The second edition version of Legends & Lore is inferior to the first edition version in every conceivable way. Here we have a book about GODS, the entities that embody human impulses and desires taken to an unimaginable degree and it manages to be completely unsexy. Seriously. Zzzzz.

Where do I start? I guess with the art. There isn’t enough of it, and what’s there is mostly bland. A couple full color illustrations look like they are rejected covers for romance novels. Instead of illustrations of the gods accompanying their profiles, we have little icons that sort of convey their respective portfolios. Aside of the painting of the Lord of the Hunt, the best art in the book is actually the reprints of the cover art to both the 1E versions of the book.

Despite having fifty more pages than the earlier editions, there’s actually fewer pantheons here – weird and interesting ones like Sumerian, Babylonian, Finnish and the monster mythologies were dropped. They used the extra space to detail temples for each pantheon and modes of worship, which sure, but ugh.

I was so very angry when I bought this book as a kid and I didn’t really get over it until Planescape’s On Hallowed Ground came out.