I purchased all three of these McGuffin Guides. I did not think that they were that great. Someone might disagree. I was particularly dissappointed with the lack of variety of space craft provided and the complete lack of space craft in the supplements.

probably 2 1/2 out of five stars.

ArcheTech is an amazing well-written sourcebook that gives anyone, be they GM or player, ideas for both battlesuit heroes and villains. The level of detail in explaining battlesuits in a realistic manner shows that the author did his homework. The author distinguishes armor between powered armor and exoskeletons, and even gives detailed examples of those two. A great deal of work was put into making this book. While I did find the book too short, I will admit that the book does its job very well. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to make a superhero game that is both fantastic and realistic at the same time.

This product is excellent value for money. It gave me many pauses for thought, and made me laugh out loud too. It is system neutral, despite being intended for M&M, as there are no game stats to worry about converting. A word of warning though! The majority of this article reads like a scientific paper and may be a little too much for those with little interest in, or knowledge of, the sciences. However, I would also say that the less science oriented parts of the article are worth reading. The author has certainly done his research. Overall, this product gave me a few good RPG ideas, and also made me think a lot about quite a few comicbook romances, and how they could have turned out...! :-) There are some good ideas for character complications/ drawbacks/ disadvantages; and also some intresting plot ideas too.

I enjoyed reading the reviews of "I Am Legend" and "Lascaux." The very brief "Lamplighter's Guild" writeup on p. 3 offers some good potential for a fantasy campaign. Otherwise, I didn't find much here of interest. (Your interests may vary.) The reviews of "A Night in the Lonesome October" and "The Big Time" were really too short to be very informative. But hey, it's free, and it's basically a company blog in PDF format. No point in complaining about it.

Honestly, I would give it a 4.5 instead, but all and all, the artwork is very good. My only concern is that I don't see why the author grown the download size with the b/w images, because they could be easily created from the colored ones. Except this very little "whining" from me, this package worthed my money.

The Journal of Franklin Von Mookenstein is overall a really good product. The write-ups are quite useful. If I have any complaint, it???s that I wish the product would???ve contained a few more original creations. As it stands, the book is primarily made of undead creatures from the D&D 3.5 Monster Manual. While this is great and quite useful it would???ve been nice to see some new monsters. In addition, perhaps statting up some iconic horror creatures, such as Frankenstein???s monster would???ve been cool. Still this book is quite useful if you plan on including horror elements in your game.

Also I was reading the introduction and I kept thinking of Mookenstein as a pastiche of Ravenloft???s Van Reichten who in turn was a pastiche of Van Helsing. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Great write-ups and monster customization rules.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I would have liked to seen a few more non-undead, non-Monster Manual creatures.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

One of the best I have ever seen. Keep up the good work. I'd like to see more supplements. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Ease of starship creation. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Keep up the good work. How about a few more supplements! More capital ships for instance. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

This is a decent set of characters you can throw into your game. I like the computer art for the pictures of the people. Very nice.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The layout for each character, the computer pics<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Enemies A to Z: Ectoplasmic Man 2.0 presents a villain ? and only a villain, there is no redemption for this character ? for M&M (2nd edition) in several power levels.

The Ectoplasmic Man is a former multiple murderer in the classic psychotic loner mode. He came from an abusive and broken home and after several prison sentences, he was again convicted on multiple murder counts and killed by lethal injection. Then, with no reason given, he returned as an evil spirit-being, capable of possessing people. The Ectoplasmic Man uses his new abilities to commit even more brutal crimes of the sort he did while he was alive.

The writeup of the Ectoplasmic Man (written up at PL 15, 12 and 10) is a very tightly constructed possessor with a set of powers to make his ?host? more dangerous. As an ectoplasmic being, he is very nearly un-killable and difficult to confine and with his ability to jump from body to body, the Ectoplasmic Man is a very dangerous foe.

Unfortunately, as a rather standard ?psycho-killer? he will kill people and do terrible things. While this is perfect for a horror game, it does not fit into many of the standard comic genres and would make the Ectoplasmic Man impossible to use in some sorts of super-heroic campaigns. However, some good plot hooks are included for games that can use him along with his standard tactics.

A solidly built character if a bit stereotypical in background (which is not really out of genre for the comics) but not usable as written in all campaigns.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Good character design.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Not a perfect fit for the super-heroic genre.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

This could be subtitlted "Metahuman Sex Ed 101", being a fairly comprehensive essay on how human reproduction and birth would be affected by superpowers. If you're familiar with the famous essay "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex", then this covers the same ground but for all major superpower types. Strictly speaking this ought to have some sort of "parental guidance" warning as the sex act is graphically described, but this is tastefully done so in clinical terms. The essay is 12 pages long a and is a well written, entertaining read that throws up a few interesting ideas. It's followed by a single page of game information (in the form of suggested Drawbacks & Complications and three plot seeds) and the one-page OGL.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The writer does a great job of emulating the style of a scientific article, and the section on Mystics had me laughing out loud.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Nothing really. I would have liked a little more game information, maybe a few more plot seeds, but the main text does a good enough job of stimulating ideas.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

The new illustration is better than the first edition as is the layout.

If you need a fema-nazi, she's your girl. And, she's easy to hate, too.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Darkling (2nd edition) is a new super-villain to use in a Mutant & Masterminds campaign. The Darkling is a being of immense power from an alternate version of Earth. The ?Shadow Hell? is a bleak radiation twisted place of darkness and evil. Once just one of the petty aristocrat/tyrants of the Shadow Hell, the man who became the Darkling consumed a powerful dark artefact and became a being of living shadow who feeds on fear and terror.

Normally, such things happening on an alternate dimension would not matter to the people of Earth, but the Darkling can visit our dimension and he does so for two reasons: 1) to kidnap children, as feeding on the fear of innocents increases his power. And 2) to steal magical artefacts to increase his power in the Shadow Hell. Both goals are ones that super-heroes should wish to stop. No moral grey areas with the Darkling as he is rather the ultimate boogie man.

The Darkling himself is presented at three power levels (20, 18 and 15) so he can be used in various campaigns with minimal rewriting, in all cases, he should be a dangerous foe as he is difficult to damage and has a wide range of shadow and darkness-based abilities. Seven of the Darkling?s available minion types are presented ranging from the Hellions (the average person from Shadow Hell at PL 2) to his sorcerous agents, the Bleak Cabal (PL8), and his personal servants and bodyguards, the Shade Fiends (at PL 15). The Darkling?s base in Shadow Hell, the Fortress of Night Hold, is described, but not mapped, as is the basics of the world itself.

This is a very traditional super heroic trope, the evil villain who is the ruler of a ?dark place? but needs something that only Earth can provide. It is solidly put together and it should be a good challenge if you are looking for this sort of foe for your campaign.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: With the various PLs of the villain and the minion types, many sorts of adventures can be constructed.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Not impressed by the art. Would have liked to have seen a little about the other player in 'Shadow Hell'.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

I'm a little bit biased since I wrote something in this book. :)

I won't give a critique, but I'll recommend it to everyone. It helps a good cause with every cent it makes, so get it now!<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

I am quite pleased with this little pick up. Instead of a bunch of bad guys to beat up, this pdf takes a brief look into the neighborhood that your character might be prowling at night. The characters that it presents are not superhuman (mostly), but living, breathing characters. Whether as antagonists or simpathetic characters, each of the characters has something different to bring to the table. The backgrounds and political affiliations of the characters also lend themself to several plot hooks than can be explored.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: A different take on superhero supplements. Refreshing.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I would have liked to see the various conspiracies and npc groups mentioned in this supplement explored in a little more detail then they were.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>