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)
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
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
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Eoris - Part 1
Eoris is a two book set contained in a sturdy slipcase. Currently it is only available in print format and just through the company's website or at conventions they attend. The books are split into the setting and the rules. The reason for the split as explained by the writers at GenCon to me was that the high quality paper used could not be bound well into a single book. Hence the split. This review, however, covers just the setting book.
Just picking up this book you can tell that Eoris was a labor of love. The actual physical books themselves are beautiful and it's almost worth it to have these books on your shelf for that alone. The layout is in landscape allowing for very expansive and gorgeous artwork. The artwork is amazing another indicator I think to the effort and care put into this product. Onto the actual content itself!
Technically the setting book is split into two sub-books: Book One (Dream) and Book Two (Memory). Dream provides a broad but comprehensive looks at the world of Eoris. This is prefaced with an initial introduction which is fairly typical as introductions go. You have the standard what is roleplaying section and then some notes on the tones of the book. It also explains that Dream is written as the recollections and thoughts of limited narrator referred to as the Wanderer. The one thing that is it sorely lacking is a glossary of terms.
This lack is not initially apparent until moving into the next chapter: The Beautiful Universe. We're thrown straight into the Eoris cosmology which is detailed and complex. The challenge being keeping track of it. As it was I spent a fair amount of time either lost or paging back to try and keep things straight. The chapter gives a run-down on everything from an overall layout of the universe, to magic, to the universal currency, to the major races and their sub-speices. The variety of races here should provide a wealth of choices for even the pickiest of players. I found several that I want to play.
The next chapter "Beliefs" covers just thought, the major religion of Eoris called the Cerian Tree of Thought. It's broken into "Emblems" which are essentially like minded people who interpret the greater religion similarly. I was initially off-put by the thought of one monolithic religion for the world but I like how the Emblems act almost as separate branches of a church. It felt a little contrived to me as if the authors wanted to have it both ways.
Following that chapters is "Memories". This gives an overview of the history of Eoris covering all the major events. This helped fill in a lot of areas that made no sense from earlier chapters such as what the "Black Howling" is. It also provides a pair of secret societies to give an idea of what such organizations look like in Eoris.
Then we get to one of the larger chapters, "Paleogeography" which not only breaks down the geography of Eoris but also the breakdown of the major cultures living on it; the "Ethnias". There are many amazing maps at the start of the chapter which provided a thorough overview of the entire planet and it's many layers. The chapter then proceeds to cover these locations. Almost immediately I wished the maps had been broken out to go along with their sections of the chapter as I would be constantly paging back and forth to get a better idea of what was being described. I found the descriptions to be rather vague but this is a bit of personal taste. I enjoy a well detailed map and accompanying description. (Hence my love for 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms and Exalted!) The benefit to not having much detail laid out is that there is a lot of room for players to tell their own stories. The Ethnias are quite interesting and for the most part are fairly distinct. Their histories felt a little repetitive to me by the time I was finishing them but it was hard to put my finger down on exactly what was repeating. It may have been the broad stroke overview of their histories making several sound like the same story with different actors. Interestingly there is one that has no real information provided about.
Then we are on to Book Two Memory which provides a lot of art and a very long poem and a concise summary of the what you've been reading. I found this to do a better job explaining some setting elements then the proceeding chapters simply because it was not written in the 1st person. I came away with a better understanding of the setting and I am thankful for it.
Overall thoughts. I'm not a fan of the setting being described through the narrative of the Wanderer. I prefer a more upfront corebook so I have a solid idea of the world I am in. I found it both confusing and at times repetitive (alas not in a way that helped me to lessen the confusing part). Book Two certainly did a better job in my view. In both the editing was superb, I don't remember any typos at all. If only all game books were edited this carefully! The art is amazing but there are times where it doesn't seem to relate much to what is going on around it in the text. I would have loved for more pictures of everyday life in the villages of Eoris. Still I can't wait to play in the world of Eoris! I'll kick of my inaugural review with a 7 out of 10.
Next up, A Penny For My Thoughts
Just picking up this book you can tell that Eoris was a labor of love. The actual physical books themselves are beautiful and it's almost worth it to have these books on your shelf for that alone. The layout is in landscape allowing for very expansive and gorgeous artwork. The artwork is amazing another indicator I think to the effort and care put into this product. Onto the actual content itself!
Technically the setting book is split into two sub-books: Book One (Dream) and Book Two (Memory). Dream provides a broad but comprehensive looks at the world of Eoris. This is prefaced with an initial introduction which is fairly typical as introductions go. You have the standard what is roleplaying section and then some notes on the tones of the book. It also explains that Dream is written as the recollections and thoughts of limited narrator referred to as the Wanderer. The one thing that is it sorely lacking is a glossary of terms.
This lack is not initially apparent until moving into the next chapter: The Beautiful Universe. We're thrown straight into the Eoris cosmology which is detailed and complex. The challenge being keeping track of it. As it was I spent a fair amount of time either lost or paging back to try and keep things straight. The chapter gives a run-down on everything from an overall layout of the universe, to magic, to the universal currency, to the major races and their sub-speices. The variety of races here should provide a wealth of choices for even the pickiest of players. I found several that I want to play.
The next chapter "Beliefs" covers just thought, the major religion of Eoris called the Cerian Tree of Thought. It's broken into "Emblems" which are essentially like minded people who interpret the greater religion similarly. I was initially off-put by the thought of one monolithic religion for the world but I like how the Emblems act almost as separate branches of a church. It felt a little contrived to me as if the authors wanted to have it both ways.
Following that chapters is "Memories". This gives an overview of the history of Eoris covering all the major events. This helped fill in a lot of areas that made no sense from earlier chapters such as what the "Black Howling" is. It also provides a pair of secret societies to give an idea of what such organizations look like in Eoris.
Then we get to one of the larger chapters, "Paleogeography" which not only breaks down the geography of Eoris but also the breakdown of the major cultures living on it; the "Ethnias". There are many amazing maps at the start of the chapter which provided a thorough overview of the entire planet and it's many layers. The chapter then proceeds to cover these locations. Almost immediately I wished the maps had been broken out to go along with their sections of the chapter as I would be constantly paging back and forth to get a better idea of what was being described. I found the descriptions to be rather vague but this is a bit of personal taste. I enjoy a well detailed map and accompanying description. (Hence my love for 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms and Exalted!) The benefit to not having much detail laid out is that there is a lot of room for players to tell their own stories. The Ethnias are quite interesting and for the most part are fairly distinct. Their histories felt a little repetitive to me by the time I was finishing them but it was hard to put my finger down on exactly what was repeating. It may have been the broad stroke overview of their histories making several sound like the same story with different actors. Interestingly there is one that has no real information provided about.
Then we are on to Book Two Memory which provides a lot of art and a very long poem and a concise summary of the what you've been reading. I found this to do a better job explaining some setting elements then the proceeding chapters simply because it was not written in the 1st person. I came away with a better understanding of the setting and I am thankful for it.
Overall thoughts. I'm not a fan of the setting being described through the narrative of the Wanderer. I prefer a more upfront corebook so I have a solid idea of the world I am in. I found it both confusing and at times repetitive (alas not in a way that helped me to lessen the confusing part). Book Two certainly did a better job in my view. In both the editing was superb, I don't remember any typos at all. If only all game books were edited this carefully! The art is amazing but there are times where it doesn't seem to relate much to what is going on around it in the text. I would have loved for more pictures of everyday life in the villages of Eoris. Still I can't wait to play in the world of Eoris! I'll kick of my inaugural review with a 7 out of 10.
Next up, A Penny For My Thoughts
Friday, October 1, 2010
Rubrick
My primary focus in reviewing is whether a book is a interesting read since game mechanics are not my strong point or at least not the mechanics of whether they are balanced or broken. It's my belief that any system is playable as long as the person running has a sufficient understanding of the rules to be able to manage and balance players characters however broken they may try to break them. I will still try to comment on the rules as I see them but if you want a mechanical breakdown please let me point you to the community over at RPG.net who have a vaster understanding of game mechanics then I will ever aspire to.
So aside from the content of the book at hand and what I thought of it I will provide:
So aside from the content of the book at hand and what I thought of it I will provide:
- a link to the company website (if one exists and I can find it, usually direct to the book being talked about)
- is the book out in pdf/print/both and what version(s) I have indicated by a *
- links to Amazon and/or Noble Knight
- links to DriveThruRPG if applicable
- A numerical rating (1 to 10) to give a general overview, I will tag the review with its numeric rating
- Tag each review by rating, gameline, and company
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