Oriental Adventures: The Rulebook for Ad & D Game Adventures in the Mystical World of the Orient (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons)

Rating:
Summary: One of Gygax's last rulebooks
Review: Here it is, the most coveted AD&D hardcover in existence - not only for its rarity, but for the excellence of its rules! Here, you get 128 pages of how to play ninjas, samurai, wu-jen, and more; the elaborate Honor system, oriental magic, and the unique monsters and treasures of Kara-Tur, all in one beautiful reference! The golden age of the 1st edition game, here in one volume.

Rating:
Summary: One of Gygax's last rulebooks
Review: Here it is, the most coveted AD&D hardcover in existence - not only for its rarity, but for the excellence of its rules! Here, you get 128 pages of how to play ninjas, samurai, wu-jen, and more; the elaborate Honor system, oriental magic, and the unique monsters and treasures of Kara-Tur, all in one beautiful reference! The golden age of the 1st edition game, here in one volume.

Rating:
Summary: This is how Oriental D&D books should be.
Review: The only fault in this book is that it is written in archaic 1st Edition D&D rules, which is not that easily adapted to 3.5. But this book is worth a translation, because it is far superior to its modern counterpart.

The rules for new races & classes (including ninja and kensai) are much better presented. The martial arts system is a munchkin's dream (It's pathetically easy for anyone to start doing 3d10 punches), but unlike it's 3e successor, its rich in flavor and easy to advance in a far more logical manner. The Wu Jen have never been done as well since this edition, and they have many great spells in the book. As an added bonus, they used a new setting for OA, instead of retrofitting everything to Rokugan, which severely crippled the 3e book.

A must have for any RPG collection.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Forgotten Realms book ever.
Review: This book is fantastic, and adds so much depth to the campaign. It has everything you need to run an Oriental Adventure, or make characters in an oriental setting. TSR has yet to duplicate in any other book the remarkebly well balanced rules of this book. For example, the Ninja in Oriental Adventures is more inetersting, better devolped, and more enjoyable to paly with only a few pages of coverage than anything in the 2nd edition complete book of Ninjas. IF you can find it, buy it, you will not regret it. The only drawbacks are that A) the book is out of print, and B) AD&D is moving to 3rd edition, and Oriental Adventures exists solely as a 1st edition book, so the rule converstaion may or may not proove difficult.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Forgotten Realms book ever.
Review: This book is fantastic, and adds so much depth to the campaign. It has everything you need to run an Oriental Adventure, or make characters in an oriental setting. TSR has yet to duplicate in any other book the remarkebly well balanced rules of this book. For example, the Ninja in Oriental Adventures is more inetersting, better devolped, and more enjoyable to paly with only a few pages of coverage than anything in the 2nd edition complete book of Ninjas. IF you can find it, buy it, you will not regret it. The only drawbacks are that A) the book is out of print, and B) AD&D is moving to 3rd edition, and Oriental Adventures exists solely as a 1st edition book, so the rule converstaion may or may not proove difficult.