As I've now bought all of the Mirror Universe sets, I'm reviewing 3, 4, and 5 together here. 1 and 2 I reviewed recently and 6 I will review later.

3, 4 and 5 continue the line at its basic strengths, nice looking, cartoon-style superhero cut-out art cards. The good/bad alternates for each are as inspired as the first two volumes, though there is now greater variety I would say. The overall vibe is still very much a silver-age/bronze-age one which is fine for me but maybe not perfect for anyone hoping for more dark and gritty heroes/villains.

Ultimately these are a fine tool for use with any superhero campaign, especially as either quick heroes and villain inspiration, or simply as visual tools. Oh, and check the Inspired Device homepage for previews and freebies if you're undecided, or if you fancy a horde of faceless footsoldiers, heh.

The second MU set I've purchased, but the first sequentially. Happy to say that everything I liked about volume 2 seems to stand for volume 1 also. The same style of art and iconic heroes/villains holds up, though I do think the characters from volume 2 were slightly more interesting visually.

The stand-up cards are fine, just as before, and overall I think the product is very good. I do think a nice addition might be A4-size images of each character added into the .pdf, while I know this would increase the size of the files considerably, it'd also be very nice for players and GMs during the games.

As before, my only real issue is that I think these are slightly overpriced, which while it might account for the work gone into them, also prevents me from immediately buying another set... So I'm not sure if a slight price drop might not be viable if these are proving popular enough...

I was sold from the first by the Justice League Unlimited style artwork of the British tank-looking guy (Bulletproof, as I now know) on the cover. The idea is a great one, and I imagine will be a real help to many players who have inspirational problems with silver age style heroes or just plain can't draw!

It's exactly what it says, a collection of stand-up character cards in colour and b&w for play, as well as some background ideas for each of them as both a hero or villain. As a note, these are brief, but in-fitting accounts, and they aren't just good/evil versions of the same character, they do present entirely different origins for the most part, so even if you use one as a hero the GM can likely use the villain options too! Nice touch.

My only complaint, such as it is, is that £2.45 is ever so slightly steep. I'm sure in USD it works out to some tidier amount, but had these been £2 apiece I would likely have bought the whole set immediately. Still, it's hardly overpriced, and if you're looking to do a superhero game and are worried your players are going to pitch a half dozen loathsome batman/punisher clones to you, grab a few of these heroes to show them the light.

It's packed to the gills with characters... Lots of them. Pity the entries are so small.

Also, dwarven women have beards again! Scary stuff.

Anyhow, it runs through dozens of characters of varying level, giving stats and a (very) brief description. It's alright, but not more than you could probably do on the fly.

The main appeal is the last set of entries dealing with the early 'iconic' heroes and villains, including the legendary Warduke! For that alone I think £3 is a fair price.

Here's where it all begin! The classic boxed set, the cover that drew me into D&D... The setting that has become an institution for gamers and writers.

It stands up well today. It's a pretty good .pdf scan, and the material itself is everything it ought to be. Reading through it so many years on I can see where the biggest changes have been made, and have to admit I dig this original version more than any other, but that's probably the nostalgia talking.

Regardless, this first complete look through Faerun is enjoyable, the writing pleasant and the overall presentation strong.

Very much a 'does what it says on the tin' kinda book. The companion expands on the 1-page game rules, and provides a solid resource for all the 1PG line. Consistent rules that aren't really affected by the changes in genre are what I hoped for, and what I got.

Vehicles (and some rules to make them more practical) are included, so you've got tanks, planes, jeeps and even Godzilla! stat'd out right here for use.

Character longevity and long-term campaigns are discussed too, which is appreciated by those of us (me!) who don't only want to do the action movie one-off style of game.

All in all, if you're a 1PG player, this is great, not too heavy stuff but certainly useful.

A little too late in 3rd Edition D&D's life? Not really...

While this would have had far more impact a year ago, Monte Cook seems to have a strong following and undoubtedly the 3.5 die-hards will be interested in what he has to say here.

Options, options, options... The book is jam-packed. Some are better than others, not all will suit every game style. But by the sheer wealth of ideas, many of which have gone pretty much untouched in WotC's official books, it's clear that Cook has a damned good handle on the system, and the many ways to use it.

I won't go point-by-point through the many options here. But the familiars and healing options are excellent, and stood out as something I'd likely use. As it is, this book gets a high rating, and is well worth the £5 asking price.

I've bought, played and reviewed a few 1PG games now. WotW is the first I'm willing to give top marks to.

While I admit to purchasing it through curiosity alone, I was surprised to find it a well-conceived and unique game. Thankfully based on the original book with not a hint of the meaningless film evident, it is designed to have the player characters fight to survive during the terrible slaughter of humanity under the Martian's short-lived rule of England.

The scenarios fit well into a 6-part mini-series format that the GM and players can likely play through with satisfaction, and while the setting and system are as deadly as 1PG tends to be this is hardly a negative in my eyes.

For loyalty to the source, and creating some solid stories of survival in the unique setting of The War of the Worlds, I can only give this wonderful little book five stars.

Tackling the broad range of mecha, military and cyberpunky anime, A-OK uses the simple and rules-light 1PG ruleset.

For the most part it succeeds, though as with Hero Force I find it a little too bloodthirsty for the player characters lives! Nothing you can't rule away, but an issue that could have done with more guidance.

Otherwise, the game is sound. The six featured scenarios are varied and solid. With a cops 'n' cyborg cyberpunk one, a Dune meets Romeo & Juliet with duelling mecha, and a Gundam-style space warfare one standing out as being fun plays.

I am not a fan of the cover art, especially since it is cut and repeated in the book, but overall the presentation is acceptable.

Overall it's a good showing, covering the bases well and with only a few weaknesses. At the price, hardly an issue I feel.

As a long-time fan of the original HKAT, I've been after a good Hong Kong gun-play game for a while.

Now, while Full Clip fits the bill and serves well I should add that it is only focussed on heroic bloodshed/gun-play scenarios. There's nothing here for kung-fu, weird fantasy or other HK genre, though it likely wouldn't be too hard to develop these.

The 1PG system is very simple, but I'd say requires a competent GM to really run. It can be deadly, but this isn't a bad thing really, as the movies it replicates are oft' deadly too.

So overall, it looks nice, with solid presentation and style. If you're familiar with 1PG or just rules-light games in general, this might work well for you.

My original encounter with the 1PG system was Hero Force, which I accused of being needlessly deadly and unsuited to the supers genre. I stand by that, but admit that it fits Broadsword a hell of a lot better.

Heroes are the right type of bad asses you'd expect in any cheesy barbarian flick, and while magic leaves a little to be desired, any worthwhile GM will manage just fine with spells as needed.

Despite the genre focus and the simple rules, it isn't hard to create relatively unique characters, as a reasonable range of special abilities (wild animals as pets, danger sense, etc) give everyone something special.

The scenarios are actually the weakest element of this book, being all a little low-key and limited... Not as epic as I would have done them.

Overall, the product fits the bill well. A few slim sections, but what can you expect of a rules set so small? The cover art isn't to my taste, but the rest of presentation is perfectly suitable.

I bought this simply to see the final entries into the WotC contest, and for that alone this is an intriguing lunchtime read. A lot of the settings are too generic, or too out there to really work as 'core' so you can see why Eberron won out against them, but there's some gem ideas in there, and for home campaigns I believe there's much to be nabbed here.

Overall, given the spectacular price of nothing whatsoever, I can't really fault this one.

As I finally gave in to look at the Burning Sky stuff, I wisely picked the freebie books first. The campaign guide and players handbook serve to introduce the DM and the players to the campaign world and involve them in events.

Visually the books are entirely serviceable if not pretty. That's fine. Everything is clearly written, the map is helpful, the layout isn't bad. In fact, while it might be accused of being simplistic, I prefer it.

The setting is... Fine, I guess. I think it suffers from the lack of artwork here as it's much easier to bring out cities, landscapes and races with art than writing, but it seems well enough done. I imagine it'll open up a lot once the campaign proper gets rolling, but it is far from the worst I've read and that's for sure.

The player's guide comes with an extra class, the commander, who is there to support the concept of the clashing armies and pivotal role PC focus that the campaign promises, and there's the now commonplace addition of free feats for those tied to the setting, some spells, so forth.

Overall it seems solid. If you want to run a big campaign from 1-20, it's here at less than the price of the Pathfinder subscriptions. They also offer instructions on playing just the low-end game, just the higher level/epic one, advising you where to start and how to go on. Many side quests and subplots are also discussed.

As I finally gave in to look at the Burning Sky stuff, I wisely picked the freebie books first. The campaign guide and players handbook serve to introduce the DM and the players to the campaign world and involve them in events.

Visually the books are entirely serviceable if not pretty. That's fine. Everything is clearly written, the map is helpful, the layout isn't bad. In fact, while it might be accused of being simplistic, I prefer it.

The setting is... Fine, I guess. I think it suffers from the lack of artwork here as it's much easier to bring out cities, landscapes and races with art than writing, but it seems well enough done. I imagine it'll open up a lot once the campaign proper gets rolling, but it is far from the worst I've read and that's for sure.

The player's guide comes with an extra class, the commander, who is there to support the concept of the clashing armies and pivotal role PC focus that the campaign promises, and there's the now commonplace addition of free feats for those tied to the setting, some spells, so forth.

Overall it seems solid. If you want to run a big campaign from 1-20, it's here at less than the price of the Pathfinder subscriptions. They also offer instructions on playing just the low-end game, just the higher level/epic one, advising you where to start and how to go on. Many side quests and subplots are also discussed.

In my review of Hero Force I accuse it (rightly to my mind) of not fulfilling its potential and of being written as a second stringer product. In some ways the GSSS goes toward alleviating that. it answers a few rules queries, it adds a lot of in-genre options and seems to help the game. Not enough... Sadly. Not to pull it out of the mentality HF seems to be written under, where heroes are disposable and their actions pretty meaningless in all but a little gratification for the players. But anyway, the GSSS is a good product that helps a lot. For the meager pennies involved here, if you bought HF and saw any promise, try this.