Reprints - worth it?

[GAZZA]

I have an extensive collection of 4th edition stuff, including Ninja Hero, the Ultimate Martial Artist, the Ultimate Mentalist, and the Ultimate Supermage. At least the first three of those have been reprinted as 5th edition offerings.

To anyone who owns/had a part in writing/whatever both, would you recommend purchasing the 5th edition version if I already have the 4th? I realise there have been minor rule changes, but if the books are essentially just reprints I am inclined to do whatever minimal conversion work is needed myself. On the other hand if there is significantly new or different material, I'll grab the new versions.

[Lord Mhoram]

I have an extensive collection of 4th edition stuff, including Ninja Hero, the Ultimate Martial Artist, the Ultimate Mentalist, and the Ultimate Supermage. At least the first three of those have been reprinted as 5th edition offerings.

To anyone who owns/had a part in writing/whatever both, would you recommend purchasing the 5th edition version if I already have the 4th? I realise there have been minor rule changes, but if the books are essentially just reprints I am inclined to do whatever minimal conversion work is needed myself. On the other hand if there is significantly new or different material, I'll grab the new versions.

5th Ninja Hero is a must. The 4th ed version was as much UMA as sourcebook. The 5th ed book is a standard 5th ed genre book - lots of advice on running the genre, what genre schticks there are, and such things. Very strongly recommended - but this is coming from a die hard martial arts enthusiast. :)

If martial arts do play a large role in your game, the 5th ed UMA could be useful, but a fair amount of it is just the 5th ed version of the stuff.

The Ultimate Mentalist is vastly expanded, and very very useful. I thought the new version was vastly superior to the first. Good deal of more detail, and there are differences between 4th ed and 5th ed mental powers, and so the 5th ed version is very useful if you run under 5th.

The Ultimate Mystic is a completely different book than the Ultimate Supermage (and a good thing too, much better edited so author opinions about religion or philosophy don't mar the book).

The 5th ed ultimate books try to be more cross genre than the 4th ed versions, so if you play things other than Champs, their value goes up.

The only one that really comes close to being a "reprint" is UMA, but even then there is a good deal of new material - if all you want it for is the listing of martial arts packages, just convert.

[Silbeg]

I have an extensive collection of 4th edition stuff, including Ninja Hero, the Ultimate Martial Artist, the Ultimate Mentalist, and the Ultimate Supermage. At least the first three of those have been reprinted as 5th edition offerings.

UMA is pretty much a must for most games. The rules on martial arts are made far superior here.

Ultimate Mentalist has completely been redone in the 5E version, and is another excellent book. I would recommend it for any supers game.

I am not as much a fan of the Ultimate Mystic, but would heartily recommend The Mystic World to anyone looking for a supermage book.

[ghost-angel]

Here's a review of Ultimate Mentalist (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12670.phtml). It currently ranks second as my favorite Ultaimte Book (Ultimate Skill will always rank 1st.)

I'm not a huge fan of martial arts.. but Ninja Hero is more a genre book in 5E. Many on these boards will tell you Ultimate Martial Artist is a must have book - gotta say it's useful, but not in my top 10. That said, if you want martial arts, you want UMA.

Ultimate Mystic and Mystic Wolrd go best hand in hand when creating a Supermage. Ultimate Mystic alone is a good general sourcebook on running mystics in a game.

[Checkmate]

If you have UMA 4th edition, it's not worth the upgrade. Same book they may have switched a couple fictional martial arts styles around.

As far as Ultimate Mystic, eh wasn't really impressed with either version.

[Steve Long]

Same book they may have switched a couple fictional martial arts styles around.

I'll be the first to admit that 5E UMA has a lot of the same stuff as 4E UMA, but I think this statement is an exaggeration. There's plenty of new stuff in 5E UMA if you're interested in martial arts in your game, such as

--around a dozen new real-world styles (including many non-Oriental ones)
--expanded and improved rules for Advantages for Martial Maneuvers

In addition, I think the writing, organization, content, etc. throughout is improved. Generally speaking it's one of our most popular books and I don't think you'd regret buying it. ;)

[ghost-angel]

I'll be the first to admit that 5E UMA has a lot of the same stuff as 4E UMA, but I think this statement is an exaggeration. There's plenty of new stuff in 5E UMA if you're interested in martial arts in your game, such as

--around a dozen new real-world styles (including many non-Oriental ones)
--expanded and improved rules for Advantages for Martial Maneuvers

In addition, I think the writing, organization, content, etc. throughout is improved. Generally speaking it's one of our most popular books and I don't think you'd regret buying it. ;)

All this and the fact that UMA is currently the only 5E book with the Martial Manuveur Creation Rules for 5E.

[GAZZA]

Well, if fundamentally it's just new styles and a few new maneuvers, I'll stick it at the bottom of my list (I have the maneuver design rules from Ninja Hero 4th anyway, and I can't recall using them much).

[JmOz]

I'll be the first to admit that 5E UMA has a lot of the same stuff as 4E UMA, but I think this statement is an exaggeration. There's plenty of new stuff in 5E UMA if you're interested in martial arts in your game, such as

--around a dozen new real-world styles (including many non-Oriental ones)
--expanded and improved rules for Advantages for Martial Maneuvers

In addition, I think the writing, organization, content, etc. throughout is improved. Generally speaking it's one of our most popular books and I don't think you'd regret buying it. ;)

I'll agree that if you have a choice between 5th and 4th edition (Of core rules not the book itself) versions of the book go with 5th. However I do need to say that if I had owned a printed version of 4th's UMA I would have felt that the 5th edition version would not have been worth the money. However I only had a .pdf so when I bought the 5th it was well worth it

If that does not make sense read it this way

4th=good
5th=better

5th-4th=Not worth buying both...

[Checkmate]

<snip>...but I think this statement is an exaggeration. There's plenty of new stuff in 5E UMA if you're interested in martial arts in your game, such as

--around a dozen new real-world styles (including many non-Oriental ones)
--expanded and improved rules for Advantages for Martial Maneuvers

Yes, I had forgotten about the expanded rules. I don't particularly care for them, so tend to forget about them.

However, GAZZA the one piece of advice I can give you: If you only had enough money for one "book" GET HERO DESIGNER!! The program is frickin' amazing. If you already have 4th Ed. UMA, I would get Hero Designer, and go with the HD Prefab of the UMA.

[Vondy]

For me, the following reprints (though they're really new books in a lot of ways) were worthwhile:

Ultimate Martial Artist
Ninja Hero
Dark Champions

Additionally, the new Pulp Hero book is excellent as well.

[GAZZA]

Yes, I had forgotten about the expanded rules. I don't particularly care for them, so tend to forget about them.

However, GAZZA the one piece of advice I can give you: If you only had enough money for one "book" GET HERO DESIGNER!! The program is frickin' amazing. If you already have 4th Ed. UMA, I would get Hero Designer, and go with the HD Prefab of the UMA.
:)
I'm utterly uninterested in Hero Designer. Sorry.

[Kirby]

I have an extensive collection of 4th edition stuff, including Ninja Hero, the Ultimate Martial Artist....

To anyone who owns/had a part in writing/whatever both, would you recommend purchasing the 5th edition version if I already have the 4th?As someone who has almost every 4E book, I will say when the 5E Ninja Hero and Ultimate Martial Artist arrived, I was very disappointed. It was mostly reprinted material. While Ninja Hero has a great cover and almost all new art, it's pretty much the same material, along with additional emphasis on anime and video game characters, neither of which I care for. Ultimate Martial Artist also is basically a reprint, but about half of the art is reused.

Like I said, I was very disappointed with both books. They may be nice to have, but with your 4E collection, these books can be placed on the backburner until you have the extra money.