Roleplaying Books

If you are planning any sort of Fantasy based game for GURPS, this book is a must. Not only does it present the classic races of elves, dwarves, gnomes, orc, halflings, and various others, but also gives them character more so than any other game I have found. Each race is given at least 2 to 3 pages of text, and that doesnt include the game mechanics. Also, because of the GURPS system, it is easy to modify and change the existing races for your personal games.

Also, their is a section on creating your own races for your game, which proves invaluable to any game master wanting to put in his own ideas. This is an award winning book, and a quick look through its pages will show you why.

This excellent source books provides a way to create fantasy races and provides some very good examples using well-chosen fantasy races. People who have read the Fantasy Trip, Tunnels and Trolls and D&D rpgs will recognise and welcome these architypal races presented in a fresh and interesting style.

Personally, I've never been able to get into the GURPS rules, but I have a pretty big GURPS collection for someone who doesn't use GURPS! "Goblins" is one of the jewels of that collection, and I'm already planning out a fantasy campaign (using a modified old GURPS Fantasy setting and the rules from Godlike), with the goblins from this supplement playing a big role.

GURPS Goblins is surprisingly inexpensive for a book printed throughout on slick paper with (hilarious) full-color illustrations. The society and biology of the goblins (which are seamlessly tied together) are fascinating as well as funny--these may vaguely resemble the standard fantasy RPG goblins, but they stand out as one of the most unique races to be developed for any setting, fantasy or science fiction. The style of writing is less that of a game supplement and more of a travel guide to 1830s London--except there are no humans, just goblins! It's a very entertaining commentary on human nature, using the goblins to soften the blow a bit. And it's a game-within-a-game, as the whole point of goblin existence is to climb socially (due to their biology, virtually all goblins start in the gutter, no matter who their parents were), so there are very full setting-specific rules for social climbing that can be applied to other settings.

Summary: GURPS Goblins is an excellent, original, highly amusing but VERY 'off the wall' RPG. Firstly, it necessary to explain that Goblins is not a stand alone fiction or non-fiction book (although Goblins makes a good read even if you don't get a chance to play it). Goblins is a supplement to the GURPS role-playing game (RPG), so to play it you will first need to but the GURPS basic set (GURPS stand for Generic Universal Role Playing System). In RPG's, players create a character, and go on an adventure created for them by the 'Games Master'. Mostly, these would involve fighting mythical monsters, and finding treasures, in some mystical universe. However, in GURPS Goblins the universe is Georgian London. It's a hard unforgiving place; a world of grinding poverty, harsh laws, disease, superstition and snobbery. The monsters are other Goblins. Lies, trickery, violence and theft are the norm. Social climbing is the pre-occupation of every Goblin. Sadly, much of this world is a true reflection of the social conditions of the time. Goblins is extremely funny, in a very nasty sort of way, along the same lines as the RPG 'Paranoia'. But where Paranioa pokes fun at the evils of totalitarianism, the target of is the Dickensian class system. It is refreshingly rare for an RPG, to concentrate so much on the character's social context. You design your character, work out his deformities (due to mistreatment in childhood, school and apprenticeship), then bravely set out to climb up the social ladder, armed with only a half-eaten pork-pie and a sixpence between you and the workhouse. If you like 'quirky' role-playing games, then GURPS Goblins is a masterpiece. This is the most orginal, funny and evocative RPG I have bought for a very long time, but, if you like your RPG character to be a tough, dashing, honourable hero type; then but a more traditional RPG would be much more appropriate.

This game material covers social classes, equipment, and professions particular to Ancient Rome. More than just gladiator combat rules, there is a plethora of source information and nice 'flavor' text call outs along the margins. Another nice feature is the money conversion system. I used the material it to build a nice custom campaign.

Not only do I use this book for ideas for campaigning, but I've used it to spur my imagination for short stories and writing. It's an excellent and useful peek into Roman life. It makes me wish that they would put out another series on the Ancient world as a whole before Imperial Rome ruled it all.

Wonderfully done!

When I read for the first time this book, I wasn't expeting too much, but it really surprised me. GURPS Japan brings to you a complete description of the social classes and the code of honor of the Samurai, the "bushi" of the legends and history in the feudal Japan. Is very cool meet a lot of friends and try to interpretate the honor of being a samurai, or to understand the essence of this marvelous game. The complete description of the weapons and the costumes is very interesting too.

This is one of the most interesting rpg supplements I have ever read. There are so many interesting historical details in this book which can enhance any rpg campaign set in Japan. It is far superior to Oriental Adventures in the Dungeons and Dragons system. Even if you are not a role player, this supplement can provide interesting information for anybody interested in historical Japan. I definitely recommend it highly.

The author is a former US Army NCO and applies that sense of "Been There, Done That" to his writing. This is a good source book for any Traveller rule system.

This book has it all. Maps, history, weapons, organizational charts, slang, traditions, characters, special forces, citations, orders, military justice, battle dress, drop ships, operational procedures... (deep breath). Even if you know nothing about the military, you can read this book, and run a campaign that'll leave your players thinking you're a retired SgtMaj.
So there I was...

Customizable armor! Like energy cloth baselayer with the fit and feel of spandex (scuba lycrasuits or the compression shirt you wear under football pads) with DR 20 (melee attacks from non-superscience weapons from non-giants, handgun bullets) to replace the star trek turtlenecks for non-combatant military crew. Personal defelector shields, neural interface helmets, chameolon armor, printed computers on armor+clothing, particle beams (GURPS blasters), plasma weapons (star wars blasters), nanotechnology and all. covers TL9-12, strict. Scale is personal to small vehicles. Superscience items (shields, contragravity, time manipulation, psionic devices) are clearly marked.

This has been rushed-through the editing process, but SJGames is pretty good with errata updates.

The third edition of GURPS Space was an amazing effort. One slim volume included all rules needed to run a very wide range of SciFi-oriented roleplaying campaigns. This included a lot of information about: how to generate star systems, create and run starships, economics of trade between star systems, lots of science fiction equipment, character archtypes, campaign backgrounds, etc., etc. Literally to infinity and beyond. The book was like the old saying about the Platte river, a mile wide and an inch deep.

While it was an amazing effort, the lack of space left the game feeling very generic and somewhat incomplete. This could be overcome with dedicated effort but most GM's didn't feel it was worth the extra work. The third edition Ultra-tech books attempted to address this problem but were not SJ Games finest efforts.

I bought both 4th edition GURPS Space and Ultra-Tech with this background in mind and was surprised and pleased.

The new GURPS Space doesn't cover nearly as much as the original book, it just deals with the background material necessary to set up and run a good campaign. Many people felt cheated by this because they enjoyed browsing through the old third edition's plentiful charts and building starships using the surprisingly detailed (and sometimes painful) variant of GURPS Vehicles.

But I felt this was a good decision because Science Fiction can have such a large and varied background that is so important to the story that the GM is trying to tell that it deserved the coverage it got. Imagine trying to describe all of the technology and background used in both Keith Laumer's Bolo stories and David Brin's Uplift novels in less than 50 pages.

The bigger surprise was the new version of GURPS Ultra-Tech. This is really well thought-out and interesting and fixes a lot of the weaknesses of the old system. The vastly larger space for the topic was very well used and the illustrations and short stories are worth the price of the book all by themselves. Another pleasant discovery was the extensive bibliographies in both books. The people who wrote the books knew their topics well and loved to share.

Yet another piece of the puzzle in replacing the old third edition GURPS Space book was recently published in electronic format at SJ Games e23 store. I haven't bought it yet but the new GURPS Spaceships is supposed to be much easier to use and more interesting for generating ships to have adventures in. Which is the point of all three books.

GURPS is a great game system but much of the time the books are sourcebooks that have to be used with the Basic Set. Not this book. Not only does it have the history of the war, reviews on the nations and armies, vehicle-design system, alternate history ideas and details about what's happening behind the front lines it also has a new version of the GURPS Lite rules. This is all you need to play a game set in World War Two (unless you wish to get other titles or cool maps and stuff).
I would suggest getting players who know the history of World War Two. Otherwise they might get a tad confused.

GURPS: World War Two is the beginning of an ambitious campaign by Steve Jackson Games to bring the battles of World War Two to life for gamers. And it makes a wonderful starting point.

It seems hard to believe that there are only six chapters in this book - but there is quite a lot of detail in these chapters. Beginning with "The World At War" this chapter explains the background for a World War Two style campaign. It covers a lot of world history in a good capsule format that GM's may want to read thoroughly for campaign ideas. "The Combatants", gives a comprehensive section on the major players in the war, both on the winning side and the losing side. "Characters" gives you everything you need to create player characters and NPC's for a WWII campaign. The character templates in this section give GM's a quick starting point. The "Armoury" chapter gives your characters some weapons to fight with, as well as a basic equipment list. The "Vehicles" section adds many cars, trucks, and tanks to your WWII campaign. In "Move Out!" there's campaigning info for players and GM's. There's even some ideas for crossover campaigns and alternate endings for the war. Finally, for those who may not own the basic rules, the book concludes with a copy of "GURPS: Lite" - a basic intro to the GURPS RPG for those who may not own the basic book. This edition of GURPS Lite has been custom tailored for GURPS: World War Two.

The 28 pages of detail about the course of the war is not to be missed, and can even be appreciated by non-gamers for its attention to important events in World War Two such as the sinking of the Bismark. The 20 pages of details on Britain, the US, the Soviets, Germany and Japan give us an inside look at the organization of armies,units and tactics, special ops, and intelligence, although it's easy to see that this could be expanded. The 23 pages of info on characters is fairly comprehensive and includes 14 sample characters. The 36 pages of detail on vehicles gives some of the major equipment used in the war, as well as ideas on how to use what you know to create totally new equipment that may not have been covered in this section. The 16 pages of "Move Out" even includes info on what might be happening on the home front, as well as what is happening behind enemy lines. The "Basic Training" section of GURPS Lite allows GM's that don't have the basic rules to create military and non-military characters and NPC's for this campaign.

This book is a great starting place for GM's, and that is probably its only flaw. When covering a subject as large as World War Two, you have to have space - and even the 208 pages of material here are not enough for a comprehensive look at World War Two. However, there are other books already printed continuing the series, and more forthcoming. I can't recommend "GURPS World War Two: Iron Cross" highly enough for GM's wanting to "fill in the blanks". This book is a great addition to the GURPS library and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to try an adventure or a whole campaign set in this time of peril.

In a very basic sense, the Hero's Guide is like an advanced expansion of the Revised Core Rulebook, but it's much more than that. The main purpose of this book is to provide tools for the player- and it definitely delivers. Gamers looking for long sections of background and history are advised to go elsewhere, but considering all that it offers, I'd consider this book a must-have for any serious player.

First off, the Hero's Guide follows in the high-quality style of other recent products such as the Ultimate Alien Anthology and Coruscant And The Core Worlds. Like its cousins this book is full-color and hardcover. One immediately notices the large amount of original artwork and still photos. The main index is organized alphabetically by topic, which makes finding most things mercifully simple. This book is well presented, easy on the eyes, and fun to read, but of course that's not why it deserves a spot on your bookshelf.

This book is simply filled to the brim with a vast array of new game rules and character options.

The main standouts are the chapters on Feats and Prestige Classes. In terms of Feats, over 120 new feats are offered, including feats for six distinct martial arts disciplines as well as feats depicting the seven forms of lightsaber combat. There is also a wide selection of faction-related feats. With such a wide selection even the pickiest player should be able to find something that fits his or her character.

Players will also like the selection of nearly 30 new prestige classes. Many of them are tied to specific factions, and some are definitely harder to qualify for than others, but they represent such a wealth of progression options that just about anybody should be satisfied. The full list includes: Chief Engineer, Infiltrator, Loyal Protector, Martial Arts Master, Master Duelist, Outlaw Slicer, Priest, Sharpshooter, Treasure Hunter, Antarian Ranger, Black Sun Enforcer, Black Sun Vigo, Master Spy, CorSec Officer, Corporate Troubleshooter, ISB Special Agent, Crime Broker, Mistryl Shadow Guard, Lord of the Expanse, Rebel Organizer, Sienar Engineer, Baran Do Sage, Matukai Adept, Zeison Sha Warrior, Espionage Droid, and Berzerker Droid.

Noticeably absent are the Jensaarai Warrior and the Dathomiri Witch, but at least the Jensaarai has an official entry in Dungeon Magazine 98 (Polyhedron 157).

The Hero's Guide also showcases the concept of character archetypes. Basically, an archetype is a multiclass character that replaces certain class features with ones that better fit a desired character concept. This sets a welcome precedent: if it doesn't fit, change it!

Also introduced is the concept of Sympathy. Sympathy is similar to and works in conjunction with Reputation, but it only applies when dealing with members of a faction with which you have Sympathy. Unlike Reputation, however, Sympathy can go up or down based on a character's actions.

In addition to all this there is a chapter devoted to character creation, another that discusses new uses for existing skills, a selection of new equipment (including the long-awaited rules for cybernetics), a chapter on new combat moves, a chapter that discusses the Force, and finally a chapter devoted to Droids.

After having read through it several times, I simply can't find a bad thing to say about this book. It may very well be the best SWRPG sourcebook published so far. Hats off to the authors and the entire team who put it together.

And if you still aren't satisfied, the Star Wars RPG section of the Wizards of the Coast website has a web enhancement for the Hero's Guide that includes even more archetypes and prestige classes.

To be perfectly honest, I hate Star Wars. I think the movies [are bad] and are completely uninteresting. But this book is a different story altogether. It brings to life what the movies can't. The writing is superb. Highly Recommended!!

Hong Kong Action Theatre! 2nd Edition is a game based on Chinese action films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Killer. It attempts to accurately portray the style of these films and tries to cover all the genres: kung fu, wire fu, gunplay, and so on.

Players portray actors in Hong Kong cinema. Characters are created using Guardians of Order's simple Tri-Stat system, rounding out the character with skills like gun combat and kung fu and special attributes to set the actor apart like Director's Friend or Cantopop Star.

The actor is the character that players will be portraying every single game. Their abilities and attributes will remain stable. However, the character's Role changes from one session to the next.

Each session is a movie, and the Role is the actor's part in the movie. A Role can be anything from Triad Assassin to Hard-Boiled Cop to Drunken Fisherman. Each Role has unique abilities that stack on top of your actor's for that specific session.

Another interesting quirk of the game is Stunts. During combat, players are encouraged to have their characters do the wild and death-defying stunts of Hong Kong cinema. The wilder and more dangerous the stunt, the better the reward. Characters are rewarded by the gamemaster with Star Power points which represent the Actor's pull in the cinema world and his or her popularity with the audience. These can be cashed in for rerolls and other goodies such as script rewrites (e.g. the villain happens to be standing next to barrels of flammable liquid).

The game also contains a lot of "real-world" information on Hong Kong and the history of Hong Kong cinema that some might find interesting and others might find to be a waste of space in a roleplaying game book.

The game is great. With an energetic group with a feel for the Hong Kong action genre, you can make movies to rival Hong Kong blockbusters. In some respects, I feel that HKAT lumps too many of the genres together with no demarcation between gun fu, kung fu, and wire fu films, and so they all get smushed together. In general, it's fun, original, creative game and a worthy second edition to the original by Gareth Michael-Skarka.

Gameplay is episodic, with each game session being a "movie" independent of other game sessions. The movies can cover any of the traditional Hong Kong action film genres.

This is a solid system for a Kung Fu movie action game. This is made by Guardians of Order, so it uses the Tri-Stat System (if you've played BESM, this will be very familiar). The basic system is based on three stats: body, mind, and soul. You use these base stats to calculate your health, energy, starting star power, and attack and defense values. You then buy attributes and defects that customize your character. HKAT! 2 offers a wide variety of attributes and defects that allow you to build any kind of character. And if the attribute or defect you need doesn't exist, you can make a new one! (The GM, of course has say on what is allowed.) HKAT! 2 has the unique concept that the PCs (Player Characters) are actors playing roles in movies. When you make your character you make an actor, and can only buy an attributes and defects that are open or actor only. Then you use star power to bid on the role you want to play. Now you buy role attributes and defects to add to your character to simulate the special effects crews and such (the role attributes and defects go away at the end of a movie), and you can use leftover star power to improve the role too. What's cool about the role/actor concept is that your group can play a wide variety of games, say a horror action thriller one time, then a waxia (as in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) next. Also using star power, one person can have the lead role one movie, and some else can outbid him for the lead next time, so everyone gets a chance to be at the center of a game. At the end of a movie, the GM hands out star power rewards you use on the next movie. What you get is based on what you bid as well as how well everyone did and bonuses the GM may hand out. This encourages everyone to work as a group, as if the group "wins" the movie, everyone will get more star power. Another good point is that if you die, it's not necessarily bad, because it's only your role that dies, not your actor, and if you die heroically, this can be worth bonus star power!
Make no mistake, this is a Role-playing game, with emphasis on role-playing rather than dice roles and statistics and rules. While creation is a little involved, it's fairly straightforward one you get use to it. For resolving actions the Tri-Stat system offers one of the simplest systems I've seen.
Combat is also petty simple, I won't go into the details here, if you've played other tri-stat games, you'll be on familiar turf. HKAT! 2 does, however offer some optional combat rules that are worth mention. When you attack, you can choose whether to deliver a high, low, or medium kick or punch and you can target an opponent high, low or torso. The type of blow you deliver gives a bonus or penalty to your damage and initiative, for example, a light punch will let you attack sooner, but won't do as much damage as a hard kick. The attack location affects your opponent's defense, if you attack low, but you opponent defends high, your opponent will have a harder time defending.
The system, in summary is simple, yet flexible enough to handle any thing from swordplay and magic attacks in ancient China to a fierce shootout in modern Hong Kong.
And finally, I'll cover the quality of the book. As is typical of Guardians of Order, this is a well-done book. It's a good read with cool art and it is very clear. There is also a lot of extra martial here besides just the game. There is a section on Hong Kong, one on the history of Hong Kong film, one with summaries on a lot of Hong Kong films, and finally some sample adventures to get you started. The extra info is really great, especially for some like me who only has little knowledge on Hong Kong film; this book is a treasure trove of info for creating you own Hong Kong action film game. The only flaw I saw in this book is that the last line in some of the sidebars at the beginning of the book was truncated, and while this is annoying, no impotent information was lost (it was mostly flavor text) and this flaw doesn't greatly detract from enjoyment. Given how error riddled other role-playing games (just look at the errata on 3rd edition D&D) are, I couldn't justify taking off a point for this. I highly recommend this book if you want a simple and flexible system for an action Hong Kong style game.

This book will help anybody become acquainted with the rules and history of the Hordes universe, a popular product line from Privateer Press. It displays the models and rules for each of the four playable factions and then adds a rich back story to each model that meshes well with the overall feel of each faction. An excellent buy.

So if you are reading this, you most likely already know a bit about what this sort of book is all about. If not, here is the short and dirty. You move little painted metal miniatures around on a table, roll some dice and see if your guys kill your friend's guys. Doesn't that sound like fun? It is! So this book is packed with awesome characters and stories. This isn't Joe Blow mountain man controlling a few dogs and troops. Every character, unit, beast, and solo has a story. Some are larger than others, but there is meat behind it all.

Privateer has become successful, many people say, because of their awesome rules. They create an exciting atmosphere for these battles and create so much flexibility. If you play Warmachine, you already know the majority of the rules. You have to learn about the fury mechanic to really get the full grasp, but that's about it.

I've heard of people who don't even wargame buying this book and loving it. It just has so much cool stuff in it, I guess you just have to flip though it to find out.