1 comments about *OP Kindred Most Wanted (Vampire - the Masquerade).

1. The 13 baddest Vampires the Camarilla has ever seen are grinning with malice behind this folio's cover. Their stats, age, personal history, appearance and (ugh!) feeding habits are all laid to bare along with a way to fit these bad boys into your chronicle. The Kindred's Most Wanted contains a "Red List" of vampires that the Camarilla has called a world-wide Blood Hunt on. As an avid role-player and fan of White Wolf Studios, I was most pleased with this book. I was able to intertwine it into my chronicle without any problems. Their personal histories aren't for the weak of heart, though. Let the buyer beware!

No comments about Arachnid Army Book (Starship Troopers) (Starship Troopers).

1 comments about Arcane Mysteries of Barsaive (Earthdawn).

1. This book contains much that is useful to a player or GM of Earthdawn, or just someone who is interested in the gaming universe. It contains new rules, spells and magic items, but to get full use from this book, one needs to already own its prequel, the book of magic. For example, this book includes new talent knacks, but all the rules to use them are not present.

5 comments about Dark Ages Companion - A Sourcebook for Vampire: The Dark Ages.

1. Great book filled with lots of info on different religions, really helps form backgrounds for npc's. On top of that I also have a pc who is a salubri and It REALLY helps, thank god I found a book that has the discipline of Valeren in it. Anyway overall this book was very helpful.



2. While Vampire: The Dark Ages is infinitely resourceful, the Dark Ages Companion is infinitely more so. It has detailed information on aspects of the dark ages which will help any chronicle. Included are several new bloodlines, plenty of new disciplines and new powers for old disciplines, and details on several religions. Possibly the most valuable resource is the new data on combat, including the mass-combat for the armies of the day.

   All in all, this product is essential to run a complex chronicle, and well-worth the money.




3. If a chronicle is hard to build, it is a dark ages chronicle, not because of lack of plot, but excess of it, there's too much going on with the church, also there's chivalry and clan differences begin to break the vampire society. Certainly it is a good time to have a companion to give you few details.

   It expands existing disciplines providing new ones, with even new rituals. The blood lines also prove to be interesting characters that players might enjoy, and storytellers trying to run the dark ages chronicle will find this book quite useful.




4. If you have just purchased Vampire: The Dark Ages, then you will want to look deeply into this book. This book contains information to help make vampire chronicles even more dynamic than before. This volume contains a detailed section outlining the various actions and reactions of different religious organizations. I state organizations because too often the word Church is assumed to mean the Holy Roman, or Catholic Church. Although it was a major power in Europe, there were still plenty of other religions in the world; each religion had its own agenda and these are illustrated in the Companion. Now a Storyteller can be sure throw a massive curve into a Chronicle when Cainites are now confronted by not only Catholic clergy, but also pagan and followers of even more remote religions. What basis of belief do the Assamites follow? It is most assuredly not catholicism. With this book, you can get a slight taste for their beliefs, or the beliefs of those in their homelands.

   So that is the church, but what about Cainites themselves? The Companion carries the higher level disciplines for the one listed in the Dark Ages core book. The authors have also included more Thaumaturgical paths as well as power to make better Infernalists. This book carries a wide selection of Dark Thaumaturgical paths and rituals. It also carries a few new disciplines altogether. Wait! New disciplines? Who wield them? This volume also adds four new clans/bloodlines. The Laibon, Lhiannan, and Lamia make their possible First Appearances in the White Wolf canon. Their chapters contain information on their origins, structure, beliefs, and discipline just as it does for all others. The one exception is that it also spells out each bloodline's fate. These Cainites do not survive into the modern days, and now you know why. But, I only mention three, who is the fourth?
   The Dark ages are a strange time. Not only does it see the "birth" of a new clan, but also the genocidal hunting of another. Yes, the Salubri are still alive at this time and the Companion provides both a clan overview as well as a long listing of Valeren, the Salubri principle power. For all you veterans, Valeren is not the same as Obeah. Now we have the actual power the Unicorns wielded long ago in Enoch, the very power that is said to have temporarily soothed Malkav of his madness. This alone makes the book worth its cost, but the authors have included so much more.

   In summary, coupling this book with Vampire: The Dark Ages will only enhance a chronicle. If players feel they done this before, add a few new religious antagonists, or just drop one of the unknown clans into he story to add danger, intrigue, and a huge new enigma to solve. Do not forget to spice the game with the upper levels of Disicplines. You may have a Brujah or a Nosferatu with a ton of Fortitude, but what good is that when you opponent can strike you from across the room without moving? What good is a ton of Potence and Celerity when your weapons shatter upon impacting another Cainite and not leaving the slightest mark? Who said the "things-that-go-bump-in-the-night" in the night do not have their "things-that-go-bump-in-the-night" as well? Can we say Methusala? Sleep well, childer. Sleep well.




5. This is an absolute essential guide for Dark Ages: Vampire players. It has info on Medieval life, history of the time, religion of the time period, and fictional info on more obscure DA:Vampire bloodlines and disciplines, including the frightening Baali and the mysterious and doomed Salubri. Definitely recommended, excellent reading..... If you're going to play a Dark Ages Vampire game, get this!

5 comments about Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark (AD&D/Forgotten Realms).

1. I just got this book today (2 days earlier than expected) and I sat down and began reading. I'm about done now and just wanted to tell everyone how great the book is. There are parts about every race I have heard of in the Underdark. After it describes the races it tells about the cites they live in, this part is excellant! There are rummors and very interesting facts about all races (I found the Illithads most interesting). On top of all of that there is an eights fold map that makes everything fall together. It is a map of The Realms and on it are many of the many cities of the surface andf the Underdark, it shows where all cities are in relationship to one another. i would have bought the book just for this map. I know it will torment my PCs over and over again. I recomend this book to anyone who likes D&D or even just needs a book to read. The only problem I found was that they (Wizards of the Coast) attached a survey in the book and you had to rip it out to fill it out. It was a post card sized piece of card board. WOTC people, please don't put these in books anymore unless they come out more easily!



2. if you have missed out on (now out of print) Story lines on the underdark this book not only cataches you up but gives you a lot more detail



3. When I picked up this book, I said to myself, "Bah, this will be garbage", but it being about Drizzt, I had to take a look. I was extremely surprised to find it wasn't all that bad.

   I will say though (as I've said before) nobody should do Drizzt except for Salvatore




4. This book is basically an expansion on the underground realms for TSR's Forgotten Realms AD&D campaign setting. As a veteran gamer who probably has more supplements than should be healthy, I found this book to be readable and a good addition for any GM who plans to take his players into the Underdark.

   While the essays, descriptions and artwork are perfectly functional, the style is a little dry and lacking in excitement. It would probably have read better if the author had adopted a first-person perspective - after all, the title is 'Drizzt's Guide to the Underdark' - and doesn't quite match up to R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Trilogy.

   I really, really wanted to like this book (being a Drizzt fan) but feel a little dissapointed. The best gaming supplements are those that are written with such enthusiasm and passion that make gamers all want to explore the new locations at once. Sadly this book doesn't do that, although it is still a good read. Just not great.




5. After reading R. A. Salvatore's books, I expected more. I wanted to know everything about the drow and what happened to Mezonberranzan after Sige of Darkness. I did not find it in this book. It is really good, but could be better. There could be better descriptions about some importants citie sin the Underdark. They tell so little about Mezonberranzan and ohter drow city... But it is ok. But only buy it if you want to play in all the Underdark. Do not expect specific descriptions about your prefered race or city.

No comments about Elfs: A Guide to the Aldryami (Runequest: Glorantha).

1 comments about Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games: The People, the Addiction and the Playing Experience.

1. This is an excellent book on video game addiction. It has helped me understand why my son finds it so difficult to stop playing. Thank you R.V. Kelly 2 for writing this book.

4 comments about King's Quest: Mask of Eternity: Prima's Official Strategy Guide..

1. This book contains everything you need to know for maximizing the playability of Mask of Eternity. Well worth the money!!



2. On page 202, location number 10 for the unlit candle is wrong. The candle is located in the hallway next to this room. Otherwise a usefull guide.



3. This guide book provide most of my solutions to my quest. A 5 star book with detailed maps and clear infomation sails throughtout my game. Only one error on the unlited candle but overall is a triple plus.



4. This book is essentially a walkthrough. It is pretty effective in locating specific items and such. It does not have lists for weapons, armor, or enemies. I really cannot say much else.

5 comments about Starships of the Galaxy (Star Wars Roleplaying Game).

1. Campaigns set on one planet are fine, but what if you want to step offworld, or duke it out with Tie Fighters? You could hop into a Corellian YT-1300 or an X-Wing Fighter for the Nth time, but what if you want some spice?

   Starships of the Galaxy gives you all sorts of options. That's what most of this book is about. There are a few new feats, the mandatory prestige classes, etc., but most of SotG is dedicated to building starships and giving stats to Established ships of the Star Wars Universe.

   SotG is an excellent reference book, and great for building your own ships. The rules for modifications are scant, but they are there and can be worked with.

   The new space combat rules are about 50/50--They can help as much as they hurt. It's nice to have the options, though, and they are strictly at the GM's discretion.

   This is a must-have for any Star Wars D20 GM/Gamer who wants to keep it fresh or build their own ship for gaming purposes.




2. This could have stood to feature more starships, but it is useful for a lot of GM NPC ships and the like. The new combat system is confusing, but my RPG group ignores it anyway, and uses the original system from the Core Rulebook.

   This features many lesser known vessels, including the recently-added Defender Star Destroyers, and offers some help for customizing and modifying vessels. For those who can't find the YT-1300, you are just too lazy to actually read the Core Rulebook. The YT-2400 is nice to see, but others like the older Clone Wars vessels, YT-2000 and YV-666 would have been nice to see. Overall, if you just want to yank a lesser seen vessel into an RPG, this is helpful.




3. Where to Begin...
   This book is not what you want. Granted, this book has About 150 or so Spaceships described, With Basically full stats and a short biography for each, There are very few inaccurate pictures of Each. Each picture may contain up to 7 ships, with merely a sidebar to say what ships are included in the picture.
   While i don't actively play The Star Wars RPG, I am interested in simply learning the rules so that it may be adapted to D&D, or some other RPG World. This is Not what i expected. I expected More ships to be explained, More pictures, and better descriptions. If your looking for an indepth book thats worth the time to invest money in, Look somewhere else.



4. It is out of date. The Starships of the Galaxy worked with the original rules for Star Wars RPG d20. Since the revised rule book came out, many of the things in this book are no longer valid, just as the range increment or even the Starship record sheet. But is it still worth it? well that's for you to decide.

   I write many different types of campaigns, and one of the types i write cater towards those people who put a lot of points in Pilot and Astrogate skills, as well as those who ventured into the Ace Pilot or Jedi Ace prestige classes. With this book i have managed to come up with so many varieties of craft and made so much available to my heroes. This book gives you guidelines for creating small craft (starfighters and transports) capital class (Star Destroyers, Frigates) and space stations (Executor, Hosk). It comes in very handy when for a reference on how to modify a craft. I use it a lot when writing these types of campaigns to try and provide a craft for the heroes on a budget. It list out many things about creation of starcraft that i wouldn't be able to write these modules without it.

   It lacks in many departments as well, partly due to the outdated rules it was based off of. First of all, the combat system for space combat and airspeeder combat has changed dramatically, from abstract to a grid. So range increment is no longer needed and now the Speed needs to signify how many squares the ship can move. Since Ramming is the fastest Ion engine in this book, you're left wondering why a Ramming-class ion engine in the X-wing only moves 10 squares while the Ramming-class ion engine in the Millennium Falcon moves 12 squares. (RCR p 277 & 230). There is no clarification for this. As well many craft have a different atmospheric speed, this book doesn't even mention that. Another smaller problem are the prestige clases, they're outdated and you have to get the official Errata from WoTC.

   Final verdict? I use it a lot when writing. I use it for the creation purposes of starships, capital to small, and even installations. I've already created my own starship record sheet. See if you can find this book for a cheaper price... becuase right now it really isn't worth what many places are asking for it...




5. I never truly enjoyed this book, and even though Amazon doesn't carry it any more, I feel compelled to write a review of it for the sake of completeness. If you're looking at it now, the main reason to get it would be as a reference tool for the wide variety of starships described within. It is, at least, useful for that purpose. There is also a rule system that one can use for custom starship construction, and while it is overly complex, at least it's available.

   Unfortunately, Starships of the Galaxy stops delivering about right there. Not only is it softcover, a fact that I despise, but all of the content within is in black and white. At least the old Alien Anthology, a book cut in the same mold which I also disliked, was full-color. The interior artwork is composed mostly of rough sketches showing several ships squashed together in the same frame, leaving the reader to determine which vessel is which. No offense to the artist, Matt Hatton, but he has really done much better work elsewhere. There are a few new feats and a few new prestige classes, but none of them really stand out as anything special. It's also important to note that this book uses the older rules from the Original Core Rulebook, not the Revised Rulebook. If that doesn't turn you off even further, then there is a PDF rule update for the prestige classes on the Wizards of the Coast website, in the Star Wars RPG section archive.

   In short, unless you are really dying to get at this book, I'd suggest spending your money elsewhere. While there was a point two years ago where this book might have been considered merely adequate, it was never much better than mediocre, and has now fallen far into obsolescence. Of course, that is merely my opinion. In the meantime, we can only hope that at some point in the future we see an improved, revised version of this book that succeeds in taking advantage of the topic's potential.

4 comments about *OP Werewolf: Apocalypse (2004) (Werewolf).

1. Then it would be fairly obvious: Buy it!

   This book is the second in a series of World of Darkness apocalypse games. It concludes the Werewolf metaplot storyline and offers many different alternatives to implement into your gaming group.

   My first introduction as a storyteller was this game and it is where I learned the mechanics of the storyteller system (it is probably the most action oriented rpg game of the line). As a fan of many WW games it goes without saying that this book deserves a place on my gaming shelf of great games.




2. This book, the culmination of years of gaming in the world of darkness as the mighty Garou, is a fitting end to the game line. The scenarios contained within are definately everything I expected the Apocalypse to be like, with huge battles, sacrifices, and plot twists. I'd recommend this book to any fan of white wolf, not just werewolf.



3. The WtA had the most heart, despite it's action packed premise... This book was everything I wanted and more. Amazing battles, heroic sacrafice, and betrayal. It was amazing....
   
   The WtA creator's put their souls into this and it shows, it's open ended, yet as structured as you want the Apocolypse to be.. It wasn't souless like the Gehenna book, but made you laugh and cry with your characters in the end times...
   
   Buy this is you ever want to end the world with a bang in your WtA books...



4. Fantastic is a word I would use to describe this book, the very last supplement in the Werewolf Apocalypse line. The scenarios are all entertaining and capture that doomed yet heroic spirit that the game itself had. Have no doubts that each scenario gaurantees that heroes will fall and victory can only be won at the cost of the entire Garou race.
   
   You can tell that the writers really loved thei game line and setting and they wanted to make sure the werewolves got a proper send off and the fans of the game are showered with plot points, helpful suggestions and open ended scenarios that allow you to tinker with and add on your own points.
   
   I heartily recommend this book even as just a good read if you enjoyed the werewolf metaplot or just wanted to see what Apocaplyse was going to be like if you stopped running one of these games long ago. You won't be disappointed. By far this was the best of the Final Judgment books that ended the White Wolf game lines.