Ok. So if you plan to buy this game you might wanna read this whole review. I will tell you why you should buy this, what to expect and what you should be worried about.

First, this game is as visually pleasing as looking at wall. There is not many pictures to see and you'll likely find yourself reading text after text and only, with images usually being used for examples or characters. Nonetheless, this is also deliberate. The book holds no thought on being visually pleasing, it focus on what's written, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet. I wanna tell you the bads first.

This game might be a nightmare for anyone who's willing to learn the system. On the other hand, it is also a bless to anyone who already knows it. Some explanations can come up as under-explained and, to a certain point, you might actually feel dumb reading some of the texts. This is by far the worst part of the book. Though this is not to say that all rules are under-explained, they are not, most are actually very well explained and exemplified.

You will also soon realize this book heavily pushes you to make your own things. If you want a .44 Magnum Revolver you might aswell make one yourself. Want to drive a military tank? Go make it yourself. This is good and bad. Beginners who don't understand the system all that well will have to spend more time to learn thoses rules and actually master them enough to make anything they want, while anyone who is used to thoses can really go above and beyond.

And for last, there are many rules people take for granted in some games that are not here. Rules for driving and even permanent injuries like dismemberment are merely spoken about but not exactly explained.

Now for the goods. This game is packed. It gives you rule after rule and never slows you down. It is also very organized. You see rules about wealth right after seeing the wealth trait. Have a status chart just besides your status trait and have rules build up slowly in complexity as you read, so you can take your time to understand things as you go. The rules are surprinsingly simple at it's core. If you learn how the engine works, you can even make your own or modify the existing rules. You have no hold back.

The book also separates all complex and realistic rules, aswell as rules that might slow down or break fun in text colored bubbles, and it also explains what each one means, so you can safely ignore thoses without losing any aspect of play.

Now for the best part, the engine. This one is simple aswell. It uses a chart for almost anything. It calculates everything and anything in levels that always relates to each other. It does not matter what is it, it has a level and it can be measured and messed with to or against your favor. You can see how much Strength a car would have, and it could also tell you it's Hits (Hit Points). You can see how much a group of workers costs in levels and how hard it would be to hire them. Once you learn to read the chart, you can use it for anything in the system.

I love this game. It has a charm to it. It looks old, but it is also one of the newest systems i've seen, it has the best rules i've read and also does everything i like in an RPG system, it lets me do anything (or almost anything). This is a hidden gem and i can only hope a new version of this system gets released anywhere in the future. You need patience, common sense and a bit of creativity to learn it, but once you get past that, nothing holds you back anymore.

I do not lie when i say this game is the best one i've seen in my life. And i searched for many. This is the first, but hopefully not the last one to fall into this list, and for 20 bucks? It's almost free, atleast to me.

EABA v2.0 is one of the best universal rpg systems on the market. My bias is for systems that are holistic (everything ties together), just use 6 sided dice, the use of building points to create characters/things, the metric system for measurement, is somewhat realistic but can handle most anything. EABA has all that packed in 380 pages. The system is not simple but you can pick and choose how much detail you wish to add. The new (from EABA v1.x) charts help a lot with this. I am not a fan of the universal chart (a la GURPS) but it does put critical information all in one place. The rule book is even better than EABA v1.x. There are more examples, more advanced rules and better explanations. It is the best organized rules manual that I have ever seen and the most comprehensive since the HEROes version 5 tome. The EABA system takes some effort to learn but you can use for any and every campaign you run.

I have been playing Blacksburg Tactical Research Center (BTRC) games for nearly 20 years starting with Timelords, Macho Women With Guns, and CORPS. When the first edition of EABA hit the streets I balked at going to a new system. CORPS was awesome and I looked at all of the dice and screamed at the world for a few weeks. I couldn’t believe that Greg Porter had killed my favorite game. Some years later I broke down and gave EABA a try and discovered that I had misjudged this beautiful game. In Greg Porter’s own words, “EABA (pronounced ee-buh) is simple and to the point. Once you read the rules, they should come naturally to you, and most of the info you will need will end up on your adventurer sheet. You can use EABA like you would any generic system, or you can modify it to fit any genre you want. It will play modern espionage as well as high fantasy or superheroes. Larger than life characters can play in the same world as those only slightly better than the average person, and both can have a good time.” Now, many years later, Greg Porter has released EABAv2. I am always skeptical of new systems but this is not a new version of EABA but rather a more streamlined rules set that takes many of the best elements of EABA while improving the few things that snagged a game up. One of the greatest strengths of EABA is that is a semi-realistic game system. You can make up modern characters and feel like you are living in the world of Rainbow Six and then skip over to Warehouse 13 and on the way home visit Gotham and fight a masked vigilante. The game has a realistic feel while letting you feel like you are the hero. It is not as lethal as CORPS but it is still pretty damned lethal. Quickstart rules are available for free but you will want the whole game. As a lover of BTRC’s Timelords, I like a setting that lets me visit alternate timelines and dimensions. EABA lends itself to allowing me to play in ancient Sumer, renaissance Italy, a modern X-files world, Gibson’s cyberpunk, and the far future of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. Every element of the game allows you to convert each of these worlds into a single streamlined system. EABA is a roll and keep game not unlike AEG’s 7th Sea but in many ways superior to 7th Sea. You can roll as many dice as you desire but will never keep more than 3. This grants a limited range of possibilities and makes skills and attributes shine as they climb in value. A beginner rolling 2d+2 will average a 9 on the dice rolls but his buddy, a professional, with her 4d+2 will average a 16. As you can see, the beginner can’t ever make the roll that the professional makes on average. Every skill works in this manner and it makes for an easy transition from world to world, whether you are using guns, knives, or bare hands in a fight. Powers are a bit scary to look at but like all BTRC games, once you try it out a couple of times, the system is quite natural and easy. I like the fact that you can play an average Joe and go up against a super powered man who has the reflexes of a spider. He will almost certainly defeat you but you will feel no sadness in the loss because you fought a real honest to god super villain or hero depending on your point of view. With the release of EABAv2, BTRC has also released a new setting. Aethos is a hard SF world with the overall trappings of fantasy. What does that mean, exactly? It means that aliens are really fraking ALIEN. It means that magic really is kind of scary. Finally it means that you will feel like you just stepped into a Larry Niven’s novel with a hint of Clive Barker and a smattering of Orson Scott Card. I really like this setting. Check out an intro to Aethos here I found a couple of things that bothered me as I delved into this new yet old game. The first was that the files are augmented. This means that they are set up to help you with their use and they have many functions to make GMing and playing easier. I am an old guy and prefer to do this stuff with pen and paper. The augmented files where a nice addition that seems to work well with tablets but for me they are a waste. My tablet was stolen by my wife and that means I will never really get to use these enhanced functions. So while this is bad for me it is great for you. If you own a tablet you will love the augmented functions and I shall remain jealous of you for your good fortune. The second bother, and it really is the big one, is that the book appears to be available only in electronic format. I want to hold the book in my hands. I want to smell the paper, take notes in the margins, and have something that I can read while in the bathroom. No physical book means I have to print pages and then worry about losing one or getting them out of order. I want a book and will not be happy until I get one. Overall EABAv2 was a joy to read. The artwork is fantastic, the new setting is awesome and I really mean AWESOME, and the streamlined combat makes this a game that will be used by my crew for many years to come. I will be chomping at the bit waiting for updated rules for Timelords and CORPS but I will simply convert the many settings from EABAv1 for use in EABAv2. You can find EABAv2 and Aethos on Drivethrrpg. They cost $20 and $15 respectively and are worth every penny. If you like your games to be cinematic with a realistic edge, then you will not want to miss out on this game. Just remember that all BTRC products are designed by a technical genius and as a result, the rules can appear intimidating. Don’t get scared by them. Delve in and try them out. Once you see them in action, you will see that EABAv2 is a game for every player that prefers skills over classes. On the off chance Greg Porter reads this, thank-you. Your games have been the inspiration and setting for more than half of all of my 35 years of gaming. BTRC’s Guns, Guns, Guns was and still is the ultimate source for streamlined weapons in any game. EABAv2 is the ultimate streamlined source for all of your gaming needs. You really gotta play this game to understand the quality and genius of the rules. It truly blows away everything else on the market. Hell, everything BTRC makes blows away most of the role playing world

A full and complete RPG construction kit that can construct damn near any genre, any characters, any powers, any equipment, etc. you can build whole world's with what's in this PDF. it has rules to create vehicles, weapons, superpowers, magic, etc. you can run any genre with a little effort.

there's a really revolutionary new turn system that's unlike anything I've even heard of. it combines faster play with gritty, detailed combat in a truly ingenious new way.

this book does what gurps and hero system claim to at a fraction of the cost.

get the quickstart to explore the new combat system, and if you like it get the whole thing

Call of Cthulhu? Works. Hard SF? Works. Zombie killfest? Works. Dungeon crawl? Works. Steampunk? Works.

Genre-specific rules often produce best results, but so far EABA v2 has been pretty accommodating, no matter what I've thrown at it. It can be quick, fast and cinematic or it can be detailed, gritty and realistic, or quick, gritty and loose, or... And it comes with its own powers/gadgets build rules. Want to design a main battle tank? You can. Magical greatsword? No problem. Powered armour with six different weapon suites, kinetic shielding and limited AG? Go right ahead.

I can only recommend you to buy it. Even if it is for the power design...

It's one of best ever used. Generally useful for all kind of roleplaying. Even to combine with other worlds and Settings.

If someone searching for the general roleplaying system, then from my opinion, it's the best.

All parts you need are inside. Easy Charakter generation. Fast traits, skills and soon into playing. Precise if needed and fast in the normal manner.

Parts for every kind of lifetime. I use it in SF universe and in a Fantasy universe, but it works for so much more. Included so much experience of Roleplaying Game Design, to make it the best possible at present, from my opinion.

It is worth the price it costs.