Arthur Books

THE AUTHOR, HIMSELF A VIETNAM VET, TELLS THE COMPELLING, TRUE STORY OF STEVEN WARNER. A MUST READ FOR THOSE OF US WHO SERVED IN VIETNAM AND ENJOY READING ABOUT OTHERS WHO SERVED. THE AUTHOR'S DESCRIPTION OF ARMY BASIC TRAINING IS, BY ITSELF, WORTH THE PRICE OF THE BOOK.

The game mechanics are simple and straight forward with events resolved usually by a skill test on d20 and damage rolled with d6. One element that adds much to the colour of the game are the Personality traits and passions. Personality traits are 13 matched pairs of qualities that define how the character often behaves ( example is Wordly and Generous ) with each pair adding to 20. Knights who posses high levels in certain passions gain fame for their chivralous or religous behaviour. Passions represent oaths and duties to others. Strong passions can aid a character to do impossable feats but can also blind a character to other situations.

This game is a classic that has withstood the test of time for a reason and that is it one of the best games around. I especially like running this game with more mature players who want more than another slasher flick or want a more heroic tale to tell.

This game lives up to it's title. While, perhaps, a bit more gritty than the "Once and Future King" stories, the rules do an excellent job of re-creating the world of King Arthur. I've been Role Playing for quite a while now... 14 years? And this is one of the best games out there, and a very refreshing change from the Monty Haul-ism of D&D and the like.

The emphasis here is on ROLE PLAYING. The rules focus on attempting to become a perfect knight, a paragon of virtue, and a knight of renoun. Unlike other games, this game incorporates a "winter season" that assumes downtime, and allows your character to age. Yes, aging is a part of this game, and perhaps your character's children will get to adventure as well.

The Traits operate on a balance scale of 20 points - The total of these two attributes add up to 20. So you have, perhaps, Merciful 17 - Cruel 3. Passions are things you feel strongly about, your Lord, hate of the Saxons, etc.

This is a sample of the way the rules are designed to help you Role Play rather than Roll Play.

Combat and Magic are taken much more seriously than in D&D. Your character's hit pionts are derived from their stats, and stay that way for the rest of the game (more or less). The most hit points you can have is 39. Armor absorbs damage. Now, what's the most damage our 39 hit point character can do with his sword? 7D6 - that's up to 42 points, with an average of 24/25.

Combat is to be taken seriously!

As for Magic, well. This isn't D&D. There's none of the flash-bang Magic that there is in D&D. In fact, Merlin would be impressed by the magic a 2nd level D&D wizard could do. Spells take a long time to cast. Holy Ground, High Holidays, group ceremonies, etc. have a great effect on the outcome of spells. This is a game where players will spend weeks or months preparing spells, to be cast in holy places, on high holy days. Then spending time resting and recuperating after spells have been cast.

I don't know how supplements handle magic, Faerie, etc. Notice again that the emphasis here is on Role Playing, Storytelling, not FLASH-BANG effects. This game gives you opportunities to describe events, tournaments, adventures, celebrations, not just hack-and-slash fighting.

This game isn't for everyone, even those who it is for may take a while to acclimate. Like Castle Falkenstein, and Amber, this game is designed to help you tell a story. The rules add to the drama, they aren't just a collection of rules on how to create powerful characters and how to fight with them. Role Playing came out of Wargaming, and it shows. This is one of the few games that elevates Role Playing to the status of art. This is a game that returns to us the lost art of Story Telling.

It's also entertaining to read about my favorite celebrities and how actively involved they are in protecting our four-legged friends! Many of these big names share heartwarming, personal experiences with us, as well as adorable photos from their private albums.

This book is an absolute "must-have" for anyone having a special place in their heart for animals!

Bennett has facts and data EVERYONE can use. There's info on where to stay when travelling with your pets, charities that aren't charitable to animals, how students can refuse to dissect animals in school, what to do about unwelcome wildlife "guests" in your home, and so much more. I could go on and on. I can't say enough good about this book. This one is terrific!

-michael anthony crawford, High School Student

(Published in "Journal of Recreational Mathematics" - reprinted with permission.)

It is about a boy named Emrys. He lives in a small village. One day a cruel and ruthless king named Vortigern wanted to build a watchtower in the village. He told the men to work as slaves to build the tower. When they had finished building the tower it fell! So they built it again and it fell again. What they needed was Emrys's blood. When the guards had found the right child Emrys told them that you needed to kill two dragons. They dug a hole where the dragons lived.
I don't want to tell you what happens next. You'll have to read the fantastic book Merlin and the Dragons. What I liked about the book is that it had a lot of verbs, adjectives, and nouns. What I liked about the illustrations was that they had a lot of detail. I liked the characters because they were greatly drawn and they were very cool. It was a great book and I really enjoyed it. I would compare this book to MERLIN. What ages I would recommend are 6 and up it is also a great read aloud book. The moral of the book is even if you are different you can make a change.

Merlin and the Dragons is a very good book, because there are dragons in this book. Dragons are my favorite animals because they breathe fire, and they look cool.
There were lots of cool action scenes. My favorite action scene was when the tower falls because the dragon's eggs are rumbling.
The illustrations looked real. The illustrations helped me understand the book, because the words aren't very descriptive.
I recommend this book for 7 to 70 years old.
The theme is that some people are sometimes alike.
There were lots of conflicts. There were dragons fighting. And there were kings fighting the dragons.
These are some of the characters. There were the kings armies; they were really strong, because they killed a dragon. There were two dragons, they had red and white scales, long tales, and they breath fire. The king has a gold crown.
Now I will tell you some of the story. Once upon a time there was a boy named Arthur he did not want to be a king yet. One day he had a bad dream so he went to Merlin. Merlin told him a story about another boy, who's a king too, and he wanted to build a watchtower. And the king's workers finished building it and the next day it fell down, then the king's workers built it again and again but it still fell.
Later the king's workers dug under the rocks and they found two dragon's eggs, then the king's workers smashed the eggs and the eggs hatched into fierce dragons.
If you want to know the end read the book.