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If Era Report 3145 is representative of the Era Report series, I'll have to pick up more. This sourcebook is a detailed cross section of the Inner Sphere's nations and key players in 3145, providing overarching political background for Battletech and A Time of War games. The sourcebook is divided into four main sections - one describing the current state of interstellar nations, another covering the dramatis personæ, a chapter on technology, and a rules section with campaign information and modifications for Battletech and A Time of War.
The Background and character sections provide a thorough look at interstellar politics, describing the events of the Dark Age that occured during the Clix game, along with a few more years of war that Catalyst has created. As someone that stopped paying attention to the Clix game after the first expansion, I found the background to be both complete and insightful, filling me in on all the story I'd missed in the plethora of Dark Ages novels. Of particular note, the Nova Cats clan got shafted, losing all their territory and becoming almost a nomadic clan, with a few scattered enclaves. The book also provides more insight into the Raven Alliance - the politically unbalanced marriage of the Snow Raven clan and the Outworlds Alliance. However, perhaps my favorite part was the biographies of key players in the Republic of the Sphere. Damien Redburn and Tara Campbell's last ditch effort to hold onto worlds outside the Fortress Republic provides great personalities and scenarios for the tabletop game or roleplaying.
The technology section gives background to the development of new weapons, armor, and equipment in the 3145 era. This is all fluff, but it's still quite cool to read. One interesting feature is the Nova Cat's Mystic Caste. These are a new, non-warrior, sibko generated caste that are somewhat akin to Mentats from the Dune universe... except we're not exactly sure if they work. And many of the clan's warriors don't think they work. It's an interesting new addition to the universe that expands a clan that has suffered so much. Another intriguing clan development is the Elstars - where the clan eugenics program has gone beyond selective breeding into full genetic manipulation.
The rules section provides campaign tracks and other methods of play that showcase the Battletech-scale conflicts of 3145. ER3145 uses the Chaos Campaign and Warchest Points system that is presented in other recent Catalyst supplements. The supplement also provides numerous scenarios with optional rules and the touch point track and mini-campaign scenarios provide critical battles in the era for players to participate in.
For roleplayers, there is a small section describing character creation for Dark Age Era characters. Pages and page of new affiliation rules are presented, for both new factions and existing ones. Nova Cats are still included and can be created as a Draconis Combine sub-affiliation and Clan Wolf-in-Exile characters are now a Lyran Commonwealth sub-affiliation. Following that are some new Life Paths, economic adjustments, and statistics for all the characters with biographies in the previous chapter.
Overall, this is a great product and outstanding launching point for Battletech and A Time of War games in the Dark Ages era.
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Fallen is Babylon is the first Storyteller Adventure System (SAS) module I've ever run and I'm extremely impressed by it.
The SAS contains eight tightly designed scenes based around the infernal pacts of Dr. Rasoletti and others. As with other SAS products, Fallen is Babylon includes extensive background material, NPC character sheets, discussion of the scenes, and scene summaries and player handouts at the end.
What makes Fallen is Babylon such an impressive adventure is the efficient design - author Matt McFarland was able to create a complex and evocative plot with only two mortal and two infernal characters. The first half of the adventure requires almost no work for the storyteller - in my experience the SAS gave me every recommendation and description I needed. Towards the end, as the players come up with their own ideas and schemes, the SAS becomes a bit more open ended. Don't expect prewritten plot points to get in the way of your players.
Overall, Fallen is Babylon is great and worked perfectly as a four hour one-shot story.
If you'd like more World of Darkness discussion, check out our website at http://darker-days.org
If you'd like to see an actual play of Fallen is Babylon, check it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4aX5PbZ1F0
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Filthy Shades Cliche is a hilarious word game and literary exercise. And cheap. Just buy it and check it out.
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This is it. This is the capstone of WFRP 3rd Edition.
The Enemy Within 3rd Edition is not a reprint of the classic 1st Edition campaign. It is a reimagining and worthy successor. Even better, there are hints and plot threads that allow this 3rd Edition campaign to tie into the 1st Edition one, indicating that the Purple Hand might be related to the Black Cowl. Best of all, you can easily port this campaign back to your prefered WFRP edition - the writers realized for this adventure that mechanics can't get in the way of story.
That said, it should also be noted that this Enemy Within has a slightly different tone than the previous. There is definitely a more epic feel towards the end, with characters brushing shoulders with luminaries of the Empire, attempting to stop assassinations, and facing a larger-than-life foe. It's all in keeping with current Warhammer Fantasy lore, but it just needs to be pointed out that the entire campaign isn't down in the gutters.
This PDF version does spend some time discussing the bits provided in the boxed set. Most of these aren't necessary. However, the background cards sound cool and I wish that had been provided in the book. Additionally, there are a number of handouts, maps and letters, that really should have been appended to this PDF - there's no reason these can't be included.
Luckily if you buy the boxed version nothing is needed for this chronicle beyond the contents of the Core Box or the Corebooks. If you get this on PDF only and want to use it in WFRP 3rd, you'll need to get a little creative with enemy ability cards, but it's nothing impossible.
The adventure is divided into three parts, with an optional "Epic Level" story at the end. Characters begin at tier 1 and go all the way to the end game. The campaign is also broad enough that you can fit in side trips and extra adventures - and the campaign includes some loose ends that could tie into these.
The optional story at the end is, I feel, the weakest part. It essentially culminates in a big battle - and not a particularly interesting one. There's cool stuff along the way and it puts characters in a strong political position for future adventures... but it just feels like an underwhelming finish. I'd suggest grabbing some of the more psychadelic adventure material found in The Thousand Thrones and using that for inspiration.
So yeah. The Enemy Within is awesome and WFRP fans of every edition are going to get a lot of mileage out of this. I highly recommend it.
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There are already a lot of reviews for this 23 page product, so I'm not sure how much I can add... but I figure I should chim in.
The Bleeding Edge is good. It's well written and presents the core themes of Cyberpunk, along with some new Merits to represent those themes. But it's not great, and serves as an example of using a limited word count improperly.
Bleeding Edge has three broad sections - Introduction and cyberpunk themes, mechanics, and storytelling elements. The first and last sections are great - the right length and well written. The mechanics, I feel, did not use their space well.
There new mechanics are three Merits - Origin, Role, and Plug-ins - along with Alienation, a new Morality alternative.
Origin and Role are basically Merits that put a mechanical advantage to something you did anyway - create a character concept and character backstory. The mechanics are sound, but the first thing to go through my head was, "Is this really necessary?" The second thought was, "Do these two Merits need to take up 8 pages of a 23 page PDF?" Both of these Merits just feel like unnecessary bloat - why do characters need free bonus specializations when they should already purchase those based on their character concept?
Plug-ins are great. There's just enough here to give you ideas, but leaves you a system that can be easily expanded and modified. For example, I'd really be interested in giving some plug-ins a "Passive" mode, where they have an effect that doesn't require the expenditure of Willpower.
Alienation is pretty thematic, and represents how cyberpunk characters drift away from "civilized" society. It charts a course for the character's story arc as well, as they accept more daring jobs and are forced to commit more horrific acts. I approve.
All that said, I'm fairly happy with my purchase, I just felt that others should be aware of what they'll actually be getting with this product.
If you'd like more World of Darkness discussion, check out our website at http://darker-days.org
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Earthdawn is the FASA fantasy heartbreak - it's a unique fantasy roleplay, ostensibly tied in to the Shadowrun universe, with an interesting dice mechanic and small, fanatical fanbase. With numerous novel tie-ins and a plethora of sourcebooks from the 90's, there's enough material to make Earthdawn an appealing alternative to any Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting. That's why I decided to check out Earthdawn Revised.
And I can't help but feel a little let down.
Don't get me wrong, the rules are tight and the world is interesting. It's a problem of presentation. This book is a chore to slog through, crippled by poor formatting, recycled artwork, and an odd digest size. The written word isn't too bad, but I was looking through some old discounted Earthdawn sourcebooks at my FLGS and found that I was rereading paragraphs wholesale - some of the text here is just copied and pasted. I'm sorry to start the review with such a negative point - but presentation is how people initially judge a product, and FASA/Redbrick should really know better.
The primary setting of Earthdawn is Barsaive - a dwarf controlled territory that has recently broken away from the authoritarian magocracy known as the Theran Empire. This independence also occurs following The Scourge - a magical cataclysm where the world was invaded by extradimensional entities known as Horrors and most civilizations were forced hide underground. Magic is also very important in the Earthdawn setting - with all characters (wizards and warriors alike) using magic to power their abilities. However, the few horrors remaining in the world consume and corrupt magic, making the player characters perfect targets. Just those three core concepts, regardless of geographical setting, can give you ideas for dozens of play sessions.
The core dice mechanic is fairly elegant - characters add together their skills and attributes to find their "Step," and this step corresponds to a dice pool that is rolled against a target number. So, for example, Step 4 means you roll 1d6, while Step 9 has a dice pool of 1d8+1d6. The game gets crunchier there, with a plethora of special abilities and complex combat rules, the latter of which really can be optional.
Earthdawn revised is probably a good product for new players - it provides a fairly cheap entry point into the universe. Long time fans might actually want to give this a pass, since they'll already have most of the rules and much of the fluff.
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Shadowrun 2050 is an outstanding sourcebook bringing back the zeal of the game's first edition with modern rules and sensibilities. Included are fluff chapters explaining the Sixth World in 2050, with meaty sections on Seattle, Chicago, and Hong Kong, a section describing typical activities of 2050 shadowrunners, followed by plenty of information on 2050 equipment and systems.
The book has top notch production values. The art matches the mood writers convey and the layout is easy to follow.
Much of the book is in-character (therefore opinionated) information conveyed through the Shadowlands BBS. Old favorites of the Shadowrun setting return to give new opinions and another perspective on the early Shadowrun setting. The book has two primary setting chapters: "The Knife At Your Throat," and "The Darkest Shadows." These chapters cover the Sixth World setting in the year 2050, and provide an indepth look at the cities of Seattle, Chicago, and Hong Kong. There's a lot of story hooks for storytellers, and plenty of cool in-game ideas for players, making these sections a great primer for new gamers. Information on power players, megacorps, even local government means there are endless organizations to run against.
The "Help Wanted" section gives another in-universe look at how runners interact on the Shadowlands BBS and describes situations they're involved with. It's a really fun read, but lacks game play substance. Most of the ideas presented are not something a mediocre storyteller couldn't come up with on the fly.
The sourcebook finishes off with NPC stats, a detailed equipment section, and a look at the Matrix in 2050. Mechanically, it's what we've come to expect from Shadowrun 4e and Catalyst Game Labs - there's a good amount of crunch and it's much more balanced than what we've seen in the past.
Shadowrun 2050 is a solid book of fluff and crunch, well worth your jing. The sourcebook contains everything you need to play during this period of the game, and it's got enough fresh ideas to fit into anyone's Shadowrun collection.
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The SLDF Field Manual is a long awaited sourcebook, covering the Star League's military capacity leading up to the Amaris Coup. The book presents three core sections discussing the SLDF's organization and principles, the SLDF's 2750 army deployment - with a break down of each Corps and its military region, and finally the sourcebook provides rules and charts for the playing the SLDF and the twenty armies it consists of.
The Star League Defense Force chapter provides a variety of information on Battlemechs, infantry, and armor assets used by the SLDF, as well as a lot of the principles the SLDF is based off of - moral guidelines, command structure, and the interaction between armies and fleets. This is primarily a fluff chapter, and will provide a lot of great ideas for A Time of War chronicles during the Amaris Coup. It may also give some insight into the popular Erdani Light Horses mercenary company. This is the kind of stuff that made me want to check out this book.
The Deployment Sections are thorough - each of the Twenty regional armies, as well as the regular army, have a section. Each of the army's Corps is discussed, it's CO introduced, and cool Divisions get a treatment. This is the largest segment of the book - covering nearly 80% of the page count - and it really blurs together. Reading this straight through is grueling, and should serve more as reference. The highlight of this is the Periphery coverage - these armies never had much discussion in older sourcebooks, despite Periphery uprisings being critical to this time period.
The Rules Annex contains what little crunch is in the sourcebook. Tables provide random generation of 'Mechs (normal and royals), Vehicles (normal and royal), and Aerospace Fighters (normal and royal). There are also special rules for the various combat divisions listed earlier in the book.
Field Manual SLDF's individual entries are well written. The artwork is evocative. The concept is good, but the execution is lackluster. This isn't a fun Battletech sourcebook, but a dense Battletech referencebook. Check it out if you are a big SLDF fan, but don't expect a lot of new rules or scenarios for your tabletop game.
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I don't own Little Fears, but I found this to be a nice, lighthearted adventure easily adaptable to World of Darkness: Innocents. It brings back a lot of memories of summer camp (Where I played Exalted my first and only time!) and those experiences would make Camp Howling Wolf an easy adventure to run.
The writing style is a little strange - the author likes to interject with tid-bits and recommendations to the reader. These little tangents can make the material hard to follow in a few spots and I'd suggest putting tangents in sidebars, or some other formatting.
The adventure itself is good and you can get varying amounts of mileage out of the story - depending on how much extra content you want to throw in. The NPCs are all believable and I can easily pin their personalities to folks I met at summer camp.
I also found the quick reference monsters to be very useful for a World of Darkness game, since the dice pools are already made for you.
The only noticeable flaw to Camp Howling Wolf is its lack of closure. As written, your players might get some answers at the end, but they will not have resolved anything. Perhaps this could open up a longer chronicle - Camp Howling Wolf only covers the first day and night of camp - but I would have liked more ideas for how to end the story.
Overall, I like it and look forward to more in the Campfire Tales series.
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Coyote Falls is one of the best written and developed SAS products - it's a story you can use in any World of Darkness game, whether Werewolf, Changeling, or even Promethean. Better yet, Coyote Falls is a story based upon moral quandary, not just mystery or combat.
This SAS includes 9 scenes for low power characters, with a variety of challenges for the intended Werewolf setting. Coyote Falls is also careful to only give a skeleton structure to its adventure, allowing storytellers to slot it into their game easily, and flesh out the story further.
Specifically for Werewolf: the Forsaken storytellers, this SAS includes a Magath antagonist and another Spirit you could get a chronicles worth of mileage out of. Additionally, each scene describes the local spirits, which could be a quick reference for scenes in a separate story.
In all, this is a fantastic product and well worth the price of admission.
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The Arctic Research Station is a very accurate architectural drawing - evoking a style that is perfect for modern and near future games. Provided is a location with one hub, two living quarters, and a research/lab space. The architectural drawing includes furniture and equipment to make give a better feel of the environment.
This floorplan is perfect for something like a google+ hang out, where the game master can bring up an image and let the players draw their character's positions. It may also be adaptable for Virtual Tabletop.
Off the top of my head, this map could be used for games ranging from Conspiracy X to Cthulhutech to Werewolf: the Apocalypse.
The only issue is scale - each page is presented in two sizes, 8.5x11 and 24x36 (a standard plotter size). If you do not have access to a plotter, printing off sections of the drawing at full scale is a hassle, and may result in wasted paper. I'd recommend the publisher also includes full scale 8.5x11 sections to make printing easy (and it should be simple for them, all they need to use is viewports in AutoCAD or Microstation).
In all, it's a good product for $3. I'll be sure to check out some of Fabled Environment's other maps when I need them for an online game!
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Nerd Rage
Frankly I'm only giving this 2/5 Stars because I like the artwork.
Karsh is not on the Path of Humanity, so why would he explain it? (See Children of the Night)
Beckett is not an Anarch.
The Book of Nod is not common knowledge.
Why would El Diablo Verde be in Hyde Park? (Which Hyde Park?)
For my serious review, see the full version. ;)
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Dear White Wolf,
IS THERE ANY WAY TO WIN?!
Thanks,
-Mike
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Publisher Reply: |
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Dear Mike,
No. That was part of the joke. :) |
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The Vampire Translation Guide marks a monumental shift in White Wolf's approach to the World of Darkness line. Rather than ignoring their discontinued Vampire: the Masquerade products, this guide allows players and storytellers to import both ideas and rules from one Vampire setting to the other.
What it is:
-The translation guide provides guidance to either combine the Masquerade and Requiem settings or simply cherry pick elements that you like.
-The 18 clans of both game lines are discussed with multiple alternatives for each. For Requiem I felt that the Caitiff, Assamites, and Lasombra were given the most interesting treatment. For Masquerade the Daeva and Mekhet are given very cool niches. The Tremere entry feels lacking, but they're pretty entrenched in Masquerade's background.
-The three main sects and five covenants are included. For Requiem the Camarilla has a very cool niche while the Sabbat receive an interesting take. For Masquerade all but the Ordo Dracul have great ideas. The Ordo Dracul idea seems lacking, however, especially since Dracula is active in Masquerade's final nights.
-Disciplines not present in both settings are given new rules. To know the exact effect of a power, you'll need the corebook it is from. The Thaumaturgy and Necromancy conversions are handled very well. It's also very nice to see the Cruac and Theban Sorcery converted into Masquerade's rules.
-Rules reconciling Blood Potency and Generation are provided. I think there could have been more discussion, but it basically boils down to BP = 14 - Generation.
-Theres also some discussion of Nature/Demeanor vs. Virtue/Vice and Merits vs. Backgrounds. Basically, enough to convert entire character sheets from one system to another.
-Finally, the book ends with a process of converting existing characters from one system to the other.
What it isn't:
-It's not a complete rulebook but if you only want to grab a few clans/covenants from Requiem and put them into Masquerade you don't need the Requiem corebook. However, if you want to play Vampire: the Masquerade with the new Storytelling system you will need both corebooks.
-There's not much discussion of skills. This isn't too much of a problem, but you won't be able to easily convert a VtM Second edition character (Who has Awareness and Alertness) to a Requiem character.
-Fighting Styles and other unique mechanics from the World of Darkness rulebook are not discussed.
Conclusion:
I like this. A lot. It really has everything I want - Fighting Styles are stupid anyway - and it gives me some cool new ideas to run Vampire games. I haven't tested out any of the new Discipline systems to make sure they're balanced but I think they can be easily tweaked for your game.
I guarantee you'll enjoy this product… and it's only 99 cents.
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I really appreciate that Machine Age took the time to revise this quick start based on my feedback and the feedback of others. While it still isn't my favorite quickstart, a lot of the niggling errors and omissions have been cleared up and this product looks a LOT better.
Every single mechanics question I had was fixed. Awesome!
Still some problems, though...
The Characters and Premise:
-The Engineer doesn't make much sense. Maybe if they just called her a miner or technician I could *maybe* buy it.
-The Biologist, Anthropologist, Occultist, and Mercenary are all pretty interesting.
-Each character has a secret to help build an initial relationship. However, each secret requires the players to pick another character to be the object of that secret. It would have been a LOT better to create a cohesive set of relationships to start off with.
-The premise is a joke. There's a lot of hand waving to explain why five women and no men are sent to explore a space station. Oh, and there's no explanation of why five women of completely disparate careers are all being sent on an exploration mission. Unrealistic.
The Story:
-There's a bunch of floating events that can occur whenever and mostly occur when PCs enter specific rooms. However, these mostly follow one particular system: Characters walk in, ghost(s) attack, characters find a clue. It feels like a D&D dungeon crawl shoe horned into a story game.
-How do they get on the station? How does this all begin? Is there a shuttle waiting
-The overall story/mystery is good and can definitely be used for the structure of a maschine zeit game.
In conclusion, give it a try. This adventure is cheap and has much better production values than before.
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