chart as well as a ton of new Kobold types. This is especially useful for a DM starting a new campaing as Kobolds make great low level foes and having even more types is great.
The Ashen Covenant - gives you full details of a specific cult of Orcus. This to me is DM only content and rather interesting. Full background, key players, suggested adventure hooks and more can be found here.
Mithrendain, Citadel of the Feywild - here we have the details of the Eladrin capital. Pretty cool info, mainly for a DM but worth reading as background info for an Eladrin PC. Most interesting was a section in the back that contained new powers for PC from Mithrendain or for characters able to train there.
Wish Upon a Star - this is an article for Starpact Warlocks. This is an odd one where the character draws powers from huge sentient planets and includes powers based on the aspects of these planets. It also includes Paragon paths and an epic destiny that has the PC become his own sentient planet. Odd.
The Bloodghost Syndicate - this is a rather interesting article that seems like DM only material for me. It provides you the equivalent of a Mafia family for your D&D game. This reminds me more of something from Warhammer Fantasy then D&D, but I don't think it's really out of place. You could definately use the info here to base a campaign arc off of if not a whole campaign.
Intelligent Items - these have been a staple of D&D since early editions and it's cool to see them come back. The rules are a mix of the normal magic item rules and the artefact rules that seem rather balanced and well done.
Fight! - this is an article on Arena combat. It's interesting as it looks at how to run arena battles fairly with the new 4e rules system. There are also some good suggestions for quests and even campaign concepts. The rules for manipulating the crowd were especially well done.
We Who Are About To Die... D&D Gladiators - another gladiatorial article. This article uses a rather unique set of feats (especially multiclass feats) in order to allow any character to be themed as a Gladiator. Items here can be applied to any combat oriented character and really open up the options for all classes. The Weapon Mastery Feats are rather brilliant.
The Longest Night - this is an adventure dealing with a Red Dragon. Interesting and uses the Nentir Vale area described in the DM's guide, but very much not for PCs
Playing Dhampyr - This article basically lets you play The Crow. You die, you come back for revenge and you are not undead though you don't have the undead keyword. This is another interesting use of the Multiclass Feats. Instead of giving you powers from another class though you get new Vampiric powers.
Masters of the Planes - this short article has a bunch of new Epic Destinies based on the planes and ending up owning your own.
Playing Sadar-Kai - rules for playing the Shadowfell natives, the Sadar-Kai. This one is a highly requested one by fans until now and is a rather cool race.
Art of The Kill - rules for making Assasins. Like the earlier Gladiator article these rules do not present a new class but rather a series of player options (mainly in the form of feats) that allow players to make assasin characters of any class. Again the multiclass rules are used in interesting ways really opening up a lot of character options.
The Good:
Loved the Kobold article and really wish I had this in hand when starting both of my home groups from 1st level. The article on Mithrendain caught me due to the idea of having specific powers only available in certain areas of the campaign world. It's an interesting concept that I hadn't seen utilized in 4e yet. The intelligent item section was a nice edition to 4e and I was glad to see this fantasy staple return.
While I wasn't a fan of getting two Gladatorial articles at all (See The Bad) I do like the way they handled the Gladiator fighting options. The idea of using multiclass feats for weapons and style specializations is brilliant. Seeing the same concept repeated but used differently under the Assassin article really showed the flexibility of this system. Both articles start to bring back some of the character customization that was lost from 3.5 to 4e and I think will make 3.5 fans rather happy. In a way you end up using the multiclass feats like a Paragon Path and it seem to work rather well.
Glad to see the Shadar-Kai as a PC race, I've always liked them. They are treated really well in the article and would make for a great Roleplaying experience I think. The Dhampyr are actually rather cool as well though I know enough people online hated their introduction to the game.
The Bad:
While really liking the Mithrendain article for it's powers specific to the area there is the typical 4e clause that says anyone can take these powers (heck they are legal in RPGA LFR for that matter). This to me waters down the entire point of these powers in the first place. I wish they didn't have to follow the 'everyone can use anything' rule for 4e. Of course DM in a home game can limit this as intended in the article but they shouldn't have to 'house rule' this.
The two Gladiator articles I think were included purely for marketing reasons. With DarkSun being released in August this was a way to get people excited about the thoughts of arena battles in Athas. They just didn't seem to warrant the 'best of' status by being in this book. I would have preferred something that I could use in any game rather then something this specific.
Wish upon a Star seemed too class specific for a "best of" plus I'm not really a fan of the whole Far Realm thing. I personally think there's another system out there that handles that type of thing better and don't need it in 'my D&D'
The Ugly:
The biggest problem with this book is of course the fact that I've already paid for it. I have a D&D insider account and could read all this any time I want. Personally though I prefer a paper book, it's much easier to read in the washroom. My beef isn't really against this book, but the whole Insider thing and the fact I can't just subscribe to Dragon anymore and get it delivered to my door where I can read it at my leisure. Now I have to remember to go online, download all the articles using up my DH space and then read them when I'm home on my screen or spend more in ink costs then it would have cost to buy a magazine.
I've always had it in my head the Dragon is mainly for Players and Dungeon is for DM's. Maybe it's my view on these that is wrong, but it just seemed some of the articles just didn't fit and were DM specific. The new gods, new cults, new organizations and even an entire adventure plot involving a red dragon were articles I wouldn't want my players reading. That's a large chunk of a book that players are likely going to pick up that they probably shouldn't use.
Overall:
This book is a near perfect mix of fluff and crunch. There are tons of new rules and background to back them all up. I was particularly fond of the use of the muticlass feats to really open up the options available to all classes. Though I hate the fact that I can't just go to my FLGS and pick up Dragon anymore, it's nice that they are doing these 'best of's so I don't have to bring my PC in the washroom when I want to read. There were a few articles in here that seemed a bit out of place but overall there's a lot of good stuff in here. Do I recommend buying it? Well if you are a DM without a D&D Insider account then definitely. If you are a player without a D&DI account then I also suggest it (though check with your DM and see if he wants to you skip a couple chapters). For both players and DMs with a DDI account this one is your call. You already have all this info and more at your mousepoint, so it's up to you if you also need some of it in print.
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