The Big Birthday Haul of 2016 - Part Two

I took a small break from this unboxing to give a thorough read-through of the three books I got.  As I read them, I realized a way that Dragons of Eberron and Secrets of Xen'drik can be combined to do a sort of epic mega-campaign.  Wait, I forgot, I never mentioned that I also had Secrets of Xen'drik, did I.  I guess I jumped the gun at the excitement I had that there was symbiosis between two of my books.  So, where did I leave off...

Oh yeah...

My second package was in a manila envelope that came alongside the cardboard box.  I actually thought that this envelope was going to contain one of the Swashbuckling Adventures books, seeing as they are soft cover and all.  In truth, I had no reason to think that, I received hard covers in such packaging before.  I did rip off a corner of the opening flap, which was the only part of it free from tape.  Not wanting another struggle, I turned to a small pocket knife to carefully assist in the opening process.

Out of the packaging slid Secrets of Xen'drik.  Quick blogger bio, Xen'drik was one of the things about Eberron that sold me on the setting.  It's exotic and alien, something fresh for D&D and fantasy settings as a whole.  I was a little let down on the dearth of information on the continent, and how the book leaned more on crunch on a passing glance.  C'set la d20, that is all I can say.  I sped-read the entire book, cover to cover, before even thinking of writing the unboxing blogs.

I know this post is a lot shorter than the previous one, seeing as how this was one book in a package that required very little back story.  So far, this birthday haul has been a good one.  I still have two more books floating around in the mail system, which will be subjects to parts 3 and 4 respectively.  I also received more gift cards for my birthday, and more than likely will receive more for Christmas.  Therefore, there shall be many more unboxings, and many reviews of these fine products coming in the near future.  Some of these have even made me think about crunch in OSR products, which will also be blogged about in the future, like THAC0.

 The haul so far...

The Big Birthday Haul of 2016 - Part One

My  birthday was this month!  For my birthday, I usually don't ask for much from my parents.  I normally don't ask for much, and what I do ask for is easier to find online; and they don't do much online shopping.  My mother-in-law had to teach my mom so she could get the my grooms attendants (and my wife's one male bridal attendant, I had a female groom attendant as well, for balance) their gifts.  So, because of that, I usually ask for Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift-cards.  I had $100.00 in Amazon cards, so I decided to have a big RPG blowout!  Multiple books were ordered, and today three came in at the same time.  Also, seeing how I am iced in on a mountain and unable to attend Parade of Spirits in Philadelphia, what better thing to do than do a birthday unboxing.

The two packages.  Address not shown for anti-stalker purposes

My first reaction is probably the same reaction that you have seeing that picture.  Two packages, two books.  My parents, whom I am staying with until the house I am renting is finished up, certainly thought so to.  I brought the books up to my old room and proceeded to open them.

The tiny image to the left, placed off center and ensmalled (opposite of embiggen) to hide my shame, was the shredding of the box that greeted me on this adventure.  Let me go on a tangent here, if I may.  I understand that packaging needs to be secure.  Selling stuff to make rent because of a shitty job in Florida has taught me everything I needed to know about packaging.  But then there comes certain glues that can glue two unstoppable forces together.  Forget about the "spear-shield" paradox, this glue can end that.  This box was indestructible!

Okay, that was hyperbole, I'll admit.  But that glue really did give me a hell of a fight for a minute there.

This picture, also pushed to the side (because of my shameful cell phone photography skills, I mean, what the hell), displayed my sudden realization that I got two books in one box.  No wonder it needed a Strength score higher than an 8 to open.  The book on top is Swashbuckling Adventures: Islands of Gold - The Midnight Archipelago.  It's interesting that I get the supplement book before the main one.  Anyway, I will post more about it when I get the main book.  My initial review?  I like it.  I am a fan of pirate related things, and this book is all pirate (and a bit of Doctor Moreau in my favorite adventure in the book).

The second book is Dragons of Eberron.  Okay, this I have a pdf of, but I am a bibliophile damn it!  This book I really do like.  It showcases Argonessen, one of the mysterious continents of the Eberron setting, as well as giving ways to effectively place dragons within other parts of Eberron as a whole.  Also, being a culture fan, having a detailed culture of the Seren and for dragons made it an awesome purchase!

Over all, my satisfaction with this first part was pretty high.  I have always bee interested in 7th Sea, but couldn't find anyone willing to play outside of d20 rules.  This makes it possible to play the setting, as well as be an intro to possibly expanding into the more setting-compatible rules.  Being an Eberron fanboy, to get new Eberron related books was a nice touch as well.

Now let's see what's in the second package... *rips a small part of the package, making it more difficult to open*

To be continued in Part 2!!!