Ronin Books

Overall this is a good book for a beginner. It has great detailed, step-by-step instructions on the various methods of cooking and some really unique recipes. Id say my one problem with it is that half of the book is a complete and utter waste of time filled with the author defending the use of edible marijuana or dwelling into topics far beyond "cooking". On the plus side though, his witty, now outdated comments made me laugh out loud on several occasions.

This abbreviated version of rules for the Mutants & Masterminds superhero role-playing game gives all the basics to start playing at about 1/4 the price of the hardcover Player's Handbook.

Besides a low price, strong points include an efficient introduction to character creation (4 pages), a quick overview of "game play" (combat), a couple of adventure simulations to help learn the rules, and great character sheets for the members of the teen superhero team Next Gen. The characters are Firepower (human torch), Bolt (electricity projector), Megastar (cosmic energy superman), Nereid (water-based shape-shifter), Seven (super mage), and Sonic (sound blaster). While these character sheets include everything you need to know about the heroes during the sample adventures, you'll have to buy the M&M Player's Handbook to create your own heroes from the full lists of feats and powers.

On the negative side, the comic-book story running throughout the guide is not very interesting in terms of story or art, and doesn't really help learn the game.

Overall, I think the guide accomplishes its purpose at a great price. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a quick way to learn the basics or introduce the game to a friend who's unfamiliar with pen-and-paper role-playing games.

"Mutants and Masterminds: Annual" is a resounding success. It is full of great artwork, insightful information, a number of brief adventures, and plenty of new characters to drop into a campaign.

The twelve chapters cover both some additional game mechanics options and inspirational resources. For instance, new rules and tips for creating superheroic powered armor (with plenty of example stats) and some new combat functions provide the GM with fairly well thought-out options. None of this is necessary, or, for that matter, superior to the game mechanics listed in the core rulebook. All the same, nothing detracts from the tone or useablility of the rules, and may suit some people's playing styles better.

The real star is the setting material, and the advice for incorporating it into a Mutants and Masterminds campaign. One section profiles a team of World War II-era mystery men and tips for using heroic legacies, another profiles the far future and the heroes who make it safe, and another offers inspiration on how to run a teenaged heroes-in-training game.

Especially useful and well-conceived is the section on running a low-powered superhero campaign, where the characters can't lift battleships or shoot lasers out of their eyes, but who still have powers and abilities which set them apart from the ordinary people they protect. This style of comic-bookery has been mostly overlooked in Mutants and Masterminds products, and these dozen or so pages are so full of good advice and inventive ideas that they go a long, long way to make up for it.

Throughout the book the artwork is first rate. Hardcore comic book fans will be able to recognize some of the homages included in the book (such as the faux-covers on page 61 and 89).

There are a few weaknesses which keep this book from being a total success. For instance, the game stats for the sidekick character Arrow (page 51) are really for his mentor Bowman, listed on the following page. Also, a number of characters are not provided accompanying illustrations; I especially would have liked to see a group-shot of the villainous Tyranny Legion.

These, however, are pretty small quibbles in an otherwise great product. This is the easily the best Mutant and Masterminds item since the praiseworthy "Freedom City Sourcebook." Give "MM Annual" a try and you won't be disappointed.

As the title says, no spells folks, just a collection of magic user templates, items and gods/demons whatnot. Shows how to create mystical adventurers and plan mystical games, mainly a GM tool not bad though.

It's an often overlooked part of the superhero genre: the super prison. But a necessity of the convention. After all once you've caught the big bad villain and he's been convict of his heinous crimes, where are you going to put him?

Lockdown is a fairly generic prison specialized in contain convicted felons with super powers or access to fabulous gadgets or both. Like anyting else, it can be altered to fit what ever terrain you want to put it. PC supers can either go undercover as prisoners or help out the guards. Extra villains are provided in case you want a prison break to introduce new bad guys to your campaign.

Many is the time that whenever the villain of the week is caught, that's all the campaign deals him or her. The trial and incarceration is glossed over or ignored altogether. So this is primarily a GM book, but a necessary book. Not getting this book is leaving a hole in your campaign world you very well regret later.

The D20 sourcebook, Trojan War brings to the D&D gaming all the myths, heroics and tragedies of Bronze Age Greece. A brief summary of the contents:
- An overview and timeline of the legendary Trojan war including notes and options for running a Trojan War campaign.
- New character classes, spells, artifacts, and creatures drawn from the Greek Age of Mythology
- Game stats for all the personalities of the Trojan War (Achilles, Hector, Paris, the gang is all here..)

Overall, the book is excellent - well-researched and packed cover-to-cover with details. Especially well done is the concise summary of the Trojan War from the events preceeding the war to the aftermath. The section on the Divine Offspring characters is also useful given that just about any personality in Homeric Greece worthy of note is the son/daughter of some diety or other. GMs who intend to allow the PCs change the course of saga will find helpful the "What If" section detaling alternative resolutions for the war.

About the only minor blot I can bring up is that some of the stats are not particularly true to their descriptions in the myths (Agamemnon - who sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to placate the goddess Athena - is Lawful Good?).

In the early 1990's, when the Internet was about to be discovered by mainstream media, I found this book (then already ten years old) in a friend's bookshelf. I started reading a chapter about some `Midnight Irregulars' and immediately recognized what the author was describing - it was the friendly computer network environment of the early 80's, when the event of the user `guest' logging in from a remote site didn't automatically trigger every alarm bell at the computer center, but was rather seen as a manifestation of innocent curiosity.

That was enough for me to want to read the whole book. The author, a Frenchman working as something of a computer consultant in the USA, relates his experiences from twenty years of interaction with computer users, at a time when they were probably a lot fewer than a million worldwide. His choice of subject may seem narrow to the general reader, but the book gave me a nostalgic kick, reminding me of my own feelings with regard to thi! s environment back around 1980.

Although covering approximately the same timespan as Steven Levy in `Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution', Vallee mentions the hackers only in passing. Still, he manages to describe many features of the hacker culture, but from the perspective of a scientist and casual witness.

"Computer scientists have documented everything except their own work" Vallee claims, and then tries to fill a few gaps. While nowhere near a complete work on the history of computing, this book provides a number of revealing snapshots from places and events remembered by few today, told in an entertaining manner. The reader gets to learn about a French 1970's neo-luddite movement for the destruction of computers, about the endless discussions between French and American delegations on the standardization of computer terminology, and about a nun with a pretty sophisticated idea on the ergonomic design of desktop video terminals.

With this history! as background, the author goes on to make a number of pred! ictions about the future, some of which seem remarkably accurate today. Our hardware may be thousands of times faster, but have we really made any significant progress since this book was written? Those who fail to learn the lessons of computer history are doomed to be stuck in an infinite loop.

If you worked with mainframe computers in the academic environment before 1984, this book is for you. Others may enjoy it too.

This is mostly recycled adventures from first edition sources. I wish more of an attempt was made to link the adventures together and the experience levels are arranged a bit oddly. The beginning adventures appear later in the book. However, there is a good mix of materials including some classics and one or two hard to find scenarios. Overall, it is a good grab bag to throw at your group.

This book is a handy reference, containing hundreds of spells. They are all well ordered, but there is one gaping flaw. The book is missing the spells from every D&D 3rd edition book except the PHB.

an entertaining and informed primer that achieves a lot with a friendly manner and a concise approach. Features some interesting sidelines on the various personalities involved through the years and contains some fascinating images and photos.

Most who will be attracted to this book (government officials notwithstanding) will already have a lot of this information in their libraries; Stafford does, however, deliver an amusing and informative overview that can be taken in a manageable but worthwhile dose.

I enjoyed it!