So, keeping up with my tradition of reviews dividing by chapter. First of all, I would just like to congratulate FFG on keeping up with the AEG tradition of releasing misleadings splatbooks. You thought this book would be all abourt court but it's actually mostly about shinobi. Anyway, let's do a play by play of chapters. Chapter 1 begins with why people built and lived in castles and goes through what is like to live in a castle for samurai. Then it expands on the Winter Court tradition, some of the castles for all the Great Clans and then we get a more in-depth description of the Crane Clan and its lands. They do have a map of the Crane lands and I can't tell if the physical book has a better printing, but the one in this PDF is incredibly blurry. 4/5 because of the blurry map.

Chapter 2: we get to the meat of this book, we ge presented to the novel Deer Clan, whose shinobi and shugenja are apparently all that exist between a stable empire and the Ruinous Powers, nope, wait, wrong setting. Anyway, that is my personal opinion of the Deer, they could have been a nice addition as another source of famous Matchmakers outside of the Crane Clan and thus having some niche role in the Empire with Clans who want to find spouses without the need to owe a favor to a Crane, but we get that and also secret ninja who make sure the right people live or die so balance can be kept. We get yet another 10 schools, being an early sign that school bloating was indeed going to become a thing halfway through this edition lifetime

• Bayushi Deathdealer: we finally get a bushi school for the Scorpion, bonus points for having the most metal name of all the classes. Its school ability is sort of on the weaker side of the spectrum, but if you have the opportunity (pun intended) to find out someone's advantage or disadvantage, it might eventually pay off. Neutral school.
• Daidoji Spymaster: it's the kind of school that I find hard to justify, I mean, you are basically playing M instead of 007 and I am sure that there will be people who will find this interesting, but this could have been a title instead of a full fledged school. Its school ability is also on the weaker side. Weak school.
• Doji Bureaucrat gets double prize of unnecessary school for being yet a second school for the same clan on a splat book and for being yet another Doji Courtier school when we already have one in the CRB. Its school ability is actually quite strong (and even possibly broken just before or during a duel) but it kind of feels like the evil twin for the Doji Diplomat. Strong school anyway, even if somewhat redundant.
• Ikoma Shadow School: it had the potential to be a great school and kind of is if your campaign was able to reach rank 5 and you finally got your hands on Silent Elimination (which is a rank 3 technique that you can only get at rank 5 anyway) and it has one of the weakest school abilities of this book. Weak school.
• Mercenary Ninja is a school not associated with any clan and supposed to be taken by characters whose background is a ronin or a heimin. It gets access to all Ninjutsu permanently with the trade off of not having free access to shuji except the ones in its curriculum. Nothing that a good title can't solve. Its school ability is not that good but not that bad either. Good school.
• Shiba Artist: yay, the Shiba get an artisan school. The problem? Their school ability has the prize of being the worst of the book and that's saying a lot. They could have followed with the previous Shadowlands book and introduced yet some new patterns (even patterns for stuff that is not armors or weapons) but they chose not to and the Shiba Artist is only good enough to reenact the Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore scene of Ghost. Weak school.
• Shika Matchmaker: remember what I said above about the Deer? Here it is. It's does have a somewhat powerful school ability for the Ritual that they start with, the problem being, it only works with this Ritual. Neutral school.
• Shika Speardancer is actually a really strong school with a strong school ability. They kind of get on my nerves because of how the Deer get handled in the book but I have to admit this school is solid. Good school.
• Togashi Chronicler is keeping the tradition of schools that really shouldn't be here but we need one from every single Great Clan and this was they best they came up with. I find the school reasoning sort of weak and their school ability is kind of hard to pin down how good it is considering how very few kiho we have at the moment. I will put as a weak school because of that.
• Yasuki Yojimbo this I had previously put as a good school but people who tested it said it doesn't work too well because of the dice mechanics. Weak school.

We get some more advantages and disadvantages, a new heritage table oriented for the Crane, some new weapons and armors for shinobi. Remember when I said this book was a stealth book about ninja instead of courtiers? We get 9 brand new ninjutsu and 10 shuji. Considering how ninjutsu are extremely hard to be accessed, it kind of feels like overkill that many, but hey, that explains why we got the Mercenary Ninja. On the one hand, this book didn't have a Unicorn school, so it's going in the right direction of avoiding school bloat, but then it just adds 2 schools for the Crane (and 2 extremely redundant ones, at that) 1/5.

Chapter 3 provides a way of setting up your own winter court or normal court games involving the players as well as tips on how to keep the shinobi character(s) involved with the rest of the party. We get 9 new titles, most of them extremely overpriced. We even get a title (Covert Agent) that pretty much functions as the excuse to have "enemy clan" characters working together if the need arises. We get yet another table for opportunities to be spent in courtly scenes. We get a new mechanic called Bonds. They are nice if you invest the XP on them, the problem is, any XP invested in them does not advance school rank (not even by half) this is something that I would personally house rule anyway. Unfortunately, this book, while being Crane centered, does not have a template for Crane Clan NPCs nor new demeanors. 1/5

I found this book to be a solid contiunation of the world of Midnight. It is missing some things in the 2nd Core of Midnight But I can see them easaly added into posiably sub-book.

Antes de nada, decir que probablemente mi problema con esta edición eran las expectativas. Por eso divido la review en dos partes:

• Si nunca has jugado a la 2ª edición de midnight en DnD 3.5: este es el mejor escenario de campaña que existe (para mi, obviamente). La ambientación es fantástica, novedosa e interesante, el mundo es inmersivo y las aventuras pueden tener mucha profunidad.
• Si vienes esperando una actualización en la antigua edición a 5e: el manual es decepcionante. Toda la ambientación sigue ahí, con algunos textos idénticos y algunas pequeñas variaciones. La historia no ha avanzado, y Eredane sigue como la dejamos. Aceptable. El problema viene con la conversión de las normas. Apenas hay nada propio, nada de esas normas propias que tenia el escenario y que permitían que se sintiera como algo más propio y diferente a DnD tradicional. Aquí las conversiones con 5e básico son las mínimas, y sinceramente, parece que ha imperado la ley del mínimo esfuerzo.
• No hay razas mezcladas: ni enorcos, ni elfianos, ni ninguna de las otras. Las razas han sido modificadas y hay subrazas (dornitas, ereños, etc.).
• Las clases son las mismas de DnD5e básicas: ni explorador sin conjuros, ni defensor, ni canalizador. Ahora hay paladines y pueden hacer magia sin ser detectados, igual que los exploradores. El resto de lanzadores de conjuros (bardos, magos, hechiceros...) funcionan igual que 5e básico. No hay brujos, ni clérigos ni monjes (como era habitual en 3.5, salvo que se introducía el Defensor para compensar).
• Las sendas heroicas se han reducido a dotes de las cuales te regalan la primera a nivel 1 pero luego tienes que usar los puntos de dotes habituales para mejorarlas. Las sendas heroicas que servían para compensar la falta de objetos mágicos regulares, y la aplastante superioridad de la Sombra, ahora son muy inferiores y debes invertir en ellas. También hay muchas menos. Cosas como el canalizador o el defensor ahora estan como sendas.
• No hay armas del pacto, ni talismanes. Se les menciona, pero no aparecen en ninguna parte. Quizás las guardan para suplementos, pero en el antiguo libro básico aparecían.
• Las armas propias del escenario (los cuchillos de combate Erunsil, por ejemplo) no tienen particularidades, sencillamente pone al final "trátalos como dagas", y tan anchos.
• Sigue habiendo fichas de npcs, conjuros nuevos, dotes nuevas, descripciones de nexos, y descripciones de todas las regiones con sus tramas (algunas reutilizadas). Esta parte está bastante bien.

Resumen: Es una versión muy inferior al escenario de campaña de 3.5. No han innovado nada en el apartado de normas y se han regido por la ley del mínimo esfuerzo. La edición es preciosa y llena de ilustraciones. El libro se nota de buena calidad.

I have a very special attachment to the Midnight setting. Except for some editorial choices, which you can like or not, the book is faithful to the original editions. The descriptions are very correct and this is a big book that depicts this desolated world with a lot of details and pretty fine artwork.

Unfortunately, I cannot play the game with the ruleset as given, as the work here to adapt to 5e cannot compete with the care that was invested into the latest editions with 3e D&D. As written, these rules does not manage to serve the specific feel of the setting and the uniqueness of light bearers. This is too bad : A few optionnal and costly feats cannot emulate the greatness of the heroic paths.

The book can be a base to work your own game upon, but system-wise you will have : to houserule the heroic path feats allocation, to create the half-races that are missing (all of them), to pehaps balance some of the new races that are proposed, to find the class archetypes elsewhere to emulate the feel of the game and some missing classes (as the defender), to create your rules to make spellcasting feel more dangerous and different, to make Midnight-specific weapons not just new names for the basic weapons from the 5e player handbook, etc. etc. I you do not do some of that, your Midnight characters can be not so much different than any other forgotten realms adventurers. Then it might constantly cost a lot of energy to keep the mood and themes of this setting on track.

This book is a wonderful experience at shyly giving 5e a Midnight flavour, but it's not Midnight boldly twisting 5e to its own whims and desperate reality. Too shy, too lazy or with no passion for the ruleset? By the end, the product is not a complete failure for sure but it's disapointing. At least because I love the Midnight setting and 5e so much and I think that the synergy can be great.

If you’re looking to run a Supers Game using the Genesys System, this is by far the superior product to do that with. While there are some things that could be added to not rely on the one shtick (Z-Gene) it’s opened ended enough to modify the setting to suit your needs. Further powers are promised, but the system is good enough to cover most powers your players might use and new powers can easily be added with the groundwork already set. It was a bold move to ignore the Magic System which seemed ripe for a Supers Game, but the use of talents is effective. Definitely a must buy.

I love this product.

I love Midnight in general, when I first read the 3rd edition books I felt like I'd discovered one of the greatest settings ever and many ways that feeling is still with me. Legacy of Darkness is not the same book as those I read all those years ago but it does what its designed to do. It gives you a beautifully detailed world at the very edge of ruin, one your players will struggle agianst and, hopefully, take the lead in saving. With fantasticly immersive art and new mechanics designed to give characters a boost in a world where they'll need any they can get, I can't recomend this high enough to someone who wants to expand their collection or try a new setting entirely.

A book doesn't need 72 new subclasses or a dozen new races to be worth the price, what it needs is a story worth reading and this has it.

Well, I must admit I expected and wanted more out of this product. I don't mind too much the lore changes; but I do the following issues: -Poor proofreading of the product (in just a quick glange I found lot of typos, reference to 3.5 rules (the outsider creature type) and even reference to setting elements who were not ported to this version) -While I do think that the 3.5 version and really TOO MUCH specific rules, this has too FEW. You just can't have the feeling of Midnight with standard 5e rules. No changes to the rest mechanics, no new subclasses, just a few backgrounds and feats. Heroic Paths are not even that great considering they just are feat trees and some are way too powerful (I'm looking at you, Channeler), or way too weak. I did not want ALL the rules from the previous edition, but at least the could have bothered to convert Charms (since they mentioned many times in the book), maybe create a fighter subclass for the old Defender class or a spell-less ranger variant, some new feats for the midnight specific weapons and some more.

While I'm disappointed by this, the artwork is great, but i can't go over 3 stars. I just hope that Edge plans to release a supplement to fix the rules lacking from this one.

1. Me ha gustado muchísimo, soy fan de Dark Sun y esperaba una ambientación de este estilo, oscura y opresiva, con un tinte post apocalíptico para D&D5.
2. La ambientación es muy completa, tienes toda la información del continente de Eredane y la historía del mundo para montar una campaña.
3. Lo que echo en falta es una aventura introductoría, ya que cómo el tono de las partidas van a diferir mucho de las clásicas partidas de mazmorreo, hubiese estado bien algo de lo que partir a modo de ejemplo. Es que desde los niveles más bajos los pjs son gente destinada a combatir al mal supremo y da la sensación que te predispone a una campaña larga con tramas enrevesadas de conspiración e intriga. Aún así, este punto queda salvado por la increible cantidad de páginas dedicadas a desmenuzar la politica e historia, así cómo el modo de vida, región por región, sin olvidar por supuesto, a todos los malotes que controlan el mundo, en esto es muy extenso.
4. No le pongo la máxima nota porque en cuanto a clases de pj se queda bastante corto. Los clérigos y los monjes no son una opción directamente debido al trasfondo de midnight, por lo que hubiese estado bien que el resto de clases tuviesen arquetipos propios de este mundo apocalíptico dónde el mal ha triunfado y la magia está proscrita. Me da a mi que eso vendrá en suplementos posteriores, por lo menos en el libro principal podrían haber metido alguna cosa...eso no mola.

This is one of the laziest conversion I have seen:

• The lore and background are pretty light in comparison to the original core book.
• All the half breed races are missing
• Barely any heroic path and they give gift only every 4 levels instead of every level
• None of the new classes (prestige and core) are here
• The alternate casting method is not here either. Midnight is a great setting, because it also supported by very flavorful gameplay mechanics, basically none of that is here.

Midnight is a dark setting but the dark side is so heavy that sometimes it's a bit hard to believe. Everything is dark, nobody is happy, everybody is starving in a gloomy land, being an elf or a dwarf means you'll be killed on sight ... I guess I was waiting for something maybe more subtle, with an evil that could seduce people to make them believe that Izrador is the right way (like in the video game Tyranny) but here Izrador is just an invincible force of evil that tortures, uses and oppresses people. That would make me think if I was in this world "no food, no hope, no other gods ? why bother living ? "
The rules also are very light and it's a big problem. We're supposed to create characters that can fight the Shadow but without noticeable armor or weapons (they are forbidden) and without flashy magic. The rules won't help : no subclasses that would provide "unarmored defense", brawling skills (you have to pay a feat for this), discreet magic or some capacities that can help to fight back, ... Or maybe the intention was to play only in wilderness where you will have to hit-and-run all your life ? no urban adventures, hidden among the population ? Also some feats are a bit weird like "You have advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks to grapple a creature who cannot see you" which is already the case in the basic rules ... The rest is good, the book is well-written, the images are inspiring, the forces of shadow are ennemies your players will hate with a passion, breaking a black mirror is already an awesome quest plot ... hence the 3/5

Well done for 5e. Look forward to more material and classes. I intend to run in concert with LevelUps Advanced 5e.
I would recommend to the publisher to execute on a campaign for your next product offering in the Midnight line. It could be broken into parts so that players can get into the world and adventuring sooner rather than later.

Disclaimer: I playtested this material.

This is the best of the pack for Genesys supers. The way evertything fits together is well-considered and there was a lot of work put into making sure everything fits the right tones and doesn't overcomplicate superheroes.

The addition of the Psychic skill and Mind spell is very valuable, especially when creating "evil sorcerer" characters! Excellent value for money, even if the other spells have somewhat more limited applications.

Very simply the best supplement on the Foundry. Incredibly thorough, it thoroughly expands on every single skill in the Core Rulebook in great detail. It has multiple symbol results tables for each skill, a bevy of interesting new rules, and helpful guidance on selecting skills for your setting. Particularly interesting are some great rules to clarify and make use of Knowledge skills, which are so often ambiguous. It also has wonderful presentation and production values - it would benefit from a round of proofreading to help with translation errors in grammar, but that's extremely minor. If that were fixed, this would deserve to be bound and sold in a store as an official Genesys product.

I would rate this second only to the Core Rulebook for anyone interested in playing Genesys. It's that good.

A tidy little supplement. I know it was the first BOOST, so I'm not suprised that it's the smallest. An archetype, some talents, a few weapons, and a couple of adversaries. I really enjoy the narrative and mechanics around the lobster mutants. I think the talents are a little messy - a Tier 2 that gives automatic Triumphs on a huge number of skills seems wildly overpowered, even with the built in trade-off. It seems oddly min-maxy for Genesys.

This strikes me as more of a proof-of-concept for BOOST than anything else. The later BOOSTs are all an improvement in both quantity and quality.