Role Playing Books

Lots of useful info and background, particularly useful if you are trying to run a campaign on the magnificent world Babylon 5 created for all of their fans.

It is a pity all the game supplements are so hard to find, I would love if someone reprinted them.

Lots of useful info and background, particularly useful if you are trying to run a campaign on the magnificent world Babylon 5 created for all of their fans.

It is a pity all the game supplements are so hard to find, I would love if someone reprinted them.

Lots of useful info and background, particularly useful if you are trying to run a campaign on the magnificent world Babylon 5 created for all of their fans.

It is a pity all the game supplements are so hard to find, I would love if someone reprinted them.

Lots of useful info and background, particularly useful if you are trying to run a campaign on the magnificent world Babylon 5 created for all of their fans.

It is a pity all the game supplements are so hard to find, I would love if someone reprinted them.

This sourcebook is very important if you have any EF personell as characters. Furthermore, it adds more equipment, skills and charactaristics. More importantly, it includes the Starship combat system for the Babylon Project. I like this system, although I have not had a chance to play it yet. It is fast, easy to understand and tactics are important. Moreover, it is one of the very few starship combat systems I have seen where ships obey the Newtonian Laws of Motion (except gravity drive ships, of course). The weapons chart was accidentally omitted from the book, but it can be downloaded from Chameleon Electric's web site and it was included in the Gamemaster's Screen, below.

To those of you trying to find an alternative to the overly commercialized D&D 3.5, C&C is a good start. It is much simpler and easier to play , but, in my opinion is still misses the mark. Nothing beats a good set of "House Rules". Is the book necessary...Yea ya gotta have monsters to vanquish, and this book fills the bill very well. All those D&D miniatures you have collected...use em. Once you have the basics C&C books (players hand book, castle keepers guide, and this book (monsters and treasures), you are ready to roll. In addition you can easily convert all your D&D stuff, books and all to C&C. BUT I MUST STRESS...If you don't like a rule...CHANGE IT! We checked out C&C, and are back to D&D 3.5 with a lot of C&C inspired "House Rules". This alone makes the C&C series worth a look.

Fantastic Monster Manual and treasure guide! This is essentially the GM/Castle Keeper's guide at the same time.

A perfect companion for C&C. Easy to use and a fince price to boot. This system is the best.

It's a darn nice book crammed with information and fun art. The layout is clear and easily recognizable by any old hand at these games as well as decipherable by those new folks.

Along with the Player's Hand Book, it makes for a complete game with all the information in your hands to run a fun adventure for your friends. So for less than the cover price of just one of the "official core rules" you get a complete game. Later they're coming out with a Castle Keeper's guide, but I'm not certain that will even be necessary.

This book is the perfect companion to the C&C Players Handbook. It gives you a nice selection of monsters along with some very beautiful black and white artwork done mostly by Peter Bradley. The book is very reminiscent of the old 1E Monster Manual and just paging through it instantly transports me back to the fun early days of gaming. The last 1/3 or so of the book gives you a nice assortment of magic items along with some very useful tables and charts. This book and the C&C Players Handbook make up the core rules for the Castles and Crusades RPG system. Additionally, the binding is strong and well done and looks as though it will last for many, many years despite heavy use at the gaming table.

I am reading my way through the White Wolf omnibus series and have just finished this one. There is only one word to describe the sweep and the depth of Moorcock's imagination -- awesome. It's no wonder so many other fantasy writers call him the Master.
This book, like the final book in the Elric series, has a dramatic and shocking ending, but that makes it all the better, all the more like a real myth. From books like Mother London and The Brothel in Rosenstrasse, through the Elric and Hawkmoon novels, to the most recent King of the City, Moorcock shows himself to be the greatest. A giant in modern fiction. Whether you like fantasy novels or literary fiction, I guarantee you will like the Corum series. Only Moorcock and Tolkien are the 'real thing'. Even in his minor work, he throws up concepts which other writers create entire series out of. He is one of the best and most influential writers of our age. Totally recommended!

In America at least, I think Moorcock has been overlooked as a notable pioneer in fantasy. At the very least he's merely underrated but as I read more and more of his work I realize how much he's influenced writers of today and the recent past, especially in the fantasy genre. Elric took the concept of the "anti-hero" and ran with it and Corum injects a whole heap of Celtic mythology into the proceedings, with quite entertaining results. Nowadays, some writers (Charles DeLint is the one who comes to mind right away) pretty much base their entire careers on building on those mythologies and folklores, but when Moorcock put all this stuff together, I don't think it was as common and I wonder what people thought of it at the time. This is another volume in White Wolf's Eternal Champion series and the second entire book to feature Corum (he's had cameos in other stories throughout) and this one basically wraps up his saga. Pound for pound I think Corum is a far more interesting character than Elric . . . Elric, while fun in a "gee what new tragedy will happen to him so he can complain about it" sort of way, probably has the biggest appeal these days to teenage fantasy lovers who mostly fixate on "Cool! He sucked out that guy's soul!". Corum, on the other hand, is more well rounded, he has definite doubts after saving the world, he misses his late wife but is prepared to move on, has a sense of humor and is actually proactive once in a while, which I think gives the stories more narrative drive, as opposed to the Champion reacting to stuff over and over again. These last three stories in the series have separate plots but mostly deal with the ongoing problem of saving the world from huge demigods from Limbo that would really like to get back but since they can't would rather just destroy the world (I'll give Moorcock this, his villains are unique). Corum is summoned to the future (really the past, or at least an alternate world) to save the world from these menaces and proceeds to get hip-deep in Celtic mythology. Moorcock sure seems to have done his research and it's hard to tell where he's drawing from other sources and where he's simply just making it up. The plot do suffer to some extent from the "plot coupon" mentality, where Corum has to go track down the long lost rare artifacts (the titles of the stories are a good clue) generally by way of a lot of tangential side quests, but Moorcock piles on so much local flavor that you don't really notice and he does take time to throw in extra twists and wrinkles so it doesn't feel color-by-numbers. The ending is typically downbeat (I know they're called "champions" but boy do their lives stink) but it's a fast entertaining read and probably possessed of more reread value than the Elric stuff, this definitely makes for a more consistent reading experience throughout. A must for both fantasy fans (the White Wolf volumes are sadly out of print, I'm sure the British or the originals are all available, although I'm not sure how much revision was done) and those who enjoy adding a sprinkling of Celtic folklore to their reading.

When it comes to real intellectual content Gene Wolfe gives better value than Moorcock in this series at least. But for sheer Celtic instincts (listen to Celtic Ladies CD while you read this) Moorcock is second only to Yeats, who used the great Celtic myths for inspiration (both the CD and Yeats refer to 'moorcocks'). These are the closest to their Celtic roots, using Cornish, rather than Irish, as their main influence. Is it a coincidence that Cornwall has so many traditions associated with King Arthur and Camelot. There's a suggestion in this that Corum visits Tintagel, which sometime Dubliner Moorcock has used to similar effect in his Jerry Cornelius books. How mythologies intersect, sometimes with disastrous results, is part of the theme of this hell-for-leather fantasy which goes so fast, in comparison to modern 'phat phantasy', as Revolution SF calls it, that you hardly realise the time has passed. The CONTENT of this book, like Wolfe's, is considerably greater than the content of most of its rivals. Highly recommended, if just for its sense of the Celtic Twilight.

My first experience with Moorcock was Elric. I loved the character and wanted to read more Moorcock, so I picked up Von Bek. Well, I did not care for Von Bek, so I picked up the Eternal Champion, which, excluding the Von Bek story, I liked. I had heard many good things about Corum and decided to give him a try. While I will not say that he is greater than Elric, he is almost as good. Corum's story is one of irony to the end. Humans take his eye and his hand, but he aids humans in their struggles and falls in love with one. She dies and the Prince with the Silver Hand collection starts up. I liked these novels and consumed them rather quickly. They are well-written and thought out and everything that happens, for the most part, is resolved. Moorcock's sense of continuity is wonderful. Corum, as are most Moorcock books, is violent and full of arrows through heads and swords through throats. If you are at all interested in dark fantasy, read Corum

While Elric remains Moorcock's most enduring charecter, Corum is the most likable. The Corum stories are also probably the best written because they were written as a series, unlike the Elric stories which were written through a 15 to 20 year time span. (The first 4 volumes of Hawkmoon are also excellent.)

Corum, like Elric is a tragic Hero, but is much more likeable and really has a lot of elements of being a true Hero. While Elric is a taker (The Stealer of Souls), Corum leaves his own world for another to help humans in a dire struggle against an Ancient race of Gods. (Actually charecters and representations from ancient Celtic Mythology.)

All in all one of Moorcock's best series. A must for any Sci-Fi/Fantasy Genre fan.

Years ago when I was still in high school, I bought the entire four book set, including the magic spells book. . . It was the best game book, I have ever enjoyed.

Yet, at one point I lent the first book to a friend and I never saw it again. BUT I HAVE THE OTHER BOOKS STILL . . . I only need the first. I have been on a dire search ever since!! If anyone reads this, and can help in any way . . . please tell me!!

I bought this book and read the series when I was 10. I didn't read for "fun" or for "enjoyment" before then. Reading at that point in life was either homework or report cards. This is a great book as it has what all ten year olds want...heroes, monsters, magic, swords. It's not tolkien but it's a start. A great way for kids to get clued in on reading.

The fourth and final volume of Steve Jackson's "Sorcery" adventures is by far the best, save for one minor gripe I have.

I love the way this book is written in simple language with minor puzzles to solve and highly entertaining adventures. This is, possibly, the most advanced of the "Choose Your Way" type books I've seen. The plot is very interesting and the rules easy to follow. One VERY nice touch is the little dice markers they include on the bottom of every page, so if you ever find yourself without dice (as if any gamer would find themselves in such a position, ha!), you can still play by doing a random "flip-through" to get a result.

Now for my one gripe about this book. It CANNOT stand on its own...you need to do the others first. While the start of the adventure still makes a certain amount of sense if you haven't read the first three, there are at least 40 entries out of 800 that reference the adventures from one of the first three books. And if you haven't read the first three, you won't be able to make the proper choices...and if you cheat and do, they won't make sense anyway. Some of these entries will even direct you to go back and start over from somewhere back in one of the previous three books!

So...as good a read and play as this is, don't START with this one. Make sure you manage to find the other three before reading this volume.

I warn you now i'm pretty biased: I virtually leant to read with the fighting fantasy books! The books in the Sorcery series have proved to be infuriatingly rare, I got the second and third books first, then a year later I managed to find and buy the one and only copy I have ever seen of the first and eventually found the last on at my local library. Then someone stole it! I haven't seen a copy of it since but have managed to order one now and will soon have the whole lot, yay!
It's not great literature in the normal sense, but it really captures your attention and draws you in; especially if you can start from the start and go right the way through! It's good enough for me and a lot better than some supposedly 'great' dross i've come across!

Quite simply, Steve Jackson's Sorcery! series is the finest the gamebook genre ever produced. With 800 entries, stylized artwork and exquisite writing, it put the entire Choose Your Own Adventure series to shame with its elequence and quality.

I feel fortunate to have collected the set, and if you have interest in fantasy gaming, I encourage you to find these books also.

This is an absolute essential guide for Dark Ages: Vampire players. It has info on Medieval life, history of the time, religion of the time period, and fictional info on more obscure DA:Vampire bloodlines and disciplines, including the frightening Baali and the mysterious and doomed Salubri. Definitely recommended, excellent reading..... If you're going to play a Dark Ages Vampire game, get this!

While Vampire: The Dark Ages is infinitely resourceful, the Dark Ages Companion is infinitely more so. It has detailed information on aspects of the dark ages which will help any chronicle. Included are several new bloodlines, plenty of new disciplines and new powers for old disciplines, and details on several religions. Possibly the most valuable resource is the new data on combat, including the mass-combat for the armies of the day.

All in all, this product is essential to run a complex chronicle, and well-worth the money.

If a chronicle is hard to build, it is a dark ages chronicle, not because of lack of plot, but excess of it, there's too much going on with the church, also there's chivalry and clan differences begin to break the vampire society. Certainly it is a good time to have a companion to give you few details.

It expands existing disciplines providing new ones, with even new rituals. The blood lines also prove to be interesting characters that players might enjoy, and storytellers trying to run the dark ages chronicle will find this book quite useful.

Great book filled with lots of info on different religions, really helps form backgrounds for npc's. On top of that I also have a pc who is a salubri and It REALLY helps, thank god I found a book that has the discipline of Valeren in it. Anyway overall this book was very helpful.

If you have just purchased Vampire: The Dark Ages, then you will want to look deeply into this book. This book contains information to help make vampire chronicles even more dynamic than before. This volume contains a detailed section outlining the various actions and reactions of different religious organizations. I state organizations because too often the word Church is assumed to mean the Holy Roman, or Catholic Church. Although it was a major power in Europe, there were still plenty of other religions in the world; each religion had its own agenda and these are illustrated in the Companion. Now a Storyteller can be sure throw a massive curve into a Chronicle when Cainites are now confronted by not only Catholic clergy, but also pagan and followers of even more remote religions. What basis of belief do the Assamites follow? It is most assuredly not catholicism. With this book, you can get a slight taste for their beliefs, or the beliefs of those in their homelands.

So that is the church, but what about Cainites themselves? The Companion carries the higher level disciplines for the one listed in the Dark Ages core book. The authors have also included more Thaumaturgical paths as well as power to make better Infernalists. This book carries a wide selection of Dark Thaumaturgical paths and rituals. It also carries a few new disciplines altogether. Wait! New disciplines? Who wield them? This volume also adds four new clans/bloodlines. The Laibon, Lhiannan, and Lamia make their possible First Appearances in the White Wolf canon. Their chapters contain information on their origins, structure, beliefs, and discipline just as it does for all others. The one exception is that it also spells out each bloodline's fate. These Cainites do not survive into the modern days, and now you know why. But, I only mention three, who is the fourth?
The Dark ages are a strange time. Not only does it see the "birth" of a new clan, but also the genocidal hunting of another. Yes, the Salubri are still alive at this time and the Companion provides both a clan overview as well as a long listing of Valeren, the Salubri principle power. For all you veterans, Valeren is not the same as Obeah. Now we have the actual power the Unicorns wielded long ago in Enoch, the very power that is said to have temporarily soothed Malkav of his madness. This alone makes the book worth its cost, but the authors have included so much more.

In summary, coupling this book with Vampire: The Dark Ages will only enhance a chronicle. If players feel they done this before, add a few new religious antagonists, or just drop one of the unknown clans into he story to add danger, intrigue, and a huge new enigma to solve. Do not forget to spice the game with the upper levels of Disicplines. You may have a Brujah or a Nosferatu with a ton of Fortitude, but what good is that when you opponent can strike you from across the room without moving? What good is a ton of Potence and Celerity when your weapons shatter upon impacting another Cainite and not leaving the slightest mark? Who said the "things-that-go-bump-in-the-night" in the night do not have their "things-that-go-bump-in-the-night" as well? Can we say Methusala? Sleep well, childer. Sleep well.

It may be out of date now, but this book is still highly valuable to the intermediate magic the gathering player, this is the book that will help prepare you for tournament play

Most Magic books do not age well. I am to say that this one has. Granted, none of the more recent cards are in the book, but it still makes a great primer to learn on Magic's permanent decktypes. It's Type 1 decks are still valid to look thru. The ingenuity of other deck types will encourage new players how to look at various deck styles. If you can find a copy, buy it.

I liked this book, it gives some examples of decks like a sligh deck, then gives you a breakdown of its strengths and weakness. Very nice book for those of us that have problems building decks and gives us a chance to see variations of those decks.

I find this very very useful! Explains about when a particular type of deck was first used and how well it did. Plus lets you know of other decks similiar, example the Red Sligh deck, it gives you multiple types of Sligh decks and who used them and when. Very nice book. It also breaks down what the decks primary strengths and weaknesses are.

This book covers every stragty, deck, and their stengths an weekness. This book is a must for all magic players

I thouroughly enjoyed the book and found it well written. The Shih are the absolute characters I have seen in the World of Darkness.

I've had this book for a while now and from reading through both books, it far exceeds Hunter: The Reckoning. Just based on that, and the fact that I know Demon Hunter X is a very excllent sourcebook, I'd highly recommend it over Hunter: The Reckoning...this is just what my opinion and current course of action though. Do with it what you will...

Let me Just say WOW!!! First of all Demon Hunters are incredibly powerful. it has great describtions of the Shih and the Strike Force Zero(aka SF0). Both have intresting pasts and present about how they deal with the Shen>. And as an added bonus it has Great art work (even though a little graphic) but still "DA BOMB". Now if only they rest of the World of Darkness was Anime.....

this is another must buy supplement for anyone wishing to play in the east. whether you play one of the shen or wish to play one of the hunters, demon hunter x adds a whole new dimension to gaming. when will white wolf get the hint and make KoE a division of its own.

Demon Hunter X details a lot of information for running a Kindred of the East campaign for Vampire. The Shih are well detailed as is Strike Force Zero, and one is hard pressed to choose which to play. Not everyone takes the Shen lying down, and both the Shih and SF0 are at odds on how to truly deal with these demons. A great opening story and lot of info on how the Shih and SF0 hunt down and destroy the Shen, this book is highly recommended to anyone even remotely interested in the hunters in the Middle Kingdom.

If you want to start playing DDM, or even if you have prior experience, this is a great pack. It comes with everything you need to play: Two rulebooks, a d20 dice, 10 figures, 2 double sided maps, and damage counters. I reccomend this to anyone wanting to learn how to plat DDM.

Not sure what to say...my husband loves D&D and loves D&D miniatures. There's nothing not to like, LOL.

This is the first D&D miniatures item I bought. The book with rules make it very useful, as I could play miniatures right away, without having anything else.
Of course I had this box for playing D&D RPG, in this regard other Expansion Packs are needed, as the contents are random.

These box of dungeons and dragons miniatures are probably the most practical for d&d games. I love the maps that it comes with and the miniatures game that it includes is pretty fun too. This is the first box you should purchase if you ever want to invest in minis.

This was a gift to a family of three children. The whole family enjoyed role playing and expanding their imagination. Great for shorter Dungeons and Dragon games.

C.S. Friedman is the author. OMG is this a good book. So thick and rich and... gah - it even makes you think. I LOVE this book.

This is also a very interesting story in many ways. The introduction details how the "documents" were recovered and we discover something which I've known as a storyteller all along -- ghouls are a vital part of Kindred existance. We see just want a ghoul will go through to service his master and himself, we see his identification with a clan, and indeed we see his own desires for knowledge -- all of these are something that other Vampire guides might lead you to think were impossible once enslaved by the blood. The "documents" themselves are written interestingly -- text from the "ancient sources" interspersed with a dialogue of commentaries through the ages each written in a unique script giving the sense of a real exchange of ideas and personalities. Some intriquing play on previous "ancient texts" as well as comfirmation of some ideas I'm sure are not unique to our game. Well worth buying and using.

I found the Erciyes Fragments very interesting because I have always been interested in what kind of character Cain (real and fiction) was. This book gives you an insight about Cain from Cain. It's also very interesting how it seems like Cain almost felt like a foster father or a loving uncle to the "Sons of Seth", or Humans. He even punished his childer for killing without reason, which is part of the reasons for each clan and their unique curse. I also thought it was rather intriguing how Cain left his childer to fend for themselves during the flood. This apparently resulted in the 3rd generation's cannibalistic tendencies in the respect that the only way they could survive was to drink one another's blood. Then when the flood was over that was the only blood they preferred. This book gives a unique and extremely thrilling look at vampires and what made them what they are. I highly recommend getting the Erciyes Fragments.

Here's my easy description- in content it is very similar to the book of Nod. I think of it as a beuatiful sequel, the art direction immaculate, the legends and myths, stunning. Overall, it is one of the most impressive books White Wolf had yet released, full of hints, subterfuge and pondering the nature and lineage of the damned. It is well written, and interesting enough on its own without the context of the game that spawned it, Vampire: The Masquerade. As far as brilliant tomes go, I have no complaints, only adulation for the hard work that went into it. Viva unlife! (I apologize, dear reader, it is a penchant of mine to become carried away.)

Another fascinating addition to the "legend" that created the clans. (I have read the "Book of Nod" and The Erciyes Fragments is supposed to be a more complete version although I HIGHLY recommend getting both. The Erciyes fragments also has in the margins "comments" from elder vampire clan members and/or scholars who had come previously to the secluded monestary mentioned in the book to read the "Book of Nod" and written their opinions and interpretations in the margins. Not only do you get a fascinating story, but the comments made makes a reader question even more the actual "truth". The Erciyes Fragments answers SOME questions while posing more in the end! It continues White Wolf's ever torturous tradition of mystery, intrigue, and darkness and it is a WONDERFUL supplement to both table-top and live-action Vampire the Masquerade ... although I don't recommend quoting it to an elder. *WINK* (a little gaming humour there...)

If you're interested in the history of Faerun, this is a excellent book. It goes into great detail and has a lot of extras, like relics and historical weapons. Great art and a good read.

I always loved the 3.5 (3.0) Forgotten Realms accessories, but I must say that this book is perhaps the best in the series.

This books gives you a +10 competence bonus to your Ancient History(Faerun) skill, as it offers you in-depth knowledge on almost all of the great empires of the past. You can learn all, about the great elven empires, about the history of the Sword Coast, about the phaerimm manace, etc.

Also, you will find some great feats, prestige classes and spells in the book. Some of them are not really for players, but for the DM (and to the NPCs). Players will also find it interesting, if for nothing else, then to add some flavour to the game.

I found it also great that young DMs get some help in a separate chapter to create adventures based on the "ancient theme". Of course, even old DMs, like myself can learn a lot from it.

Very well detailed and has a great amount of information that can be used in adventures. I would give it 4.5 if I could because of the usual lack of REAL MAPS that Wizards of the Coast seems to neglect. Great book though and a must have for DM's and Players in the forgotten realms.

I greatly looked forward to this book and was not disappointed. The Forgotten Realms is extremely rich in history that has been developed over the long years of its publication and this is truly a comprehensive source of that. The authors have touched on just about every area I can think of and they have done it well.

The book is divided into several sections, each dealing with a different geographic or cultural area. For instance, one section deals with the crown wars (wars between elves almost exclusively) and the elven nations involved (which covers a large area of Faerun) while another area covers the North and includes detail on several elven realms that had little part in the crown wars. They have timelines for each section of the book.

To be clear though, these histories are given not as a tool to play during those times, but as reference points to incorporate the locales of these ancient empires into the current timeline and an existing campaign. They bring the histories up to the current timeline and give you a good idea of what is going on in the ruins of these empires and the doings of the decedents of these empires.

On top of all of this rich history and information is a great deal of good crunchiness. There are several prestige classes, all of which seem well balanced and a great section on new spells and magic items. They even have specifics on mythal creation which is just plain cool to me. Going back to the integration of the past to the present, there is a section about Hellgate Keep and there they specify magic items of goodly races know to have been lost by fallen heroes there (items from the PGtF and this book).

All in all, a great tool for ANY dungeon master running ANY Realms Campaign for its information on ruins (dungeon - hint, hint) and its balance of historical information and crunchy bits. By far one of the most useful Realms products for any edition.

I found this title the best supplement ever written. That says a lot, since this series has been around since 1987. At last, in one volume, the history of this magical world is laid bare. I have speculated and wondered in the past why the world is like it is. This volume has given up most of those secret! I stand in awe of most of them. This is the flower of Realms lore. Most are not intended for most gamers. I read the novels and continue my illustrations outside this "gamers" world.

I can only say that the Forgotten Realms have come alive at last with a rich and frightening history in its past. Long live Netheril!