Mongoose Books

Since there are very few constructs presented in the Monster Manual, a toolbox to customize them is welcome. Constructs - It Is Alive seems like it could be this toolbox, but it has some major problems. First of all, this product is for Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition, not 3.5, so you'll have to convert your finished golem if you play 3.5. Furthermore, there are a number of mistakes that can be downright confusing. One feat's description states that it allows a golem to gain "more specialized" core feats, but doesn't say what those feats are, unlike earlier in the chapter where a list of basic core feats was provided. An updated 3.5 edition would be welcomed.

I originally bought this book to get some ideas about creating clockwork/steampunk magic for my own campaign world. Although the book only has a page or two about clockwork it helped me to setup a method for creating all kinds of devices. Mr. Melchor has everything worked out in minute detail, from the beginning research that needs to be done to the cost of the body and special powers and disabilities that modify the effectiveness and cost of golems. As a bonus he adds in Simulacra (creating living creatures that resemble other creatures) and Automata (constructs that mix magic with a physical machine instead of trapping a spirit).

At the very least you could ignore the details and use the special powers and new body types to make unique constructs for your players to fight. Let's see how surprised they are when that boring old stone golem breaths lighting on them or self destructs.

Great book, I will be looking for more of the same quality work from this author.

It is a very good start for the Cults of Glorantha in the Second Age. Sure, all the information could have been gathered in a single volume, but the quality of the information provided is still pretty good. Enough to get to know the beliefs of the Second Age, and yet not enough to stop your imagination from coming up with your own ideas. This is a great help to game masters wanting to run a RuneQuest game in the Second Age.

I have played RuneQuest since 1985 and had high hopes for the new version of the game. I am disappointed. Disappointed not with that is in the book, but how little there is. Most of the information is a rehash of previously published stuff, dressed for the New rules and minor differences for the Second Age.

Do we really need more than one volume if each one is under 100 pages? I know that all true fans of Glorantha will buy this for some new information, but at this price, it is a rip off.

This is a tough review because in a nutshell, had this been released in the 80s or even early 90s, (and at those prices) this would have been a viable product. But it's not. And this product ultimately just doesn't stand up.

Artwork: The artwork in this book is a strange mix of GURPs-style, (VtM) Tzimisce-inspired pieces, and some just outright amateurish drawings. Much of it placed seemingly just to be there.

Maps: The maps are broken up into sections out of necessity, (much like Szith Morcane in City of the Spider Queen) but is still slightly strange and requires some getting used to. Overall the maps themselves are of good quality and evoke the desired atmosphere.

There is, however, the overused horrible maze-mapping scheme thought to have been a forgotten relic of an earlier time but that still appears in the occasional book such as this. To make things worse the maze is in an otherwise natural cave that sections off the noble houses. And worst of all some of the "lesser houses" are strategically set up where they could pick off passers-by and absolutely know of all comings and goings. This map was just not thought out at all. At best making the "maze walls" spider webs with lots of secret entrances and exits might be interesting, at worst (and what I would do if this setting gets use) is to redo the entire cave.

Content: The actual content is reasonable with some good to very good ideas mixed in. The complexity of interaction between noble houses and guilds is very good, however, a critical allies/enemies table to help sort it all out is missing. As one can imagine, that one-page omission is fairly problematic since it would be time consuming to rebuild. To my knowledge, Mongoose does not have the chart/table on its website either. (They do, however, have the city maps together in PDF format.)

Some content is indeed mature enough that a label might have been better placed on the front cover rather then hidden on the back. This is simply a case of thoughtfulness. Owning a shop and being a subject of abuse by an angry parent of a underaged youth (who earlier bought the book) waving a thing littered with Tzimisce-style fleshcrafting pictures, nude female drow, and content to match both (and more) is not fun to learn of when mixed with hellfire biblical quotes.

Power Level: The power level in this setting is very high. For example, total wizards living in the "witch daggers" (wizard's guild/enclave) is 75. These are broken down as follows: 12-14lvl: 25, 15-17lvl: 20, 18lvl: 15, 19lvl: 10, 20lvl: 5! A setting where anything under 11th level not worth listing is pretty harsh indeed! Sorcerers and Priests/Clerics follow the same pattern. As an aside, "the 3.5 compatible" is pretty meaningless in context since balance from the changes was up to the DM anyways.

Last comments: The book itself is physically solid enough, but when I got mine (used) it had the upsetting quality that the front interior spine and first page were broken from the rest of the book. Thinking that was a property of it being used I took a look at a few new samples and noticed one of the four on the shelf had a similar broken front spine. This was some time ago, so whether this was something truly problematic or just a fluke, I have no idea.

Summary: A book with some interesting ideas and fairly evocative setting, but not at all worth the $34.95 asking price. True to its 80s quality origins $15-$20 would be more in line. True rating: 2.5, which in kindness is rounded to three.

This is a good campaign city for those who like a city that's not just an excuse to go shopping or training.This city is nasty enough that a dungeon will seem relaxing afterwards.The noble,preists and merchant factions are all at each others throats and somebody as honest as a paladin wouldn't last long before being sent to the sacrificial altar-low level nobodies should stay home!The vault of the drow and drow of the underdark would help you to expand on this setting because it's a little heavy on politics and a little light on new magic.A fold out campaign map would have been nice as well,though the smaller maps do make it easier to fit this product into an ongoing campaign.

Armageddon 2089 is probably the best 'serious' mek fighting game to date. By 'serious', I mean not Japanese anime meks. No sir, these are military meks, plain and simple! Like Front Mission from the Playstation, or Gears of War, the new mek videogame that has everyone standing at attention? Then get this book, gamer, and start fighting mek style!

The setting is cool too, it is a post-war Europe vs. America war. And it brings in good ol' Wubbya Bush's wars and war on terror as the reason Europe, really the rest of the world, hates America. For real.

Europe begins a new war with America, like a superpower-version of the EU, with missles and a standing army. Ever wanted to show those American upstarts that their cowboy ways are 'uncivilized'? Now you can. Play as a European fighting them barbarous Yanks. Or play as the guy on the other end of the mek... America herself.

Either way, it's good mek fighting, and worth all five stars, gamers!

I enjoy this book verry much. Though the artwork is not great. But that is not what counts, what counts is what you take out of it. Most people have there own worlds and take and grab from others to add to theres. This is good stand alone product and it should do good when people at least give it try. So give it a try and if you donot like it then take what you like about it and make your own design.

Other reviewers have already commented on how the introduction will suck you in, so I can't agree more. The big problem I have with the game is the fact that it is based on d20 :( and the poor artwork that sneaks into some sections. The layout is great, the setting is powerful, but I find myself converting to a more preferable system, and researching my own technology, without Mechs. The game would have been far better had it been a rewrite of Twilight:2000 instead of Mechwarrior.

In short, buy the books, cut out the Mechs, and use the setting with the game system of your choice.

Right, been reading the reviews below and found them overly critical. I am a long time player of Battletech and Mechwarrior and believe they have done a good job on this type of setting.

Obviously due to the popularity of Battletech any game involving Mechs will be compared. While they both contain Mechs, Armageddon 2089 is a much more real world gritty setting. Which I feel helps seperate it from Battletech very well.

I have found the setting great reading and could not wait to start my game. I found the invasion of England by the European Forces was very well done. I cannot wait to get the follow up books to expand upon this world.

Artwise, it goes for a much more realistic feel. There are fantastic rendered pictures of the mechs. The equipment art is not exactly just a line drawing, but a technical drawing to represent the item in question. Not all are great but I feel they fit the layout and style of book. Not keen on some of the people artwork but the Mechs more than make up for it. I also found some of the colour choices a bit hard to read at times, but not the worst by far.

Not overly keen on the D20 system but it is flexible and can befitted to most settings. If you like D20 no change, if youdo not like D20 take the setting and ideas and use something else.

Oh, about the legs. These things can wiegh around 50 tons. You will need big legs to keep these things stable.

In summary, I found this book to be very well thought out and put together in a very professional manner. I like this book.

I'll have to admit, the preface to the book sucked me in before I really could take a look at the content, and I thought to myself, "Yeah, now THIS is the material I want to use to run a kick butt d20 Modern campaign with!"

When I took the book home, I was in for a bit of a shock. Unfortunately, the book is a rehash of the Mechwarrior RPG applied to the d20 OGL, and doesn't have much in the way of creativity. I find the fact that the U.S. vs the E.U. is a bit distasteful in the context provided. I think that the resulting war would be "Armageddon," and not some limited, proxy-not-wanting-to-get-your-hands-dirty-type war. I mean, nuclear exchanges(tac nukes) are COMMON in this setting. Does anyone see this as a little wacky?

I don't know... there was obviously a lot of effort put into this, and, if you actually were looking for a Mechwarrior-type game you'd like it, but I think that it's a rehash of old stuff. Seeing things like: autocannons, small through large lasers, and the ever-present "particle accelerator," aka. PPC.

I mean, you might as well have SRMs, LRMs and freakin Gauss Rifles...

Admittedly, Mongoose added some additional weaponry, and put a few twists on existing mech-class weapons. More power to ya.

I liked the fiction (excluding the mech stuff), I mean, that first page is a real kicker, but when you get a little deeper, you see that it's the old "U.S.A. vs. the World" theme, and doesn't seem to have much depth (in the grand scheme). The little details like the news flashes within are cool, and give you a sense of what's going on in the gaming world, but can't compensate for the "bubble" environment that was custom designed for eternal conflict (There doesn't seem to be any hope of resolution or progress in the fiction, just blow stuff up forever). The privatisation of armies is just plain wacky, also. There are too many things OTHER than money that would prevent that from happening. Use of mercenary companies in a limited fashion is possible, I think, but total privatisation is HIGHLY improbable.

One thing has to be said about the layout, also. The actual text/grammar/verbage was good, but the freakin background and color scheme used in many of the charts is difficult to read (in anything other than bright light). Dark green print on black background? Who chose that, the company that sold you the ink? Also, PENCIL DRAWINGS IN THE EQUIPMENT SECTION???? HOW UNPROFESSIONAL IS THAT?

One last thing (I swear, then my rant is done). The mech design. For God's sake, the feet. They are HUGE. I'm pretty sure one of the big things that was impressed into you, the reader, is that Warmeks are supposed to be more mobile than any other vehicle in use. When you think of classic mech design, that's probably true. No tracked vehicle can navigate swamp and mountainous terrain as well as a big bipedal war machine could, but then you encounter the Warmek. As a service to the potential purchaser, I shall attempt to draw an extremely abbreviated ascii face-on picture of a "Violator Heavy Support Mech."

(periods used for spacing, amazon.com crunches multiple blank spaces)
.............
....[]-|-[]... -shoulder|head/torso|shoulder
..[o]\|/[o].. -forearms
.../-|-|-|-\.. -top of leg/foot assemblies
..|...|....|...|.
..|...|....|...|.
..|...|....|...|.
..---....---. -bottom of leg/foot assemblies
..............
You can't possibly imagine how ungainly this creation actually looks in the book (page 190). Before you go, "hey man, it's a heavy mek, it's gotta have some stability to field all those death-dealing weapons," realize that I can totally understand that. I'm just saying this thing looks like it could only freakin move if you duct-taped a couple of Atlas rockets onto it's mega feet and let it fly.

I have issues with the majority of the mek designs, and the whole book, really, but hey, just flip through the pages before you buy it, ok? Don't judge a book by the first few pages.

This games captures the atmosphere of Joe Dredd's world pretty well. This includes the craziness of Mega City One, the harsh training the Judges endure, the danger that they face all the time, and the really cool toys they get to utilise once they do get into the thick of the action of day to day policing of the mundane and incredibly unmundane.

Only buy this book if you collect Dredd related material. If you want to roleplay the Dredd universe, instead go to Ebay and pick up a copy of the old GW Dredd RPG.

This new book adds nothing to the genre. It is simply a re-hash of the old RPG. Worse still, you have to go and buy another book before you can even play it as there are NO RULES only background fluff and few add ons.

Generally, I feel this could have been a LOT better product than it is.

This is a fairly good treatment of the Judge Dredd universe, and is well-wrapped in the d20 system. The Judge Dredd universe is always an interesting one, and this book provides a good basis for a diverse set of campaign types. My biggest complaint is that there is a fair amount of both repetition and spelling errors (yes, I know it is British English) in the book, so I think the book would have benefited from the editor taking a second pass at it. That having been said, the character creation process is good, the background for campaign development is good, and the environment is defined quite well.

I disagree with the other reviewer who said that the old Games Workshop version was a lot better. The two games are actually quite different, thus making it fairly difficult to compare the two. It also is probably worthwhile to point out that the GW version is no longer in print. Also, the fact that you have to buy the 3rd edition D&D Player's Handbook is only a problem if you don't subscribe to the d20 approach to gaming. The d20 system may not be perfect, but it does accomplish its goal of allowing quick development of consistently playable games. Probably the only other system out there that does it better is GURPS, and, quite frankly, there just isn't as much uptake by the gaming community for GURPS as there is for d20.

This one came late as the last core class in the serie. The reason for this is they waited to see the updated 3.5 ranger as it is one of the most heavily reformed class.

Anyway, I found this to be an excellent entry in the serie considered by many to be the flagship of Mongoose Publishing. The character concepts are fresh and innovative while being balanced.

I thought about giving it a 4 star rating, but I had to compensate for the overly critical previous reviewer. I don't know of which missing feats he mentionned. It's true several feats refered to are contained in the D&D Player's Handbook, but this is no news. It is implied that this is a supplement to the Core Rulebooks from Wizards of the Coast.

If you love Rangers as I do, you won't regret the money spent.

Good reading and happy gaming !

I got this book and began to look through it. And I noticed that the book was missing about seven pages, the info about ranger feats and new weapons, some of the best stuff. Also several of the pages in the book are in the wrong order. I emailed mongoose about this and they never got back to me. So beware buying this book, you might not even get it all.

This book is essentially a cut down version of the full-colour hardback core rulebook; hence its name - "Pocket Edition".

This offering is in black & white and has no appreciable art content. Whilst the production value is low, it's primary purpose is to save you room in your roleplaying bag and in this it performs fine.

If you would like my views on the game system itself, I would recommend you read my review of the hardback verison - suffice to say that there has been no drastic changes between the publication of the hardback version and this soft cover printing.

The concept is good, but for anyone who read the novel as many times as I have the game falls short on at least one area. In the game everyone starts as MI, while in the book characters can start as navy pilots, K9 troopers, or other types as well. I personally would also find it nice to have characters from possible alien ally races in play, but that is clearly something for optional rules.

I ordered this, thinking it was a guide to the series in the same vein as guides for Star Trek or Star Wars. I discovered that it is a guide to a Babylon 5 role-playing game in which I have no interest. It's still informative and entertaining, but not as much so as I was expecting.

The book take several information linking the etnical origin at the class of the characters, with some interesting background idea, few new feats spells,equipment(very poor) and combat manuvers.The latest part is dedicated to multiclass-pc(not very useful).Like the title is nice but not essential, are surley more useful geographical supplemets first like: Road of the kings,Shem,Stygia or Ruins of Hyboria

great book for making necromancers in a D&D 3rd addition world. Mostly for NPC's or dark campaigns. Explains everything and more of what you could want and know about necromancers in a RPG world.