A rules heavy old style game. They covered the topic well; but have 30 possible hit locations and this was before the D30.

If you like old school; you will enjoy this. It reminds me of Advanced D&D; but really covers the topic with rules and I mean lots of them.

Striving for "realism" over style. This baby is for you.

If you a re looking for a quick fantasy start for new characters this is it. Other than that, it is not really a module; but could be part of a world to start new characters.

My rating is mostly based on a slightly misleading product description.

You should know what you are getting.

A no frills publication. It has a interesting space setting; but really fails to deliver on the game part.

It reminded me of some of the "d20" supplements that you might pull the background from and maybe some new feats.

This game covers the time past the "singularity", a time hard to imagine. The rules are different than almost every other game; but so is the topic.

Give this a whirl if you want to explore "really high tech". I mean way out there. It could be a valuable supplement to any high tech game even steam punk.

Mad Max meets Auto duel. The emphasis seems more on the vehicles than the players; but the player mechanics are good enough to "drive" it.

This could be a valuable tool for parts of other games "after the bomb" that neglect the topic.

It does stand alone and is playable from a character point of view.

The author has a barbarian world in mind with lite "steam punk" elements. I bought a source book and it really was fantastic. Much better than the initial game. In the source book, the author really shines and the source book could fit into many campaigns.

If you are looking for a barbarian game, this touches it but doesn't deliver. The setting books are fantastic.

This has no real rules mechanics. It is more a very detailed "what if" scenario. Primarily intended for space games, it could work in other games.

Repeat, no rules mechanics. This is not stand alone unless you want a diceless story telling game with no real rules, just some neat flavor.

A lot of people stressed over the "play yourself idea. Its a point buy with some descriptors on a few attributes. Don't worry about it.

The playing yourself is actually kind of neat and the rules stress "version" of yourself. Playing a version could be useful in real life situations. Many of the people in Katrina had no prep on vital meds. This helps you consider.

Other than this ability, it is a rules lite game. A little to lite. It would work for a few evenings; but would be hard for a campaign.

Its real worth is making people really think about problems and zombies are a backdrop. Even if you use the alternate rules and want to play a black ops. character, you still need to think.

Get this product if you are interest in using a game to really consider: earthquakes, floods, etc. It may save your life.

A couple of pages of fun. They could have handled it a little more seriously; but that didn't seem to be the intent. If you are looking for something to add to your campaign, this isn't it. looking for a good joke and maybe something for a humor campaign, a good buy.

I gave this four stars only because it could be expanded with better rules explanations, especially when they depart from traditional 3.5 rules.

That being said. This is a stand alone game that could fit many genres. I am going to try a setting book to see how it covers the setting.

I am actually fairly burnt out on 3.5. So many products just never delivered. Even Pathfinder could have been done with patch notes. This is not one of them. It can spice up any 3.5 rules you are using or possibly replace them.

It seems they learned where some 3.5 games went wrong and tried to fix it. I am still a little unsure of some of the mechanics; but it is very "tweekable".

I can not strongly enough encourage this product for anyone still playing 3.5 or played it and abandoned it.

Oh, the art work is almost worth the price. Very stylized and inspiring. I wanted to use these rules for a fantasy campaign; but the art really fueled the imagination.

The premise was a good idea; its been done. This seemed like it could be a new and interesting way of handling the topic. I haven't used the Cypher System; but it seemed overly complicated and, most importantly, limiting. Combat seemed to rely on "crits". It also lack a good dynamic for not being a "Story Telling" game. During a play test, I quit caring about the rolls at one point and hoped someone would die so it would end.

The topic to travelling between different realities is a good one. I played Amber Diceless for many years. I realize this game was not going to be that kind of travel; but the method this game uses, well, sucks. It seems like try to go somewhere, get there or not, maybe do something and comeback. The translation process kinda means you lose any gains you got from travelling. Worse, it means a different character sheet for each place. Worse, a character concept goes right out the portal. If I want to play a blind, female elf with Turrets. I'll roll one up. I admit that some of the translations could prove to be fun to play. Changing almost every time destroys character concept. "At home I'm an account, here I am a dragonslayer and there I am a speechless droid."

I had anticipated this game and read all the reviews. After I got the game, I wondered if I had the one they reviewed. RIFTS was a little too mathy and I had hoped with the promise of the Cypher System that a better way to handle changing worlds had been developed.

The book had excellent production values and I don't really just want to trash a game and it does have some well written, usable material.

I took a gamble that it was worth the 19.99 price for a "download". Very disappointed.

Ok, scan pretty crappy. Reading glasses helped.

Ok, why bother with something that that is that difficult to read? Because this is like the ultimate GDW game.

Not the rules. Not even exactly the setting.

I still have my first Traveller books from the boxed set. Almost 30 years ago exactly (it was a Christmas present), I started Traveller. The rules have never been its strongest point. Well and even the setting. To me what made Traveller "Traveler" was it was limitless worlds and cultures to explore. Each planet held such a vast realm of possibility. I have tried Mega, Advanced and T20.

Still I went back to basic. Overhauled the skill list. Modified the combat system. Tweeked the Power Plant fuel on starship design. Why no cell phones? Of course they have cell phones! But a Traveller communicator is Solid State, it works under all conditions. Same reason Marines use cutlasses and they use guns and not ray beams.

Twilight 2000, the original, was another love affair and I accepted her through all her awkwardness.

Finally, they have met.

Its been 16 years since Strephon's assassination and the whole Imperium gets nuked! Traveller made your character generation the end of gaining anything for the most part. Changing a number for the positive practically impossible. With this in mind, those characters make the perfect "survivors". Don't wait generations. What do you want mutations? Traveller TNE has done what Traveller did in the first place. Their are almost an infinite number of worlds to explore. just this time they are destroyed.

This may be the greatest version of Twilight ever made. Lose that APC in Poland. now that Tramp Free Trader may be the only one left in the ruins of a sector and the drives need an overhaul.

Traveller was never Star Wars or Star Trek. It was limited; but that to me made it limitless. The strange aliens were what Man could become if left alone for 500 years or simply chose to diverge that way. Star Wars was all flash and Star Trek was alien of the week and how really we are all the same deep down.

Traveller was about how everyone deep down was different and imperfect. Mankind finds a race that lives harmoniously by reading each other's thoughts. We declare war!

Do I recommend you buy it? Only if you love Traveller or the idea of Traveller. This rule system may work for you, if not, find one of Traveller's rule sets that do. This will sound messed up; but...

Marc Miller created a timeless game and setting. And the best thing that ever happened to it, is destroying it!

This will take Traveller my game for probably the rest of my life. 30 years of experiencing it and another 30 surviving it. I can't wait to figure out how to make a planet full of zombies! And every other way to destroy the Imperium!

This is a hard game to rate. It is a cool idea and its free! But, it feels like owning a #1 of some comic book. Am I going to show it to my friends? Yes. Do anything with it? Probably not. Another reviewer remarked that this would make a nice "one off". I agree; but it felt so much like that because it is not a role playing game.

What is Role-Playing?

How many times have we read that essay? Mythender is great game. the idea is beyond cool; however it kinda left the role playing out. OD&D wants a maze of monsters to a big fight. Story telling wants a good story until the big fight.

Mythender reminds me of that old cartoon. "Hey, I did it! I rolled a 20. I cut off Odin's head!"

Though it talks a lot about "losing your humanity", it feels like goth vampires sulking. This is an epic battle game. It is hard to role play when you can't "hide". In "Highlander" people felt "funny" around the Immortals. Hard to nip off to the tavern when the room full of a God's faithful are doing the same.

The concept of this is great and I would love to use the setting for a role-playing game. The "Amber Engine" might have been an interesting choice for creating the balance of god killing and role-playing. Odd that the absence of dice would work better than 100s of dice.

Should you download this? HELL YEA! I would buy a print copy for my collection and shamelessly steal ideas from it. It could be a fun game at conventions, where people are waiting in line to get their crack at Odin and enjoying the epic battles before theirs. I would like to see this idea developed into an actual RPG without feeling like I'm reaching for the RP part. Sure, it is bad ass.

Much as every RPG begins their game with "What is Role Playing" as a an epic begins with a call to the Muses, I feel this could be a great RPG or another type of game. In those epic poems, the hero had to make the "hero's journey". He did not just grab an arm full of dice an roll for iniative on a god. In the "300", the God King bleeds. Then the 300 are stomped to death.

Starting at the end of the dungeon and fighting "totally awesomely" denies role playing, no matter how good the hand full of dice, the flagon of mead and that horned helmet you got at Ren Faire feel.

Perhaps the best "generic" RPG that doesn't use an abstract or "storytelling" system; however it does have a few problems.

Let me say first, Savage Worlds was one of the best gaming investments I have ever made. I really wanted to rate this game a 5; but the "problems" with the book make it a 4, sadly. It is easy to use, yet highly detailed. It is completely customizable without major rules modifications.

In game design, you are forced to make judgment calls and people will not always agree if Tracking is part of the Survival skill or a stand alone one. With SW, the GM uses his "setting rules" to make some of these "splits". My major problem with the game, however, is some fairly "silly" inaccuracies and some holes in basic mechanics.

This may sound very nitpicky; but the rules use a six foot "inch" "to be compatible with 28mm miniatures". Huh!? Even if two companies made the same size 28mm miniatures, 5 feet to would be more correct than six feet. 1/72 miniatures are exactly 1"=6'; but even 25mm miniatures are not 1"=6'. Problem fixed, easy enough, 5 foot or 6 foot squares depending on your miniatures.

The miniature conversion is just an example of some of the mistakes that were made translating "real world" items. Is a 44 Magnum more powerful than a 357 Magnum? Open to debate and may very with setting. At what point does a knife shift from "Improvised Weapon" to "d4 Weapon", the same. When does a Great Sword weigh 12 pounds, cause a -1 to your parry and is usable by a d12 Strength without penalty, only is a very particular setting. While I can "believe" a Maul could way 20 pounds (heavier than a 16 pound sledge hammer), the "core" rule book should not have said "Great Sword". "Barbarian Sword" could be a setting weapon. A Great Sword is real and weighs is at about 8 pounds and is EXCELLENT for parrying.

Again, I am not trying to nitpick. I have lived for years with D&D having a Short Sword, Long Sword and Bastard Sword when a Long Sword is a Bastard Sword; but they have a specific setting for their game. They can call an Arming Sword whatever they want! The core book lists the weight of armor and states that it weighs "much more when not being worn". Many U.S. Soldiers will be grateful that their Flak Jackets are only heavy when they are not wearing them. Well, until they put them on. I understand that listing an "Encumbrance Weight" is different than "actual weight". This is a split the Designer has to make and a "setting" may change it further.

In conclusion, Savage World is a MUST have game. They have even secured the rights to some games that have been "dead" for years and for many of them, conversion to Savage Worlds was a necessary improvement. The mechanics handle man to man and larger battles with the same ease and rules. Character generation is simple; but creates unique characters quickly. The core book is extremely useful in helping create your own campaigns and offers several ready to play.

With only minor adjustments this game could easily become an industry standard. I play in a lot of settings and this will probably become my new game engine for most of them. I just hate making "house rules" where those rules could have been easily addressed in the core book. I don't know if one is available; but it would also be nice to have a Players' Manual with just the character generation and basic rules.

Unfortunately, the DMs part of the rules that is suppose to put the "flavor" of the world in place is out of print. I have tried to research as much of it as I can.

I ran a D&D Ravenloft campaign and used the Mighty Fortress sourcebook. Scary seemed a lot scarier when you had a black powder pistol loaded with silver to kill that werewolf, except for the damn mist that may have fouled the powder.

I would love to see the "flavor" part of the game. The download is just the basic mechanics and someone could easily use them to create their own world. From what I have read, LotFP is a truly interesting idea and hopefully the rest will be available again.

As it stands, this version is a good take on OD&D with more fleshed out information on how that style of world would work as part of its basic mechanics. It is well written and has a particular attention to detail.