Roleplaying Books

Okay, as a veteran of White Wolf Games (tabletop and LARP), I challenge anyone to play a more noble and delightful game than Changeling. It was pure magic on tabletop, even better in Live Action. How could you NOT want to those "merry wanderers of the night" known as the Fae? IF you've ever used your imagination, then I know you remember the magic and glory of all those fairy tales you dreamed of and acted out. So go on, break out the old carboard helmet and sword, and let the chimerical magic work it's charm. There's always time to play. This book will show you how to do that, and let your friends come along as well. Play this, and you'll even make more. Who knows? You might even meet a Lord Oberon or Lady Titania. And don't forget Puck. ;)

This is a truly sad game, but filled with woders and glamour, too. People argue that changelings don't fit into the World of Darkness, but they're really the most tragic characters. Locked away from their glorious Arcadian home, they wage a constant battle against a banal reality not their own and the madness of the Dreaming. The Court intrigue and dynamic characters make this game a joyful experience, whether woven into a Vampire and Werewolf campaign, or standing as a Freehold chronicle. And that Faerie Magic!

the point of a larp is to have fun, is it not? after all it is just a game. changelings have the most fun because their goal in life is just to have fun! i didnt even read this book until after i played, and even though it ran smoothly, i am glad that i did, because i learned aspects of the game that i didnt even know that i didnt know! clean wholesome fun for the whole family (or something like that!) two thumbs up

This book was awesome! I highly recommend it to anyone who is into role playing games. It is a must have! And if you've never experienced a role playing game, get this book! It's a great way to start!

This game sourcebook is just as you might expect by the title a very good sourcebook for the 1000 Hells. I really can't add to what has already been said, just give my support

This has to be one of the best books I've read through in the Kindred of the East expansion. The 1000 Hells is not to be played with lightly -- it's serious business for those who wish to commune with the likes of Emma-O, Mikaboshi, Tou Mu, Rangda, and a host of other Yama Kings (and Queens) that rule Yomi. It shows you how to create a Yama King/Queen, the type of hell s/he would rule, systems on how to go to hell (literally, no pun intended), the effects of most disciplines while in Yomi (both Kuei-jin and Cainite), even how to commune and bargain with the Rulers of Hell and become an akuma (both standard and the exquisitely monstrous princes of Hell versions). Coupled with the latter half of Killing Streets (where it discusses the Broken Mirror systems), and you have the makings of a very memorable, spine-chilling chronicle. Highly recommended.

The 1000 Hells book is one of the better supplements White Wolf has published. It contains descriptions of several Yomi Realms (especially the Wicked City is a very interesting Realm) and has biographies of the most (in)famous Yama Kings. It gives examples of Demon Servants and other antagonists to use in a Yomi chronicle, and has expanded rules on akuma (Yama Infernalist Investments and such - very good stuff!). All in all, definately worthwhile the money if you play a KotE chronicle which involves the Yomi World.

Whether you are running Kndred of the East, Hengeyokai, or god forbid a Hsien chronicle, this is the best book for giving the eastern world of teeth. From the greater Akuma to the Demons of Iron and violence, this book has everything you need to bring some major havoc into your game. And if its intrigue you want this book hs plenty to offer.

Fantastic is a word I would use to describe this book, the very last supplement in the Werewolf Apocalypse line. The scenarios are all entertaining and capture that doomed yet heroic spirit that the game itself had. Have no doubts that each scenario gaurantees that heroes will fall and victory can only be won at the cost of the entire Garou race.

You can tell that the writers really loved thei game line and setting and they wanted to make sure the werewolves got a proper send off and the fans of the game are showered with plot points, helpful suggestions and open ended scenarios that allow you to tinker with and add on your own points.

I heartily recommend this book even as just a good read if you enjoyed the werewolf metaplot or just wanted to see what Apocaplyse was going to be like if you stopped running one of these games long ago. You won't be disappointed. By far this was the best of the Final Judgment books that ended the White Wolf game lines.

The WtA had the most heart, despite it's action packed premise... This book was everything I wanted and more. Amazing battles, heroic sacrafice, and betrayal. It was amazing....

The WtA creator's put their souls into this and it shows, it's open ended, yet as structured as you want the Apocolypse to be.. It wasn't souless like the Gehenna book, but made you laugh and cry with your characters in the end times...

Buy this is you ever want to end the world with a bang in your WtA books...

Then it would be fairly obvious: Buy it!

This book is the second in a series of World of Darkness apocalypse games. It concludes the Werewolf metaplot storyline and offers many different alternatives to implement into your gaming group.

My first introduction as a storyteller was this game and it is where I learned the mechanics of the storyteller system (it is probably the most action oriented rpg game of the line). As a fan of many WW games it goes without saying that this book deserves a place on my gaming shelf of great games.

This book, the culmination of years of gaming in the world of darkness as the mighty Garou, is a fitting end to the game line. The scenarios contained within are definately everything I expected the Apocalypse to be like, with huge battles, sacrifices, and plot twists. I'd recommend this book to any fan of white wolf, not just werewolf.

I played l5r but a bunch of my friends played vampire and rage so i got this book because i'm into WWI and I wanted to be something different then a werewolf or a vampire the concept was great but the vampire game in general jsut bores me and I only played because my friedns did but this book made the game fun

I Loved it! I thought it was a fantastic book! It had alot of the current politics. Including a Coup by a one of the legions commanders. Its great book with alot of plots to gleam from. I'm DMing/Storytelling currently in a World War One setting and I couldn't have done that well without it! Its a must have........trust me!

I bought this for setting information and ended up liking the Wraith setting so much that I also got the main Wriath book. Great setting for any Stortyteller and it have good artwork also.

Although writen in a completely different mood compared to it's precursor, Wraith: The Oblivion, The Great War offers you the possibility of playing in one of the bloodiest scenarios of all times: World War I, the "War to end all wars".

As the afterword states, the 1st World War is usually seen as "just the prelude to World War II; the *good* war". It's a great injustice: World War I saw the first trully global bloodshed of all times, as countries in a decaying Europe fought for supremacy. The aftermath was really depressing, and a perfect theme for Wraith.

It's also worthy of notice the treatment White Wolf gives to this delicate theme. The War isn't presented as "fun". The War was a terrible event in history, and White Wolf gives it the respect it deserves.

First I will preface my remarks by saying I have not played AD&D since around 1991. Although I am aware of the developments since then, I have never chosen to move to the new systems and feed the publisher's coffers.

One of Gygax's last major contributions to TSR, Oriental Adventures details the oriental adaptation of the 1st Edition AD&D rules (post Unearthed Arcana). This is a fantastic game and a fantastic system, although those of us coming to the genre anew might find it intimidating. Essentially this details some of the classic warrior archetypes in Asia (Bushi - soldiers, Kensai - weapon specialists, Samurai - honour-bound warriors) wizard archetype (Wu Jen) etc... Ninja is not an independent class, but a secondary class that some archetypes can have (similar to multi-classing).

There are four races, one which is like an Oriental version of Dwarves, one which are effectively shapechangers, and the three branches of part-human "Spirit folk", and lastly, humans.

Gygax lays out a couple more layers to the normal AD&D experience - honour system and class / caste system, and adds in martial arts for a full Oriental experience. The spell lists from the Player's Handbook are adapted to the Orient, and many stay roughly equivalent.

This book was criticised at the time for mixing different oriental cultures / archetypes into one book. In response to that - this is fantasy. There is enough interesting variants in here to give an Eastern flavor to any campaign. If you are interested in this area you can also pick up fairly cheaply some of the Rokugan books (published by L5R and easily adaptable to this rule set - although written for 3rd ed d20 system, or vice-versa).

However, this is a very good value book now available cheaply second hand. Buy it (and the other 8 or so original titles) because these books are full of imagination. Despite all the years of fixes within second, third, 3.5 and 4th editions, I still prefer these original texts. Buy them while they are still available.

The only fault in this book is that it is written in archaic 1st Edition D&D rules, which is not that easily adapted to 3.5. But this book is worth a translation, because it is far superior to its modern counterpart.

The rules for new races & classes (including ninja and kensai) are much better presented. The martial arts system is a munchkin's dream (It's pathetically easy for anyone to start doing 3d10 punches), but unlike it's 3e successor, its rich in flavor and easy to advance in a far more logical manner. The Wu Jen have never been done as well since this edition, and they have many great spells in the book. As an added bonus, they used a new setting for OA, instead of retrofitting everything to Rokugan, which severely crippled the 3e book.

A must have for any RPG collection.

This book is fantastic, and adds so much depth to the campaign. It has everything you need to run an Oriental Adventure, or make characters in an oriental setting. TSR has yet to duplicate in any other book the remarkebly well balanced rules of this book. For example, the Ninja in Oriental Adventures is more inetersting, better devolped, and more enjoyable to paly with only a few pages of coverage than anything in the 2nd edition complete book of Ninjas. IF you can find it, buy it, you will not regret it. The only drawbacks are that A) the book is out of print, and B) AD&D is moving to 3rd edition, and Oriental Adventures exists solely as a 1st edition book, so the rule converstaion may or may not proove difficult.

Here it is, the most coveted AD&D hardcover in existence - not only for its rarity, but for the excellence of its rules! Here, you get 128 pages of how to play ninjas, samurai, wu-jen, and more; the elaborate Honor system, oriental magic, and the unique monsters and treasures of Kara-Tur, all in one beautiful reference! The golden age of the 1st edition game, here in one volume.

This magazine is one of the best. Have all the tricks that you need to help you with the game. Buy it and proves it yourself.

This guide is very helpful and it was worth the price i paid for it.

the strategy guide has pics for all scenes and gives many good tips throughout.

The official MediEvil II guide is a rarity among most of Prima's recent strategy guide offerings--it's EXTREMELY good. Everything the game has to offer is greatly detailed by way of clear maps, screenshots, walkthrough directions, and enemy strategies. All of this is presented in a very nice layout which takes full advantage of all 160 pages--no wasted space to be found here. Highly recommended if there's anything stumping you about this game.

I bought Ptolus because it looked like a handy way to have adventures for D&D (having little time to cook them myself). I found that the book is exceptionally good. Design in much like a travel guide; you can nearly see the streets. It is good to read, fills your minds with ideas, and seems very nice to play in (haven't played much yet). The book covers every part of the city, with enough detail to play straight from the book, or to allow you to create complex plots involving multiple power groups. The book is very pretty, well written and in hypertext. My only critic is that that the economics of the city doesn't look very solid to me, but no adventurer really cares about that. And for the things the DM and players care for, the book is wonderful. It is the kind of book that makes you want to play.

The first thing I looked at was the price tag. I'm a huge fan of Monte Cooke's works, but wasn't sure I wanted to spend that amount of cash on ANY campaign setting, let alone Ptolus. I gave this setting a chance and wasn't disappointed one bit.

City by the Spire is an amazing feat of world-building. From the history of the city, to the description of the individual city wards, to the unique personalities that populate it bring the setting to life. Included are personal notes of how Cooke introduced certain aspects into his own City of the Spire game. So it's not just a game designer giving run-of-the-mill tips or adventurer ideas: it's the experience of one gamer to another.

I also like how he incorporates classes from the D&D Basic Set into the setting without the need for special ability revisions or optional rules. The prestige classes are not numerous, but each one is appropriately balanced for gameplay, which is contrary to WOTC's current trend of supplement creation.

These elements, plus the handouts and the CD-ROM with additional gaming material, make City by the Spire a truly worthwhile investment to your gaming experience. It's worth every penny!

...well, almost the best. Actually, I'd put "Ptolus" in a tie with "Harn", the magnificent game setting by Columbia Games. But with "Harn" for low-powered, low-magic fantasy, and "Ptolus" for high-powered, high-fantasy, you're done. You really needn't buy another fantasy roleplaying supplement. (Granted, "Harn" comprises over 2 dozen separate publications, but still.)

Quite simply, given the constraint of minutely detailing a city rather than a countryside or world, it gives you everything you need. There is a teeming amount of detail, enough to make you feel like you're a Ptolusite. There are enough plot hooks and interesting adventure ideas to fill five campaigns, let alone one. And if you don't want to construct adventures yourself, there are enough actual adventures and detailed encounters to easily take a group of characters to 20th level...in fact, choosing different paths through the premade adventures, enough to take two groups to 20th.

There is also plenty of grist for the mill no matter what urban campaign style you want to run. Want to infiltrate an organization and topple it or control it? It's there. Want to play the game of thrones with the powers that be, discovering their political plots and interconnections while creating some of your own? It's there. Want to delve underground and fight magnificent monsters and take their junk? It's there. Want to save the world? It's there.

The foundational strength of Ptolus, however, lies in Monte Cook's genius. Here, he has constructed a location and backstory for that location that supports all of the wacky, high-powered conceits of the D&D universe. He started with the basic premise "If beings really lived in a D&D like universe, what would there motivations, life, and ambitions be like?" The result is a setting where it makes sense that you strap on a backpack and go spelunking to fight evil monsters, where you can walk down the street with a dire bear next to you and a glowing sword on your back,and where magicians hurl fireballs at each other in an alley. Yet, Cook has also included natural controls that would be developed by such a society so a GM's players don't simply trash the setting (Knights of the Dinner Table, anyone?)

In the final analysis, the best endorsement I can give is this: I've been collecting RPG supplements and systems for over 30 years, and rather than being my typically scattered self, all I read and use is Ptolus. It's that good. It will be the best money you've ever spent on RPGs. I promise.

Monte Cook's penultimate masterpiece, Ptolus: City by the Spire, is without a doubt one of the finest gaming supplements I have ever seen in the 20+ years I've been gaming. It is the culmination of Monte Cook's game designing career, and fits it with many of his previous products (in fact, several of them implicitly or explicitly involve Ptolus: The Banewarrens, Chaositech, and Queen of Lies come to mind)

The first chapter of the book is the Player's Guide to Ptolus (also available for free online, but in B&W). It gives an overview of the city, the people, and the world in which the city resides. Next, the book goes on to give more information about the world around Ptolus, Praemal. Monte gives just enough information to get you started here. It's obvious he intends for individual DMs to customize the world of Praemal to fit their own styles and campaigns. Praemal isn't the focus of this book anyway. Next, the book details the major organizations that can be found in the city, from the benign to the malevolent. This is where you start to find really great ideas for adventures and scenarios.

After the first three chapters, the next chapter constitutes the best, and most detailed guide to a city ever detailed for D&D. Every region of the city gets its own section complete with important locations, rumors, adventure hooks, important NPCs, and how it all fits in the history of the city. The maps are well done down to the individual buildings and are supplemented with other maps throughout the book detailing typical houses, stores, apartment buildings, guild halls, government buildings, etc. This section is lovingly written almost like a travelogue. Once you read through it a few times, it will seem almost as though you've been there. And if it doesn't, you'll certainly want to go there.

After the description of the city proper, comes a chapter that talks about running a campaign in Ptolus. It includes hints on how to run urban adventures, notes on special equipment and other items you'll find in the city (firearms!), and especially helpful: a whole section on LIVING in Ptolus, down to how much it costs to rent a flat or home, or buy one and how much money you'll need to earn per month to enjoy a certain standard of living. This type of detail really makes urban campaigns stand out. All too often, a game session ends with characters "making camp" until the next time all the player's meet. Ptolus makes it easy to say the character just go home and deal with their day-to-day life while allowing the players a say in just what that day-to-day life entails.

After the DM Companion section comes a section on what is beneath the city. Since Ptolus was the original playtesting campaign for the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons, it wouldn't be complete without...a dungeon! Of course, the dungeon in this case is an interconnect series of sewers, natural caverns, what was on the land before the city was built over it, mad wizard's labyrinths, an abandoned dwarven city, and much more. You can use all of it, or none of it. It's called "The Dungeon" only to make it easy to reference. How it affects the city, and how the city affects it is meticulously detailed, yet it is left open for DMs to insert anything they want down there. If you wanted to insert the entirety of the "World's Largest Dungeon" beneath Ptolus, you could easily accomplish it. I love how it's integrated, yet modular.

After "Beneath the Streets," come chapters with adventures for the city setting. The first of these is a series of low-level adventures intended to get the players familiar with the setting and set up some recurring nemeses and allies for the characters. Once that particular adventure path is finish, DMs can segue into Ptolus's companion product "The Night of Dissolution," or go off in their own direction because the following chapters detail what is on the spire, by which the city resides: two fortresses of ultimate evil. These are high-level (near epic) areas which spell certain death to anyone ill-equipped to explore them. They are intended as end-game areas in which a campaign can come to a glorious or horrible end. Monte gets very creative with the evil here, and it's easy to imagine your player's screeching in terror as they flee, flee, flee.

Finally, the product includes an index. A USABLE index, a rarity in this industry, it seems. I can find really no fault with this product. The editing, by Sue Weinlein Cook, is superb (of course, it's not perfect, no book is, particularly in its first printing). The layout makes it easy to read and reference, particular the use of sidebars to detail what gather information checks might reveal about individuals or locations, and other fun notes, including Monte's comments on how his campaign dealt with certain NPCs, organizations, or items. The binding is heavy-duty, sturdy, and shows no signs of breaking down after 6+ months of constant usage. The book is heavy, though. Carrying it around all day in a backpack WILL cause pain. But it is an 800+ page book, after all.

If you can find a copy of this, buy it. If you can't, get the PDFs. If you love D&D, you'll love Ptolus.

Having played in a CoC campaign by one of the authors (Steve Spisak) for several years, I can personally attest to the level of detail and playability of his work. This book is excellent and well thought out, as well as being eminently playable. 5 Stars.

I'm a longtime Cthulhu keeper but new to Ramsey Campbell (other than the material in the rulebook). The first half of the book is devoted to resource material covering magic, monsters and locations in the fictitious Severn Valley (well the Severn Valley itself isn't fictitious of course). The second half is devoted to a campaign of 7 or 8 scenarios. Everything is well written, well thought out and seems very playable. I'm looking forward to running it!

I've waited a long time for this one, and the wait was worth it! It's chock full of scenarios (forming a campaign which you can ignore if you want), and lots of background material on Ramsey Campbell's Severn Valley. I wish there'd been more maps and maybe more info on some of the locations but all in all, this is a COOL package!

It's good to see Chaosium getting back to topnotch books again. This one along with Unseen Masters, represents a "new wave" of Call of Cthulhu - as good or better than any of the stuff released in years.

You can't really go wrong with this package, it's got background resource material for the Goatswood area and a nice bundle of scenarios that look like fun to run (I can't wait to spring some of them on my group! HEH HEH HEH) I don't want to give away any spoilers but there's an S&M club, and the "GUARD" at the club is such a wicked idea not to mention the dude who runs the place. Good to see Ramsey the man himself giving the introduction, read his Silent Children book if you really want to get chills!

The artwork is decent, and lots of it. Plenty of handouts too, which are really important as far as I am concerned. One thing I could do without though is the side illustrations, they take up too much room that could maybe be used for information. But that's a small jibe compared to the value.

A terrific source to go along with rifts

When Rifts was in its early stages, this book provided much needed information on the Coalition, the Burbs, and introduced to us the horrors of A.R.C.H.I.E. It still stands as a must have for a Rifts gamer.

The first sourcebook gives you some added perspective on gameplay and some handy new tools, including the Triax line of weapons and useful tools for characters. In the beginning there are some FAQs and tips for gameplay which are especially nice for greenhorns, and just help everyone get a better feel for the flavor of Rifts.

I like how they give further data on the Coalition States military organization and give us info on the Brodkil, Simvan and Splugorth Slavers--those three are some great standy-by villains.

The A.R.C.H.I.E. story and mini-campaign I did not particularly like, but even if you don't the story of a pre-Rifts artificial intelligence creating a small automated city-state (or just find it unconvincing, like I did), there are some cool robots and ideas for GMs to scavenge.

This book is pretty small compared to later Rifts releases, and I gather from the beginning of the book that Siembieda et al. released this one in a bit of a hurry as a sop to Rifts fans. Still, this is a great companion for the original book, and even if you aren't hot on the idea of blowing hundreds on the umpteen supplements Palladium ground out during the past decade, this should be on your shelf next to the main Rifts Book.

This book is basicly everything that was left out of the main Rifts book. More power armor, creatures, an adventure, and most importantly, the rules for making robot characters.

I have never been into fantasy or D&D type games but I was hooked on Shalkith the instant I tried it. The game's beginning level is great to get one's feet wet and as the game progresses it offers enough complexity to keep any level gamer interested. The game manual is more than just instruction, it also uses stories to create a fantastic mythology for the game.

If you are tired of games which are so poorly written it's painful, be advised that Shalkith is here to break the mold. A great game with great writing and illustrations too -- an unbeatable combination you don't want to miss.

Shalkith: Last Kin is a tabletop game of draconic combat. Combining RPG elements with fast-paced strategy, the game challenges you to hatch a dragon from multiple breeds and customize it to your playing style. You then pit your beast against those of your friends in order to gain development points to train and age your dragon, as well as move up in the rankings.
In addition to the game rules, the manual contains some atmospheric short stories, quotes, and great illustrations to get you in the mood for dragon combat! There are also a bunch of freebies (like "dragon sheets" to keep track of your dragon's vitals) on the official site (www.shalkith.com).
The manual is well done and easy to understand, with plenty of examples to highlight the key points. I'm a big fantasy buff and thus this was right down my ally. It's one of those games that's pretty easy to learn and even seems simplistic at first, but the variety of strategic elements mixes it up and the urge to keep improving your "baby" made me want to keep playing.
If you like strategy games and enjoy dragons (who doesn't!?) then check Shalkith out.

Check this one out and spread the word to all your friends. It's a really fun game that actually has a thorough and easy-to-read manual, so everyone will pick it up quickly! Its got the flexibility to let you develop a style of your own and use your brain, which makes it a nice challenge too :) And come on now who doesn't like playing with dragons?????
It's not too often that a really good new game pops up, so I wanna get other people addicted so this one actually sticks around :) Try it out and then tell other people how fun it is!