No comments about Warhammer RPG Thousand Thrones (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay).

No comments about Pathfinder #7 Curse Of The Crimson Throne: Edge of Anarchy (Pathfinder Curse of the Crimson Throne).

No comments about Sports Talk: Conversation Cards (Tabletalk Conversation Cards).

2 comments about Future Player's Companion: A Sourcebook For d20 Modern.

1. The future is a big and scary place for some of us. For others it a place with no boundraries and as many opportunities to discover new things as there oppurtunities for these discoveries to kill us. Literally hundereds of futuristic novels, short stories, movies, television programs, radio programs and cartoons have been made and dedicated to the future or at least the futuristic. In fact the future is so big no role playing game can ever hope to encompass all of it. All it can do is give us the GMs and Players some tools to forge our own stories in the worlds of tomorrow.
   
   Roleplaying is all about collective story telling. And some of the greatest stories are seen through the lens of science fiction and science fantasy. This book gives you more tools to forge those stories. You need D20 Future to get the most out of this book. Future Tech would be nice but is not required.
   
   Whereas Future was really just a basic overview that was expanded in the subsequent books in varying degrees of detail, most of that was more geared for the GM who runs things behind the scenes than for players who actually play in these universes. Future Companion is geared towards the Player almost exclusively. More ways to get the most out of the mutation rules from the original future, more occupations to give an idea as to what the heck brought the character to beginning of the story and the obligatory gear and classes.
   
   On a personal note, I have been buying D20 Modern books from Game Mechanics since they first put out Modern Players Companion and I have yet to get a bad book from them. Future Players Companion is no different. Many of the people that worked on the Future books help make this as perfect a primer for the game as their first book was. As a player, this book gives me a wealth of options for my character to be the best he or she might be in the collective story. As a Game Master this book is a wealth of information for my own NPCs and to help my players finalize their characters so the whole game runs smoother. It also helps as a spring board of new ideas, especially possibililities I would never have thought of otherwise. If you seriously want to D20 Future, your campaign will be all the poorer for not purchasing this book.



2. I GM a d20 Future game and this book just arrived on my doorstep. I spent about 10 minutes perusing the book and found at least 20 ways to spice up my campaign just from that preliminary browse. And this is supposed to be a player supplement! By no means is this book essential for your campaign, but it will save you the time and effort of making this crap up on your own (e.g., this book is full of new gear, cybernetics, occupations, feats, skill applications, prestige classes, and much, much more).
   
   If you GM a d20 Future campaign or are a player in a d20 Future campaign, I recommend that you purchase this item. You will not be sorry.

1 comments about Mage Silver Ladder (Mage the Awakening).

1. Finally, after waiting this long we have the fifth of the Order books detailing the 'leader' faction for Mage: the Awakening. And it's about time! As with the other Order books, this one serves to flesh out the Silver Ladder, who seek to ultimately guide humanity to the powers that are their birthright. As opposed to the other Orders, the Silver Ladder (at its best) believes magic is inherent to humanity. Wonderfully, it expands them beyond their stereotype of 'leaders' and emphasizes their heritage as priests, viziers and philosophers of the Awakened, giving players and STs alike lots of new possibilities for using this Order.
   
   The book opens with the history of the Silver Ladder, from their early days as the philosopher-priests of Atlantis and the Five Kings who (they claim) established the Paths, to their embrace of the British Empire during the age of colonialism. From there, it goes on to explore the role of the Silver Ladder in different corners of the world, from businessmen in Brazil to progressive Muslims in the Middle East to humanitarian aid in Africa. The second chapter explores the beliefs and practices of the Silver Ladder, including the Elemental Precepts, their political structure, magical law, roles and status within the Order, and Path roles. It also explores the Silver Ladders relations with other Mages and, more importantly, mortals! Better, it includes rules for Cryptolopolies (secret societies under the Order's influence), new Proximi rules, and even Sivler Dynasties (entire families of Proximi!).
   
   In chapter three, we are given information about the Silver Ladder's recruitment, initiation and even conversion of other Mages, including the tests and lessons that neophytes must learn. In addition to some more info on Proximi, we also get more detailed looks at Status within the Silver Ladder, members relationships to their community and fellow Mages, and more specifics on the other Orders. This chapter also looks at the other things that lurk in the World of Darkness... Vampires, Werewolves, Changelings, even Prometheans and Hunters, with details for incorporating them in chronicles as either enemies or allies. It also includes some very nice details on what Mages know (and THINK they know) about other supernaturals.
   
   The next chapter gets into factions like the Powerbrokers (self-descriptive), Theurges (religious Thearchs) and Ascended (who dedicate themselves to Ascension), as well as sample Cryptolopoly cults used by the Silver Ladder. Then there are Legacies... lots of them, ranging from the Bene Ashmedai (another Legacy of Mastigos demonologists, opposeed to the Clavicularus), Keepers of the Covenant (Thyrsus who uphold deals with spirits), Sisterhood of the Blessed (Acanthus women blessed with good luck), and even a new Left-Handed Legacy. This is all good stuff leading up to the magic of the Silver Ladder, which includes details on the Arcana, Rote Specialties, sacraments used by the Order, and a whole host of new Spells and Imbued Items (some of which are a bit over the top, but what the hey). Finally, we get an appendix full of NPCs, which can be used in just about any chrocicle featuring the Silver Ladder, or as concepts for creating your own characters.
   
   All in all, this book follows the tradition of the previous Order books. While it isn't nearly as groundbreaking as some of the others, its still a great book for fleshing out and expanding the Silver Ladder beyond the stereotypes. Furthermore, the details on Mage political and legal structure will be useful for any Mage games, not just those involving the Silver Ladder. The same can be said of the new (and expanded) rules for Proximi (and Proximi Dynasties) and the Lex Magica. Those alone will make it essential for any Mage games. But the rest of the material is just as good too, and will no doubt give you some ideas for your next Mage: the Awakening chronicle...

5 comments about Mage Tome of Watchtowers (Mage).

1. This is essentially Mage the Awakening's answer to the question of "Where are my Path books?" It goes over the Paths, what their Supernal realms are like, sample sanctums, sample nimbii, their roles (generally) in each Order, and their relations (again, generally) to other Paths.
   
   Some people have a pretty big problem with this book's views on the Paths, that they're too stereotypical, which I agree with to a degree.... which is why I gave this only four stars instead of five. I also dropped the rating down one because the Legacies in the book aren't really that great- the Stormweavers or whatever the name of the Acanthus Legacy is comes to mind.
   
   Overall, though, I'd suggest this book, and if you were to buy supplements for Mage in order, this would be second after Sanctum and Sigil (absoultely essential.)



2. A very uneven book with each section written by a different person and of different quality and format. The Mastigos and Moros are very good, the Obrimos is alright, and the Thyrsus and Acanthus sections are lackluster. These better ones do an excellent job of giving cultural grounding for the Path, describing the Supernal Realm and its effects, and offering interesting practices and traditions. The worst offer only cliches, unbalanced effects, and limiting interpretations that offer more of a charicature than a creatively fleshed out portrait of the Path.



3. The purpose of this book is to expand on the descriptions of the Paths in the Mage: the Awakening rulebook. It gives their histories, expands their character concepts and oblations, and generally explains their outlook on life, their Supernal Realms, and other Mages. The history sections look at the real world and what areas would have been appropriate for the influence of a particular Path, or would have been a real setback for that Path. They are sometimes quite imaginative in how they fit things in, and make use of some intriguing real world examples, such as King Solomon's reputation for binding demons. The Acanthus and Mastigos chapters were the best for me. They really give one a deep feeling for what it can be like to be a Mage on one of these Paths, and they gave a lot of options and ideas for Mages that might depart quite a lot from the standard images of these Paths. The Moros and Obrimos are good and quite useful but not inspiring. In the Moros chapter, they were described as spending a lot of time thinking about how events shape the sympathy between the material world and Stygia, which did not make that much sense and really differentiated them from the other Paths. That said, it did describe how and why Moros Mages want to return to Stygia, whereas Mastigos for instance never want to return to Pandemonium and are extremely wary of its inhabitants. In the Obrimos section, there just wasn't enough information to see how an atheist, or even anyone not obsessively devout, would Awaken on that Path, or how they would follow it. That is somewhat surprising, as at one point it says that even the devout actually have their faith somewhat shaken by Awakening on this Path. Overall, well according to another reviewer each chapter was written by a different author, and they all made false assumptions about how and about what the others would right. It is amusing and doesn't hurt, but it doesn't add much either. On the editing, it is like the editing for every other World of Darkness book: hopeless. There are wrong words, missing words, hanging sentences and basic bad grammar.
   
   Then we come to the Thyrsus chapter. Here the writer just lost the plot. All the other chapters expand on the views and character ranges of their Paths. The Thyrsus here are actually even more one-dimensional than they are in the Mage rulebook. The best way to encapsulate it is to picture the 19 th Century attitude to women: incapable of logic or reason, creatures of impulse without thought. The Realm of the Primal Wild is not one of nature, it is one of predation, and somehow it supposedly turns those who Awaken to its Watchtower into beasts. NOT people that behave like animals. By that, I mean animals do not behave like that in relation to others of their type. This is the human fantasy of bestiality: to be free of all the constructs of human society, the social standards, the ethics, the morality, the capacity for pity, all the things that keep us from hurting and killing other human beings. The Mage presented in this chapter has nothing to do with any type of real-world Shaman that I have heard of. None of the Thyrsus characters presented in the Mage rulebook, the free demo, the two Legacy books, or Chicago act like this, except the Nemean of Boston, who is deliberately letting his Wisdom fall, and the cannibal from the demo. The cannibal is specifically used as an example of a deeply corrupted Mage, but apart from the flesh-eating, in this chapter he's pretty standard.
   
   I almost forgot about the Legacies. That says something in itself, as Legacies are one of my favourite things in Mage. The Mastigos Legacy seems quite noble and good, but way too restrictive of membership. The Moros Legacy is great but seriously Left-Handed. The Acanthus Legacy has attaintments too powerful and too vague, and the Obrimos Legacy is nothing special. The Thyrsus Legacy is only great in sort of summarising just how bad and useless the description of the Thyrsus is.
   
   For serious role-players, this is a great book. More casual types probably won't find much to interest them, there are few merits and no spells, and the Legacies are either too vague or too restricted. The example characters aren't good examples and the wrong types were chosen to be fully statted out. Finally, the Thyrsus chapter is a total write-off. This only gets three stars.



4. All the pentacle paths of the Mage the Awakening game are here: Obrimos, Thyrsus, Acanthus, Moros and Mastigos. Each of the supernal watchtowers are described along with their corresponding supernal Realms. Each path is given decent treatment and details the common practices, outlooks and perceptions of these mages. I use it regularly when I storytell my Mage games and have lent it to my players to detail and flesh out their characters. Also includes sample rotes and other pertinent rules, sample nimbi, magical tools and practices for the various magical paths and how each of the mage Orders views them.
   
   A very useful reference and players guide book to Mage!



5. Overall, Tome of the Watchtowers is a very good expansion on the basic concept of a Path and how they affect the magic of those who walk it. I was particularly interested in a broader range of examples for what a Nimbus could be. That said, I do agree with other reviewers who say that the material is 'uneven': each of the five sections were, in fact, written by five different people. While there are useful ideas in all five sections, the noticeable variances in terms of how much of what kind of material is present detracts from my enjoyment of the book. Still, I have my copy, and it does contain a wealth of ideas for characters and plots, so I do recommend it as one of the first supplements a new Mage player/Storyteller should pick up beyond the core rulebook.

No comments about Secrets of Los Angeles: A Guidebook to the City of Angels in the 1920s (Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying).

3 comments about Dungeons & Dragons Deluxe Dice (D&D Accessory).

1. I really love this dice set. It is dark green with gold numbers, very well made. The little bag can carry the dice set and even more (the bag that comes with the multicolored D&D dice set is smaller). Just waiting to use it for the first time. Highly recommended!



2. These are an excellent set of dice for someone who is in need of a set.They are green with some bluish highlights and the set contains 10 dice.The bag,black with red D&D logo,that comes with the dice is a very nice bonus and has plenty of room to expand your dice collection.The dice are a little on the light side,I would prefer them to weigh a little more.The set I bought rolled great right out of the bag and I will probably keep them with me for a long time.Hope this helps.



3. These were my first set of dice. The bag is nice, the dice look great, except when you actually try to read the numbers. The contrast is so low on my set that I was continually picking it up to get a better light angle to see what I rolled. These are now relegated to my backup set when one of my players forgets their own.

2 comments about The Blessed Isle (The Compass Of Celestial Directions, Volume 1).

1. I find the material in here greatly surpasses the original Realm material in the first edition "Exalted: the Dragon-Blooded". Foe me, the Realm is a much more real, living, breathing place. Between this and "Manual of Exalted Power, the Dragon-Blooded", we much more of Dragon-Blooded and Realm society. I even have some sympathy for the Dragon-Blooded, in that they are acting in accord with deep-seated beliefs in what they believe to be the best interest of all Creation.



2. A book with lots of useful information, of which about two thirds can be found in a more generalized form in the Dragon-Blooded book, or even the Core book. We do get a lot more detail about certain locations, and the description of the Imperial Mountain was particularly intriguing. My game will have to visit the lost capital of Meru now.
   
   In general, I'd recommend this book if your campaign is going to the Blessed Isle for a long time (read: focused on it), and then only for Storytellers, as any necessary info for playing a Dynast or Lookshy PC can be gleaned from the Dragon-blooded book.
   
   JT

5 comments about The Irda (Dragonlance Lost Histories, Vol. 2).

1. This book follows a group of characters, mostly Ogres, in the months that lead up to the downfall of Ogres from the favored of the gods to the brutal beasts that most people know them as. It also explains how the Irda separated from the Ogres, and how they ended up on the Dragon Isles.

   I think this book could only appeal to fans of the Dragonlance world and would be confusing to those who've never read Dragonlance. Overall it is a decent novel, but it starts very slowly and ends too quickly. Instead of a sweeping history of the Irda, it is a snapshot of the downfall of the Ogres. Instead of relating the history of the Irda through the War of the Lance or even the Chaos War, it ends with their arrival at the Dragon Isles. I think this topic could probably have been handled in a short story, rather than a novel.

   Due to the extremely slow start, it is very hard to become attached to any of the characters. Even after one begins to relate to some of the characters, they do things that seem inconsistant with their character quite often.

   True fans of the Dragonlance series should read this, as it does give some insight into the fall of the Ogres. Anyone who wants to start reading the Dragonlance series should stay away from this one until you're hooked- else it might scare you away!




2. Don't waste your time or money on this waste of paper.
   
   This is one of the most boring Dragonlance books period.
   
   Just read the first 2 chapters and the last 2 chapters of the book, and you got the essential storyline of the whole book.
   
   It is that pathetic of a book.
   
   
   Hardly anything intresting happens in this book at all.
   
   I don't want to read 300 pages of how Ogres enslave humans and elves, and mistreat them through-out the entire book, and the only excitement in the whole book happens at the end, when some good Ogres break away and make their own civilization.
   
   This is not essential reading for Dragonlance at all. You can skip this book completely and still not miss any crucial storyline or timeline elements of the whole Dragonlance Saga.



3. Not the best book from the Dragonlance world, but a pleasurable read none the less. The truly intriguing thing about this book, is that I could not tell which characters were the antagonists and which ones would ultimately become the heores. Every chapter was a guessing game, following Khallayne's selfish desires, then Lyrralt's, then Jyrbian's, never really being told who the champion of the Irda was going to be. It could have been all of them or none of them at all, and that is was makes this such a solid read. Fantasy books sadly, can become quite predictable and this book was anything but that. Another point I enjoyed about this book was the setting. Imagine having a wonderful gift that could significantly alter your life for the better, but the pratice of it was illegal. Not only that, imagine living in a society where any teaching contrary to the status quo brands you as a heretic and worhty of death. The conflict and plot is thick and other than a few glossed over character transitions or spans of time this novel is a pleasant change from the mainstream yet still true to the Dragonlance saga. Probably the best thing about this book is no other Dragonlance novels need to be read before opening this one. This story is not entertwined into others and proudly stands alone.



4. I read the other reviews before writing this one, so I would like to address them as part of my review. Even though I DO love this book I agree you would have to read "Dragonlance Chronicles" and "Dragonlance Legends" before reading "The Irda". (and if you don't like Legends, then don't bother). Now for the negativity of most of these reviews, I would like to say that I have read lots of fantasy novels myself. Over 40 Dragonlance novels and many others (wheel of time, forgotten realms, etc.) and I really think this book stands out purely on the basis of character development and general flow of the story. In fact, out of the non-Weis/Hickman novels in the Dragonlance Saga, The Irda is in my top ten. This jumping around effect someone referred to I didn't notice at all.
   I will qualify my high marks with this concession of sorts. I really liked the story "Raistlin's Daughter" (in Tales, Love and War, I think) and wanted to know more about these Irda from then on. And, I'm a role-player and my first Dragonlance character was an Irda mage, so I could be partial. Still there have been other Dragonlance titles (Dalamar the Dark, and Soulforge come to mind) I wanted to love, but was sadly disappointed.
   Another qualifying remark about the choice of material in the book. Like many on going Saga worlds, at some point TSR just wanted to find stuff to tell people to write a book about. I think most of the books written under this "people will buy it just 'cause it's Dragonlance" ideology are sub-par. But titles like First-born, and The Irda (in my opinion) were expections. Baker's book kept me interested despite the fact that as a big fan of all things Dragonlance I was already familiar with key points in the timeline that she had to work with. I really thought she brought the Orges to life.



5. I have to take issue with a couple of reviewers who gave this book a lesser rating than mine. You can't slam an author based on the editing of her book. Take the time to look past the editing problems of a book and let yourself enjoy the compelling unfolding of the plot and characterizations. Granted, many people who are into gaming may not have the attention span to stay with a novel that is deeply plotted and well written. With games,(and I, too, enjoy them) it's the fast pacing of adventure following adventure following adventure that keeps the players interested and excited, rather than the love of words and word pictures that Readers love and celebrate.