Every once in a while, I see something that is both well-written and balanced, and makes me almost squeal in delight at the awesome contained within (not that I would ever do that, mind you!). This is one of those books.

The more I delve into The New Epoch, I find that where I first accused it of being a trite fantasy setting with steampunk, I was being far too shallow. This book, while a necessary part of The New Epoch for playing (there are six books in all, if I am correct, and only the Character Codex [1] and Adventurer Codex [3] accompany this one as of October 17, 2010), is a glorious read. I do not believe I have enjoyed a list of equipment so much ever. There's a lot of variety in here. My initial gripes with the Character Codex have been put to rest with this, as the equipment pulls together the system.

Gunswords, airships, and steambikes, as well as the traditional swords and sorcery await you in this reliquary of awesome. If you're at all considering The New Epoch, I would say that you should not hesitate to get it. Its system is the best d20 system I have seen (and yes, I am looking at Pathfinder and D&D [3.5, not the trading card one] here).

The New Epoch is probably one of the foremost products on this site, and maybe anywhere. Good writing combines with art that makes me shed tears of joy to form one wonderful ball of goodness. I go now to review the Adventurers' Codex, and I am practically shaking with anticipation.

This book is absolutely beautiful. I love the weapons, I love the armours -the best ones are aegis armour, bracer armour and robe armour, mainly cause they're really original to me (better than boring old leather, chain and plate). But my favourite stuff would have to be the last two or three chapters. The illustrations for the vehicles are great -finally I can imagine an actual old-tech campaign setting without going too modern (kills the "fantasy" for me when you get guns. I guess everything is presented in a way where I can imagine how it fits into a fantasy world.

I must admit I was very skeptical when buying it because it claims to fit just about every d20 system that ever was, but it's actually made as an original d20 System which has damage reduction armor and weapon skill rules. That's okay, but I won't be using that system cause I already have a Dnd campaign that's working well. My players are going to a steam-age town and I wanted some cool gear for them to pick up.

In fact, all of the weapons are a really easy conversion to DnD. Unfortunately, the armour system doesn't really correlate at all -a pity cause I really love the art. I want to make the vehicles work a lot, but we need to substitute a DnD skill to pilot them. The potions and poisons are cool, but would need tweaking to work in DnD.

Oh, btw, it seems like you can get an average DnD price by dividing the shillings price by 10, so it's pretty easy to do.

As for everything else (and there is a LOT), it doesn't depend on the system. It has lists of gemstones and ALL of them are illustrated, which is awesome cause I don't know what a jacinth or a zircon gem looks like. There are heaps of clothes and drawings and descriptions of what they actually are, like a doublet, chaps, etc. There are prices for houses, mansions, castles and every bit of furniture you can buy.

There are some gadgets that you can get which are like low-tech stuff put into a steam-age setting. There is a doppeltyper which makes doppeltypes (think of an old photocopier where you push the paper through yourself). There is a chronometer (like a pocket watch). There is a occultometer which measures magic readings around you. Basically a bunch of tools for smart players to make creative solutions in your dungeon puzzle rooms.

There's heaps of other stuff, I won't go into all the details.

Two things I didn't like: The whole system isn't out there yet. There are references to an Adventure Codex, but it won't be released until late September (according to the email when you buy it). The other thing is there are no stats for the pets that you can buy. It doesn't say their Strength, Agility, whatever... will that be in some other book later, too?

The best part of the whole book is the vehicles, in my opinion. They didn't draw every single one, but there are some massive illustrations and intricate details there. Each vehicle has a type of feed (acid, coal, fuel, key turns) and a hunger (how fast it gets used up) -they talk about the vehicles like they are types of animal, which is pretty cool. The vehicles themselves are really nice looking and you can see how each country has it's own types of steam-powered, clockwork, acid-powered or fueled style. It helped me to visualize the setting better.

I was going to give this book a 4 because some things are not compatible with DnD, but I guess that is not a flaw as such, cause it does say it's an original system. Overall, I give it a 5 because it is exactly what I wanted, great illustrations and has a lot of new ideas. They have a Character Codex which has already been released, but I won't play it until I see the full range of books.