No comments about Guildbook: Masquers (Wraith - The Oblivion Guildbook Series, Number 4).

No comments about Dark Heresy Game Master's Kit (Dark Heresy).

2 comments about *OP Hunter Book: Visionary (Hunter Book).

1. The main text of the book alternates between being mildly intruiging as to how the Visionaries try to puzzle out the confusing world they've been thrown into, but at times it can also be quite yawn-inspiring.
   What is interesting is how the Visionaries are developed into their roles as the overall leaders of the imbued. The Edges are spectacular for a player wishes to portray a Hunter more interested in uniting the other imbued behind a common cause, rather than traveling Seekers of the Truth. If you prefer having your visionaries work behind the scenes, trying to puzzle out the hows and whys of the supernatural and the Messengers, than this book isn't necessary at all. If you do want your Visionaries to take a more active leadership role in the hunt, however, this is a great book to have.



2. I like these guys, always trying to figure out why. In a gaming session they are a big help as they can give insight into the enemy. They are a little weird, but it only makes gametime more fun.

2 comments about Almost Perfect Murders: Mini-Mysteries For You To Solve.

1. Comtemplating the perfect murder? At least buy this book to see how hard it is to pull it off. Solving these "almost-perfect-murders" is definitely not a spectator sport. Solve all the cases using the minimum number of clues and you can consider yourself an accomplished sleuth!! A team effort often helps to crack the cases, it's also more fun. Consider enlisting the help of a friend or significant other. Note that some of the stories may eventually be appear at The Case website.



2. Some of the mysteries you could solve but others were challenging and unsolvable. I liked it.

4 comments about Fireborn: Player's Handbook.

1. Before I start, let me say that I'm a supporter of any game system that isn't D20. That being said, I think Fireborn has some very good potential as a game system. Since, as I write this, the GM's Guide hasn't been released yet, I can't comment on all the aspects of the game, but from what I've read so far, I this Fireborn is definitely worth a look.
   
   Also, I give four stars rather then five because I've only read it, I haven't tried to play a campaign yet, so I can't give it five stars yet.
   
   The basis of this game is that the players, called "scions," form a "brood" of souls that have been reborn down through time. They are the souls of great and powerful dragons that have forgotten what they once were. And, over the course of a campaign, they begin to remember little bits and pieces of their pasts as well as begin to regain some of their powers. At the same time, other fantasy-type things like this are also slowly beginning to re-emerge and be remembered in the rest of the world.
   
   In the past, sometime before the last Ice Age, occured what's called the "Mythic Age". This is a traditional-type fantasy age, with great heros and villians and such. It's, quite frankly, pretty standard Fantasy-type fare. However, this also leads into what I think is the most original aspect of the game: Playing in the mythic age through the game mechanic of "Flashbacks."
   
   In these flashbacks, and this is another game mechanic that I really like, you're playing your fully-realized dragon. You've got all the powers you've chosen, all your abilites and magic, and access to your hoard of treasure that you've gathered throughout your time there. I should note that, as your modern age character advances, you begin to regain some of your powers as you remember more of what you were.
   
   You play these flashbacks normally, your characters have free will and all that, but the idea is that your character is remembering what happened to him long ago. The idea behind this is, for example, your modern character is hunting some cult or something that's trying to summon a creature of some kind. In the process of hunting this cult, your character has a flashback of fighting this creature in the mythic age, and knowing how powerful and devastating it would be if it's unleashed again.
   
   As for actual mechanics, characters have four aspects: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. These aspects, in general, define your character and you get once D6 in each aspect for each point. A Fire score of 4 lets you roll 4 dice on Fire tests. The dice are used to generate individual successes, a lot like Shadowrun, rather then totalling the rolls for a single result. The harder something is to do, the more successes it requires.
   
   Earth is the strength of your mind, Fire is fighting and conflict, Water is defense, and Air is reasoning and mental things. Now, these aren't as clearly divided as D20 or GURPS, Fire isn't just combat, Earth isn't just defense, they're treated more broadly then that. Skills act to allow you to move dice between your aspects. For example, having a Fighting skill of 2 allows you to move 2 dice from your other aspects into Fire. This can leave those other aspects lacking if you need to test those before your aspects refresh to normal.
   
   I know I didn't explain that all that clearly, it's explained quite well in the book, though.
   
   The default setting is in London, much like Shadowrun and Seattle, but you can easily adapt a campaign to another location. Any campain I'd run I'd set here in southwest Montana because I know that area.
   
   As I say, I haven't bought the GM's guide yet, because it hasn't been released. I do look forward to buying it, though.
   
   If you're looking for a new, interesting system, give Fireborn a look. It's got a lot of potential to be a pretty good time.



2. Caveat: I've only read Fireborn, I haven't played it.
   The creators of fireborn seem to have poured a lot of creativity into their game mechanics. They seem original and should definitely give a new sort of play experience. Very nice in the d20 dominated gaming market. However, it seems that creativity in mechanics was obtained by sacrificing the setting. The idea is neat, but they haven't fleshed it out, in this book at least. The modern setting really isn't described at all, what is said seems to be an abbreviation of the World Of Darkness setting, and not a very good one at that. The mythic age is even less well developed. My guess is that the makers of Fireborn are leaving it to the GM to make up the look and feel of the world, because I can't find more than a few paragraphs on it. I think they have also shot themselves in the foot by making the dragon characters unable to advance or change. It makes them plot devices more than PCs.



3. I want to clear up a misconception about the Fireborn PH. It is one of a set of two books needed to really explore the setting, the other being the Fireborn Role-playing Game: Gamemaster's Handbook. The Player's Handbook is focused primarily on the mechanics of the game. The Gamemaster's Handbook details the setting for the GM. This is intentional, and is necessary to maintain the integrity of the setting.
   
   I only mention this because people have been giving it poor reviews in the setting department, likely because they hadn't read the Gamemaster's Handbook as well. The game itself is about uncovering a vast and intriguing mystery that has been developing from the mythic age and will come to a climax as the scion PC's unravel it.
   
   The irony is that the setting has been lauded by reviewers in the RPG industry, and the game itself was nominated for Gencon & EN World's "Best RPG" of 2005. Don't dismiss Fireborn because of a few bad reviews here... and if you intend to play as a PC rather than as Gamemaster, do yourself a favor and don't read the Gamemaster's Handbook!
   
   The cons are that you'll need a fair amount of errata from Fantasy Flight Games' website to get going. It's easily accessible as a single pdf download. It is a little irksome, but well worth it. The game mechanics are designed so that they sit somewhere in the background during narrative scenes, and become cinematic during action scenes without changing the mechanics in between time. I'd liken the system to a more fluid version of Shadowrun's d6 system, with the feel of Feng Shui during combat. The net result is nothing like either system, but both have an influence in the feel of play.
   
   Overall, this is the game I've been looking for... a good blend of interesting setting and dynamic action.



4. This book is a must have for players and game masters looking to try something different. The system is fairly easy to use but I recommend experienced players and game masters invest in it. It is not for the casual player and game master. I am not saying that inexperienced players and game masters would not enjoy the game because the game concept is really fun.

2 comments about Beyond Countless Doorways (Sword & Sorcery).

1. Being a devotee of Planescape, I was looking forward to this book, which was supposed to be a reunion on Planescape writers, and comprising of brand-new exciting planes for the planar traveller to enjoy.. Sadly, it was a disappointment. The first chapter was pretty good, with its discussion on planar connections and planar travel. However, when he got to the planes, each were lacking. None feel like they should be a plane; they all felt like they should be a planet that a Spelljammer campaign might visit. Relit a sun which will warm up the plane and allow life to once again flourish? That would work better in Spelljammer.
   
   A place where LN xorns discourage travellers so they won't take away the valuable minerals that are as common as dirt on the plane? That would work better at a Spelljammer planet?
   
   A place where spider-like beings have to fight an invading, powerful ant-like beings? Once again, that's not a plane, that's a planet for a Spelljammer crew to visit.
   
   Add to this a lack of crunchy bits like new feats, spells, etc., and you have a mediocre book. If it was a Spelljammer book, it would rate a 4, or may a 5 due to a dirth of material. But as a planer guide, which has no planar flavour whatsoever, it ranks its 3, which would have been a 2 save for its worthiness as an unintentional Spelljammer supplement.



2. Steven Soderburgh once said "If you can get Don Cheadle in your movie, hire him". My opinion has always been "If Wolfgang Baur wrote it, buy it". His adventures & supplements, all the way back to "Doom of Daggerdale" and the original "Al-Qadim" supplements, have always been amongst the strongest in the genre. This book is no exception. It provides expanded rules (rather than duplicating the DM Guide) on travelling & adventuring in and through various planes. It introduces new, unique monsters and civilizations, as well as the prerequisite spells, feats and magic items. It introduces interesting new planes that could be the center of a whole high-level/epic campaign: I especially liked the "Lizard Kingdoms" and the "Gardens of Yragon". However, like any supplement with multiple authors, the various settings are uneven in originality and execution (the various "Hell" planes were a disappointment), but overall, very well done. The settings provided are various and original enough to provide for hundreds of adventures and dozens of campaigns.

1 comments about Conan: Shem (Conan).

1. I like Shem, it has all the elements for a great regional setting book, too bad they went to a 2nd edition and B&W, making this book now obsolete with the 2nd edition Conan, which I will not get, I am sticking with my original stuff or until they come out with a runequest version at least.

5 comments about Relics & Rituals (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying, Scarred Lands).

1. Let me start off by restating what a few other reviewers have said about this release: many of the prestige classes, spells and magic items presented here are powerful. That said, this book creates a slew of new options for DM's to use in their campaigns. There are literally 100's of new spells and magic items that range from the mundane to the very interesting. There are even several new Minor and Major artifacts for your perusal. The benefit of this sourcebook is that the players can have a wider range of spells available, as well as the dm, in order to specialize their characters. That being said, the villians can have them to present new challenges to the characters. The same can be said of the magic items. While many of the ideas presented are interesting and quite possibly very useful, they also tend to be powerful and may need to be used very carefully in order to not unbalance a game. As for the appearance, the book is well done, obviously a quality piece of work. I was very pleased with it's appearance and overall layout. A good work for DM's to inject some new blood into their campaigns, just watch where you place some of the goodies.



2. top notch work, typical of Swords and Sorcery Studio. This adds a corpus of new spells and magic items,plus new rules about a form of ritual magic. this can definitely add a plus to most campaigns (and certainly mine). The only drawback may be that the whole work is keyed to the authors "scarred lands" campaign setting, possibly needing some work to adapt it to another campaign world



3. The book, Relic and Rituals has to be one of the most well done 3rd party game books out for the Dungeons & Dragons, 20 game system.

   The book adds many intersting and worth while spells to acheive for any arcane or divine spellcaster. Wizards, Clerics, Paladins, Rangers and Bards or any other character can benefit from this book as it can be incorperated into any game world.

   The material in the book overall is excellent and I cant stress enough that it is a MUST BUY, it also adds new spell option called "Rituals". While very interesting I have not found a great use for this; yet.

   The prestige classes are small but was very pleased with the quality of there prestige classes. One Example is the "Blood Witch" which sacrifices his own or his enemies blood for more powerful spells.

   Overall I give this book 5 stars for spell design, magic item, and overall usefullness. No matter what game setting you play; IT CAN BE INCORPERATED IN ANY SETTING which makes it worth while no matter what you might use or not use from the book. Dont be dissapointed with the mildly lower quality book printing and detailed art compared to Wizards of The Coast, as big money and flashy design, cant compare to R&Rituals useful content.

   Honestly to say this should be on every DM's game shelf. A must buy. PERIOD.




4. Of all the official and third-party expansions that have come out since the release of 3e, I have to rate this as my #1 favorite as both an indespensible reference and a fun read.

   Although written for the very-specific "Scarred Lands" world, most of what can be used directly or adapted easily to your own world. In fact, it is much more adaptable than most other works I've found for 3E or other systems. Like any expansion, you will need to consider the impact of items and spells to your campaign, as some of what is presented is quite powerful.

   The highlight of the book is the descriptions of spells and items. The level of detail, the thought behind the entries, and the insight it gives you into the Scarred Lands is just fun reading, whether you ever use the item or not.

   The book has the added bonus of being inexpensive for a hardcover game supplement, and especially compared to Wizards' official expansions.

   The only annoyance of the work is the magic items. There is no "cost to create" numbers associated with any work, and while you can rederive this using the standard 3e tables, it's exclusion deprives you of the ability to spot-check the power of an item, relative to other items in the book.

   ...




5. If you want a bunch of spells that would allow a team of a half dozen low-level wizards to take out epic level fighters effortlessly, this is your book. If you want amazingly powerful (and comparatively very cheap) magic items for your mid-level wizard to create, this is your book again. If you want amazingly over-powered prestige classes, this is your book. If you want skill points that duplicate very high level spells, this is your book
   
   If you want something that is in balance with the core rules, avoid this like the plague. I don't know if this was simply never play-tested, or was play-tested by a bunch of uncreative people. I'm looking at it from the perspective of a 3rd level wizard (because I always play wizards). There's nothing like having spells to give me a basic armor class of 27. Nothing like having spells which can render high-level fighters helpless or pacifist -- for months! -- and subject to coup-de-grace with their own swords. Nothing like having spells this early which allow you to fly, invisibly spy upon enemies, and remove armor from any opponent (or transfer it onto an opposing wizard). Yeah, an epic-level fighter might make a saving throw, but with a team of 6 wizards, he will fail one of them.
   
   The authors have a lot of interesting ideas to be sure, but if I was a dungeon-master, I would not allow this book to be used. I can only hope my DM will allow it (insert evil laughter).

5 comments about Conan the Roleplaying Game (d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying).

1. This was a nice release by Mongoose Publishing, as it's affordable and has virtually everything a player needs for the game. Mongoose copied the contents from their Atlantean Edition of the RPG and pasted it into this smaller, softcover book. This book does NOT have any of the illustrations or maps found in the hardcover Atleantean Book from which these contents are taken, and see below for omissions, but for the frugal or mildly interested, this was made for you.
   
   It is missing two sections from the AE book that you should be aware of before purchasing: 1)It doesn't list demons, monsters, beasts found at the back of the AE, and 2)it doesn't have the Hyborian World, which gives information on the lands & peoples of the campaign world created by Author Robert E. Howard in the 1920s & '30s. If you or the GM is planning on purchasing the sourcebook _The Road of Kings_, which is the world gazeteer, then you won't need the latter, but if you're a GM or enterprising scholar character, these omissions will be missed.
   
   Also, there are a couple of minor typesetting mistakes (a couple pages' contents are repeated on the next pages), but not terrible. NOTE: the AE this book is based on had grammatical errors & omissions, but much improved over the original edition release.
   
   I rated 4 stars because this game was thoroughly researched by the game designers, and is more faithful to Conan and the Hyborian Age than any I've seen, is thorough and detailed. It is based on the OGL d20 system created by Wizards of the Coast for their Dungeons & Dragons 3.x editions, so many people are familiar with it, but it has been 'customized' to fit the character and lethality of the Hyborian Age setting. And it's easily affordable. But it is not without grammatical or editing errors, and some may object to no maps, illustrations, or the black & white printing. To which I recommend you buy the much more expensive Atlantean Edition book.
   
   So, in summary, if you're into collecting books, want to play the game but not run it as a GM, or are just curious, then this book would make a great purchase. It's excellently priced & fairly complete.



2. This is a great book. I looked at the hardcover version, and while it has alot more pictures (plus they're in color), the softcover is alot cheaper and has all of the written material. They also fixed some of the typos. The hardcover is a beautiful book, and I recomend it--if you can afford it.
   For me (someone who hasn't read the conan novels or comics), this book is a great low magic setting, and is the way D&D should have been as far as the combat system goes. Armor provides damage reduction, and a characters ability to avoid getting hit, is based entirely on their combat skills and natural abilities. So characters actually parry and dodge blows. All the races are human variants, and the whole thing is very grim and gritty. Adventurers go on adventurers either because they come to them, or to get loads of silver (not platinum and gold) to blow on luxury and entertainment (not to bank ever copper piece just to get another +1 on a magic item). And if you're a conan fan, this book apparently did a wonderful job of mimicking the original novels.



3. The Conan the Roleplaying Game ("Conan RPG") Pocket Edition is a pared-down, paperback version of the "Atlantean Edition" of the Conan RPG, with all (or almost all) of the rules, but little of the artwork and almost none of the "flavor text." For US $19.95 the Pocket Edition is a relative bargain as a roleplaying game "core" rule book.
   
   The Conan RPG is a D20-based Open Game License ("OGL") system game, substantially the same as the latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons, but geared towards roleplaying in the Hyborian Age of Robert E. Howard's famous character, Conan of Cimmeria (a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, etc.). As opposed to the more usual "high fantasy" of most fantasy roleplaying games, the Conan RPG is in the gritty "sword & sorcery" style familiar to readers of Howard's Conan stories and their pulp fiction kin. Magic, far from being so commonplace as to be almost hum-drum as it is in most fantasy games, is a dark and terrible thing in the world of Conan and the Conan RPG, and usually the only way to fight it is to wield even more terrible magic or, as Conan himself did, face it with courage and sharp steel (and the occasional solid silver bench hurled with one's mighty thews).
   
   This book contains everything necessary for a gamesmaster or player to create a Conan RPG character and to run a Conan RPG game. The lack of artwork makes the text seem dense and heavy at times, but presenting the rules without the artwork (including the scroll-enclosures of the "flavor text") cuts more than twenty dollars from the price tag. This savings ought to be greatly appreciated by players who don't need all of the folderol which GMs require in a rulebook, and by GMs who are familiar with Howard's stories and want to run a campaign in the Hyborian Age without spending a fortune on books. GMs can also safely permit and encourage players to buy the Pocket Edition without either fearing that the player will learn secrets of the campaign setting which ought to be the GM's domain alone or fretting too much at the expense which the book will impose upon the player's wallet; unlike D&D books published by Wizards of the Coast, this edition of the Conan RPG rules doesn't contain "GM knowledge," and comes in substantially cheaper because it ISN'T packed with maps and illustrations and factoids which a GM would prefer to keep secret from players until an appropriate moment in a roleplaying campaign.
   
   For those unfamiliar with the stories of Robert E. Howard, or who know Conan only from the movies, the "flavor text" with which the full-sized (and expensive!) hardcover "Atlantean Edition" is peppered can be invaluable to help understand the actual origins of certain rules which are meant to help recreate things from Howard's writings, and the lack of the flavor text in the Pocket Edition may pose a slight obstacle to their appreciation and understanding of some rules. Many of the magic spells, for example, are written to allow players to roleplay spells actually described (but never named, of course) in Robert E. Howard's own Conan stories. The descriptions of character races (all humans, incidentally, or mostly so) and their national costumes, names and customs, spring from the Conan stories themselves, however curiously anachronistic some of the information may seem. The flavor text helps to place such matters firmly within the traditions of Howard's Conan stories, and also demonstrates that the RPG is based primarily on HOWARD's stories, not upon the pastiches of L. Sprague De Camp, Lin Carter, and other writers up to the present day, most of whom lack Howard's particular panache.
   
   For those already familiar with Howard's original Conan stories, however, the flavor text is often just a nicety, as it is in many game books produced by Mongoose Publishing. It certainly helps to place the rules within the sphere of Howard's work, but it is not essential to the knowledgeable GM or player. The essential rules are here, and that is what matters.
   
   This Pocket Edition contains (thank goodness!) elucidations of rules which were unclear in earlier incarnations of the Conan RPG rules, rendering unnecessary a visit to the Mongoose web site to consult the Frequently Asked Questions. (For the record, though, if you notice a discrepancy between the text of a rule and a chart, the text of the rule itself is to be followed, and the text of this book corrects and amends earlier rules which were published in on-line previews.)
   
   I discovered only one serious error in the Pocket Edition: the "Goods and Services" list on page 210 seems to be missing most of a column of information ("Containers and Carriers," described on pages 215-216, which is only partially covered in the "Dry Goods" column); items which are clearly explained in the text do not have price listings, which is quite annoying, since the economy of the Hyborian Age differs from that of most D&D worlds. Experienced players and GMs can probably make logical inferences about the prices of the unlisted items if they have (as they probably do) a copy of the D&D Player's Handbook published by Wizards of the Coast and compare the items listed there to the items listed in the Conan RPG Pocket Edition, but that extra step is annoying and time-consuming.
   
   The small format of the Pocket Edition causes footnotes to many of the charts (especially those describing weapons and armor) to become lost within the grayscale (not full color) border artwork. This has led me to pull up short several times and forced me to study the text intensively instead of being able to quickly glean information from a chart. A GM who intends to run the game using the Pocket Edition would be well-advised to study the bottoms of the charts CAREFULLY to be certain that some vital piece of information is not overlooked. The relatively low cost of the book means that players as well as GMs are likely to have a copy of this book, and unless a GM likes to be shown up by a "rules lawyer" player, verifying the information in the charts is essential.
   
   Unlike Wizards of the Coast, Mongoose Publishing often makes an effort to include indices (or at least handy rules summaries) in their books, and the Pocket Edition includes one. Unfortunately, however, the layout is far from perfect (I suspect a margin setting error at some point during word processing), and some lines which apparently ought to have been indented are not. This causes the index to appear hopelessly jumbled. "Benefits of Worshipping a God," for example, is not listed under "B," it is listed under "W," clearly intended to be a sub-category under "Worship" but appearing as an out-of-order entry instead. Such a sight may be jarring to those who like absolute perfection in their books, but I think that most reasonably intelligent readers can figure out what's where in the index. It certainly beats being forced to find information by scanning the Table of Contents, as is necessary for most books published by Wizards of the Coast, who seem to think that the extra ten cents per book which an index might cost is an unnecessary expense in a multi-hundred page book; it is not!
   
   One startling omission from the Pocket Edition is a complete lack of statistics for animals and "monsters." On the one hand this means that players do not have access to "GM information," but, on the other, it also means that neither players nor GMs have the statistics for the animals which are summoned by any of several Nature Magic spells, including the basic spell, Summon Beast. Consultation with the D&D "Monster Manual" core rule book provided D20 stats for many animals, but I'm far from certain that the statistics given in the Monster Manual are fully consistent with the intent of the Conan RPG author, Ian Sturrock. Nevertheless, because the Conan RPG is an OGL game, the statistics are probably very similar.
   
   Having mentioned Mr. Sturrock, I must commend him on his work on the Conan RPG. Adapting the Hyborian Age to a D&D setting is far from easy because of the radical differences between most D&D campaign settings and the world Conan knew -- or *knows* as the case may be in one's own campaign. There is a world of difference between many well-known and well-intentioned wizards of fantasy literature and the barely sane spellcasters who frequently appeared in Howard's Conan stories. Xaltotun, who wants to destroy the current world in a paroxysmal holocaust of bloody war as a enormous sacrifice in order to work mighty magic is certainly no Elminster (nor Gandalf, either!), and the only parallels to such as Natokh, the undead (?) wizard who uses his magic and summoned demons to fulfill ambitions of conquest are arch-villains like Sauron and Voldemort. There are no Tom Bombadils nor Madame Mims nor Dumbledores in any of Howard's stories; the kindest, gentlest wizards in Howard's Conan stories are a witch whose pet wolf tears a man apart, a priest of a forbidden religion, and an obsessed priest of a dying faith, and the Conan RPG rules faithfully reflect that difference. One of the easiest paths to magical success is to forge a demonic pact, and the route to casting truly powerful spells includes a near-total obsession as the least cost; for those seeking quick and dirty means to magical power, the methods include the consumption of addictive drugs and human sacrifice, preferably by means of slow and agonizing torture. A typical wizard in a Howard story (and in the Conan RPG) is much more likely to reek of Saruman than of Harry Potter. The path to "good" magic in the Conan RPG is often long and arduous, but there is always a sense that ALL magic is corrupt, changing the world by unnatural means tainted with the darkness of Hell or the Outer Void beyond human ken. In the world of Conan, it is far better to be a thief, a pirate, or a bloody-handed mercenary than someone whose very soul has been corrupted by the foulness of ... magic! More than once Howard explicitly stated that it was better by far to die a "clean" death than to perish at the hands of a wizard.
   
   One very good aspect of the Conan RPG books which I have so far read is their repeated insistence on the full independence of the GM to decide which rules shall apply to his or her campaign and to what degree. Many optional rules are presented in the Conan RPG which the GM is free to use or not, and there is a strong sense that this decision personalizes and improves the game rather than detracts from it. Some products from Wizards of the Coast seem to have the opposite intent: despite what the core rules say, there is an impression in many Wizards D&D books that a GM who doesn't use ALL of the rules (i.e. BUY all of the book$) isn't playing "correctly" and a player who owns more books than the GM is somehow "more right" than the GM, which ought NEVER to be the case. The Conan RPG makes it clear that the Hyborian Age is mysterious (i.e., what the GM says is correct ... *is* correct).
   
   The Conan RPG is an outstanding addition to roleplaying, and the "Pocket Edition" of the Conan rules is an outstanding bargain. Despite the flaws which its reduction in size and paring-down have caused, this is a five star book. *****



4. I am so pleased to be entering the gaming world of Conan and this game is a great example of how to play a d20 game as well as doing justice to Howard's works.



5. This is a great role-playing system, which focuses on combat and skills, and makes magic much less overpowering and tolerable than some other games I've played. I particularly liked the armor piercing concept and the defense rules. I knocked off a star only because the editing errors are fairly numerous. Quite a number of pages have entire portions of text cut off, leaving the reader to wonder what they're talking about.

No comments about Rifts Adventures in Dinosaur Swamp (Rifts).