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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e) $14.95
Average Rating:4.7 / 5
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Minsc and Boo\'s Journal of Villainy (5e)
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by DnD D. /. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/20/2023 19:38:16

I reviewed this book on YouTube here.

The gist of it being that overall the book is good. But that the book really needed to flesh out the Cowled Wizards more. Them banning all arcane magic (which technically means more than just spells) actually affects artificers, bards, sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards. The fact that the book doesn't meaningfully address this is a big oversight.

In fact, they are the biggest challenge with running anything in Athkatla. So the book should have at least included them as a patron as a way to let the party operate normally.

The maps are good but their numbering is terrible and it can be difficult to find places because of it.

Suldenesselar's section has inconsistencies over who runs it (is it Irenicus or Ellesime?) and is 90% talking about Shadowfell Suldenessellar.

Ust Natha's section is too small to be much use.

The group patrons and villains are cool. But most of the monsters and many of the patron contacts are just reprinted from Heroes of Baldur's Gate (aka the art and statblocks). A lot of the art also comes from Odyssey of the Dragonlords too apparently.

Then there are the proofreading issues. This book has a lot of typos and oversights. It's really not at the level I would hope for a WotC product. In most cases its minor things but it adds up. I made a list of all the proofreading issues that other people and myself have found.

Also, it's been over a month since they released this and they haven't updated the product or even responded to a single post on the discussion section. Which makes me think they have no plans to ever update the books numerous typos and proofreading issues.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Benjamin H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/15/2022 15:52:39

Whether you are a fan of the Baldur's Gate series or not, this is a fantastic resource. For me, the sections regarding good and evil characters is the best part. Their biographies are all so interesting and unique that one can easily start to imagine building quests- or even whole campaigns- around a single memorable character.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Drew B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/03/2022 06:14:53

This book is honestly closer to a 3.5/5 than a 4 but it is what it is.

There is some interesting things in this release and they're very nice for worldbuilding and helping DM's. Some of the most amazing things come in the form of the list of purchasable magic items that finally give prices for things in a way we've never had before. Not every item is represented but it's good enough for the most part to get you started. If you're unfamiliar with previous lore of the areas presented then this will probably be good enough to use, though I've seen many reviews that dive into the conflicts this book makes in terms of previous lore.

With that said there's also a lot of typos or just strange inclusions in this book; the easiest of which is that Minsc's face tattoo is on the incorrect side, and that's just starting with the cover. For reference take a look at the cover of Boo's Astral Mengagerie in the Spelljammer box set to see the proper depiction. That's a rough start, especially for owners of the print on demand option. There's glaring inconsistencies with how the monster stat blocks are worded vs how WotC actually words official stats. For example the Ice Shroud Legendary Action of Cryonax starts as follows: "With a gesture Cryonax targets a frozen creature (see Tentacle Freeze) that is within 30 feet of him. The target is encased instantly in a hard shell of crushing ice. The target receives no saving throw..." This is incredibly strange of an ability that I can't recall ever seeing anything in an official WotC product that's worded this way.

There's no way this book was designed in house and this theory becomes evident the more you dive into the book. Looking at the credits and comparing it to a similar book there's a dozen people listed and none of them seem to come from the actual WotC team. I'm not saying that WotC can't ever use new talent, but given what we see in this book it just seems to solidify the theory that this release was outsourced.

Overall I would say they did the best they could given how tiny the team is and it doesn't even seem to have any playtesters either the book can be at best slightly confusing to at worst disappointing for the price (especially for a print on demand product). Especially so given that it doesn't seem like anyone will ever update and fix these issues.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Mark O. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/19/2022 10:45:55

I got this book (hardcover) on release, and felt it deserved a review now I've had a chance to use it.

Full disclosure, I am a big fan of the Baldur's Gate series (which this take a lot of its lore/cues from).

I think the book overall is great; I love the group patrons, the 5e versions of some classic FR monsters, the 'snapshot' cities with useful and flavourful shops

The thing I think lets it down for a BG video game fan (and why I'm docking it a star, you may feel stronger about the following and consider it a 3, or not care at all and consider it a 5) is the bizarre direction the established characters take, likely just to get them here to 5e, 100-odd years after those original games take place:

  • Vaylgar taking longevity potions, in the video game he has personal (familial) beef with magic users and magic use over life and death.
  • Kivan and Cernd being a couple where the games had zero indication Kivan was gay; his main plot revolved around revenge for his dead wife (Vaylgar was hinting to be gay, but this isn't explored here or on the games other than Cernd of all people making fun of him for it in the game dialogue!) I mean Cernd was just a huge ass in those games, I'm amazed anyone would want to marry him, let alone Kivan.
  • Sarevok in the games knows he didn't need his father/god's approval or help, just his power, and now he's just a shell of a man?

The lead on this was a part of the writing team for those games, so I think we're possibly seeing the direction he would've taken with them had he been sole-creative lead, but for most of us these characters are the game versions, and a 'where are they now?' book.

I don't want to end on a sour note, so I will just reiterate the book OVERALL is great, and if you don't really character about the characters and writing from the BG series, you'll have no complaints here, it's certainly worthy of being an 'official' 5e product.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Jose P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/18/2022 04:56:28

Great product. I love all the character stats (so many to play with) and the art in this book. Looking forward to a second journal by Minsc and Boo.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Joaquin I. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/06/2022 09:54:28

A super helpful and fun book. The way a lot of the extra text is written is very fun and the break down of the cities and patrons/groups are very helpful for new people that might now want to deep dive into a bunch of wikis just yet. All the data is useful to also plug into homebrew world with only a few changes.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by James R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/03/2022 23:17:46

I loved the book, it provides great detail and information that can be used not only on the sword coast, but to modify and use in other cities. One small issue I have, but wasn't enough to lose a star in rating- none of the character have magic items other than one here or there. You'd expect higher level NPCs to have their fair share of magic. Which is even more bothersome since the book specifically mentions NPC magic items as possible loot.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Marcello V. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/10/2021 18:38:07

Good evening. I don't want to sound like too much of a broken record here, but I have some thoughts that I would like to share about this book. I appreciate the presentation of other cities of renown in the Forgotten Realms.. but I also like that material for areas that have already have adventures/sourcebooks also are revisted here. This is great to have them consolidated in one book. I appreciate the NPCS, villians and henchmen descriptions..it is clear that the contributors put it the effort to provide well-fleshed out NPCs ....the statblock for Minsc ....a compilation of creatures, to including Pazzuzu (and The Story of Triel) were more features that convinced me that this was a great purchase! Definitely add it to your collection.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Greg O. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/21/2021 10:08:11

I've been disapointed with a number of WOC PDF (as opposed to the books) products before that were way overpriced for what they had in them but not this time. Minsc and Boo: Undermountain the Musical was a joy to read even if it really wasn't a practical D&D 5E book but this one delivers in being both amusing and a valuable game book. As a reference book for the DM it is packed with overviews of interesting and classic Forgotten Realms locations, information on several NPC organizations that can be patrons or antagonists, powerful NPCs to fight or ally with, and several monster stats and wonderful quotes from Minsc, the most famous Ranger outside of the Lord of the Rings.

Overall, well worth the price for the PDF and even worth getting POD in my humble opinion--assuming they fix the typos.

Evil around every corner...Try not to step in any. --Minsc



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by John L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/17/2021 17:14:28

An awesome book full of useful information for a DM. Great patrons, villains, updated lore for major cities (some of them gasp not on the Sword Coast). Would love to see more information and books like this.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Daniel F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/15/2021 10:39:09

Best WotC book all year and it has been a solid year, Wizards.

This has massive, extremely usable content that ties past Sword Coast Conflicts into the 1490's.

Also great Nostalgia piece all on its own!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Sean D. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/05/2021 11:02:14

This is an amazing book overall. There are a few minor typos sprinkled throughout, which is something you'd expect to have been resolved in a product this high profile. I did get the print on demand and I'm very happy with it. It's extremely high quality and each NPC and monster has full-page art associated with it and the art is all great to amazing in quality. The book at it's heart is an DM's aid for creating a campaign that can run from level 1 all the way to the higher levels. Secondarily it's also a great source for for filling in those content gaps that hit 5e after level 13 and giving higher level players something meaningful to do.

And it re-introduces some classic monsters to 5e, such as demodands, phaerimm, and Pazuzu.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Piotr H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/02/2021 03:13:23

Sooo, I bought it as soon as I found out what was in it. Was it nostalgia? Yes! Did it turn out to be an incredible source book with solid ideas that I am currently implementing in my game? Yes!!!!! I love how the patrons'/villains motives and means were constructed - short sweet and not overbearing. You want a lich? Here's Irenicus, oh and he has a vampire sis... EPIC! The material is very clear and easy to use. Everything in the book can be used as is, or like in my case, transplanted with modifications to a homebrew campaign. If there are negatives in there, I did not notice.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Cameron P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/01/2021 21:10:48

I love this so much and wish more people knew about it. The Phaeruum stat block alone makes this a worthy purchase, but the sheere amount of fun NPC and Villain stat blocks in here make it a must have for long term campaignes that want to up the stakes with a bad guy who can really pack a hell of a punch. GO FOR THE EYES, BOO!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/19/2021 16:55:56

This is one of the best 5E products I've had the pleasure to buy. Not the best - many have pointed out typos, inconsistencies, and so forth. But damn is there a lot to love about what's here. UPDATED LORE. The character biographies and the hometowns give so much new juicy Forgotten Realms lore. From a careful reading, you can tell this book's lore is set after Descent into Avernus, which means some of it might provide some cool clues for Baldur's Gate 3, like this tiefling sorcerer trying to get elected as one of the dukes. Really cool inspiring stuff all around. TONS OF HOOKS. The Group Patrons all have great perks and mechanics that can inspire a lot of sessions. Contacts, villains, henchmen, cities, there are story hooks all over this thing. GREAT CRUNCH. Tables galore! Tons of great stuff in each city and group patron. Fences, magic item shops, item crafting, and more just plain old cool stuff. MONSTERS! There's a lot of great monster statblocks in here - and in the old-school style where monsters can cast spells! Love it! - but the one that made this a must-buy for me was the phaerimm. Just great Realms specific content all around. A perfect addition to the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and Baldur's Gate hardcovers. GORGEOUS ART. Every art piece in here is to die for. I want to use the characters and monsters in this book because the art of them is so evocative, attractive, terrifying, and beautiful.

I can't wait for my print copy to arrive! A top notch indispensible product for anyone running 5E games in the Forgotten Realms in the 1490s!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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