More greatness. A wonderful expansion. Can't wait to see if they come up with another expansion.

An amazing game. If you love philosophy and games, I can't think of a better experience. It was a hit with our philosophy meetup group.

I picked this up in a panic, looking for a last minute 1-shot to run for a group of teens. It was a huge hit! There's plenty of room for investigations to go in different directions with many interesting NPCs and locations as well as an exciting final showdown!

My CHAMPIONS group had a lot of fun with this module. Great, wacky villains with interesting powers and super entertaining personalities, goals, and stories; fun encounters and locales; decent battle maps, particularly if you have access to a large format printer or a computer system that can accept them and then grid them out on your screen. Balancing the foes for your party may require a little bit of work, but otherwise, no complaints.

This is a pretty huge book – it doesn't just deliver one complete setting (even with a Plot Point Campaign), it's also a sourcebook for all sorts of Steampunk or Victorian games, be it with magic, aliens, werewolves, clockwork-men, all of it or none of that. I don't know of a single setting (or supplement) that includes so many options and tips on how to run different types of that settings, what novels to read or what movies to watch for more ideas. However, there were a few things missing for my purposes, which is why I can't give it 5/5: The rules and rulings are often a bit loose, so for defined mechanics, I still had to make something up myself (or look into other settings). A few specific setting rules or mechanics would have been nice. The book brings stats for fantastical devices, but doesn't contain prices and stats for everyday stuff like the price of a cab ride or the speed of a steamer. Nonetheless, the Widening Gyre is a great addition to your Steampunk game, even if it might not provide everything you might need.

Truly outstanding genre book, with some very engaging writing and a comprehensive look at the Golden Age era. It also includes some excellent and creative characters towards the back. I'm a bit luke warm on the complicated Hero system itself, but it is books like these that keep the Champions game compelling and relevant in todays superhero rpg market.

PRETTY ENTERTAINING STORY. ONE MINOR QUIBBLE - THE GRAND OL' OPRY ISN'T NOW AND NEVER HAS BEEN IN MEMPHIS. ELVIS IS MEMPHIS. GRAND OL' OPRY IS NASHVILLE.

A milestone in RPG evolution that still punches its weight all these years later. One of the most essential GMing books ever published, and in many ways it might never be surpassed. Plus it's just really fun.

A really nice map kit. Beautiful design and quality graphics.

it was an awesome detailed ship with nice interior and exterior ...I loved the ghost version! that being said the lower level was very dark difficult to make out and the front of the ship has a void space ...don't know if this is a nautical thing but would of made a good storeroom or something

This review contains a couple of spoilers, be warned!

Well, I bought this book with high hopes since I had liked other adventures from this published before, and they were pretty good. I won't lie- I was disappointed.

There is good stuff here, the organisation depicted- SPIDER, is a solid mid-level threat for a superteam to take a break from fighting VIPER or DEMON or whatever. This I like, and it takes up a good chuck of this book.

But I bought this for the adventure, which, although usable, needs a lot of work.

It's not particularly well-written, and it's a very complex scenario so it needs to be clear and concise. Instead it's rambling and nonspecific. Some of the dialogue as written is just terrible, and has a real tin-ear quality to it. (Bizzarely there's also some really good dialogue as well- did it have two different writers?)

The tone of the adventure is very uneven and it includes comedic cartoon-like characters and brutal, horrible deaths. Some graphic disturbing scenes and also traumatised child NPC's. All of which makes for a strange little adventure.

There are some good points- three fairly original, powerful villains are written up, and all have potential for repeat use. There are plenty of plot seeds at the end dor those short on ideas, which I always am!

Overall, too expensive for what it is, but there are nuggets of good stuff to be had.

Good quality PDF with legible text and useful illustrations. Reads like a genre book for Steam Punk as much as a specific campaign setting. Provides a good overview and useful examples including inspirational quotes from sources from the Victorian era and from contemporary works set in it.

I appreciated all the content, and only wished there were more. Many of the sections could benefit from expansions and added detail and samples. I hope the sales justify supplementary books in the future.

A good villain is a key element for a good adventure. The Raven King fits that bill (great artwork inside showing him in all his glory) and the potential for using him again is VERY high. There are 24 plot seeds included to create future adventures. There is a darker plot element involving domestic violence, but it is handled thoughtfully by the author.

On the negative side, I did note that under the sample encounters, 'A Speedy Delivery Gone Wrong' and 'Four and Twenty Ravens Baked In a Pie' that the same paragraphs are REPEATED.

I didn't purchase this with the idea of using either Champions or Icons to run it, so I have no concerns about stats really. A good plot and a good villain should not rely on some part of a particular game system to work. As has often been noted, especially for super hero adventures, the GM should tweak the villians to matchup with his player's characters.

A fun, over -the-top adventure for the HERO system featuring a cast of villains that would make great recurring nemeses. The crumpled-paper background image makes the text a little difficult to read, but overall it's a great product.

Overall: I found Terracide a generally well thought-out campaign setting, both comprehensive and a fun read in many parts. The setting is compelling and for the most part realistic (IMO surprisingly so for an RPG).

The book is well-organized and laid out, with sections on the timeline and the worlds of Terracide; human organizations; alien races; life in the 24th century; character creation and some sample characters; equipment (including weapons and armor); spacecraft (with rules for designing them as well as some sample vehicles); combat (personal and vehicular); Marathon Free Station (a potential location for a Terracide campaign); and a GM’s Vault for privileged information. Appendices include a glossary, reading / resource list, and a sample listing of spacecraft names.

Pros: The setting (worlds, alien races, organizations, and so on) has variety and depth. Each of the seven alien races is very different not only from humans but from each other. The 21 organizations described (government, corporate, criminal, and otherwise) give the GM plenty of material for creating adventure plots, as well as ways to assist or hinder the player characters.

Characters can be easily individualized with many templates for altered genetics, background, education, time in the military / government / criminal enterprises as well as various occupations -- although playing actual aliens isn’t an option. The ten sample characters illustrate Powerful Heroic-level characters that might be typical for a Terracide campaign, and can be easily used as allies or foes for the player characters.

Realism seems the watchword in Terracide. Space-traversing characters have to worry about things like g-forces, spin-gravity, and the like. (This book includes penalties and other info on combat in spin-gravity, as well as martial arts for use in zero-gee and spin-gravity.) Space isn’t just a minor background detail in Terracide but is instead something the players will have to take into account in many things their characters do.

Cons: If characters are expected to purchase new / replacement equipment and ammunition throughout a Terracide campaign, some cost guidelines would have been useful. Actually, money seems generally ignored throughout Terracide, except in a discussion on the Economics of FTL Travel or as background flavor. This despite the Money perk being included in various character Templates.

With the frequent mention of alien technology throughout Terracide, I found the lack of examples of alien technology a distinct oversight. While each race’s writeup mentions the type(s) of tech that race specializes in, some specific examples in the GM’s Vault would have been nice.