5 comments about Star Drive Campaign Setting (Alternity Sci-Fi Roleplaying, Star Drive Campaign Setting, 2802).

1. As a veteran gamer who probably has more gaming material than should be healthy, I'm pleased to see TSR introduce this book for the very promising Alternity game.

   Unlike much of the game products out there, this book is vividly written with inspiration and flair, bringing alive the technology, citizens, and cultures of the setting. All this is finished off by quality art as well. This terrific book prompted me to add the Alternity game to my gaming cabinet.




2. This game wouldn't be successful without the superb writing and information given in these books. It creates a -very- realistic setting for the game.



3. I am NOT a TSR fan. Haven't played their games in years. But I picked this up and its great. The artwork is stunning, the information is very detailed, and the setting is very interesting. I am looking forward to adventuring in the Verge.



4. Star*Drive is a campaign setting for the popular Alternity sci-fi gaming system, and requires both the Alternity Player's Handbook and Alternity Gamemaster Guide for play. In a game that emphasizes a build-your-own world approach, the Star*Drive universe provides a quick but customizable campaign and a large selection of compatible add-ons.

   This 256-page book describes a 26th century world of faster-than-light speed travel, frontier exploration, alien-human commerce, war, and interstellar nations. The comparison with Star Trek is obvious but not an over-riding factor; Star*Drive has its own flavor and plenty of room for your own additions, whatever your TV, movie, or literary favorites might be.

   Mutants, psionics, and cybertech-enhanced beings (all optional in the basic rules) are included in this campaign. Also given are statistics and descriptions for 26th century technology (ships, military, medicine, robots, and much more), the 13 stellar nations of Old Space, and 18 solar systems of the Verge (the edge of Star*Drive's frontier). Brief histories of campaign technology, alien contact, and wars are also covered. The five alien player character species will be familiar from the Alternity Player's Handbook (Fraal, Mechalus, Sesheyan, T'sa, and Weren), as are the five basic professions; however, Star*Drive offers several subcategories under each profession (49 total) as models for your character.

   Accessories for the Star*Drive campaign include Alien Compendium: Creatures of the Verge, Planet of Darkness, Outbound: An Explorer's Guidebook, Arms & Equipment Guide, and Threats from Beyond.

   Star*Drive offers excellent possibilities for your Alternity game.

   --Sharon Daugherty for Skirmisher Online Gaming Magazine




5. Star*Drive is unlike most other settings you find in science fiction today. It's a "space-opera" type setting with a brain. 13 "Stellar Nations" have colonized a region of space that was cut off from humanity when these nations went to war. When they return, all hope to profit, but aren't necessarily welcomed back with open arms. Something sinister has happened out there, and trust is no longer taken for granted.
   
   The technology is different from the standard "ray-gun" and starfighter mix, and the social concepts offer a unique flavor. Never once did I find myself thinking "Oh, that's a Star Wars / Battlestar Galactica knock-off idea.", or "Sound like Star Trek / Babylon 5." The feeling was of a setting that was unlike anything cooked up before, charged with overt and covert motives and the several layers of depth that make for good plot-building.
   
   The thing you'll probably have the most trouble with if you Game-master a S*D campaign, is introducing your player's characters to the setting's complexity and rich detail without burying your story in it. It will be worth it, for the immersive qualities of the storylines you can generate.

1 comments about Codex: Orks (Warhammer 40,000).

1. Codex:Orks is an army book you will need if you plan on playing an ork army in the Warhammer 40,000 game. It provides rules for every model in the ork army, as well as detailed description and backround of the orks. It is essential to purchase this book before you purchase any other ork army products.

2 comments about Dragonlance Price Of Courage (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Dragonlance Setting).

1. This product rocks in every way. It gives plenty of outside opportunities to expand on for future play. It works well as a series or short adventures or long adventures. It follows and builds well on the best fantasy world there is (in my opinion) keeping to the theme and feel. For pure gaming, it is easy to use and follow and is not confusing. Better than Castle Ravenloft or the Fantastic Locations BY FAR. My favorite module from 1st, 2nd, or 3rd edition. THANKS!!



2. In this great adventure (almost gigantic adventure), the players finally understands who is the final enemy, one of the Dragons Overlords who dominated Krynn in the beginning of the 5th age. In a perfect conclusion, we also see what happens to one of the Heroes of the Lance (a sad end, at last, in my home game).
   There is adventure enough for a year or more in this final part of "Age of Mortals", and even DMs who doesnt like prefab adventures will find that there is much to "inspire" in the news things (like something that will have great impact on my campaing, the "allomanya").
   To be a perfect, could come with maps in more pratical handouts (altought you could just coppy the maps, to avoid damaging the book).

4 comments about Spells & Spellcraft: Compendium of Mystic Lore (Legends & Lairs, d20 System) (Legends and Lairs).

1. This Book has many great additions to D&D 3rd. Ed. magic. The thing I enjoyed most was the new rules for creating your own magical constructs. The new feats are good, but there's not many of them. The spells are great! There are some that every magic useing charecter I make from now on will have them! There is also details on new types of magic. Take chaos magic for example. When you cast a chaos spell it replicates the effets of one of sereveral spells, choosen randomly. The new kind of magic items are great as well. Over all, this is a great additon to any third edition Dungeons and Dragons library.



2. The Legends & Lairs series by Fantasy Flight focuses on D&D 3E.

   I've checked out just about every major D&D 3E publisher's material. Fantasy Flight is one of the best out there. Why? Since d20 came out, many, many would-be game designers have started making products. Like any saturated market, only a few rise to the top as real stars. Publishers like Fantasy Flight, Malhavok Press, Swords & Sorcery, etc. are among the d20 stars. Fantasy Flight is very creative from cover to cover, and they have a really sound grasp of mechanics. That is a rare combination, especially the good mechanics.

   Features of this book:
   * Spells! Lots of cool spells for every spell-casting class. Almost all are well-balanced and stylish.
   * (Magical) libraries, special spellbooks, laboratories.
   * Rituals & ceremonies
   * Wards
   * Chaos magic
   * Expanded familiars
   * Places of magic (shrines, standing stones, etc.)
   * Alchemy items & cool non-magical materials

   DM's: This book will help (no matter how experienced you are) add flavor to all manner of magical goings on in your campaign, and that's usually a big part of most campaigns.

   Players: Woe be unto the monster on the receiving end of some of these spells.

   5 stars. One of the few products I've added (almost) in its entirety to my game. Almost forgot, check their website for errata -- it's already out.




3. Fantasy Flight Games scores big with this one. Subtitled "A Compendium of Mystic Lore," it is a treasure trove of magical options for D20 System gaming, which are mercifully NOT interlinked, allowing GMs to pick and choose what they like and what helps their campaigns.

   The new spells range from the terribly useful (for example, a gradually enhanced spell series for restoring writings ranging from single documents to whole tomes) to the simply terrible (for example, "Burrowing Bony Digits," a Necromantic spell which sends forth up to five skeletal fingers to burrow their way into the bodies of targets who fail their Reflex saves, doing 1D6 impaling damage plus 1D6 additional burrowing damage for each three levels of the caster -- yecch!).

   "The Craft of Magic" (one of my favorite parts) has sections on library construction, bookhunting (always necessary for that on-going Arcane research!), ideas for conducting magical research, constructing laboratories, new ideas for spell foci and components, and an extensive section on Bardic and Sorcerous magic, with new feats, PLUS a section on Ceremonial and Ritual Magic, both arcane and divine.

   "New Types of Magic" introduced are "Ward Magic" (location-based enchantments used with "ward tokens" -- an idea once dealt with in "Volo's Guide to the North"), "Chaos Magic," "Cooperative Magic," and a long section on "Religion," dealing with new types of divine spell casters and "Small Gods," the "minor" deities which are so significant in the "real world" but which get such short shrift in gaming worlds. Also introduced is "Place Magic," the magic of arcane locations and nexuses of magical power, including religious shrines.

   "The Mundane Made Magical" deals with Alchemy, Constructs, Magical Materials, and Familiars (with wonderful ideas on empowering them, making them finally WORTH the risk of having around). My favorite familiar must now be "the Grimoire," a tiny construct; suitably tinkered with, it is easily imagined as an autonomous, intelligent presence in the spellcaster's library, reading and interrogating other books to aid its master in research; I can readily imagine a canny sage having an entire library of mutually-referant books serving as so many processors in a library-sized magical "computer," with a Grimoire familiar as the interface!

   "Magic Items" include Glyph Eggs (the weakest contribution of the book, in my opinion -- just another vehicle for storing magic spells) and Personal Growth Items (Open Gaming Content!), which are items which advance along with their owners, gaining powers and experience (and presumably becoming the original source of many magic items which may now be created with feats: before they were made as "created items," many had to "grow up" to be magical). There is also an Open Gaming Content section on Relics and the obligatory New magical Items section which every single D20 System book seems to have (although this one adds nine new Ioun Stone types).

   "Spells & Spellcraft" is not an essential book, by any means, so I have only given it four stars, but, for those who like to play around with magic in their games, it is very, very, very fun and inspirational. I used someone else's copy for a while, but I simply had to buy one for myself so that I could access it whenever I wanted some quick inspiration on matters arcane. I give it a strong personal recommendation.




4. This is the third book I've purchased by Fantasy Flight Games. If Spells and Spellcraft is an indicator of the quality of the rest of their books, I think I'll be adding a few more of their titles to my collection.
   
   First off, the spells are very creative and well balanced. None of them seemed too weak or too powerful for their level. The section on building constructs is great. It is very detailed and presents well thought out options for spell casters looking to build them.
   
   The Glyph Eggs can be used as the D&D equivalent of Holy Hand Grenades and are a welcome, and somewhat humorous, addition.
   
   All in all, Spells and Spellcraft is a wonderful addition to my d20 library.

5 comments about Delta Green: Countdown (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying, Modern Era).

1. If you already have Delta Green, Countdown should be your next purchase (if you don't have Delta Green, BUY IT!!!). Countdown adds write-ups for PISCES (Britain), GRU SV-8 (Russia), The Skoptsi, The Outlook Group, Phenomen-X, Keepers of the Faith (Ghouls), and a new look at The Hastur Mythos. Add rules for the Gift (Psychic Powers) and international templates from all over the world and you have a book that would be cheap at twice the price!!

   Pagan Publishing has done it again!!!




2. Well worth the seemingly hefty price. In addition to containing source material that benefits *any* modern-day game (e.g. details on international law-enforcement agencies), it includes expansions on things alluded to in the main Delta Green book, such as the Army of the Third Eye, and new icky horrors like the Skoptsi.

   There is also wonderful information on ghoul society and on the "King in Yellow"/Hastur mythos, concluding with "Night Floors," which is in my opinion one of the best damn adventures ever written.




3. This product is awesome, but i don't receive form amazon, i buy from others sellers because the delay of order.
   
   This order be canceled.



4. If Delta Green is the Best RPG suppliment ever, then this is Number 2. You get more bang for the buck out of this book for $40 than you do in 4 $20 books. It's very well written and is a great read as well. It is how a RPG SHOULD be written.
   If you're a Call of Cthulhu gamer, then this book is a MUST! If you like horror, X-Files, etc...then check it out.



5. This book adds more to mix than found in the earlier Delta Green Book and will expand the RPG experience further. I would highly recommend buying this book after getting the core book for Delta Green. Expands the conspiracies outside of the United States in both enemies and allies. Much more disturbing than the groups in the original Delta Green book and adds different plot angles. Very well written and compelling. A must have the Delta Green enthusiast

3 comments about Portfolio of a Dragon: Dunkelzahn's Secrets (Shadowrun RPG).

1. The Big "D" is dead, and he's left a will. This book sets in motion events that will guide the world of Shadowrun for years to come. As well as ahving a chapter concerning the events of Dunkelzhan's death, it has a transcript of his will (courtesy of Captian Chaos, as always). With over 200 separate entries for GM's and player alike to use, this sourcebook is unlike any other FASA has put out. It allows the PC's to be active an go out after the missions they want, instead of waiting around for Mr. Johnson to call. A must have for anyone playing Shadowrun



2. In _Super Tuesday_, Dunkelzahn (the only great dragon to cultivate a popular public image) became a serious candidate for the presidency of the UCAS. This book opens with the event that shaped so much of later Shadowrun history - Dunkelzahn's assassination on the night of his inauguration.

   As with the other really great Shadowrun sourcebooks, this volume is organized as an electronic document from the fictional Shadowrun world, as posted at that spiritual home of shadowrunners everywhere: Shadowland. Captain Chaos (sysadmin extraordinaire) begins by posting nearly raw coverage of the assassination, then Shadowland chat (some in the form of articles by major shadowrunners like the Chromed Accountant) interspersed with backtalk, rumors, and on-line quarrels from the various folk who post to Shadowland. Lots of ideas for GMs here.

   First, of course, there's the death itself, and the who-killed-Dunkelzahn theories as the murder continues to go unsolved. The primary focus of this book, though, is Dunkelzahn's last will and testament (Captain Chaos includes the full text of the bequests).

   The Big D left large chunks of nuyen to found various foundations and study groups, the entire estate being administered by the new Draco Foundation under Nadia Daviar, who's gone from the Big D's mouthpiece to one of the most powerful women on the planet. The individual bequests, though, leave a lot of room for speculation and for adventures. (On occasion, the purpose of a bequest is made clear by later events; this was still happening as of the release of _Year of the Comet_, so it's still to one's advantage to get a copy of this book just to get the text of the will.)

   Many of the bequests could give rise to adventures either to protect an item in transit from the Draco Foundation to the new owner (or to acquire it), such as the undiscovered da Vinci "Seraphim". Some items offer even more scope, having unspecified properties, such as the dagger Wyrmtooth (to his security advisor) or the Ring Ouroboros (to Ryumo).

   Some bequests, of course, are famous: the Big D owned HUGE blocks of stock in various competing AAA megacorps through various shell companies - enough to change the balance of power in various boardrooms across the world now that the secret's out. The most notorious (at least, up to the present) gave the chief of internal security of a AAA megacorp 4 million shares and an accompanying seat on the board of directors - but of *another* AAA megacorp, a blood enemy. Other bequests include bounties on toxic shamans and practitioners of blood magic, with particular reference to Aztlan.

   And, of course, there are the conditional bequests, e.g. "to the first party to find my lair in the Caucasus Mountains".

   Heck, the will alone is worth the purchase price. It's followed with postings from various runners who've gotten involved with the bequests, one way and another, and the dirt they've dug up on some of the more mysterious items. (Not just outlines for how an adventure based on a bequest might be designed, but a good read.)




3. This book did not deliver what I wanted at all. The summary of the book stated that it was supposed to give ideas for GM's to write their own adventures. However I would have liked some ideas and stats on the items that Dunkelzhan handed out in his will so I would know what my players were up against.
   
   The will was the only good thing in the book and was NOT worth the money I paid for this book.
   
   If you are a Shadowrun GM or a player, do yourself a favor and pass this one up since you can download the will from their website for free.

1 comments about Mage Astral Realms (Mage the Awakening).

1. First, the book was written primarily for Mage: the Awakening, and that's its primary target. However, any World of Darkness game can use part of it. It fits especially well with Second Sight and Changeling. The crossover information is far better written than in Tome of Mysteries. (Where a rather knee-jerk "they don't interact" sort of feel was prevalent.) The common planes of creatures other than human and the ways each interacts with these levels of being are described more fully.
   
   The description of each area describes its function and how interaction with it affects the world. The dangers of each area are described in broad terms, and the point is made of how broad each area is. While this often is done in so vague a manner as to be useless, here it was written rather well. Multiple examples the various things described help give a good feel for the sorts of things encountered.
   
   The book gives ideas and methods for interaction. The worst part was when describing the interaction in one plane to affect others, they failed to describe any examples of the connections between realms. They thoroughly describe the importance of such connections, but fail to describe how the manifest or are made/destroyed.
   
   The new spells make the astral realms far more accessible than the base Mage did. I agree with the move, but some of the base book rote effects should be reviewed in light of the new spells. (The shift was intentional, and briefly discussed. To paraphrase: There is little reason to preclude mages from something that can lead to a good story when the point of the game is to create a story.)
   
   I suggest that this is one of the most useful of the supplements that has been released. It describes an area worth encountering and learning from, and has many new dangers and snares to avoid. I found the book rich with ideas for stories.
   
   If I were to recommend books for an aspiring Mage storyteller, the order would be: World of Darkness, Mage the Awakening, Astral Realms, Tome of Mysteries, Intruders: Encounters From the Abyss
   
   Other books of value include: Book of Spirits, Legacies: The Ancient, Legacies: The Sublime, and the order books.

4 comments about Creatures of Barsaive: An Earthdawn Sourcebook.

1. A great sourcebook, one of the best I have read, the book shines in the descriptions of the creatures as well as side comments by a great dragon and his dwarf counterpart.



2. The story of how Barsaive is described through the mind of a dragon retold and 'published' by a dwarf is amazing. I think it's a great book, and very creative. The true story behind the unicorn is startling. I am glad I read this book.



3. When i recieved this book i read it all that night. I am usually not much of a reader, but with this book i could not put it down. The best aspect of the book was the conversation that took place between the dwarf scribe and the great dragon Vasjendous. These converations gave you a wonderful insight on how dragons think and act. It was a very useful tool in implementing a dragon into my game.



4. "Creatures of Barsaive" is a very entertaining book with a lot of small storyhooks told from the point of view of a dragon. But the information inside is not that essential because of the rules for creature - generation system presented in the Earthdawn Compendium. Nevertheless the creatures are well balanced and an inventive gamemaster can use them for high suspense and some entertainig hours.

5 comments about *OP Exalted Storyteller Companion (Exalted).

1. I was highly skeptical of Exalted when I first heard about it, but I jumped on the bandwagon and bought it for kicks. The roleplaying community has been needing this game for a long time. An exciting, intruiging fantasy world, cool, chic powers, and a tried-and-true White Wolf emphasis on ROLEplaying, not dice. Instead of the cliched "Dungeons and Dragons"/"Lord of the Rings" fantasy RPG style, this game draws a lot of themes, moods, and powers from anime and Greek epics. If you're a fan of White Wolf's games, this is definitely for you. If you like fantasy RPGs, this is definitely for you. If you are looking for something fun and different, this is for you. Peace.



2. As a storyteller wishes to improve himself, he finds that, most often than not, companions are pretty useful. This particular companion, however, instead of optional rules or player characteristics, it gives a more complete background, absolutely necessary when running a chronicle for a game as Exalted. This sort of history and backgrounds is what will separate your chronicle from a common AD&D RPG and a more complete, more human world.
   This book avoids the storyteller from inventing everything on the city and gives hundreds of guidelines for possible chronicles, besides, exalted is extremely hard to run precisely because of historical background, so, this book is quite useful.



3. This book details more information on the factions in the Exalted game. Solars, Lunars, Dragon-Blooded, and Abyssals, there is probably a little bit of everything for everyone. There are several paragraphs covering each of the factions and a small section of additional charms to try out. But would you even want to bother with the snippets here merely to whet your appetite until the full supplements for the factions are released?

   Also, since this is supposed to be a Storytellers Companion, I was pretty surprised not to find a hefty section on running games and campaigns. Dock 1 star there. The nifty storyteller's screen packaged with the book is useful and seems to work well for the few game sessions I ran. In the introduction, the book also mentions a full-color map that was supposed to be included in the book, but don't bother looking for it.

   In summary: Nice but not essential, and left out a lot of the cooler stuff for the supplements. I would recommend buying the full supplement for your favourite faction(s) instead.




4. This book wasn't great even when it came out, but back then we had no idea what Lunars, Dragon-Blooded, Sidereals, spirits, etc, could do, so we bought it anyway. Now, the vast majority of the information in this book has been retconned, and what hasn't been retconned has been published elsewhere, except for the spirit Charms, which were supposed to be published in "Games of Divinity" but were left out due to typical White Wolf publishing confusion. However, even those are available free to download on the White Wolf website (under "Games of Divinity Appendix"), so you have absolutely no reason to spend money on this book. Don't.



5. -Exalted Storyteller's Companion- has been my only, and slight, disappointment with the -Exalted- line. In general, the line awesomely evokes heroes and ages of myth, without the Eurocentrism that mars DnD, SnS, etc., and without the convoluted and enforced dependence on metaplot of the original World of Darkness setting (which I hear has been supplanted). Nevertheless, -E.S.C.- fails to give anything but the most cursory information on setting and precious little else.
   
   What it did have:
   
   The first section, "The Scarlet Empire," disappointingly elides the entirety of the setting's largest antagonist organization (for the Solar Exalted at least) into a description of the youth and career, and death of a typical Realm Terrestrial Exalted with the dull opening paragraph, "The Dragon-Blooded see no difference between their realm and themselves. So, then, let us follow the Dragon-Blooded through their lives in search of the empire's soul." I don't believe I am hasty to admit that I would rather know about the empire's body, heart and mind than its soul, as an ST. What about the millions who actually comprise the Realm and make it work? What of the All-Seeing Eye and the Thousand Scales? What about the dreaded imperial legions? Knowing about the birth and career of Dragon-Blooded provides exactly zero dramatic tension and exactly one opportunity for an NPC to engage in, frankly, painfully boring exposition. Will there be a Realm supplement? Will we learn about the Scarlet Empire - enough to ST it - from -Dragon-Blooded-? Shouldn't the setting blurbs on antagonists contain - well - setting?
   
   I found the second chapter on other Celestial Exalted much more useful. It gave about the same amount of information as did the first chapter, but much more economically. For each type of Celestial Exalted there are about eight pages of history, setting (which I would have appreciated in the Realm segment), character ideas, and sample mechanic.
   
   The third chapter contains information on the spirits and their courts. Following ten pages of mechanic on spiritual Charms, there is some history and setting as well as a number of example characters (elementals and demons are included). I appreciated this section but I do wonder to what extent White Wolf intends for spirits to be part of stories - see my add'l comments below).
   
   The fourth chapter details six artifacts; the chapter seemed almost an afterthought. It does have the history and story of the Eye of Autochthon - an item of immense power referred to in many other supplements, and essential to the setting of several locations.
   
   What it didn't have:
   
   This book failed entirely to have any discussion of storytelling this game. How should I pace the chronicle? How do stories come together in this setting? I am still wondering. In terms of the particular difficulties of storytelling this setting, I am still left only with the meager scraps in the main rule book. While I'm an experienced ST, I myself would have appreciated some help with adapting to the game, and I'm sure a beginning ST would have appreciated that as well.
   
   I'm also left wondering to what extent the spirits and other supernaturals ought to be included in a game. We constantly read in other supplements about gods and their machinations - what exactly is going on with these beings in terms of their prevalence in the story? I appreciate White Wolf's circumspection with respect to cutting down on the intrusive metaplot in this setting, but I feel as if this is setting information that I have no idea how to adapt.
   
   Overall:
   
   Really? Except for the Eye of Autochthon, I suspect that most of the information in this book is redundant and explained in greater detail in the more specialized supplements. I haven't gotten -Dragon-Blooded- or -The Abyssals- but I really think those two books will have more and essential information.
   
   There are -many- better books on how to ST or run a campaign/chronicle, and I suggest one of the Revised Edition original World of Darkness ST guides together with the Dungeon Master's guide for DnD if you really are looking for ideas and practical advice on how to put together a day of gaming or a month of days of gaming.
   
   The one thing I really like pretty unequivocally is the ST screen that comes with the game. Personally, I like to have a game-specific DM/ST screen when I have the job - and the screen is great. But it's for that reason that if I had the chance to buy this all over again knowing what I do from having read it, I'd probably try to find the ST screen without the book, and save the money for one of the hardbound antagonist setting books.

1 comments about Magic: A Manual of Mystic Secrets (Earthdawn).

1. This is another great FASA magic supplement, designed for Earthdawn but useful for inspiring spell ideas in D&D as well. Earthdawn's magic system is one of the best in RPGs for the ideas governing how magic works and the execution of the spells as game materials with great flavor.

   Even if you don't use the Earthdawn system I would get the magic supplements (this, arcane mysteries of barsaive, earthdawn[the basic game] and earthdawn companion)for the quality materials that they are and adapt them to the system you use.