2 comments about Gary Gygax's Hall Of Many Panes (Lejendary Adventure).

1. Maybe it's me. I remember a moment, far too many years ago, when I opened the magic box for the very first time, exulted in the worlds of fantasy it opened to me, and praised the name of Gygax. The Dungeons and Dragons game promised to transport me beyond my mundane, grammar school existence, and I was in awestruck rapture.
   
   I suppose I was hoping to recapture some of that same magic with this boxed set, but--in the same way the new Star Wars movies fail to recapture that lens of childish innocence through which we watched the first three epics--Hall of Many Panes falls utterly short.
   
   After running afoul of a being far too powerful to run afoul of (if you will pardon the dangling participle), the party finds itself transported to a tower. The tower is home to a long, spiraling ramp, two "safe" areas where they can rest and possibly interact with a handful of generally-benevolent fae, and numerous (indeed, many) panes of various shapes and colors. Each pane is the pathway to a new world--a world seemingly conjured up by the capricious force that trapped them in the tower.
   
   It must have been a daunting task, coming up with fifty unique "worlds" capable of being described in 264 pages (less those required for introduction, finale, and the inevitable appendix of "crunchy bits")--and indeed, that may be the primary flaw of the set. It seeks to do too much, with too little space (a problem exasperated by the dual-statting of the game for d20 and Legendary Adventures); there are a few ideas that could be brilliant, but they are not given adequate space to be fully developed. At the other end of the spectrum, there are "worlds" which are simply unforgivably silly: it is a rare group of gamers that would appreciate having their characters turned into walking acorns. In between these extremes are a number of mazes, ambushes, and random encounters, some of which require the players to suddenly assume another persona (or shape, for that matter) with no knowledge of who or what they are supposed to be, or how to get out of the situation and back to the tower. If played as written, the party must endure a substantial number of these random worlds before they finally find the way home.
   
   The boxed set is allegedly enhanved by a book of maps and illustrations. While the maps are marginally useful, the illustrations serve little purpose; they are a random collection of common images from a handful of the mini-worlds. While a GM could conceivably show them to his or her players to illustrate, say, a sleeping dragon, there are no truly useful sketches (e.g., an illustration of the layout of the tower, showing the way the panes hover and float in the air). One gets the impression this is simply a collection of interior art that got squeezed from the main books by excessive text.
   
   All in all, the boxed set fails, by far, to live up to its promise of "a mega adventure in all its classic glory." Dragon Mountain this is not, and in the final analysis, nothing could save it.
   
   Not even the name of Gygax.



2. Gary Gygax does a respectable job in an imaginative way to combine many small adventures into a very large campaign. We were able to get through some of the adventures in a single session, while some (pane 8 - Dungeon Delving) took several nights to complete. There's enough hack and slash, with problem solving throughout, to keep players involved. The presentation may be lacking, but a good GM needs only the basic story to keep the over 50 adventures moving along.

No comments about Gamemastery Flip-mat Keep.

No comments about Spycraft: Game Control Screen and Agent Record Sheet Pack.

3 comments about *OP Clanbook: Ravnos (Revised Ed) (Vampire, the Masquerade).

1. The Ravnos clan has been decimated. The survivors are trying to lift themselves from the ashes of the Week of Nightmares. This is their story.

   This clanbook does a great job of actually recreating a clan. One of its key points is showing how the stereotypical Ravnos, a thieving gypsy, is all but extinct. The survivors are plagued with the same curse, but they break the mold. This book looks at the past history and culture of the clan but it also looks at the current culture which is much different. The Ravnos that seemed a little different from the stereotype are now the minority of the clan.

   I loved how this book took a clan that has long been portrayed in a fairly two dimensional light and added depth and variety to it.

   The flaws, in my opinion, are that the book focuses almost exclusively on culture and role-playing, its a little light on rules and new powers. Dont get me wrong, I loved the powers that are included, I just wanted more. Call me greedy.

   If you ever liked the Ravnos before you will love them now.




2. My number one favorite clan...

   This book gives great details on the destruction of the Ravnos antediluvian, the subsequent Week of Nightmares and the restructuring of the clan.

   I highly recommend this book to any fans of this clan and anyone interested in the Week of Nightmares meta-plot.




3. Starting around 1999, White Wolf began revising their World of Darkness gamelines and pushing towards the Final Nights. Unfortunately, one of the first casualties were the Ravnos, when their Antediluvian woke up in Bangladesh, ran amok and was eventually destroyed, cursing his childer with his dying breath. We learned that the Ravnos were not merely wandering Gypsies, but a clan of demon-princes of India and the Near East, the rakshasa, ghul and djinn who created deadly illusions and fought with the Kuei-jin for control of Asia.
   
   Unfortunately, the Clan's Indian heritage was never fully explored. Still, Clanbook: Ravnos revised was a definate (and much needed) improvement on behalf of the Clan. Beginning with a short fiction that showed Ravnos as tomb robbers, we are presented with some views that are very different from the stereotypes. As the book points out several times, the Ravnos are predators even more so than other vampires; their primal Beast urges them to commit crimes repeatedly. They aren't happy-go-lucky tricksters and kelptomaniacs... no, they are thugs, murderers, terrorists, car jackers... the most vile and decadent of criminals, becuase their very soul tempts them to sin.
   
   The book also explores what is left of the Ravnos' history in India, explaining the story of Zapathasura (the Ravnos antediluvian) and his childer, their war with the Kuei-jin, Ravnos dominance of Harappa and Mohenjodaro, the different castes of Ravnos (Chandala, Sudra, Vaisya, Kshatriya and Brahmin), other Kindred in India, the Ravnos in the west, the British raj, current goings on in India (and the rest of Asia) and the Week of Nightmares. But the book is versitle enough for all Ravnos, mentioning the Clan's history in the west as well (particularly Africa and the Mediterranean, but also the Gypsies, whom the clan followed out of India centuries ago).
   
   Other useful sidebars explore their relationship with the Gypsies (which aren't too good, considering most Rroma rightly consider them to be blood sucking parasites), how to avoid contact with Lupines, the Path of Paradox (Mayaparisatya as it's called in India), new applications of Chimerstry and Animalism, the Ravnos relations with their Beast, the war with the Kuei-jin, membership in the Anarchs and Sabbat, reasons for their hatred of the Gangrel, and so forth. A good chunk of the information is meant for the post-Week of Nightmares era. Thats not a bad thing, but this book REALLY pushes metaplot.
   
   Thats probably my biggest problem with the book, actually. Don't get me wrong, the Week of Nightmares is a big thing, but at times it seems the book really tried to push the idea that western Ravnos fared better than their kin in India. To be honest, I found the material about the Ravnos activities in India to be somewhat more interesting. But thats easy enough to ignore. Also, I'm a little uncomfortable with using Bhopal as a backdrop to supernatural events. Over 15,000 people died in the real life Bhopal incident (and Union Carbide has never paid the survivors reparations).... that'd be on par with using 9-11 as a backdrop for supernatural conflicts. It's just bad taste imho. But all in all, this is a pretty good book, barring a few minor details.

No comments about Suppressed Transmission 2: The Second Broadcast.

No comments about Night of the Wolverine (Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Gamebook #3).

No comments about Pak'ma'ra (Babylon 5).

3 comments about Robotech The Shadow Chronicles Role Playing Game.

1. Oddly shaped, poorly bound and FULL of mistakes.
   
   It seems the quality I used to expect from Palladium Books as has gone the path of the Dodo. Palladium Books' editor(s) and proof reader(s) needs to be fired. The book is rife with elementary mistakes that I picked up on my 1st reading.
   
   The size of the book is just odd and does not fit well in a bag, on a shelf or in my pocket (as was advertised). In a bag it gets crushed because it's too small. On a shelf it causes other books to bend weird because it's too small. And it's to big to fit in any of my pockets. The cover is already curling and the binding is loose because you have to open it so wide to read it. Also, you can't lay it flat to read it.
   
   As for the content, meh. The art is small though generally good. Except that much of the `'NEW" art is just redrawn art from the old books, that's way lame. There is a lot of misinformation that can be attributed to the poor editing and proofreading.
   
   At roughly $17 you do get a full RPG...full of $17 mistakes. But in this age of $35-$55 RPGs it may be worth it to some. Not me. I'd much rather pay for quality.
   Over all, I do not believe the older more hardcore Robotech fans (like myself) will be happy with this book. I do not suggest getting this book until the famous Palladium Books "Revised" version comes out.
   
   Here are some of the errors and other oddities: I did not pick out all of these on my own.
   P. 18: The Regent is not a Mecha. Neither is the Regis
   P 107: Description of VF/A-6 Z Alpha says that its fuel use is increased. . . but gives no other information, Suggestion a reduction of 10 or 15%
   P 129: MBR-12 MK2 condor, missing P-cell count and endurance.
   P 133: SF-A5 Conbat missing P-cell count and endurance.
   P 164: VM-9L/H/R missing P-cell count and endurance.
   P 181: H-90 Gallant, payload info with rifle stock and its imbedded P-clip are missing.
   P 182-183 the art shown is the same weapon, not two different weapons. the only change was the addition of a suppressor barrel, ability to hold a larger clip and a rifle stock.
   P 281: In the Mechanical Skills description for Robotechnology Engineering, there is no base skill percentage listed.
   p333-335: Went with the GENERIC Rifts robot damage table when there is a perfectly good one in the old game that is specific to the Veritech.
   
   General Concerns:
   1. If Robotech mecha are supposed to be more maneuverable than other types of mecha due to their link with protoculture, why isn't this reflected in the number of actions they get and their bonus stats. I will grant that you do get more actions in the long run (versus the original game), but their starting number of actions leave them no better off than Rifts' mecha. In fact, their bonuses to dodge and parry are either equal or less than their Rifts equivalent. -Zebraman
   
   2. The "Superiority Fighters" and Veritechs in Fighter Mode are far slower than even the jet fighters of today. The F-14 has a sea level speed of 910 knots/hr (~1050mph). The Alpha does 687mph at sea level.
   
   3. No Occ lists Starting SDC.
   
   4. The Beta-pilot MOS mentions the Super Beta that isn't mentioned in the book
   
   5. The Synchro-Cannons for Capitol Ships range is far to short at only 20-100 miles. The SC Movie showed them firing at far longer ranges than that.
   
   6. All Haydonites are missing attacks per melee.



2. I read that Kevin Siembieda predicted that this book would not only appeal to current gamers, but would also appeal to the old timers like me who dropped out of role-playing, but were once Robotech RPG players. I have to admit, at least in my case, Kevin might very well be right.
   
   I'm actually going to rate this little Palldaium book a solid 3. I see a lot here that I do like. The new size is very interesting. It is small and very portable making it a nice book to carry here and there. I'm not sure what size book shelf the previous reviewer is using, but I noticed that my copy sits very nicely with my other paperback novels. So thumbs up for the size and layout.
   
   Materials? Not too bad. Compared with modern rpgs, the background materials in the book are pretty scant, but compared to other Robotech core rulebooks this one is chalked full of nice stuff. There are several pages of adventures, background, and plenty of pages containing details about equipment and mecha. Not too bad.
   
   Character generation and rules look okay. Palladium has changed a lot of things since my last go around with them. The character generation appears to be very smooth and well laid out. They give you some easy to use templates to kick out the first quick characters (check out pages 65 and 66). Plus Palladium has really tweaked out the OCC to give you more options to tailor your character. The ability to take an MOS in each OCC gives you a lot of options to build a character. I saw this first in the old Southern Cross rulebook- it looks like Palladium has taken this idea and has really fleshed it out. The older editions of the Robotech RPG didn't offer anywhere near this flexibility for characters. In fact, the Robotech RPG had some rather pointless classes such as the three rather useless engineer classes. Nice change here.
   
   For rules, it is still the old Palladium system, but it looks like they have cleared it up a lot and have reorganized the materials to improve the presentation of the rules. Not too bad. This rule section is light years better than in the old Robotech rulebook. Combat makes a lot more sense to me after reading this rule book. Also, they have intregrated the rules for small arms, hand to hand, and mecha combat to a much better level. I'm still pieceing through this, but it does make more sense than before. Also new is that they have eliminated the old Mecha Combat skills! You still have an elite training that gives you an extra boost in combat... but you no longer have to have the mecha combat skill for that specific mecha to use it. I do wish though that Kevin spent some time writing up examples to show you how to use the combat system though!
   
   One big improvement I've seen though is that Palladium took time to explain how their skill system works! Pages 219-222 go into some detail talking about how to use skills- it even gives you modifiers to apply to the skills to account for stress, distractions, and other annoying things that can cause problems. Light years better than the old Robotech system which told you practically nothing about how to use skills in the game.
   
   There are some things that marr an otherwise decent book. First capital ships from the OVA were left out. Not a huge problem as there is a dedicated Shadow Chronicles supplement due out in the future. Second Palladium left out mecha repair rules... again! As above, this isn't a huge problem if your mecha are operating from a base and there are plenty of spare units to use or you're not nitpicking. It is a problem if you're playing in a New Generation setting and supplies are scarce and loosing MDC from a location can cause interesting issues (Lunk, there are invids on their way here now! I need that Alpha repaired!!). Third, the art work is just so-so. The drawings are a mixture of new stuff and rehashed materials from the old books. Graphics are pretty big in this day and age and Palladium went easy on the pictures. Not a deal breaker for me, but this book looks weak when compared to art heavy books from Margaret Weis and Wizards. Then again, you're only paying $16.95 for the book! If you want the art heavy books then you will fork out the $50+ for them. Finally, and a big one to me, Palladium left out the rules for aerial combat! Yikes!!! Granted, they weren't much in the old Robotech rules, but when used they added a lot of flavor to the game. Aerial vehicles take the back seat in the piloting rules! There is some detail about how to run encounters in ground vehicles, but nearly nothing for aerial combat... not good! Hopefully that oversight will be corrected in a future book.
   
   On the whole though I give kutos to Kevin and Palladium for their 'new' RPG. It wasn't what I wished for, but it is certainly a good solid effort on their part. By far, it is the best Palladium product I have ever purchased. Compared to other RPGs out there though I would only rate it average. Still though, it is a good product for the $$, especially in this day and age of the $40-50 hardbound starter book!!!! I'm definately looking forward to the future releases in this line. Who knows, I might actually play it!



3. Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles Role-Playing Game is a comprehensive sourcebook for creating role-playing adventures in the world of Robotech, a popular and complex Japanese science fiction animated series about alien invasions of Earth. Using the Palladium Megaverse pencil-and-paper role-playing system, which is completely compatible with all other Palladium Megaverse sourcebooks, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles shines a spotlight upon the heroic battle to liberate the Earth from Invid invaders. Chapters walk the reader through character generation; statistics for different futuristic weapons, armored suits, and vehicles; common alien enemies; how to role-play hand-to-hand, ranged, or missile combat; suggestions for crafting adventures; and much more. Fans of the series are sure to enjoy suggests game statistics for series characters as NPCs! Black-and-white illustrations intersperse this excellent sourcebook, ideal for anyone interested in social gaming and storytelling in the Robotech universe.

3 comments about *OP Ends of Empire (Wraith the Oblivion).

1. This may be the last Wriath book and if it is then the series is ending with one of the best sourcebooks ever written. Keep up the great work Bruce!



2. I really liked Wraith: The Oblivion, i liked it because it wasa game of real introspection and of not many ways to detour the gameinto a munchkin dream, i liked it because you had to really understand yourself in order to be saved and because your worst enemy was you, i liked it because no other game has scared me silly with something so simple as the "Bang! you are dead" concept. But i also understand that of all the games in the White Wolf line it was the hardest to play. You could not fool your friends posing as a Vampire elder from Slovakia or a raging Werewolf howling for blood, you were alone on the other side surrounded by people who did not like the place a lot and their only pastime was to make your existence more miserable than theirs, you were raw material for coins, chains or armor. To conclude it was a nasty, gut wrenching game that you easilly abandoned playing because it was easier to say that it was boring than recognizing that you were afraidbecause it touched too many nerves to be comfortable. So the line ended in an apocalyptic climax; Charon, ruler of the underworld returns just when Stygia is about to fall to the forces of Oblivion. The Story begins in London where your Wraiths reap (help a poor sod who happens to be Charon reborn to die) the soul of Charon and have to take him to his kingdom all the way besieged by enemies who just want to end you all, when the characters arrive to the Capital, they have to fight against the thoughest badie i have ever seen in a White Wolf supplement, there is no misterious stranger to help you out of this, it is just your party against him and on that fight rests the future of the Underworld. After that comes an ending you would not believe. Is is worth the price? Yes, of course. On a single supplement you can see the direction the whole line of products was directed, and it was a great direction, i don't think any other game line had such a clear path made and at the same time so full of possibilities...Besides the adventure you get for the same price two guildbooks, they are like the Tradition, Clan, Kith, Tribe books that plague the White Wolf system. They are the Mnenoi and Ferrymen Guildbooks, they just wanted to wrap tight the whole thing and not leave a thing upturned I really liked the adventure though it had the feeling of being made in a hurry, they had too many things to say and too few space...Word of advise there, you really need experienced characters in order to survive, so if it is not the ending to your Wraith chronicle then you need to create ancient ghosts to play it safe.



3. This is how the world ends...sort of. For those that say White Wolf is in it only for money and not for the fans, let me say this: the material in Ends Of Empire could be sold as 4 seperate books, yet the company has decided to put all these loose ends in one place.

   Ends of Empire is a bittersweet end to a really creative and unique game line. Name one other role-playing game where your character's death is only the beginning of his adventures. Although Richard Dansky is quite thankful to all those that worked on this book and the ones preceeding it, you can sense a bitter overtone in Afterward.

   Still, despite the fact that the book is a testament to a good game being tossed out the window for business reasons, this is a good way to wrap up the world of Wraith: The Oblivion.

No comments about *OP Werewolf Players Guide (Werewolf - the Apocalypse).