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This was a very pleasant surprise. We were expecting a slightly tweaked D&D 4e and found a exciting, free-form role-playing system that could become your go-to fantasy game. This combines D&D 3.5, 4e and those narrative RPGs that the kids are all talking about. The choice to frequently pull back the design veil when presenting the rules was refreshing and makes the game very accessible. While it lacks the jaw-dropping art of some other games, you’ll probably be too busy having fun to notice. Included in the book are the rules, a default setting and monsters.
Check out our full, indepth review on the Idle Red Hands Podcast at: http://www.idleredhands.com/?p=2404
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For the Battletech roleplayer, the Interstellar Players series is the best one in the Catalyst line. In the third book, the idea is that the players are part of a group of freelance and corporate explorers searching for Word of Blake fugitives and looking into what happened to the Clans. As such, knowing what happened in Jihad and the Clan Wars of Reaving would help. Like most Batteltech books, the book is primarily told in character. This unreliable narrative adds to the mystery and the "not all is what it seems" style of the Interstellar Players series.
The book provides an overview of Instellar Expeditions, the corporation behind the explorers, and a chapter on hunting the WoB, including information on the hidden worlds. It then covers the Deep Periphery, including Rimward, Coreward, Anti-Spinward and Spinward. There are a lot of planets and empires covered here, some basic and some intriguing. Some highlights for me were the Society of St. Andreas, a Catholic religious movement, and the Delphi Curse, a virus. There's also a rundown on the competition, which includes governments and the Clans. As a fan of the Clans, I would have liked to have seen more on them.
A person could use this book without the others in the Interstellar Players series, but it's recommended that you pick those up first. This book lacks the basics covered in Interstellar Players 1 and the mind-blowing ideas of Interstellar Players 2. Of the three, though, this offers the most cohesive compaign idea. Someone uninterested in or unfamiliar with the Jihad storyline won't get as much out of this book, but there's still the basic exploration idea.
Buy this if you are a fan of the Instellar Players series. If you are unfamiliar the series, get the first two books as they are five-star additions to any Battletech roleplayer's collection. If you just play the Battletech miniatures game, then you won't need this. However, if you're not roleplaying Battletech, you're really missing out.
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This is pretty much exactly what the title says it is; a list of 100 system agnostic ideas of signs that the restless dead are present. Between this and 100 Ways to Become a Ghost, I think the latter is slightly better in execution as more of the list seems usable to me. Some of the entries in this product are either too vague to be helpful (such as #97 Warning), or seem like they be more appropriate as a the basis for a supernatural encounter rather than as the sign of ghosts being nearby (such as #27 Flying banshee).
Still, enough of the entries are usable to make this more than worth it's $1 price tag.
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This is pretty much exactly what the titles says it is; a list of 100 system agnostic ideas for why or how someone became a ghost. Between this and 100 Signs of Ghosts, I think 100 Ways to Become a Ghost is slightly better in execution as more of the list seems usable to me. Some of the entries for 100 Signs of Ghosts are either too vague to be helpful (such as #97 Warning), or seem like they be more appropriate as a the basis for a supernatural encounter rather than as the sign of ghosts being nearby (such as #27 Flying banshee).
The other plus about 100 Ways to Become a Ghost is that some of the entries can help define your setting, or bring a little bit of background into the game with them. For example, #39 Forgotten by descendants, implies the culture the ghost came from practices some form or ancestor worship. Why else would a neglected ancestor become a ghost? That entry can help shape the culture, country, or even entire world of your game setting. Do all the people believe in ancestor worship? What kind of rituals or celebrations do they have? How do they feel about Clerics and Raise Dead spells? So in addition to giving GMs a quick way to generate an interesting origin for the ghost the PCs just encountered, it also gives them seeds for setting ideas.
Plus, you really can't beat the $1 price tag. :)
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I must confess to being a bigger fan of the new World of Darkness system than the old. Therefore, I was somewhat disappointed that these didn’t contain any conversions. (Those looking for conversion rules, check out the Vampire Translation Guide.) To be fair, this contains exactly what is promised, which is a celebration of Vampire: The Masquerade.
You can see what the book contains just by reading the product description, so I won't get into that. Instead, I will briefly go over how much more is offered here than in the Revised edition.
Chapter One: A World of Darkness
Pretty much the same in both editions, although the Anniversary edition presents it in a slightly more logical order.
Chapter Two: Sects and Clans
Again, the same. The Anniversary edition presents all of the sects first and then the clans.
Chapter Three: Character and Traits
This is where the Anniversary edition starts offering more; there are more backgrounds. The presentation of Humanity has been moved to a later chapter.
Chapter Four: Disciplines
As promised, the Anniversary edition presents powers up to nine dots.
Chapter Five: Rules
About the same.
Chapter Six: Systems and Drama
About the same.
Chapter Seven:
Revised gives us history and the Anniversary edition gives us morality. Morality is where you can find a look at Humanity and the Paths of Enlightment in the Anniversary edition.
Chapter Eight: Storytelling
The Anniversary edition provides more troubleshooting and addition situations.
Chapter Nine: Antagonists or Others
Surprisingly similar. The Anniversary edition moves the bestiary from the Revised's appendix to here.
Chapter Ten: Bloodlines (Anniversary only)
This includes all of the bloodlines, including ones like True Brujah. Considering the Anniversary pdf is only about $11 more, this addition might make it worth it on its own.
Appendix
The Anniversary edition has moved and expanded the Ghoul rules.
Who should buy it?
Those who love Vampire: The Requiem but have never played Vampire: The Masquerade. There’s no better starting point than this set.
Those who love Vampire: The Masquerade and want all of this material in one set. These are the types that bought D&D’s Rules Compendium despite owning all of the 3.5 rulebooks.
Those looking to get a gift for that gamer in their life.
Who shouldn’t buy it?
Those new to Vampire or the World of Darkness. The new World of Darkness and Vampire: The Requiem are the ones to get. Masquerade has arguably the better setting, but Requiem has a cleaner system and its setting is more streamlined, making it better for new players.
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While not entirely to my tastes, Crypts & Things is definitely still one of the better Old School Renaissance games that I've read through recently. It's a darker toned game, drawing inspiration from the works of Clark Ashton Smith, Fritz Leiber, Robert E. Howard, and even a little H.P. Lovecraft. As a result, it's closer to the Weird Fantasy Swords & Sorcery genre rather than the "classic" fantasy of J.R.R. Tolkein and the more recent fantasy role-playing games.
I'll get the few little things I dislike about the system out of the way first and then move on. At the top of this list is the "to hit" tables. Yes, back in the day lots of role-playing game systems used tables to determine the results of certain actions, especially combat. Currently though, tables are seen as being rather clunky and outdated as they tend to take time to read and can slow down the flow of the game. I get the feeling that the author included the "to hit" tables to make the game feel a bit more "old school" but I could have done without them. Thankfully the author included a formula for determining hits without using the tables, but it's tucked away at the end of the Combat section and easy to miss.
The other little nit-picky thing I dislike about the system is the two Armor Class systems presented. One is the classic descending system (with AC9 being unarmored and AC3 being platemail) and the other the more recent ascending system (with AC10 being unarmored and AC16 being platemail). Both systems work well and effects that modify Armor Class (such as stat bonuses, armor, and spell effects) have rules for both systems. But Just like the "to hit" tables vs. the "to hit" formula, I wish that there was just a single mechanic rather than two options for the players and GM to choose from. This is really just personal choice though, and other people may love the fact that two combat systems are included in the book.
On to things I like about the system and setting. The "saving throw as skill resolution" rubbed my the wrong way at first, but now I actually like it. It's a nice simple way to resolve skill checks without having to keep track of skill points or remembering what skills the PCs are trained in. As a character's saving throw increases as they advance in levels, players will feel as if their characters are getting better without having to spend resources to improve a specific skill. The Crypt Keeper (DM/GM) also has the freedom to apply subjective bonuses/penalties based on the situation, instead of having to pour through a list of specific modifiers for specific skills in specific situations.
Magic seemed rather unbalanced when I first read the Magician class entry. Magic is divided into three schools; White, Grey, and Black. Mechanically, White magicians are at a big advantage over Grey and Black magicians. White magicians have no penalty when casting spells, while Grey magicians suffer exhaustion, and Black magicians risk sanity point loss and permanent mental damage. I thought it was odd to have one type of magic so clearly superior to other types, yet list all three as options for players to choose for their characters. Only after reading the Appendix did I discover why this is. As mentioned in the introduction, Crypts & Things takes it's cues from the darker, Weird Fantasy Sword & Sorcery genre. Magic is intended to be dark and mysterious, used primarily by corrupt and insane wizards for nefarious and unspeakable purposes. It's not really meant to be heavily used by the player characters, as in the more "standard" fantasy games. Magicians are clearly the "bad guys" and the mechanics of magic use reflect this. The hefty penalties imposed on Grey and Black magicians are there to be reminders of that fact. Characters who follow these paths are meddling with the forces that man was not meant to know, and are walking the razor's edge with a dangerous drop into insanity on either side. Once you accept this fact, the magic rules make sense.
The Appendix is also quite useful, even if you don't plan on running a Crypts & Things game. There is a nice section on the role of the Crypt Keeper and the do's and don'ts of running the game that can be applied when GMing just about any system. There's a few sections that allow you to generate random objects, areas, elements, and even the Big Bad that can be used when the players head off in an unexpected direction or to jump start the Crypt Keeper's creativity when planning a session. Crypts & Things is worth the price tag, whether you plan on running an "old school" game or are just looking for ideas on a darker Swords & Sorcery variant.
You can find other reviews on the Idle Red Hands homepage at http://www.idleredhands.com/
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Panopticon is a great supplement for Eclipse Phase that discusses three separate areas of the game setting.
Part one explains how the transparent society of EP came about, how it functions, and how people function in it. There are sections about how identification works when individuals can change bodies at will, the ethics of a transparent society, and surveillance/counter-surveillance technology. Part two details the different kinds of habitats, the various systems contained therein, and a general discussion of the difficulties of life in space. The last part is a great discussion on uplifts, including more information on the various types (including several new ones) and the social issues surrounding them.
As with other Eclipse Phase books, this one starts out with a short story and puts all the game related information in the back. This title is a great resource for GMs and players alike, as each section sheds a lot of light on how various parts of the EP setting work. Anyone interested in playing as an uplift would do well to read the relevant section of this book, as would anyone interested in playing as a hacker.
Panopticon is a great read, even if you don't intend on running or playing in an Eclipse Phase game. It is well worth the $10.00 price tag.
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I’m going to be honest with you. If I had relied on the cover and the name, I would have passed this product over. That would have been a big mistake. I’m not saying that the cover art is badly done, but it makes me think of a renaissance fair more than the kind of medieval game I’d want to play in. What’s inside, however, is exactly what I want to play in.
I got this product because it’s made by Alephtar Games, the same company who made Rome: The Life and Death of the Republic, one of the better role-playing supplements to come out in the last few years. Both use the Basic Roleplaying system, and both provide a wealth of information for their respective periods of history.
Merrie England covers chivalry, the Crusades, religion and heresies, ransoming (with suggested prices), disease, myths and numerous other aspects of 12th and 13th century England and Europe. It gives you what you need to play a realistic medieval game and it gives you the ability to infuse magic and myth into a realist medieval game. I especially liked how it uses piety, pilgrimages and blessings to create the kind of divine-based characters you’d find in a more traditional medieval role-playing game (i.e., fantasy). It gives you the stats for three types of warhorses plus the stats for a palfrey (common riding horse). It details mythical creatures from England plus angels, demons and Islamic creatures. It details all the ways you can die, through disease to warfare, plus the afterlife. After reading through the book, I didn’t think, “Yeah, but what about X?” It seemed to cover just about everything.
It’s not just a history book with some fantasy elements sprinkled in, although I found it interesting to read just for that. This product offers a lot of ideas on how to use the information, like the helpful example on Astrology and the boxes outlining scenario hooks. There’s even a sample campaign at the end. I like it when games do this. Sample adventures can really help a gamemaster navigate a new setting or system.
For a black and white book without a large art budget, it says a lot about the content that it deserves to be given five stars. Sure, there are a few typos, but this is a well-researched, solid product. I will definitely be looking to get more historical RPG products from Alephtar Games to add to my collection.
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This is one of the better gaming surprises I've had in long time. I had originally bought this book just to keep my Jihad collection complete, but this is one of the best Battletech RPG supplements to date. This isn't the book for those looking for a lot of mech stats (there's one) or crunch for the miniature game (not a lot here either), but it is for those interested in some great ideas for the role-playing game or just to read about the Battletech universe. Fans of the novels may be happy to see information on Uncle Chandy or the Clan scientist conspiracy. They also may be happy to see other parts of the universe explored, like those living in the Terran system's asteroid belt.
As the title suggests, this is a follow up to the original Interstellar Players and focuses, for the most part, on different organizations within the Battletech universe. The original book isn't needed to use this book, though. Also, the "Jihad" part of the title is a bit misleading as the Jihad isn't central to a lot of the book. Actually, a lot of the book could be used in any science fiction game. The chapter on FTL travel, Mysteries of the Void, has enough mystery for three campaigns (e.g., What happens to jumpships when they go missing?). However, you can still get your Jihad on with entries on Devlin Stone, Thuggees, etc. Even Mysteries of the Void has ideas on how it can be incorporated into a Jihad campaign.
Since giant mechs play such a large role in the universe, it's understandable that people, particularly those that haven't read any of the fiction, might have a little trouble imagining a game outside of the cockpit. It's this book's ability to open up the Battletech universe (corporations, assassins, scientists, ancients, etc.) that make it essential for any gamemaster or Battletech enthusiast.
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I'll start this off by saying that I picked this product up mostly to see what a third-party Savage Worlds fantasy adventure module would look like. I didn't realize that this title was actually the fifth in a series of linked adventures for the Kith'takharos setting. After noticing that though, I had hoped that the story hooks and plot line would be generic enough to use in any campaign.
While that is true, there is a lot of setting specific background and material that would have to be stripped away to do so. I felt rather lost reading through the adventure background at the beginning of the module as there is a lot of information there. The specific world setting rules are available for free on the publisher's website, but it would have been nice to have everything contained in one package.
It also would have been nice if the authors had put the referenced maps, diagrams, and NPC stats closer to the relevant text. These things are all located at the back of the book, meaning the GM will have to do a lot of flipping back and forth. The adventure also seems a bit short as well. Only about half of the 42 pages are devoted to the adventure proper (including maps, NPCs stats, and new item rules), the remainder of the book is setting background and information on the world and the situation.
So, while the adventure could be used in a generic campaign, it takes just a bit too much work to do so.
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Creator Reply: |
I appreciate the comments. I am already giving them a lot of thought, because I am always interested in improving our work.
As mentioned in the review, all of the setting information is not included in the adventure, but is available for free on our web site. We wrestled for a long time with how much setting information to include in the adventure. We just could not include everything because of the amount of setting material, and e did not want to include the entire setting with every adventure.
I think the locations of the maps, etc. in the PDF are reasonable. It is pretty common in RPG adventures to include the maps at the end of an adventure. They always be printed to be referenced at any time.
I also have some questions for the reviewer. Did you think the adventure was interesting? Do you think it would be fun to play? I wish you had talked about that. |
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50 Fathoms Explorer's Edition Player's Guide is a nice little book of nautical heroism for the Savage Worlds system. It introduces a hefty selection of new Edges and Hindrances, gear, and setting rules that really bring out the swashbuckling theme. There is a whole section on ships including deck maps, mechanics on how to navigate and sail them, how to crew them and how to make sure the sailors get paid enough to not mutiny.
The included setting of Caribdus seems a bit like a aquatic-themed D&D. There are eight new races (not including humans) which makes the world feel rather cramped to me, especially given the small amount of dry land available. The setting is definitely high fantasy, with a few new appropriate spells and spell trappings. These elements are easy enough to strip out if you wanted to run a mundane swashbuckling campaign, though. I could even see these rules being used to run a steampunk style game, with flying galleons and sky pirates.
Basically, 50 Fathoms EEPG is a great resource at a great price for players and GMs looking to add some high seas adventure to their games.
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Stars Without Number: Core Edition delivers exactly what it promises; an Old School Renaissance retro science-fiction role-playing experience. Players can choose between one of three classes for their character that are essentially a futuristic version of the classic warrior, wizard, and rogue, but then also select Background Packages and Training Packages to make their character unique.
SWN:CE has some nice mechanics that were absent from the earlier games it is inspired by. It really makes this system feel like a game that is attempting to capture the feel of old school gaming while not just simply reprinting out-dated rules in a new format.
There is a lot in this book. Psionics, starships, mecha, robots, aliens, and AI just to name a few. I could see a GM using only a few of these elements to create a more hard sci-fi setting, possibly dropping psionics entirely.
Even if you don't intend on running this game, I would recommend picking up this title simply for the GM's section. It has great, system neutral rules for creating entire sectors of space, the planets they contain, and the factions, governments, and societies on them. There is also a sample sector that you can start playing in right away, or adapt for use in another game. I highly recommend this book.
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RGP Creatures - Bestiary 1 is a collection of 50 fantastic, full-page color illustrations of truly fantastic creatures. The artwork is simply top-notch and I would expect to pay well over $10 for the images alone. But each entry is also accompanied by about a page's worth of text that includes a description of appearance and habits, powers and abilities, and and system neutral game information.
The game information is obviously written with the D20 system in mind, as each creature has the six "classic" attributes and assumes an average human ranges between 3 to 18 in them. But the author was kind enough to include a baseline in other areas, such as protection and damage, that make it pretty easy to convert the number to just about any system.
If I had one comment about the creatures in this book, it would be that they are slightly too fantastic for my tastes. Most of them have some magic powers or supernatural ability, and they would probably work best in a high-magic fantasy campaign. Some of them could work in a space opera type game too as they have a bit of an extraterrestrial or alien feel to them.
Simply put, the creatures in this book are special and would be best used as the center-piece of a fantasy adventure.
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This book is firmly in the fluff camp of RPG supplements. In fact, if you can’t get enough 40K fluff and art (yes, you’ll recognize pieces), then this could be a five-star product for you. As you would expect from a Fantasy Flight 40K product, this book looks good. There are over a hundred gorgeous pages of history, planet descriptions, characters and adventure seeds to read through. The book details (and by “details”, I mean writes about, not stats out) the Tyranid threat, the Chaos menace and the Tau presence in the Jericho Reach. There are a few beautiful star maps and lots of flavor.
What keeps this from being a five-star product for me, however, is the lack crunch. There’s a new relic and deed in the book, and there are some intriguing antagonists, the colony of nanoscopic robots called simuloptera being my favorite. The rules on how to play interactions with a particular Imperial commander also look like a lot fun. It left me wanting more, though. The star maps and art had me hoping for a starship deck plan. The Commander Ebongrave rules made me wish that all NPCs had their own rules.
The first rule of show business is that you should always leave them wanting more, and this book definitely did that. It also made me want to play in the Jericho Reach.
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As I mentioned in another review, I'm not a big fan of the Savage Worlds system. That being said, I would gladly play in a Savage Worlds game if we were using this as our setting. Heck, I actually want to run a Savage Worlds game using this setting. Beasts & Barbarians really captures the spirit and flavor of the pulp sword & sorcery stories. Magic is rare and dangerous, and mighty heroes solve problems with cunning and the edge of their swords.
Part of my problem with the standard Savage Worlds rules is how undeveloped the social skills, Edges, and mechanics felt to me. Social characters never feel as effective or as useful as more physical characters. Beasts & Barbarians doesn't change that mechanically, but what it does do is create a game setting where that seems right. Just like the source material it draws from, social interactions in this game are going to mostly focus on intimidation, seduction, and taunting.
In addition to the social aspect, the author has done a great job of creating other rule modifications that really make the system match the setting. The book has frequent sidebars that discuss the pulp sword & sorcery genre, while gives a nice insight into why certain rules are the way they are. Wrap this all up in a gorgeously illustrated book with a richly detailed game world complete with a bestiary and a sample adventure, and you have a product that is well worth the asking price. Highly recommended.
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