Review: A Tale of Two Savages
Agents of Oblivion and Peculiar Pentad

It’s no secret I’m a fan of horror RPGs and Savage Worlds, which makes these two entries especially appealing. Agents of Oblivion suggests a world where Jason Bourne gets put into a blender with HP Lovecraft and turns out rather interesting results. With the Savaged version of Peculiar Pentad, readers are given five entrepreneurs who have uncovered a troublesome niche market–those seeking items attached to the Cthulhu Mythos. I’m thinking a 401K isn’t a worthwhile investment.

Let’s start with the meatier of the two, the Agents of Oblivion. This game isn’t too far removed from Abstract Nova’s Alethea, Green Ronin’s Delta Green, or (with a stretch) White Wolf’s Project Twilight sourcebook. Mankind has held secrets best left forgotten, secrets that catches the attention of . . . something . . . during the mid-19th Century. A line gets drawn in the sand and you play the super spies capable not only of dealing with the most dastardly of humans, but also those things that are a little bit more superhuman.

All in all, I wanted the story to have more punch than it did. The authors devoted a great deal of thought towards the organization and how to run games with this mix of spies and monsters. Too be clear, the characters are playing some seriously talented men and women. Whereas Delta Green kept it real and MORTAL, Agents of Oblivion gives your characters more than enough opportunity to shine. I think it’s important that the writers focused on this aspect rather than get bogged down by being too similar to previous works.

Another strength to the writing rests in its overhaul of the character creation process. In this book are the tools towards creating super spies (super isn’t just a catch phrase either . . . supernatural powers are possible in these pages). Players can play white bread humans who are just the best of the best or they can tweak things further by introducing magic or hi-tech to their characters. A large portion of the book is devoted to making the kinds of characters people want to play.

Another big part of the book rests with how to run games like these. How much magic do you want in your game? Technology? Plug in the correct tier from all the questions and you’ll know exactly where you stand when you start playing. Quick and easy . . . just like Savage Worlds demands!

The artwork worked for me. The creepy cover art may keep Bond away from a Martini, but that’s okay. It has the perfect tone to the work. The interior art is wonderfully wild. It’s a funky Sixties style that reminds me of the Mod Squad or Flower Power posters of the period.

The second book, Peculiar Pentad, is much slimmer, but gets to save space by tying itself to the Realms of Cthluhu line. The premise for this book is deviously simple: all of those kooks your Investigators run into when they are trying to kill or stop That Which I Don’t Feel Like Naming are running businesses that should, in theory, keep running past one adventure. Yes, the line of Magic Box owners in Buffy was depressingly high, but that’s really besides the point.

The authors offer a little advice towards the shops as a whole. One, they suggest making them difficult to locate the first time they are utilized. Second, they offer some reminders about the people who populate these locations. “If you guys bring another running gun fight in here, I’m cutting up your membership card!” Simple, sound advice. They also describe a fittingly named Pentagon Place, a little cul-de-sac of oddities. It’s the kind of place where White Wolf’s Goblin Markets would set up shop.

A bookstore, small machine shop, herb shop, an art gallery, and a social club make up the five businesses Keepers can bring into their campaigns. Each store offers a great deal of information–history, prices of services, stats for the owners, and use in gaslight or modern settings–that make these quick plug-ins to any game.
The artwork to this supplement basically boils down to the faces of the store owners, which is a perfect use for the minimal art. The layout is great, letting a reader skim through quickly to find the info they need.

While these two games are of different flavors, they can also be linked. Maybe your spy needs to find some information about an European immigrant who frequents a certain New York social club. Maybe.

I enjoyed both reads this time, when I found time during the holidays. Now that winter is upon us in full force, the greatest time to role-play is here as well. I’d much prefer sitting around a table with friends while it snows . . . outside . . . where I’m not.

My overall scores for both games are:

Agents of Oblivion: Four out of Five Dice
A Peculiar Pentad: Five out of Five Dice (any game that does that much work for me . . . thanks)

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. Agents of Oblivion, a new Savage Worlds setting!
2. Savage Worlds Deluxe RPG Review
3. Savage Suzerain RPG Review

Flames Rising game reviewer Todd Cash has some suggestions for those looks to buy RPGs as a gift (or even pick up a little something for themselves). Most of these are items he has reviewed this year, so we’re going to link back to those reviews so readers can find more in-depth information if they wish.

Buying for Your Favorite Gamer 2011

It’s that time of the year again. Everyone’s wish lists are being compiled while retail stores scramble to offer the same crap they did last year only without making it seem that way.

Maybe this year it’s time for a new tradition, one that involves sleeping in on Black Friday. One that involves shopping for everyone while remaining in your pajamas. One that involves buying that gamer friend something they actually want. Of course, buying for gamers isn’t as hard as it used to be. Once upon a time you had to figure out what the Hell Junior actually wanted and then figure out where the Hell to buy the weird thing Junior just asked for. I can’t tell you what Junior wants (mainly because he isn’t real), but I can tell you about the coolest games I’ve seen in 2011. With helpful search engines finding these games are tons easier!

Let’s get started!

We’ll start small, if you can count the whole of the multiverse small. John Wick’s Flux ($5.00 for PDF) is an amazing idea for knocking the dust off your gaming collection. Players make their initial character for X setting while Flux lurks beneath. At some point in the campaign, the characters flux into new (GM-created) characters that recall the previous character…and can sometimes tap into that previous character’s mojo in order to do some truly fantastic stunts. Who wouldn’t want to become a superhuman speedster during a High Noon gunfight?

This is a brief (16 page) gem that has so much potential for gaming mileage. Available in PDF. A collection that includes this and other short games is also available in print.

The folks at GnomeStew.com have two excellent releases for gamers who aren’t committed to a specific setting. Their two releases–Eureka and Masks–offer setting-neutral scenarios and characters to populate any fantasy, sci-fi, or horror games (most other genres too). Eureka is a book of short stories (about two per page on average) designed with themes (betrayal, honor) and genre (horror). It’s an excellent mix of ideas that work especially well for the thirty-something GM who just doesn’t have time to plan out on a one-shot or filler session on short notice. Masks does the same thing, but with the NPC side of things (you could use ‘em as PCs too). These books are just all kinds of fun. They come in PDF and print.

Agents of Oblivion meets my Savage Worlds fix this year by offering a sexy mix of espionage and horror. Written by Sean Preston and Ed Wetterman, two veteran writers for the SW line, Agents of Oblivion lets directors play from many sub-sections of the espionage genre. The Bourne Identity is just as feasible as Get Smart. Who doesn’t want to see what happens when James Bond happens upon a villain seeking to stir up Things That Should Be Left Alone? These writers have both written material for 12 to Midnight, my favorite of the Savage World extended families. Their games show love for the hobby and attention to detail (heck, the copyright on the book suggests it was started in 2004). Available in PDF.

Hoodoo Blues is one of my favorite games at the moment. It’s not for the beginning gamer. The system is challenging and the subject matter is quite mature. In dealing with the sometimes troubled history of the American South, the game sometimes (as respectfully as a textbook) shows images and uses phrases that are painful to some. This aside, the game uses the folklore of the American South as its backdrop and they couldn’t have picked a stronger one. Know your gamer before you buy this one. Available in PDF and print.

Finally, I’ll throw in the Dresden Files two-book collection because, well, they are the sexiest books I’ve seen this year. How do I phrase my admiration for Evil Hat’s product? I am not a fan of the FATE system. I didn’t like it with Spirit of the Century; I still don’t like it. While I felt cheated with Spirit’s light setting material, I knew the collaborator’s on this project would not let me down. So, knowing I would not like the system, I threw down my ninety bucks and LOVED both releases. In game heaven, where I will go when I die, these books are the new standard in how game books are supposed to look. They work both as great gaming material (Your Story) and also as source material for the successful Dresden Files novels (Our World). Available in PDF and print.

Yeah, so that’s me this year. Lots of great releases hit the bookshelves (digital or not) this year. White Wolf and Pelgrane Press had lots of great products. Tastes vary greatly in the hobby, so doubtlessly my suggestions won’t go far; however, I hope they offer you a stepping stone in the right direction.

Happy Holidays!

No related posts.

The Vampire Retrospective Project continues today with an essay from Todd Cash, one of the more prolific RPG reviewers here at Flames Rising. Todd tells us about his first experiences with Vampire, moving on to other games and now looking to start up some old characters once more.

Just the vampires…

I wouldn’t be gaming today if Vampire the Masquerade failed to exist. It sounds more melodramatic than the situation really is. I started gaming in 1987 with TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes and Top Secret. I loved comics and horror movies, wanted to be the heroes I read about, and found that outlet through gaming. While there were great horror games on the market, my exposure to them was limited (they didn’t advertise in comic books and Waldenbooks didn’t carry them).

My love for the hobby waned as I waded through high school. I still had the itch to tell stories, but my medium changed. I found myself writing more and gaming less. Most of my friends at the time didn’t even notice. They were much more content driving around with me at night rather than huddling around a table (we were such fools!). My problem rested in the fact that my super hero games tended to focus more on the secret identities of the characters rather than their heroic identities. My best friend at the time knew how to handle his football player-turned-super hero in a brawl, but not so well at a wedding. There were hassles at work, kids to be raised, and, yes, great battles against villainy midst it all. I wanted to tell very personal stories, but my friends couldn’t get past the comic book coating.

My Junior year welcomed in a new home, new friends, and new vampires. My friend Scott and I spent our Spring Break in Nashville. During the trip, we wandered into a comic store that happened to sell role-playing games. I picked up the Vampire Player’s Guide. We hung out in our hotel room that night and I devoured the book. It soon became evident to me that I was needing another book, so I called the comic shop and asked if they had it in stock. They didn’t, so I ordered one promised to be in stock at the week’s end. I don’t recall much of that Spring Break beyond reverse engineering the Player’s Guide so Scott could create his character, a Gangrel hitchhiker on the run from his malevolent sire. Yes, in hindsight I was telling stories of television’s The Incredible Hulk where both David Banner and Jack McGee where both of them were monsters. It was okay.

I had my super heroes on tap again and, without the spandex and origin stories, they were cool again.

The game became an excellent outlet for our writings. Vampire did hold to the traditional GM and players dynamic; however, it truly opened up the idea that everyone at the table were contributing towards a story. Games before that did not do this well or, generally, at all. I kept a journal devoted solely to the game (my evil idea book, according to my friends), created fictional calendars (villains keep a timeline), and started setting scenes to music (I can still hear a song from an Australian rave and picture a parking complex’s rooftop battle perfectly). Scott aimed his love of photography at interesting places and faces to populate our World by Night.

As I entered college, my gaming group grew for the first time in four years. Leaving the corebook to this game out was a conversation piece more than an embarrassment. New friends liked flipping through its moody pages. It came at such a perfect moment. The Crow flew at the theaters while bands like Nine Inch Nails challenged everything the Grunge bands offered. Girlfriends first wanted to sit around and watch, then they wanted to play. Friends of friends just wanted to watch these games we wouldn’t shut up about. I recall nights at my friend Sean’s house where more people lingered around not playing. Few games warrant a cheering section where taunts like “bite his ass” or “you can’t trust him” fill the air! Vampire could capture this, not the werewolves or spell-slingers.

Just the vampires.

Scott and I used to talk about the lure of the game. He attributed it to the simplicity of the vampire. “Anyone can get behind the idea of a vampire,” he’d say. Werewolf, needlessly complicated, became Captain Planet with claws. Another game already had wizards . . .

I began attending game conventions, ran my own brick and mortar game store for a little while, and kept writing. All the while, a modest green game (now in a binder with sheet protectors) directed my hobby. Characters nearly a decade old marked friendships equally old. With these new introductions though, came exposure to a myriad of other wonderful games, games I’d harshly compare to Vampire. Most didn’t do so well, but sometimes a game about zombies or cowboys or investigators of That Which Will Get You Killed would come along and raise the bar a bit more.

By the time I put the game behind me, I was forever a gamer. I knew exactly what I liked in a system, how much setting I needed to make me want to explore it further, and what a quality game needed to be quality. While Vampire is a genius model for the hobby, even the best ideas eventually becomes the cornerstone of something better (one hopes). It was time to move onto the next great idea.

Of course, twenty years have passed and she’s suddenly back in my life. Friends I haven’t talked to in over five years suddenly want to hang out. Old characters, no doubt hidden away in folders somewhere, find their ways into conversations. I find myself itching to try her out once more. I’ve already got a few players whimpering like puppies for me to give her a go. I shouldn’t be surprised. Scott explained it so perfectly in our apartment more than fifteen years ago.

Anyone can get behind the idea of a vampire.

Todd Cash – 2011

If you are interested in submitting an essay for the Vampire Retrospective Project please review the Submission Guidelines and let us know if you have any questions.

Related posts:

1. Vampire Retrospective: Tyler Ray
2. Vampire Retrospective: Michelle Webb
3. Vampire Retrospective: Eddy Webb

Available at RPGNow.com

The Gumshoe mechanic gets tested on a new genre: sci-fi. In Ashen Stars, players enter the Bleed where they play Lasers, law enforcement of sorts. This heavy (305 pages) book is a stand-alone game that fully details Law’s sci-fi setting and delivers the Gumshoe rules. I have enjoyed the previous Gumshoe setting, particularly Mutant City Blues and Esoterrorists, so I was intrigued to see what the future held.

The layout and artwork of the book holds the same feel as Trail of Cthulhu and MCB. Bordering is neat, but doesn’t attract much attention. Sidebars are tight. The artwork has more hits than misses, though nothing really stands out as excellent. One thing I do like is the full color splurge on the book. It makes reading a volume of this size all the more pleasurable.

Law’s setting is imaginative and I enjoyed seeing him get away from Trail of Cthulhu. His character types offer an excellent mix that lends to creating player groups that compliment one another (Sidebar: for those of you who don’t know, the Gumshoe engine works best with a group that has a mix of abilities rather than a group of Wolverines/Batmen/Dick Cheneys). The depictions of these alien races were some of my favorite pics although the description of each did wonders alone.

One new aspect thrown into this setting is the idea of Drives. There are lots of familiar ground here (Exploration/Justice-Seeker) sided with newness (Footloose and Nowhere Else to Go). These drives help define the character’s core a bit more fully, which I think “good” players already do, but, hey, this will be somebody’s first game.

There are not many sci-fi settings that I like; however, this is a damn good setting. Law populates Ashen Stars with interesting alien races, an excellent back-story, and tons of ideas to get players started (why not you, Totems of the Dead?). The aides for the game start on page 260 and include such greatness as name creators (for each RACE), multiple examples of combat (hand-to-hand all the way to ship-to-ship), and more sheets for reference than your printer will
want to handle. Most of these sheets can be handwritten on the fly (the others will make a GM screen look amazing).

If you want to take a trip out to the stars, Law’s new book may be your ticket.

Overall: A strong Four out of Five Dice (a little more umph to the art would have been great)

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. Ashen Stars RPG Available Now!
2. Pelgrane Week: The Ashen Stars Pre-Order
3. Hard Helix RPG Review

Available at RPGNow.com

This ambitious Savage Worlds setting mixes Norse and Pre-Columbian Native American lore into a sword and sorcery setting I find damn interesting. First, the artwork and layout of the book is an outstanding mix of watermarked images, detailed artwork, and fresh creativity. I’d love to see this book in color, which is really my only complaint about the book. Consider me spoiled.

There are few times that a supplement supersedes the production value of its core work. This is one of those times. The artwork of this book easily bests the majority of Savage Worlds releases, including the core book.

The writing is excellent, providing a rich background for players to explore. There are many character options, everything from beast men to Amizani (you’ll know them as Amazons) to various tribesmen. The character creation goes further than just new types as new Edges and Hindrances (as well as expansions to existing ones) fill out some interesting character sheets.

Readers will find everything they need to make an excellent character in a rich setting. Game Masters who want an easy start (as most Savage World settings offer) will be disappointed. There is an immense amount of new information for absorption, which quickly makes this game an involved process.

You can’t just pick it up and run with it. As a guy who reads the same game books years later though, this isn’t a major concern for lots of readers. I would have given this game five dice if it had been in color and a bit more friendly to the quickstart crowd.

Overall: Four out of Five Dice

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. Savage Worlds Deluxe RPG Review
2. Shanghai Vampocalypse Player’s Guide (Savage Worlds) RPG Review
3. Hellfrost: Bestiary RPG Review

Available at RPGNow.com

Anthologies like The Unspeakable Oath are a mixed bag. Dragon, Dungeon, White Wolf Magazine, Eden Studios Presents, and others are testament to this. Sometimes a great collection of talent can make the uninteresting (to me) fascinating. The other is likewise true. No particular title is safe. You have to take each edition as a singular creature.

First off, I find that the included art to #20 is top notch, particularly the cover artwork by Todd Shearer. The interior illustrators offered a surprising volume of artwork to the collection. The layout ranged from the scribbled nonsense (fine for the subject matter) to smooth looking black bars. Some ads are scattered throughout the book, even put into the columns of articles. It’s a smooth fit.

There is a terrific amount of material in this installment, much of which is aimed at Delta Green (fine by me). Adam Scott Glancy’s Directive A-Cell and Bret Kramer’s “Arm” are great additions to the book. Shane Ivey’s thoughts on gunfights (violence in general) in Call of Cthulhu is an excellent and insightful read, my favorite for this edition. Although it wasn’t my “thing,” the in-depth article on Assassins in Cthulhu was wonderfully researched and developed. “Let’s Learn Aklo” by James Haughton is a mind-bending adventure involving Delta Green, time distortions, and more.

On the downside, the reviews aren’t overly helpful. I found the comments having no direct relationship with the number of phobias attributed to the review. I believe the reviews could cover more than strict CoC products. There are plenty of horror games, movies, and music that have nothing to do with the Mythos that could still inspire games based on it. I believe a wider variety of review material could make for a stronger review section.

Overall, TUO#20 is a great addition to any Cthulhu gaming library, especially one geared towards Delta Green (there is a wealth of DG material in the book . . . probably to stir up excitement for the DG releases). Fans of the classic setting won’t be disappointed either (even the DG material can be altered for a 1920′s campaign with minimal effort). There is a year’s worth of gaming material in the book for the uninspired, more for somebody who really wants to
use it!

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. The Black Seal (Issues 1-3) Review
2. Unspeakable Words Game Review

Available at DriveThruRPG.com

Where has the time gone? Knowing this game has been out for twenty years seems wrong to me. There are gamers in my group who were ONE when I was thumbing through my first copy of the original edition. Wrong, so wrong! Rather than share my Vampire recollection here, I’ll instead talk about this massive (529 pages) winner of the (I assume) 2012 Origins award.

One aspect to the book that is unchanged is it’s layout. The book looks identical to the 2nd release in terms of fonts and structure. Mixed with art both new and old, this makes for a strong sense of nostalgia. The look of the book–fenced in borders, eye-catching headers, and more–was excellent twenty years ago and has aged well. If anything, they have enriched it by adding much-needed color to the mix.

Which lends towards discussion of the amazing art one finds in the book. First, Timothy Bradstreet returns with a bevy of models to bring in the book’s many chapters. The new full-page looks at the Nosferatu and Toreador are just great. In fact, I’m fairly sure the lead pipe-wielding Nos has shown up in a Denver campaign I ran many, many moons ago. Not all the artwork appealed to me. How could it? We’re talking about hundreds of pieces generously scattered throughout the book. Where I had most of my dislikes fell at the individual clan/bloodline depictions. I also didn’t care for Christopher Shy’s artwork making this book as it had no place in the book 20 years earlier. I consider Shy’s role in the artwork one of the factors that pulled me away from the line in the first place. There were other things as well (cough-Metaplot-cough), but because his art was so distinguishable, it just became the most memorable thing I hated about those books . . . and one of the things I don’t like about this one. It’s a shame really since I’ve seen Shy’s other excellent styles that he chooses these.

The writing and editing of the book is an impressive feat. I enjoyed looking through the hybrid of writing to see such a satisfying final product. The book’s layout is identical to the original (Riddle, Becoming, and Permutations), although with a great deal more material.

Readers will find all 13 clans, numerous bloodlines, many disciplines, and more. It’s almost like packing the corebook, the clanbooks, and Sabbat books in one tome (boiled down to their key ideas). It might even be too much.

The book was a semi-transparent project that sought out fan input. Since I believe fan input causes a ruination of the product, there are just aspects of the book that seem too much. Let me go ahead and offer a caveat. I realize this book is created for fans, not newbies. With that realization, I know it makes PERFECT SENSE to have fan input throughout the project.

I’m just not the typical fan of the mythos, so it made sense I’d have problems with the book’s direction. What are some of these complaints? Since you asked:

I don’t think the book needs to be large just because it can be. Bloodlines can be ditched. Opening the book with discussion of Vampire: the LARPing just started the book off on the wrong note. Yes, the live-action side of Vampire is a force to be reckoned with. In fact, most of the most enthusiastic fans I’ve met at conventions over the year enjoy LARPing over Tabletop.

My point though is that (with pictures removed), the discussion of Live Action only merited about a page and a half in the original book. It is the original book that is getting the 20th anniversary, not the Masquerade. It’s its own entity and doesn’t deserve placement here. What becomes strange is what was allowed to remain dated. We have Witch-Hunters instead of Hunters the Vigil or, Hell, even Hunters the Reckoning. We have Fairies, not Changelings. That which merited an update and that which didn’t is beyond me. I simply don’t get it. At least I still have my stats for Spiders.

I believe this book is an excellent GPS for taking a trip down Memory Lane. It does an excellent, excellent job of letting gamers (okay, me) access old memories of games gone by. I suspect my friends will argue this point, but I don’t remember putting as much love into any game as I did Vampire. This book is running into an old college girlfriend. She’s different, but damn the attraction is still there. Of course, she’s got to go (White Wolf isn’t kicking off the Masquerade line again). Maybe I’ll see her again in ten years.

Fans of the series who don’t get this book will probably kick themselves. Newcomers may be fearful of the sheer volume of information contained within the book, especially if they want to keep pace with the setting. If a setting ever deserved the attention though, it would be this one. It was and is still a game-changing book.

Overall: Five out of Five Dice (a Labor of Obvious Love)
Artwork: Three out of Five Dice (omit one artist and my score goes up)
Writing: Four out of Five Dice (a bit too much, but still worth reading)
Yeah, I know the sum is greater than its parts. Just gotta go with it.

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Ann. Edition Now in Print and More [Updated]
2. Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition eBook is available now!
3. Announcing the Vampire: the Masquerade Retrospective and Open Call

Available at DriveThruHorror.com

I’m a huge fan of The Wizard of Oz. I’m old enough to remember CBS playing it annually; therefore, I watched it annually. I’m eager to see new tales set in Oz (though I’m generally let down), so the chance to review this book promised a fresh look. The blurb on the back of this book promises an insane Alice (in Wonderland) and Dorothy (Wizard of Oz) being tracked by something fantastically evil while they search for a tornado . . . they can use to escape Earth. It was exactly the kind of American Gods read I was looking for, so the question becomes this: Did the book live up to my own hype for it?

I found that Schnarr’s writing is a relatively fresh style. He doesn’t often show his writing roots in his own words. Schnarr’s story contains an excellent mix of the surreal. There are McDonald’s Happy Meals at the Mad Hater’s (not a typo) tea party. The White Rabbit is a drug pusher.

The story contains a great deal of frank (I hesitate using the word explicit) drug use and sexuality. The first chapter alone is saturated in it (the rest of the book cools off immensely). It isn’t on the level of Luke Davies’ Candy, but it is an adult read.

The two chief characters are both well-written. Alice is a heroin user going through a psychological episode while Dorothy, a Lesbian storm-chaser, tries to convince doctors she didn’t try killing herself. I’m biased, so I thought Dorothy was the better character of the two. Alice remains too extroverted, even her manipulations are brazen. Dorothy, with her stuffed Toto (she knows it’s stuffed), has manipulations and motivations I found much more satisfying.

The book contains minor typos (“the” instead of “they”). These are few and far between and always a case of an omitted word or another similar word being used instead of a helpful wrod that spell-check would catch. They didn’t overly distract.

While I’m usually disappointed with a childhood icon being used (poorly) in modern stories, Schnarr didn’t disappoint me. This tale becomes quite the page-turner (you guys know Dinosaur-I print out all my stuff) that leaves you rooting for the good guys. If you like the bending of familiar ideas (like in the before-mentioned American Gods), you’re going to like this book.

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. Neverland Fiction Review
2. This is My Blood Fiction Review
3. Grants Pass Fiction Review

Available at RPGNow.com

Let me first confess how much I love Savage Worlds. I’ve been a huge fan of the mechanics from my first game (the Tour of Darkness setting) where I learned how deadly tossing grenades back at my opponents could be. What I love about the system is how malleable it is. With a few tweaks, you can lay out a 1940s pulp setting or a star-flung sci-fi one. There have been numerous releases for the engine over the years, giving players and game masters a wealth of material to mine. This release isn’t “new” as much as it is dressed in its Sunday Best. I’m going to focus on the changes for the purposes of this review rather than detail the entire work.

The lavish artwork is generous throughout the book. Since the engine is designed for players to play damn near anything, the artwork is varied. There are multiple excellent action pieces and the character pieces have more hits than misses (I liked 34, 57, and 70 the best). Much of the artwork is borrowed from other Savage Worlds’ releases either as a direct or inspired work. I liked seeing the under-appreciated Slipstream character types throughout the book. The layout is typical for these books, which is to say great. They have done this well since their first release and continue doing so. I particularly liked the pog-type pieces for the bestiary. One thing about the book were advertisements within the book for their other lines. Yes, the artwork looked great for them, but I couldn’t see any reason why they needed to be thrown into the Introduction.

The biggest thing about this version are the design notes. I love reading design notes. Chad Underkoffler did them well in his Zorcerer of Zo. White Wolf did them well in their Old School Player’s Guides. Here? Not so much. Most of the design notes were validation for choices of design, which is fine for wild decisions people may actually question. For example, suggesting cards for initiative is better than dice or offering a countdown as a means of generating tension. These topics really don’t call for discussion. This is an established line of games that many feel strongly about (go to any gaming convention and see). There were tons of things that could have been approached as a design note rather than what was given. Savage Worlds runs the risk (because the core book is all about system) of reading like GURPS. In the past, I never felt that way. With this version, there were hints of it. There were five one-sheet adventures to get players accustomed to the rules (many settings/some specific looks at rules), but they felt a bit uninspired.

At the end of it all, throwing the word “deluxe” at the end of the last version of Savage Worlds doesn’t mean much if the extra bits add too little. Don’t get me wrong. I love this engine and, if you want to try it out for the first time, you’ll be thrilled with this release. On the other hand, if you’ve been playing it since its release, this version has less appeal. For that reason, I can’t really grade this game as I normally do. I’ll just leave it as a great game for the new player who wants to try something different without getting too bogged down by meaningless mechanics. It’s an excellent “pick-up” system and has been since its conception. I just wish the writing shared that excitement.

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. Zombacalypse (Savage Worlds) RPG Review
2. Shanghai Vampocalypse Player’s Guide (Savage Worlds) RPG Review
3. Gaslight (Savage Worlds) Review

Available at RPGNow.com

Wicked Heroes is the latest in John Wick’s Little Games line. In this RPG, players take on the roles of damned super heroes rather than the typical spandex fare. While the game may claim to be “little” this setting could be fleshed out so much more. It could easily be as meaty as Houses of the Blooded.

I’m not going to focus on the artwork of a 16 page RPG, because, well, the art isn’t there. There is no reason it should be. I will take a second to talk about the covers though. I hate them. Solid. Black. Covers. Really? Yes, A printed copy of a book (little or not) needs a cover and these covers could be much friendlier. When the final project comes out, does it means each chapter will start with these blackened pages?

The story itself is interesting. The gist of it can be found on the items blurb at RPGNow.com, so I won’t expand it.

With such a small game, character creation is direct. You answer five questions, draw a few cards (standard poker deck), check a graph or two, and you’re set. Beautiful. You’ve got everything you need to game in a Wick Super Hero game. The graphs I mentioned are related to super powers (what card equals what power).
Some of the powers are much better draws than others. Not complaining. For every Wonder Woman there is an Ice or Fire. Some of the powers get confusing based on the demands of the game, but since the confusion comes from a spoilery kind of area, well, I’m not going to pose those concerns here.

With system, Wick has an approach to super heroes that seems more Heroes inspired, something he cites at the beginning of the book than comic book inspired. He writes that “Characters from superhero comics should never have to roll for their powers.” I personally found this the only thing in the writing I didn’t like. It’s a degree of taste. Should the Hulk roll to lift a car? Nah. Should the Hulk roll to life a card while Crusher Creel is leeching off his gamma radiation? Hell yeah. Automatically succeeding when you use a power just doesn’t work for me.

Besides, it only counts if nobody else is using a power too! See, if Creel is using his leech on the Green Goliath, then all bets are off! With a mix of motivations, powers (gifts), and Slammers (like the name), there is plenty of chance to be enjoyed.

I did have a bit of confusion about the example in the book. It mentions that all the players are using their gifts, yet there is no mention of their gifts in the example? Does just possessing a gift mean you get the benefit? That’s not cool.

The final three pages (The World of the Obsidian Mirror) is just odd enough to set off a wide variety of campaigns (you have over 200 years to work from). I personally like the “Masks and Capes” section. Darkness where you’d lest expect it. I found it strange that the final two pages move from a single column to a two-column format. It seems Wick wants to hold to 16 page count quite seriously. Maybe there is a game to that too.

All in all, my biggest concern for this game is that it’s just not living up to what it could be in size and scope. I like what is here. I just want more. My scores for Wicked Heroes are:

Artwork: One out of Five Dice (Cover Art kills the score)
Writing: Four out of Five Dice (Grabs ya)
Overall: Three out of Five Dice (Still haven’t seen one of the little games have more merit than The Flux).

Review by Todd Cash

No related posts.

Available at RPGNow.com

Graham Walmsley’s The Rending Box is moderate-sized (30 pages with handouts) adventure for Trail of Cthulhu (though it could be modified for Call of Cthulhu with little hassle). While it isn’t an overly challenging adventure, it perhaps puts too much potence into the hands (literally) of the players. Characters will find that Pandora had it easy with her little box.

Huguenin’s artwork is appropriately gruesome for this chapter of the three-scenario Purist adventure. His cover piece is atmospheric while his interior works, such as the lovely Jakob Tulving removing his eyes so that he can see better looks like something from a 1950s pre-code horror comic book cover (that’s a compliment for those who don’t know me). I also love the detailed image of the box itself (a great handout to toss on the table before declaring “this is what will ruin your lives).

The key aspect Walmsley drives home in The Rending Box is the stability and sanity loss characters experience through the course of playing in Lovecraft’s vast sandbox. This adventure is less forgiving than the two before it, but feels most in-line. The scenario provides a slow decent towards an understanding of the Mythos that cannot be undone. One of the beauties of the adventure is how the author twists each drive towards rationalization, which leads towards desolation.

Excellent ideas on running madness are peppered throughout the book, many of which are thick with inspiration.

The biggest hurdle for this game would be the players. Most players familiar with sanity loss hijinks may not play the adventure as true to form. Kudos to the gaming group that holds to character well enough to make this adventure shine (because it will). I’d recommend this for a group less familiar with the material who just want to have a good scare. It’s got all the required elements for a good one:

1. Insanity? Check.
2. Cultists? Check.
3. Something for the Cultists to worship? Check.
4. Pointlessness, bordering on the absurd? Play the game.

I think what I enjoyed most about this adventure is that it made a tried and true formula an interesting read. With nearly 30 years of RPG adventures on this subject alone, I consider it quite an achievement. My scores for The Rending Box are:

Writing: Five out of Five Dice (a solid story with a familiar formula)
Artwork: Five out of Five Dice (Great. Creepy. Perfect.)
Overall: Five out of Five Dice

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. Trail of Cthulhu: Rough Magicks RPG Review
2. Armitage Files (Trail of Cthulhu) Review
3. Trail of Cthulhu RPG Review

Available at RPGNow.com

Daniel Solis’ Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple is a different type of game for me to review. It’s not the kind of game I would pick up on my own. This isn’t to say I am against indie games because, well, I have dozens of examples to the contrary. No, the genre just isn’t that interesting to me and I know my gaming group mostly wouldn’t get behind the concept.

With that said, the book really won me over (can’t make a claim to my gaming group though). There are three key elements to this clever game that make it intriguing and full of potential for gamers and, more importantly, young gamers. We’ll go over those elements (maybe two more) and I’ll show you why this is exactly the kind of game I’d play with my son (he’s seven or, as he’s say, seven and a half).

The idea of a wandering pilgrim is attractive even when laced in an anime dressing (not my thing). Such an overused concept alone would doom this game; however, Solis introduces a world of, well, worlds upon worlds. Worlds upon the backs of fish float by worlds small enough to be unknowingly devoured by said fish. The characters are pilgrims answering the calls (letters actually) of those in need of help. Help may mean something simple (find my mother’s engagement ring) to complicated (save my mother from the belly of a giant planet-eating turtle).

I like this setting; furthermore, I like the pilgrims that players take. These are heroes with enough trouble of their own to keep them busy, not to mention the troubles of the people they seek to help.

The artwork to the game is hand’s down the best I’ve seen so far in 2011. It feels a bit like the cover artwork to Vertigo-DC’s Fables line. Every page (full-color) is richly covered in whimsical, dreamy artwork (not the usual Artwork Deemed To Melt The Human Mind I generally review here). The attention to detail is wonderful. Great, great artwork. The icons used throughout the book to detail game play are also just fantastic.

The final element that makes this game a winner is it’s aim at younger gamers. I enjoy gaming with my son (my two-year-old daughter just like chucking dice). Most of the games on my bookshelf, however, are not for a young boy. Yes, I could take any game and “lighten” it for his benefit, but that just defeats the game design. Sorry, but Unknown Armies isn’t really intended for the pre-tween crowd. This game is aimed at younger gamers who incidentally turn into fellow adult gamers. My son like Avatar and initially thought this game was a RPG based on that license (and it wouldn’t be impossible to transfer either).

Some other coolness this game offers is letter writing. Pilgrims receive letters that detail their assignments. There are lots of pre-printed ones in the book, but the real fun is creating your own. Not only does it become a fun exercise to write in the mind of a NPC (we usually limit ourselves to just talking like them), but the end result becomes a keepsake for those Game Masters who keep Every Little Thing from their games for scrapbooking. These letters have in-game mechanics tied into them as well, just to make them even more useful.

The character sheet is a nifty little design based on the idea that it is your passport. I’d personally like to see this type of passport used here because right on the sheet it tells you how the character gets into trouble. How helpful would that be for a customs agent? The character sheet helps keep track of your letters and destinies (always an important part to any great character).

The game requires using stones or coins to help tell the Pilgrims’ stories. Choices with the stones get tied up in the Pilgrims’ destinies. It may seem a bit strange, but it works for this lighter setting.

Yeah, so this game truly caught me off-guard. I may not fully get what Solis’ design ideas were in its creation, but I like what I do get. This is the kind of game that lets a group of friends tell a collaborative story (and rewards such) while getting to enjoy helping others and bettering the characters. Great stuff.

Review by Todd Cash

No related posts.

Available at RPGNow.com

Players can try something different with the newest SAS from White Wolf. In “Into the Void,” ($6.99 at RPGNow.com), players kick off an adventure with killing the Prince of their city. The Prince, in all truth, is a secret hording problem that a good Final Death solves.

Or does it?

This is one of the better SAS releases that I’ve read. While certain NPCs are named, there is no reason why the Prince can’t become the Prince of established characters’ city along with the key movers and shakers detailed. As you may or may not know, SAS adventures have stats, ranking from one (easy) to five (hard). This three-scene adventure has a Mental (2), Physical (4), and Social (4), which makes it one of the hardier adventures I’ve seen. I personally feel like the Mental score should be higher because the first scene alone has tons of room for improvisation. For example, in an adventure where the Prince has been killed it is possible to, um, never actually kill him. This freeform approach to the first scene won me over quickly.

Without giving anyway anything that the teaser and title don’t, this adventure centers around what the characters will do in a city where there is suddenly a power vacuum. Also, a quest emerges in the Prince’s absence. Something must be done with the things he left behind.

While this is a three-scene adventure, it can be played out over five nights (each night’s chief events are laid out for the Storyteller.

The artwork is cool for an SAS. I like the images for the three chief NPCs. Also, the layout keeps in perfect line with the Vampire line.

Storytellers who want to “give” their players everything will be happy with this adventure. Of course, Stan Lee offered the best warning for characters in this adventure: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility. It should be fun to see how your players will take on such awesome power.

My scores for Into the Void are:

Writing: Five out of Five Dice (Wendig’s adventure is logical and fun)
Artwork: Four out of Five Dice (very cool)
Overall: Five out of Five Dice (This is a solid, game-changing adventure players will enjoy)

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. City of the Damned: New Orleans Review
2. Fallen is Babylon RPG Review
3. City of the Damned: New Orleans Review

Available at RPGNow.com

Dark Harvest is an alternative setting (compatible with Victoria) from Cubicle Seven. In this pseudo-historic twist, Dr. Frankenstein establishes a seat of political and military power in the country of Promethea. This power base permits him to explore stranger scientific pursuits and achieve dangerous heights of hubris. Of course, things are far from well behind the curtain and PCs will most likely take part in the factions attempting to topple the status quo.

The artwork, layout, and cartography in Dark Harvest has several more hits than misses. The art itself is great as is the cartography. The book proves to be a bit dull visually. There is a great deal of information in this book (information about the various areas of the country, the history, key figures, and much more). The point in mentioning this is that the information gets a bit textbook without more interesting breaks in the writing.

In regards to the rich writing, few facets of day-to-day life were left unexamined. History, educational systems, religious structures, gender roles, and a wealth of other topics were laid out in an approachable manner. I didn’t care so much for the fiction padding the books in various places (there is a series of small pieces at the end of the setting material just before the book kicks over to rules and character creation. For me, the best writing fell to the development of the culture and history of Promethea.

I’ve never had a chance to read or play Victoriana (though the time period is one of my favorites). I have, however, played Rippers. This book could easily be an expansion on that setting (one where things are going rather wrong for the PCs). The rule material permits excellent character creation and a strong lead into running a game with the book alone. The writing in this part of the book is also excellent. It’s a simple dice mechanic (D6s) for gaining multiple successes (oddly, ones and sixes are successes; sixes explode). Character creation is well-developed and has some fresh gems hidden within the talents (contortionist) assets and complications (annoying house mate). I personally enjoy the ones you can’t find anywhere else.

This is a great book and setting. I wish I could share Victoriana’s importance to this. I may have enjoyed it more or less. I just don’t know. This is a fantastic setting for a Victorian sci-fi with hints of Big Brother and Nazi Eugenics. Yeah, Promethea is not a land where you want to make enemies of the established order. They know horrible things about the human body and how to abuse it in frightening new ways. You’d expect a dead character if he came down with his skin flayed back while a doctor played with his intestines.

In this setting, it just means things are going to get interesting.

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein Available Now!

Available at RPGNow.com

Castle Bravo is a tightly focused adventure for Trail of Cthulhu that ties together halfbreed mutants, nuclear bomb testing, and more sanity-blasting goodness. According to the product page on RPGNow.com, this adventure didn’t just go through an in-house playtest. It also went through some actual tabletop playtesting at Dreamation 2010. I mention this only because I enjoy games heavily linked to playtesting (Chad Underkoffler’s Zorcerer of Zo comes to mind). While this game only shows the finished product, it stands as an excellent example of how a well-polished adventure can look.

The layout and artwork of this adventure stays in line with the Trail of Cthulhu line. The artwork is a mix of real photos mixed with strange artistic renditions. In most games, I honestly wouldn’t like the look; however, it is the perfect mix for this setting. The setting is the “real” world where sometimes things from the wildest imaginations of madmen come to be.

Huguenin’s artwork and art direction find a great fit as Navy men struggle to stand against two distinct races of Mythos creature and a damn interesting villain who feels a little bit like the Watchmen’s Dr. Manhattan (the list of connections doesn’t stop with the name).

The adventure deals bomb testing in the Pacific. The intense use of energy brings unwanted attention, which becomes the heart of the adventure. Things Man Was Not Meant To Bomb. One of the tenants of the Gumshoe line is staying on course. The clues that are meant to be discovered are discovered. I usually hate this. Give me red herrings the players create any day.

For this adventure, the Gumshoe motto makes perfect sense. The game takes place on a ship midst Cthulhu madness. There aren’t many ways to get side-tracked. Should the players manage to, it won’t be long before the Big Bad makes itself known or legions of oddities gently put them back on track. This isn’t to say the adventure reads as a railroad game. No, there are various avenues of success, although the end result should be one particular thing. Plenty of free will exists in this harrowing little ride.

It looks like the game would be perfectly fitted for conventions or one-shots. After all, it is hard to imagine all the players working with Navy soldiers prior to the adventure. It would be more challenging to make this game part of an existing campaign. I give Castle Bravo the following scores:

Artwork/Layout: Five out of Five Dice (some cool images/art fits the game)
Writing: Four out of Five Dice (Great story. Only people not interested in such a focused
detour or a one-shot would be unhappy)
Overall: Five out of Five Dice (Great game. Could feel like a Summer Blockbuster if ran
as written)

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. Pelgrane Week: That Old Black Magic: Writing The Big Hoodoo
2. Pelgrane Week: The Dead White World Review
3. Pelgrane Week: The Origins of the Occult Guide

Available at RPGNow.com

Preludes. Some of my best memories of Storyteller games circle around Preludes. I could sequester away a player for perhaps an evening and, for a session, really get into that particular character’s head. Dice rarely hit the table. It was about motivations and character. I mention this because this eBook flirts with being a look at preludes. Let me clear that it isn’t, but even the author allows that some Storytellers will use it for exactly that purpose.

The PDF’s artwork is mostly good. In fact, there are some pieces within the file that are damned good (no pun intended. Really.). I personally liked Shane Coppage’s art the best (the cover belongs to this artist). The artwork proved a little distracting in that some pieces look like Hollywood was tapped for character inspiration. Is that William H. Macy preparing to get amorous on page 19? Why is Robert Patterson getting fed on by two vampires on page 16? Some is a scratchy piece that has been done in one way or another several times before (page 10).

Valentinelli’s writing, crisp and direct, has a super-specific focus that she mostly stays focused upon throughout the book. Each scene (fourteen in all) takes a look at the Seven Deadlies (two scenes per Vice). Mechanics for these scenes are light, but present. After all, during an Embrace things can go wrong and you might need dice to best arbitrate the outcome.

For such a short book, I’d have to say it isn’t one to start out with. The depth of information contained within is impressive. The author looks at the Covenants while approaching the Vices in order to best see how they would react to each of the fourteen Embraces.

This PDF is 99.99% for Storytellers. From a player’s standpoint, I don’t think I would get very much from the read. A Storyteller could use these scenes directly either as a Prelude, piece of an existing campaign, or simple inspiration as found in Engine Publishing’s Eureka.

Raw unforgiving emotion is a vast playground for monsters to play within; this PDF exploits that. My scores for Scenes of the Embrace are:

Artwork: Three out of Five Dice (The grade would be quite different if I ran artist-by-artist)
Writing: Four out of Five Dice (I like the concepts, but wished the mechanics had been
fully thrown out . . . even though I understand why they couldn’t be)
Overall: Four out of Five Dice (Put on your mining hat; there are some good ideas here)

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. Into the Void SAS Review
2. An Inside Look at White Wolf’s Scenes of the Embrace
3. Through the Ebon Gate RPG Review

Available at RPGNow.com

The traditional print run of Mage: the Awakening ends with my favorite kind of supplement–the advice book. Although gaming advice is merely a click away today, some of the first useful gaming advice I gleaned came from the original White Wolf lines. Rather than rehash decades old thoughts on gaming, the focus instead turns to new ground. This book tweaks the core principles–setting, magic mechanics, and character–before setting loose some ideas on actual Mage chronicles. I’ll try to go chapter-by-chapter once I get the artwork out of the way. Before I do, one pointer: there is never a reason to quote Ayn Rand. Ever. Seriously.

For me, the book’s artwork isn’t very special. I do like the cover art by Imaginary Friends Studio; however, the interior art wasn’t engaging. It did tie directly to the fiction, which earned it a step up.

Chapter One offers seven different takes on the setting/feel of Mage. Do you want to make your magi more like the badasses of Feng Shui or maybe capture the feel of Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files. Various rule tweaks can make that happen. This is a meaty chapter that looks at the entire process to make sense of the changes. There are character creation changes, combat twists, and more so that each world fits as easily as possible. Also, seeds of story ideas are scattered out, ready for Storytellers to snatch right up.

Chapter Two asks this question: what if magic doesn’t work like players think it does? What if weird science, psychic powers, or something else is the root of all power? I like these questions and where the authors went to find answers. It almost felt like they worked off assumptions that some of the original line’s traditions were wholly in the right. Here is what I mean. The Virtual Adepts are basically weird science meets magic (one could say the Technocracy is too). The Cult of Ecstasy, while not originally designed to say drugs equals magic, does not rule out the inherent power drugs offer some Willworkers. Of the magical source variations, I enjoyed the ideas behind the drug-fueled magi the most (probably because some people would be pissed off to find a game suggesting drug-fueled magi running around).

They do suggest a little Unknown Armies option to counter this: any vice will do. Maybe Wrath or Lust are your poison. I’m just not sure how dangerous a Mage of the Sloth vice will be. The ideas of being consumed by your obsessions is rich for gaming. It just may not be for everyone’s liking.

Chapter Three’s character creation variations look at two distinct aspects of the process, the story and the system. The first ten or so pages of this chapter sound familiar to me. Cooperative character creation. Check. Flags. Check. In-game character additions versus XP character additions. Check. Revisiting these ideas isn’t a bad idea, especially since are mixed differently for this game. Once you get past those pages, the chapter becomes fresh ground that is very specific to the Mage line. Every aspect of the character is examined HARD. I’m not sure NASA puts as much thought into their science as the authors did the latter part of this chapter.

It’s probably more information than most groups would use, but, Hell, it’s there if you want it!

Chapter Four looks at the Chronicle. How do you want to run your game? The writers contribute the largest part of this book to this question. You want to run a game without orders? Fine. Want a game touched by four-color comics? They got that too. This is the most “advicey” chapter in the book and my second favorite. With the additional rule tweaks in this chapter, I found myself wondering how seamlessly interlocking advice from multiple chapters would be.

If, for example, a change from Chapter One directly opposed one from Chapter Four, which has superiority? In the end, I suppose it boils down to house rules and your group’s decisions, which is really what these books are all about in the first place. Each of these alternate takes on Mage has probably occurred on a table already (albeit without all the nifty design changes). The writers are just opening up new avenues in an attempt to get the most mileage from your game.

And there isn’t anything wrong with that.

Here’s where I take off. Although I wasn’t wowed by this supplement, I gotta say that it ends on a fitting point. The world of Mage is wide open. Why not make some rules to try to make sense of it? My scores for the Mage Chronicler’s Guide are:

Art/Layout: Three out of Five dice
Writing: Four out of Five dice (heavy technical overall, but good in small bites. There is MUCH information here).
Overall: Four out of Five dice

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. Mage Noir Debuts at RPGNow.com
2. Home Is Where The Heart Is – Mage eBook Bundle
3. Mage: Ancient & Sublime

Available at RPGNow.com

This collection of issues, originally released between 2001 and 2004, showcase a variety of Cthulhu goodness, especially for those interested in modern horror. One of the organizations from the Delta Green line, the British occult organization PISCES, takes the spotlight. Since the material within the magazines are basically alike, I’ll tackle the trio together.

The artwork in the magazines comes from a collection of artists and are rather fitting for the Cthulhu Mythos. The first issue has a small amount of artwork (nearly non-existent if not for the well-crafted cartography within it). By the third issue, artwork fills nearly every page and yet doesn’t get in the way of the writing.

The same can be said of the writing as well. I enjoyed the third issue across the board much more than the previous two. One reason is the content. The actual writing, while dense at times, keeps the same feel moreso than any other aspect of the magazines. No, the content is nearly a decade old and, well, shows its age. For the most part, it isn’t an issue. Tales of Age Horrors terrorizing Mankind proves timeless. On the other hand, reviews of ten-year-old books and some of the “hi-tech” in articles like Issue 1′s “Green Box” show their age. One could use them as an excellent flashpoint for running an adventure for that time period.

There is a great mix of articles in the three issues. They range from Tales of Terror, which are little story sparks with a trio of options (I love these things), to looks at haunted sites around the world, to adventure scenarios, and to NPC write-ups (Usual Suspects). This mix makes an excellent mine for Keepers to explore and utilize. The options are varied. Why not throw something new at your players? Instead of cultists, why not try a tropical disease (Issue 3, “A Rough Guide to Fighting Evil in a Hot Country)? What does Cthulhu look like in the Sixties (Issue 2, “The Avengers”)? Want to throw some visual clues at your players (Issue 1, “The Tombola Cipher”)?

The moral of the story with an anthology pieces is always the same. No issue is going to fully win you over; but each contain some exceptional insight in the various Cthulhu lines (traditional, Delta Green, and D20). Overall, I’d say Issue 3 is the gem of the bunch, but purists may want to start at the beginning in order to get the full effect.

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. The Unspeakable Oath 20 Review
2. Cthulhu Tales Issue 11 Review
3. Critter Cache: Lovecraftian Bestiary Review

Available at RPGNow.com

You can go many ways with a zombie. Desperate horror is just as likely as Romantic comedy anymore. They are seriously everywhere, which is probably why they are such a threat.

I’m not going to overanalyze them. People much smarter than me have already done that. What I will do is say I ran a super hero zombie one-shot for some friends once and enjoyed the Hell out of it. I also played a convention game where zombies were the main attraction (liked that too). For the most part (and this isn’t fair really), zombie games have a one-shot feel to them. Some games like Zombie Run (an excellent Savage Worlds adventure) and the zillion plus supplements for All Flesh Must Be Eaten suggest ways to make longer campaigns, but I always felt like zombie games were filler (like a blockbuster summer flick) than a campaign (like Walking Dead). I’m hardheaded and wrong, which this book quickly points out.

The artwork in the book all comes from Tony Guaraldi-Brown and this consistency gives it some bite. Overall, I like the artwork and layout. It has a feel similar to the Nightbane artwork. Some, like the piece on page 13, are a little garbled, but still works to capture the feel for this book. I don’t mind art leaving things to the imagination as long as it doesn’t look shoddy. Mostly, the pieces are good, not great. One last mention . . . zombie baby scares me.

The book is broken up into five chapter, an appendix, and a scenario. Each chapter fixates on an aspect of the zombie game and works to detail it. The appendix offers stats on everything from zombie animals to zombie zookeepers (use the cop template and I’m right). The final “chapter” is an American Civil War scenario with zombies! You think you’re cocky with a semi-automatic against the undead masses? How would you do with single shots or six-shooters?

Chapter One (Zombie Origins) is straightforward ideas on various ways to bring zombies into your campaign. Did God do it? Space rocks? The military machine? All of the classics are here. Some are well-traveled ground while others prove fresh. With the subject matter, it’s hard to be totally original. Rohan shows a knowledgeable overview of the most likely candidates for a zombie outbreak them and gives them adequate face time. He knows this is familiar, which (I assume) is why he devotes only six pages to it.

Chapter Two (Zombification) details how the process is spread, possible resistance to it, and the changes to characters transformed by the process. The coolest thing about this chapter are all the options you have with creating zombies. Want a zombie to retain their intelligence and skills? You can do that. How fast do you want that bite to infect? Days? Seconds? There are rules for that too. The various graphs have a neat look to them as well (wrinkled paper). It doesn’t get in the way of the read and is well-organized.

Chapter Three (Survival) lays out how to make it in a world gone zombie. Sanity rules, the pros and cons of staying in groups, and more is found in this brief chapter (8 pages). I expected to find something about weapons here, but . . .

Chapter Four (Fighting Zombies) investigates every weapon picked up to kill a zombie, no matter how odd. From letter openers to Napalm, readers will find way to utilize these weapons for Savage Worlds. By the way, be careful with the explosives . . . Savage Worlds can be unforgiving. What you won’t find detailed much are guns. This is okay though, since the corebook (which you will need to get the most out of this book) handles those rules already. Standard weapons aren’t really in this book. It’s more about the special ones you either pick up off the street or at an abandoned military complex.

Chapter Five (Scenarios) is my favorite chapter. There are numerous scenarios established here with various traits to define how many players should play, what kinds of rewards are available, and how likely it is that all the players will die. They bounce all over the place and throughout time. Renaissance adventures are detailed next to wartime ones. These mostly support my one-shot bias towards the genre, but some have long-term usage.

I’ve already detailed what I need to about the Appendix, so let me jump to the adventure at the book’s end. There is a brief Civil War primer, weapons list for weapon from that era, setting descriptions, and much more. Although it’s the most fleshed-out scenario, it really isn’t too long-term in design either.

Overall, this is a useful supplement for fans of the genre and Savage Worlds. It has a great deal of material to mine if not use whole cloth. Accessible and fun, it can be useful in a gaming pinch when you need that excellent convention game (especially a late night one when the attendees start resembling the subject material). My scores for Zombacalpyse are:

Artwork/Layout: Four out of Five dice (the layout knocks it up a point)
Writing: Four out of Five dice (solid)
Overall: Four out of Five dice (could be popular with various groups)

Review by Todd Cash

Related posts:

1. Savage Worlds Deluxe RPG Review
2. Shanghai Vampocalypse Player’s Guide (Savage Worlds) RPG Review
3. Gaslight (Savage Worlds) Review

Available at RPGNow.com

Fallen is Babylon is part of White Wolf’s Storytelling Adventure System, a series of well-tailored games that can be picked up for one-shots or slipped (most of the time) into a campaign. This particular setting makes no specific claim to line. It instead provides a town with a curse of sorts. The appearance is that the supernatural isn’t welcome. Vampires cannot sire here, Will-Workers find their abilities bleeding away the longer they stay, and, well, you get the idea. Of course, a mystery like this needs to be investigated.

Enter the players.

Like with earlier SAS products, the production value is top-notch for the cost. These adventures are also very friendly for use on laptops with fully-linked scenes and such. Storytellers need only print the handouts from the adventure unless they like the feel of paper in their hands (and who am I to judge). The fonts are a jerky style that almost looks like the last written words of a dead man. The artwork within the 39 page PDF is brief, but looks good. The girl experiencing some psychic trauma on page 8 wins me over the most in this file.

The story itself is interesting, especially with some of the options it opens up with demons. Demons are, of course, the thing that can still make monsters look underneath their beds at night. The author takes one of the Seven Deadlies I generally think is useless and makes it truly horrible (and sensible). In fact, McFarland’s take on this Sin raises it right up my own personal charts of Things Not to Trifle With.

Another useful aspect of this adventure is that its design makes it an excellent introduction to a campaign. It’s a perfect setting to circumvent the dreaded “you’re all in a tavern when” opening. McFarland discusses ambitious Storytellers who want to use multiple lines for a single campaign. This adventure has this well in mind. The antagonist’s machinations could easily create a troupe that makes sense even if they are running across the board.

If I did wins and losses for this adventure, I’d have more wins. I keep from doing that though with such a short adventure because the material is subjective. There is no way I could tell what someone else would like. Now, in a sense of good writing and sensible plot, then yes, this is a great little supplement to try out for a new crew. In fact, it “might” be my opening to my new campaign that is switching from the Fate system to the Storyteller system (but that’s a whole different story).

Review Todd Cash

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1. City of the Damned: New Orleans Review
2. Into the Void SAS Review
3. Fallen is Babylon, a New World of Darkness SAS!