Mongoose Books

I just became involved very recently with the Conan RPG, and I love it! This source book has a huge amount of information crammed inside it, great for players and GMs. Instead of just covering the different cities and provinces of Aquilonia, the author has delivered all kinds of information to really bring the land to life, from religion to customs to laws. Highly recommended for anyone playing the game, or for the Howard fan who wants to know more about the land Conan ruled.

This is a sourcebook for Mongoose Publishing's Conan: Role Playing Game. It is written to give source material, game rules and character options for enriching the pirates who plague the seas of the Hyborian world. There are distinct (and usually competitive) groups of pirates, as well as lone ships, and each of the possibilities are delved into in this book.

Mr. Darlage has drawn inspiration from the source material of Howard's stories and I assume those of the later pastiche writers. There are more options for feats available; wierd & fell beasts of the seas which could plague a ship; an innovative system to simply yet thoroughly create ports or towns for pirates to frequent, raid or spy on; plenty of ideas to make adventures from, and even new spells and magical items which sorcerers plying the seas could employ. The overall system is made to be quick rather than tedious, as Darlage notes the stories never dwell on calms when ships are stranded without winds to stir the sails. Rather, the stories skip the down time, and concentrate on combat and plot twists which are common, and the book suggests how to employ both. Depending on which type of pirate group you're considering, different types of ships are listed (though without detailed deckplans, the book has isometric sketches to show what they'd look like) and game stats for such vessels; as well as types of captains, officers, or crews (descriptions and NPC templates). If you want, weather systems (tables) are offered, as well as chases & combat sequences, since naval warfare is rather different from on land, this is a great part of the book.

A good purchase if you're even considering adding these scurvy dogs to your game, aaargh. :)

Hope this review helps.

Since I live on St. Thomas I enjoyed reading a mystery about where I live. The author had the character traveling all over the island and I was very familiar with the scenes - I could even visualize the home where the murder took place, where his sister lived and the house where Elsa lived. His adventure through Royal Dane Mall where his predator was stalking him kept me turning the pages since I know there are many twists and turns in this alley. This book was written some time ago because the restaurant he refers to - L'Escargot - has moved to another location. I was surprised at the ending and who actually killed the Judge. I wish the author continued success

Magic of the Young Kingdom covers different styles of magic in the Young Kingdoms. In it we read about Rune Magic - which are essentially discrette spells not too much unlike the Runes of Runequest (I don't have a copy of this work but I have read the SRD), Summoning - an expanded treatise on the the Silver Grimoire given in the main book, Necromancy - which is the use of Runes to make the dead do your bidding, and Alchemy - the ability to enchant items with Runes.
There is also a chapter which describes several demons of each sort which makes for a great resource in showing players and games masters alike how to design demons for any particular requirement. Characters can also learn how to follow an elemental path, allowing them extra abilities if they follow certain rules.
All in all I find it a very useful tool for running an Elric campaign, also answering questions that had arisen on how to do certain magical things that were allowed with the Chaosium version of Elric but not explained in the main rulesbook. In short, if your going to present demons, elementals and magic in your game you should get this book.

"Crossbreeding: Flesh and Blood" is part of the "Encycloaedia Arcane" line of accessory books for d20 fantasy role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. It is a handbook for players and GMs who want a standardized set of easy-to-consult rules for crossbreeding animals and/or monsters to make new creatures.

This is one of the "crunchiest" Encycloaediae Arcane I have seen. The inside front and back covers are filled with the crossbreeding tables from the book, and make using "Crossbreeding" remarkably easy: a one-time read-through and access to the tables is all that should be necessary to get gamers into the monster-making business ... or art ... or defiant tampering with the Laws of Nature, depending upon your point of view.

The book is set up like the other Encycloaediae Arcane, with an introduction to the subject and the book, and closing words from the designer (author Jonathan Richards). The beginning of the book's "meat" discusses the general hows and whys of crossbreeding, and is lacking, in this reviewer's opinion, in a sufficient exploration of the MOTIVES for crossbreeding. One way this might have been rectified is by including more grey-lighted narratives of "actual" crossbreeders (such as Waldimer, who has a full page across from the Introduction, but of whom we hear no more, or Sasha, on page 33, whose "successful" experiment on herself doesn't quite satisfy her). Other gamers do not like such narratives, I know, and dismiss them as "fluff," but the subject of magical crossbreeding has been dealt with rarely in gaming, so it would have been very nice to have more insight into the mindset of crossbreeding wizards rather than just dismissing crossbreeding as a stage in a typical wizardly career (which it most certainly isn't). I think Jonathan Richards shows himself as a good enough narrative writer that a bit more of the "grey matter" would have been helpful.

Richards does introduce one very powerful rule mechanic which deserves adoption in most games: the reason why hybrid monsters can't be "simply" created with a polymorph spell is that there MUST exist a template creature for a creature being transformed by a polymorph spell. Fuzzy bunnies exist, therefore a creature may be polymorphed into a fuzzy bunny. Owlbears exist, so creatures may be polymorphed into owlbears. Richards suggests, however, that before the first owlbear was created by crossbreeding, it would have been impossible to polymorph anything into an owlbear. Very Platonic. Very useful. And a good reason for mages to want to crossbreed creatures: to make things into which to polymorph other creatures.

Richards provides an elegantly simple chart for what the monster type of a crossbreed would be, and I found nothing to argue about in it. An "aberration" crossed with a "vermin" yields an "aberration;" a "humanoid" crossed with an "outsider" yields another "outsider" (damn those evil cultists!). Note that in order to properly understand this chart one must be familiar with monster "types" as outlined in the Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook III, the "Monster Manual."

"Crossbreeding" next gives a selection of suggested magical crossbreeding rituals (followed by attendant new magical items for said rituals). Parents should note that Richards does not give details for any of these rituals which might lead an impressionable youngster to actually undertake a magical hybridization of Fluffy and Kitty. Richards states in his Designer's Notes that this was to allow gamers to create spells appropriate to their own campaigns, but it also makes the book acceptable to younger gamers than it would have been had he introduced more specifics.

Tables of possible results from various crossbreeding experiments are given (and reproduced inside the covers). These deal with most eventualities of crossbreeding experiments, detailing the possible results of crossing what with what to obtain this or that result. Note that a familiarity with the core rules of the d20 system are required to apply these in a game, although someone playing D &D under second edition rules (or playing an entirely different game) could probably "homebrew" adaptations of the charts for the local gaming campaign.

"Crossbreeding" also has a large selection of "known" hybrids (which means creatures into which others may be "officially" polymorphed if these rules are adopted for a game). Among the noteworthy critters are the "Gulor," a cross between an orc and a wolverine, the "Ooze Hound," a hybrid of riding dog and grey ooze, the "Slithertoad," part snake and part toad, the "Skyshark," a flying cross of dire bat and shark, and the "Haemovorid," a hybrid of pixie and stirge ("I'm not making this up, you know!"). Although some gamers simply can't get enough of new monsters, this is one section which I personally found over-long, and I would have gladly sacrificed the page-and-one-half given to the Mud Elemental (are there not enough on the Para-Elemental Plane of Mud or Ooze or whtever it's called?!) for more narrative material. ("Fluff!" comes the cry from the peanut gallery, but I stand by my opinion.)

Another reviewer elsewhere than Amazon has zapped "Crossbreeding" already for a serious editorial gaffe which I must echo: on page 30 an incorrect illustration is used for the "Spidertoad," the new hybrid familiar which is used as an example for a crossbreeding experiment -- our first held-by-the-hand walkthrough of the process. The illustration shows the result of an arachnid-fey crossing, apparently, not a spider-toad hybrid. Woe betide the foolish GM who uses the illustration as an example of what a "spidertoad" looks like!

I really enjoyed "Crossbreeding." Its rules mechanics were clearcut and easily applicable, its layout was almost uniformly good, and the charts on the inside covers were very useful. I give "Crossbreeding" four stars and recommend it for Gamemasters and (with GM approval) for PCs, too. I give it 4 stars.

Another very useful supplement for the Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game. Judge Dredd: Mega-City One's Most Wanted has all the information you could need on this particular little subject, it is easy to look up and detailed enough for ease of use. Definitely a bunch of fun to see all this located in the one place, together.

I found this book to be an excellent read of the Babylon 5 Season 4 overview. Each of the seasons episodes is discussed and extra info about various people and organizations in the B5 universe is detailed. I found it to be helpful and an enjoyable read that added new details and facts to my knowledge on the B5 universe.

I've always loved the dark humor Paranoia offered, even if as a game player I never get to play Paranoia (the rest of my group play non-fun games). The book is a joy to read and a good value if you'd like to see how gaming could work when your not consumed with game mechanics running your life.

This is a great supplement for those who love the Cleric Class. My favorite chapter has to do with Advanced Domains; a souped-up option for one of your current, standard domains. I've used that to great effect in my game play.

There's also alot of stuff on multi-classing with clerics (goes through the cleric class combined with every other standard class).

All-in-all, it doesn't cover a huge range of topics, but if you're a real devotee of the class, you should find some fun easter eggs in here.

The author provides a lot of flavor for anyone wanting to play a dwarf in a D&Dv3 campaign. Like the other Quintessential books, it is geared at giving the player more choices. Prestige classes are oriented around the player instead of a fairly two dimensional villian. DMs shouldn't worry. This is not unbalanced. If anything it is a little conservative.

Fun factoids: the author notes that he used to work in the office of a gold mine -- he also ran a few all-dwarf D&D campaigns.