Despite the exciting adventures, the best part of Evil Genius: Issue 1 World Domination, is the four page introduction.
Evil Genius: Issue 1 World Domination, by Lame Mage productions, is an Adventure Scenario book for the Mutants and Mastermind 2nd edition. The 35 page PDF consists of five well-crafted adventures. These are each very separate adventures that are as different from one another as killer space crystals and man-eating plants.
The best part of the book comes in the first few pages during the introduction. Here, the authors give some sound advice on crafting adventures in the Mutants and Mastermind setting, particularly mastermind games. The advice here on crafting a mastermind adventure could easily be ported and recommended for any system. Sure, there are many books that talk about the same information, but its really nice to have it here and concise enough to read in a couple of pages. The advice covers the stages to building a PC Vs. Mastermind plan adventure, inventing creative solutions for the problem and fitting in heroes despite genre restrictions.
That?s not to say the adventures are second fiddle.
Outside of the first and last adventures, which loosely relates to previous Lame Mage PDFs that feature the lead villain Dr. Null, the audience does not need to know much about previous adventures from the company. Each adventure is quite diverse, and can be crafted to fit into any genre. Most of the adventures have hints inside for tweaking it to darker or lighter campaigns.
The first adventure, High Noon, finds the dastardly Dr. Null trying to destroy the world from beyond the grave. I?ve replaced Dr. Null with many of my lead villains from my campaign. If you have a villain that recently died, this is a good adventure for you. After, we have the cornfields, about a rogue scientists trying to warn the world about his corrupt agricultural corporation. However things go crazy when the plants get out of hand. This fits in well in many a campaign, especially a gritty one with corrupt companies everywhere. Next we have The Brain-Taker, where there is a twisted not so smart scientist who takes others intelligence to become smarter, turning his victims into pretty much zombies. Luck Be A Lady was my least favorite, as it deals with a mystic assassin whom stills people?s luck. If you?re a fan of magic in your super hero worlds this is a solid adventure, but it is not my cup of tea. The last brings back our arch nemesis Dr. Null as he moves the earth?s orbit to cause a cold climate shift. I like the intelligence the authors took with this invention, using gravitational force to cause the earth to freeze and not a giant freeze ray ala circa 1980 General Hospital.
For the DM
The advice at the beginning is priceless and though I?m sure it is covered in many of expensive books, it?s nice that its summed up briefly here. The adventures themselves offer something for every type of campaign. You can use them as quick side adventures or weave them into your overall plot.
The Iron Word
Lame Mage Products Evil Genius series looks like its on the right track. World Domination offers some neat little innovations in its five excellent adventure that really aid the GM as he manages the game. You will definitely get many good sessions out of the adventures within.
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<b>LIKED</b>: - the writing in the adventures are really nice. It's loose enough where you can add your own stuff but tight enough to weave a decent story
- I'm a big fan of the action shticks that the adventures contain. Outside of the normal progress of the adventure, optional action shticks provide additional action sequences that are mechanically controlled to not draw too much time from the main plot.
- Each adventure has a seperate villian card for every bad guy in the adventure. Talk about making it easier to run the game.
- The appendix contains artwork that can be used as handouts<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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