Beautiful artwork and a clear direction make this work the definative guide to the realm of fantasy that has long gone unrepresented in roleplaying games.

While I am not necesarily a fan of the True20 system, it does seem simpler in some ways than that d20 system and seems to work well enough, I suppose.

What makes this book more than worth the cost is not the system however, but the setting. Romantic fantasy may seem at first "over the top cheesy" but don't be scared off by first galnce.

For too long fantasy settings have been scared to even consider some of the in depth character interaction adn development that is the mainstay of romantic fantasy. Even if you don't quite feel up to drowning yourself in the rich alternative that Blue Rose provides, recognizing what the alternatives you've been missing is vital. Just by adding /some/ of the character depth and relationship-focused story elements into your game can be an incredible change for the better.

Being hopelessly in love is only cheesy when you're a jealous spectactor. Those of you looking to find a fantasy world that deals with characters place in society and relationship to others as well as high adventure are in for a real treat with Blue Rose.

The rest of us are just as lucky to have someone show just how much a LITTLE bit of romance, relationship, or emotional focus can bring SO much more to our roleplaying.

Once you try a little, you'll wonder how you didn't notice how empty and hollow your games were without it.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Incredible setting with clear and blanced focus on character depth in ways not otherwise seen in roleplaying settings before. Real examples of how to deal with romatic relationships as well as platonic ones. PLenty of high morals in real world situations.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: True20 just isn't for me. And as much as d20 would have made it more accesibe to the general RPG populace, I understand that d20 feels too inflexible and slow, and awkward for the setting. To me, it really calls out to be done in Savage Worlds.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Having read 7 books from Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, I can safely say that Blue Rose remains very true to the romantic fantasy genre.

Some people may tout the mechanics rules while complaining about the setting, stating that the kingdom of Aldis is too whitesy-lightsy or goodie-goodie for their gaming tastes. All I can say to them is this: That's what romantic fantasy is all about.

If you don't like the idea of romantic fantasy as a gaming genre, save yourself the heartache and buy the True20 rules separately (available through RPGNow). But for those of you (myself included) who enjoyed Lackey's Valdemar, or Tanya Huff's "Sing the Four Quarters" series, check out Blue Rose. I promise you won't be disappointed.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Options for those animal-crazy gamers to PLAY an intelligent animal.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I don't care for the wealth system, but only because I like to count my coins and list my items on reams of paper. Not having to keep track of it all does streamline the shopping process.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Blue Rose is intended as a system to represent the "Romantic Fantasy" genre, which Green Ronin defines as various novels with authors such as Marion Zimmer Bradly, Tanya Huff, Dian Duane, and others, marked by strong female protagonists, often with psychic powers, and a nature-friendly outlook.

The book has a setting revolving around this style of play, and a system to support it. The system is a stripped down version of the d20 system (no d20 logo, hence they are free to provide basic chargen details.) It reduces the class set to three classes, uses a background system to add further details. The spell and magic system are skill-and-feat based. The 3-18 statistic range of classic d20 is replaced by simply a stat modifier for each stat.

The setting does not feature the standard Lord of the Rings inspired races, but a new set of races.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The system. It's a good adaptation, much truer to the ideal of a "simplified d20" than C&C.

I love both Stephanie Law's and Jennifer Meyers' artwork, and the whole book is simply beautiful.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I thik they went just a little too far in cutting corners on classes; it leaves you too little flexibility with skills as your character advances.

Other than the races, the background of the Aldis setting is pretty typical of a d20 fantasy setting. On first blush, the nations and cultures of the setting seemed a bit uncomfortably like charactures of modern social issues.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

A solid work of fantasy roleplaying. Not as controversial as some people claim. Actually usable, and enjoyable. Easily adaptable for other fantasy settings.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Free updates by the publisher! The subtle magic system. The roles and feats.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: some omissions in definitions of details. The world description is not detailed enough to go and play in-depth. The character sheet is ugly.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Probably the best take on a d20 product I have seen--almost sufficient to lure me back. A good, innovative character class/creation system with a lot of variety--and, the first viable system I have seen that lets you play a wolf/horse, etc. on a par with human characters. I won't play it, but I don't regret the purchase. The magic system was a particular gem.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: A fresh take on d20 that actually works--good combat injury system.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A tad pricey and a little too gothic.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Great system - simplified skills, and a conversion of the Mutants & Masterminds damage system, the game is overall much more simple than D20 in general. Unique spellcasting system that lets anyone cast spells - some better than others. Fighting for what the PC believes in rather than lewt is encouraged by the mechanics via Conviction points, powerful tools to do epic things, but they regain fastest when pursuing the PC's passions.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The combat system is a perfect blend of D20 mechanics and the tension of systems such as Riddle of Steel. Best of all, the system fits perfectly as a vehicle for playing in the Midnight campaign setting. 5 points in overall rating for the mechanics!<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The default setting is very much not my style. It lacked depth, frankly. But the mechanics are a thing of joy! I am knocking 2 points off the rating for the setting.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

A solid simplification of the D20 engine--three classes, solid feat based magic system. Unfortunatly lacking in actually providing substance for supporting social role-playing either acadamy type adventures (the early Lackey Heralds series), or similar social venues of play. No solid suggestions for handling pariahdom, and inclusion into society, nor for the classic "love" and complications of that form of romanctic encounters. Over all a GOOD game, just not as solid a product as it could have been if it had been more divorced from D&D's heritage (did we need pictures of weapons? Classic weapons at that? I don't think I need another "Longsword" or "Crossbow" picture in a game book for the rest of my life.) <br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The cover art was nice, the system greatly simplified. Good for play, and well done.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Most of the art isn't up to the cover's quality and fairs around classic game-book art level. The fantastic races are yet again "elf" and "orc" without more than a very unsubtle veiling and not a well honed one at that with the elf race being those with "fey" ness about them and the orc race having been servants of evil. As if we haven't seen these things before. Not enough solid support for a game loosely inspired by the novels it lists. It manages the combat, some of the "magic" but none of the feel because of the lacking for teaching gamer's more about using social elements in game play. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

The setting I can take or leave. The rules they use to establish a feel for the setting - these things I can steal. I think I've been looking for a game like Blue Rose that isn't exactly Blue Rose to run for my group. I think I can effectively make one now.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Nice artwork and flavor. Truly unique world that mixes well with the mechanics. The mechanics lean more toward narrative or dramatist, but there's still a little meat for the simulationist. (Actually a lot, if the simulationist can grok the idea of simulating the genre.)

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The rules restructuring was fantastic: Skills, Classes, HP gone!, Wealth, Magic. Finally an accessible d20-ish game that doesn't require "spreadsheeting." Far from being limited to "Romantic Fantasy," a lot of this is portable to general fantasy as well.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Not much.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

A great game of Romantic Fantasy with a more streemlined and simplified d20 system. No experience rewards, abstract wealth score, and the ability to use "conviction points" to affect the outcome of dice rolls makes this game well suited for a more storytelling RPG crowd.

Diverse human groups, intelligent animals as player characters, and a magic system more like skills than "spells per day" makes this game a refreshing change from other fantasy gaming systems.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: A more flexible and skill-like magic system which allows magic users to use magic more often. A great setting with defined good and evil. A fantasy setting where the main kingdom is good and has little to no corruption (talk about fantasy!).<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Stayed too close to its D&D and d20 roots. Use classes instead of free character creation. The combat system seems to get unstable at higher levels.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

I ran my first session of Blue Rose the other day. Not a sword was drawn and other than a little "intimidation", there was no violent conflict, but it was a very good gaming session indeed. The rules, without literally having specfic mechanics for it as presented, sort of make you design scenarios where there are alternatives to killing things.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Nice adaptation of the d20 rules, mostly excellent artwork and good overall presentation. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Not too keen on the alternative pc races (I like the 'Rhy' races though) so Elves might find their way into my campaign at the expense of the others.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

I've been looking forward to this game for a while now. The design team managed to surpass all of my expectations.

I really can't recommend Blue Rose highly enough for anyone who is looking for a game that is fast, flexible and fun or someone who wants a setting that is more inclusive and friendly for gamers who don't happen to fit the traditional mold.

After a few readings, I am anxious to run this game and enthused about seeing more content for it.

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Absolutely beautiful in terms of layout, design and style. The scan is crystal clear and lets the black and white interior artwork shine. (And shine it does, with most pieces being better than average for a game.)

Also, unlike many pdfs that were taken from print layouts of dead-tree versions of books, Blue Rose contains hyperlinks to the chapters and pages listed in table of contents. This is very handy for finding things quickly and is something I wish more companies would do regularly.

The True20 system rocks. Fast, simple, elegant and flexible, it is (in my opinion) the height of what d20 can become.

The Arcana system is wonderful and does a great job of retaining the 'flavor' of the works that inspired Blue Rose.

The setting surprised me by being darker and more conflict-rich than I was expecting. While the game has a definite slant towards what I consider civilized and mature values, the PCs are going to have to work their butts off to keep those values from being overrun by evil and ignorance. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: As with many RPGs, the authors began using setting specific terms (racial names, bits of Arcanum lore, etc.) before those terms were defined for the reader. Minor, but always annoying.

Being 'Noble' in Aldea is a job, rather than a station to which one is born. It takes them a while to explain that in the text, leading to a few confusing moments early on while reading the game.

I am ambivalent about the inclusion of a few 'D&Dish' races. Especially the Vata'Sha, who are essentially Drow.

These are all very minor quibbles with what I consider to be the best pdf I've ever invested in, though.

<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>