Roleplaying Books

One thing I like about the 3E core rulebooks is it seems like WotC play tested the hell out of them. Nearly everything is fairly well balanced. Many aspects have been simplified from the 2nd addition in a good way (though sometimes too much.) Overall, I really like 3E and consider it worth buying.

Enter supplemental materials like If Thoughts Could Kill, by Bruce Cordell. Let's take a look:

VALUE: Under 10 bucks for the printed version, or 5 bucks for the PDF file (available from Monte Cook's website). After shelling out at least 20 for each of the class books, I find this very refreshing.

DESIGN: The art in the printed version is acceptable, and it's nice to have the printed bound version for easy access. However, I went with the PDF and had Kinko's print it out and spiral bind it. It's just as nice, if not nicer.

CONTENT: First off, Bruce Cordell is a superb game designer. He is the man behind the official D&D 3E Psionics Handbook. That's promising because If Thoughts Could Kill is a psionics supplement for 3E. Half the book is a psionics adventure -- module style, using the variant rules as presented in the second half of the book.

ADVENTURE: Bruce Cordell knows how to write cool adventures. He made Die Vecna Die, the Illithiad, and more recently, Heart of Nightfang Spire (among dozens of others). Ever wondered, "How should/could psionics fit into my campaign?" This adventure is a good place to start examining that question. It shows how psionics can be used, how it interacts with traditional (arcane) magic, hand to hand combat, etc. Beyond that, it is a cool adventure. Even if you don't use it verbatim, it will probably inspire a few neat ideas to add to your game.

NEW VARIANT RULES: Like many other gamers, I found the Psion (as presented in the Psionics Handbook) to be little on the weak side compared to the sorcerer. ITCK offers a viable/usable fix for that problem. It has a new power point system, power scaling (no more powers staying at 5d4 damage forever), new powers, etc. All these combine to make the Psion a very playable PC or NPC. Also, the printed version of ITCK includes Bruce's rewrites of the psionic prestige classes from the Psionics Handbook. The new versions are vastly superior. If you go with the PDF, download the variant PrCs from Monte Cook's website. If you are new to psionics, or are a veteran master of the mind, these variant rules are basically a must-have for balancing 3rd Edition psionics.

OVERALL: 5 Stars. One of the few accessories that I've opened up in its entirety to my game. You can download errata for this book, and all other Malhavok Press products at Monte Cook's website. (I can't post the URL or Amazon will edit it out, so just look on Yahoo.)

This has got to be the best of Revelations. It is full of adventure ideas, campaign settings and expanded writeups of four of the coolest superiors you're likely to find.

If you are a fan of Steve Jackson's 'In Nomine' game (as I am) then this book and the rest of the series are a god-send!

Rather than hunting through the core rulebook, the angelic/infernal guides, and the revelations books to patch together a complete picture of the War Faction superiors, it has all been collected into this one source.

In this book you will find the complete enteries for the four Angelic superiors who make up Heaven's War Faction - David, Archangel of Stone, Dominic - Archangel of Judgement, Laurence, Archangel of the Sword, and Michael, Archangel of War.

Under each archangel, you have details relating to Dissonance, Choir Attunements, Servitor Attunements, Distinctions, Relations, Basic Rites, Expanded Rites, and Invocation (basically all of the game mechanics that relate to that Superior.

Then the entry goes into more of a narative of the Superior. While this more detailed sections share some similarities they are most unique. They describe the Superior's divine history, personality and outlook, Views on God and Man, the Superior's priorities, role in the War, its goals and politics. Each entry is then finished with a sample Tether (David and Michael) or example Servitors (Dominic and Laurence).

The book ends with nearly a dozen pages of adventure seeds covering all four superiors.

If you play In Nomine or are thinking about it, then you need this book. You could probably do without the Angelic/Infernal guides if you bought all four books in this series.

I'll repeat the warning that appears on all of the In Nomine books - this game features interpretations of religious themes that may upset some people.

Turjan's Tome is an add-on for Pelgrane Press's superb Dying Earth RPG, set in Jack Vance's mythical distant future, where technology is forgotten, magic is common, and most of humanity has reverted to selfishness in the face of the impending end of the Sun.

The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game main rulebook, which has all of the core rules, focuses primarily on playing games with characters like Cugel, who are more lucky than skillful. The focus there is primarily on creativity and comic mishaps of the characters, in their a never ending quest for more prestige, wealth, and debauchery.

Turjan's tome demonstrates the flexibility of the rule set by being much more serious. Characters like Turjan are much more straightforward and motivated, better at avoiding pointless arguments, quite capable of defending themselves in combat and able to wield potent magic. This book brings some of the desirable game concepts from more traditional roleplaying games into the Dying Earth without losing the spirit of the Dying Earth setting or the superbly simple conflict resolution mechanic of Pelgrane's masterful game.

The book provides suggestions for the creation of Turjan characters, four broadly stereotyped sample characters that can be customized for player use, a list of new and sometimes comical magic items, a sort of Narrator checklist of game goals, and many new spells. There's also a short list of suggested reading for people seeking source material, or just entertained by what they've found in the game.

I highly recommend this book.

This is probably the single most impressive supplement to Ars Magica ever written. The book is handled with great knowledge, grave respect, and an intensity of scholarship that one rarely sees in gaming. I handed it to a non-gaming friend who is a Torah scholar and he was impressed; he quibbled with certain points, but overall he saw this as a book that helped clear up many basic misconceptions of Judaism, especially as practiced during the Middle Ages.

Kabbalah will give you background on the Jewish communities of the Middle Ages, their beliefs, their mores, and their habits. It will give you insight into humour, worship, mysticism, and attempting to survive as a marginalized yet recognized people. Unlike the poor pastische earlier supplements have given to the Perfecti, this supplement gives a very accurate presentation of Jewish life (and how it varies in different parts of Europe).

Pick this book up and learn. Shalom.

Kevin and Kell the RPG is a licensed role-playing game based upon the popular comic strip by Bill Holbrook.

This game allows players to play characters from the comic strip, or to create their own characters and put them into the world of Domain. The players spend points to make their character, and with the simple system are able to make their furry character anything they can imagine.

It is a lot of fun, and I highly recommend it.

Just reasons to buy this book: -Romance and the Single Nocker. (Hidden pooka fetish exposé). -Kinship unveiled: The FUBAR. -Learn the ancient wizardry of "Infusion," a Nocker-only Art! You, too, can have a bad complexion and cuss, all it takes is this book.

The Knuckleduster Cowtown Creator by Forrest Harris is a very detailed, very complete, source for making a Western Town for a Wild West setting. While made by Knuckleduster Publications for Deadlands it can be used for others systems, including the Deadlands d20 system and the Fudge system. Or, if a fan of the Old West, you could just read it from front to back. There are tons of fun facts, short TRUE stories and information you can enjoy. The book deals with town types, gives data on the cattle business, the many stores, hotels and saloons that a town has, the ins and outs of running a railroad or stagecoach line, some points about the facts and myths of law enforcement and even a small bibliography of books.

I ran this adventure for my friends up in Portland on December 28, 2004. Since I was running Constantinople as "90% true" to history I didn't use the D20 D&D rules embedded in the module. For greater realism, I used the GDW House Rules found in Twilight: 2000, version 2.2. and Traveller: The New Era. I've made some modifications, mostly simplifying for the sake of ease and to reflect the more primitive background. My source material for this was from my earlier work on La Conquista.

The author, Dr. Mike Bennighof, has done an outsanding job of the careful balancing act required in crafting an exciting historical adventure. Several of the NPCs are real people of the time, including the emperor himself. Detail is only added as it moves the story along. Though I didn't use them, more magic-rich backgrounds are offered. Optional adventure 'plug-ins' -- like the Trench Raid -- make it easy for the referee to control the pacing of the module. And finally, the main plot has three alternative goal scenarios to suit the referee, particularly useful if players have already read the book.

In preparation for this tournament with 8 players I created handouts and adventure art. A new idea I had was plastic stands with character portraits (borrowed from Osprey military books) and listing important notes about their background and abilities. I had the players choose their characters based on these stands, rather than the more detailed character sheets. The stands also helped as "name tags" for the other players during play.

Also new was giving each character a secret to keep, which would sometimes put players at cross-purposes. This was very successful, leading to many raised eyebrows and a few laughs. Less successful was the honor point system I adapted from the module rules, which was regarded with some apathy by the players.

In the end, we all had a great time. Play time was about 4 hours, my limit because it was a weeknight. It was a challenge keeping play under that time -- especially as any ref knows -- with 8 players. I basically dumped the optional plug-ins, and the players helped by being extra clever and efficient, which enabled them to leave with their mission objective before Constantinople fell.

Memorable moments include running the Turkish blockade, when the archers and arquebusiers of the party poured murderous fire on the Turkish corsair pursuing them. The enemy ship was left in their wake, sails on fire and its captain dead. Gina's House of Joy provided some laughs, when one party member decided to privately question a male prostitute, merely because he called himself "The Baron."

In all, a very satisfying adventure. I'm not surprised it was an Origins Award Nominee for Best RPG Adventure, 2001.

[Players & their characters: Jason (Thorsten of Danzig - German Teutonic Knight), Kelley (Bertrand De La Salle - French arquebusier), Sky (Daniil of Korela - Russian mercenary), Ross (Diego de Alvarado - Spanish Knight Hospitaller), Liz (Francesco di Vaccio - Genoese arquebusier), Cindy (Giovanni da Isola - Venetian archer), Victoria (Romina Sidi - Turkish-Italian merchant), Chris (Zoë Vatatzes - Byzantine actress)]

Wayne Gralian
Wayne's World of Books

The Players Guide to Laws of the Hunt was a great update from the old Laws of the Hunt. In this you not only get expanded rules on how to play a hunter, but a mummy, sorceror, and many many other great things! This is an excellent expansion of different characters for any live action roleplayer!