The Ghul Lord and corrupting Negative energy is a really interesting theme for a campaign. Could add in lots of occult, alchemical, hermetic and Hellraiser-ish mechanical devices that do all sorts of things.
I remember in college I played a necromancer priest who was trying (and failing) to be a healer priest. We used this book and some house rules. The other players were good and upset when they found out my devil lord owned their souls as payment for healing.
If memory serves, I think I've only played a truly evil character once, for a one-shot. I was a 20th level Githyanki Psion (DM created the PCs) but yes, it was a lot of fun. Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
I thought so, too! Thank you so much for your continued support. I hope you know that I never take it for granted, and truly appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed the video.
A player I had back in the 80s did the whole "Undead army" thing by spending far too long on a smelly rotten batttle field. He did the "Send a bunch down the dungeon tell them to run round and come back when they hit a dead end. So they basically cleared the first section of the dungeon, and knew they had when the zombies finally started coming back. Tried it again the next session... went through his entire horde before they went down and looked for themselves. badly damaged rope bridge over bottomless pit had become REALLY badly damaged after 40 odd zombies had tried to cross it in waves of 5... His complaint that "SOME of them must have got across" was explained away when I pointed out that all the ones that HAD crossed it fell back in when they hit the door and turned round to head back...
Sometimes players try to be too clever for their own good! I think your explanation was reasonable! I do try to reward clever player schemes but when it becomes the only thing they rely upon, it gets a little old. Thanks for watching and commenting, and for your support of the channel!
A lot of games limit lower undead by making them bad at improvising. They do what they are told to do but they get confused easily. In WFRP, the undead army would start to partly crumble if the commanding necromancers took a cannonball. Warhammer servitors have similar drawbacks. These poor undead goons would not understand even the most basic traps.
@@SusCalvin I'd let that roll once or twice, but by the third or fourth, they'd end up waiting by a dungeon entrance for a while, before being attacked by a group of well-fed ogres demanding more bacon.
12:30 this audio sounds completely fine 🤘. Your videos are so long that I don't watch them anyways, I'm listening to them while I'm doing other stuff 🙂.
I really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment to let me know! (And, you left TWO comments, which I really appreciate!). So far, the comments seem relatively split with regards to folks who noticed the change in audio versus those who didn't. Also, you are in very good company among folks who prefer to listen to my videos versus watch. They seem to have found a niche among folks who prefer that versus me making shorter videos. Thanks again for watching and commenting. I really appreciate it.
I think so many people are nascent podcasters and youtubers that have decided all kinds audio and video gadgets one "needs" to start a channel because Joe Bob Fred said you should in some tutorial. There are only two metrics that matter on your end: Do I have something to say? Can I communicate that clearly with the tools at hand. In that regard you are doing great with the channel!
@@ididthisonpulpous6526 yeah I don't know where the condescending comments come from about the audio being poor. this sounds completely fine. Especially for a single Dude using an iphone, or a $25 microphone. I know this is not a professional production, but even that, I can understand what the man is saying 😀. Maybe we need to shift the blame to the people who can't understand it, and they need to get their hearing checked 🙂😀😃.... I'm kidding I'm kidding.
I remember this book. I did quite like it. Glaringly absent is any chapter on that most unholy grail of necromancy: becoming a lich. I guess there was Van Richten's Guide for that.
Theres a Forgotten Realms novel Temple of Elemental Evil on audio form on YT & think it's by R A Salvatore. It's horrible multiple sacrifices and heaps of evil magic and unswerving loyal henchmen.
I've been watching (or really mainly listening, in bed) your videos for months and never had an issue with the audio. It always sounded great. I don't know who was saying you needed better audio, but they were wrong.
Thank you very much for letting me know! I heard from a lot of folks like you who said the audio was fine, but I also heard from a small minority of folks who did say that when they listened with headphones, there was a noticeable difference in quality for them, and so while it's an extra step for me, it's really not *that* difficult to use an external mic and if it helps folks enjoy my videos even more, I guess it's worth it. Thank you so much for your support watching (listening?) and commenting! I really appreciate it!
Audio sounds good. And when kids misbehave, if it is not rock n roll or D&D then it is that neighbor boy he hangs out with... it is never just the kid himself 🙂
thanks for covering the 2e stuff, I started playing 2e when it came out but never got to collect much or play D&D for decades after it came out so your coverage really reminds me what I missed. Thanks Martin. ;)
This book was my absolute favorite DnD book back in the day and still a personal tavorite, even though its long past its experation date. When i DMed, i referenced it a lot and when i player, i almost always played the necromancer out of this book. The spells alone really made the character. Glad to see it getting some attention
@1:02:30 "Ok gang, this book was written in a different era." *Stares at one particular player* "I want to make sure everyone's cool with the witch PC being ugly. I don't want to imply ugly people are evil." *Takes long sip from drink, never breaking eye contact with the player* "I admit I forget to bring this up before when certain other people in our group were playing witches." *Places reassuring hand on player's shoulder, gazes at them with great empathy*
Ylourgne is indeed ee-lorn. Over on my channel I did a recording of "The Colossus of Ylourgne" by Clark Ashton Smith! The book I was reading from "The Averoigne Chronicles", the editor went to the trouble of consulting a French linguist to document French sounding pronunciations for the fictional French names that Smith came up with in his Averoigne cycle, and Ylourgne is on that list. Although it seems technically the stress should be on the second syllable, so ee-LORN. Well, that's the linguist's best guess; it is, after all, a fictional name so without Smith to tell us otherwise, other pronunciations remain possible, even if that alternative is just a variation in which syllable you stress. So at the end of the day pronounce it however you like, since Smith did not leave us pronunciation notes for his names, but to the extent a bona fide expert on the French language is weighty to you, ee-LORN it is. Also, for any and all authors out there: if you use names that do not have blindingly obvious pronunciations, put a pronunciation guide in your text. Be it in a footnote, an appendix, even an online FAQ, give us *something*. And what you think is obvious, let me tell you: it isn't. Take, for example, another name from CAS: Satampra Zeiros. The 'ei' in English can take any of about a dozen different pronunciations, being exactly the same set of sounds the 'ie' combination can make. There's no way to know what Smith had in mind for the pronunciation of Zeiros. Please document it. Heck, just yesterday I came across the name Boucke (in some Frank Belknap Long), which appears to be a real name, but I can find no examples of anybody saying the name out loud, I can't figure out what nationality it is, and I can come up with at least a half dozen different possibilities off the top of my head. That name does not have an obvious pronunciation. Document it. Or, another example from Lovecraft: Typer. You might think *duh* obviously that's as in a person who types. But is it? Based on the content of the story, I am fulling expecting it to be a Dutch name, in which case it would get a slightly different pronunciation. But I don't know. And Lovecraft didn't document a pronunciation, or even whether it really was supposed to be Dutch. We got nothing, and just have to guess. So no matter how obvious you think the name is, if it is anything other than "John Smith" and "Jane Doe", give us a pronunciation guide to your names somewhere in the book. And don't even get me started on a name like Hziulquoigmnzhah....
Although if you really want some good necromancy ideas from Clark Ashton Smith, it's his Zothique cycle you need to check out. The Averoigne cycle is great, it's like what if all the superstitions of medieval France were actually real, which is a great premise, but Zothique is a world of necromancers.
When I want to voice over on screen things I use Action! screen software with an external microphone on the PC. Or if I think I might want to show my face then I record the screen with action and record myself with a gopro and mesh them together in shotcut.
I've never played a necromancer, but I have considered it. One of my planned characters I never got to play in 3rd edition was a human lawful neutral necromancer who struggled with morality and tried to resist the easy path of raising the dead.
Thanks for this interesting ride through this book. Maybe you can do a video on the artist of D&D - kind of like the Eye of the Beholder documentary. Having a long form video that reviews the careers of classic D&D artist may be well received?
I really appreciate you taking the time to comment! So far, for the folks who comment on it, the results seem to be relatively split between folks who preferred the "new" audio versus folks who didn't care and/or didn't notice. Thank you so much for your support of the channel. I really appreciate it!
That's good to know. Comments have been all over the board on this one, with many folks saying they didn't notice any difference (I did not notice any difference, myself, but I'm not using any headphones or fancy speakers when watching) but enough folks said they *did* notice a difference that I plan to continue using the microphone going forward. Thanks for watching and commenting, and for your support of the channel!
One of the PCs in our current 2e party is using the Anatomist kit from this book. Rounding us out is a Bard (kitless as far as I know), a Specialty Priest of Selune, a Dwarf Sharpshooter Fighter, and my kitless Fighter.
Audio has always been fine. Whadda ya got, some sound engineers offering unsolicited advice? You can’t make everyone happy. Your channel is great. Long well done videos are great to listen to while working.
I really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment! It's so funny... the comments seem to be relatively split between folks who say they noticed an improvement in the audio versus folks who either didn't notice and/or didn't care! I also appreciate that you enjoy the longer format. I've been thinking a lot lately that perhaps I'm doing my channel a disservice by driving away folks who would prefer shorter videos, but at the same time, I think that would drive away my current fans, such as yourself. I'm happy to continue making these super long-form videos for people like you who enjoy listening to them while doing other things. Thank you so much for your support. Cheers!
Yeah, honestly it was folks mentioning it in the comments and also seeing how many folks are interested in 2nd Edition that caused me to look into making a video about it. I sadly don't have a "content calendar" but basically begin thinking over the weekend what video to make next, then I begin researching on Sunday evening and Monday morning, record on Monday afternoons, and then edit on Tuesdays. That seems to be my new schedule. Hope you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@daddyrolleda1 it was a great video. I really could have used that book when I was allowed to okay a Necromancer back in the 90s. I am a big fan of your channel. I mostly buy older books so it's awesome to see some history along with thorough reviews of the contents. It was through your channel that I figured out that I really need Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures.
Oh, good to know! I did notice in a few places that it gets really "scatchy" which I think might be because I have to use an adaptor to plug my microphone into my phone, and I think the connection was perhaps a little loose. Was there a noticeable difference compared to my other videos?
Seems like a cool book. It's one of the only (maybe the only) complete books I don't have from 2e. I think heroes of horror from 3.5 is an excellent book that's similar to this one.
Had this book as a lad. Fun to read. Very cool concepts of what a necromancer could be. I would highly recommend this to Pirateaba for instance who has delved into necromancy a bit in different typical ways. Had some very cool NPCs in here with lots of raw fleshed out concepts (puns intended). Overall the book was a weak addition to the average DM's vault of tools. Most players won't go down this route, and it takes a good DM to engage in this stuff in a fun and up beat way. Overall though, I would consider this one of the best complete class books because there is absolutely nothing I remember that was over powered here while having a lot of character. That might not be a selling point for the average player but for the average DM it's a solid addition.
In the Tome and Blood supplement for 3.0 the "Archetypal Necromancer" was called the True Necromancer. It was a really cool prestige class because you could qualify for the class as a either a wizard or a cleric. Spoiler Alert: Clerics make better necromancers than magic-users.
Ha! YES! I very well remember the very heated "Clerics make better Necromancers" arguments on ENWorld and other message boards! So funny! (Also true, of course, but it made a lot of folks upse). Thank you for watching and commenting! I had a ton of fun making that video!
I didn't like the satanic panic, but one good thing that came out was the creativity and wider net of material to use. Lots of amazing names and lore for the types of devils and demons.
EEE! My favorite! Pretty sure it was Diablo 2 that sent me down the necromancer rabbit hole. Absolutely love it, even though it like always leads to alignment arguments
Since it was briefly mentioned early in the video, I felt I should swing back to these comments to mention that James Egbert III, the kid from the Steam Tunnels Incident, was local to where I grew up. I would love to see a video covering his life and tragic death because of how deeply it was enmeshed in the Satanic Panic in the local area during the '80s and '90s, way more than I understand it to have been outside the Dayton area, but by the same token I know for a fact it would not be a fun video for either creator or fans of this channel and most of that backlash is probably best left undocumented in this channel's context.
Great overview on these. I had the Fighters, Thiefs, Priest and Wizard ones. Then the Villain and Catacomb books. I remember the green cover books as well. All of them had good ideas, but execution seemed a bit lacking.
I had a few of the green historical guides but don't actually own any of the DMGR series in hard copies. I've heard many folks say that the Catacombs Guide is one of their absolute favorites!
Pizentios... looks like the Dungeon Master from the old D&D Cartoon! LOL! Which, the final episode of that cartoon was never aired, but the script of it was written, and people have made animations for it, and when you discover his objectives for the kids all along, lawful evil is not an inappropriate alignment to assign to him! His goals were surprisingly selfish, and the number of beings he drew into the realms to achieve his goal, only to die trying, was staggering. He was not a good entity, for sure!
That's so funny - I thought the same thing about the artwork for Pizentios! I have seen some of those fan-made version of the final script, and they're pretty fun!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it. Would you say it's "noticeably great"? Meaning... if I hadn't mentioned it in the video that I was using a microphone, would you have noticed?
Another comment on the audio and to paraphrase my amateur radio hobby: we are receiving a clear transmission, reading you 5x5, proceed with your message.
Yes, totally agree! I took part of that idea (not the mechanics necessarily but just the idea) for a healer in the B/X game I run for my daughter and her friends. It's a lot of fun.
Man those books were just a lot to digest, I do like a lot of aspects of them, but to me they were just over powered imo. It’s no wonder that a lot of my 5e friends love these. Thanks for posting
Oh, that's funny about your 5E friends! I can see that... these Complete handbooks really start to focus on mechanical "options" for characters, which before that didn't really exist other than via roleplaying. And, beginning with 3rd Edition, having character options is a hallmark of those systems, I think. When I read these now, I like more of the flavor and ideas versus the mechanics, but I'm one who feels that "more options" actually reduces creativity.
You act as if the DM is helpless and can't send just as powerful things at the players. It sounds more like a lot of old school players have less imagination than they claim - or lazy imagination. They're also literally explaining all that in the book about the DM's role in handling things like this. smh.
I was able to pick it up in the used section of my local game store about 10 years ago for pretty much cover price, which was really cool. I also have A Mighty Fortress and Charlemagne's Paladins in hard copy, and the remainder as PDFs.
I think it's better to not make any consideration for the Angry Moms because: 1. Their opinions are simply wrong. 2. Extra marketing by leaning into the Streisand effect.
The US Congress was having hearings and calling for laws that censored music, video games etc. Stores were pressured not to sell products like D&D. There was a lot going on at the time AD&D 2E was being published.
Thank you for letting me know! So far, it seems to be about 50/50 with folks who noticed versus folks who didn't. If you don't mind, do you listen with headphones? And, did you notice the "scratches" this time (I don't know what the proper audio term is)? I was worried about that. And, thank you so much for watching and commenting, and letting me know about this. Cheers! I hope you enjoyed the video!
It's so expensive now on the secondary market! I think fewer of them were printed, perhaps, as it was during that time period when TSR didn't have a lot of cash on hand, shortly before they were acquired by Wizards of the Coast.
just started looking into 2e, currently looking at the complete Sages and Specialist book. so far i think 2e did a great job on world building and expanding character concepts/role playing ideas, but failed when balancing bonuses for them, so a lot of the cool character concepts/themes won't ever get picked because they don't gain the best buffs, so they get ignored so a player can min-max other kits.
So many folks mentioned it last time ("so many" meaning like 3...) and I thought with Halloween coming, it would be thematically appropriate! I hope you enjoy the video!
@@daddyrolleda1 The Necromancer's and the Ninja's Handbook were my favorites of the 2E splat books... though as a Star Wars fan it still kills me with the mistake made on page 89 that you mentioned at the 1:13:05 mark.
I'm always surprised how picky people are about audio quality. For music, sure, but for something like this? I wasn't bothered by any recording method you've used to date. I'm here for the content, not the quality of vocals or recording equipment.
Thank you for that! I appreciate you sharing! I get the impression there's a pretty sizable portion of my audience who don't watch my videos, but listen to them, and a few have mentioned they listen to them while falling asleep, so I wonder if the audio quality is a bigger deal to them? Of course, my intent was never to make so-called ASMR videos, so I'm not sure how much I should worry about the audio, as most folks have said that it's fine.
I definitely have a very different, non-standard format. If you've had a chance to watch/listen by now, I'd be very curious to hear your comments on whether you enjoyed it and/or if you feel there was content I should have cut out, etc. Thank you very much for watching and commenting.
Specialists Wizard's appeared first in late late 1st Edition AD&D. They appeared in 1988 in the Forgotten Realms supplement "FR6: Dreams of the Red Wizards". To me, the inclusion of specialists wizards in the 2nd Edition AD&D Player's Handbook took away the one thing that made Red Wizards truly unique.
Thanks for the detail. I have a vague memory of that supplement but didn't own or use it. I do recall even during the early 1E days that people often talked about home-brewing "specialist" wizards using the Illusionist as an answer. I recall very early on in Liaisons Dangereuses that Len Lakofka wrote a "Pyrologist" magic-user specialty class. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Regarding reproducing too much of the material on video: while you should follow your conscience, I wouldn't sweat it. If I wanted to use this book without paying for it, there are WAY easier ways to do it than trying to read the pages off a UA-cam video.
1:20:41 "all the necromantic spells" Unfortunately not the case. Missing necromantic priest spells from that list by level: ¹Dispel Fatigue ²Restore Strength ⁴Exorcise ⁴Plague ⁴Suspended Animation ⁴Unfailing Endurance ⁷Create Crypt Thing
>.> .> 0.0 In my minds eye, you're running an age appropriate game for 12 year old's. No. don't tell me they're real age :) Edit: seriously though. It's great their playing with you :)
We have a lot of fun - it's been my favorite game of D&D I've played in ~43 years of playing! I have a whole playlist in which I talk about the game and the kinds of decisions and rulings I make in my "DM Advice" playlist here: ua-cam.com/play/PLX6jue56rzl2-VzZH19Ke2NU4r0IaJ7be.html&si=8pjexVpUoftt_08_
Oh, it's totally in the spirit of Arabian Knights, of course! I just meant that the book was made in the *style* of Oriental Adventures, meaning, taking inspiration from real world cultures and then adding fantasy elements on top to create classes, species, spells, monsters, etc.
Doesn't matter if it's "a hassle to setup". If you're making a video where audio is the main focus, you need a good microphone. This should be common sense.
👿🔱😈.. All of these complete books are stupid $... But a 100$ plus is really nuts... I cant believe how much the Deities and demigods book cost now 😳...i dont know if i want to use my copy or put it in a glass case lol
If you think the Necromancer book is expensive, wait until you check out the second-hand prices for "Of Ships and the Sea"! There's one going for almost $350!
@@daddyrolleda1 yeah ive looked at those when they pop up on ebay... I never used them back in the day so they arent on my to buy list.. But i did drop a knot on the encyclopedia Magica books 😳
Oh wow! I don't normally hear complaints about this particular book in the series. I do agree that real world history can be a much more creative inspirational source than a lot of poorly written fantasy works.
I was disappointed by 5e official sorcerer orgins. An orgin that focused on necromancer and enchant spells. These are the Apparition sorcerer haunt bonus spells. This allows for the sorcerer to decieve targets and defend their unconscious body A sorcerer in 5e is highly dependent on the class features. Which 5e sorcerers are sorely lacking. That allows for retaining senses while unconscious. That can have an out of body experience to deliver touch spells and cast, while unconscious. Then, possess targets much like like the magic jar spell without needing a jar. Unlike, swapping your soul into a jar with the target. It instead has the sorcerer possess a target. Which gives you the opportunity to escape death by finding safety in your own body.
The Ghul Lord and corrupting Negative energy is a really interesting theme for a campaign. Could add in lots of occult, alchemical, hermetic and Hellraiser-ish mechanical devices that do all sorts of things.
That sounds like a really great campaign!
Audio is indeed noticeably better, but I am not super concerned with audio quality. Keep doing these awesome videos! cheers.
I remember in college I played a necromancer priest who was trying (and failing) to be a healer priest. We used this book and some house rules. The other players were good and upset when they found out my devil lord owned their souls as payment for healing.
What you don't know is Daddy is playing an Exploding-Crit, Roll Under System! "1's" ALL DAY ⚡️⚡️⚡️
Ha! It seems like that sometimes!
Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@daddyrolleda1Thank you for what you're doing here. Fine work & great watch/ listens!
Daddy can play with that explodiNg roll under system ANYTIME 🎉
Evil characters are a lot of fun. Thanks for reviewing this tome.
If memory serves, I think I've only played a truly evil character once, for a one-shot. I was a 20th level Githyanki Psion (DM created the PCs) but yes, it was a lot of fun.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
The humanoids book is create for creating a whole party of evil characters that have reasons to be as nasty as possible against humans and demihumans.
The audio has sounded great, no matter what system you have used.
I really appreciate you letting me know. Thanks! And thank you for your support of the channel.
A perfect review for the spooky season!
I thought so, too! Thank you so much for your continued support. I hope you know that I never take it for granted, and truly appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed the video.
A player I had back in the 80s did the whole "Undead army" thing by spending far too long on a smelly rotten batttle field.
He did the "Send a bunch down the dungeon tell them to run round and come back when they hit a dead end. So they basically cleared the first section of the dungeon, and knew they had when the zombies finally started coming back.
Tried it again the next session... went through his entire horde before they went down and looked for themselves. badly damaged rope bridge over bottomless pit had become REALLY badly damaged after 40 odd zombies had tried to cross it in waves of 5...
His complaint that "SOME of them must have got across" was explained away when I pointed out that all the ones that HAD crossed it fell back in when they hit the door and turned round to head back...
Sometimes players try to be too clever for their own good! I think your explanation was reasonable! I do try to reward clever player schemes but when it becomes the only thing they rely upon, it gets a little old.
Thanks for watching and commenting, and for your support of the channel!
Good DMing if a power player.
A lot of games limit lower undead by making them bad at improvising. They do what they are told to do but they get confused easily.
In WFRP, the undead army would start to partly crumble if the commanding necromancers took a cannonball.
Warhammer servitors have similar drawbacks.
These poor undead goons would not understand even the most basic traps.
We had players who herded pigs in front of them as trap clearers.
@@SusCalvin I'd let that roll once or twice, but by the third or fourth, they'd end up waiting by a dungeon entrance for a while, before being attacked by a group of well-fed ogres demanding more bacon.
12:30 this audio sounds completely fine 🤘. Your videos are so long that I don't watch them anyways, I'm listening to them while I'm doing other stuff 🙂.
I really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment to let me know! (And, you left TWO comments, which I really appreciate!).
So far, the comments seem relatively split with regards to folks who noticed the change in audio versus those who didn't.
Also, you are in very good company among folks who prefer to listen to my videos versus watch. They seem to have found a niche among folks who prefer that versus me making shorter videos.
Thanks again for watching and commenting. I really appreciate it.
I think so many people are nascent podcasters and youtubers that have decided all kinds audio and video gadgets one "needs" to start a channel because Joe Bob Fred said you should in some tutorial. There are only two metrics that matter on your end: Do I have something to say? Can I communicate that clearly with the tools at hand. In that regard you are doing great with the channel!
@@ididthisonpulpous6526 yeah I don't know where the condescending comments come from about the audio being poor. this sounds completely fine. Especially for a single Dude using an iphone, or a $25 microphone. I know this is not a professional production, but even that, I can understand what the man is saying 😀. Maybe we need to shift the blame to the people who can't understand it, and they need to get their hearing checked 🙂😀😃.... I'm kidding I'm kidding.
'tis very #bedtimelistening
@@TomiTapio no it's not. they are audio quality is fine.
I remember this book. I did quite like it.
Glaringly absent is any chapter on that most unholy grail of necromancy: becoming a lich. I guess there was Van Richten's Guide for that.
Ahhhh. That should always remain a mystery imho.
Theres a Forgotten Realms novel Temple of Elemental Evil on audio form on YT & think it's by R A Salvatore. It's horrible multiple sacrifices and heaps of evil magic and unswerving loyal henchmen.
I've been watching (or really mainly listening, in bed) your videos for months and never had an issue with the audio. It always sounded great. I don't know who was saying you needed better audio, but they were wrong.
Thank you very much for letting me know! I heard from a lot of folks like you who said the audio was fine, but I also heard from a small minority of folks who did say that when they listened with headphones, there was a noticeable difference in quality for them, and so while it's an extra step for me, it's really not *that* difficult to use an external mic and if it helps folks enjoy my videos even more, I guess it's worth it.
Thank you so much for your support watching (listening?) and commenting! I really appreciate it!
@@daddyrolleda1 No worries! For what it's worth, I've been watching and listening with headphones the whole time.
Audio sounds good. And when kids misbehave, if it is not rock n roll or D&D then it is that neighbor boy he hangs out with... it is never just the kid himself 🙂
Thanks! I appreciate you watching and commenting, and also agree most people look outside for blame!
Fun video! Audio was fine (I’ve never had a problem with it). I totally remember that James Ward article and thinking “boo”.
thanks for covering the 2e stuff, I started playing 2e when it came out but never got to collect much or play D&D for decades after it came out so your coverage really reminds me what I missed. Thanks Martin. ;)
This book was my absolute favorite DnD book back in the day and still a personal tavorite, even though its long past its experation date.
When i DMed, i referenced it a lot and when i player, i almost always played the necromancer out of this book. The spells alone really made the character. Glad to see it getting some attention
Time Out is one of my favorite albums of all time, regardless of genre. Excellent choice.
@1:02:30 "Ok gang, this book was written in a different era." *Stares at one particular player* "I want to make sure everyone's cool with the witch PC being ugly. I don't want to imply ugly people are evil." *Takes long sip from drink, never breaking eye contact with the player* "I admit I forget to bring this up before when certain other people in our group were playing witches." *Places reassuring hand on player's shoulder, gazes at them with great empathy*
Everyone is a little ugly in WFRP. You roll a table to see which deformity you have.
Ylourgne is indeed ee-lorn. Over on my channel I did a recording of "The Colossus of Ylourgne" by Clark Ashton Smith!
The book I was reading from "The Averoigne Chronicles", the editor went to the trouble of consulting a French linguist to document French sounding pronunciations for the fictional French names that Smith came up with in his Averoigne cycle, and Ylourgne is on that list. Although it seems technically the stress should be on the second syllable, so ee-LORN. Well, that's the linguist's best guess; it is, after all, a fictional name so without Smith to tell us otherwise, other pronunciations remain possible, even if that alternative is just a variation in which syllable you stress. So at the end of the day pronounce it however you like, since Smith did not leave us pronunciation notes for his names, but to the extent a bona fide expert on the French language is weighty to you, ee-LORN it is.
Also, for any and all authors out there: if you use names that do not have blindingly obvious pronunciations, put a pronunciation guide in your text. Be it in a footnote, an appendix, even an online FAQ, give us *something*. And what you think is obvious, let me tell you: it isn't. Take, for example, another name from CAS: Satampra Zeiros. The 'ei' in English can take any of about a dozen different pronunciations, being exactly the same set of sounds the 'ie' combination can make. There's no way to know what Smith had in mind for the pronunciation of Zeiros. Please document it. Heck, just yesterday I came across the name Boucke (in some Frank Belknap Long), which appears to be a real name, but I can find no examples of anybody saying the name out loud, I can't figure out what nationality it is, and I can come up with at least a half dozen different possibilities off the top of my head. That name does not have an obvious pronunciation. Document it. Or, another example from Lovecraft: Typer. You might think *duh* obviously that's as in a person who types. But is it? Based on the content of the story, I am fulling expecting it to be a Dutch name, in which case it would get a slightly different pronunciation. But I don't know. And Lovecraft didn't document a pronunciation, or even whether it really was supposed to be Dutch. We got nothing, and just have to guess. So no matter how obvious you think the name is, if it is anything other than "John Smith" and "Jane Doe", give us a pronunciation guide to your names somewhere in the book. And don't even get me started on a name like Hziulquoigmnzhah....
Although if you really want some good necromancy ideas from Clark Ashton Smith, it's his Zothique cycle you need to check out. The Averoigne cycle is great, it's like what if all the superstitions of medieval France were actually real, which is a great premise, but Zothique is a world of necromancers.
When I want to voice over on screen things I use Action! screen software with an external microphone on the PC. Or if I think I might want to show my face then I record the screen with action and record myself with a gopro and mesh them together in shotcut.
Your Audio recording is perfect
I really appreciate you letting me know. Thank you!
I've never played a necromancer, but I have considered it. One of my planned characters I never got to play in 3rd edition was a human lawful neutral necromancer who struggled with morality and tried to resist the easy path of raising the dead.
Thanks for this interesting ride through this book.
Maybe you can do a video on the artist of D&D - kind of like the Eye of the Beholder documentary. Having a long form video that reviews the careers of classic D&D artist may be well received?
Audio seems about the same as before, but I also didn't have a problem with the previous audio quality. Love the look back at historical rules!
I really appreciate you taking the time to comment! So far, for the folks who comment on it, the results seem to be relatively split between folks who preferred the "new" audio versus folks who didn't care and/or didn't notice.
Thank you so much for your support of the channel. I really appreciate it!
This audio is much cleaner, we don't get the background static hum anymore. I watch and listen so audio and video is important.
That's good to know. Comments have been all over the board on this one, with many folks saying they didn't notice any difference (I did not notice any difference, myself, but I'm not using any headphones or fancy speakers when watching) but enough folks said they *did* notice a difference that I plan to continue using the microphone going forward.
Thanks for watching and commenting, and for your support of the channel!
One of the PCs in our current 2e party is using the Anatomist kit from this book. Rounding us out is a Bard (kitless as far as I know), a Specialty Priest of Selune, a Dwarf Sharpshooter Fighter, and my kitless Fighter.
Audio has always been fine. Whadda ya got, some sound engineers offering unsolicited advice? You can’t make everyone happy. Your channel is great. Long well done videos are great to listen to while working.
I really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment! It's so funny... the comments seem to be relatively split between folks who say they noticed an improvement in the audio versus folks who either didn't notice and/or didn't care!
I also appreciate that you enjoy the longer format. I've been thinking a lot lately that perhaps I'm doing my channel a disservice by driving away folks who would prefer shorter videos, but at the same time, I think that would drive away my current fans, such as yourself. I'm happy to continue making these super long-form videos for people like you who enjoy listening to them while doing other things.
Thank you so much for your support. Cheers!
Oh hell yeah you got to this one pretty quickly! I always wanted this book
Yeah, honestly it was folks mentioning it in the comments and also seeing how many folks are interested in 2nd Edition that caused me to look into making a video about it. I sadly don't have a "content calendar" but basically begin thinking over the weekend what video to make next, then I begin researching on Sunday evening and Monday morning, record on Monday afternoons, and then edit on Tuesdays. That seems to be my new schedule.
Hope you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@daddyrolleda1 it was a great video. I really could have used that book when I was allowed to okay a Necromancer back in the 90s.
I am a big fan of your channel. I mostly buy older books so it's awesome to see some history along with thorough reviews of the contents. It was through your channel that I figured out that I really need Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures.
I like the audio
Oh, good to know! I did notice in a few places that it gets really "scatchy" which I think might be because I have to use an adaptor to plug my microphone into my phone, and I think the connection was perhaps a little loose.
Was there a noticeable difference compared to my other videos?
@@daddyrolleda1 I really haven't noticed any difference in the audio quality between videos. You're doing completely fine.
I bought this when it was released. Excellent source book.
I've got this one too. Let's keep diving I to these Complete books 👊
Seems like a cool book. It's one of the only (maybe the only) complete books I don't have from 2e. I think heroes of horror from 3.5 is an excellent book that's similar to this one.
Yes, I agree - Heroes of Horror has a lot of good ideas for running scary scenarios/campaigns. I think it's one of the better 3.5 Sourcebooks.
Had this book as a lad. Fun to read. Very cool concepts of what a necromancer could be. I would highly recommend this to Pirateaba for instance who has delved into necromancy a bit in different typical ways. Had some very cool NPCs in here with lots of raw fleshed out concepts (puns intended). Overall the book was a weak addition to the average DM's vault of tools. Most players won't go down this route, and it takes a good DM to engage in this stuff in a fun and up beat way. Overall though, I would consider this one of the best complete class books because there is absolutely nothing I remember that was over powered here while having a lot of character. That might not be a selling point for the average player but for the average DM it's a solid addition.
In the Tome and Blood supplement for 3.0 the "Archetypal Necromancer" was called the True Necromancer. It was a really cool prestige class because you could qualify for the class as a either a wizard or a cleric.
Spoiler Alert: Clerics make better necromancers than magic-users.
Ha! YES! I very well remember the very heated "Clerics make better Necromancers" arguments on ENWorld and other message boards! So funny! (Also true, of course, but it made a lot of folks upse).
Thank you for watching and commenting! I had a ton of fun making that video!
I didn't like the satanic panic, but one good thing that came out was the creativity and wider net of material to use. Lots of amazing names and lore for the types of devils and demons.
I hadn't thought of that, but you're right!
EEE! My favorite! Pretty sure it was Diablo 2 that sent me down the necromancer rabbit hole. Absolutely love it, even though it like always leads to alignment arguments
It seems to be a favorite of a lot of folks! I hope you enjoyed the video, and thanks for watching and commenting. Cheers!
Since it was briefly mentioned early in the video, I felt I should swing back to these comments to mention that James Egbert III, the kid from the Steam Tunnels Incident, was local to where I grew up. I would love to see a video covering his life and tragic death because of how deeply it was enmeshed in the Satanic Panic in the local area during the '80s and '90s, way more than I understand it to have been outside the Dayton area, but by the same token I know for a fact it would not be a fun video for either creator or fans of this channel and most of that backlash is probably best left undocumented in this channel's context.
Great overview on these. I had the Fighters, Thiefs, Priest and Wizard ones. Then the Villain and Catacomb books. I remember the green cover books as well. All of them had good ideas, but execution seemed a bit lacking.
I had a few of the green historical guides but don't actually own any of the DMGR series in hard copies. I've heard many folks say that the Catacombs Guide is one of their absolute favorites!
Pizentios... looks like the Dungeon Master from the old D&D Cartoon! LOL! Which, the final episode of that cartoon was never aired, but the script of it was written, and people have made animations for it, and when you discover his objectives for the kids all along, lawful evil is not an inappropriate alignment to assign to him! His goals were surprisingly selfish, and the number of beings he drew into the realms to achieve his goal, only to die trying, was staggering. He was not a good entity, for sure!
That's so funny - I thought the same thing about the artwork for Pizentios!
I have seen some of those fan-made version of the final script, and they're pretty fun!
Your voice sounds great in this video!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it. Would you say it's "noticeably great"? Meaning... if I hadn't mentioned it in the video that I was using a microphone, would you have noticed?
Another comment on the audio and to paraphrase my amateur radio hobby: we are receiving a clear transmission, reading you 5x5, proceed with your message.
Ha! This gave me a chuckle - thanks!
@@daddyrolleda1 good. my day is complete.
Sounds Great 👍
Audio sounds great
Thank you very much! I appreciate you watching and commenting.
the anatomist makes for a great background good guy to heal the party though. basically the only good guy necromancer kit though
Yes, totally agree! I took part of that idea (not the mechanics necessarily but just the idea) for a healer in the B/X game I run for my daughter and her friends. It's a lot of fun.
Man those books were just a lot to digest, I do like a lot of aspects of them, but to me they were just over powered imo. It’s no wonder that a lot of my 5e friends love these. Thanks for posting
Oh, that's funny about your 5E friends! I can see that... these Complete handbooks really start to focus on mechanical "options" for characters, which before that didn't really exist other than via roleplaying. And, beginning with 3rd Edition, having character options is a hallmark of those systems, I think.
When I read these now, I like more of the flavor and ideas versus the mechanics, but I'm one who feels that "more options" actually reduces creativity.
You act as if the DM is helpless and can't send just as powerful things at the players. It sounds more like a lot of old school players have less imagination than they claim - or lazy imagination.
They're also literally explaining all that in the book about the DM's role in handling things like this. smh.
@@BlackEcology I understand that but to me these are the start of how D&D is today. In 1e you had to grind to be a super hero, in 5e you start as one.
Ah Crusades, the only HR I'm missing 😢
I was able to pick it up in the used section of my local game store about 10 years ago for pretty much cover price, which was really cool. I also have A Mighty Fortress and Charlemagne's Paladins in hard copy, and the remainder as PDFs.
I'd love for you to cover the Sha'ir book.
I can certainly add it to the list of potential future topics. Thanks for the idea, and for watching and commenting!
I thought your audio was fine before you made any changes to it. I would not worry about the audio if it is creating extra work :)
I really appreciate you letting me know. Thank you!
I think it's better to not make any consideration for the Angry Moms because:
1. Their opinions are simply wrong.
2. Extra marketing by leaning into the Streisand effect.
The US Congress was having hearings and calling for laws that censored music, video games etc.
Stores were pressured not to sell products like D&D.
There was a lot going on at the time AD&D 2E was being published.
Definitely noticed an improvement in the audio right away.
Thank you for letting me know! So far, it seems to be about 50/50 with folks who noticed versus folks who didn't. If you don't mind, do you listen with headphones? And, did you notice the "scratches" this time (I don't know what the proper audio term is)? I was worried about that.
And, thank you so much for watching and commenting, and letting me know about this. Cheers! I hope you enjoyed the video!
I used to have this one :)
It's so expensive now on the secondary market! I think fewer of them were printed, perhaps, as it was during that time period when TSR didn't have a lot of cash on hand, shortly before they were acquired by Wizards of the Coast.
@@daddyrolleda1 this was years before the Wizards Takeover.
Just two years... Complete Book of Necromancers was published in 1995 and WotC acquired TSR in 1997.
It was well into the era of TSR hemorrhaging cash in the -scam- questionable business practices with their publishing agreements
just started looking into 2e, currently looking at the complete Sages and Specialist book. so far i think 2e did a great job on world building and expanding character concepts/role playing ideas, but failed when balancing bonuses for them, so a lot of the cool character concepts/themes won't ever get picked because they don't gain the best buffs, so they get ignored so a player can min-max other kits.
Easily my favorite splat book from 2e
So many folks mentioned it last time ("so many" meaning like 3...) and I thought with Halloween coming, it would be thematically appropriate! I hope you enjoy the video!
@@daddyrolleda1 The Necromancer's and the Ninja's Handbook were my favorites of the 2E splat books... though as a Star Wars fan it still kills me with the mistake made on page 89 that you mentioned at the 1:13:05 mark.
@Daddy Rolled a 1 for Halloween Month can you do the Dragon Magazine with the Witches?
I can certainly add it to the list! Thanks for the suggestion, and for watching and commenting!
@RichardSekmistrz - I think you'll enjoy today's video! ua-cam.com/video/6wPQ8LlN5kM/v-deo.html
I'm always surprised how picky people are about audio quality. For music, sure, but for something like this? I wasn't bothered by any recording method you've used to date. I'm here for the content, not the quality of vocals or recording equipment.
Thank you for that! I appreciate you sharing! I get the impression there's a pretty sizable portion of my audience who don't watch my videos, but listen to them, and a few have mentioned they listen to them while falling asleep, so I wonder if the audio quality is a bigger deal to them? Of course, my intent was never to make so-called ASMR videos, so I'm not sure how much I should worry about the audio, as most folks have said that it's fine.
Very evocative; very demure
Just starting the video. I want to see how you turn one book into an hour and a half review 🙂.
I definitely have a very different, non-standard format. If you've had a chance to watch/listen by now, I'd be very curious to hear your comments on whether you enjoyed it and/or if you feel there was content I should have cut out, etc.
Thank you very much for watching and commenting.
@@daddyrolleda1 actually I'm only about halfway done... Had to go to bed. if I remember I'll make a comment after I'm done.
Yo, shout-out to Blue Sky!
Best to divest from X / Twitter; it's increasingly becoming a cesspit (well, even more than before).
Kowakian Monkey-Lizard!
That's it! I knew that at one point but it had left my brain due to not calling up that information often.
Specialists Wizard's appeared first in late late 1st Edition AD&D. They appeared in 1988 in the Forgotten Realms supplement "FR6: Dreams of the Red Wizards". To me, the inclusion of specialists wizards in the 2nd Edition AD&D Player's Handbook took away the one thing that made Red Wizards truly unique.
Thanks for the detail. I have a vague memory of that supplement but didn't own or use it. I do recall even during the early 1E days that people often talked about home-brewing "specialist" wizards using the Illusionist as an answer. I recall very early on in Liaisons Dangereuses that Len Lakofka wrote a "Pyrologist" magic-user specialty class.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
The players options books from 2.5E had some awesome alternate specialist wizards
Regarding reproducing too much of the material on video: while you should follow your conscience, I wouldn't sweat it. If I wanted to use this book without paying for it, there are WAY easier ways to do it than trying to read the pages off a UA-cam video.
That's fair - thanks! I appreciate it. Cheers!
1:20:41 "all the necromantic spells"
Unfortunately not the case.
Missing necromantic priest spells from that list by level:
¹Dispel Fatigue
²Restore Strength
⁴Exorcise
⁴Plague
⁴Suspended Animation
⁴Unfailing Endurance
⁷Create Crypt Thing
>.> .> 0.0 In my minds eye, you're running an age appropriate game for 12 year old's. No. don't tell me they're real age :) Edit: seriously though. It's great their playing with you :)
We have a lot of fun - it's been my favorite game of D&D I've played in ~43 years of playing! I have a whole playlist in which I talk about the game and the kinds of decisions and rulings I make in my "DM Advice" playlist here: ua-cam.com/play/PLX6jue56rzl2-VzZH19Ke2NU4r0IaJ7be.html&si=8pjexVpUoftt_08_
I disagree the Oriental Adventures had anything to do with Al-qadim. It was way more Arabian Nights like.
Oh, it's totally in the spirit of Arabian Knights, of course! I just meant that the book was made in the *style* of Oriental Adventures, meaning, taking inspiration from real world cultures and then adding fantasy elements on top to create classes, species, spells, monsters, etc.
Doesn't matter if it's "a hassle to setup". If you're making a video where audio is the main focus, you need a good microphone. This should be common sense.
1
yOU SOUND FINE TO ME.
👿🔱😈.. All of these complete books are stupid $... But a 100$ plus is really nuts... I cant believe how much the Deities and demigods book cost now 😳...i dont know if i want to use my copy or put it in a glass case lol
If you think the Necromancer book is expensive, wait until you check out the second-hand prices for "Of Ships and the Sea"! There's one going for almost $350!
@@daddyrolleda1 yeah ive looked at those when they pop up on ebay... I never used them back in the day so they arent on my to buy list.. But i did drop a knot on the encyclopedia Magica books 😳
A chaotic individual could take advantage of free pdfs.
tsr necromancer book made me quit dnd 20 years
everything was sloppier and increasingly less interesting than history
Oh wow! I don't normally hear complaints about this particular book in the series. I do agree that real world history can be a much more creative inspirational source than a lot of poorly written fantasy works.
I was disappointed by 5e official sorcerer orgins. An orgin that focused on necromancer and enchant spells. These are the Apparition sorcerer haunt bonus spells. This allows for the sorcerer to decieve targets and defend their unconscious body
A sorcerer in 5e is highly dependent on the class features. Which 5e sorcerers are sorely lacking. That allows for retaining senses while unconscious. That can have an out of body experience to deliver touch spells and cast, while unconscious.
Then, possess targets much like like the magic jar spell without needing a jar. Unlike, swapping your soul into a jar with the target. It instead has the sorcerer possess a target. Which gives you the opportunity to escape death by finding safety in your own body.