Roleplaying Books

Riding on the back of the fantasy role playing game craze came these interesting books, and plenty more popped up along with them on other topics, from other publishers.

They were designed so that all you would need was a pencil and a simple randomiser and be able to carry the whole thing around with you, and introduce the game and chance into it.

A Dungeon bash, of course.

Deathtrap Dungeon, written in 1984 by Ian Livingstone, was the sixth edition to the growing Fighting Fantasy series. This adventure is set, like most of the earlier FF books, in the medieval fantasy land of Allansia. There is a successful town in north Allansia called Fang. It's ruler, a certain Baron Sukumvit, decided to make Fang the centre of a great contest, to be held once each year, called the 'Trail of Champions'. Now, this Trail of Champions involved the Baron tunneling a deadly labyrinth into the hills behind the town. The labyrinth, named Deathtrap Dungeon (if you didn't already know), was then riddled with fiendish traps and vicious monsters to trick and test any contestants trying their luck. Just before the grand opening, Sukumvit selected ten of his finest troops to enter the dungeon, as a test of it's lethality. Much to the Baron's delight; none of the troops were ever seen again! The call then went out to adventurers all over Allansia. Many adventurers were eager to test their skills in Deathtrap Dungeon, for the honour of being the first to survive the labyrinth and collect their own weight in gold as a reward. As yet, none have survived to claim the prize...Until now, that is!! You start as an adventurer, signed up for the Trail of Champions, the eve before the contest starts. The next day, you line up outside Deathtrap Dungeon, ready to start your adventure. Five other contestants enter the dungeon with you. These are: an armoured Knight, a robed Ninja, a female Elf Warrior and two 'Arnold Schwarzenegger look-a-like' Barbarians. So, the race is on! To succeed in your goal you have to beat the other contestants (by fair or foul means), avoid becoming a victim of the many cunningly lethal traps, find and collect various items, vital if you are to escape alive, find your way through quite a complex maze and hack-'n'-slash your way through loads of Deathtrap Dungeon's inhuman inhabitants (this is my favourite part!!) For 'true' diehard FF fans; this book is a real roller-coaster ride. The book is original, well written, engaging and (fairly) complex. The book has some nice parts to it: Stumbling onto the remains of past contestants, impaled on spikes, ending up as stew for the Boodbeast, meeting the 'Trial Masters', Poison Ivy and those playful Trogoldytes (no, I won't tell you! You'll have to find out about them for yourself!!) There are some really nice 'adult' traps and ways to die as well; the 'Vice' trap and drinking the acid, which burns a hole in your stomach, are real corkers. As for bad parts......Well, I couldn't really think of any. This book is a very good edition to the FF series. Not being linear (like a lot of later books) the dungeon can be explored many times differently. The ending is especially challenging and exciting. Iain McCaig's illustrations are of the usual excellent quality; they really bring Deathtrap Dungeon alive, adding immeasurably to the atmosphere of the book. In fact, without his contribution, the book probably wouldn't of been so well received So, in my ending summary of number six; Deathtrap Dungeon. I would say that it is an absolute classic; this book is about as good as FF gets!

The Strategy guide offers everything it promises and more, with one exception. This is the strategy guide for the playstation version, NOT the PC. If you want the PC version, DON'T puchase this book, for the first board is entirely different and I'm not sure what else is changed in the playstation verson until I get my Map Book version. In short, Don't get suckered like I did!!!!!!!

This isn't a strategy guide at all. It is the original Fighting Fantasy Gamebook. Silly man. Check what you're reviewing before you post.

I really like this DM screen. My kids and I are playing and the art helps them feel like they are in Eberron. The map put me over the top. I purchased this product knowing of its errors a priori. However, the map was a nice surprise. I must have missed it in the other reviews.

This is, quite possibly, the best screen yet released for D&D, regardless of setting. Including tables for everything from Cleric's turning checks to Influencing NPC attitudes, as well as a handy Days of the Week and Months of the Year guide for Eberron's calendar (among a large number of other goodies), it's clearly meant for a high-roleplay campaign. Things like Item Breac DC's and what actions provoke what are also included, and it does quite a bit to lower the ammount of time some of the more rules-driven areas of the game take up in game time. Also, since it uses the D&D Deluxe Screen landscape format, I really don't feel half as "cut-off" from the players as when using my Forgotten Realms screen.

Still, there are areas in which the screen could be improved. There are three emblems (the same as the O in the Eberron logo) on the DM's side of it in which another table could be placed. Also, when viewed from a high angle the text doesn't contrast very well with the table background... and since my group generally plays around a coffee table, my players can easilly tell when I'm looking something up when I have to lower my eyes almost to the level of the screen. It's something to look over before the game while players are building characters (or before they arrive) or during the occasional in-session break, but otherwise to be reserved for really sticky deal-with-the-rules-lawyer situations.

Overall the screen is good;
The landscape format is fantastic, you can see over the screen when you need to see what's going on, yet it still provides the DM some privacy.
The artwork is great (even if it is a reprint of artwork from "The Order of the Emerald Claw" adventure cover, it is expanded).
The details and tables on the screen, in general are excellent.
And the map that is included is an awesome play aid.

BUT.....
HOUSE JORASCO IS MISSING FROM THE LIST OF DRAGON MARKED HOUSES!!!!
I mean it's just a basic cut and paste from previously printed lists of Dragon Marked Houses OR any basic editing should have caught this oversight.
UNFORGIVABLE, especially when, of the 3 Eberron specific tables included on the Deluxe Eberron Dungeon Master's Screen, the main one is incomplete!
This poor quality is becoming more and more common from Wizards D&D releases of late. Very, very disappointing. As you may be able to tell, I am still furious about this oversight, so I just wanted to warn people of the incompleteness of the product, when compared to its description on the back of the product.

Enough said...

I bought this expecting it to be only used during my upcoming Eberron campaign - I was dead wrong. This has every table you will need, and some you won't for the non-Eberron games. It's horizontal so I don't feel like I'm at a seperate part of the table than the gamers. It provides all the privacy I need for rolling dice and stashing papers. I can wrap it all the way around, almost to both edges of the table around me, at a comfortable visibility level. I could have a player sitting next to me and successfully hide my rolls.
Definately a recommended purchase - especially for the low price.

Learn the myths surrounding the dragons, discover their secrets, and unlock the mysteries that surround these grand monsters. Presented as a compilation of notes and stories by dragon-hunting adventurers, Draconomicon features details on roleplaying dragons for DMs, statistics for infamous dragons including Tiamat, new dragon species, dragon magic, and four short adventures involving the great wyrms.

This book is interesting to read and have many usefull information for DM, who like to terrorize players by dragons.

Learn the myths surrounding the dragons, discover their secrets, and unlock the mysteries that surround these grand monsters. Presented as a compilation of notes and stories by dragon-hunting adventurers, Draconomicon features details on roleplaying dragons for DMs, statistics for infamous dragons including Tiamat, new dragon species, dragon magic, and four short adventures involving the great wyrms.

This book is interesting to read and have many usefull information for DM, who like to terrorize players by dragons.

That's the name of the game and we wouldn't have it any other way!
This is the first Forgotten Realms Draconomicon accessory; the one that began the tradition of providing vital and in depth information concerning the powerful, magical creatures. Ranging from background history, to important dragon characters (NPC's), to the respective gods and pantheons, to instructions on how to preserve, cook and eat dragon meat, to which parts of a dragon can be used as spell components, and cross breading between the different types of dragons, to adventure hooks and actual adventures-like the GREAT adventure in Unther involving an ancient Blue Wyrm-which is included, this accessory has it all and more!
For the FR enthusiast, like myself, I also recommend the second, and latest (so far) FR Draconomicon accessory.
Moreover, for other FR references/adventures, I STRONGLY recommend: the Old Empires accessory on Chessenta, Mulhorand, and Unther, the Moonsea accessory, the Dreams of Red Wizards accessory on Thay, the Ruins of Myth Drannor Box Set, and the Ruins of Zhentil Keep Box Set (they are Second Edition AD&D, out of print and it will take a bit of searching, but it's well worth it). For updated editions of events see, the Third Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, which even though is quite expensive, is still very useful to all FR fans!
In short, if you don't have the original Draconomicon, GET IT! It might take a bit of searching to locate a copy, but it's well worth it!

Dragons! If there's one thing that sets the blood afire, it's that one, sinister, magical word. If you love high adventure, this is the book for you! Every aspect of the lives (and deaths) of dragons is scrutinized... there are chapters on dragon evolution and history, beliefs, powers, draconian gods, holy wars, dragon worship, lairs, hoards, role-playing, combat, famous dragons (such as Tiamat), new species, dragon magic, the dangers of hunting, complete adventures ready to play, and much, much more! If you love these perfect creatures of the imagination, you owe it to yourself to check this out.

I just got this to day and it is a great tool for new Storyteller's lake me get if your new to Exalted.

Normally I like all stuff from White Wolf, really.

Yet this guys somehow dont really know what HAS to go in a Storytellers Screen and what is USELESS to have there. As with ALL storyteller screens so far that I have from White Wolf this is the SAME = USELESS.

Ok. Art is so cool and the idea to put the Map of Creation is cool, really. Also it is thicker and resistant to all hazards. Thats why I give this product a 3.

YET... I am a designer and I feel that many tables should be taken away and more important info should be added instead. Like Healing Tables, Diseases, Poisons, Essence recovery reference page, short combat rules, less extended weapon and armor stats, experience reference page, actions and DVs, dont know would make it easier and somehow indispensable. So many space and wasted with things that one really never uses or needs. :(

Honestly, when I opened the screne, I did not expect the amount of info it contained. I have used some screens, mostly froma other companies (not WW), having only recently purchased the Vampire: the Requiem Storyteller Screen. And I must confess, I`ve really found this screen even more useful! Lots of hard-to-remember tables put together and a really nice pictures with a strylish map on the other side... If you're a ST and have problems remembering all the rules of Exalted (and let`s confess, most of us don`t), then this product is surely for you!

This GM screen is you typical one, with handy reference charts for the GM, but no real information on the player's side. A few charts I would have liked to see on here were omitted. But it is the most solidly-constructed GM screen I have ever seen, made of the same material as the hard-covers on the main books themselves.

The problem, at least for me, with most RPGs is "hyper-reality"; that is, they have statistics and rolls for everything, turning the gaming experience into a whole bunch of numbers juggling rather than a role-playing experience. This game, however is not one of them.

Up until "The Matrix" came out, Hong Kong action films remained the interest of only a few hardcore Western film fans. In these films, reality takes a backseat, if not thrown completely out of the car. Stories and action scenes are performed with virtually no restraint whatsoever, resulting in some truly eye-popping action sequences. But the action is not the only one to receve this shot of adrenaline. Stories receive the same treatment. Granted, the logical aspect has been thrown out the window, but the discuss very basic themes, like crime, family, honor, and loyalty, very basic issues that can appeal to everyone.

This game honors that ideal. Against a backdrop of a time-hopping "Secret War", players take on the roles of stereotypical roles found in Hong kong action films: the gold-hearted assassin, the cynical veteran cop, the grumpy old martial arts master, just to name a few.

Attributes are kept to a minimum, and there isn't one that determines how good you look. Skills encompass a large range of skills, so a character skilled in martial arts is also familiar with melee weapons, knows about martial arts styles, and has contacts in the martial arts world. Tired of trying to convert those copper pieces to gold? Here, you don't bother. You are either rich, a working stiff, or poor, able to afford what a person of your financial background could. Using up too much paper with all the information on your weapons, like length, weight, and range? Here, all you need to know is how much damage it is, its overall size, and how much ammo it can hold.

But the real meat of this game is its emphasis of style over action. Instead of saying, "I shoot my gun, let me roll the dice", players are encouraged to describe their actions as if they were seeing it on the screen, and if it is cool enough, the GM may award a bonus to your roll. Allow me to demonstrate: "Clutching my signature pearl-handled .45s in each hand, I make a slow-motion dive towards the bar. Just as I fall behind it, my .45s spit flame and the bullets leap towards the mook, hitting him in both his eyes, and he falls back into the giant aquarium, causing it to tip and spill its contents." See what I mean?

This is a game in which the session can be only as good as the players' contributions to it. Now some of the pressure is relieved on the GM from being the one trying to do everything.

If you are a gamer and a fan of Hong Kong action films, stop reading and pick this book up RIGHT NOW.

This is a role-playing game for people who want to shed angst-ridden melodrama and sweeping tactical rules and go straight for the one-on-one action of a fast-paced action movie. With character concepts such as "Scrappy Kid", "Killer", and "Everyday Hero". This system puts an emphasis on style and action, where almost anything can be resolved with 2 six-sided dice. The book also provides an in-depth world to put the characters in, but it is easily altered to suit the GameMaster's desires. Many of the descriptions of skills and Schticks (essentially powers) are tongue-in-cheek, again putting emphasis on the genre.

Combat is made to be quick and furious, with almost everyone having the same basic attributes. Other than Bruisers, everyone has the same amount of damage that can be absorbed. An attack will have the character go into detail as to what he wants to do to the villain, then rolls. Success means that whatever he said just happened. Thus, where most games would say "I shoot the guy with the sword", Feng Shui would prefer "The hero brandishes his gleeming pistol and vaults over a counter while he fills the air with his hot vengeance." Again, an emphasis on style.

Feng Shui is a perfect game for the action of martial arts-movie lover. Instead of just watching your favorite hero fight evil, you can assume the role of title character and plunge headlong into the adventure that you always wanted, from the grimy streets of ChinaTown, to the forbidding Himilayas, to different places in time. Anything is possible, limited only by your imagination.

Herein lies a simple system for any High Action setting. The origional thought was to emulate the action of the Hong Kong Action Genre. But it's not a huge stretch to use the system for Star Wars, the Mummy, or any setting where Larger Than Life stunts and Over The Top special effects reign. There is, for the most part, ONE die-rolling mechanic for everything. You don't need to look at charts and figure numbers, you just need to throw some dice and keep going. You get bonuses for describing your actions as vividly as possible, and making them entertaining. (What we call the "Looks Cool!" bonus.) And remember, there are very few problems that cannot be solved by beating someone up. Unlike many games, the flashy combat is the focus, and the roleplay is that thing you do between fights. (YMMV)

This rules-lite game is focused on having fun, fun, fun! And its action-flick background makes it more appealing to non-gamers than other popular RPGs where you may have to spend substantial time explaining the setting and character races, classes, etc. Most people are familiar with typical action-movie settings, so that familiarity helps immensely in drawing players in. Feng Shui does have its own setting, but it's really an elaborate excuse to have all kinds of action-flick character types (like ancient sorcerors and futuristic cyborgs) coexist. A GM can easily come up with his own settings to suit his story. If it would work in an action B-movie, it'll work in Feng Shui!

Perhaps the most telling rule in Feng Shui is the one about Named and Unnamed Characters. Any NPC (aka GMC) who has a name is an important character with a full complement of stats. Any NPC without a name is a dime-a-dozen goon who, in most cases, will be knocked out with just ONE punch (or kick, shot, whatever). So in a typical combat, the PC party will mow through waves of Unnamed enemies, until an NPC with a Name enters, which is when the PCs go, "Ah, finally a worthy opponent. I'm all warmed up now. Let's fight!" Fun stuff.

Dice rolling is kept to a minimum, and emphasis is on imaginative, stylish storytelling (or fight choreographing), on both GM and players' parts. My only gripe is that I wish the book had some guidelines on creating a new character type, but there are plenty of character types included already, so a GM can either modify an existing one, or have a pretty good idea on how to create one from scratch without throwing the game balance off too much.

If you like realism in your games, then Feng Shui is not for you. But even so, I think a lot of gamers will find much to learn from Feng Shui's lighthearted approach to roleplaying.

Highly recommended.

This book is a must have for players and game masters looking to try something different. The system is fairly easy to use but I recommend experienced players and game masters invest in it. It is not for the casual player and game master. I am not saying that inexperienced players and game masters would not enjoy the game because the game concept is really fun.

Caveat: I've only read Fireborn, I haven't played it.
The creators of fireborn seem to have poured a lot of creativity into their game mechanics. They seem original and should definitely give a new sort of play experience. Very nice in the d20 dominated gaming market. However, it seems that creativity in mechanics was obtained by sacrificing the setting. The idea is neat, but they haven't fleshed it out, in this book at least. The modern setting really isn't described at all, what is said seems to be an abbreviation of the World Of Darkness setting, and not a very good one at that. The mythic age is even less well developed. My guess is that the makers of Fireborn are leaving it to the GM to make up the look and feel of the world, because I can't find more than a few paragraphs on it. I think they have also shot themselves in the foot by making the dragon characters unable to advance or change. It makes them plot devices more than PCs.

I want to clear up a misconception about the Fireborn PH. It is one of a set of two books needed to really explore the setting, the other being the Fireborn Role-playing Game: Gamemaster's Handbook. The Player's Handbook is focused primarily on the mechanics of the game. The Gamemaster's Handbook details the setting for the GM. This is intentional, and is necessary to maintain the integrity of the setting.

I only mention this because people have been giving it poor reviews in the setting department, likely because they hadn't read the Gamemaster's Handbook as well. The game itself is about uncovering a vast and intriguing mystery that has been developing from the mythic age and will come to a climax as the scion PC's unravel it.

The irony is that the setting has been lauded by reviewers in the RPG industry, and the game itself was nominated for Gencon & EN World's "Best RPG" of 2005. Don't dismiss Fireborn because of a few bad reviews here... and if you intend to play as a PC rather than as Gamemaster, do yourself a favor and don't read the Gamemaster's Handbook!

The cons are that you'll need a fair amount of errata from Fantasy Flight Games' website to get going. It's easily accessible as a single pdf download. It is a little irksome, but well worth it. The game mechanics are designed so that they sit somewhere in the background during narrative scenes, and become cinematic during action scenes without changing the mechanics in between time. I'd liken the system to a more fluid version of Shadowrun's d6 system, with the feel of Feng Shui during combat. The net result is nothing like either system, but both have an influence in the feel of play.

Overall, this is the game I've been looking for... a good blend of interesting setting and dynamic action.

Before I start, let me say that I'm a supporter of any game system that isn't D20. That being said, I think Fireborn has some very good potential as a game system. Since, as I write this, the GM's Guide hasn't been released yet, I can't comment on all the aspects of the game, but from what I've read so far, I this Fireborn is definitely worth a look.

Also, I give four stars rather then five because I've only read it, I haven't tried to play a campaign yet, so I can't give it five stars yet.

The basis of this game is that the players, called "scions," form a "brood" of souls that have been reborn down through time. They are the souls of great and powerful dragons that have forgotten what they once were. And, over the course of a campaign, they begin to remember little bits and pieces of their pasts as well as begin to regain some of their powers. At the same time, other fantasy-type things like this are also slowly beginning to re-emerge and be remembered in the rest of the world.

In the past, sometime before the last Ice Age, occured what's called the "Mythic Age". This is a traditional-type fantasy age, with great heros and villians and such. It's, quite frankly, pretty standard Fantasy-type fare. However, this also leads into what I think is the most original aspect of the game: Playing in the mythic age through the game mechanic of "Flashbacks."

In these flashbacks, and this is another game mechanic that I really like, you're playing your fully-realized dragon. You've got all the powers you've chosen, all your abilites and magic, and access to your hoard of treasure that you've gathered throughout your time there. I should note that, as your modern age character advances, you begin to regain some of your powers as you remember more of what you were.

You play these flashbacks normally, your characters have free will and all that, but the idea is that your character is remembering what happened to him long ago. The idea behind this is, for example, your modern character is hunting some cult or something that's trying to summon a creature of some kind. In the process of hunting this cult, your character has a flashback of fighting this creature in the mythic age, and knowing how powerful and devastating it would be if it's unleashed again.

As for actual mechanics, characters have four aspects: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. These aspects, in general, define your character and you get once D6 in each aspect for each point. A Fire score of 4 lets you roll 4 dice on Fire tests. The dice are used to generate individual successes, a lot like Shadowrun, rather then totalling the rolls for a single result. The harder something is to do, the more successes it requires.

Earth is the strength of your mind, Fire is fighting and conflict, Water is defense, and Air is reasoning and mental things. Now, these aren't as clearly divided as D20 or GURPS, Fire isn't just combat, Earth isn't just defense, they're treated more broadly then that. Skills act to allow you to move dice between your aspects. For example, having a Fighting skill of 2 allows you to move 2 dice from your other aspects into Fire. This can leave those other aspects lacking if you need to test those before your aspects refresh to normal.

I know I didn't explain that all that clearly, it's explained quite well in the book, though.

The default setting is in London, much like Shadowrun and Seattle, but you can easily adapt a campaign to another location. Any campain I'd run I'd set here in southwest Montana because I know that area.

As I say, I haven't bought the GM's guide yet, because it hasn't been released. I do look forward to buying it, though.

If you're looking for a new, interesting system, give Fireborn a look. It's got a lot of potential to be a pretty good time.

Probably one of the most valuable guides I bought. Full of ideas and notes. My players loved it from the first day.

If you run a star wars campaign i think this is a must have. it has a lot of great ideas.

The Galactic Campaign Guide takes a departure from previous sourcebooks in that it's light on the rules, and heavy on advice. It is also the only sourcebook designed solely for the Gamemaster. However the GCG isn't clogged with the usual array of charts and tables, nor will you find prestige classes, new feats, or any equipment at all. Instead it focuses on the particulars of creating and implementing interesting campaigns, storylines, locations, and NPC's.

Chapter 1: The Campaign Foundation is really the meat of the book. A full description of its contents would take some time, but needless to say this wide and varied chapter discusses everything from how to capture the feel of Star Wars to how to bring the PCs together to how to deal with party splits. Chapter 2: Settings describes a wide variety of urban locations that can easily be plugged in to any campaign, and it provides a few location-specific rules for each. Chapter 3: The Environment discusses props and hazards, among other things. Chapter 4: The People discusses some great supporting characters and also provides extensive name generators for the main character races. Finally, Chapter 5: The Heroic Journey devotes its entirety to this central concept of Star Wars mythology and provides a rare and in-depth look at how to truly make a campaign "epic."

The GCG is also filled with the standard high-quality level of full color artwork in and out.

On paper, much of what this book talks about might seem fairly obvious, for example, how to set the mood of an encounter. In practice, however, some GM's simply don't know how to do this effectively, and even experienced GM's might unintentionally gloss over such an aspect. What this book has done is gather, combine, and explain much of what it takes to be a "good" GM into one single reference.

What the book doesn't talk about in great detail, unfortunately, is how to tailor the campaign based on the levels of the characters. After all, would a level 1 character and a level 16 character both be saving the galaxy in the same way? Probably not, but the GCG doesn't discuss this. Nor does the book talk about player characters who attain great wealth, recognition, or power and influence. I realize that the authors had to stay within a certain page limit, and such omissions aren't unforgiveable, but they do prevent a good book from becoming a great one.

Aside from these minor faults, the Galactic Campaign Guide succeeds admirably in covering most of the important aspects of running a campaign. GMs of low to moderate experience will probably find this book to be their best friend. An experienced GM will also appreciate it for its ability to take much of the grunt work and guesswork out of running a campaign. I strongly recommend it.

The Galactic Campaign Guide is a tool for gamemasters. Among the things provided here, are a hundred adventure ideas, descriptions, maps and adventure ideas of dozens common locations such as cantinas and so forth, descriptions of several environmental items, such as computer ports and escape pods, planet generators, and GM character generators. The list goes on. This book comes in really handy when you need to whip up a quick adventure, location, or character. It takes some of the backbreaking work out of planning a campaign. Also, I would recommend this for beginning gamemasters. The advice here will really help beginners get into the swing of things. However, if you're an experienced gamemaster, the advice section will probably be common knowledge for you, so you'd only be able to use this for the locations and generators.

The downside of this book is the art. A lot of the artwork is done in a cartoony style in which the Star Wars world is mixed with the modern world. You end up with ridiculous art like a Star Wars alien wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. They could have done a much better job with the art.

If you're a beginning gamemaster, be sure to pick this up. If you're an experienced gamemaster, you could probably skip this one.

With the dozens of books on the market for GURPS, it gets really tiresome to have to look through all of them to find the skill, advantage, or disadvantage you want. This book makes that worry a thing of the past. I can not imagine making a character without it anymore.

Steve Jackson Games have managed to do for GURPS 3rd edition what the D&D Rules Cyclopedia did for D&D. A literally breath taking book that expands and supplements the GURPS 3rd edition Basic Set beyond it's comparatively humble origins. Almost a decade of GURP character generation material and advice have been lovingly compiled. I recommend this book. Guy Robinson

This book has all, or at least the vast majority of the things you need for character creation all under one cover. It has all the disadvantages, all the advantages, and a good number of skills.

If you are one of those people who buys GURPS books to read for entertainment, you might not want to bother, but this book is very helpful (almost a must have)if you are actually playing the game.

It's the nature of RPG publishing to generate more books for the games published. If all you need is 1 book and every potential customer has that book, you're out of business.

The drawback to this is new material tends to duplicate and even contradict older material unless the game maker keeps a tight reign over it.

GURPS generally has had such supervision but even so you have rules in one book that are useful in another but not found there.

In ten years of existence, a good list of new rules, character skills, advantages and disadvantages have cropped up. GURPS line Editor Sean Punch took ahold of this and compiled the newer rules into one book, making it far easier for players and game masters to generate characters.

Reconciling some contradictory material took some effort but not too much and Punch does invite his readers to note similar advantages, such as Universal digestion and Cast Iron stomach.

The first lets you eat anything non-poisonous, the second makes you resistant to an upset stomach and fights off poisons.

Overall a must for any serious GURPS player.

This is a perfect reference for a GM. Almost anything that a GM needs at his/her fingertips is on this screen. There are only two complaints I have.

A) The artwork on the front of the thing is ridiculous and silly looking (almost Disneyish).

B) The screen doesn't function extremely well as a screen. It has a little trouble staying standing up and is not quite large enough to hide all of my stuff behind. But it is functional at least.

It's a GM Screen, tables, charts, etc. Pretty good selection and i like the multi-panel design. However, it is ruined by the cover art. Man, couldn't they find some better art? Even recycled art from older books would've been better than the disappointing cartoon-y purple travesty that is the cover of the GURPS GMs Screen.

What could be more useful to a GM than a screen that doubles as a reference and a cover for his campaign secrets? This one for GURPS is very nice.

The GURPS GM Screen is a great reference for most of the tables that you would need during the course of a night's adventuring. This allows you to avoid flipping through your Basic Set books looking up these items. The inserts are extra-special too, with GURPS Lite and Character Builder and conversion. Great references. I must have been spoiled by the art of Dan Smith though, who did a lot of work on 3rd Edition Basic Set and other books. The current full color art leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe more from artist Alex Fernandez who illustrated GURPS Dragons would be the proper substitute for the missing Dan Smith.

There are a lot of quirky things about this magic system, and I would have done much of it differently. For example, I think a lot of the spell durations are just too short. For example, if you want to disguise yourself with an illusion, you have to pay fatigue every minute to keep it going. A fairly simple and not too powerful effect, but only the mightiest of mages are mages can disguise themselves for more than 5-10 minutes.

Magic in combat is kind of weird; it's slow, which is a dangerous combination with the large distance penatlies to skill (-1 per yard), because it means for many spells you have to stand close to your target and hope they don't whack you when your concentrating. In practice, I find that magic is most useful for setting up defense and augmenting offense before battle, but once battle is joined it is less useful. Some of the spells are awesomely powerful. Some of them cost so much fatigue that it is difficult to see how you would ever use them.

Overall, I would say that the system works though. It is kind of fun learning to work the system to be able to do what you want. Despite the limitations mentioned above, magic in this system is a valuable and powerful force.

This book contains a large number of the spells in the GURPS gaming system, and plenty of rules and ideas for creative magic use. The sheer number and variety of spells explained in this book is mind-boggling. As some others have said, the GURPS magic system is not as overwhelmingly powerful as the magic of some other gaming lines, but it is well thought out. The spells are quite versitile, and almost every spell can be cast at varying levels of power, for varying cost. This enables you some control the range of damage/effects produced, and enables the tailoring of spells to certain situations. Some of the more powerful spells are tools of amazing power, if you can cast them. Don't ignore the "lesser" spells either. Just keep in mind that with enough creativity any spell can be magnificently effective, especially if your campaign involves a high level of realism. This book is a must for anybody who wants to use GURPS magic.

This magic system seems, at first, to be extremely weak and limiting. If you are used to AD&D (as is likely the case) it IS; however, upon closer examination you discover that it ISN'T. Sure, for a 100-point campaign a mage is very costly and, unless specialized, will be limited. That's how it would be in real life, if there were magic. Keep at it, though, and soon a mage will be the most powerful member of your party. Apply GURPS Magic to a 250 or (wow) 500 point campaign and your power will surpass even that of your meta-human cohorts. As with all GURPS products, the "real-world" rules make Magic truly enjoyable and playable. If *you* are creative then nothing is impossible (just save up the character points). GURPS is a system where you have to *think*--that's what sets it apart from all the rest. In summary, an extremeley useful sourcebook!

GURPS Magic is a RPG magic system designed to fit seamlessly into the Generic Universal Role Playing System, and as such it is extremely successful. Magic allows you to add magic using characters to any GURPS campaign easily. The system emphasizes a skill-based approach where more difficult spells can be learned only after basic spells have been learned. A character's skill with a spell determines his ability to successfully use that spell, and he can always improve his skill through study and practice. A character can cast any spell he knows, providing that he has the strength to cast that spell (the effect is tied into a "realistic" measure of fatigue), so even a beginning magician can be flexible, if not powerful. Yet also built into this system are some useful game restraints that prevent a magician from becoming overwhelmingly powerful. A useful comparison is AD&D, where a beginning magic user is absurdly weak and can cast one weak spell a day, yet at the high levels can control spells that rival a modern armored division in effect. Magic allows beginning characters to be more playable and fun to play, while prevents experienced characters from taking over the show. As in real life, this skill based approach tends to channel a character into specializing in a particular "field" of magic without the use of artificial restrictions such as "class" found in other games.

If the system has any problems, it is that it literally is to generic. While it can be used "as is", it requires a lot of work on the part of the players and game master if they want a system that closely models "historical" or fictional magic systems. If you want a game that portrays the setting of the Arabian Knights, for instance, it is not simply a matter of deleting those spells that don't fit the genre since more advanced spells that do fit might require those spells as learning prerequisites.