Nice treatment of the sword and planet genre. Just enough information to convert to other systems. Could use some more adventures.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Let me start off by saying I really like the Thrilling Tales products. That said I have been very disappointed with my Secret Squadron membership so far. First off, I joined at the end of February and was charged the full year price. Secondly during the four months since only one product has been released back and that was in April. To be fair I did get a couple of freebies by decoding the messages that appear in some of the products I've bought, but the membership just isn't what I was expecting.

<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Ripped Off<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

This PDF is exactly what it claims to be. It sounds like a fun idea which evokes a Diablo feel for magic items, so I decided to give it a shot. It's only $3.00, after all.

As the description says, there are three sets of tables d100 tables for prefixes, base items and suffixes.

Unfortunately, no effort has been made to try to balance the items at all. As an example, entries 5-9 on the prefix table correspond to a +1 to +5 bonus to AC, which is further hampered by the fact that it's an untyped bonus.

I would have liked to have seen prices given for each bonus, at the very least. As it is, I think that the idea is yet salvageable. It's fun to roll randomly for items, but I think it would serve much better if the DM simply assembled a custom weapon from the provided entries.

I've got to say, it could have been a lot better if they'd gone the extra mile, but for only $3.00 you get an attractive PDF with three large tables that delivers exactly what it promises. I'm quite happy wth the purchase.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Great idea<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Could have used some fleshing out, would like to see the tables broken down into smaller tables arranged by relative power level.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Having played with Flaws that grant feats I've seen how unbalancingly powerful they can be, especially early on. In some cases characters could qualify for prestige classes much sooner - and suffering a -1 penalty to ranged attacks isn't much of a hardship to bear.

Gaining 4 skill points is more functional, especially with the skill rank cap. It lets a character have a few more background skills which will probably never rise above 4 ranks, unless the character's Intelligence score increases later.

Everyone loves flaws (sort of). I have players who insist on taking them! So here is a fair system for rewarding their roleplaying efforts. Some of the flaws are arguably better or worse than others openning the door for min/maxing but 4 extra ranks in a skill is hardly game breaking.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It enhances character generation without making characters that are overly powerful.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I would have liked different levels of flaws, worse flaws granting more skill points than lesser flaws.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

I found this to be a first rate product. Well written and imaginitive. It is full of great information for any GM running a capmaign set in the airship era. I used it extensively when running a Pulp World War 2 game.

There are several good sample adventures that can be played with little preparation, although I found the one inspired by "Where Eagles Dare" to be a little weak.

<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

I wanted to like it.

Let?s have a look by sections?

First of all ? the product starts off with ten pages of flavor text. A bit excessive in my opinion. Anyone buying this product probably has a good handle on just what this supplement is all about, the reader is most likely a pulp gamer who has purchased this in the hopes of finding some crunchy inspiration Death traps, exotic locales, ports of call, villains, etc. instead ten pages are wasted on what could be summarized in a paragraph or two, at ten pages this section is just too fluffy. It could easily be reduced by half, giving over the remaining pages to more crunch.

Introduction A standard introduction that speaks to this particular sub-genre of pulp. The author is very careful to point out that none of the information in this work is to be taken in any context other than a reflection of this particular genre of fiction and the style of the writing of the period.

The Mastermind revisited In this section we are given an overview of the Oriental Mastermind and some of the particular traits that make the Oriental Mastermind special. That was the good part. The disappointing part is that we are given a set of stats for an Oriental Mastermind but no background on him. No history, no motivation, no information on his empire, secret base, connections, family, nothing-just abilities skills and numbers- this is one of those areas where we could use a page or two that was wasted on the flavor text in the beginning.

East meets west In this section we are given a light overview of the history and struggles of Asians in America, with particular focus on the Chinese, ?Chinatowns? and the Tongs.

The Dragon lady Here we are treated to a section on that most alluring of pulp fixtures the ?Dragon Lady?. Real world examples of powerful Asian women are offered in addition to a nice section on the motivations and behaviors of this Femme fatale as presented in the Pulp genre. A sample character write-up is added, but here again no specific background, or details about her organization, etc.

The Mysterious Orient At the halfway point of the product we reach a gazetteer of sorts that takes us on an all too brief (two page) tour of the Orient, touching briefly with paragraphs on China, Japan, Mongolia, and Tibet. What?s lacking is any detail whatsoever on the cities that make the ?Mysterious Orient? so Mysterious- Shanghai, Singapore, Manila, Macao, just to name a few. There is a huge map of China though, which looks like it was photocopied from a 1930 high school textbook and takes up three quarters of a page; pure filler.

Enemies from the East This section deals with the exotic adversaries that are in the service of the Oriental Masterminds. This section proved the least disappointing of the entire product. Besides your run of the mill Ninja, Mongol, and Martial artist write-ups, there are two foes that showed particular promise for my campaign: The Dacoit and the Black Monk.

Oriental Armory Here the weapons of the Orient are described with stats and descriptions.

Horrors of the Orient The monster manual section of the product. Three monsters are presented-a snake, a lizard, and a yeti. That?s it. What was I expecting? I don?t know- choking vines maybe, brain worms that are inserted in the ear and make their way to the brain, more stuff along those lines.

Adventure seeds The product ends with three one-paragraph adventure seeds.

When I saw this product at RPGNow I was so excited I bought it instantly. I wanted it to be great; I knew it could be great. Man was I disappointed.

Nothing on deathtraps, exotic locales, or hidden bases. No detail on how the Oriental Mastermind?s organization operates, nothing on the various illicit rackets (dope smuggling, prostitution, white slavery, piracy, extortion), nothing on how the Oriental Masterminds empire influences city hall, the state department, or small countries. None of that.

On one hand it was only six bucks, but on the other hand I felt I spent four bucks too much. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>

I looked forward to this game coming out and I haven't been disappointed. Miami in the 80's is such a rich setting for the modern action genre and the author has succeeded in getting the most out of it.
Miami in the 80's is akin to Chicago in the 20's, LA in the 50's and New York in the 70's it was the place to be, it's where things happened. You had the cocaine explosion, the Cuban crime wave, Columbian Drug Cartels, anti-Castro groups, Jamaican Posses smuggling arms, Haitian voodoo sects, and Mafia crews from all over the country operating in an open territory.
Against this diverse bunch of bad guys there are forces of law and order. Grizzled, hardboiled detectives that play by their own rules, gung ho S.W.A.T. boys who live for the buzz and clean cut, rookie cops keen to make difference. The author plugs you in to the time and place with the right references. The excess of Scarface, the flash cars, pastel rolled sleeved suits and swanky lifestyles of Miami Vice, and the textured playability of Grand Theft Auto Vice City with its bikini roller girls and sunsets. The pdf is nicely laid out and easy to read thanks to the separation of text and reasonably large font size. The editing is also excellent. The game uses Politically Incorrect Games's Genre Diversion i rule set, which is not included with the pdf. I bought the rule set afterward and it is a solid straightforward system and overall pretty good. PIG do a number of games for the system so it is not a bad investment around $4. Though an idea might be to offer the two as a product bundle. Vice Squad: Miami Nights offers a number of character options to play. There are several cop types ranging from beat cop to Internal Affairs Detective. There various criminal options and several in between options like bounty hunter, terrorist and vigilante. The author covers these in a succinct, energetic style giving you what you need to know to get playing. In addition to the character options there a number of interesting genre specific gimmicks and cliches for the players to choose that help emulate the genre and spice up play. For instance a maverick cop that bends the rules may have "Squeaky Clean" as a cliche, which makes doubly difficulty for Internal Affairs to build a case against the character. There are a large number of these and they really focus the players and GM's minds on recreating explosive, high action 80's tv drama. What I also like about Vice Squad: Miami Nights is that layers real, historic Miami with a fictional overcoat. Your playing in Miami with its actual neighbourhoods and waterways, history and culture, which is a nice change from some fictional, hellish creation where everything is over the top and the worst evaaar!!!!. Each neighbourhood, organization and hangout is given concise but informative coverage giving the players and GM a colorful and well stocked, stomping ground to play around in.
The author blends in real history like The Liberty City race riots and The Mariel Boatlift with made up gangs and prominent people so what you get is a solid context for the substantial offering of potential plot hooks and storylines that are presented as kick off options for you to jump right in on. These are diverse and help draw you into the setting. I could go on but suffice to say this is a very thorough job that got me really wanting to play a swaggering, stubble jawed cop with a likening for fast boats and busting heads.

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The vibe, the detail, the attention to genre conventions. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: nothing<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

A great Pulp gaming sourcebook! Get all of last year about all in one volume. Plus, having the POD version as well is incredibly useful.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Everything in one volume. PDF plus POD is a very useful way to go.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Not sure if there is really anythig I did not like actually.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

A nice compilation of all the thrilling Tales releases under one cover. I purchased the POD edition, and it's a nice, high quality book with great illustrations.

The book will serve anyone well to run a pulpy adventure campaign using D20 Modern rules. Includes most everything needed to do so; no other resource will be required (you've got the classes, villains, and equipment and vehicles necessary for the task). As D20 style splatbooks go, this one is full of useful content for the specific style of play evoked by pulp adventure.

The main downside to this book that I can see is that, as with most D20 materials, it's a bit hard to customize. If, for example, you want to have a more super-powered pulp game (where costumed crimefighters have special abilities) this book won't do it. Additionally, if a certain class doesn't quite fit your expectations for the genre, you'll have to do some modifications to fix it to your liking, but that's normal for D20.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Complete, everything a D20 Modern GM needs to run pulp adventures. Well written, easy to absorb and use. Nicely illustrated with lots of thematic art from the period.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Designed for a fairly specific style of pulp and not too flexible outside of its own constraints. Wouldn't have minded a section with even more villains than was provided....but not really a flaw, they did provide plenty of stuff within.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

A lot of common sense and a few tips and tricks that could save me money down the line. A decent product, but probably overpriced for its overall usefulness.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Presents some wisdom gained from market experience that I hadn't realized beforehand.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Not a lot of practical examples. Mostly nebulous suggestions that I'll need to figure out on my own how to implement.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

the buccaneers and bokor series has been usefull for running a seagoing adventure. i haven't added the carribean flavor into my campaign yet, but this is a good resource.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: lots of useful buccaneer info<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Surreal gaming. We don?t see much of it as the concept can be hard to explore. It can be tough for the DM to explain what is going on and the players can have difficulty wrapping their heads around what is going on. I have tried different levels of it in the past and usually the result is less then adequate. Some pictures just seem harder to paint. This might be why there are few Role Playing books that deal with the Surreal. Unlike most other topics the surreal requires a bit more from the reader and his ability to understand and follow what is going on. When it is being run the DM has to do a better job of explaining what is going on as the setting and the experiences can be difficult to get across. Communicating the right feel may be the toughest hurdle, but there are plenty of places people can get tripped up on. Dreams are a part of every person and probably the best example of something surreal. It has a commonality that everyone understand and can sort of picture. But I do not think that makes it that much easier to get across the surreal parts of them. Dreamscapes does take us into the characters dreams and the dreams of other creatures.

Dreamscapes is a new PDF by Adamant Entertainment. It is written by Joseph Miller or who I will forever know him as That Privateer Press Guy from the 2003 ENnies. Dreamscapes is a one hundred and fifty seven page PDF though it reads bigger then that. It does not have a lot of art so lots of text. The layout could use a little work there are some extra spaces at some pages end. The book marks are nicely done though.

Dreamscapes is about adventuring in dreams. It is both creative and complex. It is one of the supplements that I think will need to be played for a little while to get the hang of but the ideas in the book make it worth it. The basic idea is that inside dreams people can do things that cannot be done in the actual world. This is represented very well with dream points. Dream points can be used to help skill, feats, and magic all do more then they can normally do. Some of the items are almost epic as what can be done in a dream would be considered amazing in the real world. Like using the hide skill to become invisible, in a dream it makes sense. Having the heal skill be able to regenerate is another example. It would be interesting to an product that uses many of the new abilities in here and turns them into epic abilities and not just dream ones.

The true brilliance of the product though comes from describing the dream realms. The system is pretty flexible and allows for a lot of customization. It even discusses where the dream realms exist and does not tie it down to any one place. It does refer to the basic cosmology of inner and outer planes but it would be easy to switch this to say the plane of dreams like is seen in other d20 books and campaign settings.

There is a lot of information in this book and I know I just hit on a few highlight. The book does present the dream worlds in a very interesting and usable way. The mechanics might be a little tough; it is really hard to say without seeing them in action. However even if someone finds the mechanics not usable the detail and ideas contained within are easily worth owning this book for.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

I purchased this campaign to use as a adventure to put my PC's through. I read it through and thoroughly enjoyed it's story line. I will be honest and say that I do not use any module as it is written, but tend to tweek it to work for our gaming style (old school AD&D). However, this was an excellent story and had some very nice maps inlcuded with it!<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: I loved the maps! The story line was very intersting!<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: There was ALOT of history to read. I kind of had to fish through what I felt was relevant and what wasn't.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

This was a solid superlink product. This can be very helpful to both players and GMs

I will be buying all twelve issues thats for sure<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It has a solid layout that is very much in a comic book style

The characters were solid and easily placed into any game <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I did not like the fact that the new characters and architypes were the exsact same but thats about it <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

An excellent product. Very good historical reference for games with good, useable artwork.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I would have found more realistic artwork or each style of ship more useful. A picture is worth a thousand words. It you can show your players what something looks like, no other explanations are necessary.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>