As a setting, Shadowrun has been top notch for me since 1988 or 1989. The mixture of cyberpunk and D&D was just the right kind of chocolate and peanut butter for my taste at the time and since. In this latest edition, the game setting is as it ever was, extremely rich and fascinating, made so by a nice assortment of excellent fiction pieces throughout the work, and the general tone of the writing. As a Rule set, this latest iteration is the most clear and easiest to understand yet. Skills and stats are simple numbers of six sided dice that you add together, looking for fives and sixes and fearing too many ones (more than half is a Glitch, More than half ones with no fives or sixes is a critical glitch.) I really like how this will all come together at the table to make the game faster while retaining the storms of d6 aspect loved by so many. As a book this looks like it would be very pretty as well. However the layout makes you have to flip back and forth through the book constantly during character creation, and may require a lot of that with out strenuous note taking during game play. It can take three or four page flips to find the item, the skill and the rules in question, and while the index is pretty robust there is at least one term I have not found the definition of, and I have had the book open pretty constantly these two weeks. The PDF of the book really could use some work. For a book about the far advanced technological future of sixty years hence, it is really kind of backward. Apart from the table of contents, there is no hyperlinking, so the page turning mentioned before is that much more excruciating. And the very pretty layout has no layering whatever, so any prints will drink a ton of ink, the most expensive fluid on the planet apart from horse seed. The last problem with the pdf is the several very pretty pages at the end of panoramic views of several cities and several past covers, all of which show the feel of shadowrun so well, but they are laid out in such a fashion that the default page width on my pdf reader is 23%, which is far too small to read. This last is very trying indeed, and I hope they fix this sooner than later.

In most respects this is a five star book, but for the pdf, it is no more than a three, and more likely a two. On the other hand, it is a twenty dollar pdf of a sixty dollar book, and I suspect most of the difference is spent on dark red ink.

Seriously, buy it. It looks fun, it will be fun. Just be warned it will make you want the hardcopy done by the company and not on your own machine.

With all the great background of the Savage Worlds edition that I already have, but ported into the wonderful Barbarians of Lemuria rules. I was very eager to learn more of these rules, but had to forebear till I could find them in a product that did not have pictures I found objectionable. While I fully understand that such is commonplace in the Swords and Sorcery genre, I still cannot accept it into my home. I was absolutely delighted to get this book.

The BoL rules are light and look faster and easier than those of my old flame, Savage Worlds. I look forward to testing this assumption. A simple 2d6 mechanic drives everything, so there is no wondering which dice to use or anything like that.

Characters are simple but elegant with a dozen or so important things to note on the character sheet, which it seems should be pyrographed into rabbit skins in old nordic runes or something to keep up with the amazing setting.

There is still the great discussion of the genre, and the world presented with its gazeteer will work to one degree or another anywhere along the spectrum.

In short, pick it up if you want a great setting for the S&S genre and concise fast rules.

I'm really glad I got this and listened to it. It was like being in the room for that amazing inaugural game of Hobomancer. It was even more fun to listen to it while reading the preview of Hobomancer available on this site.
Vengeance is sweet, but poetic justice is so much better! Our heroes find their way to a perfectly clean town, and they instinctively know that something is desperately wrong.

A very nice effort, easy to read and to use. The magazine is something I think any Labyrinth Lord will find useful, and I look forward to future editions. My favorite is the map, because they are always handy to have around.

A good look at how the game will run. The quick start contains enough to get the flavor of Shadowrun and shows how the changes in the rules help everything go along. It would be possible to play quite a bit with just these rules.

And free is a very good price, chummer!

A really neat preview you could just almost run the game with! The notes on the cultural significance of the Hobos of the 1930s and their place in the American psyche alongside Pirates, Cowboys, Knights and Ninjas is a really insightful look at the whole idea of the traveling independent and the American dream. I love the way this was written, and I think it just might sneak its way unobtrusively on my table.

The Qags system is not complicated beyond a couple more stat words to bring the men of the rails to life, and a bit of a magic system. The background fluff fits together well and holds up to my tired scrutiny anyway. The opening comic sets up the whole feel of the book, and the story in bits and pieces throughout of a Hobomancer's introduction and initiation makes me want to read the novel.

I can really see why this got an Ennie nomination!

I think I like this version of Trek better than where they took it over at Paramount. The book is a great intro into the setting and makes me rather eager to delve into the games attached.

It is always good to have a nice character sheet for your game. This one has the most basic moves right on it, as well as the xp requirements to gain new powers for experienced Michtim. As Michtim can only carry three items of equipment, there are places for them on the sheet. Graphically strong. Even pretty.

I simple and easy way to have the callings at your paws' ends. No more forgetting your powers.

Is there any possible way to refresh the oldest idea in role playing games, the dungeon crawl? Move it to Space! In this excellent mix of Old School Mechanics and science fiction space opera, the characters are a salvage team with a Claim to a sector of space who seek out the remnants of the great galactic civilization destroyed by a plague of destruction and mutation when mankind were figuring out how to chip rocks.

The mechanics are a straightforward use of the d20, rolling low is good. Very clearly written and certainly as flexible as most OSR games. A well populated bestiary of space horrors to people the derelict space stations and colonies of the old ones, all laid out with special powers and stats sufficient without being overwhelming. Lots of good advice for DMs new and old. Robust tables and tools for creating systems, worlds and all such kind of necessities.

For most folks, it would be a good buy.

The only lack is that there is no interior art. But then it is the "Basic Black" edition, so no bells and whistles to be expected or missed.

I was rather surprised to find how good this game seems to come together. I was also expecting some kind of goofy cutesy little furballs in trouble sort of thing. What I did not expect was that it could be all that and also really well thought out and intriguing. I am sure I just have to give this a try at the table.

The writing is really good and clear, especially if it has been translated from the German. An audio pronunciation guide for some of the Michtim language terms would be even more awesome, but so long as there are no native German speakers in earshot to offend, I should be fine.

My initial response to the game was "Wow!" The fluff is compelling to read in itself, and the setting is thereby very well illustrated. It is set in 1924, in the hopeful turmoil between the world wars. The world was not yet all mapped out and there were many places and things to discover. Add in the fictional element of z-ray inspired super powers and you have a lot of fun pulpiness. The art is good, and really gets the feel. The game's mechanics are familiar to anyone who has played anything else with the dot system, as we called it back in the day. Very good for story and roleplay. Players can spend inspiration points to alter or help the narration, adding their take to the ongoing chronicle.

In brief. Get it!

A nice expansion or replacement for the mechs in the original game set. Several way to put together components to make the mechs more diverse and interesting. Good selection of colors, but no uncolored pages for custom coloring effects.

Old School Hack is an amazingly simplified roleplaying game that has all the feel and flavor a guy could want, with none of the periphery stuff.

Probably my favorite RPG in the last year.

My favorite part of the game is the way experience works. Fun play gets you Awesome Points, and you only get the xp when you use the awesome in some way. And then you level up only when everyone does.

Entirely too tempting!

I don't even play anything Roman (Though I like a couple of Naval simulation games of some kinds).

The catalog has loads of good pictures of the models available, and really does its job in explaining the products and making me want to play.