Role Playing Books

I have had the game for a while, and only recently purchased the book to get some pointers. Without reading any one section in its entirity, I am now able to get much farther in the game and have found information I had not previously discovered. The book is very readable, and designed so that you do not have to get a complete solution to the game if you wish only for help on a sticking point. I highly recommend this book be kept on hand if you have the game. I can honestly say that this book has raised my enjoyment of the game 100%.

I didn't think they could improve on the first version of Galactic Underground, but this new version is even better then the first.

I've never used the GM screen--I stick with my favorite RPG rules for the setting--but the deckplan of Serenity is a beautiful piece of art. It's not just useful for playing out fights on shipboard, it sets the mood at the table and makes players think about where their characters are working on board.

While I can't wait for the standard version to come out, I wanted people to know that a special, limited, deluxe version can be ordered from the company's website:

It's like 450 pages, hardcover, full color
2 game systems
And numbered - the first 500 are signed by GRRM himself!

Go to http://agot.guardiansorder.com/ to check it out!

Doin' my part to help fellow Canadians...

Vanu

Even if you do not play the game, the material included is a must for any fan of the Dark Angels. If you do play the game, this is one of the coolest army's to play, with some interesting flaws.

First the fly by..... looked nice, no over kill on the graphics, easy to read , well laid out.... designed to be read....

And then the reading....

"White Dwarf"..... was my favorite gaming Mag before it became Games Workshops Warhammer prop.... it had a great variety of systems, reviews, new stuff, etc etc... and I was thrilled to see that GF has come along and filled in that long open gap in my reading life.

I read the mag as a Player and a GM , not a D20 developer.

First What I don't Like

1. Interviews :
Sorry while I think Rob Kuntz does some great stuff and is indeed an idustry demi god, but his interview is about useful as cutting off my arm.....ditto for A'lis, nice art work, but again doesn't add anything for me as a GM or player, a d20 developers might like the interviews but for me, less please.

2. Stories :
There were less than i thought there were going to be, which was good. But I'd prefer that if there are going to be stories that they would be tied into some kind of feature or mini adventure, therefore making them more useful as scene setters. None of the three companies that gave in Fiction had any other related items in the Volume.

What could be better :

1. Reviews,
Seemed a little shallow, I'd like to see more of breakdown on the reviews of each product, for example on presentation, playability, Open Game Content, Ease of GMing, ease of integration into own campaign... rather than just a single score. Call me negative but I'd also like to see more of what I should not spend my money on.

The best.

1. On the Horizon and No Boundaries :
I may never play half the things that you cover in these two sections, but this is what i like best , seeing what else is out there, the Goodman Games stuff was excellent, the cool thing with D20 is that now if I want to take a ;little of what they have created and put it into any other d20 game I can...this is where OGL and d20 really rocks, back in White Dwarf days, taking a traveller adventure and adapting it for DnD was...well...not too easy.

2. Uncharted Territory
Moongoose.... I have to say that I will rushing out to [Amazon.com] to buy some of there stuff, you web review and the Sands of Death article both have shown me that while their cover art might be a little lacking the content is all value. A look at different campaign worlds in this section is excellent.

3. TOC :
Some people have said it's not clear, to them I say "i Bah!", well structured, grouped by type of content is a great way to do it...easy to find what I care about reading.

4. Graveyard / Shootin / Home front
All these small sections add great flavor to the mag, that personal touch that died in Dragon when they cut out that last page....what was it called, forgot sorry, this is great stuff, personal comments, thoughts ideas, DnD is about the players and GMs I like this stuff a lot.

Other comments, one off classes, monsters and magic, granted this is all in a way part of allowing D20 developers to show case their products, but I'd rather it was done in the same way as the Goodman Games piece.

What's missing :
d20 release calendar, let us know who is releasing what and when
Web Resources : Lets see some reviews or content on web resources available from d20 and independant sources, start with Mortality.net

Ads.... okay laugh, I like ads, it's the only way that I can know what's going on, there are NO RPG shops here, none at all, I can no window shop to see what is here nor see posters of what is coming soon, Ads are my contact with the world .

All in all a great mag, I love it, money well spent.

This is an excellent companion to the Gamma World players guide. It provides a lot of useful information about how to run a game set in the dangerous future "Gamma World."

More importantly, it gives clear, lucid and useful advise on how to be a good Game Master (GM). The instructions for how to run a Gamma World are the kind of "How To" articles that apply to virtually any gaming experience, and will be useful for aspiring GMs from a variety of gaming disciplines.

I'll say right now, that this work more than exceeded the goal that I had for it.

From the Author's Introduction on Page 5, "More than just a guide to a preconceived vision of a cosmology, this book actually gives you the tools to create your own multiverse."

What a statement. Meaning, this book is not "The Inner / Outer / Elemental Planes" as we know them from D&D (though it references those concepts), or a pre-generated setting such as that described in either editions of the Manual of the Planes (TSR, and WOTC); This book allows you to totally replace that setting with your own original creation (for any genre, not just fantasy) from the ground up, for those who don't want or need "The 666 Infernal Layers of the Abyss," who have a different vision of the Planes of Good, or who have their own vision of the Multiverse.

I found this book to be a refreshing eye-opener to "detailing" what I had formerly seen as "the way it was" as regarding the planes of existence for three decades of gaming.

Regarding the Contents:
From the beginning, this work is a paradigm-shifter. Urging the reader not to treat the Planes that they create with this work as yet another "dungeon in space," but instead to consider that "...you have the seeds of a mythology...every plane...every deity...in your setting says something about the cosmology."

You can use this book to build not only planes, but also what that means thematically in a creation much larger than that, of much vaster scope, with much greater implications.

The book is divided into three sections:
- A "cosmographer's mapping toolkit for the multiverse"
- The common types of these places as they are encountered
- "How metaphysical concepts are used to develop individual planes."

The language here is somewhat technical, and consists of physics-like jargon sprinkled with phrases like "dimensional matrices and space-time", "multidemensional metapysical tool" "matrices [are] formed where they meet some plane, sphere, or pocket universe," but with careful reading, I was able to comprehend it readily.

Certainly, the approach is from a person with at least some physics / cosmology background, with some (very brief) side trips into dimensional theory for the layman. Star Trek writers / gamers will eat this up. Certainly, anyone who has perused the D&D "Manual of the Planes" in any depth will "get" this.

Charts throughout the book, along with notes on how to implement this within a setting. There is no math, nor calculus involved, merely illustrating the concepts upon which the planes exist, and function. I got many, new ideas regarding my own game cosmology here, certainly.

This simple review cannot do especially Chapter 3 its deserved justice, with phrases in the Plane of Air section describing "a limitless expanse of sky...few places where one could rest...clouds, birds...a flying castle," or the Plane of Water, "islands of elemental spheres floating in the depthless ocean."

A final chapter of this section details the Aethereal Plane, connecting and binding the physical planes and metaphysical concepts. (I thought back the the Inner and Outer planes of D&D, the "force" from Star Wars, and other ideas.) Very well done, full of flavor and ideas.

Suggestions abound about what these Planes are for, how they work, what it means to your selected setting's story characters and mythology, along with traits and suggested names, with samples from real-world mythology "Hades" and "Heavenly", "accepted standard" fantasy gaming mythology, "The Abyss" and Gehenna", and others "Incarceratia - The Eternal Prison Sphere".

Again, many ideas are delivered here. Certainly, I found many sparkling gems which "Broke the Mold" of my prior thinking as regards the Outer Planes of traditional D&D, at least.

Regarding the Rest:
Finally, there is a real treasure trove here in some brief appendices in the back of the book, starting with p.111, Appendix A, Sample Planes, detailed enough in a little less than a page each, for a total of a little over 4 pages, with evocative descriptions, sufficient for a capsule description in your own "Manual of the Planes," or to use for a "flavor of the Plane" encounter.

Overall, I thought this work well worth the price of admission, for the vast number of new idea that it has already given me to spur my imagination, to delve into my subconscious, and thus reveal those thoughts, and concepts that make my creations truly mine, if I had the power to create a plane with some careful thought and consideration. With Cosmos Builder, that power can be yours, also.

Most definitely a valuable edition to any writer's / gamer's library for those who ponder and like to tinker with the concrete details of the construction of the planes of their own personal Multiverse, planning it out in detail, or exploring it as they go. I've added it to my growing library of tools/handbooks that I feel absolutely essential to game campaign creation.

Gatecrasher is a multi(or possibly omni)-genre rpg. The setting allows for high-tech and high magic, and is both creative and funny. That, coupled with the simple to use FUDGE rules, make this book an easy read, and a fun roleplaying game to play.

In short, this adventure is an elaborate dungeon crawl, with the party getting ever deeper in a mountain. Time is against them... if they fail, a horrible evil could be released, or they could be trapped inside the mountain! This adventure uses the 2nd edition AD&D rules, Player's option version. Now, while this would require some work to convert to the third edition rules, it wouldn't be too much of a hassle for a good DM. I cannot recommend this adventure enough. It is most probably the best I have purchased in my 10 years of role-playing. It has elements of horror inside it, and unlike many dungeons the place is truly alive... the players will have to use their heads, because the denizen react to their intrusions. The challenge level is quite high as well. Some of the traps are truly deadly, and the fights can be difficult. Diplomacy and stealth could be helpful, but only a stout party will make it. The dungeon is divided in 3 fairly distinct parts. This makes it easier for DMs, who don't necessarily have to prepare the whole adventure at once. This is a good thing, because it is a large dungeon (123 rooms I think) and will take a few sessions to complete at least. As a final note, this adventure is challenging both for the DM and for the players and isn't for novices... but it is definitely worth getting.