Review - Judge Dredd Judge's Handbook (MGP)

Judges Handbook (Mongoose Publishing)
System: Traveller
Campaign Setting: Judge Dredd

120page perfect bound softcover. Color cover, B&W interior, with thick paper.

Description:
Uncover the secrets of the Justice Department in Mega-City One. Within this book, you will find all the methods, technologies and procedures the judges use to track down criminals. From the forensics of Tek-Div to the Manta Prowl Tank, there is a tool to solve every crime, and your judges have access to them all.

The Justice Department provides new rules and options for judges as they patrol the streets of Mega-City One, and allows them access to the more elite divisions and promotions, allowing them to become Exorcist Judges, join the holocaust Squad, or even Acc-Div! If that is not enough to complete an investigation, then the judges will be happy to try out the latest weapons and equipment, straight from the workshops of Tek-Div.

This is one of those products you almost need if you're playing Judge Dredd games, and I'd say it's must have for a prolonged campaign. Within this handbook lies the secrets of all the divisions of Mega-City One.

Chapter 1: 17...SEVENTEEN character creation 'templates' for creating seasoned judges attached to one of the many specialty divisions, from advanced training of seasoned judges, to common specialties like Heavy Weapons Judge, Riot Squad Judge, Wally Squad (undercover) and COE (covert operations) Judge; to the mostly NPC roles of Harbor Squad, Sector Chief, and SJS Squad (Special Judicial Service (aka Internal Affairs). This one section greatly expands the entire universe of Dredd. Each specialty is just like a standard character creation table, Survival, Training, Requirements, Mishap and events tables. Training in a Specialty Judge role represents 1 year of training. Allowing characters to expand their characters in a quick and easy way, taking them off-camera for a year.

With the way I plan on Running Judge Dredd, ala FATE style, letting the players call their own shots, I was thinking of letting the players roll up the additional characters, so when they call in back-up, they're not calling in NPCs, they're calling in their own secondary characters, with their own back stories, personalities, and skills. This also lets players take more control of Mega-City One. Hell I'd probably occasionally let them bring Dredd in and run him once or twice just for the experience of running Dredd. Of course, they'll also be called in to back-up Dredd occasionally.

Chapter 2: the Equipment chapter, what can I say that I haven't said before, I'm a softy for Gear, junk, weapons, etc. So this chapter is right up my alley. This chapter incudes EVERYTHING from Holocaust Suits, Blast Shield, Riot Shields, and Armor; up to Special Issue Equipment like Cling-Nets, Com-scan, EpiStrip, Modular Repair Kit, and Space Boots. Weapons? Drokk yeah! 35 weapons, from the lowly sawed off stub gun, to the Blockbuster cannon present on the walls of Mega-City One, and the Omni Tank. This adds in most of the rest of the stuff missing from the main rulebook.

Chapter 3: Vehicles & Robots Chapter. 18 vehicles, this encompass the aforementioned Omni Tank, A-, S- and HH-Wagons, and other specialty vehicles of the Justice Department. Three spacehips, the Hubble attack Ship, Justice Pod, and Titan Shuttle make up the rest of the vehicles. Then come the Robots, always the Robots, do you have your Robot Insurance? 8 robots, Large Warbot Droid,

Chapter 4: More details on the Justice Department, Atlantic Division, COE, Immigration, Personel, Space Corps, Street Division, Undercover Divisions, all expanded. A Bunch of Backup units are described, stuff every Judge would know about. Gunbirds, Manta Prowl Tanks, K-unit, Long Gunner (aka sniper), Pursuit Squads, etc. Finally, A Bunch of Sample NPCs are given stat blocks, always useful for a Game Master.

Chapter 5: This flshes out Sector 13, the sample sector given to players to run as their sector, away from Dredd's sector. It gives descriptions, simple maps of most of the Sector House. Everything a growing Judge needs. Including Iso Cubes for those Perps that need putting away. Then, to make the Sector come alive, Dock 13, contacts, perps, and establishments round out the book.

Overall Rating: 18/20 Excellent proof-reading, lots of content, useful for advanced players and any game master running a Judge Dredd campaign.

Value: $29.99 for hard-copy, a bit pricey for a soft-bound at 120 pages, but as it's a supplement that is less used, it's going to cost a bit more. However, the PDF is currently available at Drivethru for $16.79.

Edit: Sorry, the formatting was jacked!

Reviews - Judge Dredd RPG (Mongoose)

JUDGE DREDD RPG (Mongoose Publishing)

Mega-City One - a vast metropolis where each of 360 million citizens is a potential lawbreaker. Patrolling these mean streets are the judges, tough lawmen of the future, trained to keep the peace and equipped to take on the criminals of the 22nd Century. Toughest of them all is Judge Dredd, for he is the Law, and you'd better believe it creep!

Judge Dredd is a new setting for the Traveller roleplaying game, in which you take on the role of Mega-City One judges, patrolling the streets astride your Lawmaster bike, ready to defend the city's civilians against an array of foes.

Lavishly detailed as a full colour hardback, Judge Dredd will take your Traveller games to somewhere they have never been before!

JUDGE DREDD requires the use of the TRAVELLER Rulebook, conveniently available in Little Rulebook format for $20.

I must say, having run generic TRAVELLER several times now, I'm REALLY looking forward to running the Hot Dog Run scenario I'm prepping for JUDGE DREDD  I have seen the older Dredd editions, and this one is by far the Best I've seen so far.

Chapter 1: Character creation
Using the TRAVELLER style character creation starting at age 5 instead of 18, using full d66 for event tables. Term 1 is age 5-8, Term 2 is 9-12, Term 3 (age 13-16) is where the creation really starts getting interesting, this is where the character ends up with a Judge division, Psi, Tek, Med or Street Judge, culminating in the mandatory Hot Dog run. Each division has its own Mishap tables as well. Term 4 is the final term, culminating in Full Eagle Day. Fifteen years of training, put to the test on the actual streets of Mega-City 1, under the eye of a  Full Judge, who assesses whether the candidate has what it takes to be a Judge. This character creation makes a stronger starting character than the Traveller character, but that's good since most starting characters in Traveller wouldn't last long as a Judge.

Chapter 2: Skills & Special Techniques
This chapter lays out news skills and special techniques, which are like Feats in the OGL system. A very good additional system for bringing the life of  a Judge together. These special techniques make the Judges feel like they're a step above the rest of the populace, and provide lots of opportunities for for role-playing, and making each judge feel a bit more unique as most starting characters will have only 1 or 2 from 21 different techniques. Short but jam packed chapter.

Chapter 3: The Justice Department
Every player not fully familiar with Judge Dredd should read this chapter, It would be basic information every cadet should know after having spent 15 years in the Academy. This chapter starts to bring the world of Mega-City 1 to life.

Chapter 4: I am the Law
Most people probably think playing a judge means executing wrong-doers immediately, however, playing Lawful Stupid in Judge Dredd is a good way to get yourself executed by another Judge. Often the perps will be captured alive, and have to be transported to a holding post for questioning and sentencing. A great portion of the chapter is dedicated to laying out the codes, section and what the sentencing is. (This would be a good handout for players to have, letting them flip through the codes to mete out justice.) Backup indicates what kind of help a Judge may call on when they're in over their head. Lastly the "Mega Rackets" are covered, this is the organized crime portion, and always a good opponent for a good group of Judges.

Chapter 5: Equipment
You got it, the chapter on the equipment, from the Lawgiver, the Lawmaster and Judge standard issue equipment, wonderful detail is presented here, with 3D CGI renderings of many weapons. One of the great things about Judge Dredd is 35 years of gadgets to give characters, challenging the characters which gadget to use to proceed in the game. Food, accommodations, illegal paraphernalia, etc is covered, a great book with plenty in it.


Chapter 6: Megways and Skedways
You can't get around MegaCity One without knowing the terms, From the Judge's Lane, to the Megway to an Eeziglide, this chapter covers it all, and the vehicles which travel on said 'ways.


Chapter 7: Mega-City One
Twenty Eight pages of coverage for Mega-City One and the rest of the Earth, from Cursed Earth, to East Meg One, Atlantis, and out to the Space Colonies. It covers recreation, sports and daily life. There's a section on tips for bringing th  mega-city to life, which unless you've lived in Hong Kong, New York or other mega city, you will have trouble imagining it at all. It has a couple of charts to help

Chapter 8: Thought Crimes
This is the Psionics chapter, which Psionics are a bit different than Traveller psions, but they operate under the same general rules.

Chapter 9: Crazies, Fatties, Muties and Perps
The monster book...From classic Dredd villains like Judge Death and the Angel Family to generic crazies, muties and perpetrators of crime. Plenty of charts help round it out, letting you make a plethora of baddies to challenge your Judges.

Chapter 10: Robots
With events such as the Robot Wars, and Walter the servant robot, it's bound to have robots, with a couple of Charts and Lots of Robot stat blocks.

Chapter 11: Mac's Database

A Timeline chapter. pretty straight forward, especially useful if you haven't read 30 years of Dredd.

Chapter 12: Sector 13
A Sample Sector for players to run in. It's not Dredd's sector. Population 1.5 million. With that many people to care for, there should be plenty for characters to do.With the following Blocks: Buzz Aldrin block, Jon Bon Jovi Block, Jimmy Gandolfini, and Bruce Springsteen block among others, interject it with an additional Justin Beiber Block that houses the worst scumbags in the sector and you've got a place to run.

Artwork:  This is a full color book, with lots of artwork from the comics, beautiful full  city panorama which make help bring the immensity of the city to mind.


Family Rating: Teen (The world of Mega-City 1 is a brutal place, with Block Wars, senseless violence due to boredom and various other wars, the players will have to make moral decisions about killing and violence in a non-fantasy setting, against humans, most often.)

Cost: $49.95 Print Version ($29.99 for PDF at Drive Thru RPG)

Value: If you're a role-player and you're a JUDGE DREDD fan this is a must have. It's gorgeous, well written and a classic, using TRAVELLER rules makes it simple to run.

Reviews - Iron Kingdoms RPG (Character Creation)

So, since I got Iron Kingdoms  last week, I've been delving farther and farther into it, I just completed the first character for it, An Iosan Cutthroat Mage Hunter. 

Character creation is simple, no dice, nothing random about it. It consists of 5 steps.

1. Choose Character's Race.
2. Choose an Archetype
3. Choose 2 careers
4. Increase Stats
5. Finishing Touches

Step 1: Race
Race affects everything, from maximum stats, access to archetype, access to specific careers, and each race has additional characteristics. For example, only an Iosan may become a Mage Hunter, while a Dwarf gains a connection to his clan, and the load bearing ability, while Ogrun have huge stature allowing them to wield two handed weapons in 1 hand at a -2 penalty, but an Ogrun using a pair of Caspian Battleblades or Mauls is just so cool.  Race is basically the most important choice.

Having already decided that Kae Im'dee was going to be a Mage Hunter, this left me with no real choice as far as race selection. Iosan's believe that human arcanists are responsible for the loss of the majority of their gods due to the effect of their magics. Mage Hunter is an Iosan only Career. Kae was Iosan. Cool thing about Iosans is that they actually get to select an extra ability from their careers. I noted down the starting values for an Iosan:

PHY:5 (spd:6, str:4)

AGL:3 (prw:4, poi:4)

INT:4 (arc:-, per:3)

Two languages Shyr, and another

Additional ability (Parry ability from Mage Hunter is what I ended up choosing.)

Step 2: Archetypes
Four archetypes consist of Gifted, Mighty, Skilled and Intellectual. Each archetype has its own list of specific feats, most of which are only available via the archetype. Gifted is a required choice for six of the careers, the magical careers, Arcane Mechanik, Arcanist, Gun Mage, Priest, Sorcerer, and Warcaster. Some careers are only available as a starting career, The Aristocrat, Iron Fang*, Sorcerer, Stormblade*, Trencher*, and Warcaster (*these additionally are restricted in their additional career choices.)

For Kae, I decided on the Mighty archetype, because I chose the Vendetta ability, allowing her to increase her chances of getting in an killing her intended prey, as quickly and efficiently as possible. 

Step 3: Careers
You choose two careers, each career determines what Starting abilities and skills, spells and assets you receive.

Making a Mage Hunter NPC, I decided to make her deadly, and combined Cutthroat with Mage Hunter. Cutthroat giving her the starting abilities of Anatomical Precision, Backstab & Prowl, plus the following skills Hand Weapon, Thrown Weapon, Intimidation, Sneak, and Streetwise. This combined with Arcane Assassin and Iron Will abilities, and Hand Weapon, Crossbow, Climbing, Jumping, Sneak and Tracking. I need to figure out if the two skill 1 skills stack to become a skill 2 or are lost. (Edit, after more extensive reading, yes, overlapping starting skills start at level 2, this makes her a brutal mage hunter, able to sneak in and engage those pesky human mages with nasty efficiency.)

Step 4: Increase Stats
Each character gains 3 ability increases for their stating character. Then fill out the Life Spiral (a nifty little way to track damage, more on this in the combat review.

For Kae I chose Phy, Spd & Poi as I want her to be able to hit and run, while surviving a bit of damage. 

Step 5: Finishing Touches

For my Cutthroat Mage Hunter, she received 150gold crowns (75 from cutthroat and 75 from mage hunter), but no actual gear, giving me the freedom to pick and choose gear. She ended up with a Repeating Crossbow (50 bolts and 2 spare magazines), Assassin's Blade, Kopis, Armored Coat, and a spyglass, plus some military rations, and a healing salve. Leaving her with 48 gc to grease palms and locate those ruinous human arcanists... Finalize the character sheet, by referencing the abilities, filling out skills, weapons, armor, defense armor and initiative values

The character creation experience was easy, required little page turning in reality and the lack of rolls means you don't have to worry when someone makes  a character at home...there's no way to cheat except with math and that's easily solved with a calculator. There's even a sidebar for experienced players being allowed to tweak the existing careers, to get something a little different. Perhaps your Pirate was the ship's surgeon, remove intimidate and substitute medic. Perhaps starting with a few extra XP to begin with (this is good for great backstories), since the game uses minor increases every few XP gained, it's not like creating a 2nd level character, more like a 1.25 level character.

Thoroughly enjoyable experience. Epic! Now if I can figure out how to work Aspects into the game....

Reviews - Abandoned Arts Archetypes (druid)

Another set of Abandoned Arts archetypes products rolling through, Barbarian, Druid, Ranger and Witch

Disclaimer: This is a review of a complimentary review copy of the product.

This is the review of the druid archetypes, it follows the formatting of the previous products. Four pages, a quick blurb of what an archetype is, 2 1/2 pages of actual product, followed by 1 page of the OGL. Cost $.99. 

This is one of the best I've seen so far.  It presents 3 very good archetypes: The Earthspeaker, the Faerie Thrall, and the Greenmind. 

The Earthspeaker: I really like the feel of this archetype, it replaces wild empathy, woodland stride, trackless step and wild shape with 3 alternate abilities. 

"The stoic circle of druids known as the earthspeakers take the concept of communing with nature to an extraordinary extreme, developing supernatural means of communicating – in a very literal way – with the earth itself."

Ask the Stone allows the Earthspeaker to, well, speak to earth, stone, crystals, etc, it's a really simple ability with limitless roleplay possibilities, especially for a savvy GM that can totally get into the character of simple stone.  Walk the world gives the druid the ability to move across dangerous mountain terrain faster, and tracklessly. Finally, Move the Earth is a special Charisma based check to produce different earth based effects, from spike stones to move Earth. very interesting ability.

The Faerie Thrall is an oft overlooked archetype for druids.

"While most druids enjoy a friendly relationship with many faerie creatures, some druids pledge their efforts (or submit their wills) as much to the furthering of ancient fey agendas as to the laws of nature or the cycles of the seasons."

This archetype consists of 4 abilities, though I'm not sure if the 20th level ability is supposed to replace an existing capstone or not as it seems like it merely adds a fairly minor ability modify memory, which has unlimited uses, making it a true capstone. The first thing a Faerie thrall must do, is choose whetehr to be part of the seelie or unseelie, which grants +4 saves versus non 'selected' magics, your court can affect you easier... The classic tropes of the pixie arrow and faerie dust appear as the Magic Darts (should have been faerie dust darts...) consisting of a charm monster ability, toned down by limited useage (1/2 druid level per day). Overall its a fun variant I plan to put to use as an NPC. The 9th level ability consists of taking  the fey's attributes, gaining the Fey Creature temple....with a very limited duration.

THE GREENMIND 

An ascetic and sage kind of druid, the greenmind pursues divine illumination and spiritual balance through a meditative process that brings him ever closer to the unknowable enlightenment of all things green and growing.

Oh this is a good one, simple and satisfying, giving up scimitar and all armors, this variant druid makes a lot of sense, gaining the ability to resist many spell-like abilities as a plant, and then to clothe themselves with the armor of the forest (up to +7 to AC), so not too shabby. The final ability lets the druid to take on the form of certain types of plant life.

Great addition to the game

A Solid 19 of 20! Critical Strike confirmed. Well worth 99 cents!

Reviews - Abandoned Arts Archetypes (Barbarian)

Another set of Abandoned Arts archetypes products rolling through, Barbarian, Druid, Ranger and Witch (same classes as the non-archetype products thus far, which is a bummer because my favorite classes for Pathfinder are Alchemist, Inquisitor and Oracle, but if abandoned arts can make as high of quality add-ons for those classes as they've made for these others I look forward to reading them.)

Disclaimer: This is a review of a complimentary review copy of the product.

First up is the Barbarian, which follows the formatting of the previous products. Four pages, a quick blurb of what an archetype is, 2 1/2 pages of actual product, followed by 1 page of the OGL.

There are three Barbarian archetypes presented, The Madman, the Reaver, and the Viking Marauder.


The Madman is an great idea, that fills a space I didn't even realize was missing.

"Some barbarians are inspired not by bloodlust or simple savagery, but by madness or dire occult powers. Such madmen are less martially inclined, but no less dangerous for their insane and unpredictable rage and their strange, supernatural powers."


The barbarian swaps 1/2 the additional rage rounds for access to a domain power. At 11th in lieu of greater rage, the madman gains a wisdom damaging attack.The End is Near is a very interesting capstone power, causing the barbarian to summon allies every round as their prayers to the outer powers hear their call, culminating in gate.

The Reaver is another good archetype, combining brutal sneak attacks and intimidation.

"The reaver is a death-obsessed berserker with a keen understanding of both death and fear. Favoring intimidating weapons and guerilla-style tactics, these terrible barbarians spread terror wherever they tread."

Giving up half their  additional rage rounds and damage reduction 1,2,3, & 4, for sneak attack dice.  Finally they can sneak attack those suffering from being shaken, frightened or panicked.

The Viking Marauder 

"In harsh northern climes, clans of seafaring marauders often band together to form raiding parties in order to survive. Though fearsome and sometimes barbarous, these brothers-in-arms are not without a sense of honor."

Not a big fan of this archetype. It's a very specialized archetype, with a real-world name. The viking marauder is a an interesting concept, Seafaring Scourge, is a skill bonus for sailor, survival, swim skills and a bonus movement for the marauder's vessel in lieu of fast movement. Raiding Party is a teamwork based ability. Marauder's Sails is another interesting concept, causing intimidation with the vessel itself due to the the marauder's fearsome reputation. The 14th level ability is extremely under-powered, being a +4 bonus to fear based will saves. At 14th level, it should be immunity to fear.

16 of 20, mainly for the concept of the madman, this one concept can easily be taken to other classes.

Reviews: Iron Kingdoms RPG

Oh man, my preview copy the Iron Kingdoms RPG arrived on my doorstep last night, So let the review begin. (Note: Today's review will be a quick glance review, looking at the very basics, as I need to read it to absorb the game...Continue watching as I will continue to review the product.)

I remember seeing the first Witchfire Trilogy, and being enthralled by a setting with guns and steamjacks. I was instantly hooked. I know a lot of people don't like guns in their fantasy gaming, but to me, it's about the setting, any rules can be used for any setting, yes, in  a Tolkien-esque generic fantasy setting, there's not really room for guns. But if the setting is designed around the inclusion of guns, by all means, let there be guns!

The release date has been upped to September 19th



First glance: It's a gorgeous hard-cover book utilizing a partial gloss/flat cover with this above iconic image (the actual artwork on the right, not the logo) wrap-around. The book is over 350 pages, beautifully illustrated with new images, and reprints from the d20 version of the game and I assume the miniature games (Warmachine and Hordes) as well, artwork too good not to be reused. The inside cover is a full color image from the cover with no words, to let you view the amazing cover art that Néstor Ossandón created. I really enjoy looking at the architecture rising above the group. The layout of the book makes sense, and is easy to read. I enjoy the sidebar illustration, and the lamps gives you a color coding to let you know what section you're in without making it feel like it was designed for 8 year olds.

After the initial compulsory introductory pages, consisting of a quick blurb about the origins of Iron Kingdoms, and the "What is a Role-playing game?" section. Thereafter it dives right into ...

Chapter 1: History of Western Immoren
40 pages of History. History really makes a setting, without history you just have a boring setting with no basis, so 40 pages worth  provides plenty.

Chapter 2: Life in the Iron Kingdoms
52 pages about life in the Kingdoms, from coinage, to faith and churches. Each kingdoms gets a blurb about what life is generally like in the Iron Kingdoms and beyond, including Cryx, Ios and Rhul. Different human ethnicities are covered as well as the various races. Language, law, travel, and the overview of different types of magic are glossed over, as magic is fully covered in a later chapter.

Chapter 3: Character Creation
Here's where the the game alters course from its d20 roots. Utilizing an engine based upon the miniature games. I will get more into this later, but I really like the mix and match archetype/careers, they're doing. It makes a 3 tiered system; taking 4 archetypes (gifted, intellectual, mighty and skilled), and combining it with a choice of two careers (some of which have requirements - such as race, gifted arcehtype (for caster types), or may only be chosen as a starter career).  The Careers are as follows: Alchemist, Arcane Mechanic, Arcanist, Aristocrat, Bounty Hunter, Cutthroat, Duelist, Explorer, Fell Caller, Field Mechanik, Gun Mage, Highwayman, Investigator, Iron Fang, Knight, Mage Hunter, Man-at-Arms, Military Officer, Pirate, Priest, Rifleman, Soldier, Spy, Stormblade, Thief, Trencher, and Warcaster. So you can see from this vast array of careers, by choosing two at creation you can really create a plethora of concepts. Perhaps you wish to play an Alchemist/Soldier or a Pistoleer/Pirate, the choices while not endless are definitely expansive. All told, the character creation chapter which includes skills, feats, and the races, covers 90 pages of real estate, about 25% of the book. Each career has a related illustration, very nice.

Chapter 4: The Game \
The basic system, based upon the Warmachine rules is a 2d6 base system, add stat and skill modifiers, this makes it a system which uses a small pyramid curve, where small modifiers can mean a big difference in success. Combat, Movement, initiative, etc, are all covered, I will go into this more, later in the week.  The game section is all of 30 pages in length, making it a fairly simple system.

Chapter 5: Magic
While many different traditions of magic exist, the rules are crunched into 20 pages of material. Only two actual types exist, will weavers and focusers. 10 and a half pages are jam packed with short listed spells, many of which are drawn from the miniatures game.


Chapter 6: Gear, Mechnika and Alchemy
The meat of almost any game lies in the stuff, covering 50 pages, this chapter gives plenty of stuff for characters to play with.

Chapter 7: Steamjacks
Well in this chapter you can fully make out the miniature wargame in the system. Each steamjack has a damage grid which looks suspiciously like the one in the wargame. But, as the Steamjacks aren't player characters, I don't see that as a bad thing, it just makes them a special type of monster. I think the coolest part of this section is the exploded views of the different steamjacks!!

Chapter 8: Gamemastering
A short section on gamemastering.

Appendix A: Bestiary
A Sample Bestiary, containing 6 monsters, 5 plus human, the most dangerous monster of all. I like the stat blocks of the monsters and I like the lack of hit points int he game, using a small triskell like hit matrix called a life spiral. (more on that once I figure out how it works)

Appendix B: Gameplay tools (which I expect will be available for download after release)
These are a Steamjack sheet, a 2 page character sheet and a game master encounter sheet. Nicely done, graphically sound landscape sheets.

Appendix C: Templates
2 pages of templates, blast, wall, spray and 2 different sized wreck markers.

And finally a 6 page index

Reviews - Ultimate Equipment (PFRPG)

Ultimate Equipment - Paizo Publishing



The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (in reverse order)

OK, I decided to sit on reviewing this book in the hopes that it would grow on me. It hasn't, it's a standard compilation book of gear, with some new items added in. It could have been better, I expected better, I expected more. 

I had hoped to see the Wand Rifle from one of the 3.5 adventures brought into Pathfinder. This was the perfect opportunity to gather all of the Equipment tricks into one book and greatly expand them. 

The Ugly
I, unlike some others, dislike the new format, I think it worked for the Beginner Box, I don't think it works for Ultimate Combat. It feels, wrong, color header after color header for EVERY item, it hurts my brain to look at it. I hate it. It makes the book feel like a 4th edition book.



The Bad
I HATED the pilum picture in Ultimate Combat, I still hate the SAME picture. It's NOT a pilum. The description for a pilum is wrong as well, that's not how they work. Why is it we get all these card pictures, which I've never been a fan of, for items we can find anywhere, but when it comes to all these exotic pre-historic weapons, nothing. How many new players know what an atlatl looks like? For some reason the wushu dart is wooden. Why is the wushu dart wooden?

There's no equipment tricks, Paizo created equipment tricks, this is the Ultimate Equipment book, why are there ultimately no equipment tricks?? Having a dozen or more new tricks would have really made the book more worth it.

$45 for an Equipment guide, it's 400 pages , but most of it is reprinted stuff, so while it is a big book, it's not a wholly original book. I appreciate the work that went into organization, but this one book is making me temper my Core subscription.

This should have been the perfect opportunity to add other prices for items so players in PFS don't outgrow certain "unique" items, just because you can't something like "Celestial Armor" in PFS into say...+4 chainmail, by paying the difference between a +3 and +4 armor bonus. Or at least adding "Celestial" into the Special Ability section. According to the magic item creation rules, it should be allowed, but it's a constant point of contention between GMs and players.

Mock armor...mockable...or...I do see an application in Golarion in having a Rasmiran 'priest' wear it to emulate a cleric's ability to wear armor.

The Good
It compiles equipment spread out in multiple locations into a single book.  I especially like the special material section.

The best part is the RPG Superstar items that made it into the book, wish mine was in there, but oh well.

Poison Rules, awesome. (was it published elsewhere first? I can't remember, I know however I sued similar rules houseruled earlier.) There should be similar rules for making alchemical items better, otherwise they're a low level only item.

Treasure generator...very reminiscent of the AD&D treasure generator, updated but not entirely innovative as the back-cover says.

The Color coding and page edge organization is brilliant, good job.

Artwork:
Yup, it has artwork, I just wish they'd stop using the card artwork, It usually is sporadic as to whether is actually fits the piece. I know they want to push the equipment cards, but they're just not all that. For example, in the picture above, that blue shield, under Celestial Shield, the description says, this gold-edged, yup the picture is gold edged, but the shield is scaled with a dragon skull on it, BAD art choice for a CELESTIAL shield, a silver and gold shield with an angel on it, that I would believe, but a blue scaled look with a dragon skull?

On the other hand the chapter artwork is as always gorgeous.

Value: This book should be indispensable, and to some people I'm sure it is,  but I don't absolutely need it...d20PFSRD has been doing just fine for locating stuff. It's a must-have PDF, it's a decent addition to a Pathfinder library for Gamemasters, I personally would get annoyed with players using it as a gear bible though.

Overall Rating:

12 of 20

I actually wish I had waited, I would buy the PDF separately, but the book to me isn't up to par. Had I seen it before the subscription kicked in, I would not have bought it.

I will be adding to the review as I look at it more. It's a big book, I'm sure I'll find more of the good, the bad and the ugly.

Reviews - Earthdawn Player's Guide (Pathfinder Edition) Updated

I'm finally getting back to update the review of Earthdawn - PF edition after it was updated in response to player feedback. Some of the changes were minor, some were sweeping, overall it does bring it more in line with what Pathfinder players expect to see, and making it much easier to use existing modules and monsters in an Earthdawn Pathfinder Game. 

Earthdawn Player's Guide (Pathfinder Edition) Updated
Produced by: RedBrick, LLC under license from FASA Corporation.
Written by: Hank Woon.

THE AGE OF LEGEND
Before science, before history, there was an Age of Legend... For years humanity huddled in underground kaers, as the astral beings known as the Horrors ravaged the land in an orgy of terror and destruction. Now the long, dark age of the Scourge has passed, and the brave adventurers emerge to reclaim their world.
Elf, ork, t'skrang, human, and other wondrous races explore a world that teems with strange creatures and unseen dangers; a world of lost cities, or ancient, long-forgotten treasures and idescribable wonders; a world where the very earth and sky vibrate with powerful arcane energies.
The Earthdawn® Player's Guide contains what every Pathfinder Roleplaying Game player needs to create one of these brave heroes and help rekindle the glory of days past, including new races, equipment, skills, spells, feats, and rules for being an Adept. Join the adventure and begin roleplaying in Earthdawn, the Age of Legend!

Earthdawn® Player's Guide™
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Edition Core Rulebook
Published by RedBrick LLC
Format: 284 pages, 6.14" x 9.21", B+W Interior


Wow, where to begin? Let's begin with the disclaimer, the PDF was provided to me by RedBrick for the purposes of review. Getting that out of the way; Earthdawn requires a different view of gaming, so the rules for the Pathfinder version Do Not, I repeat do not stick to pure Pathfinder Rules. This is going to upset some people looking to just have a Barsaive campaign setting using Earthdawn rules (If you want that, use the basic rules and just use the background info.) The rules presented in the EDPG (PFRPG) are more of a hybridization of Pathfinder and Earthdawn.  The updated version brings the game to Pathfinder levels. I will do a break-down of the races using the ARG at a later date. I think the addition of the Discipline Feats is similar to adding 2 traits; as in, roughly the equivalent of an additional feat. While it allows access to special skills, it's not all empowering.

My background, I'm a huge Earthdawn fan, I have a near complete set of 1st edition books (missing the Blades adventure, and the Earthdawn Journals). I have the LRG 2nd edition, and I have 3rd edition (all core plus Cathay). I've been involved with Pathfinder since Alpha Testing, and I am an Adventure Path charter subscriber. So I know both systems well.

The book starts out with the standard fluff that is in the Earthdawn books, including reference to spell matrices, which aren't included in the spell casting system. During Character creation you can use the standard Pathfinder point buy system, or you can use the optional point buy system that more resembles the traditional Earthdawn point buy chart. The races have different stat modifier numbers than normal PFRPG players are used to seeing, but, that is in the tradition of Earthdawn, so I see what direction the designers are coming from. In the current update,

Chapter 1 being an introduction to game concepts. Playing Earthdawn, Adepts, blood magic, karma, the importance of names, what the Horrors are and an introduction to the gods of Earthdawn, ascended mortals called passions. Chapter 2 is 14 pages of History, more fluff which is copied from the Earthdawn RPG, this covers the large amount of background information about why the inhabitants of Barsaive fled to their underground Kaers, to escape the monstrous Horrors. The history of the Barsaive province and their struggles with the nation of Thera. 

Chapter 3 launches into Character creation.  Note: This is where I need to do some play-testing and character creation to really see how everything is going to pan out.  Character creation is pretty Pathfinder standard, using Earthdawn races for ability modifiers, then choosing a class that qualifies for a discipline. Once you've chosen a discipline by selecting the bonus discipline feat, you gain access to the Adept skills in Chapter 5. Each discipline has access to different Adept skills. Earthdawn presents some standard races, alongside non-standard races. Dwarves, humans, and elves are the standard races, while orks, and trolls are classic monsters that are name giver races. (Name givers being the designation for the races which are true races, as they give themselves names, and all that goes along with those names.) The last three races are the capricious windlings (18" tall fairies effectively), and the pteradon-headed like t'skrang, who are the possibly the most flamboyant creatures in the Age of Legend, and the asexual beings that resemble rock, the obsidimen. One more name-giver race exists, but they are the dragons, but they are most definitely NPCs. An example of the attribute spread of the windlind: Tiny size, +1 Dex, -4 Str, -3 Con, +1 Int, +2 Cha. (These are in line with the original Earthdawn stats, and are counter-balanced with 40' flight, Dex based combat maneuvers, tiny size and a +8 size bonus to stealth attempts, windling spellcasters are nasty fellows.)

Each discipline has a prerequisite, for example, the Air Sailor currently requires the sneak attack class feature (this may change in the next week). Now, only the Sky Raider has a pre-req now, which is the rage class feature. Adepts gain adept skills as class skills, for example the Air sailor gains Air Sailing, Defense, Endure Cold, Great Leap, Thread Weaving [sky weaving], and Wind Catcher; while a Thief Adept acquires Fence, Gold Sense, Lip Reading, Quickblade, Sense Poison, Slough Blame and Thread Weaving [thief weaving]. So you can see where discipline choice grants special skills which are not available otherwise. 

Chapter 4 is the fluff about role-playing these different disciplines, it covers more than 100 pages of the book.  This covers the reason adepts are different, each Discipline has its own mind-set, its way of viewing the world.  In Earthdawn 3e, this was compiled from multiple sources from the older editions, there's vast amounts of information for each discipline, and the majority of people who've played in games I've played in don't really read all this information, but those that do definitely have good direction as to how to play their characters. 

Chapter 5 covers Adept skills.
In this chapter is some of the major crunch. Adept skills are all (Su) abilities, and many are powered by karma. Karma being the magical energy all adepts tap into to power their mystical abilities. An example of an Adept skill would be the Air Dance skill for warriors, by using karma, the warrior is able to use this skill rank to add to their initiative roll. If they score high enough they even get an additional attack, as if affected by haste. Each discipline has access to skills which in some cases are unique, such as the air dance, or common, such a durability. Combining some of the Adept skills with certain feats, archetypes or class combinations in Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Combat or Advanced Player's Guide might have some serious balance issues, but Earthdawn is supposed to be high fantasy, so just throw bigger Horrors at them. 

Chapter 6 is Adept Feats
Adept Feats are all powered by karma, but are feat-like rather than skill based. It makes sense really, Pathfinder uses skills and feats, so Earthdawn uses both elements to encompass the slew of talents adepts in Earthdawn have. There are 113 Adept feats, from the Weaponsmith's Abate Curse to the Warrior Adept's wood skin feat. These are the heart of each discipline, the powerful abilities. The more powerful Adept Feats might require multiple karma points to use. 

Chapter 7: Magic
This isn't the spell casting chapter, this is the mostly fluff chapter regarding all things magic, from Astral space, to naming, blood magic, pattern items and of course, thread weaving. Effectively, the Age of Legend is teeming with magical energy, people places and items all have names, the more well-known it is, the more powerful those things can be. When someone says "Luke Skywalker" you automatically know who that is, where he's from, and what he's done, that's his legend, when you say "Darth Vader" you know who he is, and that his legend is different than "Anakin Skywalker", because the name change changed his pattern. 

Chapter 8: spells
This is the location of the spells for the four spell casting disciplines of Earthdawn, the Elementalist, Illusionist, Nethermancer, and of course the Wizard. While this chapter brings the specific spells from Earthdawn into Pathfinder Earthdawn, characters can still receive additional spells from the normal Pathfinder books. (Not in my game however...sorry no disintegrate or globe of invulnerability). 

Chapter 9: Equipment
Equipment, what characters need to survive, from the exotic blood pebble armor, to the horrific obsidimen skin armor. One thing I'm quite happy with is that they kept the silver standard in Earthdawn, so all the charts and tables are based around the use of the silver coin. The chapter includes all the mundane gear, and minor magic charms, plus trade goods, animals and transport. 

Chapter 10: Religion
In normal Earthdawn games, the Passions aren't truly gods, they're ascended mortals, who are looked upon as examples to strive toward. Questors attempt to gain favor by performing acts in the name of the passions, though three of the passions didn't survive the Scourge with their minds in tact. Dis, Raggok and Vestrial, are mad passions, they've taken their old portfolio and corrupted it. Each passion has a portfolio they represent thus a typical group of passions might worship them over another, Garlen the healer is less enticing to a warrior than Thystonius, who is the Passion of Physical conflict and valor, though pacifistic warriors might prefer following Garlen, as they know war is a horrible thing and aid and comfort must follow in the wake of conflict. 

Chapter 11: Barsaive 
This covers the province of Barsaive, formerly a part of the Theran Empire, one which refuses to allow Thera to regain control. Barsaive is a primarily dwarven province, with over 40% of the population being dwarves. 

There are definitely elements I wish I had seen in this edition that weren't there. I wish the spell system was there from Earthdawn, I love spell threads and spell matrixes. It is one of the things that set Earthdawn apart from D&D back in the day, the lack of the Vancian spell magic system.

Is this the game I would have done for Earthdawn Pathfinder? Not completely, (but what system is when I'm concerned, just me, the tinkerer.) I would have focused on using a different magic system which was more akin to Earthdawn.  I need to see what the Game Master's guide is like to make a really good assessment of the entire system. If the legendary items aren't an awesome system, then I don't know what to do.

I will definitely be trying the system out, there's a lot to it, and it will REALLY require some getting used to. But I might just prefer the Original Earthdawn, as it is one of my favorite systems. I think that the system has plenty of elements that bring the feeling of Earthdawn to Pathfinder. I will definitely have a different magic system in place, one that includes skill-based thread weaving, and the use of spell matrices. Without those two things in place, the threat of tainted astral space and casting raw just isn't there. Effectively all casting classes would need access to the spell matrix feats, they would have those spells in their matrix, and do a standard thread weaving check to make sure they can swap them out. This removes the 15 minute day that plagues Pathfinder to this day. (On retrospective, I suppose allowing characters to cast spells raw would mean they can cast any spell they know, without having memorized it. This brings raw casting back in line without having to throw the baby out with the bathwater, it's a quick fix which bring the temptation of raw casting back.)

Cost: $29.99 for hard copy (when it becomes available), and $14.99 for PDF available at DriveThru RPG.

Value: It's on par with other PDF sales, it's hard to compete with the $9.99 Paizo PDF model, but this isn't bad pricing. 

Artwork: It features pretty much the same artwork from the older editions of Earthdawn (minus the crazy Mayan style covers from 3rd edition). Jeff Laubenstein set the tone for both Earthdawn and Shadowrun, and that is as it should be.

Rating: 

of 20

This bump in rating is because RedBrick listened to the fans, and changed their vision to be more in line with Pathfinder.

Earthdawn® is a registered trademark of FASA Corporation. Barsaive™, The Adept’s Way™, and Earthdawn® Player’s Guide™ are trademarks of FASA Corporation. Earthdawn® First Edition Material copyright © 1993–2012 FASA Corporation. Published by RedBrick LLC under license from FASA Corporation—Made in the USA. Copyright © 2012 FASA Corporation, RedBrick LLC. All rights reserved. Pathfinder is a registered trademark of Paizo Publishing, LLC, and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatibility Logo are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC, and are used under the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Compatibility License. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/compatibility for more information on the compatibility license. Compatibility with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game requires the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from Paizo Publishing, LLC. See http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG for more information on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Paizo Publishing, LLC does not guarantee compatibility, and does not endorse this product.

Review - Bestiary 2 (Pathfinder)

Bestiary 2
Produced by Paizo Publications, LLC


Go beyond goblins with an army of fantasy’s most fearsome foes! Bestiary 2 presents hundreds of different creatures for use in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Within this collection of creatures you’ll find undead dragons and mischievous gremlins, shrieking banshees and unstoppable titans, the infamous jabberwock, and so much more! Yet not all these monsters need to be foes, as new breeds of otherworldly guardians, living shadows, and vampires all might take up adventure’s call. In addition, new rules for customizing and advancing monsters and an expanded glossary of creature abilities ensure that you’ll be prepared to challenge your heroes wherever adventure takes them!

The Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 is the second indispensable volume of monsters for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and serves as a companion to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook and Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. This imaginative tabletop game builds upon more than 10 years of system development and an Open Playtest featuring more than 50,000 gamers to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best-selling set of fantasy rules into the new millennium.

The 320-page Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2 includes:
• More than 300 different monsters
• Creatures both new and familiar, drawing upon the best-known beasts of legend, literature, and Pathfinder RPG adventures
• Challenges for any adventure and every level of play
• Hosts of new templates and variants, including simple templates for on-the-fly creature customization
• Numerous lists of monsters to aid in navigation, including lists by Challenge Rating, monster type, and habitat
• New rules for creating and running high-level menaces
• Expanded universal monster rules to simplify special attacks, defenses, and qualities
• New familiars, animal companions, and other allies
• And MUCH, MUCH MORE!

        ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-268-5

What you get: This is from the main product line for the Pathfinder Role-Playing Game. It is a 320 page hard-bound full color monster book. Within it are more than 300 monsters, each entry has full color artwork. On the cover is one of Wayne Reynolds great pieces of artwork, featuring the Jabberwock, a protean and some of the gremlins.

Main Review: Having already reviewed Bestiary 3, this one actually drops back a little bit, my second copy actually arrived with a glue bubble on the inside back cover. (My first copy the box apparently got hurled across a warehouse in a game of hedonistic malevolence at the USPS, which Paizo graciously replaced for free). This book offers lots of fun stuff for Game Masters to throw at their players and especially brings the first Adventure path monsters into PFRPG rules, so that sinspawn, rune giants etc, have updated monster entries. 

It appears one of the main things this particular bestiary does is bring in the various new outsiders that Paizo has defined into their cosmology. Lots of unique entries, from the Aeons, Agathions, and Azata, to Nightshades, protean and qlippoth; lots of outer planar challenges for anywhere in the Great Beyond.  

One of the coolest things that Paizo has done with the various 'fiends' is given each of them an individual path, most notably, the Daemons (which first appeared in Fiend Folio, actually I think the D-series of modules was first), become the destroyers, the harbingers of ruin. This feels right for the neutral evil fiends. The four horseman of the apocalypse are daemons in the Pathfinder cosmology. This makes it easier for game masters to role-play their role more effectively. 

One of the most challenging this in this book is of course, the Jabberwock at Challenge Rating 23, with DR15/vorpal. This makes it flow with the original poem very nicely.

Value: Another great bestiary from paizo. For a 300 page full color hard bound, $39.99 is perfectly reasonable. The PDF at $9.99 is a phenomenal value.

Cost: $39.99 print and $9.99 PDF

Overall Rating: A strong showing, with lots of great entries, but not quite Epic, as most of the entries have very specific uses.

Review - Classic Treasures Revisited

Pathfinder Chronicles - Classic Treasures Revisited

The Ultimate Reward
Every adventurer dreams of glittering treasures and magical relics, and such remarkable rewards spur the quests and ignite the imaginations of history’s greatest heroes, driving them to greatness—or their doom. Yet above coins of gold and gem-studded baubles rise those riches that are themselves the envy of kings, the causes of calamities, and the stuff of legends. With the power to slay titanic beasts, reduce whole castles to ruin, and change the flow of fate, such mythic items fill the stories of sages and treasure seekers the world over. And now, the greatest of these wonders rest within your hands.

This compendium of curiosities reveals the magic and legacy of 10 of the most famous and infamous items and artifacts in the history of fantasy roleplaying. From the head-slicing swipes of the vorpal sword to the awesome magical might of the staff of the magi, the depthless bag of holding to the world-warping deck of many things, the investigations within reveal the mysterious creations, cunning uses, magical variations, and untold other secrets of these ultimate treasures.
No matter the campaign setting, Classic Treasures Revisited unleashes a hoard of history’s greatest magic items upon your game—along with all the adventures they inspire—and proves that true treasures never tarnish.

Highlighted treasures include:
• Bag of Holding
• Cube of Force
• Deck of Many Things
• Figurines of Wondrous Power
• Helm of Brilliance
• Horn of Valhalla
• Sphere of Annihilation
• Staff of the Magi
• Vorpal Sword
• Well of Many Worlds

This Pathfinder Chronicles book works best with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary. Although it is suitable for play in any fantasy world, it is optimized for use in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-220-3

Quick Glance: This is Paizo's typical Pathfinder Chronicle layout. You get a full color, 64-page, perfect bound book with artwork on the inside front and rear covers, and throughout. This is one of Paizo's revisited series of the chronicles books. Written by Michael Kortes, Todd Stewart, Jonathan H. Keith, Jacob Burgess, Brian Cortijo, Jeff Quick, Amber Scott and Russ Taylor.

Main Review: I love Paizo's revisited series, it really shows how inventive the team can be. This particular example takes ten classic magic items and examines, expands and introduces more and more information into the game. One of the best things this book does is give more options to the gamemaster. Each Item is written by a single author, giving a more in depth look at the item, its history, lore and variants.

Each item is laid out with the following formula: A fluff piece followed by a basic description. Then the Base Item is presented in its entirety. (This is the ONE problem I have with the book, as the items are ALL in the Core rulebook, and this is wasted space.) Utility is covered next; what the item is typically used for, its role in the game. Next up is Related items and spells; pretty sell explanatory, for example the Handy Haversack being a related item to the bag of holding, while the wall of force being a related spell to the Cube of Force. Next up is the Campaign Role, similar to the utility section, this gives more in depth as to how the item can affect the campaign world, with perhaps some campaign hooks hinted at. Variants are the next section of each description, though some items are written with better variants than others. The final section draws the items into the lore of Golarion, this is great for running games in Golarion and adding extra fluff to those knowledge rolls for bards. Included in the descriptions are also feats such as having a Figuring of Wondrous Power Animal Companion or Familiar, a la a certain drow and his panther.The book provides so much information that reviewing everything would be folly. So go to your FLGS, see if they have a copy and page through it, you'll see what I'm saying.

Artwork: As always, Paizo produces some beautiful artwork (with the exception of sometimes using inappropriate item card artwork in certain books). Cover Art by Kerem Beyit. Interior Art by Christopher Burdett, Andrew Kim, Jeremy McHugh, Hector Ortiz, Michael Phillippi, and Florian Stitz.

Cost: This volume costs $19.99 MSRP for the print version, and $13.99 for the PDF version through Paizo.

Value: Excellent! This is a fun book that gives plenty of new life to familiar items. If you're looking to change things up in your game, or looking for inspiration on how to give an old item a new life, pick this book up while you still can, Paizo doesn't do a lot of reprints, so once this one is gone, it's most likely gone.

Rating: 18/20

Review - Pathfinder Setting Distant Worlds

This is the book I had been waiting for!!! From the time I first read about the additional planets of the Golarion Solar System, I was excited to know more! As a fan of Burrough's Red Planet books, I wanted to know about Akiton and the other planets, now the Pathfinder Campaign Setting supplement "Distant Worlds" brings more to light. 

Overview: This is a perfect bound, full-color 64 page supplement produced by Paizo Publishing, LLC for the Pathfinder Role-Playing Game system. Available in print and PDF formats. Written by James Stutter.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Distant Worlds (PFRPG)
Paizo Publishing, LLCGolarion is the primary world of the Pathfinder campaign setting, but it is not alone. Far beyond its lands and seas, sister worlds revolve around the same sun, their residents connected by magical portals or ships of terrifying magic and technology. Now take your game off-planet and explore these weird new worlds for yourself!This book offers a detailed introduction to the science-fantasy worlds of Golarion’s solar system, each complete with its own mysterious locations and cultures. Discover how your swords and spells match up against the trench dwellers of the Red Planet or the angelic Sarcesians who soar between asteroids. Research the mysterious origins of the sealed world-ship of Apostae, or hunt vortex sharks in the freezing seas of Kalo-Mahoi. Though strange and new, each of these worlds uses the same Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules as Golarion itself.

Within this 64-page book, you’ll find:

• Gazetteers of every planet and major moon in Golarion’s system, from the steamy jungles of Castrovel and the machine-ruled rock of Aballon to post-apocalyptic Eox and divided Verces, where one side is always day and the other night. Plus, uncover information on the residents of the sun, Golarion’s moon, the asteroid belt called the Diaspora, the dark regions beyond mysterious Aucturn, and more!

• Introductions to the major cultures inhabiting the system. Will you join Castrovel’s beautiful Lashunta, fight beside the four-armed giants of Akiton, study with the hyper-evolved Contemplatives of Ashok, petition the undead Bone Sages of Eox, or face down the insectile legions of the Forever Queen?

• Easy new rules for adventuring on other planets, including discussions on gravity, temperature, time, vacuum, and traveling between worlds.

• Adventure hooks for every world, tailored for GMs currently playing on Golarion.

• Six brand-new alien monsters, from intelligent dragonkin who bond with humanoids to the great oma space-whales and amorphous, blimplike Brethedans.

Distant Worlds is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be used in any fantasy game setting.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-403-0

Quick Impression: As I look through the book it's actually quite difficult to not stop and read, as the images draw me in, I WANT to read the book from cover to cover immediately. I was drawn to stop at multiple places within the book, just because something caught my eye. The artwork is awesome, especially since each planet is presented in full-color.

Main Review: Here we go, whether you want to run a game using a space faring Spelljammer variant, or a Stargate style game, this books provides the framework needed for either. The Sun and each of the 12 solar system locations. Each solar body is broken down into 5 sections; a planetary stat block with size, mass, gravity, atmosphere and orbit; an basic description section, adventuring, gazetteer, and adventure hooks. Each planet is very distinct as was laid out in the Inner Sea World Guide. Castrovel being the original home of the elves, Akiton is the analogue for Burrough's Red Planet, complete with four-armed giants. Verces is a fun tidally locked planet that reminds me of the Jack of Shadows world by Zelazny. Eox the world of the Bone Sages.  The section finishes off with the Constellations, The Cosmic Caravan (providing a full astrology), Cynosure, the Ice Belt and most importantly The Dark Tapestry, which provides for the nameless horrors of the void, those of the Mythos.
   Stellar adventures section covers Travel, via portals, spells or vessels; Environment, atmosphere and vacuum, gravity, temperature and time (length of day). Two new spells and a magic item, the Pressure Suit are also presented in this section.
   The final section is Aliens. The bestiary of the Solar System. It starts off listing existing creatures in the environments. It finishes with six new creatures.

Artwork: Most of the artwork is incredible, some of it is just decent. My personal favorite is the picture of Merisiel in the mystic space suit. The inside cover is a full sheet solar system view. Each of the planets (including Golarion's moon is laid out with an image of the planet (typically a dual hemisphere image, but in the case of the gas giants, it shows moons above the surface), and an additional image, typically a humanoid, but there is some variation. As there's a constellation listing, I wish that they had deemed it wise to create a constellation image as well. There are several other pieces, I especially like the image of The Seraph in the stellar travel section. Cover art by Kerim Beyit. Interior art by Raven Mimura, Scott Purdy, Mike Sass, and Ilker Serdar Yildiz.

Cost: The print version costs $19.99 and the PDF version runs $13.99

Value: This supplement expands the entire solar system, giving plenty of background for spacefaring adventures.

Epic Rating: 

Review - Pirates of the Inner Sea

Pathfinder Player Companion
Pirates of the Inner Sea

Draw your cutlass and set sail for adventure! 

For thousands of years, pirates have captured the imagination, their rough-and-tumble lives filled with a boundless lust for blood, gold, and glory. Being a pirate is the ultimate freedom—freedom to take what you want and never apologize. Whether from the decks of massive slave galleons or beneath the sails of swift ships, pirates hunt the seas, singing chanteys and hoisting the Jolly Roger as they seek out the next unsuspecting merchant. They are the wolves of the sea, and their hunger can never be sated.
Whether you want to abandon the life of a landlubber to join a pirate crew, hunt down their murderous ships in the name of justice, or simply follow a mysterious map to buried treasure, Pirates of the Inner Sea has everything you need to know about piracy on Golarion, all of it one hundred percent player-friendly and ready to guide you on your journey.

Inside this book, you’ll find:

• In-depth overviews of six major pirate organizations in the Inner Sea region, including the government-backed privateers of Andoran, the slavers of Okeno, the high-seas buccaneers of Riddleport and the Shackles, and the quick-moving brigands of the River Kingdoms. Each entry details the pirates’ history, notable captains, activities and hideouts, preferred ships, and more.

• Pages of new pirate weapons and equipment, from hook hands, cutlasses, and tar bombs to peg legs, treasure chests, and grog.

• New pirate archetypes for several different classes, including the buccaneer bard, the freebooter fighter, the corsair ranger, and the smuggler rogue.

• The Inner Sea pirate prestige class.

• A detailed look at the faith of Besmara the Pirate Queen, goddess of all those who make their living spilling blood on the water.

• New pirate-themed spells for casters of numerous types and faiths.

• New character traits to help you customize your pirate character mechanically as well as thematically.

• Sample pirate codes, minor pirate groups, a timeline of important pirate events, and more!

This Pathfinder Player Companion is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Pathfind  er campaign setting, but can easily be used in any fantasy game setting. In addition, it is particularly useful for players of the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path.
Written by Amber E. Scott

First Glance:  Nice little supplement for players who want to play a pirate, or a complete pirate adventure, like the Skull & Shackles AP. This is a 32 page supplement for the Pathfinder Role-playing Game. Full color . The book is organized into fluff and crunch sections effectively, though the organizations include one of my favorite aspects of Pathfinder...traits, 4 per each of the six organizations; NOW, many of these are just the standard rewritten intimidate, with over a dozen traits that grant intimidate bonus/class skill available, shouldn't be hard to intimidate in Pathfinder....heh. Anyway, I digress. The art is great as always, Paizo always tries to have the best artwork for their products. After the organizations comes the crunchier bits, from pirate gear and archetypes, to a new prestige class, magic, and then some fluffier info on Besmara, the pirate goddess, and pirates codes.

Full Review: 12 pages cover six pirate organizations, more like loose affiliations; Andoran, Mediogalti, Okeno, Riddleport, River Kingdoms, and The Shackles. Each organization gives a history, notable captains, ships, hideouts, activity, and four traits. Each one has its own feel, and goals. The next two groups cover minor groups. The next four pages cover pirate gear, from cutlass to boarding axe, 10 weapons are covered, some new, others, revamped such as the harpoon. Then additional equipment from such consummate sailor gear as astrolabes and sextants, to the cliche peg leg and grog. Finally you can't have a pirate campaign without ships.

The four archetypes follow.
    The Buccaneer for the bard is a non-lethal specialist. Hilt Bash lets the bard make a non-lethal attack with lethal weapons, he gains song of surrender and mass song of surrender, and knock out though this is a weak ability as its usable a limited number of times per day.
    The Corsair is an archetype for Fighters, including a pirate weapons group, deck fighting in which cleave replaces the 2nd level bonus feat, but without penalty to the cleave attack; which improves at 6th level to great cleave. Armored Pirate is a scaling ability that eventually grants heavy armor with no penalty to acrobatics or swim checks.
   The Freebooter ranger archetype is probably the best of the four archetypes, granting bonuses to his allies, with Freebooters Bane and Freebooter's Bond, finally finishing with Fast Swimmer, granting much improved swim speeds.
   The Smuggler is a primarily role-play oriented archetype for rogues. With Bribery, Conceal Item and Distraction, allowing them to move items though checkpoints with ease. It doesn't have any offensive power and gives up trap sense, trapfinding and evasion.
   The Inner Sea Pirate prestige class takes up two pages and is a rogue-like 10 level PrC. It grants sneak attacks and pirate tricks, strangely it doesn't include a blackpowder trick or access to actual rogue talents. There's a typo in the pirate tricks description that contradicts the table. (Use the table).
  The Faith section covers Besmara, the Pirate Queen and her faithful, lots of fluff but the only crunch is 2 religion traits, Cheat Death, and Expert Boarder.  I would have liked to seen a Besmara based spell here.
   The Magic section presents six new spells, from the insidious Black Spot to an actual Skeleton Crew spell which makes skeletons from corpses that possess profession (sailor). The other 4 spells are Buoyancy, Salvage, Track Ship and Unseen Crew.
   The final pages for the Social section, including the Pirate's Code, Privateer's Code, Shipboard Conduct and Pirate Slang (though there are only 27 expressions for the slang, so it's a bit light).

Artwork: 13 pirates adorn the pages with a dynamic illustration on page 2, with the cover illustration repeated on the inside back cover; all very well done. Cover illustration by Kieran Yanner, interior art by Dmitry Burmak and Michelle Chang.

Cost: $10.99 for the print copy and $7.99 for the PDF.

Value: This is one of those small books that provides a lot of information. If you're looking to play a pirate in your Pathfinder role-playing game, pick this up.

Rating: 18 of 20

A note on reviews...

If you've been reading my reviews, you might note that I'm very positive in them. Now, I tend to be a positive person and try to focus on the positive. Now, I'm also reviewing my favorites first...as I get more reviews done, and begin to review things I was let down by, more moderate reviews will be included, for example, the Game Mastery Guide was a bit of a let-down for me. It's good, it just wasn't great. Since it's not as Epic! in my eyes, I'm not as excited to get it reviewed.

I'm working on doing video reviews now, So I will be making a YouTube account specifically for uploading those videos, as the blogspot video uploads tend to have very low quality when viewing them. So I will also be uploading those reviews again.

As we're close to 4000 hits now, we're getting more viewers, what do YOU want to see? Send me an email... epicRPGBlog@gmail.com. Let me know.

Table-Top Thursday

WarLands Review

This is a review of WarLands miniature game produced by Aberrant.

www.aberrantgames.com

What is it: WarLands is a 15mm scale miniature war game set in a post-apocalyptic world. Mad Max in 15mm scale.

Rules: If you’ve always liked other vehicular combat games, but hated how long they took to play, this may be the solution, Movement is simplified into Slow/Cruising/Fast, the exact numbers based upon the type of vehicle, fast for a truck is only cruising for a bike. The system uses 2d6, with modifiers, such as RC or CC (ranged or close combat). Damage is based upon the rolled damage, each die calculated separately, using exploding dice is always fun. Double sixes on the attack roll automatically cause a critical. Criticals can be brutal, and one can turn the tide of a combat in seconds, everything from a lucky escape, to a ruptured fuel, to a vehicular explosion. Balance is maintained using point buy for vehicles and pedestrians, the expanded book presents Mac’s Bodyshop, which will allow for customized vehicles. On aberratngames.com there are free ezines called Data Dump which covers all of Aberrant’s games.

Miniatures: Decent, the vehicles are resin cast, with white metal accessories and figures. Being 15mm scale it’s easy to pull in WW2 miniatures for additional infantrymen.

Comprehension Level: Excellent, The rules are simple, the action furious. It’s one of the fastest miniatures games I’ve played.

Family Rating: 10+, rules are easy enough though it deals with shooting, destruction and killing, so as always, parental discretion is advised.

Price Tag:  As a miniatures game, you’re paying for the figures mostly.

Battle Box  $37.99 (Basic Rules, 2 Buggies and a Utility Truck)

A pair of bikes, $9

Cars cost $13,

Buggys, $11.99

The Rattler Gun Truck $15

Utility truck $9.99.

Sand Surfer #1 or #2 $13

The expanded PDF rulebook currently runs $9.99.

The quality isn’t bad, but it’s not incredible, for a niche market, it’s pretty good.

Value: For us, it’s well worth the money. No matter how many times we play WarLands, it’s always fun. We have A Battle Box, plus 2 more buggies, and a Rattler. I’d like to get a couple cars soon as I can.

Overall Rating: EPIC! The game is fun and fast, the tide can turn very quickly, good tactics and good rolls can change the game lightning fast.  

Savage Worlds: Explorer's Edition Review

            This is the core system rules for the entire Savage Worlds line. Produced by Pinnacle Entertainment Group, in print and PDF format.

First Glance:

With a small format, and low price tag, this is a basic set of rules, full color with glossy pages and lots of artwork from lots of different sources.

Main Review: The mechanics for Savage Worlds are design to be loose, “fast, fun, and furious” is the tagline for the game. The mechanics use “exploding” dice (so anytime you max a die roll you get to re-roll the die and add it again, as many times as you max it out.) In addition, the system uses a form of hero points called bennies, PEG was an early innovator with hero points in the original Deadlands setting. Bennies may be used to re-roll a result you don’t like, or to help soak an injury. On of the great benefits is that the rules are set-up to allow multi-genre play, whether you want to include rayguns in your fantasy is up to you, but the rules are balanced for such play. Guns are definitely more deadly in Savage Worlds, especially modern firearms with their high Rate of Fire.

Artwork: Good. The artwork is good, they recycle artwork from various Savage Settings to evoke the various genres you can play with this game.

Replay Value: Excellent, as an RPG, replay is typically good. The setting provides enough information to provide for hundreds of games in all sorts of settings, and if you get bored at Legendary, you can even play demi-gods with the Shaintar setting.

Comprehension Level: Excellent. The rules are well written and easy to understand. Gameplay is easily understood by younger children, sometimes the Referee with have to make decisions on the fly, but the rules are easy enough to be forgiving with a snap decision.  

Humor: Not so much, it’s a rule book more than a campaign setting so it is pretty cut and dry.

Game Mastering: You need to design your own setting, or use a pre-published setting, of which there are many for Savage Worlds. Officially licensed settings for Savage worlds almost always have a twist to them. Example settings are Sundered Skies, Day After Ragnarok, Deadlands Reloaded, Necessary Evil and many more. In addition there are companion guides such as the Fantasy Companion and the Supers Companion. These companions give you lots of tools for creating your own campaign world, and introducing additional rules to modify the basic rules. (I understand that the Deluxe edition is to include more campaign info.)

Family Rating: All ages, as a generic rules guide, Savage Worlds may be used for anything from Dark Cyberpunk such as Interface Zero to light-hearted home made rules for stuffed animal wars. Almost anything can and has been done in Savage Worlds.

Price Tag:  This will set you back $9.99 MSRP for Print or PDF. (Note the Deluxe edition will be released in August in print, and now available in PDF format)

Value: Well worth the money. It’s cheap and contains basic examples of everything you need. There’s a reason Savage Worlds is in my Top 5.

Overall Rating: EPIC! The versatility of Savage Worlds is what makes it so great.

Interface Zero review

            This RPG uses the Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition, which is required to play. No additional material is required, though some new expansions are being released, such as Zeeks (the psionic supplement), and the recently released Boston world hot spot book. Produced by GunMetal Games, in print and PDF format.

First Glance:

This is cyberpunk pure and simple, from the cover to the interior artwork, sleek, dirty, deadly. A Quick glance shows it’s an almost 300 page Hardcover book; black & white interior, mid-grade paper, with a solid binding.

Main Review:

As a setting for Savage Worlds, it requires the Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition to play. 

The timeline is 2088, the first chapter is a fairly detailed timeline of how the dystopic world of Interface Zero came to pass. Approximately 80% of the population have a TAP installed, a cybernetic interface that allows you to see the hyper-reality which exists almost every where. The holographic screens in Minority Report are an example of what this reality might look like. Everything is wired in to this system, keypads, billboards, etc, certain areas might have a themed view, for example, a high end bar that uses the TAP to look like you’re in Valhalla, being served by Valkyrie.

The setting is vast, spanning the entire Earth in addition to the new galactic colonies. The main creative writer must have done his research as to future technologies, from the virtual overlay in the world to the rise of arcologies (a cyberpunk trope), this setting has it all, hacking, virtual worlds, even armed pizza delivery subscription. Races span from the plain vanilla human, the genetically engineered Human 2.0, an android, genetically engineered hybrids, and in true Blade Runner tradition, simulacra.

The great addition to the rules in this setting is the Cybernetics. Normally in Savage Worlds, a cybernetic upgrade would cost you an advance, which is fine if you want to keep them balanced with other powers. But with all the cyber-reapers out there, you’d lose an advance if someone stole your chrome. In Interface Zero, each piece of chrome increases your chances of cyber-trauma, depending on the quality of your chrome. If you’re a decked out Ronin sporting copious amounts of gutterware, your life expectancy will tend to be…short yet costly. The basis of the rules is that on a vigor roll you will have to roll cybertrauma if you roll a natural one or snake-eyes, that triggers a cybertrauma roll, which can result in various consequences, from nothing to massive feedback that causes incapacitation and breaks a piece of cyberware.

One of my personal favorites in the game is that MMORPGs are built-in, allowing you to play other games inside the game itself, perhaps the mercs have to defeat a legendary gunfighter in Deadlands to get his silver plated pistol which actually has information coded into it, yet the only way to defeat the gunfighter is to hack the system to find out his weakness.

Artwork: Excellent. Black & white art that evokes perfect imagery of this sleek yet dirty future.

Replay Value: Excellent, as an RPG, replay is typically good. The setting provides enough information to provide for hundreds of games all over the world.

Comprehension Level: Excellent. The additional rules are well written and easy to understand.

Humor: Some humor, but it’s a dark and dangerous setting, so it’s more dark humor.

Game Mastering: Excellent. There’s a 35 page game master section, which gives the GM excellent tips on running the system in addition to numerous tables to keep your players on their toes, and waiting for the next big score.

Family Rating: PG-13/R, This is a dark setting as I said, it deals with drugs, slavery, prostitution and even darker criminal activity. While you could run a toned down campaign for younger players, I don’t recommend the book for the innocent.

Price Tag:

This will set you back $39.99 MSRP for Print or PDF (price at time of writing is $11.20 on RPGNow). Zeeks is normally $8.99 ($6.29) and Boston: Broken Cradle of Liberty $9.99 ($6.99). In addition a free Adventure “The Prodigal” is available for download.   A Second adventure, The Package, is available for $1.25 ($ .88)

Value: Well worth the money, with all the information contained, and the rule additions, this setting is a great value.

Overall Rating: EPIC! If you enjoy cyberpunk settings, this is an excellent one.
Interface Zero (Savage Worlds)