No comments about Hackmaster: The Hacklopedia of Beasts, Vol 3.

2 comments about X-COM Apocalypse: The Official Strategy Guide (Secrets of the Games Series.).

1. The offical Strategy guide is very helpful, the states on weapons and saliens is particularly help ful. However since the actually combat stages change each time your in them it's help on the missions is severly lacking. The help on bases is also somewhat useless as it's very expensive to build one from scratch, and it's almost imposible to redo the orignal one.



2. This book is a great help when playing the game. There are detailed breakdowns for each weapon, alien, and human enemy. The section on research is crucial if you want to maximize the work of your research team. X-com Apocolypse rocks and having this book makes it that much cooler. I don't suggest you get this book untill AFTER you have already played through the game at least once though, you don't want to spoil it!

No comments about Dungeon Crawl Classics 47: The Genies Tears (Dungeon Crawl Classics).

No comments about Caverns of Thracia (Sword & Sorcery D20).

1 comments about Mutants & Masterminds: Instant Superheroes Sourcebook.

1. Like the name says, this book contains ready-made characters for use in the Mutants & Masterminds superhero role-playing game. Like the examples from the Player's Handbook, character descriptions start with base archetypes, but also include a couple of variations on each archetype and suggestions for additional modifications to make characters even more unique.
   
   The book's archetypes (and variations) are: Agent (Fixer, Imposter), Amphibian (Atlantean, Sea Deity), Android (Golem, Robot), Battlesuit (Cryosuit, Mystic Garment), Costumed Detective (Conspiracy Theorist, Dark Avenger), Cyborg (Braincase, Cybertrooper), Demon (Dhampir, Revenant), Duplicator (Duality, Spirit Caller), Elemental (Air, Earth, Fire, Water) Energy Controller (Magnetism Master, Pyrokineticist), Fortunate Hero (Black Cat, Good Luck Charm, Hex), Gadgeteer (Disabled Genius, Mystic Artisan), Jungle Lord (Barbarian, Beast Man), Living Weapon (Physical Booster, Nano-Augment), Martial Artist (Iron Palm, Wandering Monk), Martian (Alien Star Captain, Star Child), Mimic (Animal Mimic, Nemesis, Power Thief), Mystic (Illusionist, Witch) Paragon (Eternal Champion, Perfect Specimen), Powerhouse (Bulk, High Gravity, Titan), Psionic (Psychic, Psychic Investigator), Ring Bearer (Galactic Cataphract, Guardian of Light), Sentient Plant (Plant Spirit, Wood Beast), Shapeshifter (Elastic Hero, Size Changer), Speedster (Teleporter, Time Controller), Super-Soldier (Futuristic Law Enforcer, Soldier of Fortune), Swashbuckler (Mystic Knight, Samurai), Totem (Amoeba, Bear, Eagle, Insect, Leopard, Lizard, Monkey, Raven, Serpent, Shark, Spider, and Wolf), Tracer (Gumshoe, Supernatural Scholar), Wealthy Thrill-seeker (Affluent Dilettante, Patron), Weapon Master (Archer, Mystic Warrior), and Weather Controller (Temperature Controller, Wind Controller).
   
   Reasons to buy: to add supporting characters to your M&M game without taking a lot of time; to find villains for one-shot adventures on the fly; to gain ideas about character archetypes not covered in other M&M books.
   
   A bit pricey for its 96 pages, this collection of character descriptions is well organized and an efficient time-saver, but not essential to play the game.

5 comments about Grandia (Prima's Official Strategy Guide).

1. This, with out a doubt, is the most horrid excuse for a strategy guide I have ever seen. It contains no maps, no item locations, and no secrets. All it has is a collection of screenshots from the game, which are cryptic at best. There is a list of skills for each character but not what they do. I would say this is a good book for someone who doesnt want to play the game at all, but rather just see a bunch of screenshots from it.



2. For a game with as many hidden secrets and difficult dungeons as Grandia, one would expect to find a strategy guide full of hidden items, maps and strategies. After all, that's the reason gamers buy them. This guide fails to deliver any of the above. The only item that the guide will help you find are Mana Eggs, so finding anything else, including hidden weapons, is up to you. Basically, this guide is a color walk-through stuffed with tiny screenshots which were not necessary. Just a distraction from the boring, and uninspired "Go west, now turn south...", walk-through I suppose. There are weapon, item and magic lists at the beginning of the guide which are okay at best, but they still fail to tell you where to find these items. As far as the secret dungeons go, thank goodness I found them myself because the book says hardly a word about them. Not a single map or strategy for these areas which are very difficult and time-consuming. After I finished the game, I realized that I could easily have beaten it without this guide because I did all the exploring myself to find hidden items/weapons. If you need a good walk-through, visit Gamefaqs, heck even a message board is better than this book. Also, the guide suffered a very bad printing mishap that is very obvious at the end of the guide. The last 5-10 pages or so have the wrong text under their screenshots and a good portion of the walk-through for the Final dungeon was cut off, including any info on the final boss. As if we would have gotten help beating it anyway!

   Overall: 1 star for being in color and having a few pretty pictures.




3. If you own the Sega Saturn version of Grandia (which is in Japanese) then this book is quite useful, as it retells some of the story as you are going along. Doubtless this will annoy people who have the english version (hence the low scores).As a guide it is quite poor - It does'nt tell you where all the Mana eggs are, and there are no details of the secret areas...but it is a small price to pay for a story synopsis. Get this book if you love the game or if you have the Saturn version - which is the best one ;0)



4. To say the least, this is a terrible book. It offers no maps, nothing about the secret dungeons, no boss stratagies. Nothing. It is not worth anything you pay for it, except maybe 5 cents.

   If you need a Walkthrough for this wonderful game, GameFAQs has much better ones, for free!




5. Now if only that walkthrough had maps and some strategy for bosses then maybe the guide could get 3 or even 4 stars from me.

   The guides doesn't cover the full extent of the game for starters and doesn't present any way of telling you some of the basics like learning magic and battling.

   The walkthrough doesn't even have maps. Its one of those "Screenshot description below" type of walkthrough (and that doens't work when dealing with an RPG). I didn't mind no bestiary but I do mind them not telling me EXP. from bosses and enemies. They also tell me nothing about learning moves and magic. Overall this guide is useless, and as one reviewer said, go to GameFAQs if you want a guide to this game. This doesn't even tell you how to find most items in an area.

   Overall, if you want to see pretty pictures and just get up and go without knowing any secrets (they don't even cover the special stage) then be my guest and buy this guide. But if you want in depth strategy then go to GameFAQs.

3 comments about *OP Laws of Ascension Unlimited Edition (Mind's Eye Theatre).

1. This book is the best Minds Eye theatre book I have read yet. WHile it does have some minor problems in it, overall it is simply beautiful, though i HIGHLY suggest any prospective players or buyers also get a copy of mage Revised, and a copy of the Tradition book they plan to play in. Great work, White Wolf, it was wort the wait.



2. A great book. I was intoduced to LARP role playing through Laws of the Acension, and I havn't looked back. The book can be a bit confuseing for new player who hasn't ever played either table top or LARP before. Perticulary if you're a table top player trying to make the switch to LARP. It's not easy. But if you read the book, and have a freind or two near by who can help you out with character creation, then it's a great buy. I wouldn't suggest it for a new player who can't ask his or her freinds about it.

   But if you know your stuff, and if you find mages interesting, and you want somthing other then Vampier intruge and Werewolf blood baths, try Mage, it's not only a great mix (if you want a blood bath, then you can have one, if you want a socail game then by all means try it) but the best part about mage is it's flexability. Mage allows player to play almost whatever they choose, and if your into crossover game with other types of supernaturals, then mage is great for that too.

   So if your a newbie, I'd try somthing diffrent, however, if you know your LARP and you want a change of pace, try Laws of Ascension. It's fun and truly interesting.




3. I started out LARPing with Laws of the Night -- the Vampire game. But after a while, I found Vampire to be too simple for my needs. So I decided to try out Mage and then I was blown away.

   Mage has the power, the intrigue, the danger and complexity that Vampire had been missing. Instead of taking the same powers that everyone else has, you can create your own Effects. Sure, as an ST this gives me tons more work to do, but it's all worth it. Now players have more room to create more interesting characters and they have more power to make changes (as opposed to having some centuries old elder boss then around).

   I highly recommend this game to anyone who is looking for something more in a LARP game.

No comments about Cardboard Heroes Dungeon Floors (Steve Jackson Games).

No comments about Gamemastery Item Cards: Curse of the Crimson Throne.

1 comments about *OP MET: Camarilla Guide (Mind's Eye Theatre).

1. This book should have been called, the "Elders Salon," or something to that effect. This book is designed for Elders and STs wanting to run Elders in their Chronicle.

   Of Interest to STs and PC Elders: 1) The re-write-ups on Higher Level Disciplines (a new level for each Gen below 9th). EXCELLENT 2) A re-write of the Influences level 6+, irrlevant if you have LoE, excellent otherwise. 3) A re-write of the "What it is to be an Elder" from Laws of Elysium, excellent 4) How to run an Elder Chronicle, or insert them into your game, mediocre 5) How to design a city, mediocre

   Of Interest to General PCs: 1) Gagoyles re-written with Visceratika, Excellent 2) Bunch 'o' Paths for Tremere, Excellent (now they are even MORE powerful, great. 3) Decent description on what each of the Camarilla positions are, and expect, including Scourge. EXCELLENT 4) Presenting to the Prince. EXCELLENT

   Chapter Four is worth the price of the book, in and of itself. Regardless of Generation or Flavour of your, (unless you are Sabatt) Chronicle.

   What is TERRIBLE about this book. NO INDEX!

   I would recommend this book, and would love to play in a LARP that approximates the level of Role Playing required to fulfill the very high expectations of Chapter Four.

   Enjoy!