RPG Review Portal

The Quintessential Fighter II

Publisher: Mongoose Publishing   [Site Info]
Format: Book
Series: d20
Review: Here
Intro:
This isn't just a review of the second Quintessential Fighter, oh no, this is a review of The Quintessential Fighter II … Book One. There could be another. Or does "book one" refer to the Advanced Tactics sub-heading? Ah yes, that's it. This isn't a Collector Series book, it's the first of the Advanced Tactics series.

The Quintessential Fighter II doesn't quite pick up where The Quintessential Fighter left off. This supplement assumes your fighters have had some adventuring success and no small dosage of experience points under their belt. The Quintessential Fighter II isn't quite more of the same either, which is just as well, I'd have been rather annoyed to see another strongholds section in the book.

We have a similar looking book here. Similar but different – and I still can't decide whether I like the faux leather look of the Quintessential series. This cover is darker and has a different pattern effect. It could almost be wood. It'll be possible to tell my Quintessentials apart on the shelf.

Fighters here have a bit more experience and so the Character Concepts section is out. I suppose this further shuffles the Character Concepts concept off into the "how your character became a ____" corner. That wasn't my initial understanding of the section and there are certainly Character Concepts which don't fit that mould but what ever the focus of the Quintessential Character Concepts is we can be sure that it doesn't affect this book at all. We have Career Paths instead. Perhaps your character has specialised into the Unarmed Fighter or perhaps gone for the polar opposite and does well fulfilling the role of the Tank? Well, if you can meet the requirements of either of these two career paths then you can enjoy some specialised advantages if you're willing to accept some associated disadvantages as well. The Tank adds double his strength bonus to damage rolls when he uses both hands to wield a two-handed weap . . .

Rune Stryders

Publisher: Politically Incorrect Games   [Site Info]
Format: PDF
Series: Rune Stryders
Review: Here
Intro:
Rune Stryders is a Politically Incorrect Games RPG from the creator of Ninja Burger. It's a 242-paged PDF and frightfully cheap at around US$10.00. But wait; let's just say you're not a PDF fan and aren't ever likely to be a PDF fan either; you want to hold a paper product and can't be bothered with the electronic fuss. Rune Stryders is also available in paperback. Just pick the edition you want.

As you've guessed, this review is based on the PDF.

The Ninja Burger reference is likely to imply that Rune Stryders isn't especially vanilla. If that's your guess then you're right. It's true and one of this fantasy RPG's strong points. We're reminded in the author's introduction what fantasy is all about. Traditionally a fantasy game is supposed to be about an alien land and unusual characters yet the "fantasy" RPGs we play have become all too familiar. Elves, dwarves, dragons and magic by memorised spells. He's right. I agree. The questions are; what are you going to do about it and should you do anything about it? Mike Fiegil and the Politically Incorrect crew make no judgement on popular fantasy RPG models but they do present Rune Stryders as an alternative. There are no elves, dwarves or wizards in pointy hats here.

Rune Stryders is a nice blend of low fantasy and high magic. That combination isn't necessarily a paradox of mutually exclusive terms. We have high magic; Rune Stryders are magically powered (by runes) war machines of stone, wood or exotic materials. We have low fantasy; the mundane dangers of politics, mistrust and hunger. In Rune Stryders you could play a street thief forced to steal for a living or you could play a heroic Rune Stryder pilot. You can see two Rune Stryders on the front cover; a steel cat against a humanoid tree. It's not actually a Black Dog Stryder body, not a cat. If you get mecha vibes of the Rune Stryders then, well, you can flex the RPG in that direction too.

. . .

Martial Arts Mayhem

Publisher: The Game Mechanics   [Site Info]
Format: Book
Series: D20 Modern
Review: Here
Intro:
There aren't that many publishers catering to the d20 modern market at all. The Game Mechanics are certainly one of them, they have the advantage of their association with Green Ronin and of their initial d20 modern experience at Wizards of the Coast. There's also RPGObjects who publisher first to PDF, sometimes only to PDF, and don't have the benefit of a few famous names. Nevertheless it has been RPGObjects who've successfully trail blazed much of the d20 modern path. It was inevitable that both companies would put out a similar product; especially given that d20 modern didn't explore martial arts as much as it could have.

Martial Arts Mayhem is The Game Mechanics' martial arts offering and it comes out several months after RPGObjects' Blood and Fists. Rather than really competing and fighting over the same corner in a niche market Martial Arts Mayhem makes the right choice and works with Blood and Fists. No, Martial Arts Mayhem isn't a second level supplement or more of the same but it does acknowledge Blood and Fists, explains where that supplement would fit into the Martial Arts Mayhem discussion and as well as taking some feats from the SRD this supplement uses some feats from Blood and Fists too. The formula works, if you've already got Blood and Fists then you can safely get your money worth from Martial Arts Mayhem, if you've never heard of Blood and Fists then it doesn't matter and if you choose to buy Blood and Fists after reading Martial Arts Mayhem then you're likely to be playing and buying d20 modern stuff for just a little while longer. I don't have to mention the rival product any more in this review either. It's worth noting that Martial Arts Mayhem makes references to other publishers too, The Other Game Company for example, and this works for me. Link as many of my purchases together into one useful mega-resource and I'd be very happy.

Early on in Martial Arts Mayhem the author comments that the term Game B . . .

Rampant

Publisher: Living Imagination   [Site Info]
Format: Book
Series: Twin Crowns
Review: Here
Intro:
It's a bit of a lie. Rampant sits in GameWyrd's tabletop RPG database – but it isn't really. Rampant looks, at a glance, like one of Living Imagination's Twin Crown d20 supplements – but it isn't really. It's not d20 but it does have "A Twin Crown's Supplement".

Rampant is a LARP. A Live Action Roleplaying Game. The front cover has a photograph of a bunch of LARPers, in costume and facing off with boffer weapons.

I've done plenty of LARP. I did the vampire thing, never with the official Minds Eye rules, but with various custom rule sets and I've done sundry fantasy games from the small and exclusive all the way up to the Gathering with thousands of other LARPers. Rampant is different. It's different from me because as a European the book oozes the "don't sue us!" disclaimers that are necessary in the litigation culture of the States. It isn't just the constant reminders to play safe that are different; the whole experience is different. I hadn't heard the phrase "boffer weapon" before - despite all that LARP experience. You hit other gamers with boffer weapons and in comparison to what I'm used to they're crude and padded. Swords have squared tips. Clubs, which seem to be more common, are rather like heavily padding baseball bats. More striking yet is that in Rampant all the player characters in the game can summon a magic light and so all the players carry flashlights. Aww. It's feeling your way around in the dark whilst trying to keep some sort of vaguely defensible stand which must be one of the best things about late night LARPing.

So why is this LARP doing in the tabletop section? It's a 210-paged paperback which will set you back $24.95. It looks and feels like a tabletop rulebook. It has a tabletop campaign world connection. Besides, GameWyrd's LARP section isn't hooked up to feed the review section yet and Rampant is worth talking about.

It isn't just the front cover which makes u . . .

The Lords of the Night: Liches

Publisher: Bottled Imp Games   [Site Info]
Format: Book
Series: d20
Review: Here
Intro:
As I'll tell anyone who foolishly gets close enough to listen I'm only just shaking off a long and linger sickness. As I'll point out to any author, publisher or wyrdling who accidentally gets close enough to listen; this means that my whole GameWyrd schedule has been delayed beyond recognition. There have been some advantages to this. Some silver linings.

I first read The Lords of the Night: Liches around about Christmas when my review copy landed on the desk. Back then I was easily able to appreciate most of the book's strong points and since then I've glanced over reviews from reviewers who all think Liches is a highly rated book. The delay between my first read and second read (I always read a book twice before writing anything down about it) was quite long (did I tell you I'd been ill) and in that time the limited edition score to Return of the King arrived on my desk too. Sometimes music and a book just go well together. Oh. Yeah; sure, the score to Return of the King goes best with Lord of the Rings (heard about that? Some fantasy novel they made into a movie, apparently) and memories of The Shire certainly don't snuggle up against Liches… ah, but the majority of the CD is the perfect partner to the book. We have the sweeping epics, the spooky music, the spooky sweeping epics and the moments of high drama in the music. That's just what this supplement manages to give to us.

Written by Karis. Ooh. A touch of mystery even on the front page… okay, so Karis returns out to be Stuart Renton, author of Lords of the Night: Vampires, and that's explained on the very next page but if you were going to judge a book by its cover then Liches is off to a good start.

Vampires didn't just enjoy the head start of being the first book in the Darkness Rising series as it could be argued that vampires enjoy being the most popular of the undead. There are roleplaying games just about vampires. There are novels where vampir . . .

Chaositech

Publisher: Malhavoc   [Site Info]
Format: PDF
Series: d20
Review: Here
Intro:
This is the first review I've written in nearly, gosh, nearly a month. So, what happened and what actually does it have to do with Chaositech? I read Chaositech one night and have been ill ever since. In fact, even as I type there's an unholy amount of slime coming from somewhere. Will it never end? There's the truth; Chaositech is dangerous stuff!

It's dangerous in-game as the effects it has on those who use it are startling. It's also dangerous out-of-game, not because reviewers get ill after reading it, but because it could unbalance your entire game. This isn't a supplement I'd recommend to a novice. This isn't a supplement I'd bring to a game where there's one (or more) annoying player who tends to get what he wants, all those extra powers, by lording over the rest of the game. Chaositech, I fear, is the sort of supplement that'll run afoul of gaming problems like that. It is the sort of gaming supplement that can add some spice to a tiring campaign world from a most unexpected angle.

Chaositech isn't an Arcana Unearthed (necessarily) supplement. This has produced some debate in channels I listen to. Some people had noticed that all the best offerings from Malhavoc had gone the way of Arcana Unearthed. There's no questioning that this isn't the case in Chaositech as it's certainly one of the best offerings from Malhavoc in 2003. On the other hand, Chaositech /will/ shake up your campaign world tremendously so. I've heard some people mutter that this seismic shaking was what stopped this particular offering from being included in Arcana Unearthed. Why build such a carefully detailed and balance game and then unleash Chaositech on it? I'll let people have their theories. I don't really care what Chaositech's relationship is with other Malhavoc Products. This supplement could easily have been another Event Book (when alien technology is discovered!) (doesn't that sound like a cable TV show?) … and it still would have worked. . . .