Time Bomb is a 32 page M&M adventure, but (with a little effort) can be used in any superhero RPG that has a four-color flavor. The basic premise is clearly stated in the product blurb. The scenario (pages 3-19) is broken down into four episodes and is accompanied by three appendices (pages 20-32). The artwork/clipart has been used in several other products and is generally sufficient, though unremarkable, for illustrating the NPCs. No maps are provided for this scenario.

In Episode One (pages 6-8), a PC (or NPC ally) is singled out for termination by a group of supers from the future. It is suggested that these foes (mostly heroes, mixed with a few villains) come from your own campaign. If this is not an option, an alternative “Hit Squad” is provided in Appendix One (pages 20-25). Five of the six members are illustrated (see notes on Appendix Two). This brief attack/encounter from the future could offer great PC-NPC interaction, drama, campaign-plot advancement, and character growth if desired. This is why your own “Hit Squad” is a better option. Yes, this episode can require the most work on the GM’s part.

Episode Two (pages 9-13) is the investigative portion of the adventure. It also requires the heroes to decide what to do about the targeted PC (or NPC ally). The scenario provides good options to keep the PC hero from simply sitting out the remainder of the adventure. There is a small, obligatory battle near the end for those who prefer fighting to investigating. An NPC hero from two decades past is also presented. He could be useful for your own campaign’s back story later on.

In Episode Three (pages 14-15) the heroes fight a crucial battle that is broadcast worldwide. This can have major repercussions to your campaign if it goes wrong.

In Episode Four and the Epilogue (pages 16-18) the heroes track down the master villain in his lair. Here is a battle of fists and ideology (a great dramatic moment for a talkative PC).

Answers to potential plot complications can be found on page 19.

Appendix Two (pages 26-30) offer up info and stats of the master villain and his five allies. Only the master villain receives an illustration! He dresses in jeans and a leather jacket… hmm? Was that necessary?

Appendix Three (pages 31-32) provide game mechanics for the supporting cast: a few extra opponents and the secret service agents.

Evaluation: The story is solid and easily playable. I ran it over the course of three 4-hour sessions, and my players and I enjoyed it (especially, the peek into their potential futures). They also enjoyed getting national recognition due to their televised heroics. My prep time was minimal. The scenario has no maps, but they are not really required; I found maps in other gaming products that sufficed. Having no artwork for the villains is my major complaint! Why illustrate a throw away “Hit Squad” the GM might use, but not the actual villains the PCs will encounter? This is a visual (four-color) genre after all.

great good super and duper. nicely had some uncommon tanks. but no STG 44 i am shocked and surprized considering the germans tryed so hard to massproduce a million of them.

just some added notes to some info the 32 round drum for the luger was intend for the artillery modle which was full auto, and it is not easy to shoot. and a side note even thou it is not really important but it was the K98K that was the more common modle the G98K was a carbine version of a already carbined rifle (G98K was 2-3 inches shorter) and the mg34 and the P08 has umm dirt problems, they jam easy when dirty from droping them, or dust blowing in the wind.

i say perfict side not panthlet for quick hints, aids, or ideas. or just incase you refuse to fumble in a 100 page book.

likes: just about everything

Dislike: no STG 44 or MG 42 (amazed considering you mention it replaceing the mg34)

overall still a 5/5 must buy

Well, let's face it this book's not usefull at all. The historic background on anarchism presented is neither complete nor correct. You could do better by using Wikipedia.

Wonderful tool for adventure generation in the over the top style . I use it for more than just pulp. Much better than the other adventure generators in the series.

Why are you bothering reading a review? ITS FREE!

And a huge mass of material. While I have no intention of using the product as a whole, it is extremely useful for expanding on such things as The River in Tribe 8, and similar facets.

Very good work! Historically accurate, but leaving enough room for some fun pulp fantasy as well. The section on the U-boats and tanks was awesome, and can easily represent other countries tanks and subs! And what RPG geek wouldn't want to fall into the clutches of that Temptress (excuse me...I have to clean up the drool). While real Nazis (past and present) are no trival matter, the pulp version allows us wannabe heroes the chance to teach them a lesson. I have more Adamant products on my wish list, and, if this issue is any indication, I have no doubt I will be as thrilled with them. Now, Im' off to foil some Nazi plans!

A solid attempt to bring the Amazing Tales line and the Spirit of the Century line together in one product. I do hope they consider going back and updating their earlier works.

Its Pulp Nazis, the kind Indy punishes for being on the wrong side in the wrong place at the wrong time. Loathe them, hate them, then punch em the face. A good simple tome to get some understanding of a classic pulp villian.

Freeport is one of the great settings for d20/OGL, and its swashbuckling, pirate nature appeals to many who like intrigue, fast-paced action, betrayal, high-seas, and all things pirate. Movies like Pirates of the Caribbean have done a lot to encourage the swashbuckling pirate RPG games and the Freeport setting, and Freeport as a setting has grown through the years to accommodate the appeal. In fact, I'd not really hesitate to call Freeport the quintessential pirate setting for d20/OGL, as it's been included in quite a number of other different worlds from other publishers. And Freeport is certainly not called the City of Adventure for nothing.

Blood of Freeport is the latest adventure from Adamant Entertainment in support of Green Ronin's Freeport setting. Written by Justin S. Bow, it's an event driven adventure for characters of 6th to 8th level and takes place entirely in Freeport. As such, the running of this adventure largely requires the Freeport setting material. The adventure sees the characters drawn into an adventure of love and betrayal where they get involved in the rivalry between two merchant families. This adventures is compatible with the revised d20 core rules.

Blood in Freeport is a 28 page event-based adventure. The product is well designed and laid out, with some good art and a lovely cover from A. Nemo. The writing is immersive, and the editing and mechanics generally good. There are no maps in the product at all, again highlighting the fact that the setting material for Freeport is required to run the adventure properly. It's possible to run this adventure in another setting or city similar to Freeport if the latter doesn't fit your campaign setting very well. All stat blocks are provided towards the end of the pdf, although I wish they'd detailed the personalities and backgrounds of important NPCs a little more to define them a little better than just providing a mechanical stat block. Overall, a well presented pdf.

This adventure sees the PCs get involved in the rivalry between two large and powerful merchant families in Freeport. The nature of their involvement is left largely to the PCs, which means that the course of the adventure is determined by how the PCs view the feud and what they believe they need to do about it, if anything. This implies that the actions of the PCs actually matter, and that the events of the adventure are not something beyond their control, but can be shaped or changed by their actions. This kind of dynamic approach in adventure writing makes for a fun and exciting adventuring. The PCs will have plenty of opportunity for both combat and roleplaying, and indeed over the course of the adventure and several in-game days, there will be amply opportunity to delve into the mysteries of the adventure. The combat encounters are challenging, largely because so many days lapse between events.

That said, spanning the adventure over so many days can make parts of it dull and boring, so it might be difficult to get the adventure flowing along at the right pace between events separated by days. The action events themselves are structured in that they eventually all lead up to a climatic ending, increasing the tension and the rivalry between the two families as time progresses. This creates a good amount of in-game tension, atmosphere, and indeed is likely to affect the entire city of Freeport. I quite like the idea that the entire city is watching events closely, and that the actions of the PCs will most likely be noted by other powerful families or Captains within Freeport. There is a sense that actions have consequence throughout the adventure, and that will keep the PCs on their toes.

The adventure is equally well suited to running as a one-off or as part of a larger campaign story. In fact if the build-up to the rivalry needs to be increased, it can be done through an entire campaign before this adventure is reached. This might make the families and people involved more meaningful to the PCs. As it is, I felt there wasn't enough information in the adventure to detail the NPCs, the merchant families, the histories of the families, etc. More depth in these areas would've gone a long way to making these NPCs come alive a little more and provide more richness to the adventure.

Those that wish to delve into the secret histories of powerful merchant families, get involve in spy activities in the pirate city, or merely enjoy the subterfuge and intrigue will find this adventure to their liking. I think DMs will need to do a little extra work to make this adventure flow together nicely so that it doesn't feel like the PCs are just hopping from one event to the other. It's a good adventure, though, and a refreshing break from dungeon crawling and combat intensive games that are quite frequent in the d20 market. It has something for every player and every character, a good background and story, and a few unexpected surprises. Good art, good writing, exciting scenes, lots of intrigue and politics, and overall a fun adventure.

There isnt very much to this product. It has no specific rules for rocket packs and the story is resolved with a series of chess matches. On the plus side it is playable.

This product alone was what sold me on the ENTIRE Imperial Age line. What you have here, folks, is the "Menace Manual" of the 1800's! Gaslight classics like Dracula, The Invisible Man, The Beastmen of Dr. Moreau, Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein's Monster, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and not to mention, the most dangerous and elusive threat of the Victorian Era: Jack the Ripper! Those are just some of the nasties you'll find inside this infectious grouping.

For anyone ever wanting to run d20 Past but never having the opponents to pull it off... For anyone wanting to draw upon the horrors of literary works... For anyone that may be "on the fence" about whether or not to purchase this...

If you love Victorian Lore and roleplaying, simply put: You can't do without this RPG resource!

Even if you don't play d20-- Buy it & convert the foes over to your system of choice (it's STILL less work than "statting" the entire horde from scratch)!!! Imperial Age: Victorian Monstrosities is a truly indispensable game aid... WAY BETTER than any spoken words can possibly express in this (or any other) review!

Thank you, Adamant, for your frighteningly realistic, statistical interpretations of legendary foes!

Liked: Everything! Disliked: Nothing!

5 of 5 Stars!

I absolutely love this product. It's a simple concept, easy to use and very useful. It's perfect for giving you an idea for an adventure, a starting seed you can combine with your imagination to make an adventure. It's an excellent deal, very worth the money.

I can’t speak to the game’s production value, since I’ve only read the free online version, which is missing a lot of the artwork. That being said, the game still has a lot more artwork than many other free or not-free digital rpgs I’ve seen lately. Clocking in at over 200 pages and less than $0.01 to purchase, there’s really no reason not to go peak at it. I am rather fond of the inclusion of incredibly pertinent and apropos quotations at the top of the chapter headings, from Aliens to It to the Dark Tower.

Spahn says that one reviewer described it as “. . .one part The Matrix, one part The Cell, and two parts Quantum Leap with a healthy dose of Stephen King sprinkled over the top!” I would say that thematically, that’s pretty accurate. Unfortunately, structurally, the expansion to D20 Modern feels like it might have been written by Kevin Siembeda.

Spahn’s world is one where dreams can come alive, and it feels a lot like the World of Darkness (or of the Matrix), in that a select few are in the know, and the rest of the world stumbles along blindly, unaware of the war being fought in their backyards. Spahn has deftly created a universe where any number of genres can be effortlessly pillaged for extra value. The game obviously lends itself to a cyberpunk/gothic horror mythos, but since the backdrop of the game is dreams, your characters can enter a dream on the Starship Enterprise or the Land of Mordor with ease.

Once, when I was in middle school, first getting into D&D and role playing, a friend of mine (friend of a friend, really, but I was a nerd and couldn’t be picky) wanted me to fight a Turask. You know what I’m talking about. In the end, so that he didn’t kill my character (whom I loved more than my parents), it was all a dream. It was a really stupid idea. In Dreamwalker, it would have been nothing more than a poorly structured adventure.

Of special note is the Denouement, a rather insightful creation on Spahn’s part. Every adventure, in theory, has a point. Group of Heroes intends to accomplish Goal by overcoming Obstacle. (Okay, in middle school, I may be been on, and run, a few pointless adventures. See above.) Spahn has incorporated this goal into the Dreamwalker Cosmology - the Denouement is the dreamer’s intent, and the players frequently have to assist, or occasionally thwart, this goal. It’s a very nice piece of work, and something of which Spahn should be proud.

The Brood, the Taenia Spiritus, are the villains. It feels a little heavy handed, but it’s a good construction. It makes the game a little black and white for my tastes, but I’m sure it’s right up the alley for some. The different Broodlings are all well described, though their ephemeral nature as dream-kind seems to leave a lot of work up to the DM to design them.

The organizations in Dreamwalker Revised are solid. The Sword of Gaia and Project Dreamwalker are modeled perfectly on the Platonic Ideas of templars and government agencies. The Lost City of Revead is fantastic, feeling a lot like Sigil. And the Kingdom of Malice… kind of speaks for itself.

My one complaint is some of the more mechanical aspects. My main complaint is with the “advanced classes,” also known as prestige classes. Many of them feel a little… extraneous. I’m looking at you, “Government Agent.” The Government Agent class really doesn’t feel like it’s needed. I admit, I haven’t spent a lot of time with D20 Modern, but I’ve spent enough, and I don’t feel like the Government Agent adds anything that a bunch of feats couldn’t do. The Influence Memory ability might need to be broken down into two feats, but otherwise, there aren’t really any awesome abilities in the class.

The other prestige classes aren’t that awesome, either. The Tomb Raider (yes, that Tomb Raider) is a class that has almost nothing to do with the Dreamwalker mythos. Certainly nothing to do with the world of dreams mechanically. The Paranormal Investigator seems hackneyed at best. The Totemist and Arcanist are both interesting classes, but really don’t feel like they belong in the Dreamwalker Revised book.

Part of this is my problem with prestige classes in general. I feel like the entire concept creates a Palladium like atmosphere, where each book necessitates the addition of new classes, each more unique and powerful than the last, until the entire concept is relatively meaningless. Some of Dreamwalker Revised’s prestige classes really work, like the Dream Weaver and the Dream Warrior. Others, like the Brood Hunter and the Brood Slayer, feel like overused tropes that have to be included and tailored to this specific setting.

But enough. Over all, the supplement is fantastic. If you run D20 Modern campaigns, or any kind of “paranormal” campaign, then I highly recommend you go out and shell out for the full version of this game. Buy it and support it. If you don’t run those kind of games, download the free version and steal one or two idea for your next adventure.

Overall - 9 out of 13 stars.

Good job of dealing with a difficult genre of superheroes.

A well written invetigative adventure, somewhat light in action for a pulp adventure, and all the action is end loaded (ie. at the end of the adventure). As a change in pace in a traditional pulp campaign this would serve really well. If run as a one off, or as an introduction to a campiagn I would suggest adding an action scene of some sort before the main adventure.

The handouts are really well written, the adventure makes good sense and the NPCs are interesting.

Best of all the adventure is written with two alternative explanations for the events - a supernatural explanation and a mundane one. Throughout the adventure guidance is given for each stream. This works really well.

Not quite what I expected, but a very welcome addition to my little pulp collection