Ringing in the new year by finally catching up on some old reviews!
Panopticon (Posthuman Studios) is the first of possibly several in a series of catch-all books cover parts of the Eclipse Phase setting that can't quite warrant their own book and don't fit into the theme of other planned books. The three topics that are detailed here are: surveillance/sousveillance, space habitats, and uplifts. The book itself is gorgeous as is the norm for the Eclipse Phase line. The books are worth it for the art (especially check out the O'Neill cylinder for the Habitats chapter opener p 52-53!). It also has the nifty ribbon bookmark which has become common in the Eclipse Phase books. The binding does seem rather fragile though. During the first read through it was already starting to crack and looked dangerously close to losing some pages. Panopticon is the first self published (think that is the correct term at least) Eclipse Phase book after going through some troubles with previous publishers so the binding may just be growing pains related to that.
Onto the book itself! The first section on surveillance (watching from above) and sousveillance (watching from below) deals with the effects of ubiquitous tracking and observation that comes with a high tech society who are always plugged and have easy access to a variety of forms of monitoring. Simply put due to the ability to watch everyone does setting up a society that can literally watch the watchers in many cases. Naturally the resultant outlook on privacy changes greatly with such a plugged in society. This section felt the least useful from a new setting information perspective. The concept of sousveillance was new and not one covered heavily in the core book so that is useful. Also useful is how people go about thwarting it. Overall the discussions just felt a bit wordy as if it could have been written more concisely. Specific details on how surveillance devices work, etc are also described and that will be more useful to players who need new ways to spy on other people.
The habitats section provides a good overview of the different types of habitats. Arguably this might be the most straightforwardly useful portion of the book as some of these habitat types are not exactly familiar to the average layman. There is also detail on the life in a habitat including hazards to spice things up if need be. Finally a close look at the various system/subsystems that make the habitats run. This section can be a bit dry as a lot of the information is very technical. However, it's highly likely that at some point someone will need to break into or disrupt a habitat and this will certainly supply the gamemaster with a wide variety of ways to allow the players to do exactly that. (And coincidentally be able to use all those wonderful surveillance techniques from the previous chapter to make it a challenge for the players at the same time!)
The final chapter is on uplifts. This is the chapter that might interest players the most as it lays the groundwork for a bunch of new morphs. It lays out the history of the uplift process as well as how exactly the process works. The various types of uplifts are covered in detail as well expanding up what the core book has. The variety here is impressive although personally I have to admit that I wish a neo-elphenant had survived so we could get stats on that. The diversity here is impressive. Fickle players looking for an interesting uplift should be able to find something that tickles their tastes. Finally the chapter takes a look at the very diverse groups who revolve around uplifts and their rights. Uplifts may be one of the most divisive issues within the Eclipse Phase world and with that comes a colorful array of organizations that players can get entangled with.
The finally chapter provides mechanical information that has been presented earlier in the book. Loads of new morphs and tons of surveillance devices abound. Players and gamemasters alike should find all sorts of fun things to play with.
Final thoughts: This book did not match up to Sunward or Gatecrashing for me but still a good buy. If uplifts feature greatly in your Eclipse Phase campaign I would argue that this book becomes a must as the information here is extensive and the additional cast of uplifts who enter the fray are great. The Eclipse Phase line sets the bar high everytime and this is no exception.
Available in print* and PDF.
Links: Amazon, DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight, also available as a bit torrent for free since all Eclipse Phase products are Creative Commons licensed
Up next: Charnel Houses of Europe: The Shoah (Wraith: The Oblivion)
Friday, December 30, 2011
Changeling: The Lost
Changeling: The Lost (White Wolf) is the new World of Darkness' take on Changeling. If you're familiar with Changeling: The Dreaming this is quite a different feel although if you're at all familiar with the tone of the new World of Darkness this should not be terribly surprising. The book itself is very attractive with one of the better covers of the new core books. Binding is good (something that can be iffy on White Wolf books at times) and art is a good representative of the feel that the book itself invokes.
Changelings represent people who've been abducted by the True Fae at some point in the past and have spent time in Faerie (referred to also as Arcadia). Eventually they manage to escape their abductors and find their way back through the Hedge (the barrier between our world and Arcadia). However rarely do they find happiness when they return. In their place a simulacrum called a Fetch has replaced them so no one is even aware they are gone. Worse they have been changed by Arcadia becoming half-Fae taking on aspects of whatever their masters had them represent or do in that realm. Having fought their way home they now find that it is not really home anymore. This is the lot of The Lost.
This fairly evocative set-up lays out the theme and feel of the whole book. Sort of a sad, behind the scenes despair of a non-homecoming and a struggle to keep going from there. This theme is very strongly reinforced throughout the book that happiness is a struggle for the changelings. Between battling the loss of their old homes, the mental and spiritual damage caused by the True Fae, and the changes to their very beings Changelings face a myriad of challenges to coping with everyday life. This bleakness saturates the writing almost overmuch as in some cases it's hard to see why most changelings haven't outright committed suicide in face of such negative circumstances. There is little to no hope presented. While this holds to the outlook of the World of Darkness as a bleak and depressing place this felt a bit overdone. Hunter: The Vigil gave a better hope at least winning some small battles even if the larger war might never be won. It felt like Changeling lacked even that small hope.
Changelings aren't left entirely defenseless. They do have a system of courts that provide varying levels of structure and support to local freeholds (freeholds being the name given to a local society of Changelings). Their true form is also hidden from mortal eyes by the Mask hiding their true mien allowing them to walk amongst the regular human throng. Changelings also have access to powers called Contracts giving them an edge over the normal mortal. These power stems from their Fae roots. Where their former Fae masters or powerful Changelings have negotiated certain responses from a concept in Arcadia allowing them to manipulate that concept in our world. They also have the ability to create exacting Pledges which are binding promises with consequences, durations, etc all determinable allowing for interesting roleplay especially for devious players or storytellers.
Characters themselves have a Seeming which represents what they did in Arcadia. So a Changeling who acted as his master's hunting hound might have a Beast Seeming. Narrowly defining the Seemings can be done by selecting a Kith which indicates a more specific aptitude. Most characters will also select a Court. These Courts represent the political/idealogical outlook of character. In the core book the four courts represent the seasons. It is entirely possible to have a courtless Changeling but they tend to be mistrusted by those who are aligned and also limits their access to some Contracts.
Changeling caters well to a variety of play types although for once it feels that players who enjoying politicking, negotiations, and more socially aspected games may find more to enjoy in this then other World of Darkness games. Given the ever-shifting nature of the freehold courts and the general paranoia of Changelings and the overpowering scary of the True Fae direct combat seems less likely an option in many cases. Interestingly the True Fae could be used a big bad for nearly any World of Darkness campaign (especially cross-overs) as they represent a threat to all creatures that reside on Earth. The True Fae would surely be interested as much in a vampire or werewolf (at least for curiosity's sake) as a regular human. Some broad campaign ideas could be developed there!
Final thoughts: if you're looking for a dynamic but bleak game with a touch of madness thrown in this may be your game. If you want to expand your World of Darkness collection you definitely want to pick this up. If you are looking to play Fae-touched superheroes you're going to be disappointed or spending a lot of time rejiggering the system to your tastes.
Available in print* and pdf.
Links: DriveThruRPG, Amazon, Noble Knight
Next Up: Panopticon (Eclipse Phase)
Changelings represent people who've been abducted by the True Fae at some point in the past and have spent time in Faerie (referred to also as Arcadia). Eventually they manage to escape their abductors and find their way back through the Hedge (the barrier between our world and Arcadia). However rarely do they find happiness when they return. In their place a simulacrum called a Fetch has replaced them so no one is even aware they are gone. Worse they have been changed by Arcadia becoming half-Fae taking on aspects of whatever their masters had them represent or do in that realm. Having fought their way home they now find that it is not really home anymore. This is the lot of The Lost.
This fairly evocative set-up lays out the theme and feel of the whole book. Sort of a sad, behind the scenes despair of a non-homecoming and a struggle to keep going from there. This theme is very strongly reinforced throughout the book that happiness is a struggle for the changelings. Between battling the loss of their old homes, the mental and spiritual damage caused by the True Fae, and the changes to their very beings Changelings face a myriad of challenges to coping with everyday life. This bleakness saturates the writing almost overmuch as in some cases it's hard to see why most changelings haven't outright committed suicide in face of such negative circumstances. There is little to no hope presented. While this holds to the outlook of the World of Darkness as a bleak and depressing place this felt a bit overdone. Hunter: The Vigil gave a better hope at least winning some small battles even if the larger war might never be won. It felt like Changeling lacked even that small hope.
Changelings aren't left entirely defenseless. They do have a system of courts that provide varying levels of structure and support to local freeholds (freeholds being the name given to a local society of Changelings). Their true form is also hidden from mortal eyes by the Mask hiding their true mien allowing them to walk amongst the regular human throng. Changelings also have access to powers called Contracts giving them an edge over the normal mortal. These power stems from their Fae roots. Where their former Fae masters or powerful Changelings have negotiated certain responses from a concept in Arcadia allowing them to manipulate that concept in our world. They also have the ability to create exacting Pledges which are binding promises with consequences, durations, etc all determinable allowing for interesting roleplay especially for devious players or storytellers.
Characters themselves have a Seeming which represents what they did in Arcadia. So a Changeling who acted as his master's hunting hound might have a Beast Seeming. Narrowly defining the Seemings can be done by selecting a Kith which indicates a more specific aptitude. Most characters will also select a Court. These Courts represent the political/idealogical outlook of character. In the core book the four courts represent the seasons. It is entirely possible to have a courtless Changeling but they tend to be mistrusted by those who are aligned and also limits their access to some Contracts.
Changeling caters well to a variety of play types although for once it feels that players who enjoying politicking, negotiations, and more socially aspected games may find more to enjoy in this then other World of Darkness games. Given the ever-shifting nature of the freehold courts and the general paranoia of Changelings and the overpowering scary of the True Fae direct combat seems less likely an option in many cases. Interestingly the True Fae could be used a big bad for nearly any World of Darkness campaign (especially cross-overs) as they represent a threat to all creatures that reside on Earth. The True Fae would surely be interested as much in a vampire or werewolf (at least for curiosity's sake) as a regular human. Some broad campaign ideas could be developed there!
Final thoughts: if you're looking for a dynamic but bleak game with a touch of madness thrown in this may be your game. If you want to expand your World of Darkness collection you definitely want to pick this up. If you are looking to play Fae-touched superheroes you're going to be disappointed or spending a lot of time rejiggering the system to your tastes.
Available in print* and pdf.
Links: DriveThruRPG, Amazon, Noble Knight
Next Up: Panopticon (Eclipse Phase)
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Ravenloft Gazetteer: Volume 1
Note: Messing around with the format to try a more informal style. Maybe I can get some reviews out in a more timely matter this way...
The Ravenloft setting is an interesting departure from the standard D&D norms. Ultimately what peaked my interest in the setting was the oft-heard tale from R.A. Salvatore about why he loves gaming which is cursorily associated with Ravenloft. That got me to investigate further and turned up Sword & Sorcery Studios' 3.x D&D take on Ravenloft. I love setting information so naturally before I've even read the core campaign setting I started working through the gazetteers.
There are five books in the series that cover the world Ravenloft. Each covers a handful of nations from the perspective of a wandering scholar who has been commissioned by a mysterious patron to explore the realms and provide a write-up on each of them. The gazetteer is supposed to represent an real in world artifact that players could conceivably discover making for an interesting tie-in. The write-up also has some commentary from the mysterious patron providing additional insight to specific points.
The first book covers Barovia, Hazlan, Forlorn, and Kartakass with a DM's appendix. The scholar does his best to determine the zeitgeist of a given realm. He details the history, people, culture, geography, and major cities of each. I love general background and setting information and this being the essence of the book I ate it up. Each realm also has it's own unique monster issue which I suspect is exactly what defines each of them from each other. Interestingly while my initial impression of Ravenloft was a setting of isolated horror with each little village and city isolated from everything else by fear the book does a good job indicating exactly the opposite. People go about their lives and trade and travel amongst many of the nations. That's not to say they live without fear, the general populace a superstitious fearful lot, but they persevere on.
My biggest complaint about some of the setting information is how "cities" with a few thousand people are described as having very diverse and separated areas. From reading just the description it feels like a place with tens of thousands and then I get to the population stats and it's 2800 people. I've lived in small cities of less then a 1000 people and they really don't divide much like this. Granted in a fantasy setting set in a more medieval time my perceptions may be incorrect. It just felt like an inconsistency.
I would recommend this book if you like reading about setting information or if you're going to be spending a lot of time in the above mentioned realms. Otherwise it may not provide much use. Just read as a book this is phenomenal. This was one of the books I took for my flight to Japan and I raced through it!
Available: print*
Links: Noble Knight
Up next: Changeling: The Lost
The Ravenloft setting is an interesting departure from the standard D&D norms. Ultimately what peaked my interest in the setting was the oft-heard tale from R.A. Salvatore about why he loves gaming which is cursorily associated with Ravenloft. That got me to investigate further and turned up Sword & Sorcery Studios' 3.x D&D take on Ravenloft. I love setting information so naturally before I've even read the core campaign setting I started working through the gazetteers.
There are five books in the series that cover the world Ravenloft. Each covers a handful of nations from the perspective of a wandering scholar who has been commissioned by a mysterious patron to explore the realms and provide a write-up on each of them. The gazetteer is supposed to represent an real in world artifact that players could conceivably discover making for an interesting tie-in. The write-up also has some commentary from the mysterious patron providing additional insight to specific points.
The first book covers Barovia, Hazlan, Forlorn, and Kartakass with a DM's appendix. The scholar does his best to determine the zeitgeist of a given realm. He details the history, people, culture, geography, and major cities of each. I love general background and setting information and this being the essence of the book I ate it up. Each realm also has it's own unique monster issue which I suspect is exactly what defines each of them from each other. Interestingly while my initial impression of Ravenloft was a setting of isolated horror with each little village and city isolated from everything else by fear the book does a good job indicating exactly the opposite. People go about their lives and trade and travel amongst many of the nations. That's not to say they live without fear, the general populace a superstitious fearful lot, but they persevere on.
My biggest complaint about some of the setting information is how "cities" with a few thousand people are described as having very diverse and separated areas. From reading just the description it feels like a place with tens of thousands and then I get to the population stats and it's 2800 people. I've lived in small cities of less then a 1000 people and they really don't divide much like this. Granted in a fantasy setting set in a more medieval time my perceptions may be incorrect. It just felt like an inconsistency.
I would recommend this book if you like reading about setting information or if you're going to be spending a lot of time in the above mentioned realms. Otherwise it may not provide much use. Just read as a book this is phenomenal. This was one of the books I took for my flight to Japan and I raced through it!
Available: print*
Links: Noble Knight
Up next: Changeling: The Lost
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Cat
Cat (Wicked Dead Brewing Company) is an entertaining game about, naturally, cats. The book is a fun, quick read. The art is rather simple but fitting for the game. The premise is simply that cats have been tasked with protecting humans from invisible little creatures called boggins. Of course cats also have to contend with all sorts of other challenges from dogs to evil humans so their job is not an easy one. They also must foray into the realm of dreams to protect humans there. Due to its size the system is fairly simple. Cat's design leans stronger towards pick-up games rather then a long term campaign. The only issue that I ran across when reading was the challenge (as a cat owner) of getting a group of cats to work together. They are generally solitary creatures and the book does not cover terribly well why they would cooperate. As an interesting tie in at the end of the book there is a section on cat facts which is rather informative (and very amusingly written). Due to it's somewhat limited scope but amusing read I'd rate this a 7 out of 10.
Sadly this book is out of print* and not available for pdf. I'd recommend checking Noble Knight as they would have the greatest chance of picking up a used copy.
Up Next: Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume 1.
Sadly this book is out of print* and not available for pdf. I'd recommend checking Noble Knight as they would have the greatest chance of picking up a used copy.
Up Next: Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume 1.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
The Inner Sea World Guide
The Inner Sea World Guide acts as the campaign setting companion to Paizo's Pathfinder game line. This book is an update to the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting (which was released before the official Pathfinder rules had been released). Pathfinder if you aren't familiar is Paizo's updated take on the D&D 3.5 rules. The primary world on the material plane where the action takes place is named Golarion and Paizo packs a lot onto this planet to cover many different themes and moods.
The first chapter covers races in Golarion. These are your standard core races although there are several variations on humanity (mechanically all identical). The racial backgrounds are a bit different especially for gnomes. The authors don't shy away from doing things to make Golarion a little different then just a run of the mill campaign setting. The second chapter covers the Inner Sea and this is the meat and potatoes of the book. Here we get 4 page blurb on all the countries and regions that surround the Inner Sea. Each section covers history, government, and has a gazetteer of key places. All in all this gives you a decent high level view of an area that gives some places to see/investigate/avoid and enough information that a DM can extrapolate further upon with ease. The sheer diversity of places should support nearly any type of game style/desired setting. There are everything from communist military run nations to a nation in the midst of a French style revolution (with resurrection blocking guillotines), to a crusader kingdom, and a caliphate. It's almost a guarantee that one of example of any common setting trope is found somewhere in the Inner Sea. The only possible drawback is that at times this seems almost too obvious and neighbors who may share the same geography can have very different cultures. For whatever reason this struck as a bit hard to believe. Yes, I realize this is odd to say when it doesn't bother me that their are dragons, wizards, and magic in general everywhere! It may also feel this way due to my initial lack of familiarity with the setting compared to say, the Forgotten Realms or Exalted's Creation. This chapter also discusses the world beyond the Inner Sea and some previous civilizations that have long since slipped in the domain of history.
Chapter three cover major religions/gods in Golarion. I'd argue this is the default Pathfinder pantheon. It also covers some of the major non-deity based philosphies that dominate the land. I found these to be pretty standard but I've seen a lot of deity write-ups so in that way I may be jaded. I liked that there were just philosophies that are followed in Golarion though. So many campaigns are completely dominated by gods that nothing else shows up. This breaks that mold. In fact there is even a completely atheist country that has banned any god based religion outright. I don't think I had ever encountered that in fantasy campaign world before! The religion chapter also does a brief purview of the planes and what beings live on them. This felt quite unfamiliar to me (see also my review on the book covering that in more detail) but that owes mostly to many new planar beings that replace ones that are probably solely licensed by Wizards of the Coast. I miss my slaads...
Chapter four tackles life on Golarion. Not too exciting other then the technology section which is interesting because in some countries firearms and printing presses are starting to become common. The fire arm rules are interesting. The other technology is intriguing as it changes some of the dynamics of the otherwise bog standard fantasy world. It's a change from that standard and I'll take it! Chapter five introduces some major factions that are players in the politics of Golarion both good and evil. Nothing too exciting here again.
The last two chapters cover the mechanical bits of the game including prestige classes, equipment, spells, magic items, and monsters. Nothing too exciting here as far as I'm concerned.
Overall I liked this book. Artwork and production value are the standard top rate quality that you'd expect from Paizo. The map is beautiful. The setting is diverse if a maybe a little too obviously so. I'd rather have too much differentiation though then not enough so it's not a huge issue for me. Even the parts that seem fairly standard are still well written and thought out. I'd rate this a 8 out of 10.
Available in: physical* and PDF.
Links: Amazon, Paizo, Noble Knight
Up next: Cat
The first chapter covers races in Golarion. These are your standard core races although there are several variations on humanity (mechanically all identical). The racial backgrounds are a bit different especially for gnomes. The authors don't shy away from doing things to make Golarion a little different then just a run of the mill campaign setting. The second chapter covers the Inner Sea and this is the meat and potatoes of the book. Here we get 4 page blurb on all the countries and regions that surround the Inner Sea. Each section covers history, government, and has a gazetteer of key places. All in all this gives you a decent high level view of an area that gives some places to see/investigate/avoid and enough information that a DM can extrapolate further upon with ease. The sheer diversity of places should support nearly any type of game style/desired setting. There are everything from communist military run nations to a nation in the midst of a French style revolution (with resurrection blocking guillotines), to a crusader kingdom, and a caliphate. It's almost a guarantee that one of example of any common setting trope is found somewhere in the Inner Sea. The only possible drawback is that at times this seems almost too obvious and neighbors who may share the same geography can have very different cultures. For whatever reason this struck as a bit hard to believe. Yes, I realize this is odd to say when it doesn't bother me that their are dragons, wizards, and magic in general everywhere! It may also feel this way due to my initial lack of familiarity with the setting compared to say, the Forgotten Realms or Exalted's Creation. This chapter also discusses the world beyond the Inner Sea and some previous civilizations that have long since slipped in the domain of history.
Chapter three cover major religions/gods in Golarion. I'd argue this is the default Pathfinder pantheon. It also covers some of the major non-deity based philosphies that dominate the land. I found these to be pretty standard but I've seen a lot of deity write-ups so in that way I may be jaded. I liked that there were just philosophies that are followed in Golarion though. So many campaigns are completely dominated by gods that nothing else shows up. This breaks that mold. In fact there is even a completely atheist country that has banned any god based religion outright. I don't think I had ever encountered that in fantasy campaign world before! The religion chapter also does a brief purview of the planes and what beings live on them. This felt quite unfamiliar to me (see also my review on the book covering that in more detail) but that owes mostly to many new planar beings that replace ones that are probably solely licensed by Wizards of the Coast. I miss my slaads...
Chapter four tackles life on Golarion. Not too exciting other then the technology section which is interesting because in some countries firearms and printing presses are starting to become common. The fire arm rules are interesting. The other technology is intriguing as it changes some of the dynamics of the otherwise bog standard fantasy world. It's a change from that standard and I'll take it! Chapter five introduces some major factions that are players in the politics of Golarion both good and evil. Nothing too exciting here again.
The last two chapters cover the mechanical bits of the game including prestige classes, equipment, spells, magic items, and monsters. Nothing too exciting here as far as I'm concerned.
Overall I liked this book. Artwork and production value are the standard top rate quality that you'd expect from Paizo. The map is beautiful. The setting is diverse if a maybe a little too obviously so. I'd rather have too much differentiation though then not enough so it's not a huge issue for me. Even the parts that seem fairly standard are still well written and thought out. I'd rate this a 8 out of 10.
Available in: physical* and PDF.
Links: Amazon, Paizo, Noble Knight
Up next: Cat
Saturday, April 23, 2011
The Great Beyond
Paizo's take on the planes offers a different look at the well known "Great Wheel" cosmology of 3.x Dungeons and Dragons. The Great Beyond expands upon the cursory descriptions given in the campaign guides for Golarion fleshing out the structure of the planes and the denizens that reside there.
Perhaps the biggest drawback to this book is that it is simply too short to give a proper treatment to all the major planes (much less important/notable demiplanes) and the inhabitants within. As a result while the descriptions of the planes do a good job evoking how a given plane looks and feels there are two things lacking: actual planar traits and statistics for common denizens of that plane. Both of these require additional books not necessarily needed for play (GameMastery Guide and Bestiary 2) to add mechanical support to the descriptions provided. There are a few creatures provided (roughly one for each major plane that hasn't gotten some love from Bestiary 1) so the game master does have something to go on if they don't own Bestiary 2. The GameMastery Guide I believe contains the actual mechanics for planar traits so unless the game master has some 3rd Edition D&D references to fall back on (again requiring additional books) they will have to improvise planar traits. This might be a plus to some game masters/players but may also be a minus for others.
That being said, the book does a good job with a small page count on detailing all the different planes including maps and describing major/notable locations within them. Also described are the denizens and their governments (if any) that control the planes. From a setting perspective these could keep a campaign going for years without ever returning to the material plane. Story hooks are also sprinkled amongst the descriptions giving characters interesting reasons to go to many of the different planes (other then just that planes are generally awesome to explore!).
The book does take some time to describe some esoteric planes like the Dimension of Time and the Dimension of Dreams which opens the door for some very unusual game types. While not really up my personal alley for things I'd want to game about there inclusion is an thoughtful step to think outside of the box. This is a trait that Paizo seems to have in droves and while it doesn't always hit the mark with me I cannot fault that they take the risk/effort to try and implement new takes in what would otherwise be a bland fantasy knock off of D&D (also a variation of existing fantasy settings not that this is a bad thing in and of itself!).
One final issue that is entirely out of Paizo's hand is the missing "iconic" planar creatures from D&D such as slaads and aasimars. These are likely missing because they are licensed creations of Wizards of the Coast and as a result not part of the OGL/SRD. This books (and the Bestiaries to support it) have provided interesting monsters in their stead but I still found myself missing the slaads when reading about the Maelstrom.
So to sum up the big problem with this book is that it's too small. It just doesn't benefit much from being one of the short little booklets that Paizo puts out on a regular basis. The production values are the usual quality one would expect from Paizo though so as long as the reader doesn't mind referencing other books for their crunch. I'd rate this a 6 out of 10.
Available in: Physical* and PDF
Links: Paizo, Amazon, Noble Knight
Up Next: The Inner Sea World Guide (Pathfinder)
Perhaps the biggest drawback to this book is that it is simply too short to give a proper treatment to all the major planes (much less important/notable demiplanes) and the inhabitants within. As a result while the descriptions of the planes do a good job evoking how a given plane looks and feels there are two things lacking: actual planar traits and statistics for common denizens of that plane. Both of these require additional books not necessarily needed for play (GameMastery Guide and Bestiary 2) to add mechanical support to the descriptions provided. There are a few creatures provided (roughly one for each major plane that hasn't gotten some love from Bestiary 1) so the game master does have something to go on if they don't own Bestiary 2. The GameMastery Guide I believe contains the actual mechanics for planar traits so unless the game master has some 3rd Edition D&D references to fall back on (again requiring additional books) they will have to improvise planar traits. This might be a plus to some game masters/players but may also be a minus for others.
That being said, the book does a good job with a small page count on detailing all the different planes including maps and describing major/notable locations within them. Also described are the denizens and their governments (if any) that control the planes. From a setting perspective these could keep a campaign going for years without ever returning to the material plane. Story hooks are also sprinkled amongst the descriptions giving characters interesting reasons to go to many of the different planes (other then just that planes are generally awesome to explore!).
The book does take some time to describe some esoteric planes like the Dimension of Time and the Dimension of Dreams which opens the door for some very unusual game types. While not really up my personal alley for things I'd want to game about there inclusion is an thoughtful step to think outside of the box. This is a trait that Paizo seems to have in droves and while it doesn't always hit the mark with me I cannot fault that they take the risk/effort to try and implement new takes in what would otherwise be a bland fantasy knock off of D&D (also a variation of existing fantasy settings not that this is a bad thing in and of itself!).
One final issue that is entirely out of Paizo's hand is the missing "iconic" planar creatures from D&D such as slaads and aasimars. These are likely missing because they are licensed creations of Wizards of the Coast and as a result not part of the OGL/SRD. This books (and the Bestiaries to support it) have provided interesting monsters in their stead but I still found myself missing the slaads when reading about the Maelstrom.
So to sum up the big problem with this book is that it's too small. It just doesn't benefit much from being one of the short little booklets that Paizo puts out on a regular basis. The production values are the usual quality one would expect from Paizo though so as long as the reader doesn't mind referencing other books for their crunch. I'd rate this a 6 out of 10.
Available in: Physical* and PDF
Links: Paizo, Amazon, Noble Knight
Up Next: The Inner Sea World Guide (Pathfinder)
D & D Gazetteer
The D & D Gazetteer is an early product for Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition. It introduces players to the world of Greyhawk. As the title implies it is designed to give dungeon masters and players alike a brief taste of the variety of nations, places, and powers that abound in Greyhawk.
While I love settings Greyhawk is not one that I am all the familiar with despite the references to it throughout 3rd Edition D & D. Part of this reason may owe to the fact that as the RPGA Living World very little material was published for the settings and rather players affected the world. As a result this provides an interesting background for where some of the more famous spells of D & D got their names.
As a setting itself this does not feel terribly unique, however oddly this might be because this was one of the earliest settings so while a reader may be more familiar with Forgotten Realms or Golarion it's more likely that those worlds are cribbing off Greyhawk then the other way around (especially so for Golarion of course). Despite that generic feel and the tiny amount of space given for each local the gazetteer does a good job laying out possible adventuring ideas and story hooks. In the end it leaves a lot of room to play in allowing for more an easier sandbox approach. Granted for people with extensive collections from earlier D & D may have access to far more detailed information on Greyhawk that fills out the world more but armed with just the gazetteer there is lots of space to do whatever the players or dungeon master desires.
Overall I'd rate this a 5 out of 10. It's not terribly inspiring or exciting but the production values are decent (especially for an early 3rd edition product) and the world is certainly ripe for exploration and adventure.
Available in: Physical*
Links: Noble Knight
Next up: The Great Beyond (Pathfinder)
While I love settings Greyhawk is not one that I am all the familiar with despite the references to it throughout 3rd Edition D & D. Part of this reason may owe to the fact that as the RPGA Living World very little material was published for the settings and rather players affected the world. As a result this provides an interesting background for where some of the more famous spells of D & D got their names.
As a setting itself this does not feel terribly unique, however oddly this might be because this was one of the earliest settings so while a reader may be more familiar with Forgotten Realms or Golarion it's more likely that those worlds are cribbing off Greyhawk then the other way around (especially so for Golarion of course). Despite that generic feel and the tiny amount of space given for each local the gazetteer does a good job laying out possible adventuring ideas and story hooks. In the end it leaves a lot of room to play in allowing for more an easier sandbox approach. Granted for people with extensive collections from earlier D & D may have access to far more detailed information on Greyhawk that fills out the world more but armed with just the gazetteer there is lots of space to do whatever the players or dungeon master desires.
Overall I'd rate this a 5 out of 10. It's not terribly inspiring or exciting but the production values are decent (especially for an early 3rd edition product) and the world is certainly ripe for exploration and adventure.
Available in: Physical*
Links: Noble Knight
Next up: The Great Beyond (Pathfinder)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Masks of Nyarlathotep
Masks of Nyralathotep is a world spanning adventure set in the classic era of Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu. This is probably considered one of the legendary adventures for CoC and with good reason. It provides a myriad different ways for the investigators to go insane or die and isn't that what Call of Cthulhu is all about? The fact that this is the 4th reprinting is probably a good indicator of the success but let's dig into what this is all about. The over-arching plot throws investigators looking into a death of their good friend on intercontinental dash to stop plans to bring Nyralathotep to Earth.
While ostensibly an adventure Masks is written up and organized differently then standard adventures. Rather then moving from one plot to another there are simply locations. Other then the initial starting location (New York) there is no pre-determined order for where investigators should go. This provides for an amazing amount of re-playability which is rare for adventures. The locations are globe spanning (5 of 7 continents get in on the action) and all have at least one link to the others meaning there aren't any dead ends to trap players (barring their natural tendency to wander completely off course and end up in Oxford of course).
Each section of the book covers one location and all the places and peoples of interest within it. At the beginning of the section they list all the clues that are available, who they are from, and where they lead so the keeper can have an easier time and knowing where they may want to point investigators who have lost their way. The general descriptions of the locations are quite detailed and help to give a good feel of what life might have been like the in them during the 1920s.
In terms of deadliness and SAN-loss induction this adventure provides many opportunities for both. It may be nearly impossible for the initial party to survive the entire campaign intact. It might even be unlikely that anyone from the initial group even makes it to the end as fairly quickly the investigators find themselves in nasty situations. I'd probably recommend that keepers preface players with some idea of how nasty this adventure can be (especially for those less familiar with CoC) or there might be some rather surprised players!
Overall I'd give this a 8 out of 10. There are some very compelling areas to investigate and great support for a non-linear adventure. It may feel a bit strange for the keeper if they are unfamiliar with adventures laid out as such (it was for me). It certainly provides a wealth of story to work with and gives the investigators chance to do major things to thwart a dark god.
Available in: Physcial*
Links: Amazon, Noble Knight
Next up: D & D Gazetteer (D & D 3.0) or The Great Beyond (Pathfinder)
While ostensibly an adventure Masks is written up and organized differently then standard adventures. Rather then moving from one plot to another there are simply locations. Other then the initial starting location (New York) there is no pre-determined order for where investigators should go. This provides for an amazing amount of re-playability which is rare for adventures. The locations are globe spanning (5 of 7 continents get in on the action) and all have at least one link to the others meaning there aren't any dead ends to trap players (barring their natural tendency to wander completely off course and end up in Oxford of course).
Each section of the book covers one location and all the places and peoples of interest within it. At the beginning of the section they list all the clues that are available, who they are from, and where they lead so the keeper can have an easier time and knowing where they may want to point investigators who have lost their way. The general descriptions of the locations are quite detailed and help to give a good feel of what life might have been like the in them during the 1920s.
In terms of deadliness and SAN-loss induction this adventure provides many opportunities for both. It may be nearly impossible for the initial party to survive the entire campaign intact. It might even be unlikely that anyone from the initial group even makes it to the end as fairly quickly the investigators find themselves in nasty situations. I'd probably recommend that keepers preface players with some idea of how nasty this adventure can be (especially for those less familiar with CoC) or there might be some rather surprised players!
Overall I'd give this a 8 out of 10. There are some very compelling areas to investigate and great support for a non-linear adventure. It may feel a bit strange for the keeper if they are unfamiliar with adventures laid out as such (it was for me). It certainly provides a wealth of story to work with and gives the investigators chance to do major things to thwart a dark god.
Available in: Physcial*
Links: Amazon, Noble Knight
Next up: D & D Gazetteer (D & D 3.0) or The Great Beyond (Pathfinder)
Damnation View
Damnation View is the first story book for the metaplot of Cthulhutech specifically the year 2086. It provides several different plots covering the different styles of gameplay that Cthulhutech supports.
The book first part of the book gives an overview of the year 2086 including what is trendy in popular culture, what's going on in tech research, and a timeline which incorporates the adventures covered later in the book. From there on out it's 4 major plot arcs.
The first covers the situation in Asia, specifically China although what goes on there will have ramifications for the entire continent. This scenario is aimed towards mecha/Engel pilots on the main front as events get a bit exciting. Readers will notice very quickly that the scenario is such that while players can participate they can't really change the outcome of the scenario. On this I am torn. On the one hand the players are just a handful of people in a very large and complex situation so their involvement can be fairly explained as, at best, only be able to slightly affect the war especially since this is early in the metaplot. Also, being that this is metaplot it has to have a forced outcome or else future metaplot won't make sense. Still the way it's presented makes it feel more forced then it probably could have been.
The second scenario is aimed towards NEG agents/police investigator types although it has a few areas that would allow a mecha pilot to have a little fun as well. It follows the machinations of Esoteric Order of Dagon as they attempt to locate their sleeping leader, Cthulhu. The premise is pretty cool and can allow for some great investigations by the players and it certainly leads on a wild ride. The ending felt unsatisfactory to me. While several of the scenarios end with nominal losses for humanity this one felt especially unfair as it's noted if the players seem to be getting an upper hand to dump in reinforcements. Oh, and if they somehow get through those it doesn't really matter because the EOD will succeed somewhere else anyways. Again while understanding the needs of the metaplot my thoughts would lean to designing a scenario where the outcome does not have to be pre-ordained in such a way where the GM is basically declaring player defeat regardless of what they do. It feels quite disempowering to know the result would be the same if the characters had just decided to go to the bar and drink the night away!
The third scenario deals with a cult dedicated to Shub-Niggurath and the efforts of the Eldritch Society to thwart it. I thought this scenario was interesting in that it laid out an enemy for the tagers other then just straight up waves of Dhohanoids and their mortal lackeys. If there is one really, really controversial section of this book it comes up here as the creatures the characters will face have a save or become a sex slave power. It's fair to say that due to this the players and GM should probably discuss what they are comfortable with before delving into the scenario although with a game where sanity and the horrors of war and the universe are big themes this should probably be done regardless. Beyond that wrinkle the scenario this one feels less heavy handed then the previous although the solution is rather set in stone. The upside is that the expected outcome is actually good for the players if they survive.
The final scenario is another one for mecha/Engel pilots. This time they're taking on the Migou and going back to Alaska with some additional twists thrown in. Again the results are pre-ordained but this one, like the first scenario, didn't feel quite as heavy handed. It's possible that due to nature of military scale operations that having a scenario where the characters are just participants is more believable and it's easier to accept that they can't single-handedly change the outcome of the war. On smaller scale it feels like possible victories are being snatched away.
Overall this feels like a 6 out of 10. Production values are fantastic as usual. The art is great, the fiction is entertaining. As mentioned many times above the big drawback is that all the scenarios are entirely railroaded. Better options might have been to give scenarios where each scenario could have multiple outcomes that could affect later scenarios by increasing/decreasing opposition forces, adding or removing allies or equipment, etc rather then completely forcing one result with no room for variation. With gamers variation has to be expected and players can generally sense a railroad. This will cause the GM extra work to smooth out these issues. The book does provide some non-scenario material in updated EOD mecha and new player options for occupation and the scenarios are a pure gold for a GM who likes taking ideas and crafting their own tale anyways.
Available in: Physical* and PDF
Links: Amazon, Noble Knight, DriveThrupRPG
Next Up: Masks of Nyarlathotep (Call of Cthulhu)
The book first part of the book gives an overview of the year 2086 including what is trendy in popular culture, what's going on in tech research, and a timeline which incorporates the adventures covered later in the book. From there on out it's 4 major plot arcs.
The first covers the situation in Asia, specifically China although what goes on there will have ramifications for the entire continent. This scenario is aimed towards mecha/Engel pilots on the main front as events get a bit exciting. Readers will notice very quickly that the scenario is such that while players can participate they can't really change the outcome of the scenario. On this I am torn. On the one hand the players are just a handful of people in a very large and complex situation so their involvement can be fairly explained as, at best, only be able to slightly affect the war especially since this is early in the metaplot. Also, being that this is metaplot it has to have a forced outcome or else future metaplot won't make sense. Still the way it's presented makes it feel more forced then it probably could have been.
The second scenario is aimed towards NEG agents/police investigator types although it has a few areas that would allow a mecha pilot to have a little fun as well. It follows the machinations of Esoteric Order of Dagon as they attempt to locate their sleeping leader, Cthulhu. The premise is pretty cool and can allow for some great investigations by the players and it certainly leads on a wild ride. The ending felt unsatisfactory to me. While several of the scenarios end with nominal losses for humanity this one felt especially unfair as it's noted if the players seem to be getting an upper hand to dump in reinforcements. Oh, and if they somehow get through those it doesn't really matter because the EOD will succeed somewhere else anyways. Again while understanding the needs of the metaplot my thoughts would lean to designing a scenario where the outcome does not have to be pre-ordained in such a way where the GM is basically declaring player defeat regardless of what they do. It feels quite disempowering to know the result would be the same if the characters had just decided to go to the bar and drink the night away!
The third scenario deals with a cult dedicated to Shub-Niggurath and the efforts of the Eldritch Society to thwart it. I thought this scenario was interesting in that it laid out an enemy for the tagers other then just straight up waves of Dhohanoids and their mortal lackeys. If there is one really, really controversial section of this book it comes up here as the creatures the characters will face have a save or become a sex slave power. It's fair to say that due to this the players and GM should probably discuss what they are comfortable with before delving into the scenario although with a game where sanity and the horrors of war and the universe are big themes this should probably be done regardless. Beyond that wrinkle the scenario this one feels less heavy handed then the previous although the solution is rather set in stone. The upside is that the expected outcome is actually good for the players if they survive.
The final scenario is another one for mecha/Engel pilots. This time they're taking on the Migou and going back to Alaska with some additional twists thrown in. Again the results are pre-ordained but this one, like the first scenario, didn't feel quite as heavy handed. It's possible that due to nature of military scale operations that having a scenario where the characters are just participants is more believable and it's easier to accept that they can't single-handedly change the outcome of the war. On smaller scale it feels like possible victories are being snatched away.
Overall this feels like a 6 out of 10. Production values are fantastic as usual. The art is great, the fiction is entertaining. As mentioned many times above the big drawback is that all the scenarios are entirely railroaded. Better options might have been to give scenarios where each scenario could have multiple outcomes that could affect later scenarios by increasing/decreasing opposition forces, adding or removing allies or equipment, etc rather then completely forcing one result with no room for variation. With gamers variation has to be expected and players can generally sense a railroad. This will cause the GM extra work to smooth out these issues. The book does provide some non-scenario material in updated EOD mecha and new player options for occupation and the scenarios are a pure gold for a GM who likes taking ideas and crafting their own tale anyways.
Available in: Physical* and PDF
Links: Amazon, Noble Knight, DriveThrupRPG
Next Up: Masks of Nyarlathotep (Call of Cthulhu)
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Gatecrashing
Gatecrashing explores the machines known as Pandora's Gates and the worlds they lead to expanding upon one of the larger mysteries of Eclipse Phase. A beautiful hardcover book in full color it's hard not to like it on sheer physical design alone. (You'll notice I am a sucker for full-color hardcover books.)
In a line that distinguishes itself with high quality writing, arts, layout and interesting ideas (and exploration of those ideas) Gatecrashing stands out. While I have enjoyed both the core book and the first supplement (Sunward) neither book left me coming away with any truly exciting story ideas. Gatecrashing has made up for that lack in droves. The basic structure of the book covers gatecrashing operations including the different types of missions that might be performed through the gates as well as the procedures for using the gates. The specific Pandora Gates for the Solar system are all detailed as well as how their operators manage them. Then the juicy stuff: 30 different worlds to explore or investigate. Naturally these are just a fraction of the available worlds that can be accessed through the gates and are meant as examples.
They are amazing examples. Every world listed is unique in some way that allows for stories that while sometimes seeming mundane on the outside instead provide interesting twists and surprises once the players scratch the surface. Much as I'd like to I won't detail any here, just trust that just about any type of story can probably be played out while crashing. What amazed me was the fact that all the worlds described were unique, it didn't feel like any two ended up being re-hashes of the same idea with just a different planet as the back-drop.
Mechanically the game provides new morphs and technology that would directly support gatecrashers. It provides even more plot hooks for the worlds described previously in the book. Finally, it also provides suggestions for creating new worlds and even some new flora and fauna to put into them.
This would be my first 10 out 10. I would argue a must have for any Eclipse Phase game (although if you never plan to have the players go through or anything come through a gate this would be much less true) as it opens up the entire galaxy and beyond for exploration. It also continues the hallmark quality in all areas that Eclipse Phase is known for.
Available in: Physical* and pdf
Links: Amazon, DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight
Next Up: Damnation View (Cthulhutech)
In a line that distinguishes itself with high quality writing, arts, layout and interesting ideas (and exploration of those ideas) Gatecrashing stands out. While I have enjoyed both the core book and the first supplement (Sunward) neither book left me coming away with any truly exciting story ideas. Gatecrashing has made up for that lack in droves. The basic structure of the book covers gatecrashing operations including the different types of missions that might be performed through the gates as well as the procedures for using the gates. The specific Pandora Gates for the Solar system are all detailed as well as how their operators manage them. Then the juicy stuff: 30 different worlds to explore or investigate. Naturally these are just a fraction of the available worlds that can be accessed through the gates and are meant as examples.
They are amazing examples. Every world listed is unique in some way that allows for stories that while sometimes seeming mundane on the outside instead provide interesting twists and surprises once the players scratch the surface. Much as I'd like to I won't detail any here, just trust that just about any type of story can probably be played out while crashing. What amazed me was the fact that all the worlds described were unique, it didn't feel like any two ended up being re-hashes of the same idea with just a different planet as the back-drop.
Mechanically the game provides new morphs and technology that would directly support gatecrashers. It provides even more plot hooks for the worlds described previously in the book. Finally, it also provides suggestions for creating new worlds and even some new flora and fauna to put into them.
This would be my first 10 out 10. I would argue a must have for any Eclipse Phase game (although if you never plan to have the players go through or anything come through a gate this would be much less true) as it opens up the entire galaxy and beyond for exploration. It also continues the hallmark quality in all areas that Eclipse Phase is known for.
Available in: Physical* and pdf
Links: Amazon, DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight
Next Up: Damnation View (Cthulhutech)
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Eoris - Part 2
Eoris is a two book set contained in a sturdy slipcase. I reviewed the first book earlier so reading that may be informative. The second physical book contains Book Three (Thought) which is dedicated entirely to the mechanical system underlying Eoris including most (but not all) of the information needed to build a character. I'm not going delve too deep into the actual mechanics (other then the basic system) since crunch is not my forte and I haven't had a chance to play Eoris which will more greatly inform on the viability of the system.
Book Three is broken up into 9 chapters starting out with the basic system information and working through the various systems from there. The basic system shares a lot of similarities to White Wolf's Storyteller system but relies on rolling D20s rather then D10s and includes a special "Essence" die which depending on its roll can greatly change the outcome regardless of whether you succeed or fail with your overall pool. The system does add some more granularity then White Wolf by allowing changing of both the target number or the number of successes needed. Systematically I think this allows for a lot of fine tuning on the part of the Narrator. One problem in the book with having these two different ways at scaling power is that the reader must pay careful attention to whether a bonus is modifying the target number (thus making a -1 a good thing) or modifying the dice pool (-1 doesn't look quite so good now). Sometimes this isn't readily apparent especially in the race selection area.
Eoris has support for social combat which interestingly can coincide with physical combat and can reduce overall die pools and inflict status anomalies onto others. This seems to make social combat a vastly more useful affair especially since that allows non-physical characters a chance to contribute to combat beyond just hiding. Now they can hide and hurl insults at their foes reducing them to mental slag heaps.
Character creation feels rather complicated. Oddly the reader is required to reference the other book for information on some powers and abilities. This seems somewhat less then ideal but other then that the sections are fairly straightforward. There are a large amount of powers and spells (called Songs here) to choose from although none of them feel terribly exciting. Useful, yes, but nothing that seemed to reach off the page. Likewise we're given beautiful images of a wide assortment of rare weapons and it felt like their individual abilities weren't as awesome as they looked. Some of this feel may be mitigated by actual play showing off their true strengths but as a read it just felt un-impressive.
Overall this book felt like it could use a little better organization just like its partner. Editing was again impressive and art is still amazing. It stills feels like to me that it's missing some of a greater potential so it's going to sit at 7 out of 10.
Next Up: Gatecrashing
Book Three is broken up into 9 chapters starting out with the basic system information and working through the various systems from there. The basic system shares a lot of similarities to White Wolf's Storyteller system but relies on rolling D20s rather then D10s and includes a special "Essence" die which depending on its roll can greatly change the outcome regardless of whether you succeed or fail with your overall pool. The system does add some more granularity then White Wolf by allowing changing of both the target number or the number of successes needed. Systematically I think this allows for a lot of fine tuning on the part of the Narrator. One problem in the book with having these two different ways at scaling power is that the reader must pay careful attention to whether a bonus is modifying the target number (thus making a -1 a good thing) or modifying the dice pool (-1 doesn't look quite so good now). Sometimes this isn't readily apparent especially in the race selection area.
Eoris has support for social combat which interestingly can coincide with physical combat and can reduce overall die pools and inflict status anomalies onto others. This seems to make social combat a vastly more useful affair especially since that allows non-physical characters a chance to contribute to combat beyond just hiding. Now they can hide and hurl insults at their foes reducing them to mental slag heaps.
Character creation feels rather complicated. Oddly the reader is required to reference the other book for information on some powers and abilities. This seems somewhat less then ideal but other then that the sections are fairly straightforward. There are a large amount of powers and spells (called Songs here) to choose from although none of them feel terribly exciting. Useful, yes, but nothing that seemed to reach off the page. Likewise we're given beautiful images of a wide assortment of rare weapons and it felt like their individual abilities weren't as awesome as they looked. Some of this feel may be mitigated by actual play showing off their true strengths but as a read it just felt un-impressive.
Overall this book felt like it could use a little better organization just like its partner. Editing was again impressive and art is still amazing. It stills feels like to me that it's missing some of a greater potential so it's going to sit at 7 out of 10.
Next Up: Gatecrashing
Exalted: Scroll of Sorcery Vol 2 The Black and White Treatises
Exalted: Scroll of Sorcery Vol 2 The Black and White Treatises provides the real firepower for any sorcerer or necromancer in Exalted. This book is actually two books with one on either side (so while reading White Treatise to get to Black Treatise you flip the book over). It's quirky but allows for obvious separation of the two similar but different topics.
White Treatise goes over the origins of sorcery, the process the for learning it, where to learn it and what schools those places follow, and just who knows what sorcery and how deep that knowledge is. This gives a much deeper understanding and background to the system and allows for many more interesting stories while a character tries to learn sorcery. Of course the main meat of this book are spells and there are a lot of them. Unsurprisingly most of these spells are for the Emerald (1st) circle but Sapphire (2nd) and Adamant (3rd) circles get their fair share as well. A decent amount of the spells just do direct damage to some degree but there are also many spells that creatively solve other problems or can be used in interesting ways to the sorcerer and her circle's advantage.
The Black Treatise is almost an exact mirror of the White Treatise except that it covers the art of necromancy. It does make good on the point that necromancy is not just "evil" or "dark" sorcery but a separate power source that is designed to do a little bit different things then sorcery (although the two obviously overlap a bit). There are a wide array of necromancy spells available allowing for many different themes of necromancer. It should be noted that in 2nd Edition this book is the only one that contains necromancy spells so it's a must if your character wants to use it. Abyssals only has the 3 requisite charms.
Overall this was a highly quality book with a diverse range of spells and interesting history and geography and artifacts relating to sorcery and necromancy useful to Storyteller and players alike. If spellcasting is going to be used this book is almost essential unless someone wants to do a lot of legwork in creating their own spells. A solid Exalted supplement. This gets a 9 out of 10.
Available in physical* and PDF.
Links: White Wolf Store, Amazon, DriveThruRPG, and Noble Knight
Next Up: Eoris Part 2
White Treatise goes over the origins of sorcery, the process the for learning it, where to learn it and what schools those places follow, and just who knows what sorcery and how deep that knowledge is. This gives a much deeper understanding and background to the system and allows for many more interesting stories while a character tries to learn sorcery. Of course the main meat of this book are spells and there are a lot of them. Unsurprisingly most of these spells are for the Emerald (1st) circle but Sapphire (2nd) and Adamant (3rd) circles get their fair share as well. A decent amount of the spells just do direct damage to some degree but there are also many spells that creatively solve other problems or can be used in interesting ways to the sorcerer and her circle's advantage.
The Black Treatise is almost an exact mirror of the White Treatise except that it covers the art of necromancy. It does make good on the point that necromancy is not just "evil" or "dark" sorcery but a separate power source that is designed to do a little bit different things then sorcery (although the two obviously overlap a bit). There are a wide array of necromancy spells available allowing for many different themes of necromancer. It should be noted that in 2nd Edition this book is the only one that contains necromancy spells so it's a must if your character wants to use it. Abyssals only has the 3 requisite charms.
Overall this was a highly quality book with a diverse range of spells and interesting history and geography and artifacts relating to sorcery and necromancy useful to Storyteller and players alike. If spellcasting is going to be used this book is almost essential unless someone wants to do a lot of legwork in creating their own spells. A solid Exalted supplement. This gets a 9 out of 10.
Available in physical* and PDF.
Links: White Wolf Store, Amazon, DriveThruRPG, and Noble Knight
Next Up: Eoris Part 2
Friday, February 18, 2011
Adventure!
Adventure! is a pulpy action game set in the mid-1920s of Earth where players play slightly above average humans pushing the bounds of science, exploration and humanity. For my take it provides the timeframe of Call of Cthulhu but instead of a theme of incomprehensible cosmic horror we get a tone of hopeful optimism about the future. It's all the 3rd part of the Aeon Universe trilogy of games from White Wolf. The book has a large section in the beginning filled with short stories that do a great job at conveying the atmosphere and themes that Adventure! is aiming for as well as giving some background to the game. I found this part to be a very quick and entertaining read. This flows rather seamlessly into providing the setting of the game including locations worldwide and major organizations.
Character creation feels quite similar to other White Wolf storyteller systems. Characters in Adventure! are on the lower end of the power scale so I suspect some of the inherent problems with the Storyteller system in handling high power games will be less prevalent here. Still Adventure! offers players some interesting powers (referred to in the game as "knacks") for characters. They are set into 3 categories which do overlap somewhat but also maintaining their own niches. Coming up with a character concept shouldn't be too hard for most players. Since this is another iteration of the Storyteller system anyone who has played World of Darkness (old or new), Exalted, Scion or (perhaps obviously) other parts of the Aeon Universe should be able to hop into Adventure! with minimal additional learning.
All in all I thought this was a quality game nicely contained into one book. The challenge nowadays is finding a copy as the non-D20 version is quite rare and rather expensive unless you can stumble upon it in a Half-Price Books like I did. The good news is the PDF is reasonably priced and with White Wolf converting their whole catalog to Print on Demand in the future this may be available in print again. I would rate this a 8 out of 10.
Out in PDF and Physical* copy (but physical is long OOP making it quite hard to find)
Links: DriveThruRPG
Next up: Books of Sorcery Volume 2: Black & White Treatise for Exalted (Eoris rules is slowly coming along as well but crunch takes me longer to process)
Character creation feels quite similar to other White Wolf storyteller systems. Characters in Adventure! are on the lower end of the power scale so I suspect some of the inherent problems with the Storyteller system in handling high power games will be less prevalent here. Still Adventure! offers players some interesting powers (referred to in the game as "knacks") for characters. They are set into 3 categories which do overlap somewhat but also maintaining their own niches. Coming up with a character concept shouldn't be too hard for most players. Since this is another iteration of the Storyteller system anyone who has played World of Darkness (old or new), Exalted, Scion or (perhaps obviously) other parts of the Aeon Universe should be able to hop into Adventure! with minimal additional learning.
All in all I thought this was a quality game nicely contained into one book. The challenge nowadays is finding a copy as the non-D20 version is quite rare and rather expensive unless you can stumble upon it in a Half-Price Books like I did. The good news is the PDF is reasonably priced and with White Wolf converting their whole catalog to Print on Demand in the future this may be available in print again. I would rate this a 8 out of 10.
Out in PDF and Physical* copy (but physical is long OOP making it quite hard to find)
Links: DriveThruRPG
Next up: Books of Sorcery Volume 2: Black & White Treatise for Exalted (Eoris rules is slowly coming along as well but crunch takes me longer to process)
Friday, January 7, 2011
A Penny For My Thoughts
A Penny For My Thoughts is an interesting game played out as a group of amnesiacs working together to remember their forgotten pasts. Very much an indie game (though I should note when I say indie game I don't mean it in the slightest negative connotation) Penny delivers an interesting series of stories that is well contained and easily learned.
The book is digest sized, black and white, and relatively short (94 pages) but it uses that space well. The first quarter of the book is designed to be almost entirely read during game play acting as literal guide to memory treatment. This means that no one needs to have any experience with Penny before the game begins. No dice is required and instead the only mechanics are pennies. The mechanic basically acts a regulator to control the pace of the story for each player so that no one player gets terribly far ahead in their story then another. I found the gameplay easy to understand and the rules well written to support that understanding. The way the game works is roughly along these lines, each player contributes a bunch of triggers (short phrases) into a pile. As each player goes they use one of the triggers to set the scene along with a question that sets the mood. The outcome of each scene is determined by one of the other players. It's that simple and very much a collaborative effort.
All that being said reading beyond the initial guide is highly recommended. You do not need any of this but the tips provided in the support section help a great deal for setting the mood. The initial game I played in I hadn't read this yet and the mood suffered at times as players drifted a little off course. Later sections also give alternate premise for the memory lost to invoke games with a James Bond or Cthulhuesque feel in them if the players so desire.
Personally this game isn't completely up my alley but it's well written, well put together and the rules and play are solid. What I didn't like the most was essentially not getting to tell my own story (but rather telling the story of others). That is the nature of this game though. It does have the benefit of being a kind of game that you could pull non-gamers into which may be a plus if you're trying to pull in new people to the hobby. All in all for me this is a 7 out of 10.
Out in PDF and *physical copy
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