the cover image is finally up: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndacc/953757200

there is also now an official Q&A thread at the WotC boards: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=9073345

the book is now featured on the previews page: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20060504a

and this should give you an excellent example of the amount of detail the authors have put into the book: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20060504b&page=2

Are you at least getting kickbacks from WotC for this?  

Jeez, the WotC preview has stuff about Kostchtchie and his layer of the Abyss. I went from having no interest in this book to putting it on my "buy" list.

Quote from: CyberzombieAre you at least getting kickbacks from WotC for this?  

I think when WOTC starts promoting this seriously, they'll just point to Nutkinland for further information on their product.

Quote from: Dr_AvalancheI think when WOTC starts promoting this seriously, they'll just point to Nutkinland for further information on their product.

Well, then WE damn well better get the kickbacks, then.  

heh, i hope so!  

hey, i piqued hardisson's interest, so i have at least one convert!  if i can make just one person's life better, it's all been worth it.  

seriously, if you had not guessed, i have a hard-on for this book.  it's not WotC - i mean, i sure didn't get excited for say Complete Adventurer, or Races of the Dragon, or Magic of Incarnum, and getting a look at them didn't impress me much either.  it's just this book.  it's the first WotC book that i've had faith in, for, i don't know - maybe ever.

let me tell you why.  

i really respect Erik Mona and James Jacobs' work and style.  not only have they made some kickass contributions in gaming books, but the work they've done on Dragon and Dungeon magazine has blown me away.

add to that, what they have done with the Demonomicon articles and the Adventure Paths, and how those things will likely tie in with FC1.  how the hell they managed to pull all of that off, i do not know.  

also, they both are heavy on the nostalgia factor, but not just for nostalgia's sake; they are determined to make classic material useful, if not more useful than it was before, without taking anything away from what made it what it was.  not only are they going to use the demons and demon lords that current gamers are familiar with, but they're pulling shit up that was left forgotten way back in 1983 (anyone remember that list of demon lords from the MM2 that never got any play?  well, you're not alone...) and in fact from basically every edition of the game.

and then there's the kicker, the move that put me over the top.  when someone posted the inevitable "ooh, look what i found, this book is coming out later!" on ENWorld, these fellows came around and said, "hey, glad you like our idea - we've only just started writing it, so if you have any suggestions we're listening."  holy shit!    a chance to be helpful.  

i kind of enjoy looking shit up if there's a purpose behind it, so i went and found all the useful stuff i could find until i got tired of looking.  and as i was posting this, it gave others inspiration to do some digging of their own, and it also provoked discussion that the designers joined in with.  they thanked us for helping, and told us that our input was useful.  when have you ever seen that sort of thing before?  it's generally discouraged by the companies i'm sure, but since someone caught on to it nice and early by discovering it on Amazon, the guys figured they might as well fess up and talk about it and i'm glad they did.  i can't wait to get the book, both to see if anything i brought up made its way in, and just to see what they did with everything in general.  the preview definitely leaves me hopeful that there is as much cool stuff in there as promised.

and why did i post it here?  well, it's kind of disappointing that you see stuff like that on enworld, but people who don't go there are kind of left in the dark unless someone tells them.  i figured i'd post it here, leave some breadcrumbs, and see if people would show up here to discuss it.  breadcrumbs didn't work, tried some less subtle hints.  i figured if this was going to be a gaming-focused site, it would be nice if i could draw some "guest stars" in to talk about their stuff, but no luck.  the subject kind of died off, so i just added more news as it became available.  i'll probably continue to do so.  

to be fair - we are a much smaller gaming site than ENWorld, and James Jacobs and Erik Mona only have so much time to slack off and post around the net.

While I'd love it if they found there way here and decided to post, I'm not holding my breath.

Thank you for the discussion of the FC:I, though. I've been interested in it since I saw it, and as I'm one of  those people who doesn't go to ENW, your continual updating on the book is nice.

thanks.  

now that ENWorld is back, i will post updates to this thread when people post stuff there...

someone got the book a bit early, and is downright bitchy about it (along with a few other posters): http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=163534

some folks want demon lords that non-epic PCs can beat.  some want demon lords that can challenge the gods themselves.  some folks don't want stats for demon lords at all, but just the descriptions.  it seems like that first category will be the ones who will be most happy with FC1 - although, it seems the designers built in a system to adjust the stats up to make them a challenge for any level party.  so with that, i am happy.

some, perhaps all, of the demon lords from the BoVD as well as the Demonomicon articles are re-statted in the new book (and by re-statted, i mean the stats are not the same).

besides that, we do know that there are stats for the long-awaited molydeus, as well as updated stats for the chasme, rutterkin, manes, and other demons.

plus, apparently, there is a nifty-keen list of demons printed in all 3E sources, as well as a list of properly-adjusted CRs for all of them.  

and, as usual, Erik Mona and James Jacobs are reading the thread, so they may likely respond to any questions that don't break their NDA.  


Edit: forgot to mention, but the OP in that thread had promised to post the ToC and a few other things when he gets home.  

So, you US types are going to get the Abyss in about couple weeks, I expect to see it here early July... and you say that a Nine Hells book is to be expected later in the year... Does anybody know if a Hades (+Gerhenna/Tarterus maybe?) book dealing with the good ol' Daemons (now known as yugoloths), and demodands, and all that stuff is going to be done too?

I'm missing Charon, and the Disease Lords and Khin Oin and all that neutral evil goodness... of course, my ideas of the lower planes put a lot of importance on the middle planes and the role of their denizens as brokers and go-betweens, dating back much farther, before the time some moron came up with that silly blood war..., when the main idea of Evil was to get rid of the good, rather than a petty struggle to dominate the lower planes, which the top dogs would know they could never hold anyway...

a lot of us are hoping that good sales on the first two books will prompt WotC to make a third one...

i've pitched a query to Dragon magazine to do a writeup of Charon and the Diseased Lords, so we'll see.  I've already written an article on a... similar group of beings which will be printed soon, so it's not impossible that they could hit me up for another one.  

Yeah, I'm a bit miffed by that thread. It seems to me that this book:

1) Goes to great lengths to unearth canon bits
2) Goes to great lengths to address needs of different campaigns.

and you get people bitching about canon and how their needs weren't satisfied.

Gamers can truly be pricks with a sense of entitlement, y'know.

amen.  it would've been nice if the first thread that someone posted for the book didn't start with the first post being a complaint.  despite the fact that the OP is praising other parts of the book later in the same thread, it started off on the wrong foot and drew the other whiners out of the woodwork.

a more full review has been posted on page 6 of the enworld thread: http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2853015&postcount=220