|
|
 |
Ok, I'll be honest. Heavy Gear and Battletech. I am a Battletech guy. I love my Atlases, and Warlords (and yes, I know they're really, really similar), and I think Awesomes are awesome. I consider a PPC a standard side-arm. I didn't really know anything about Heavy Gear until a few years ago, so I always think in terms of 'Mechs and stuff like that, and a lot of Heavy Gear stuff feels alien to me (who would fight in hand-to-hand combat?). That said, I love both games. Don't find a conflict between them (Battletech being the grungy military knock-down-drag-out style game, and Heavy Gear being more like a guns and glory action-movie game). I especially love the arenas in 'em, be it on Solaris VII or Terra Nova. So when I find a game based entirely on an arena? I'm a happy, happy man.
More seriously, the art's cool, the setting's fun, there's simple, fun, easy rules that allow a focus on gameplay, the combo system just makes sense, and there's no reason to avoid this. If you want a quick arena fighting game for your giant robots, you can get this, or if you want a game with long-term management and decision, you can get this. There's no substitute for quick, fast, exciting Gear action!
For $18, this has to be one of the best games I've seen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I like Pathfinder, despite my usual aversion to d20, so when I saw this, I was somewhat curious.
I like it, and I don't. On one hand, it's cool, and could be a GM tool even. On the other, it's just too cool.
I like the prospect of players owning cities. Surely some super-powerful bards, clerics, sorcerers, and the like have the brains, guts, and charm to pull it off. It's a good source of resources and responsibility, and allows fleshing out a world easily and quickly. Also, it has a wilderness exploration aspect, which is pretty cool, though nothing to write home about.
The one bad thing about city ownership is that it gets to the point where it could become either another game, or just a background trickle with an occasional effect. On one hand, I don't want an epic character defined by his ownership of a city, nor do I want an under-epic character using a city as his only means of strength.
Ultimately, like all supplements, this depends heavily on GM intervention, but requires a special amount of moderation, as it can wind up to be either an awesome addition to a campaign, or a tool for munchkins.
I like it, though, despite its flaws, and it's certainly priced decently.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Publisher Reply: |
|
Thank you for taking the time to review the product. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
This product makes me really, really excited for the full game. I've always wanted to play a sci-fi Pathfinder game, and this looks like it will deliver.
My only gripes, though are:
3d rendering: Most of it is nice, but I'm still not loving anything with exposed skin in a render, even though there are programs *coughSkinVuecough* that allow such rendering without such a heavy uncanny valley effect.
Typos: Few and far between, but there's some, the most glaring (for me), is when being a Space Pirate captain "take no soul".
Ultimately, I feel that this game has the potential to overcome its backgrounds on the d20 system (Yeah, I have to bash it once a review, being a d6/d8/d10 snob), and be a really, really fun game. I'm just not 100% sure, but you can look for yourself.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This product is probably one of the things that has brought back the most nostalgia for me.
I loved playing with die-cast cars as a little kid, and still have a carrying case full.
This makes me want to whip out the cars and some paper (or maybe I'll just design a course on my rug with Legos or something) and play with them again.
My only gripe is the small size, and the price. For 9 pages, it's not terribly long. But if it's what you need to get you off your computer and playing, it's worth all five dollars.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I like this product. It's one of the better quickstarts I've seen, with a simple, engaging sample adventure, plus character creation rules (so you don't have to use pre-made ones). All-in-all, this has good art, good writing, and no reason not to give it a read-over, if not a run.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Decent creepy music.
My main gripe with it is that while it's all good, at times I couldn't tell which song was which, unless it was one of the ones with exposition mixed in.
Sometime I'd like to see a pack of short musical tid-bits mixed in with one of these things, with little 15-second motifs that you could intersperse dramatic moments with. But that's just me.
It's a lotta music for $10, and it's all good, though some of the bits with exposition may not be suitable for every game.
Get it if you need vampire-themed music for anything, because it really is top-notch value, but it's a little niche.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The question I have to ask about this product is:
Why hasn't everyone with an internet connection downloaded this?
Take everything I like about L5R, put it in an easy-to-play package, and you've got Legacy of Disaster. Granted, there's a lot you can do with more, but if you wanna give the system a quick spin, this is perfect for you.
This is like a slice of cake: There's still more out there, but it's really, really good.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There's one thing you know for certain when you look at anything related to L5R. High quality.
That's all I can say about the GM screen and Descent into Darkness.
Top notch art, top notch writing.
While the $9 may be a lot for a GM Screen, if you play L5R, this is a must-have, and the included adventure provides a great stepping point for a campaign.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
When I started reading this, I wanted something to smash. I thought "28 pages?". I'm not really in a great mood, so I figured: eh, 28 pages, can't be good, easy target.
This product fought back with a vengeance. It's not so useful for a gamer, so much, as a wannabe publisher or potentially a GM who wants to figure out how to share his setting with other GM's for a bit more money.
Ultimately, it's a niche audience. Not for everybody, not terribly useful for the dedicated. But, if you want to see a good, concise guide to what you should do to sell products (untested, but they provide examples of products that inspire their advice), look no further.
So, in summary: Good, not great, niche audience, wanna publish stuff? Look here.
And, you may wanna remember that I wanted to kill this when I saw the review offer, so it's doing better than I thought it would.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Blood & Honor is the antithesis of a game like Eclipse Phase. It lacks hundreds of pages of background and numbers. Instead, there is a simple core mechanic that is built up into a sort of network until everything meshes together flawlessly.
It's great.
I have never seen a game for $5 that presents as much as this one. It has some of the best advice I've ever seen included with a game, for both players and narrators. Professional typesetting with authentic art makes the game more natural to read.
For a unique take on an Eastern adventure, look no further than Blood & Honor.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is the best guide to GM'ing I have ever read. Ever.
Including advice and ideas, this will renovate your game mastering.
I'm not sure how much I could say without giving too much away (there's already a preview), or managing to look like an idiot, but I'll say this:
This is the most enjoyable read I've had this week. It is enlightening and also funny, with a mixture of good advice and anecdotes. It's worth the $5.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Picture Eclipse Phase. Now imagine it without the core rules, because you already have those. Just put in the art, character examples, fluff, and a few new threats and items. I'm not doing it justice here. This has a lot of information, be it fluffy or hard stat data. It's 200 pages of the same caliber of stuff as the core Eclipse Phase rules.
If you like Eclipse Phase, this has all you'll need for inspiration for lots of games to come.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Eclipse Phase is something I'd steered away from. I'm not really a fan of the whole horror thing, and I'm not normally a fan of a d100 system (Usually they're just too simple, and I'd rather just use the Fallout rules that you can find freely available if I had to run a percentile game for some reason).
I missed out on it for so long. I've never seen a tabletop game made with so much care and detail. The fluff is wonderful, taking place in a transhuman society. It's far sci-fi, but doesn't get to the point where everything comes down to pure technology. Skills and attributes are just as important as a plasma gun, and when push comes to shove, you need to be quick-thinking to survive.
I also like it because despite the horror standard setting, it could be run without horror as a standard sci-fi game (and you could bring in horror elements as needed to keep players from using brute-force).
The reputation system is genius.
All I can say is that Eclipse Phase is like a second Shadowrun to me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I have two gripes with Bump in the Night. It's incredibly well written, as is everything Eclipse Phase related, but these are just too big to ignore:
A. Not Firewall related, meaning that while it's good to start off, you don't necessarily get a lot of stuff.
B. Price. 11 pages. 5 dollars. I like it and all, and it's got some awesome art, but the problem is that the main reason I'd need an pre-written adventure for Eclipse Phase is not a lack of creativity, but a lack of time to set up the game, and with only 11 pages of content, it'd be hard to run a full-length game, especially given that my group would just gun straight through.
It's well-written, and got great art, but to be honest, Bump in the Night can't get much more than a 3 star rating. It's professional, but it's not so bountiful.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is a good product, but there are a few things holding it back.
First, it's not terribly generous with stuff. I mean, it's a quick-start, I realize, and free. But I have a copy of the old MechWarrior 2nd Edition game, and I am not really enticed to upgrade by this. I mean, it's not bad, but it's nothing exceptional. The problem is that it just doesn't have anything I couldn't have guessed at, which may be a sign that I'm too hardcore when it comes to Battletech.
All-in-all, it's a good quickstart, and it'll run you a game, but I'm just not sure if it's enough to entice me to buy. Still, the rules are fun, and easy, so there's no reason to jump in, it is free, after all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Log In 
