Available at NobleKnight.com

Dead Reign Source Book Two: Dark Places
Written by Kevin Siembieda

Review’s note: It’s only fair before I start this review to mention that I’ve been a fan Kevin Siembeida’s work for nearly twenty years and been fortunate enough to be called his friend for five of those years. I’ve attended a few Palladium Open House outings as one of their freelance writers, I once attended a con where Kevin was a special guest and got to play in a play testing group for the Dead Reign game itself and I even co-wrote one of the zombie variants detailed in this book. Now, all this being said I believe I’m capable of unbiased criticism when it comes to material written by Kevin.

The Dead Reign RPG from Palladium Books presents a story that details a lot of familiar territory where zombie survival games are concerned, yet added lots of interesting twists, zombie variants, survival tips & guides, weapons & equipment, great adventure ideas, several quick roll tables, and a partridge in a pear tree! I personally LOVE (not like, LOVE) the bleak tone and style of the setting and the theme of the “survival of humanity” while maintaining your humanity (and sanity) the core book delivered. As an added bonus, fans of Palladium’s “Megaversal role playing system” are in good shape here as it’s just as loudly and proudly displayed as ever!

Where the core book detailed the setting, themes and tones of the DR world, the first sourcebook “Civilization Gone” went into a lot more detail and information concerning what the average person will face daily in a world that’s suddenly without civilization to protect and nurture them. The game’s setting takes place about five to six months after the apocalypse started, and already plenty of peeps are devolving into unrecognizable and dangerous beings. Also included are new zombie variants, new player character classes, details on creating survivor communities and lots of game tips useful to both gm and player alike to sum up a great first sourcebook to an already great RPG.

Now, I hold in my filthy mitts the second sourcebook to Palladium’s zombie apocalypse masterpiece. Is it worth the price? Is it worth the time reading and using at your next game outing? Did Kevin & company go three-for-three with Dark Places? Strap on your boots and load your shotguns my fellow survivors, its time to start scroungin’ through this bad boy!

“Now that the dead reign, the whole world has become a dark place.” –Except from the Road Reaper’s survival guide.

Indeed, Dark Places is appropriately titled, for the entire sourcebook is all about dark places in several metaphoric ways. For those not familiar with the Dead Reign game, most of the knowledge of zombie survive comes in the form of the “Road Reaper’s Survival Guide”. This guide is written from the point of view of Brad Ashley, whose sage like advice will keep your fat out of the fire if you practice what he preaches. This first reference to the dark places is the most “enlightening” (enlightening… get it?) potion of the sourcebook.

In the first excerpt, Brad goes into details about how the zombies see us humans. In short, they see us by our life energy (or aura), which glows like a neon sign to them. This light isn’t much of an issue during the day, but at night were all effectively biped glowworms. To make matters worse, the zombies are smart enough to follow any and all light sources as they seem to know that we NEED light to get around and therefore use it. You see, modern society really took all the lighting we had at night for granted. Street lights, TV’s, glowing signs, headlights, flashlights, fire… in our day we cant seem to escape the light. But in this world it’s a precious commodity and a double edged sword.

Continuing on with the dark places angle, Brad goes into providing tips about night time survival tactics. While some of the tips seem obvious, there are a few interesting methods of survival. For example, as the zombies see both out aura light and normal light, we have to learn to cover any and all holes and cracks when hiding (windows, cracks under the door, covering yourself with a blanket, etc.) Another interesting idea is to go down into the sewers for safety. Now I know that nearly any other game out there tells you to never go in the sewers for any reason, but in this setting its very sound advice for several reasons. Other notes like the advantages of using light in this world and some random encounter tables finish up his section.

The next section goes into four new zombie variants. Here Kevin decided to get in touch with his inner “gross factor” to churn out some of the most disgusting zombies yet. For example, the “Bug Boys” zombies are basically decaying and rotting to the point where they are infested with a variety of insects. Included with this dead guy are revulsion tables, infestation penalties, and descriptions of the pestilence each type of insect inflicts on the player characters. These descriptions are topped off with some really awesomely gross artwork by zombie artist extraordinaire Nick Bradshaw, who coincidentally is another good friend of mine (were working on a Beyond the Supernatural sourcebook together in fact). There’s also the “Worm Meat”, the “Sewer Crawlers”, and “Impersonator Zombies” to torment your player characters with. The Impersonator Zombie was my contribution to the sourcebook (with Michael Mumah providing a great illustration of one hiding in a child’s room), which specialize in setting up ambushes and traps for unsuspecting characters by impersonating people in need of help.

Next up is a section on traveling in the DR world, which again provides really useless and interesting information. According to Brad, it seems that zombie-kind has retained some deep down memory on locations people frequented in life. So hospitals, offices, building, churches, military bases and so on are now the worse places to visit as the largest zombie numbers are found there.

Therefore, the safest methods of traveling are railroad tracks, which Brad states are used extensively by the “Road Reapers” to travel about. Kevin provides TONS of information about railroads, boxcars, depot stations and more along with lots of ideas and random encounter tables. I personally loved this section and for those who currently play other zombies RPG’s, I encourage you to get this book as the information here is fitting for any zombie game and is worth the price of the book alone. I’ve NEVER seen another book that goes into this level of details on the rails like Dark Places has; genius work!

“The Urban Underground” is living proof that not all dark places are bad places. Some of the most heavily used location nowadays include steam and utility tunnels, sewers, storm drain tunnels, caves, mines and so on. Lots of description, information and more random tables are given for these locations, which are again welcome by me as I don’t think I’ve seen them covered quite this extensively before and again they would be of value to any zombie RPG out there.

The last “dark place” is certainly not the least as it goes in to the darkness of the human soul in these dangerous times. This section Brad talks about a disturbing trend that’s taking place more and more often in the DR world… using live bait. In other words, trapping live human in locations to attract nearby zombies hoards to them. And while the zombies are distracted, the bait setters can scrounge for food and items in what are usually zombie crowded areas. This section was written with a sharp edge that got under my skin as I read it. It’s yet also another great section for anyone who runs a zombie game as it’s a method that I can easily see desperate and evil people using in any zombie setting.

Kevin’s goal with this book was to really push the envelope with the DR setting… and I say he pushed and shoved that envelope around like a school yard bully! From the informative and at times chilling writing, to the million adventure ideas and encounter tables, to the amazing and grotesque artwork; this book has it all and then some. I can’t wait to see what future DR Sourcebooks will bring!

P.S. The Dark Places cover is one of my new favorite covers from the Palladium Books line up (which depicts a live bait trap scene). But I gotta ask you; doesn’t that guy on the cover remind you of Robert Duvall?

Review by Steven Dawes

Available at RPGNow.com

Restless Souls comes to the gaming table with the interesting idea of playing a character who is not quite dead and not quite living either. This thirteen page add-on to your d20 or Pathfinder game is an expansion of the Questhaven campaign world by Rite Publishing, but the content within can easily be adapted to just about any fantasy setting. Within its pages, you will find a new template which will transform any (now dead) creature into a restless soul, along with twenty-two new feats and ten new spells.

The idea behind Restless Souls is a good one, and even as I read the opening introduction, as told by one of the restless dead themselves, ideas were already running through my head about how I could use this in one of my games. Restless souls, it is explained, are those who died having left some critical task yet unfinished — what adventurer doesn’t, right? They are returned to life either by their sheer will alone or perhaps by the ever meddling hand of the gods. While this may well be a planned part of any character’s background, it also provides a mechanism for the crafty DM to overcome the dreaded Total-Party-Kill and either keep a game going after disaster has struck or change directions entirely.

Creating a restless soul from an existing character is relatively easy and since the template does not affect the character’s effective class level, it can be applied at any point in a character’s career. The trade off though is a punishing penalty of two negative levels or two points of constitution drain if the character died at first level. Oh, and being an unnatural sot, you’re going to have a pretty tough time gaining the trust of animals or even coming anywhere close to them, as well as a smattering of other phobias and limitations typical to undead types. Fortunately, since you aren’t really undead, you can still be healed normally, and all of the negative (and positive) effects of becoming a restless soul are sloughed off the moment your character is resurrected or otherwise returned to life.

But, while your character is still walking the fine line between the living and the dead, you’ll have access to a variety of new feats provided alongside this template. Higher level characters who become restless souls can immediately switch any feat they have to a Restless Soul specific feat, and so long as the character retains this template, he can continue to gain new feats. Once resurrected, these feats are lost and replaced by normal feats again, just as the other features of this template.

It is this access to the specialized Restless Soul feats which really make this template worth taking, beyond the very cool background idea, of course. The biggest challenge for the DM will be in balancing these feats out. Some seem underpowered, such as one–”Converse with the Dead”–that allows you to ask a question of a roaming spirit once per day that requires no more than a one word answer. Others like “Baleful Gaze” seem to have serious scaling problems, which at twentieth level can dole out as much as 3 to 24 points of dexterity damage to multiple opponents.

Closing this supplement out, we have a selection of ten new arcane and divine spells. Most are accessible by multiple spell casting classes, so everyone is getting at least a few goodies, and wizards and sorcerers can access them all. There are a couple of really nice gems in these, including one spell that will awaken your spell caster’s tome with a spark of intelligence and personality — of course, whether that would be weal or woe for your PC really depends on just how evil your dungeon master really is…

Beyond any balance issues this supplement may have, there was one thing that unfortunately detracted from the overall product — editing. Throughout the entire supplement, there are numerous punctuation, spelling, and syntax errors that made some parts either difficult to understand or muddled the meaning. These errors by no means make the product unplayable, but they take away from what otherwise comes across as a professionally produced product. All is not lost though. This is a PDF product after all, which means perhaps Rite Publishing will consider circling back around and correcting some of the more glaring errors.

So, bottom line, is this product worth spending less than you might on a fancy cup of coffee? Even if you aren’t playing a game set in the world of Questhaven, this supplement still provides some interesting options for both the dungeon master and the players. Having an undead player character in a party has always been problematic, but Restless Souls provides an elegant solution that keeps it playable and still has the right flavor. With twenty-two new feats, ten new spells, and a solid foundation for an interesting character theme, I’d say it is well worth it.

Review by Robert A. Howard, Pen & Paper Games.

Available at RPGNow.com

At first glance, the Abyssal Exalted seem pretty vile folk, spreading death and destruction wherever they go. However, there’s a lot more to them than that, and if you are seeking a greater understanding of the Abyssals, are a Storyteller with a plot in which they play a major part or actually are looking to run a game based around Abyssal characters, this book is worth a read.

The Introduction gives an overview of the Abyssals and discusses the roles that they might have in your game as adversaries, allies or indeed characters to be played. Like the Solars, Abyssals begin as ordinary human beings with the seeds of greatness, the potential to become a mighty hero. Those who suffer – or are on the brink of – an untimely death may be given the opportunity of Exaltation as an Abyssal instead, provided that they will pledge themselves to the service of the Deathlords and their ultimate goal: the destruction of Creation itself. But all Exalted choose to use their power to further their own ends and force their opinions on those who disagree with them, the Abyssals are no different. Thus runs the argument for those who might be interested in playing an Abyssal.

Chapter 1: The Chosen of the Void explores how the Abyssal Exalted came to be. While all are ultimately committed to work towards the destruction of Creation, not all embrace their role willingly, while others bring a variety of motivations to their task. It looks at the background that allowed the situation to develop, the flaws in the Primordials’ original design that made Creation vulnerable to attack and the mistakes that they made which caused some of them to die in conflict and so pave the way for the Underworld to come into existance, created by dying Primordials’ recognition that they could indeed die. But these dead Primordials were trapped, unable to fall into oblivion because Creation still existed, and so they came up with the idea of recruiting agents to destroy Creation. Elegant and convoluted background, which more philosopically-minded Storytellers will want to understand; a rich and strange underpinning to what the Deathlords are trying to accomplish on the dead Primordials’ behalf. Against this background, the Abyssal Exalted are created, and the chapter goes on to cover the recruitment of Abyssal Exalts and the powers that they gain from the Deathlords. Most do not even have an inkling of the background to how they came to be, and likewise they are poorly understood by other Exalted.

Next, Chapter 2: The Deathlords looks at the thirteen individuals that command the deathknights and do the bidding of the dead Primordials, the Neverborn. Each, or at least the ones that are known, has a fancy name which in some way embodies its very being. They’re all evil, but each in its own particular way; and naturally they are all extremely powerful. Nine are described here, the remaining four are left for development by Storytellers to suit their needs. Sample servants are also included, its assumed that deathknights – including character ones, if you are playing a game about Abyssal Exalted – number amongst each Deathlord’s staff. This chapter is replete with ideas for how Deathlords can interact with your characters to create fascinating plots, and much detail that will make them come alive within your game.

Background presented in all its rich panoply, Chapter 3 deals with Character Creation. It’s recommended that you begin by designing the individual your character was before Exaltation, as more than ever with the nasty aspects of an Abyssal Exalted the changes wrought by Exaltation should drive the role-playing and development of the character. It’s also even more important than in most games that the players work together as a group in creating their characters – Abyssal Exalts by their nature tend to squabble and the group needs to determine how far this is going to go, and ensure that it remains in character without threatening real-world friendships. Each character also needs to know the reason that he made that conscious decision to accept the ‘Black Exaltation’ – it’s a choice, and a bleak one at that, but understanding why the character made that bargain will help you work out his motivations and behaviour. This is a game where understanding your character as a person will inform your role-playing and enhance enjoyment for the whole group. Once the character concept is thought out, the mechanical process of creation follows the standard rules.

Chapter 4: Traits shows how deathknights are a subtle corruption of Solar Exalts, using similar but twisted templates, traits and rules. There’s plenty of detail here to enable you to establish the character’s position and capabilities, and it enables the creation of complex backgrounds with plenty of scope to develop plots wound around the very nature of the characters themselves. One glorious example is the Background of Liege – this shows how well the deathknight serves his Deathlord and how, in turn, he is rewarded with assets and less-tangible things as well. Just allowing a character to take this Background, especially at high levels, could be overpowering and unbalance the game, but the wise Storyteller can manipulate the level based on the Deathlord’s perception of the character’s performance, making changes session by session if so desired. Thus is loyal service rewarded and failure or disloyalty punished in the Underworld! There’s also a detailed rundown of each of the Castes available, again a perversion of the familiar Solar ones, being Dusk, Midnight, Daybreak, Day and Moonshadow.

Next, Chapter 5 deals with the Charms that the deathknights may learn to wield. Many mirror the Solar Charms that you’re already familiar with, and it might be possible for Solars and Abyssals to teach each other a Charm so as to deduce the appropriate mirror one (if the Storyteller allows it). In customary Exalted style, they all have fantastical evocative names, but anyone wanting to use them is well-advised to study them well and not rely on the name on a character sheet and a quick fumble through the book at the point of use: know your powers and use them wisely!

Chapter 6: Necrotech, The Science of Death is not for the squeamish, combining once-living and inorganic material into twisted creatures powered by the magic of reanimation. Through study and practice, necrosurgeons build and maintain all manner of horrors to be used to further the ends of the Deathlords. Each Deathlord has a distinct style in the necrotech he directs his staff to build, perhaps you can even determine which necrosurgeon fabricated a particular creature. As well as understanding the magic, the budding necrosurgeon needs the craft skills necessary to construct that which he would reanimate. For characters wishing to practice this dark art, the necessary game mechanics are given here, and detail-oriented Storytellers may wish to use them as guidance when creating the opposition. Some sample constructs are given to get you started, along with the tools, spells and other gear that the well-equipped necrosurgeon needs to have to hand.

Chapter 7 deals with Abyssal Storytelling. It explores the sort of stories you can tell, the types of characters that might participate in them and some of the common problems and challenges involved in basing your game around Abyssals. Understanding of the fundemental wierdness of the Underworld and the powers therein is paramount, it is quite unlike anything else even in the rest of the alternate reality that is Exalted. It’s challenging as well, playing an evil character well is not just bloodsplatter, and the group should think carefully about whether they want to explore their darker sides in this way – but when done well, some excellent and memorable games can result. There’s plenty of scope for more than bloodsoaked destruction and mayhem, possibilities for intrigue and plotting abound. Several ideas are discussed here and I’ve been having ideas all the way through the book!

This is a fascinating twist on conventional Exalted Storytelling and could prove rewarding to those prepared to commit to the level required. There’s a lot to absorb for both players and Storytellers if Abyssal characters are to be played to the full. Alternatively, a Storyteller who wants to make deathknights – and those they serve – major antagonists could add extra depth with the material herein. It is certainly well worth a read by anyone wanting to understand the full sweep and scope of the alternate reality that is Exalted.

Review by Megan Robertson

Available at RPGNow.com

The Introduction sets the scene without ado: there are many threats facing the Solar Exalted chief of whom are the other kinds of Exalted, and the purpose of this book is to enable the Storyteller to create quick yet effective representatives of all other Exalts to serve as allies or – more likely – enemies in the course of the chronicle that is to be told. More detail on both the five kinds of Exalt and on creating antagonists in general than is to be found in the core rules is presented,along with information about the high-level politicking that goes on which can be used as background or even as something for the characters to get involved with if the thought of mixing diplomacy and intrigue with warfare appeals.

Chapter 1 looks at the Dragon-Blooded. Often implacable foes, they are motivated by the belief that the Solars can only accomplish their objectives by trampling the Dragon-Blooded, underfoot. Due to their origins and links to one of the five Elemental Dragons, each Dragon-Blooded Exalt’s skills and abilities are based on their affliated Dragon rather than societal role. Their whole mindset draws upon their links to the Dragons and their role in history as prime agents in the overthrow of the Solar Exalted, and the Immaculate Philosophy of reincarnation that forms the core of their beliefs. There’s a wealth of information here about the educational opportunities and careers available to Dragon-Blooded, plenty to enable you to imagine their society and approach to life, and why they find the resurgance of the Solar Exalted such a threat to their very existance. The chapter rounds off with a selection of sample Dragon-Blooded and a list of Charms that they – or ones you create yourself – are likely to know.

Next is Chapter 2: The Lunar Exalted. The Lunars appear as past masters of the art of running away, but their actions are motivated by what they perceive as their duties to Creation itself, to Luna who bestowed their powers upon them and to their descendents. Survival against a time when they can ascend to positions of leadership drives them in all that they do. They have a loose organisation which enables them to achieve specific objectives and retain social cohesion. Due to their habits, they are less likely to be encountered by the average Solar Exalt except by chance. Against that chance, the information necessary to create a Lunar Exalt is presented here, complete with examples and notes on the notable powers and other abilities available to them.

Chapter 3: The Sidereal Exalted looks at the Chosen of the Five Maidens, the stars that rule over all others and control Fate… or try to! As chosen, the Sidereals are mainly employed as agents of the Five Maidens and rarely engage in deep meditation on their purpose as they are given their orders. Duties are clearly laid out from the moment of Exaltation and involve planning Fate and sorting things out when they don’t go according to plan. Naturally, not all Sidereals agree about the best method of accomplishing their goals and so different factions have arisen. Again, sample Sidereals and a list of charms available to them are provided. There is also a fascinating explanation of Sidereal astrology which rather than predicting the future creates it – powerful magic indeed.

Next, Chapter 4 looks at the Abyssal Exalted. In service to the powers of the Underworld, they’re often called deathknights and widely held to be evil – or at least inimicable to Creation and most of the creatures therein. Their re-emergence coincides with that of the Solars, and some say that for every Solar you get an Abyssal or even that they are the same individual at different points in their overall existance, light and dark sides of the same coin. They are commanded by 13 Deathlords, of whom 9 are described here (the intent being to leave some slots to be filled by Deathlords of the Storyteller’s design). Sample deathknights and the charms available to them are also listed, along with some notes on necromancy.

The final type of Exalted to be examined are the Solars themselves. This chapter will give a good idea of how they appear to others, and how wider Solar society will appear to the characters. However well-meaning, they attract trouble like a pot of honey attracts flying critters and so can always prove amusing additions to your story. Some samples are provided, along with a list of Solar Artifacts, often long-buried in tombs of Solars from millenia ago but very useful if you manage to unearth them.

Finally, the appendix Mandate of Heaven covers the game of statecraft as played amongst the Exalted, particularly the Dragon-Blooded on the Blessed Isle. Various texts expound the theories and are studied by those who wish to excel, much as the Art of War by Sun Tzu and Machiavelli’s The Prince can prove beneficial in the real world. Here, though, is presented a system to model the game of statecraft as a plot-generation device or to provide a backdrop to your own stories. It’s an abstraction of the constant manoeuvering between states vying for advantage or struggling for survival and can be played out as a down-time activity if so desired. You can keep it as a player thing, or involve people’s characters in what is going on and so link things tightly to your ongoing plot. A neat system with the scope for making things very interesting in your interpretation of this alternate reality, determining the fate of nations in a style fitting with the rest of the game as a whole. (It’s also available as a stand-alone PDF for groups with a Storyteller who wishes to restrict some of the information herein!)

Overall, this is a useful book for the Storyteller, to aid him in understanding more of what is going on within Exalted societies and specifically in creating worthy adversaries and allies. The Mandate of Heaven provides a powerful tool for creating dynamic events between nations and domains, allowing player contributions and even character involvement in moulding a storyline unique to your game.

Review by Megan Robertson

Available at RPGNow.com

Written by Christopher Lee Simmons
Published by White Wolf

I’m still six feet under only I’m under snow and it’s actually closer to six inches. What’s a little bit of exaggeration between friends? After all, you’re the one reading a RPG review, so it stands to reason that you like either telling or hearing stories. For those of you who missed my review of Book of the Dead, which you can read here (don’t worry I’ll wait), I’m in the midst of a look at White Wolf’s view of the Underworld. Today, we’re going to visit the Ebon Gate, a SAS adventure intended for Geist: the Sin-Eaters.

This adventure is 38 pages, although the first and second pages are full color and black and white versions of the cover. The layout follows the Geist format, which means subtle blues for color, more keys than you’ll find on a school custodian’s key ring, and big whopping numbered pages. I know there is an aging in the game community, but large print page numbers just seems damn odd. Being that this is a SAS product, the layout also includes the nifty digital features. You can quick-click to particular scene, character, or in-game prop. I enjoyed reading through this book because of the subtle coloring, which is also ideal for printing.

I almost uploaded my review of the Geist corebook first because of the artwork. Much of the artwork in this adventure is taken straight from the corebook, but cut to different sizes. This is the first time I can remember seeing artwork repeat in a White Wolf product. Ignoring the repetition, the artwork from this collection of artists rings perfectly with me. The corebook attributed most (if not all) pieces with their respected creator and I wish this did as well so that I could credit specific artists. I’ll make sure I do that in my Geist review rather than repeat myself over two reviews. The artwork feels a little bit Clive Barker and a little bit Dante’s Inferno. It’s really the stuff of nightmares and, seriously, who doesn’t want that in their horror gaming?

The adventure revolves around a night at the carnival that goes violently wrong.

Religion, it appears, isn’t something entrusted only to the living. Even with their attunement to the afterlife, the Geist still have questions about it. The writing for this adventure is top-notch and free of grammatical or continuity errors. The NPCs are wonderfully fleshed out, especially the Last Minister (a little fanatic can go so far in a RPG). With a little bit of tweaking, this game could switch over to a Vampire game and maybe some of the others. The cornerstone to this adventure is a cult interested in creating Geists. Little imagination is required to transform the heart of this adventure to a group of Twilight-reading vampire wannabes.

At the end of the adventure in the scene cards are a little bit of an issue. A couple of the scene cards do nothing beyond really describing things. Most scenes have bonuses and penalties based on how the adventure is going or what each character has access to. The two “fight” scenes don’t offer anything along these lines. It’s no doubt that the GM can add things on her on, but the idea of a pre-generated adventure is for it to do most of the legwork. Like the repeated use of artwork, this is a really minor thing.

This brings up two-thirds of the way through my Deadworld trilogy. My scores for Through the Ebon Gate are:

Layout: Five out of Five Dice (love it . . . even if I don’t get the ginormous numbers)
Artwork: Four out of Five Dice (Great artwork . . . just familiar)
Writing: Five out of Five Dice (this is a well-leveled adventure)
Overall: Five out of Five Dice (an excellent introduction to the surreal world of Geist)

Thanks to White Wolf for my free copy of this PDF.

Review by Todd Cash

Available at RPGNow.com

When I first saw Goodman Games’ D&D 4e adventure, Death Dealer: Shadows of Mirahan, I had mixed reactions. First, I love Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer. I’ve seen all the Frazetta paintings, read the novels by James Silke, collected the comics written by Glen Danzig, and bought the Molly Hatchet album with Death Dealer on the cover when I first saw it back in the 80s (it was actually released in 1978).

However, the gamer in me balked. I was wondering how they could pull off an adventure about the Death Dealer without having the nearly omnipotent figure overshadow the player characters. There is only one Death Dealer, and surely the players would not be playing as the legendary anti-hero. I was also wondering how the adventure dealt with non-human races (I couldn’t remember reading about elves and dwarves in the novels).

The adventure is actually adapted from the Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer miniseries from Image Comics by Jay Fotos, Nat Jones (of 30 Days of Night fame), and Joshua Ortega. And in true gimmicky comic fashion, even offers an alternate cover available only through your Friendly Local Gaming Store (though I can see it on the PDF I was given).

Adventure Synopsis

A demonic army of undead, the Shadow Horde, is spilling out from Edani across its border with the Kingdom of Oro through the Cascada Pass, threatening to devour everything in its path. The heroes have responded to reports of unrest on these borderlands and find themselves trying to hold off the vanguard of the Shadow Horde in a ruined fortress as Edani refugees flee from the rampaging zombies. The next portion contains spoilers, so possible players should skip ahead to the New Mechanics and Pre-gens section.

This first chapter, The Siege of Cascada Pass, cannot be defeated in the conventional sense of slaying all enemies. Instead, the PCs must hold out for 30 rounds of combat employing smart tactics in a defend and retreat strategy. I like the idea of unwinnable encounters, but find they usually irritate players when such encounters have been thrust upon them. There is no end to the monsters of this encounter and there are guidelines to use when the PCs have been too successful.

The next leg finds the PCs fleeing the horde they just tried to stave off in the mountain pass, which becomes a Skill Challenge. If spotted, they are rewarded with an additional encounter before reaching the second chapter, the Eternal Forest. This chapter kicks off with a Skill Challenge for finding a path through the forest. Success means they don’t encounter any Shadow Horde Outriders before they reach the Ruins of the Old Ones. Once they make their way through the ruins, they find a druid ally who can send them to the Angra Swamp to summon the Death Dealer so he can lay waste to the Shadow Horde.

The final chapter of the adventure, Rise of the Death Dealer, begins with the PCs in a Skill Challenge to navigate Angra Swamp while eluding the Shadow Horde in order to strike at their master and free the Death Dealer. A single failure results in an encounter, the more failures the PCs earn the more resources the encounter will likely burn up. A complete botch of the Skill Challenge results in a full assault on the PCs by the Shadow Horde and its leader, Dazaka, making it unlikely for the PCs to survive the adventure.

Should the PCs win, well, you need to pick yourself up a copy to find out how that turns out. I will say, there is an appearance of the legendary force the setting was created around.

New Mechanics and Pre-gens

Appendix I of Shadows of Mirahan introduces five specific [human] races of the Lands of Iparsia. Each culture gets their own stat block and inherits the bonus at-will power and bonus feat from the 4e core Human race. It also presents two work-arounds for using non-human races in the world of the Death Dealer. One idea is just to accept that non-humans exist (which doesn’t keep with the current canon) and the other is to treat them as frightening monsters.

The first appendix also introduces two new Feats, Weapon Mastery and Defense Mastery. Weapon Mastery gives a player character a bonus to attack and damage rolls with a weapon type that scales with tier. Defense Mastery gives a player character a bonus to AC for a particular armor type that also scales with tier. I can see both Feats being valuable to players.

Appendix II introduces three advanced rules. The first is a modification to the use of Action Points. In Iparsia, PCs may spend Action Points to avoid the secondary effects of Critical Hits (another new rule introduced) and may spend up to three Actions Points during an encounter. The second appendix also introduces four tables, one per weapon group, to determine secondary effects for Critical Hits (piercing, crushing, slashing, and eldritch). The final rule grants a cumulative bonus to attack and damage to PCs for every milestone met through combat, which is lost after an extended rest.

The adventure introduces new monsters throughout the adventure and provides a collection of Shadow Horde undead in Appendix III. The monsters are decent, but don’t really do anything innovative. They also provide stats for the Death Dealer and his steed in Appendix VI. These stats are interesting, but are rather useless since the adventure is not made to employ them.

Appendix V introduces five seventh level pre-generated characters for the PCs to play, a druid, rogue, warlord, ranger, and fighter. These characters are all human and all but the rogue are male. I like that they included pre-gens since I get the feeling that this adventure is meant as a one-shot (especially since it is made for characters of 7^th to 9^th level).

Layout & Design

I did not have a physical copy of the book, so I cannot attest to the physical quality. But having encountered many other products from Goodman Games, it should be better than average. Everything is pretty easy to read, though I would prefer the page background texture to be lighter where the text resides. The headings and boxed text can be found quickly. The art is simply fantastic, as it was sourced from the Image comics and rendered by Nat Jones and Jay Fotos. I could do without the blood splatters at the end of each section.

I really dig the isometric maps, which remind me of the excellent renders from I6: Ravenloft, but I think the adventure could have benefited from full size (tear-out or tiles) encounter maps. The isometric style isn’t conducive to tactical combat play and all the maps were meant as reference rather than to be used.

My only other complaints are that I think they could have made the monster stat blocks easier on the eyes by implementing alternating color rows and some hyperlinks would have made navigating the e-book easier.

Final Verdict

If you’re 4^th Edition Dungeons & Dragons group are fans of Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer or of the Image Comics miniseries, then this adventure would probably be a good one-shot to play in between larger campaigns, especially at a $10 price point. The adventure has heavy-handed direction, but it’s hard to avoid when adventures are adapted from existing stories.

Note: Scores are out of a possible 5.0 points.

Review by Michael Brewer

Available at RPGNow.com

I’m looking at dead things, specifically games about dead things. My next three reviews are going to cover the World of Darkness’ shadowy afterlife and the things that sometimes make the doorway between worlds a bit more revolving than usual. These reviews will cover Book of the Dead, Geist: The Sin-Eaters, and Through the Ebon Gate. Today, we will take a baby step into the realm of the dead through the guise of the World of Darkness system’s Book of the Dead. This book intends to deliver an encompassing look at the underworld, although admits that having Geist makes things all the better.

The graphic work and layout to this book keeps to White Wolf’s standards, although it isn’t overly engaging. One frustrating bit about this PDF was an error message I continued to receive whenever I opened it. It could be an issue on my end, so I won’t dwell . . . much. The initial fiction was a bit too dark (not so much in tone as in printer toner). A combination of dark backgrounds and sometimes odd fonts made for a difficult read. The good news is that this stops once the game material begins on page 10. There are several “letters” laid out throughout this book and these are used to good effect. Enterprising Storytellers could use these as in-game props and great results. Sidebars and breaks in information look great throughout the book; several tables run seamlessly alongside the borders of the book. Yeah, this book has some hiccups; nevertheless, it still looks good.

Let’s talk about this book’s artwork. Artwork tends to have a direct relationship to the importance of the text. With that said, Book of the Dead must be a critical addition to the White Wolf line. The cover art, which features a Mercy Thompson look-alike, is exactly the kind of cover that prepares me to dig into a book. I would LOVE to mention this artist by name, but (whoops) he or she remains uncredited in the PDF. The interior artwork also shines (or darkens if that is your thing). I think the full-page artwork on page 14 is one rocking little piece. It features a boy decked out in a Green Lantern shirt (and carrying a bit of the dead within him) who seems to have a man scrambling away in fear. Some of the art might prove to be offensive to some sensibilities (see page 106), but a fan of death and the underworld shouldn’t be squeamish about an act that brings about life . . . right? Yeah, well, I had to do a double-take on that page. There are also several pieces that seem to take on the appearance of a chiseled work.

The artwork isn’t as detailed; however, there is something going on to these pieces that make them feel authentic for this book. There are several cool character pieces such as Norma Jean, the False Ferryman, and others that compose a wonderful little group of “those below” to tempt your characters’ Vices. The single oddest piece has to be on page 128. It looks like something that would belong on the cover of an Over the Edge supplement more than here; on the other hand, I’ll take my psychedelic art where I can get it. All of the artwork in this book feels a certain way . . . until you see . . . this. It does introduce a chapter that carries a slightly different vibe (more sketches in this chapter than the others), so maybe the jarring effect is for that exact purpose. (Side Note: I love the piece on 139 as well. War is Hell, even wars seem to have ghostly echoes).

What about the words?

I rarely gush about artwork, focusing instead on the arrangement of sentences and properly spelled words. Book of the Dead is a dense read, riddled with more that two hundred pages of jargon. I think players of Geist will find the material most useful; however, there are ways that any being in the World of Darkness can just, well, fall right through an Avernian Gate.

As I said earlier, the book comes in at 201 pages. The first ten pages are fiction, which is typical White Wolf format. It then turns over to a four page introduction. This introduction sets up the purpose of the book, a quick overview of how to traverse the underworld, and a quick Lexicon for phrases that will appear heavily throughout the book.

Chapter One (pgs 14-46), Where the Light Still Shines, offers a look at different realms within the underworld. Egyptian tombs stand alongside a so-called Japanese Suicide Forest. There are mazes, mausoleums, and much more. A vast offering of time periods and their thoughts are given in order to illustrate the immensity of this dangerous realm. I felt like these snapshots were cut a little short by an abundance of letters, memos, and other notes being used to describe them. Yes . . . it looks cool to use these sometimes; however, the desire should have been reined in a bit. The chapter should have felt a bit more like Ancient Mysteries than the multi-voiced read given.

Chapter Two (47-68), Chthonic Cultures, takes a broad look at the underworld through the eyes of each horror-based White Wolf line (sorry no new information on the Street Fighter RPG in this book). New Merits and Flaws start appearing in this chapter as the fiction gives way a little bit to the mechanics for crossing over (and back). This is really a impressive listing of material for each line is given though I felt Mage was a little left behind in this chapter.

Chapter Three (69-96), Dark Sympathies, scares up 90% of the rules materials for this book. Merits and new abilities (mostly for Sin-Eaters) comprise this chapter. I’m not sure why Merits showed up in multiple places within the book (I only see the point in breaking them up when it’s a question of what players and game masters should have access to). A sidebar makes an interesting point that doesn’t apply strictly to this book. As the World of Darkness expands, seven points for starting Merits seems awfully scrawny point-wise. Some tips they suggest are free Merits that all players get or a simple number bump-up.

Chapter Four (97-128), Autochthonous Depths, is the flip-side of Chapter Three. While there are some mechanics (such as how to map the underworld and get your general bearings), most of this chapter explores specific areas of the Underworld and some of its more demented denizens. At least we know what became of Marilyn Monroe (or at least an aspect of her) in the World of Darkness. The creatures at the end of this chapter are not only suited for White Wolf but could easily be transferred to games such as Supernatural, Call of Cthulhu, or other paranormal-themed games.

Chapter Five (129-201), The Dead Dominions, is the monster chapter in the book (Hell, it’s nearly half the book). While the reader has committed this much into the book, so has the player. The gaming troupe who reaches the geography and personalities that fills this chapter may likely suspect they’ll be spending several sessions there (if the Storyteller is generous enough to let them leave). These strange realms resemble American Ghost Towns, blood-splattered warzones, a prison, a junkyard (where perhaps Lemont and Fred still bicker over how their business should be ran), and much more. These micro-worlds are so distinct and laden with such primal characters that you can’t help but want to use them. Weaving a story that would take a group through these multiple lands would make an excellent adventure, although I’d reckon that it would be a beast in size.

Book of the Dead doesn’t mess around. It’s a hoss of a book that says a lot about a rather specific thing. It seemed a little too big to me at times, but the writing remained strong from beginning to end. I’m sure some locales could be edited out, but tastes vary. They decided to hit all the stops with this release. My scores for Book of the Dead are:

Layout: Two out of Five Dice (some tech problems that could be my copy . . . or not)
Artwork: Five out of Five Dice (Wow!)
Writing: Four out of Five Dice (Learnt me sum knew werds while having fun)
Overall: Four out of Five Dice (Brain-bender worth the investment if your game goes beyond the grave)

Review by Todd Cash

Available at DriveThruComics.com (eBook)
Also available at Amazon.com (Box Set)

I have to make a confession. It’s not an easy confession to make since I’ve been a card carrying sci-fi geek all my life, but it’s best you all know the truth. The truth is this: I know next to nothing about the Doctor Who Series. Cubicle 7 games have decided to introduce me (and many others) to the good Doctor in a big way. Although I’m reviewing a full-color PDF of the game (thanks to Cubicle 7 for my reviewer’s copy), they have created a RPG rarity in this day and age–the RPG box set. Yep, for $59.99 game lovers will get three books–players, game masters, and adventures, a handful of blank and filled-out character sheets, and other bits of goodness. All of these are also in full color and look quite smart.

Let’s talk about that smart look right now. The book is laid out in full-color glory. Beautifully bordered by graphics that include the TARDIS, the two-column layout is impressive. Sidebars are off-set in blue and work to keep (a) information separated properly and (b) important information in a good place. For example, the core make-up of characters–attributes, skills, and traits–earn one of the first sidebars. The character sheets look good, but are eerily similar to Eden’s character sheets for Buffy, Ghost of Albion, and Army of Darkness (more on this later). The graphic design and layout team did a stand-out job on this project from the books to the gizmo sheets. About the only thing that isn’t really attractive (or needed) are the Story Points sheet. Sheets like these aren’t really important because I find most groups tend to use chips, coins, or a myriad of other tokens. Printing out oodles of heavily colored paper probably won’t appeal to most groups.

Artwork isn’t really a point to these books as they are generously laced with photos from the show. I think the game master’s book has the best mix of pictures from the show, but all the books compete. Let us move from the non-issue of artwork and get into the meat of 200 plus pages of time-traveling goodness (‘course I won’t go into the adventure book because I never go into the adventure books).

There is a four-page quickstart guide, which is handy for giving to all the players at the table. The player’s guide proves to be a great starting off point for the game. It’s here we find four chapters–an introduction, character creation, basic rules, and a short tidbit on player advice.

Player creation is a basic point-build system that offers a great deal of room for specialization. In addition to that, the wide selection of traits permit an even greater differentiation. The basics to the rules are this single mechanic:

Attribute + Skills + Traits + 2D6 = Result (the Result is compared to the Difficulty)

Going well beyond or beneath a Difficulty has special effects that include increases or decreases in damage (among other things). Fans of Eden’s Unisystem will see a very similar mechanic to their Attribute + Skills + 1D10 = Result (of which is compared to the Difficulty. Going higher is better and earns extra benefits). I admit there are a limited number of ways to create a randomizing element to a game. Handfuls of Dice are used in White Wolf’s games and FASA’s old Shadowrun line (not sure that Catalyst Labs use the same system). Various game lines run off percentiles. This game, for me, just used too many of the same elements from Cinematic Unisystem. They have the same mechanic, although the dice are switched. They have Story Points that look (and do) much of what Drama Points did for Cinematic Unisystem. Qualities, which are a common element to many games, don’t always have character types as Qualities.

For example, a Slayer is a Quality in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a Time Lord is a Quality in Dr. Who. Lots of similarities exist between these games. One distinction is how Eden’s game use a scale (starting with nine) that raises to the next level after every other number. Rolling high is still keen, but is different in this game. In Dr. Who, the Game Master will set a Difficulty, which will be met, exceeded, or missed; furthermore, missing or making it by nine creates botches or exceptional successes. This does permit a bit of different game play.

Combat in the game does something I really like. After taking damage, Attributes are affected. There are no health points. Damage comes right from the Attributes. This isn’t a game centered around violence; these mechanics ensures players will seek out alternate means of dealing with antagonists (unless they like making new characters).

The last bit (about eight pages) to the Player’s Guide focuses on what it means to be a player. These are good tips for new players and fine refreshers. The writing holds well for this part of the book and says just enough to make a solid point.

Let’s switch to the Game Master’s book now, which is a bit larger (143 pages to the 90 pages in the Player’s Guide). The first two chapters (and nearly 75 pages) are almost identical to the Player’s Guide. You have character creation and an explanation of the rules. My first impulse was to wonder why one would repeat two entire chapters in a boxed set of books. The quick answer is that they didn’t. Each book’s writing is geared for individual audiences. There are hints in the game master’s book that don’t exist in the Player’s book. It permits different ways of looking at the same material, which I think is pretty enlightening for gaming groups where a player may be ready to start running games.

Chapter Four deals with time travel. This can of worms is often tried out by RPGs. Since Dr. Who has been exploring time travel for decades and has it thought out good enough for me.

There is a place of paradox. Most time travelers will become quickly frustrated by the machinations of other time travelers (frustrated in-game rather than at some game mechanics. Good frustration). This chapter also explains the workings of the TARDIS. The authors devote about ten pages to this device, which I think proves sufficient to fans of the show while not swamping newbies like me.

Bring on the Monsters! Chapter Five does just that, although I should say aliens instead. The chapter brings a healthy dose of alien life to the game, complete with satisfying write-ups, photos, and stats. The chapter wraps up with “so you wanna be an alien” and the character creation rules for doing such a thing. I suppose these rules aren’t in the player’s book because aliens should be a rarity in the group, but your guess is as good as mine. By putting these rules in the game master’s book, it grants control over these characters. Besides, the game master will probably be creating aliens more often than the players.

Chapter Six lays out what a game master should do in a RPG. Again, this is familiar territory for most gamers; nevertheless, new gamers should find this material useful. One thing of interest is a bibliography of key Dr. Who materials that can help a GM unfamiliar with the setting. There is also a technobabble sidebar I found to be funny. Some of the finds in this chapter surprised me, most notably being the listing of “dreaded gamers.” Tactics for the rules-lawyer and the cheat are covered (along with others). While these tactics may not be as inspired as I’ve read in other places, they do have some bite.

The final chapter helps game masters learn how to create a story. Again, familiar turf that will be good groundwork for newer players and game masters.

The Dr. Who game has a great deal of promise. I thumbed through an opened hard copy at my gaming store and must say it’s a quality made product. Likewise, the PDF looks fantastic.

I have my problems with the system, but I think there are enough differences between it and Unisystem for me to get over it. Some artwork would have been nice, but most license-based games do the exact same thing. All in all, my scores for Dr. Who are:

Layout: Five out of Five Dice (beautiful layout and graphic design)
Artwork: Not Graded
Writing: Three out of Five Dice (too familiar, but laced with great ideas)
Overall: Four out of Five Dice (A strong set to run a campaign with)

Review by Todd Cash

Available at RPGNow.com

Necromancy and the undead are two of my favorite themes for roleplaying games. The undead have a strong presence in gaming and there are many interesting creatures that can be used in adventures. Unfortunately, there have not been many useful options for those that sit on the other side of the screen. As a player, I am always on the hunt for new and effective methods to harness the powers of death, the dead, and the undead.

Enter the Death Mage.

The Genius Guide to: the Death Mage is a fourteen page supplement from Otherworld Productions & Super Genius Games for the Pathfinder RPG. The Death Mage is a new arcane spellcasting base class that provides players five paths to choose from: Corpse, Ghoul, Tomb, Reaper, and Shadow mages. The Death Mage also introduces some new spells and a new creature subtype, Unbreathing (a not quite undead creature).

Class Description

The Death Mage is not merely a specialist wizard, bloodline sorcerer, or cleric with the death domain; it brings unique powers to the table. In addition, the class does not focus on pure necromancy, but also touches upon other themes associated with death (fog of graveyards, fear of dying, shadows). The class is built so that it may draw on the iconic powers of death without resorting to evil or undead, though those options are happily available as well.

The Death Mage uses Charisma as its key spellcasting ability (determines DCs, bonus spells, etc.) and prepares its spells much like a wizard (so no spontaneous casting). The spell list is naturally focused and short, but still gains a wizardly spell slot progression. The Death Mage does make up for its limited spell selection with original class abilities.

Class Abilities

There are actually three major components of a Death Mage. The first are common abilities shared by all types of Death Mages which include the ability to understand spirits of the dead (regardless of their living language) at 2^nd level, increased skill with Knowledge checks regarding information related to death (the dead, undead, necromancy, ceremonies, burial places) at 5^th level, innate ability to use the speak with dead spell at 10^th level, the ability to delay death in himself or allies at 15^th level, and eventually the ability to return new dead to life as if he used the resurrection spell at 20^th level.

The second component is the Death Mage’s Pale Road ability. At 1^st level, a Death Mage must choose a path to walk that determines one or two (all but the Corpse Mage gets 2 abilities at 1^st level) special abilities at 1^st level and another at 8^th level.

The Corpse Mage road gives the Death Mage the ability to command undead as well as the ability to gain zombie or skeletal minions similar to the Leadership feat. Minions develop into special undead like burning skeletons or fast zombies as the Death Mage increases in level (to the point of even being able to attract a vampire cohort).

The Ghoul Mage road imbues the Death Mage with the power to regain hit points and bonuses to attack rolls, saving throws, and skill check by feasting on the dead. That’s pretty sick (and right up my alley)! Ghoul Mages can also sicken or paralyze opponents with touch attacks.

The road of the Tomb Mage allows a Death Mage to control fear and pain. Tomb Mages are immune to pain and fear effects and have powers that inflict those conditions upon their enemies.

Death Mages opposed to the undead will probably take the road of the Reaper Mage. Reapers cannot create or command undead, but benefit from increased hit points and the uncanny ability to automatically stabilize when they reach negative hit points (as well as increasing the point of death by half their class level). They also gain additional melee damage (which is twice as effective against undead) as well as field that reduces the power of undead within its range.

The final path is the road of the Shadow Mage. Death Mages on the road of shadows benefit from persistent prestidigitation, unseen servant, and spectral hand spells. Additionally, they may use the shadow conjuration or shadow evocation spells to emulate any or bard conjuration or evocation spells in addition to wizard/sorcerer spells. Finally, Shadow Mages gain the ability to summon shadows.

The final component is the Death Bond. At 3^rd level, a Death Mage may chose to gain an unbreathing companion, access to either the death or repose cleric domains, or to create a fetish. The unbreathing companion functions much like a druid’s animal companion; albeit as a magical beast of the unbreathing subtype and calculated as if the Death Mage were a druid of two levels lower. Domains are handled just like the Death Mage was a cleric of the same level and includes bonus domain spells.

The third option, fetishes, is an altogether new mechanic. A fetish contains a collection of powers (2 to start, then one additional power every odd level) that are only effective against creatures of a type it is attuned to. That being said, a fetish can be attuned to any number of types by attaching small trophies taken from the corpse of a freshly slain creature. Some example powers include imposing negatives to saves against your spells, dealing additional damage, making a melee weapon your fetish, transferring powers to allies, and using the fetish like a voodoo doll to inflict damage on enemies.

Verdict

I have a few issues concerning how balanced each of the Pale Road paths and Death Bonds are, though I would really have to confirm my concerns by play testing a character from each road/bond to confirm my suspicions. I also have my doubts that this class is on par with the Pathfinder RPG base classes in terms of power and balance, but that is not necessarily a bad thing (I still like the base classes setting the bar for playability).

That being said, I think the Genius Guide to: the Death Mage is a solid addition to anyone’s Pathfinder RPG game that is looking for that hard sought necromantic class that is still effective and fun to play.

Note: Scores are out of a possible 5.0 points.

Review by Michael Brewer

Available at RPGNow.com

Lots of guys have little black books, but mine is a mite bit different than most. The little black book on my shelf is full of monsters rather than phone numbers. It was intimidating because the majority of my friends prefer to play something superhuman than simply human. The idea of playing children is a tough sell to them when there are monster hunters, space pirates, and even anthropomorphic mice to choose from; nevertheless, the world of Little Fears has always intrigued me. In fact, the author’s own comments about playing children (play something you actually know) rings true to me. Well, the little book about children fighting the forces of Closetland has grown all up and I’m here to tell you about it.

When I look at the new edition (the Nightmare Edition) of Little Fears, I see some true growth. The artwork has improved, the material has expanded, and the direction seems a bit clearer.

Jason Blair has taken one of the more captivating RPGs in the past decade and made a worthwhile follow-up. There are things that didn’t make it to the new edition, things that changed somewhat, and huge heapings of all-around newness. I find it difficult to review this book and not talk about the original 2001 version, so bear with me when I do.

This 194 page PDF looks a great deal like the original except that the two-column format has been discarded in favor of a single-column format. At first, I didn’t like this; however, the end result looks less crammed together than it did the first time around. The bordering along the top and bottom look smart as do the font choices, although the font may make you think your eyes are getting blurry by the night’s end. Sidebars look great as well by flipping to the negative (white font against a black background). Blair handled his own layout and the final result makes for an engaging read.

The moody artwork of the original edition always appealed to me. When I first saw the new cover, I worried that this version would have a comic-booky tone to it. After seeing the full book and comparing it to the original, I believed I understood the new direction. Little Fears 2001 often reminded readers of the terrors children across the world face. For some, this is a taboo subject and runs dark for many tables. I personally hold to one of John Wick’s tenants and wish more people would “get a helmet.” Little Fears 2009 backed off of the real world horror a wee bit and reminded readers of a few inspirations to make this game fun:

1. Kids have a great deal of imagination. Try to let go of your bills, jobs, and other responsibilities for a couple of hours and remember what that was like.
2. Kids make great heroes. If you don’t believe me, take it up with the Goonies or Monster Squad

The point is that the change in flavor not only suits the new edition, it enhances it. The art throughout the book comes from a talented group of artists. I found Veronica Jones cover art and the chapter lead-in art to catch the book’s revamped mood. The only downside to the artwork in this edition is that it is much rarer. The first edition had artwork on every fourth page (usually every other page). This version can go for as many as thirteen pages without artwork (it usually has something on every fifth page or so). The artwork in the original was good, so I won’t make a quality versus quantity argument here. My guess is that the extra writing filled in the space once used for the artwork.

This book is wrapped around six chapters and some extras at the end. Chapter One–It’s All Just a Game–details the rules, Chapter Two–To Be Young Again–gives character creation rules, Chapter Three–Someone To Watch Over Me–offers the first round of GM advice, Chapter Four–It’s a Big World Out There–looks at the world on the “normal” side, Chapter Five–Behind the Door–goes (you guessed it) into Closetland, and Chapter Six–Spooky Stories–gives Game Masters some material to run for those spur-of-the-moment games. Let’s take a breather before moving back a step and peering a little more at some of these chapters.

The rules to Little Fears: Nightmare Edition are different even though they possess similar elements. I won’t go into the older rules here for simplicity’s sake. The core rules of the game are this:

1. Everyone (GM included) explains what their character will do.
2. Checks are made.
2a. If the Check is a success, the roller narrates the aftermath.
2b. If the Check is a failure, the GM narrates the aftermath.

This is the beating heart to the new system and, in itself, isn’t breaking any new ground. One bit to point out here are steps 2a and 2b. If the player wins, they narrate their stuff. If they lose, the GM does. Should the GM win or lose it appears they narrate the outcome. Some players may call foul to this. The model is very old school (and I’m actually a fan of the old model). Some groups may wish to “new wave” their game by letting the players narrate the Game Master’s failures. I see no major problem with that if that is what the group wants.

There are three times players roll:
Quizzes (Unopposed rolls)
Tests (Opposed rolls)
Exams (Sustained rolls)

In all of these, players will take a Quality and Ability and roll a number of six-sided dice equal to that total. Sixes explode. Rolling high is King. Rolls are sometimes a pass/fail situation. Most of the time, though, there are degrees of success and failure, which is covered by Passing Grades and Failing Grades. Belief is another component in the game. Characters have a ranking between one and seven.

These work like Drama Points, Karma, Bennies, and a slew of other familiar concepts. What is wicked cool about this (and something not all of the beforementioned mechanics do) is something Blair calls “believing in another.” Let me create an example.

Three kids who I’ll call Moe, Larry, and Curly are cornered by a vicious something-or-another from Closetland. Moe and Larry know Curly can take them out with a well-time Curly Shuffle, so they put their Belief tokens in front of Curly so that he has two additional dice. Curly believes in himself, so he puts a belief token in front of him too. Those three extra dice make for a healthy boost and a solid chance that these three stoo, er, rascals may get away.

Also, Belief may not cost you. If you risk the token for an action that proves successful, the token goes back to you. You don’t lose belief in something you see work. It strengthens. If the roll fails, the token is gone for the session. If the roll fails with failing grades, you lose the token and another. You’ll probably be crying like a little kid with a skinned knee too.

To back up a little though, I love collaborative efforts in gaming. I think the idea has been there since gamers started creeping into dungeons back in the seventies; however, many good mechanics are now in play to enhance this behavior.

Chapter Two’s character creation hasn’t changed a great deal from the original. There are still several “I am” statements to detail your character. Also, there is still the Mad Libs portion of character creation. As long as you’re not one of those people who put dirty words I all the blanks, this makes for some cool characters.

Blair offers some dos and do nots on being a good player. These are good notes for new gamers (and this may be many players first game). These notes wrap up the second chapter.

Chapter Three deals with the Game Master’s role in the game. A key part of this rests with the Episode sheet, a handy tool used to figure out where a session will most likely go. It’s highly doubtful players will surprise a game master by choosing some alternate path. Other points of interest in this chapter (to me) are Playaround Points (XP), Belief (another note on it), and customizing your game for various difficulties. I’ll touch on Belief again because Blair has made it the most useful part of this new edition.

As you age, you have birthdays. These birthdays have two effects on your character. One, they take a point of belief and, two, they add an ability point. When your belief gets down to one, you don’t lose the final point. You get to hang onto it BUT can only use it to believe in someone else. You can always have faith in a kid.

As with the player’s chapter, this chapter ends with some advice. The GM advice is every bit as sound as what you’ll find in the player’s chapter. There is a lot of focus on collaborative gaming though.

Chapter Four introduces a great many new elements to the game. We see some familiar concepts like Hand-Me-Downs alongside fully new ideas like the Nicks. The waking world has many allies for children to use in their fight against the Closetland’s monsters. You find the majority of them here.

Chapter Five is the new Closetland. Blair ditched the Kings and Demagogue in favor of more traditional monsters. Only Titania and the Boogeyman made it to this book with a minimal degree of change. The Boogeyman actually runs the show in this edition. I find myself missing the Kings.

Closetland is a darker place, nightmarish even. Monsters have a bit of distinction to them. There are regular, scary, and Big Bad monsters. Since I hate to give away too much about settings in my reviews.

Their little two-page introductions (and sketches) in the first edition seemed inspired to me. It’s not to say there are interesting characters in this book. Keep an eye out for Bunsworth von Hoppington should you chose to visit this world.

The final chapter offers some finely-crafted stories to try out for your first few sessions. I’ll leave this chapter alone at that point, but allow me to mention the extras as the book’s end. These play sheets cover rule cheat sheets, belief cheat sheets, episode sheets, and pages for characters, NPCs, and monsters. I like having all this information laid out so well.

Finally, any game that references an old sitcom like The Facts of Life wins points with me.

There are lots of inside jokes and not-so-inside jokes throughout this book. Good stuff to have smiles plastered on your face when your RPG makes a funny. There are some typos in the book, but mostly word-switches rather than misspellings (one error is on the description of Queen Titania).

My scores for Little Fears Nightmare Edition are:

Layout: Five out of Five Dice (Eye-Catching)
Artwork: Four out of Fice Dice (a little thin for some readers, but great artwork when used)
Writing: Five out of Five Dice (a welcome enhancement to an old favorite).
Overall: Five out of Five Dice (Passing Grades all around)

Review by Todd Cash

Available at DriveThruFantasy.com

The concept of a group of people investigating contemporary strangeness and paranormal events is not a new one, but this book provides a coherent and well-considered approach to what is going on that makes it worth investigating.

It begins with a short Introduction that provides the obligatory “what is role-playing?” explanation and describes the core premise of the game: that the characters are members of a society dedicated to hunting out the truth. It also states that the following four chapters can be read by players and game masters alike, while the rest is best left to the game master alone. As with any game in which there are secrets to unearth, it’s best not to know those secrets in advance if you are one of the people trying to unearth them… but it does presuppose that only one member of your group wishes to game master at least for this system.

The second chapter gives the background history of the remarkable man, Jerico Usher, who laid the groundwork on which the character’s society – the Seven Dogs Society – is based. As this would be known to a member of the Society, it’s regarded as ‘open access’ and tells how a seemingly blessed Renaissance Man appeared to lose it totally and sink into madness, albeit well-funded madness, before disappearing leaving a loyal follower to actually organize the Society. Note the ‘well-funded’ bit – unlike many such groups of seekers after truth, your characters want for nothing in terms of resources, freeing them to concentrate on their search without having to worry about mundane matters like the rent or where the next meal is coming from… or even what your boss wants.

Chapter 3 provides a comprehensive description of the Society’s base, a mansion in Alaska. Luxuriously-appointed with just about everything you could wish for – including an excellent library and a high-speed Internet connection – you’ll find everything you need to know about the place that will become your team’s home. Again, the assumption is that the players will know all about it – the basic premise is that the game will open about a month after they have accepted an invitation to join the Society, so they will have had time to explore. This includes a fascinating section called the Annexe, where doors lead into remote and unlikely places… such as the Amazon river basin, a used car lot in Mexico and the French Bibliotheque Nationale.

Next, Chapter 4 looks at Characters – the underlying rule mechanics for creating them (the rest of the game mechanics are in the following chapter, Mechanics). It’s a very basic and simplistic system, while allowing for considerable flexibility and customization of your character to be precisely what you want him to be. Those who like very precise game mechanics might prefer to use another contemporary system (I’d recommend either Spycraft or the New World of Darkness core rules), but for those for whom the unravelling of the plotline is of key importance and die-rolling just a means for combat and other task resolution this should suffice, particularly if the game master is adept at assessing a situation and determining the results of character actions without need for rules to refer to!

Whether you use the ruleset here or import another, however, you will need to pay attention to one component: the special powers which each character has to have. To be eligible for membership of the Society, a character needs to have at least one extraordinary and unexplained (at least for now…) power, ranging from quite minor ones like being able to sense that something’s not quite right, through rather fun ones like the ability to know your way around a place you have never visited before to really strange abilities like time travel. While the characters will have no idea how they came to have these abilities, it does fit in with the underlying story which they will, in time, discover… perhaps.

Mechanics out of the way, Chapter 6 takes a look at Anomalous Phenomena. This chapter includes a good overview of how to go about investigating an incident (useful even if you are an avid watcher of such TV shows as the X-Files or Poltergeist: The Legacy – both, incidentally, recommended if you want some ideas for events to be investigated) which should also prime the game master as to what evidence he needs to have ready for the characters to find! It also presents some thumbnail sketches of events you may wish to use, in very general terms – you will still need to work out the specifics of each one before play. Things covered include spontaneous human combustion, crop circles, UFOs, alien abduction and other standard fare.

Then things get a bit more interesting, although this is moving into Game Master territory. Chapter 7, Revelations, provides a unifying theory which ties together Jeremiah Usher, the characters’ own abilities and the sort of paranormal events suggested in the previous chapter. With some highly speculative use of modern cosmological theory mixed in with ancient myth, it actually holds together quite well and means that the game master will be empowered to create his own mysteries which fit in with this underlying concept.

Chapter 8 is entitled Game Mastering, and looks at the nuts and bolts of putting together individual game sessions and complete campaigns that are both original and faithful to the core concept of this game, and how to run them in a way that is both effective and fun. This is done in part by creating a sample investigation, which you could even use more or less as is with a little extra work to flesh it out, or which provides a useful template for creating your own events for the characters to investigate. Anyone who runs games in which investigation features could benefit from reading this. There are also plenty of ideas for extending some of the specific concepts of the underlying theory that is the core of this game, so as to enable the characters to come closer and closer to the ‘Truth.’ One artifact to be investigated are the few remaining pages of Usher’s own writings, the ‘Usher Codex,’ and these are presented in facsimile (along with a game master-only explanation of what the symbols and cryptic comments mean). If you own the PDF, print out a copy for your players, but if you have the book version it will be better to make use of a photocopier rather than rip them out (for a start, some of the explanation is on the back of one of the pages!). There’s more: other people investigating the same phenomena as your characters may be friendly or hostile, and plenty of ideas for extended campaigns which might, just might, see your players unravelling the lot and becoming fully enlightened beings…

Finally, Chapter 9 presents an introductory adventure called From the Heavens to get the ball rolling. It’s a well constructed investigative adventure involving a sudden influx of extraterristrials in a Mid-West university town, and demonstrates the sort of evidence that you’ll need to have ready for the characters to find. It is admittedly short on action, but there are a couple of suggestions as to how to provide something a bit more physical for those players who want to include combat in their games.

Overall, this is a game based on a coherent underlying concept which holds together well. Mechanically it is a bit weak, but given the nature of the game this should not be a problem and as the mechanics are not vital you can easily substitute another contemporary ruleset if you prefer. The whole plot, from what the characters know initially to the full revelation – if they get that far – has been thought through and is consistent, enough for you to be able to believe that it might be true. If you like paranormal investigations, this game is well worth a look.

Review by Megan Robertson

Also look for Tales of the Seven Dogs Society, three novellas based on the Aletheia RPG.

Available at RPGNow.com

Certain time periods are overused in RPGs. This game, which comes to us from Flying Mouse Games (thanks for the reviewer’s copy), actually works the opposite angle. We may see many takes on Queen Victoria’s reign; however, Queen Elizabeth’s tenure is a little bit more open to exploration.

The default setting for this RPG allows players to take on the roles of adventurers under the leadership of Queen Elizabeth and John Dee. That is the core to this book, its heart. This 234 page PDF offers a wealth beyond that singular idea.

In my Eclipse Phase review, I phrased the series of two-page overviews that were designed to give readers some quick insight into the game. OHMAS would have benefited from doing something similar. This book breaks everything down into nearly paragraph-by-paragraph definitions. An example will make more sense. The book runs in two columns, but not in the same way more games are laid out. One column is the dedicated text while the other column works as quick links.

Sometimes this secondary column also offers examples or “sidebar” extras, but mostly it works to define terms. The end result may have the word “invisibility” on one side while a paragraph explaining how that power works falls to the other side. With an insanely detailed set of bookmarks for the PDF, this almost works for me. A more traditional layout with an index would have been a stronger approach. The chosen approach looks like a heavily detailed outline for a much larger book. Also, the vast majority of the pages do not have any attractiveness to them. No borders. No color. There are various tables throughout the book to shake up things.

The artwork in this game is limited to the chapter headings and a few hits throughout the chapters (mainly in the chapter dedicated to important NPCs). For those VIP NPCs, the decision was to go with open source paintings of the factual individuals. We see Doctor John Dee, the Queen of the Scots, and Shakespeare (to name a few). Although it makes it look a bit like a history book, this really was the best way to go with these figures. The colored paintings at the heads of the chapters are mostly forgettable; however, I really enjoyed the painting for the “Dice Mechanic” chapter. In this, the artist has painted a giant black and white D20 while an overworked mechanic (armed with a wrench) works on it. In the section devoted to various areas of the United Kingdom, links to free source mapping is available. These are centuries old maps that are more useful as authentic props than they are anything else.

Writing breaks down into two areas, which are setting and system. The setting materials for the game are present, but their layout makes it more drab than it should be. System, however, proves to be Bowley’s stronger suit. There are some interesting things going on with this game’s system. Let’s start with the game’s basic mechanic, the Skill Check. We’ll use the example from the book:

A Skill Check is made by rolling a number of d20s equal to the skill rank +1. The Target Number is the character’s Governing Attribute. The Governing Attribute for Firearms is COOR, thus a character with Firearms+4 and a COOR of 9 would roll 5 d20, and count any die that rolled 9 or less.

This is a bit quirky, but not a mind-blowing take on dice chucking. No, the cooler aspects of the game come into play with how characters are approached. We’ll hit character creation first.

You start character creation by making your character as a ten-year-old. This is your groundwork. You then move through the carefully laid-out steps to finish your “game ready” character.

This approach helps deter characters that don’t make sense or are mini-maxed. As you make choices for your character, certain areas become off-limits to your character while a wealth of other possibilities opens up. Since not everyone is a history buff, this character creation system shines. There are lots of options in this book for players to play. Players can take on the purely mundane, the magical, and even the partially divine.

Long term looks are, for me, the strongest part to OHMAS. There are several points that this comes up in the game. Each adventure (not each session) is assumed to take up a year for the character (not that the adventure itself took a year). This means that when three sessions devoted to hunting down a rouge witch wrap up the PC will be a year older when they are entrusted to protect a mystic text for a handful of sessions. It’s not that more didn’t happen over the course of a year for the characters (and players are encouraged to fill in those blanks), it just works to prevent the idea that a character saved the princess, destroyed a horde of zombies, delved into Hell to combat a demon, and six other impossible things inside of a month. Unintentional or not, this also works to make a campaign finite (something I love). Troupe-style play is also suggested to keep players engaged when their character cannot be in a scene. This little focus on chronology would work in any game and I like seeing the ideas here.

Overall, I felt like this RPG is an ashcan. It has heaps of promise, but needs work to achieve it.

There are unneeded tables and attention to what are minute details. These would be more forgivable is more materials existed on what players were supposed to be doing with this game. A 2.0 version of this game would streamline the system (it’s a good system that is just a little overworked here) and expand on the setting. These thoughts lead me to giving OHMAS the following scores:

Layout: Two out of Five Dice (looks like an unfinished project)
Artwork: Three out of Five Dice (lots of free source, but well-used)
Writing: Three out of Five Dice (a higher score to the ideas for system alone)
Overall: Three out of Five Dice (Worth it if you love the setting and want to try a different style of play)

Review by Todd Cash

Available at DriveThruHorror.com
Also available at Amazon.com

If you are already a fan of the Supernatural TV show and want to play out the kind of adventures that happen to its protagonists, this book will come as a real treat. If you don’t know the show, or are just looking for a game in which present-day heroes deal with supernatural menaces, this probably is not the game for you.

Written throughout in a casual style (almost as if written by Dean Winchester) and laid out in full colour with lots of (uncaptioned, alas, and rather dark) shots from the show as well as evocative collections of items that might rest on a hunter’s desk, the work begins with an Introduction by Sara Gamble, one of the show’s writers. Clearly, she’d quite like to join in, and it ought to get you into the right mood for this game from the outset.

Then the book jumps right in with Chapter 1: Be Afraid of the Dark. This is a wide-ranging chapter that covers the underlying concept of the game, the mood of the show which you’ll be trying to recreate, and setting the scene of an elite group of ‘hunters’ who deal with menaces that most ordinary folk do not even believe exist outside of legends and stories. There’s an overview of the sorts of nasty things these hunters will face – as well as other hassles such as local law enforcement, lack of a reliable income (if full time hunters) and the effect of their lifestyle on family and friends. Assuming you want to run your game in Continental America, there’s an overview of some of the likely places supernatural menaces are to be found… this covers virtually every bit of the United States so whatever locale you fancy there ought to be something for you.

Next, Chapter 2: The Basics covers just that – the basics of the Cortex rule system – certainly in enough detail to play the game. Aspiring referees (and players wanting to use the rules to their full effect) will find a lot more detail in Chapter 6: The Rules. And that’s another good thing about this book, you are constantly directed to what it will be useful to read next, depending on your needs at the time. Starting with a brief explanation of what role-playing is and the role of player and game master, it moves on to introduce the dice used in the Cortex System and the way in which the capabilities of a character (or monster) are described and used from a game mechanics point of view – and all with reference to where you put it on the character sheet. There is even sufficient detail for you to understand what is going on during a combat or other mechanics-heavy moment in the game.

The basics explained, on to Chapter 3: The Hunters, which gets down to the detail of actually creating your character ready to play. Everything is based around your concept for a character, with a point-build system to allow you to set him up just as you please. And if you prefer to play one of the Winchester boys or one or two other major characters from the show, they are presented in full detail. An interesting feature is Traits – which come as Assets or Complications. They confer modifiers in appropriate situations, but Complications can (if well role-played) also gain the player Plot Points – freely usable bonuses to die rolls at a time of your choosing. The chapter rounds out with the advancement system.

Chapter 4 looks at Traits and Skills – basically explaining what is available and how to use them in game mechanic terms, then character creation is completed with a trip to the store, or at least Chapter 5: The Gear. This is quite abstracted, both in terms of detail (if you want to describe your weapons in loving terms, fine, but here you get generic statistics for each type!) and cost as a ‘lifestyle’ system is used to abstract the sort of thing that you can afford based on background and status – while you can get prices from a store and work out wages, cash in hand, etc.; accountancy is not what this game is about so you don’t need to track every last cent unless you really want to do so!

Characters done, Chapter 6: Rules provides all the detail that the game master – or most avid rules-lawyer – could need to enable the game to run smoothly, logically and fairly. Suitably given the subject matter, there is a cinematic feel and GMs are advised that excessive die-rolling can spoil the flow of the game, and to require rolls only when there is a definite need to allow for an element of chance. However, when the need arises for rules mechanics, these are explained clearly with plenty of options to enable you to tailor them to the precise circumstances in your game. The theme of Plot Points is expanded with suggestions as to how players can use them not just to enhance a roll but to create favourable circumstances, like finding precisely the right weapon to deal with a given monster just lurking forgotten at the bottom of your bag. Plenty of detail is given to the mechanics of combat and chases as well, also all-important information on getting injured and recovering from the damage. Considering the nature of adversaries, attention is also paid to the characters’ mental state with rules for getting scared or even losing your grip in the face of Things That Should Not Exist…

Chapter 7 is entitled – and aimed at – The Game Master. There’s nothing game-destroying should a mere player read here, more just things that are more appropriate for a GMs use. Things like actually running games, pacing, levels of control to exert, even how to deal with rules lawyers (a gem: “This is one of the few times after pre-school when ‘because I said so’ is still a valid response!”) Creating the right atmosphere and tone is also covered, as well as preparing adventures, realizing that different GMs work best with differing balances between pre-planning and scripting everything and running the entire adventure freeform off the top of your head. The overall setting – horror in contemporary America – is already chosen for you, but there are lot of options within the broad theme as to how you wish to address it in your game. For example, are the characters footloose wanderers seeking out monsters to hunt, or have the monsters chosen to come visit them in their home town and they have to step up to defend all that they hold dear? However much you prepare, there are some useful thoughts about how an individual adventure should be organised to best effect (quite useful general advice, and certainly apposite to the sort of adventures you’d run for this game).

Chapter 9: The Supernatural is an overview of some of the commoner types of adversaries that the characters might encounter in their hunt. As the authors admit, you’d need a whole library to cover the myths around even a few of the most well-known monsters; and so the emphasis here is on how to use monsters within your game rather than bare facts (except of course example game statistics) about them – both Game Master and players will do well to undertake their own research into what the legends say. Information sources, especially those available in-game to the characters, are well explored. There’s a good section on how the characters can apply various skills to their search for information. The details given about the monsters themselves are vague enough that players can safely read most them, although perhaps unless they can justify their characters having a pre-existing interest before the game begins, even this may be more than ‘ordinary’ people, the ones who don’t credit the existence of such beasts, would know. There are some examples given that are best left to the GM.

Finally, Chapter 9: The Mundane looks at everything else the characters will encounter, in main a series of locations and the sort of people likely to be found there. There are also some of the more likely wild animals – such as bears and cougars – that might cause confusion to a hunter who sees the supernatural behind every attack. The overriding feel is ’small-town America’ and even to one who has never been there it’s beginning to come to life in my mind as backdrop to the adventures. An Appendix gives some ‘Hunter Jargon’ – and the recipe for a drink called a Purple Nurple! There’s also some suggest background music, then the Index and a character sheet rounds the whole thing off.

If you enjoy the TV show and want a game specifically tailored to its nuances, this is for you. It is presented beautifully and atmospherically, and should empower you to recreate the show in your game. It could even spread to wider, but similar, themes – say you wanted an X-Files or Warehouse 13 themed-game.

Review by Megan Robertson

Available at RPGNow.com

Set in a New Orleans that never was, and certainly is not now, post-Katrina, this atmospheric work opens with a story that sums up the edgy infighting of vampiric unlife (provided you can read thin block capitals on a heavily-patterned background – better contrast would have improved my enjoyment of this bit!). The introduction following the story explains how New Orleans seems a city made for the gothic horror feel of Vampire: The Requiem, and explains how the material in the core rulebook perhaps represents common knowledge (and misinformation) about the city, while herein lies the real truth. Thus it is clear from the outset, that this book is intended mainly for Storytellers and not for general player consumption.

The first chapter, A Look Back at the Big Easy, sets the scene with an overview of the city’s history from the vampiric standpoint. (References at the end of the introduction will serve those who want to study the history of the living city.) Entwined through the real history of New Orleans, this shows how both the style of leadership and those currently in power came to be, with particular note of the relationships and rivalries between the two main religions: Catholicism and Vodoun. Given the lengthy unlife of a successful vampire – particularly since some of the earliest known New Orleans undead are still there and in positions of power – this history already begins to stir ideas of how characters can become involved in this rich stew of intrigue.

Chapter 2 is Points of Entry, and looks at the city as it is tonight. It is teeming with life, and particularly suited to vampires given the fascination with and acceptance of many things which are strange and bizarre. In particular, this chapter focuses on characters new to the city, a good resource for a Storyteller whose players decide (or are led) to go there for the first time. It’s always a good way to start, else you run into the problem of your character knowing more about a place than you, his player, does: as a new arrival you can both explore the potentials and dangers together. There is a lot of detail about the intrigues and customs surrounding Vidal, the ruling prince; who requires feudal-level loyalty and subservience mixed with Catholic ritual from all who wish to spend more than a night or two in the city. The chapter rounds out with an overview of the different parts of the city. A rough map is provided, but if you like a lot of geographic detail you would do well to get a map or guidebook of the real city to use in conjunction with this gazetteer.

Next, Chapter 3 is called Games of the Elders. If you thought the earlier chapters contained a lot of intrigue, this contains even more… and plenty of ways in which characters whatever their age and experience can play a pivotal role in ongoing events. Again it is emphasized that the New Orleans presented in the Vampire core rules is common perception, the one described here is the true one… or at least, as far as the Storyteller chooses to allow it to be. The chapter rounds out with full game statistics for many of the leading players.

Chapter 4 is Wheels within Wheels. Rumours, relationships, plots and counter-plots: enough to keep the most political content and yet also capable of being woven into schemes that will keep the more active vampires busy as they choose – or are chosen – to play their part in these machinations. The city begins to come to life (unlife?) here as we meet many of the ‘ordinary’ vampires who inhabit it and find out what they are doing and how they will interact with any PC vampires they meet. Possible events and adventures are signposted, but just reading the text suggests many more.

Following on, Chapter 5: Working the Street presents more of the same, with an accent on crime and law enforcement, and in extension, politics. Here the paths of the living and the undead cross in myriad ways, and all may lead to adventure, excitement, intrigue and advancement… or something far less pleasant.

All these various players and their plots introduced, Chapter 6 turns to the serious business (or pleasure) of Storytelling in this particular setting. It talks about drawing all the above mentioned information together and picking out the bits you want for the chronicle you want to run… even how to let the players do the work as they create characters and suggest avenues that they might wish to explore once play begins. There’s even the suggestion that if you want to run a game in which mortal characters discover some of what makes the World of Darkness so dark, this could be an excellent place in which to do it. Ideas leap off of every page… even the prophetic one of having a hurricane damage the city, and chronicle the activities of vampires as well as mortal citizens as they attempt to survive and then rebuild. Be you an experienced Storyteller or trying out your first time on the other side of the screen, there is plenty here to get you thinking as you plan and then run your chronicle.

Finally, Chapter 7: The Dead Travel Fast presents a complete introductory adventure that can be used to bring new characters into New Orleans and set them up for… well, whatever you have in mind for later on. Drawing on the atmospheric tale told at the beginning of this book, the characters witness a murder and have to cope with the aftermath, throwing them into contact – if not conflict – with all three major factions in town as well as many other notable undead. Best suited to neonate vampires newly arrived in New Orleans they will soon be swept into the thick of the action. Detail is sufficient for this to support a first-time Storyteller, while the storyline is flexible enough for a more experienced one to play around with it to his heart’s content.

Overall, this book provides a magnificient setting for a Vampire: The Requiem chronicle, with enough supporting material to keep everyone busy from dusk to dawn. If you are wondering what to do with those new Vampire characters your friends have just created, you will find plenty of inspiration here!

Review by Megan Robertson

Available at RPGNow.com

Who watched cartoons when they were growing up? Or still watches them, perhaps covertly, today? (You don’t need to answer that!) In the Foreword the point is made that not only are cartoons very entertaining for youngsters, they also provided a fertile inspiration for games on the playground… so why not for role-playing as well?

Channel 1: Introduction (to promote the TV show feeling, ‘chapters’ are called ‘channels’!) begins by attempting to define what sort of cartoons this game is intended to emulate – the 1980s action-adventure ones, which have been grouped together as ‘retro-toons.’ Now I’m a bit old to have been entranced by them (I graduated in 1980!), but certainly caught the odd episode and can see the appeal. Typified by boundless enthusiasm, violence that was brief and never seemed to draw blood (although robots came apart a lot) and no difficulty whatsoever in distinguishing between the Good Guys and the Bad ‘Uns, the sheer innocence and capacity for boundless fun is at the center of their appeal. Next comes the usual ‘this is what role-playing is’ piece, with one of the best explanations of the role of the rules in an RPG I’ve heard in a long time, and an example of play. Then there’s an overview of the rules and the concepts behind them. It’s pretty simple. Using a D12, you add any appropriate Traits you have and attempt to beat a Difficulty Number determined by the GM to succeed at what you are trying to do. If you’re in combat, you and your opponent roll and whoever gets the higher result is victorious. Finally, a run-down of some of the seminal cartoons upon which this game draws, along with the author’s personal reflections. The only one of them that I recall is He-Man, but I can think of plenty other similar cartoons that fit the bill – reflection, perhaps, that I watch British TV rather than American!

Channel 2: The Series is aimed mainly at the GM and looks at how to decide on the underlying concepts for your game. After all, unlike many games, there are so many different things that you could do under the broad setting of a ‘retro-cartoon’ that players are not going to be able to start thinking about suitable characters until you tell them what your particular cartoon series is about! (If you are bereft of ideas, the Appendix has some to start you off; or of course you can choose to base your game on a cartoon you’ve watched.) To facilitate this, you create a Series Guide (for which a form is provided in another Appendix) and circulate it to prospective players. It has four sections in which you set out what you intend – series information, PC creation quirks, rules information and cast information. And, of course, you’ll want to start with a catchy name for your show. A tagline and a few paragraphs to cover the premise round out your series information. Think about the sort of introduction the show might have (maybe a voice-over to the opening sequence), or what would appear in the TV guide. Things like who the heroes and their main opponents will be, and the main setting(s) in which the action will take place belong here. Then you also need to decide on how many points have to build characters and any particular requirements that you have – a game set in the upper layers of a massive jungle will need characters who can fly or climb, for example. This process outlined, the discussion moves on to look at common themes which you can draw upon. Plenty to get you thinking, but it’s clear that a fair bit of work will be needed before you start playing.

Next, Channel 3 looks at Character Creation, running through an overview of the process by means of an annotated version of the character sheet. One neat idea is to envision your character as an action figure toy, as many of the 1980s cartoons had associated toy lines. Another is to try describing the character in phrases or ‘Factoids’ rather than a full-blown background essay. Rather than the conventional attributes and skills used in many RPGs, characters in this game use Traits – which are one-word or a phrase descriptor of either something the character can do or something that he possesses. While you have a free rein in choosing Traits, try to be fairly specific… and plenty of ideas are provided to get you going. It’s a point-buy system, the cost of each Trait depends on what it is and how good you are at it, and will need to be negotiated with the GM. Characters who transform or shape-shift need to work out Traits for all forms they can adopt, and a similar system is used for Companions and for vehicles.

Characters designed, Channel 4: Rules of Play discusses how game action is resolved. The key concept is that it’s a game of telling stories, and any rules are subordinate to that intention, and only need be used when the GM feels it is appropriate to add an element of chance to an outcome of a task and similar occasions. The mechanical use of Traits to resolve tasks is discussed at length, with plenty of examples in case you find the very clear explanation hard to follow. More complex rules such as those for chases and combat (which is turn-based) are also covered. The interesting thing about combat is that as there are no ‘combat’ Traits per se, it is up to each participant in a fight to decide which Traits to use to attack others or defend themselves. Moreover, characters accumulate Setbacks rather than being injured, and when they have four Setbacks they are defeated and the victor gets to describe what happens. It’s quite abstract, but once you get the hang of it swift and often hilarious brawls ensue.

The Rules chapter also covers character advancement and a section on how to play according to the spirit, the concept, of this particular game. This leads naturally on to Channel 5: Game Mastering. This covers further rules more appropriate to GM use, material on NPCs… and even rules for simulating commercial breaks! (Perhaps that’s taking the TV cartoon metaphor a bit far…) More conventional rules for things like fires and falling – always important in cartoons! – also feature. There’s plenty about building a ’supporting cast’ of allies and bystanders as well as villains and their crew, with suggestions on how to bring them into the story to good effect. Actual writing and running of scenarios is given plenty of attention too: not just good advice about structure but showing how it fits into the cartoon mode. The chapter rounds off with general Game Mastering advice, mostly concerned with actually running the game. All sound stuff, and again, neatly woven into the cartoon nature of this game rather than general points (although they are worth remembering whatever you are running.) The bit on ‘cartoon logic’ is particularly illuminating about what makes this genre so different from any other games you might play.

Now on to the promised Appendices.

Appendix 1: Featured Series provides a wealth of ideas for the GM scratching his head over ideas for their cartoon show. Three ideas are presented, complete enough that you can use them without much need for further work. There are even ideas for individual adventures within each overarching concept, although those are going to need further development before they are ready for play; and for those in a rush, some pre-generated characters suitable for the particular concept and some ready-made villains for them to defeat. They are all good fun, and depending on your own and your players’ tastes, all three have the potential to make an entertaining game. Although the three shows are given a back-story not just for the cartoon itself but about how it came to be in the ‘real world’ these are just marvelous invention, real as they sound they are not genuine 1980s TV cartoons!

Appendix 2: Miscellaneous Stuff includes conversion notes if you want to draw on the first edition of Cartoon Action Hour, a character sheets and the Designer’s Notes. Fascinating reading if you like to know what’s behind a game, as well as all about that game.

This is a beautifully put together game, really capturing the spirit of 1980s cartoons in both flavour and actual game mechanics, working together in a harmonious whole to empower the playing of an exciting game in this genre. All you need to do is ask yourself if you want to play 1980s TV cartoons… if you do, here is all you need!

Review by Megan Robertson

Available at RPGNow.com

The television show Supernatural may not be a holy experience for me; however, I hold it in high regards. While critics may pan its “model factor,” I hold that it’s one of television’s brightest shows about darkness. Being one of my favorite shows, I was ecstatic when the corebook was released. While it took awhile for that to happen, Supernatural Adventures followed in a timely fashion. A book of adventures proves to be a tall order for me. I like running my games, not the games somebody else created. Also, I love the series and find myself inspired by it regularly. These two factors play a huge role in my review for this book.

Let’s start with Digger Hayes graphic design. I think Hayes approach to the Supernatural line is the only approach to it. Just about all the hunters we see from the show seem to be a disorganized, messy lot. Hayes’ design for both the corebook and Adventures perfectly captures this. He manages to make the book look sloppy while maintaining an excellent layout (no mean feat). What you end up looking at are lots of Post-It Notes (especially as sidebars), torn pages, a spiral binding that works as a great interior border, and more. The format is a typical two column layout that isn’t distracting (I’ll go into the dangers of distractions later in the review).

There isn’t much artwork in this book. With media tie-ins, artwork tends to be stills from the show, which gets a little tiresome to me. The artwork consists of photography for the cover (which makes sense from a marketing angle) and artwork for each adventure’s introduction. The artwork comes from Dan Bryce and Nick Kremenek. Their direction for the art was dead-on with what would expect from the show. The art looks like snippets from old occult texts (Medieval, in most cases). While it may not be the most jaw-dropping artwork I’ve seen, it’s so well conceived for this book.

There are five adventures in this book. All five average in at about fifteen pages apiece (the PDF is 97 pages). A one-page introduction offers a few insights towards the adventures’ structure and a smattering of solid GM tips geared towards running published adventures. The adventures have a good structure to them. I’ll address one idea that can be applied to this quintet of adventures. Each adventure begins with a synopsis before diving headfirst into rather detailed plots. The Devil is in the details, but a system for tracking the details would be nice. It feels like the creators had the same idea because they created an index for finding all the NPCs in the book.

For me, this isn’t enough. I enjoy the idea White Wolf runs with in their adventures (the Story Cards). Since this book is so interested in Acts and Scenes and other bits of literary breakdown, an outline would not have been hard to cobble together. The introduction also lacked something that fell into the third adventure: rule options. The third adventure offers a new Asset and stats for some more ordinary folk. These would have been better placed in the introduction rather than tucked away in the middle of the book. One other aspect that spans all the adventures is the clever usage of the Caps Lock button. The Cortex system (the rules engine for Supernatural, Serenity, and Demon Hunters) is a difficulty-based system that works off descriptors like Easy, Average, and so forth. Anytime rolls are mentioned in the adventure that are worked into the writing and bold-faced. This trick lets game masters see how much dice play into adventures.

The adventures have quite a bit of range to them. Jess Hartley starts things off with Red Ghost, an investigative adventure set in the American Southwest. George Holochwost offers a rather unforgiving adventure that deals with alchemy. Graeme Davis delivers an adventure that, in my opinion, most captures the feel of the show. Ralph Dula throws a moral dilemma to players in his adventure. Finally, C.A. Suleiman takes a similar turn with questions of morality; however, the situation is wholly different and proves more cerebral than Dula’s.

Going into each adventure proves a disservice on two accounts. One, each of these adventures is so seeded with details that they read more like an outline for a novella than they do a simple layout for a night’s worth (five night’s worth) of gaming. Two, these adventures don’t offer anything concrete to review. There are no new rule tweaks to define. It would be a review based on pure opinion (surprisingly a bit of rational thought finds its way into my reviews . . . go figure).

What I will say is this. Each of these well-written adventures take an aspect of the show (investigations, monster-of-the-week, moral questioning) and builds an adventure atop it. It’s not to say that some adventures don’t utilize multiple layers. Each seems to spotlight one trait over all the others. The show works the same way. Mythos episodes feel different than the comedic ones (and it’s easy to see what you’re getting by the time you’re done with the previews). I suppose I find myself saying what I said about the artwork and layout: the writing fits its subject matter damn well.

For me, the strongest baby in this horrific quintet is Davis’ Hell Hound on My Trail. It deals with a lying demon (gasp) that sells the Hunters a story crookeder than a Coon Hell Hound’s hind leg. The Tsayid makes for a wonderful minor antagonist while the Hunters deal with the main problem (if they figure out that the Tsayid isn’t the major problem). This is the adventure Most Likely to See Action in My Supernatural Campaign, although I suspect five different readers will have five different favorites.

Adventure books are a tough sell for some Game Masters (Be honest. Players never buy the books after the corebook . . . and why would they buy an Adventure book unless they were dirty, dirty cheats?). Most Game Masters have a path for their players to burn through and detouring them (never railroading them) towards an outside idea runs the risk of tampering with the chemistry of the gaming group. This book works to prevent that and proves to do a better job than many adventures I’ve read over the years. I feel like I could drop one of these games on players without them ever knowing any better. With a wife and two kids, that kind of outside help is so very welcome! Creative monsters, mostly mental adventures, and ties to one of TV’s greatest shows prompts me to give Supernatural Adventures these scores:

Layout: Five out of Five Dice (Digger, Nice work)
Artwork: Four out of Five Dice (A rarity in this book, but what exists fits)
Writing: Four out of Five Dice (Good writing, but the placement and glance-unfriendly style proves a little bit of a turn-off)
Overall: (A Strong) Four out of Five Dice (Scarier than Spooky, but not Horrific adventures . . . OK?)

Review by Todd Cash