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Great supplement. It works well for new players to the game giving them a customization character a base to start from.
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Peacekeepers has an engaging premise: superheroes helping to rebuild the world after an alien invasion. Sure, variations on this have been done before, but author Jakub Osiejewski does a good job implementing it. The text covers a broad range of considerations relevant to the setting’s world, but without straightjacketing creative GMs. For GMs wanting more guidance, Osiejewski offers adventure seeds for five linked scenarios that could form a satisfying campaign, as well as two more fully described one-shot adventures. There’s even a system for randomly generating adventures (using a deck of cards instead of dice) that GMs who enjoy that sort of thing (or are short on time) can use to replace or supplement the one given in the ICONS core rulebook. The writing is lively and engaging, though some of the conventions seem to waver between American and European English. The layout is pretty nice and evokes the feel of a comic book, but the mixing of black-and-white and full-color clip art is a little distracting, and you may find yourself wondering where you’ve seen that artwork before. On balance, the book is pretty good, especially if the backstory of its campaign world sounds like a place where you’d want to set your ICONS adventures.
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I bought the B&B starter bundle and was so immensely impressed with this great sword & sorcery setting that i bought almost everything else for B & B.
It is griity, has so much intrigues and best of all, will keep the players on their toes.
It is indeed Conan meets Kull, just with a little more grit.
The layout on the books are easily followed with beautiful illustrations that reaaly gives you tons of ideas for great campaigns.
It is well worth the investment, and will give me and my players countless of gamingtime.
/Mogge
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If you are looking for a fantasy setting where Conan and Kull would be proud to adventure in and if you are looking for a fantasy setting that would place your characters in situations fresh out of Frank Frazetta paintings, then Beasts and Barbarians is for you.
Beasts and Barbarians has decadent crumbling empires, lost jungle civilizations, scheming sorcerers, wandering warrior monks, an island ruled by Amazons, demon worshipping horsemen that would make Genghis Khan proud, independent free cities rules teaming with rogues and thieves, and, of course, barbarians. Reading the Beasts and Barbarians core book, like a good novel, really can take you into another world.
One of the first things that struck me about Beasts and Barbarians was the wonderful map at the beginning of the book. It immediately conveys the feeling that you are picking up a sword and sorcery novel from the 70’s or 80’s. It reminded me of the first time I opened a Conan paperback and found the map of the Hyborean age or when I opened Micheal Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné and looked upon the map of Elric’s world. The map really set the tone of setting and the rest of the book did not disappoint.
Beasts and Barbarians is RICH with ideas and details. The book lays out the history of the world and the various cultures that have arisen over the course of time. Every culture is given a significant write up with more than enough information for a player to create a character with that cultural back ground. Along with the cultural background, there are details about archetypes, new edges and optional rules that can be applied when running a campaign set in the world of Barbarians and Beasts.
If you enjoy sword and sorcery novels and Frank Frazetta paintings, I would highly recommend checking out Beasts and Barbarians. The setting is written for Savage Worlds but I could easily see taking the setting and adapting it to any rule set that you want.
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Publisher Reply: |
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I picked up the Beasts and Barbarians Starter Bundle during the GM Day Sale, and I couldn't be happier. The amount of work and great writing in this book is amazing. I'm new to Savage Worlds and needed a good, fully realized setting to introduce my players to the system and this is perfect, exactly what I was looking for. Definitely worth the money. Get it and swing a sword at something! A++
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thank you very much Tyler for your kind words! And I hope you`ll get our other products - for that line or for other lines. |
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Excellent book!. Useful in any fantasy campaign. New rules are cohesive and interesting. Book gives anything you need to play mercenary campaign. I think it's one of best supplements for Savage Words.
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I've recently become interested in the history of Crimea and the Ukraine, so several months ago when Comicworld: Ukraine was offered as part of a bundle, I was excited. I was a little disappointed that it was not written by someone from the area, but the unique approach is something that deserves a second look.
The United States (and to a lesser degree Canada and the United Kingdoms) have always had nationalist superheroes in several different worlds. The concept of fighting for "The American Way" is central to the idea of many heroes. So we assume that Ukrainian superheroes would fight for "the Ukrainian Way". Comicworld: Ukraine points out that nationalism is only one of many strains of ideology at work in the area, and not necessarily the most powerful one.
The supplement consists first of a description of several strains of thought or ideology that might be at stake in a superhero's life in the area. This is probably the most innovative part of the material. It recognizes that superheroes are really the embodiments of broad, abstract ideas, whether it be "the common man" or "the American way" or "kill the criminals". By tracing out the various ideas at work in Ukrainian culture, this provides a rich background for characters to really be linked to and contending for something significant.
The second is a very broad-brush but solid history of the area, more a primer than a textbook. Each section also contains adventure hooks related to things that happened in that era. Third is a collection of a few simple characters, one heroine and several villains. Finally there's a section on Slavic mythology, which I had not been exposed to before, although it doesn't follow in the footsteps of previous sections and provide assistance in incorporating the mythology into a campaign.
I'm reviewer tilting this one up one star because I absolutely love the approach and the subject matter. Looking at things in a more international way is a benefit of the Internet and supplements like this, which could simply never survive in a print-only RPG world, are ideal for an electronic supplement. Not to mention the price is right!
However, there are many typographical errors (including of place names and (gulp) in the OGL), no bookmarks, and the odd background images make the material difficult to print out. If the formatting were improved, this could be a four-star supplement for sure. Other comic book RPG creators should take note of the "life of the mind" portion of the supplement - you're not just dealing with super-strong people, you're dealing with larger-than-life people, with larger-than-life motivations.
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Once again GRAmel has outdone themselves. Jalizar City of Thieves is a great add on to the Beasts and Barbarians line.
The book is broken down in to several sections, with the first being the Book of Lore. This covers the history of Jalizar and how it came to be. It is well written and provides a nice overview of the history of the city and how most of the powers came into play. It also covers current history and customs that help bring the city to life. It briefly covers the various different cultures that can be found in the city and why the migrated here. It also covers the technology and day to day life. Its done in the same style as the Book of Lore from the main setting book.
The next section covers making local residents of the city. Like most books, it has a handful of new Hindrances that fit the feel of the city. There is also a good number of new edges, with a few being very oriented to living in Jalizar. Though a sidebar covers rules on how to handle these edges should a character leave on a permanent base. One of my favorite new edges, is Still Got One, which really helps a character that relies on thrown weapons.
Magic is the next section and expands details for Lotus Masters, Sorcerers, and Englighten. It provides a good detail on how they interact with the city and also a few new trappings for different powers. There is a twist to the sorcery path, called Sewer Sorcery along with a new backlash table.
A section on gear covers some new weapons, armor, and mundane gear. Nothing special but good to see some more localized items.
The Setting Rules is well written and adds a bit of stuff. I particularly like the direction taken on some of the more harsh Hindrances like Blind, Lame, One Arm, etc. It helps provide a bit more incentive on taking these edges. Most of the new rules in this section seem to deal more with thieving tasks, such as shadowing, traps, picking pockets, etc. The author did a good job of integrating the new rules with existing subsystems of Savage Worlds, such as dramatic tasks, etc. So the rules flow smoothly without having to worry about a new mechanic.
The Game Master section then takes up about half of the book. Part is dedicated to the various factions of the city, and suggestions on how to use them to make the city come alive. There is a detailed section the sewers and how to use them to give an urban based campaign a chance to do a bit of dungeon crawling and exploration. There are several tables to help quickly generate NPC encounters, different traps, and help for those that might be stuck.
The final part of the book is an expanded bestiary covering the denizens of the city and the sewers beneath.
Overall the book is well written. Though most of the material is written for Jalizar, most of the rules can easily be ported to other cities. Or various other uses (such as random traps).
Whether it was the intent or not, while reading through the book, Jalizar reminds me a lot of Lankhmar, and if one was to run a Lankhmar game this book would provide a good basis of rules to do it with.
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This is a great setting! I really enjoy the amount of detail; enough but not so much that it gets in the way of a good story. In the same vein, the setting rules are different enough to add the needed flavor but are not overwhelming.
The setting focuses on a single star system (important due to the horde activity in the area) but gives enough information about the surrounding planets and systems to run a space traveling campaign. In fact, Nemezis has a flavor all its own but you can easily run any sci-fi trope you like.
The book itself is put together well; the art, writing and organization all lend themselves to a great game.
The only complaint I have is the lack of information regarding cyborgs. The setting mentions them in several locations, prominently in fact, but there are no rules for using them (either as wild cards or enemies). At the least, I would have liked to see a cyborg in the bestiary section. The lack of this information is the only reason I haven’t given Nemezis five stars.
Cyborgs aside, this is a wonderful setting for any type of sci-fi game you might want to run. The flavor is great, the setting information is spot on and the setting rules (gear, new rules, etc.) are perfect.
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Always handy to have with you for a quiet moment when you don't have anyone else to play with, this product continues in the fine tradition that goes back to the 1980s... the solo gamebook, that contains within its pages all you need to play (except maybe a notepad and pencil and a few dice). This one brings the contemporary features of a properly bookmarked PDF as well as e-book reader versions (the 2 main formats) if you'd prefer to tuck it away on yours.
The game rules are simple and emphasise thought and skill over brawling, even when it comes to tactics. There are also items that you may pick up (denoted in Capitals) and things you need to make a note of (written in italics) for future reference... and even a basic experience system so that you can use the same character in succeeded adventures in the series if you so wish: this work is intended as the first of many in the line.
Everything is explained in simple terms, the experienced roleplayer might find it a shade patronising in tone, but it would be a very suitable introduction for the younger player... perhaps something to amuse your youngsters over Christmas when other roleplayers are busy with their own families and not available for a game!
You can play a Warrior, a Thief or an Enchanter and the adventure proves well-balanced with opportunities for whichever trade you choose to shine. Descriptions are clear and evocative, sweeping you swiftly into the story and providing many choices of action and opportunties to get involved. PDF technology has been well used, with each option at the end of a paragraph not only stating which section you should go to next but taking you there at a click of your mouse. (I haven't tried the e-book versions yet.)
This is a good introduction to gamebook play, and to this product line, I'll be looking out for the next one.
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GRAmel has very nice products. Nemezis is a Science Fiction Space Opera with many possibilities for different adventures and stories. Action, investigation, fights, intrigues, espionage, cyberware, battles, psionics, survival and nearly allmighty aliens are only some of them. The Horizon solar system is worth a trip ...
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Publisher Reply: |
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Overall I like the product, It feels like WH40k lite, and I like that. It has all of the cool parts of WH40k like a massive human empire and a massive threat while still having quite a modern scifi feel to it. I cant wait to try out the adventure generator and put out my first adventure for my group!
I would say a lack of solid starship rules keeps it from a 5 star but i'll probably use highspace's starship rules. Overall I would recommend and am excited to play it with my friends!
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Publisher Reply: |
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thank you! There will be an adventure and a small campaign - free adventure and rather cheap pdf with campaign. And I have cut rules for spaceship, because High Space have them so good that I don`t want to use mine. |
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It has some good points in using the normal deck of cards as its random generator, as most people have a set or can get a set easly. The fact that it is focused on the hozion system is not bad and you can take teh basics and use them to write your own adventure from them.
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I have been looking forward to this one for months as well. Have to say I am disappointed. This is an average setting, not good enough to earn a 5 star rating. I was pleasantly surprised by the text. GRAmel is a Polish company and they seem to have done a serviceble job of translation. The rules, what there are of them, are concise. (with one exception) The only issue I have with the wording is the excessive use of hyphens that tend to break words and sentences into sometimes difficult to read mess.
As a whole the potential is there to use this setting as either one of Darkness with the forces of evil winning at every turn. Or a lighter one where humans battle insurmountable odds and come out victorious but bloodied. I don't know if this was intentional. But, it is nice when so many newer games seem bent on shoving bleak evil down our throats.
That said. I like the idea behind the setting. However, I was expecting a galaxy with 10,000 planets at war with a ravening horde of Dark Gods and their minions. In all honesty that was at least hinted at in the history. However, the setting as it stands is totally wrapped up in one star system. Three planets, one dying, one filled with hedonistic self centered rich, and the other a jungle world on the edge of being overrun with Dark Horde creatures.
There are cultists, black magic and psionics. There is no magic or miracles, and certainly no super powers, but there are cyborgs and cybernetics.
Much of the book is devoted to flavor over substance. Great art interspersed with not so great art. (The best you have already seen if you have SWD). The pics are generally not gory or suggestive. (However, there is one of Lij the poisoner that somehow passed censorship; erotic in a very disturbing manner.) Three chapters devoted to the three worlds of the system. Their history, organizations, and personalities. The writing is devoted mostly to setting history and flavor. There seems to be a lack of crunch.
You won't find an extensive section of new cool weapons or equipment. The only real additions to the SW tool kit are plasma weapons, personal deflectors and personal forcefields.
The Beastiary is only 20 pages long. The creatures don't all have pictures which is hard because they aren't like anything you could have seen anywhere else. The pics that are in the book don't seem to match, which is probably an editing issue. Half the creatures aren't even the evil Dark Horde kind...they're genegineered monsters made by humans. Most of the Beastiary is taken up by rehashes of Human critters like Homeless people or street thugs.
There is no plot point campaign; a PEG staple. There are no creature generators; like Savage Mojo's Caladon Falls. No adventure generators: like Gunmetal Games Interface Zero. There are no adventures per se, although there are tentative ideas for hooks in Histories, Organizations and Personalities sections. This is a sand box setting without much in the way of sand. [Note: I just downloaded the Adventure Generator listed in the blurb for Nemezis. Better than before, but still pretty generic. It has some more great art. There are references to travelling out system, but without descriptions of other systems let alone a method of getting there it sees a bit odd]
Overall it is worth the 10 dollars presently being charged. Unless there is a major revamp a la the Golden Edition of Beasts and Barbarians this setting is not worth 20 dollars.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thank you for your review. I`m sorry that I dissapointed you. I just want to say that there is (and will be) an adventure generator - it is http://www.rpgnow.com/product/107727/Nemezis-Adventure-Generator and will be in book. And the normal, not discounted, price will be 14.99 for pdf, 20 only for printed book. |
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I always love products coming from GRAmel and I was looking forward to this one with great excitement. I certainly wasn't disappointed in their latest offering.
As I've come to expect from GRAmel they keep true to the FFF motto of Savage Worlds by adapting the setting to the core rules and only making small adjustments to help improve game play instead of adding new swaths of rulings. Their take on energy shields was one such interesting ruling that finally set to rest how I'll be working shields in all my future games.
The setting itself is what I look for in my space opera settings. Humanity on the brink of destruction having to fight creatures that should by all rights not exist, but sheer stubbornness is starting to pay off and perhaps destruction isn't as assured as they thought.
I would call this another great release by GRAmel and would highly recommend you pick it up.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thank you for kind words! |
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