No comments about Starship Troopers Miniatures Game: The Skinnies Army Book (Starship Troopers).

4 comments about Ravenloft: Player's Handbook (v 3.5 Core Campaign Setting).

1. This is a rehash of the Ravenloft core campaign setting for Dungeons and Dragons 3.5. It turned out to be a great disappointment. The flaws are:
   - It is lacking in new material. if you are going to pay this musch for a book, you don't really want to find that most of the material can be found virtually word-for-word in the previous release.
   - It is not a Player's Handbook. I don't expect a Player's Handbook to include templates for key Ravenloft villains. Player's will see the title, and have access to all the key qualities of major villains.
   If you have the original core campaign book I suggest you save your money.



2. I've been a fan of Ravenloft since the early 90's when I read The first of the Black Rose novels about Lord Soth and his time in Sithicus. The Ravenloft PHB is basically a reprint and compilation of a bunch of pre-established matieral dating back several years. It also converts all the settings and characters into 3.5 core rule set for D&D. Obviously for those who have never played or read about Ravenloft before, and are looking to get into the setting, this is an essential text. It provides an excellent, clear and consice overview of what Ravenloft is all about and how to run campaigns there. It contains geographical, personal, and historical information most of which have been established in years past through gazetters, supplements, and campaign quests. For this reason people who have been playing RL for a while may be dissapointed that there's really nothing new thats been added to the PHB. I'd still recommend it even for these people because it brings together all the information from the past and puts it all in one, easy to comprehend source. It is worthy and easily recommendable to both the novice and veteran RL player.



3. It would be best to start out by saying that this book is, for all intents and purposes, a reprint of the Ravenloft Campaign Setting (henceforth known a the RCS), the Core Rulebook that originally updated the setting to the new Third Edition d20 rules. It brings all the mechanics presented in that publication in line with the 3.5 revision, but precious little (if any) new material has been added.

   That being said, it is nevertheless just as excellent a product as its predecessor and does not deserve a low rating simply because a few excited DMs purchased it without first skimming the contents (This is not an insult - I myself was just such a DM!). I would recommend that any DM who already owns the RCS think carefully for him or herself about whether to purchase this book, knowing full well that not much outside of a few mechanics have changed.

   Perhaps also worth mentioning is the change in the artwork. It's never been something I've been especially concerned with, but I've noticed an increasing number of people who have a great appreciation and/or interest in it. The artwork in this book as compared to the RCS is staggeringly different, leaning much more towards heavily detailed and realistic (if, in my opinion, at times cartoonish) illustrations, rather than the "line drawings" seen in previous publications.

   I'm actually of two minds regarding my singular complaint. It has been said that too much specialized information appears in this text for it to be truly passable as a player's resource, and for most first-time Ravenloft players this is absolutely true. Here, in this volume, is the complete history of Ravenloft and Count Strahd, the exact effect Ravenloft has on the individual classes and their magic, descriptions of the domains of the entire core and most of the islands and clusters, and many other details that will go a long way towards dispelling a great deal of the setting's mystique. On the other hand, if you plan on running a native campaign, giving your players access to this book may be all but essential. It does no good to be a native of Ravenloft and have no idea of exactly how that is going to shape your character's history and past experiences, to say nothing of the problem with a studious character with a high intelligence score having no idea of the basic geography of the world in which he lives. And of course, at the DM's discretion, this book may also be acceptable reading for longtime Ravenloft players who are already aware of most of the world's ins and outs.

   All in all, this is an excellent product that has unfortunately taken a lot of heat from people who feel they wasted their money on a useless reprint and DMs who feel (however justifiably) that it has been titled incorrectly.




4. I first started out playing D&D in the Forgotten Realms then moved onto the Vampire games by White Wolf.
   
   Ive recently discovered Ravenloft, which seems to be a mix of both worlds, and i must say that it is extremely interesting and cool. Its a much darker world then your average D&D game and thats what makes it stand out for me. Horror, gloom, and evil atmosphere is what Ravenloft is all about.
   
   So if you enjoy the Vampire rpgs, or crave a darker D&D setting, then pick up Ravenloft. You wont be sorry.

1 comments about Pharaoh (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons module I3).

1. One of the most respected AD&D adventures of all time, this one marks Tracy & Laura Hickman's entry to the TSR fold. Later, due to the dramatic plotting exhibited here, they would be asked to help create a series of novels and modules known as Dragonlance... the spirit of Amun-re swirls before you in the sands, beseeching you to plunder his tomb. Why? And how can anyone but the nomads survive in this savage desert where giant spiders burrow in the sands, the sun blasts the earth to crystal, and the efreeti reign supreme? Well, that's not my problem, I'll let your players handle that... :) An extremely challenging classic for levels 5-7.

2 comments about Tabloid Game (Amazing Engine System, No 2710).

1. This is probably one of the funniest Role-Playing-Games I've ever played. The character history part of making a character is probably the funniest part. Also, this game has boozing as an abilitiy.



2. This game is an interesting combination of traditional Role Playing and humor games. The premise, that all tabloid stories are real and you are a reporter, is interesting. It leaves the world open to endless possiblities. Want an outer space adventure? Just send your reporters to NASA! Want to see a 50 foot tall toad rampaging through downtown Peoria? Make it happen! The skill generation system is interesting as well, tying skills learned into your character's year by year background.

2 comments about GURPS WWII: A World Ablaze, its Destiny in the Balance.

1. GURPS: World War Two is the beginning of an ambitious campaign by Steve Jackson Games to bring the battles of World War Two to life for gamers. And it makes a wonderful starting point.

   It seems hard to believe that there are only six chapters in this book - but there is quite a lot of detail in these chapters. Beginning with "The World At War" this chapter explains the background for a World War Two style campaign. It covers a lot of world history in a good capsule format that GM's may want to read thoroughly for campaign ideas. "The Combatants", gives a comprehensive section on the major players in the war, both on the winning side and the losing side. "Characters" gives you everything you need to create player characters and NPC's for a WWII campaign. The character templates in this section give GM's a quick starting point. The "Armoury" chapter gives your characters some weapons to fight with, as well as a basic equipment list. The "Vehicles" section adds many cars, trucks, and tanks to your WWII campaign. In "Move Out!" there's campaigning info for players and GM's. There's even some ideas for crossover campaigns and alternate endings for the war. Finally, for those who may not own the basic rules, the book concludes with a copy of "GURPS: Lite" - a basic intro to the GURPS RPG for those who may not own the basic book. This edition of GURPS Lite has been custom tailored for GURPS: World War Two.

   The 28 pages of detail about the course of the war is not to be missed, and can even be appreciated by non-gamers for its attention to important events in World War Two such as the sinking of the Bismark. The 20 pages of details on Britain, the US, the Soviets, Germany and Japan give us an inside look at the organization of armies,units and tactics, special ops, and intelligence, although it's easy to see that this could be expanded. The 23 pages of info on characters is fairly comprehensive and includes 14 sample characters. The 36 pages of detail on vehicles gives some of the major equipment used in the war, as well as ideas on how to use what you know to create totally new equipment that may not have been covered in this section. The 16 pages of "Move Out" even includes info on what might be happening on the home front, as well as what is happening behind enemy lines. The "Basic Training" section of GURPS Lite allows GM's that don't have the basic rules to create military and non-military characters and NPC's for this campaign.

   This book is a great starting place for GM's, and that is probably its only flaw. When covering a subject as large as World War Two, you have to have space - and even the 208 pages of material here are not enough for a comprehensive look at World War Two. However, there are other books already printed continuing the series, and more forthcoming. I can't recommend "GURPS World War Two: Iron Cross" highly enough for GM's wanting to "fill in the blanks". This book is a great addition to the GURPS library and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to try an adventure or a whole campaign set in this time of peril.




2. GURPS is a great game system but much of the time the books are sourcebooks that have to be used with the Basic Set. Not this book. Not only does it have the history of the war, reviews on the nations and armies, vehicle-design system, alternate history ideas and details about what's happening behind the front lines it also has a new version of the GURPS Lite rules. This is all you need to play a game set in World War Two (unless you wish to get other titles or cool maps and stuff).
   I would suggest getting players who know the history of World War Two. Otherwise they might get a tad confused.

5 comments about Clanbook: Lasombra.

1. This is a great clanbook ,when I finally got it I expected some of the flaws the other clanbooks had,but MAN....this is GREAT!! there is a lot of info about the lasombra antediluvian after the second city and even speculations about his strange final death ,some tips about the antitribu and even a description about clan relations whith the other sabbat members. The art is great (shy and trabbold are fantastic man.)even if I would like to have the traits of moncada and lucita on the book,but at least they appear,some mayor disciplines could have been added too ,but y'know...it's white wolf man (I had written another review abut this book but amazon did'nt printed it,I wonder why dude???)



2. Packed to the brim with in-depth information about the Lasombra, there is simply an astounding volume of knowledge in this book: Everything from why the Lasombra behave in such hideous fashion to why they love the sea. The motivations of the clan are revealed- the Lasombra are no longer cardboard cutouts, but are shown to have believable drives and goals. They may be monsters, but they are monsters possessed of dark nobility and great dedication.

   For example, some Lasombra believe that God created vampires to serve Him by tormenting mortal sinners; these vampires believe they are carrying out God's will by inflicting pain and suffering. Other Keepers seek to discern the secrets of the Abyss, the primordial essence of darkness. Some few even see themselves as the driving force behind mankind- the shepherds that keep the mortal sheep in line and productively occupied (from a Cainite point of view, that is).

   New Lasombra secrets are also divulged in this book. Several variants of the Path of Night are given, and the mystical importance of the Abyss is detailed. Further, the book looks at the Lasombra clan Disciplines from the Keepers' perspective, and explores the uses and significance of Obtenebration. A detailed history of the Lasombra clan is given, from the ancient legacy of the Antediluvian to the modern nights.

   All told, this is an outstanding piece of work. Before reading this book, I knew next to nothing about the Lasombra clan. Their brief write-up in the core rulebook portrays them as little more than generic masters of EEEE-vil, and I always thought the Lasombra were rather dull. That changed when I read the new Clanbook: Lasombra. The writing is excellent- in particular, I loved the narrative history of the clan- and there's something in this book for everyone.




3. The new CLANBOOK LASOMBRA offers wonderfully details- clan factions (including antitribu), Lasombra skepticism of origin legends, Chinese bloodlines, Embrace traditions, how the Occult rating relates to Obtenebration, and a better sense of Montano and Gratiano. It has many standard series features- MET statistics, character templates, merits and flaws, a discussion of clan disciplines, a sample pack (Lasombra computer hackers!), and noted Lasombra (less basic but more multicultural than the original).

   It's also the first new CLANBOOK on the Sabbat. It emphasizes Humanity over Paths of Enlightenment but gives extensive treatment to the distinctively Lasombra Path of Night. (Other VtM books assign important Lasombra to the Path of Power and the Inner Voice- not even mentioned here, unfortunately.) It describes Path of Night variations (the Path isn't written out here so you must refer back to VtM's basic rules) and introduces Abyss Mysticism, a practice by which Lasombra merge with darkness.

   An improvement in the new CLANBOOK: LASOMBRA is the emphasis on young Lasombra instead of elders, making the clan seem less cartoonishly pompous. It features Asian, African and Northern European Lasombra not the usual Spanish Lasombra. Rather than being traditionalistic, the Lasombra seem cut off from their own history because so many elders died during the Anarch Revolt.

   A minor problem is that there's almost too much introduced for atmosphere and basic themes to fully develop and not enough follow-up on earlier material- characters like Medina and Lopez, for example. Also, the original CLANBOOK series was more interesting visually than the new one. The original LASOMBRA featured white type on (appropriately) black pages. (LIBELLUS SANGUINIS I's Lasombra chapter also does this in places.) Darkness oozed over the page from the pictures illustrating Obtenebration. The new CLANBOOK: LASOMBRA uses only conventional white pages and the art loses impact because of this.




4. I developed an interest in the Lasombra clan from reading about them in various works of fiction by White Wolf authors. This book was wonderful in providing more background on the beginnings, history, and beliefs of the clan known as 'The Keepers'. It is a good resource for getting into the mindset of a Lasombra character. I am not a role-player, but if I were I would recommend this book based on the many templates provided. They start with mortals from all walks of life and give you something substantial with which to begin to build your character as it enters the World of Darkness. The material is interesting, the artwork supports the material, and overall - it's easy to understand. If you want to learn more about the clan, then this is a book you will want to add to your library of resources.



5. Upside
   - The prelude is pretty entertaining and exemplifies the general attitude of many young Lasombra
   - The clan's history is delivered in sessions narrated by various Lasombra (concluded by a Lasombra antitribu's suicide note, strangely enough)
   - Details how the majority of Lasombra go about observing, testing and training recruits
   - Briefly desribes Lasombra culture and its many, many unofficial "factions" as well as official ones and the supposedly non-existant Lasombra antitribu
   - The basic break-down of procedures for dealing with the Courts of Blood is rather helpful
   - The Lasombra's comments on the Sabbat bloodlines and the other clans are more informed than average (but, perhaps unsurprisingly, there's nothing of consenquence said about the Kiasyd)
   - Takes a closer look at the basic Obtenebration powers and provides more advanced ones as well as interesting suggestions of ways to approach peculiarities of a Lasombra's manifestation of Obtenebration
   - Explains a little about the occult and Abyss mysticism
   - There are actually a few appealing Merits and Flaws (Controllable Night Sight, Death's Reflection)
   - There are several pseudo-templates of variations of the Path of Night as it's presented in the core rulebook and some of them look like they'd be very interesting to adopt
   - There are some great character templates (the Accuser, Angry Young Man, Successful Mass-Embracee, Harpy, Student of the Abyss)
   - The sample brood of mentally-unbalanced Lasombra computer hackers is quite interesting

   Downside
   - There's relatively not that many notable Lasombra mentioned
   - The book's formatting oversights do not make finding specific entries any easier

5 comments about Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings: Prima's Unauthorized Strategy Guide.

1. i play this game online a ton and this book is the best strat guide for the game



2. I bought this book because I believed in what Andy Schwarz said on his review, about how great this book was for on-line gamers. But I fail to see how this book can be of much help to on-line gamers as a strategy guide.

   Indeed, the book talks about how much fun multi-player games can be, how different they can differ from single-player games, and on-line etiquette. Besides a few paragraphs about civilization selection, I don't see any multi-player gaming strategy in this book. The two chapters devoted to multiplayer games, i.e. chapters 11 and 12, have only a total of 7 pages combined.

   Although I am not disappointed at the other parts of this book, I would not advertise nor recommend it as a strategy guide for on-line gamers.




3. I received the book through Air Mail three days ago and I just began reading yesterday, but I already recommend it. There is a nice introduction, and then it explains the civilizations, shows units carts and gives detailed strategies on maps. Then it takes an extensive explanation, during several chapters, on how to develop a civilization and rule the world. After, it shows detailed walkthroughs to each campaign. Some online ettiquete finish the book. I highly recommend it to any player who is beggining on Age of Kings, mastering, or playing knowing its brother, Age of Empires (my case). Buy it and excel at your games, I guarantee!



4. I bought this book along with the Ensemble Studio book. This book has a few tables that list the actual number of Attack Bonus of the unique units (like cataphract +8 vs infantry) that I can't find elsewhere unless you actually play the game (it becomes handy). Also the chapters on Campaigns are very very good (to me, better than the ES book on this aspect). I actually won a few campaigns using the guidance of this book that I can't win before. If you are starting as a single player and want to win the campaigns, I recommend this book. But if you want to be a good multiplayer gamer, this book offers no help at all and get the ES book instead (see my other review).



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2 comments about Prince of Persia: The Official Strategy Guide/for Prince of Persia and Prince of Persia 2 The Shadow and the Flame.

1. n/



2. Prince of Persia : The Official Strategy Guide/for Prince of Persia and Prince of Persia 2

1 comments about Starship Troopers: The Citizen's Federation (Starship Troopers).

1. Mongoose and Greg Lynch have simply outdone themselves in the production of the United Citizens' Federation sourcebook for the Starship Troopers roleplaying game.
   
   At a cute 160 pages this book is jammed packed full of information about the civilian universe that the Mobile Infantry strive to defend.
   
   Inside you are treated to an extensive history of the Starship Troopers universe and the then a lengthy discussion on culture and society (in Starship Troopers context obviously!) This section includes a new base class, the 'Fednet Reporter'.
   
   The next section is a smaller one on how the Federation works. This is probably the one section where more work should have been done. Whilst discussions of economics is hardly exciting stuff vis-a-vis roleplaying games; this book seeks to trim a inter-galactic economy down to a few simple concepts - such as a common currency and one super ecomony across the whole federation with fixed prices and wages across the whole board. While this may work for groups of players who just want to squash bugs - the beauty of this supplement is that it allows players to explore beyond that simplistic campaign; but then fixes characters into a rigid economic paradigm that will be counter-intuitive for any player older than 18...
   
   Anyway, that gripe aside, the book then moves on to the enemies of the federation and for once the Arachnids aren't centre stage! Instead we are offered up three human enemies - the Black Cross Mercenaries and the Civilian Militia and common Criminals. All three enemies have their own character class, with relative special features and class abilities. The Criminal even has a number of specialites that s/he can explore...much like the cross-training options avaliable to Mobile Infantry. This was the most enjoyable section for me as it lifted the game beyond the simple Human vs. Aliens genre and allows for some very interesting campaigns. Finally, this section also deals with Rogue Psychics and their special talents - which again offers a range of new roleplaying options.
   
   Following this rather long section is a brief chapter on the Federation at War and the special considerations this entails. Then there is a very long chapter which details the 'core' Citizens Federation. Like most other sci-fi RPG's (Star Wars, Star Trek, Traveller, Mech Warrior, et al)the enteries for entire worlds are rather limited, which is both a blessing and a curse.
   
   Its a curse because it tends to make each 'world' appear as nothing more than a city within the game universe and travelling between them is like travelling between Paris and Berlin (some minor differences - but essentially the same and therefore not really worth the effort - I know that's an overly simplistic example but you get what I mean right?)
   
   Anyway, it is also a blessing because in the time-honoured tradition of GMing, it allows the game master to make just about everything up and no player can whip out their copy and start muttering..."I don't remember that being in here!"
   
   Ideally, I would love a game development company to really spend some time on this issue and to make their respective universes a lot more 'real'. Such as producing a book(s) that feature a slice of the universe complete with each world shown in colour say as a 2d map. With continents, seas, oceans, and other geography (mountain ranges, rivers, etc), also included would be major cities, national, military, ethnic (or species) boundaries. There could be additional maps showing things like tectonic plates (if any), rainfall and other weather patterns - anyway, I digress. Suffice to say that in my opinion, describing a world of ten million colonists as a agriculture world and little else is frustrating.
   
   The book concludes with a discussion on campaign options: such as playing government agents trying to route out dissent (i.e. Civilian Militia) or as colonists on a new world or perhaps as law enforcement...the options are really only limited by the players immagination. I would strongly recommend GM's and players alike have a look at other games such as FASA's Shadowrun, GDW's Twilight/Merc: 2000 or even WotC's d20 modern at a stretch for ideas on alternative campaigns and then work them into the Starship Troopers universe using this supplement - you won't regret it!
   
   Enjoy.

1 comments about The Loathsome Ratmen: And all their Vile Kin.

1. Like Skaven?
   Get this book, it's that simple
   
   Not for those who find their sensibilitys easily offended