WHAT WORKS: Five scenarios that shake up EPOCH even further from the standard, and even manages to avoid retreading the same ground, with Mass Destruction especially breaking from the military motif while still invoking war. While most of the conflicts selected were not surprising, placing a scenario in the Congo was a nice touch. The flexibility written into Home Front is also nice.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: World War II obviously couldn't be ignored, but a Vietnam or Korea scenario would have been welcome over a second WWII scenario (though the two are sufficiently different, at least). The editing, once more, could have used some help.

CONCLUSION: I like Frontier of Fear more, as I'm not big on the military in my games, but I would be willing to run the last two scenarios without twisting my arm. Some fine work in showing the versatility of the game, and hopefully Imaginary Empire has more tricks up their sleeve with this game.

For my full review, please visit http://mostunreadblogever.blogspot.com/2014/06/tommys-take-on-epoch-war-stories.html

The following review was originally published at Roleplayers Chronicle and can be read in its entirety at http://roleplayerschronicle.com/?p=41662.

War Stories is a collection of EPOCH tales of horror placed during war times in the modern age including World War I, World War II, War on Iraq, and guerrilla warfare in the Congo. Much like the sci-fi collection in Frontier of Fear, War Stories breaks away from the basic cinematic feel of EPOCH while retaining that character-driven survival horror appeal. There are a total of five scenarios, with two placed in World War II, all written by different authors. That means you get a good variance between scenarios as each author brings out his own version of an EPOCH scenario. New cards are included in the PDF version (or available in POD) to coincide with each scenario. Additionally, each adventure follows the standard format found in every EPOCH scenario, lending to ease of reading and playing from the GM’s point of view.

Part of the horror backdrop in War Stories is the background itself: the horrors of war. Although many of us are immune to the cinematic aspects of war, few of us have experienced it to the point where we understand what that truly means (I for one have never experienced it). With that in mind, it’s difficult for many to picture a horror environment simply due to the war going on around the characters. Four out of the five scenarios add much more to the horror aspects of their respective scenarios (one doesn’t and I feel it suffers for that) creating the survival horror environment of EPOCH. When I think of EPOCH, I think of those four scenarios and really like the resulting storyline. There are many added aspects of “what’s around the corner” that can create that creepiness many desire within a horror RPG. Without those additional aspects of horror, as in more than just the war, I think many gamers would have a hard time feeling suspense due to the numbness from movies and television. Those four scenarios attempt to overcome that numbness, and do an excellent job doing it!