Cool Backstory Syndrome

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by MKMcArtor

If a published campaign setting places its history chapter in the first half of the book I put it down and don't look at it again.*

* And now that I've said that I'm trying desperately to remember if the setting book I put together does this. ;D

It all depends on whether you prefer flavor text first or crunch first. I find that setting books with flavor first are better than those with crunch first, as I don't have to go searching for much of the flavor when I need it. However, system books that are tied to their setting should probably have the crunch bits first - at the very least the chargen bits.

(And then books that intersperse the crunch in the different flavor chapters are often the worst of the lot... A group of NPCs that appear on page 100 using equipment that's on pages 57 and 133? That doesn't help in the middle of play.)