Roleplaying Books

This is an incredible piece of work. Those who (like myself) were dissatisfied with the latest edition of M:tA should like this game. The rules are crisp and clearly written. The magic system is simple and easy to use.

In order to understand the basic concept, try to picture Call of Cthulhu where the good guys actually get to *fight* the horrors! In fact, I can see how several CoC scenarios could fit into the WC tableau with very few changes to the plots themselves.

If you like horror roleplaying, but don't like CoC's tendency to leave your heroes a gibbering pile of insanity or don't really like White Wolf's "angst," then definitely give WitchCraft a try.

The pictures in this book are by turns, and often simultaneously, funny, spooky, and distinctive. MacDougalls tends mainly towards paintings of supernatural beings, including yes, a lot of witches. The cover picture is a good example of MacDougall's style, and there are many other paintings to equal it.

Okay. You have Ars Magica.

This is the next one you want.

It's as simple as that. Here is what people want in their campaign -- more magic, more Virtues and Flaws, more background on bein a mage, the centerpoint of any saga. If you are only going to pick up one supplement, make it this one. Hands down it will give you more bang-for-the-buck than any other two supplements.

Basically, the idea of a screen for players is kind of absurd in the eyes of the Dungonmaster, but this is a good thing to have as a player because you can use it as a reference for wizard, priest, and druid spells. Handy charts for combat, saving throws, and XP are included as well. There are two different versions of this screen, each having different artwork.

This is a *self-contained rulebook* for playing children (up to 12-13 years of age) in White Wolve's World of Darkness. However, this is NOT a role playing game for children. It contains very adult themes, albeit, from the perspective of a child. In it you play an "innocent" who lives in a world of horror and the supernatural. Imagine the world of Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth or The Orphanage, but you play the little girl of boy. The book contains all the rules you need to play these child characters, you dont need the World of Darkness corerulebook. That said, it integrates seamlessly into Vampire, Werewolf or Mage, or particularly Changeling.
That said this game may not be for everyone. If you are not interested in exploring horror and supernatural themes from the point of view of a child; if you dont want to play stories in which you are a child living in an adults world, with little protections other than those granted by adults, caregivers or social agencies; if you want a character less empowered to change his world and who must live by the rules of a society that still see's them as "innocents," then this game will definitely NOT be for you. White Wolf has the reputation for publishing books that are edgy (yet innovating). This book is one of them.

White Wolf's new and revised 'World of Darkness' game line has been full of creative and useful ideas, and this first book to highlight the 'World of Darkness' beyond the US is nothing short of brilliant. The authors, mostly Brits themselves, do a wonderful job mixing the nation's rich cultural heritage, folklore and myth with thematic material, mysteries and the outright bizarre.

The first chapter gives a wonderful overview of the British Isles as they exist in the World of Darkness, paying full attention to Vampires, Mages and Werewolves (though there is a strong focus on werewolves), along with other stranger things like alien big cats, the owl man of cornwall, great lake worms, fox-spirits, djinn, ghosts and tantalizing hints of the fae. Things like the blood farm and 'the other city' of Glasgow are outright brilliant, but equally interesting are cultural changes that make British Vampires, Mages and Werewolves unique from their American counterparts. Notes are given on social changes, prominent individuals, rumors and even a few Bloodlines and Legacies, like the Pakistani Brothers of Sadr-Ud-Din and the 'chav' Tanners, though none are actually written up. As I said before, many of the writters on this book are Brits themselves, and it shows. Gone are many of the stereotypes that older books sometimes suffered from.

Like I said, this book is really aimed at the Werewolf audience (though others will get use out if it too), and the second chapter highlights this. It focuses on the Uratha of the region, even goes as far as to make write-ups for each Tribe, mentioning things like how British Bone Shadows study human ghost lore and take tokens from fallen foes, or how the British Iron Masters have adapted to the cities. Several new Lodges are written up, like the Lodge of the Howling Death, who fight the Pure to the death over territory, and the Lodge of Scavengers, who are cunning urban survivors. A small number of lesser Lodges are also mentioned, but not written up, like the Lodge of the Baital, Bone Shadows who study Asian myth. There are also a number of British Totems, Fetishes and Rites given, even some cultural notes on Klaives.

The third chapter gives some more setting information for Great Britain, including notes for American players, historical games, and bringing foreign characters into the UK. Once again, there is a strong focus on the setting for Werewolf, showing different cultural variations on typical foes such as the Beshilu (the idea of the Rat God thing is horribly creepy) and the Pure (such as inbred, aristocratic Ivory Talons who hunt two-legged prey on their estates, and Fire-Touched with a different fervor from their American brethern). Theres more ST material in the fourth chapter, which includes information on prominent NPCs and antagonists in the British Isles, and other useful crunch (like a new Cruac Ritual). All in all, theres alot of good stuff to throw at players, and for developing the United Kingdom as a unique supernatural landscape. But the creepiest stuff are the unexplained and bizarre things that have no real connection to other supernaturals. Things like the Drowned Men, who may or may not be the Fomori of Irish legend, and the hints about the Fae.

Like I said before, the authors have a deep sense of what's 'British' and really draw on alot of obscure regional folklore - like the Green Children of Woolpit, alien big cats, ghost stories, and the like. They also do a good job making mention of material from other books that can be brought in - like the Bron and Melissidae from Bloodlines: the Legendary, or the Sodality of the Tor, Daksha and Pygmalian Society from Legacies: the Sublime (and Wood's signature character Lucy Sulphate even gets mentioned). I was a little disappointed we didn't get write-ups for the Tanner or the Brothers of Sadr-Ud-Din, but theres always room for me to make up my own stuff for that. The vague hints and allusions to the Fae are also a great tie in with the forthcoming Changeling game (if the ST is so inclined that is). So yeah, this is a great book, an essential for Americans planning on running a game set in the UK. Even so, Brits will still get a kick out of many of the things in this book too.

Great Product, hides information from the other players and gives you quick access to information that you need.

I never really looked at Mexico as this land of shadows and legends but once you start getting into Shadows of Mexico for the World of Darkness, you see that Mexico's history and legends are every bit as colorful, and even more cloaked in history than nations of the Middle East, the cradle of civilization. And give the writers of this wonderful hardcover supplement credit, the first chapter is a lush, fifty page plus overview of Mexico's diverse history, and its terrifying legends. As duly noted in the opening pages of chapter one's overview, Mexico's human history goes back more than 10,000 years, yet unlike Egypt or ancient Babylon, we know so little about the cavitations of the Olmecs and Toltecs who predate the Aztecs.

Besides Mexico's history, the opening chapter delves deeply into many other subjects such as it's often harsh lands, border towns, common myths, gangs and organized crime, the Policia, crime and the drug trade, ancient Mexican deities and monsters and all sorts of other weirdness. I found myself truly fascinated and incredibly impressed by the research that went into the opening chapter. This isn't mere fluff but rather meaty material you can sink your teeth into.

Chapter Two is the player's guide to Shadows of Mexico and deals with how players and player types fit into the Mexican milieu. All the standard types of characters in World of Darkness are covered including Werewolves, The Awakened, Mexican vampires, the new Prometheans, and more, making it a fit for any WOD setting. The vampire clans and types are as eclectic as I've seen in any RPG system from the savage Gangrel to the tyrannical Ventrue. There's a wide array of dark and vampiric powers that are detailed that are as terrifying and as colorful as their names, such as The Scream of the Dying Sun, and Harbinger of Fear.

Chapter Three is mainly for the Storyteller and details the lands of Mexico that range from jungles to deserts and everything in between. Throughout the book, and not just in the Storytelling chapter, there are various sample adventures hooks and sample settings provided to help get the gaming session going. Again, as with the preceding chapter, the lushness of the material is amazing. Players can go from ancient Mayan ruins to stiflingly oppressive modern Mexico City.

The final chapter highlights some of the very unique characters and powers operating in Mexico. One of the most interesting I found was the Dead Desperado, a being that is not the typical undead, but whose origins are shrouded in mystery. He, or it, lives,,,um, or un-lives, for nothing but revenge, no matter whose revenge it is.

Shadows of Mexico completely took me by surprise. I had expected little from this supplement as it seemed to be so minor in scope but I was proven very wrong. This book is richly detailed and will provide players and Storytellers plenty of great game experience.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

By far the most intuitive, fun to play, and original wargame I have played (and I've played a lot). Not only that, but there are LIMITLESS possibilities, since every player can make their own armies!

I wouldn't listen to anyone that claims the "new and improved" 3.5 is any bit "new and improved".

3.0 is truly the right blend of D&D tradition and sound game mechanics. 3.5 is a pile of garbage house-rules for actual D&D crafted by a new batch of "limited" designer minds.

This book is D&D 3rd edition, no other.

Woc has done it again. They have released another editon, and it is supearior. Edition 3.5 is very like third (Hence the .5), but realy cleans up the classes and makes things more balanced. This book is good, but the new Players Handbook 3.5 Edition just blows it out of the water. They tweaked all that needed tweeking, and left the good stuff there. Toss your third Edition and go buy 3.5!

D&D 3E is a massive improvement over previous editions in a number of ways ... D&D has finally embraced skills, a big plus; a lot of the arbitrary and annoying restrictions of previous editions have been eliminated; the whole thing has been streamlined greatly at a fundamental level (there is still a lot of rules grit - attacks of opportunity anyone? - but this has always been the case, and by using a much cleaner and less arbitrary basic system, the game is now more intuitive).

The problem with D&D 3e is that it requires a *lot* of work on the part of the gamemaster. This is not a ready-to-play game by any stretch, unlike WotC's Star Wars d20, say. You have to go to some lengths to create a campaign setting, and realistically you're going to have to throw some of those arbitrary restriction back in. Why? Because D&D 3e has some significant imbalances, and you're likely to be playing with one player who is going to be looking for rules loopholes to create an unbalanced character. A big culprit here is the multi-classing combined with the fact that many classes are front-loaded with a lot of cool abilities at first level, so it's not unusual to find characters with 3 or 4 classes so they can cherry-pick low-level abilities from each. This is not only aestetically displeasing and unbalancing, but makes it impossible to keep a coherent character vision. The prestige classes are a cool and interesting feature, but are for the most part egregiously broken and, in the words of a fellow-player, "pure munchkinism".

Another complaint of mine about the system is that characters are simply too hard to make distinctive; the only real tool you have is this problematic multi-classing, and that is at best a blunt instrument. The Feats are a very cool concept, but not well-balanced with respect to each other so many will simply never show up (and characters who are not Fighters and Wizards acquire them far too slowly to be of much use in distinguishing characters). Characters of some classes (notably Paladins, Monks, Druids, and Barbarians) are going to be essentially indistuinguishable from each other - an 8th level Monk is pretty much an 8th level Monk, and the variance will be quite small. I find the list of which skills can be bought by which classes unduly restrictive and occasionally bordering on the nonsensical. The restrictiveness of the class sytem, and the stereotyped nature of the classes and lack of advancement choices, is to my mind the most significant failing of D&D 3e. Some classes are now almost acceptably flexible: the Fighter has a huge number of choices with all their bonus feats, even if the basic class concept of a heavily armed and armored fighting machine can't be fundamentally altered; Wizards of course have a massive spell list, and can specialise in various schools; Clerics now can pick from a dozen or so dieties, all of which serve to flavor the class; and Rogues have immense numbers of skill points and a wide variety of skills. But if you want somthing a little more specific or flavorful, you're stuck with cookie-cutter classes.

Anyway, from a pure systems standpoint, the d20 system is fundamentally a good one, but from a pure gaming perspective it has been done better by other games. I actually like Wizard's Star Wars game better, as it addresses many of the problems I've mentioned here; but that doesn't help you much if you hanker for heroic fantasy. D&D 3e is cool, better than previous editions (often significantly), and is popular because it is so open-ended. It has rules for everthing, and a bazillion skills, feats, spells, monsters, magic items, etc. - everybody is going to find a cool idea in here somewhere that they're ready to run with. All those options don't always work together, though, and the choices are sometimes odd, so be aware that the gamemaster is going to have to do some work for D&D 3e to be truly robust.

I played RPGs for 20 years. I liked them, i liked the people I played with and then i stopped. Nothing interested me after a while until 3E. I thought this was going to turn it all around again. Boy was i wrong.

The ideas behind this haphazard collection of material is sound. The problem is, the rules do not survive under scrutiny. Balance seems to have been thrown out the window in exchange for the 'cool' factor. If you want to make a cartoon charavter out of your imaginary alter ego, this is the game for you I think.

The skill and feat system is broken so badly that you probably can't fix it without rewriting the rules. The skills are restrictive by class - making absolutely no sense at all. Afterall, you're character wasn't born this class or that. Class seemes to have become your defining trait more than your personality. Trying to make a character a certain way is actually tougher in 3E as you have numerous skill restrictions. In short, Fighters get paltry skills and Rogues get the mother load. everyone else gets to fill in in-between.
Rangers are useless, becoming simply lightly armored fighters with a few useless special abilities, little opportunity for growth and a dazzlingly undazzling array of spells.
Sorcerers are similiarly built, with a few extra spells to cast per day than wizards, but FAR fewer to pick from and absolutely no class abilities that the wizard gets to choose from.
The old moronic +1 to this ability -1 to taht rules are still in place for non human characters, with the elf that lives 750 years somehow being more frail than you average human. By the same token, dawrves get a nice constitution bonus but are uncharismatic. Why? Well because they had to pick an ability and charisma looked like a good one......
You get to multiclass more easily according to 3E lovers. You needn't split your XP between classes, you simply take a level of any class any time you earn enough experience points to go up a level. Wanna be a fighter/paladin? GO for it. The only probalem is, it is almost useless to multiclass as a spell caster. With a level limit of 20 (which is fine IMHO) you mayonly have a TOTAL of 20 levels all classes included. That's great, but if you take 15 levels of Wizard and 5 levels of Rogue, you are going to be one disappointed mage when you realize you missed out on the best spells in the game in exchange for some paltry lock picking ability. To be fair, multi classing any of the fighter classes works just fine.
On the topic of levels, you should reach 20th after anout 35-45 game sessions if you follow their experience charts. WAY too much XP is awarded and in addition, all classes use the same experience point table. It seem that someone decided that a 20th level paladin and a 20th level bard were pretty evenly matched. I think we all know better.
Finally, the comabt system - which most gamers agree is the most tedious and time consuming part of any game - has been dragged out with so many extra and optional rules, that it takes forever to resolve the simplist battle. Some may applaud the detail, but the game has taken a step back toward the old CHAINMAIL table top battle rule srather than advancing as a ROLEplaying game.
With a chartr included for every detail in the game, this book has taken all of the imagination out of your hands, and given you a rule to cover it. 3E Roleplaying is actually more ROLLplaying, and after a while, that just gets tedious.
Well aware that the game is a mess, WoTC is releasing 3.5 later this summer to suck a few hundred dollars more out of your wallets.
I beg you consider what you might be getting before flushing your money down this over simplified, over hyped toilet of an RPG. Go play Vampire or Werewolf - at least they don;t charge you $... to insult your intelligence by including a chart for your eye color.

This book for most people is the only book you will ever need for Dungeons & Dragons. While there are many more accesories expanding the game, This is the ancor, and the only book needed for a player. It includes all of the Races, Classes, Spells, Feats, and Items you need to make and run a Charactor.
The best art of this book is that not only does it list all the things you need to know, it explains in full detail how all things are related to each other. If read like a book, (front to back not just paging for specifics) It spells out what you need, need to do, and how to. You start with the abilities, go into races, classes, and then skills, and items. Finsihing with spells, and feats.
Over all, i would rae this 5, because of what it offers, and its necesity to the game it serves. i recomend you buy it, even if you dont buy it here.