|
|
|
 |
| Other comments left by this customer: |
|
|
|
|
|
While on vacation recently, I stopped by a game store and found the print version of the Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer’s Edition. I picked it up and read through it and was amazed at the quality it contained. This book is an amazing value at just $10.
I’ve played Savage Worlds before and have read the old Explorer’s Edition extensively. The rules in the Deluxe version are not a great departure from what was in the previous book. The basics are all there and there have been some minor tweaks to the system. The most notable change was the elimination of the Guts skill from the core rules, which I think is a great move.
The thing that stands out to me the most from this book are the Situational Rules. There was a section in the old book with the same name, but the section stands out so much more in Deluxe. I think part of it has to do with the development notes that are strewn throughout the entire book. And there are now rules for social conflict! Woo!
All in all, this is a wonderful product, and it’s so freakin’ gorgeous! The value you get is worth way more than the $10 that you’re spending. If you dig Savage Worlds, you really can’t be without this book. And, if you’ve never played Savage Worlds, this book is the perfect entry for you. All the rules to play any kind of game you want, at the tip of your fingers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
While on vacation recently, I stopped by a game store and found the print version of this book. I picked it up and read through it and was amazed at the quality it contained. This book is an amazing value at just $10.
I've played Savage Worlds before and have read the old Explorer's Edition extensively. The rules in the Deluxe version are not a great departure from what was in the previous book. The basics are all there and there have been some minor tweaks to the system. The most notable change was the elimination of the Guts skill from the core rules, which I think is a great move.
The thing that stands out to me the most from this book are the Situational Rules. There was a section in the old book with the same name, but the section stands out so much more in Deluxe. I think part of it has to do with the development notes that are strewn throughout the entire book. And there are now rules for social conflict! Woo!
All in all, this is a wonderful product, and it's so freakin' gorgeous! The value you get is worth way more than the $10 that you're spending. If you dig Savage Worlds, you really can't be without this book. And, if you've never played Savage Worlds, this book is the perfect entry for you. All the rules to play any kind of game you want, at the tip of your fingers.
http://sharkbonegames.com/sharkbonecast/2012/09/savage-w
orlds-deluxe-explorers-ed/
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
All pre-written adventures should be written like this. This book is a wonderful example of what adventure supplements can be, and it's wonderful!
The Civil War supplement for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying followed the Civil War story in the Marvel comics. I'm not a Marvel Comics fan (as in, I don't read the comics) and, if you're not either, that shouldn't deter you from picking up this book.
This Premium version of the Civil War also contains the Operations Manual. Since I have the Basic Game and have read that quite a bit, I didn't do a complete read-through of the OM as included in this book. I did skim the pages and it seems to be the exact same book, although, according to a couple forum posts I've read, there were some very minor changes to some areas of the text to clarify some of the confusing things that came to light after the Basic Game was released.
The Civil War Event consists of three different Acts. The Acts take your group through the period just before the law, as the law passes, and the aftermath of the law. There's so much wonderful goodness contained in the book! I'll try and tell you what's in there without giving anything away.
In this Event, the US Government, and other governments around the world, start out debating a law that requires superhumans to register with their government. Superheroes are going to have an opinion of this, whether they're for it, against it, or just don't care either way. The wonderful thing about the way this Event is written is that, not everyone has to be on the same side! At the beginning, this will likely cause some strife between the characters, but it probably won't come to blows.
Then, during Act II, the heroes must pick a side, because if they don't, the powers that be will interpret their non-choice as a choice. Again, this section has lots of notes on how to play the Event from either side; whether you're running from the law, or chasing down the rebels.
Act III is the culmination of the Event and has got so much explosive awesomeness that I can't even pick an item to talk about!
The Event also includes lots of new Datafiles for popular heroes. I really liked seeing the Punisher and Deadpool in there.
The part that gets me so excited about this Event is the discussion on how each side would view and react in each scene described. It's a list of possibilities and I can see story threads stretching out to an infinite horizon. There's so much to do, so many possibilities and this is an excellent launchpad for any Marvel story.
http://sharkbonegames.com/sharkbonecast/2012/06/mhr-civi
l-war-premium-review/
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I picked this game up at the recommendation of a listener to the show. I'm so glad I did. The game rules are simple enough and very easy to understand. What I really like about the system is that, there are additional layers of complexity you can add on. If you want, I really don't see why you can't play with the basic rules. You'll still have a great game with full characters and some amazing times. That extra layer of complexity really gets me fired up to give this game a whirl.
One of the things I'm most impressed with is the House creation. All the details that are created by the group, all the points spent collaboratively to create an entity that will impact all the PCs is just wonderful. And the fact that the players can spend earned resources later in the game to make it even better just turns on all sorts of lights in my head. So many ideas and I don't know where to start!
Another thing I really love about the way this book is organized is that it provides numbered steps for combat, war, intrigue and pretty much anything you need or want to do in the game. The numbered steps really make it easy to step through the action while you're learning, so you can make sure you're doing things according to the rules. I imagine that, once you've got the rules down, you don't have to worry about the numbered steps and everything just happens the way it's supposed to.
The book is very well laid out and very attractive. The art is generally good and really adds to the text. I think the pieces are well placed and really evoke the feel the designers are going for in the sections of the book where they are added.
This game is not a simple fantasy game. You can use the rules to run a typical dungeon crawl, but I don't see why you would. With rules for Intrigue and with everyone having a House as backdrop for their character, there is so much potential for conflict and stories just by creating a character. I'm very excited to give this game a try. It's a little more crunchy than I typically enjoy, but the possibilities are extremely interesting!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Five Rings? Five stars! In my opinion, this book is a must have for anyone who is playing this game, or anyone who has any interest in the setting. The writing in the book is detailed and rich. The extra options are incredible and very, very fun.
The book is beautiful. The text is well written and grabs your interest from the start. The book goes deeper into the histories of the clans and really brings the conflicts between them and their origins to life. I especially enjoyed reading the Crane section, as I'm currently playing a Crane character. The information in this book gave me additional options and ideas to bring my character to life and make him much more interesting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wine Dark Void is full of information for those who like their games to happen in the deep, dark depths of space. And Slipspace. It's a sizable cookbook, full of delicious ingredients, ready for you to take and throw into your game to enhance the feel and wonders of the unknown. And, it goes into space combat. And I love it!
To start, there is a really beautiful sheet to use for tracking opponent locations as well as vehicle stats. It's the kind of sheet I want to print out in full color and laminate so I can use it time and time again for space battles. And it's all centered on the heroes ship. All the maneuvers are simple and well explained to make space combats fast, furious and intensely fun. There is even a cinematic damage chart! What's cooler, blowing 5 hitpoints off your opponents ship, or causing a surge to go to the pilot's station and disable him in a halo of static and arching bursts of energy?
With all the extra locations, ships, explanations and rules expansions, this is a great book for fans of this game. If your group likes to spend time in space, this is almost a must have. I highly recommend it.
http://podcast.sharkbonegames.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
101 Magic Weapons has weapons that will be useful to many different characters, across many different classes and alignments. Some of them are quite fitting for a character type while others seem to fill a niche that I'm not familiar with. The book is very well laid out and quite attractive. The table of contents at the front of the book is easy to read. This book is a great resource, either for when you're looking for that perfect magic weapon, or searching for ideas that you haven't had, yet. The pages are landscape oriented, so it's very easy to use this book as a reference on the computer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you're struggling with how to be a Fixer or Mastermind in a game of Leverage, this book is definitely for you! Again, just like the other supplement, Hackers, Hitters & Thieves, this book provides some wonderful discussion on the Roles and how they apply to a game and what they can do. It also provides additional options to make your characters a bit more fun, giving them more power to change situations in the Job.
But where this book shines is in the sections with additional discussion of the Mastermind and being the Fixer. Incorporating ideas from the community, there are several suggestions that really shine and can significantly add to the experience of playing the Mastermind and Fixer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you're looking for more ways to work with your Hitters, Hackers or Thieves, this is definitely a book you'll want to pick up. Each section is clearly organized with new information, new rules and new ideas.
Each section has a different flavor that gels with the type of character it's discussing. That hint of personality really adds to the way this book reads, making the experience more than slogging through yet another sourcebook. This book was fun to read, with lots of cool information about what it means to be a Hacker, Hitter or Thief, as well as some notable things from the past that have to do with each Role.
There is really nothing negative to say about this book. It's full of great ideas that pump me up to play Leverage more than the corebook did. The additional rules are very much bolt-on and aren't going to change the way the game plays, but definitely will give your group more options to enjoy the game.
If you're a Leverage player, get this book. You will be glad you did.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
While heist stories really aren't my thing, I wanted to see what Cortex Plus could do on the action side of things.
The game is solid. Each character is based on a combination of Traits (think Abilities in typical fantasy games) and Roles (how good they are at the different jobs in the team). This is a little too much like classes for my tastes, but it works here and they have some great discussion on how a character fits into a team with different mixes of Roles.
There are two things about this game that really shine, to me. The first is the Recruitment Job. It takes place at the end of character creation and is meant to help build the characters, who have been individuals until this point, into a working team. Each character gets a moment to shine and all the other players get to witness that.
The second part is the Experience system. I absolutely love the way it's done, here. Each job gets a title and that title is listed on the "Record". During game sessions, a player can make a Callback to a specific job, having a quick flashback to a lesson learned and then explains how that lesson helps them get out of the predicament in which they find themselves. And it gives a bonus! And you can spend these jobs for permanent increases to your character! This is actually my favorite part of the system.
If you like Heist stories, I suggest you give this game a shot. It's solid and looks like it really supports what a Heist is about.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
When you grab this game (and you really should) be prepared for an adventure-filled ride! This game lets you play your favorite Marvel heroes and fight against the worst Marvel villains. That has been something that I have wanted to do, every now and then.
This game uses the Cortex Plus system, which continues to mature as presented in this book. This system flows much more quickly than in the previous Cortex Plus games I've experienced. The system also has quite a few dice tricks that players can mess around with, during the game, tweaking their chance of success and the degree of said success. It's very fun and engages the player that much more. It adds a bit of strategy to your attacks that I haven't seen in the other Cortex Plus games.
When you snag this book, be prepared to read and re-read the rules sections, as the rules presentation hits fast and hard. I couldn't help but think that the system was being downloaded to me as I read through each section. The rules are separated and presented in a way that I believe will be easy for most people to understand, but it does move from one rule to the next with little time for you to absorb what you've just seen. So, yes, you'll likely want to read the rules section, then go back and skim over it again. However, this isn't a big chore, since only about half the book touches on the rules.
This book is over 200 pages, yes, but the system is only about 120 of those. The rest is the introductory Event along with quite a few character Datafiles. This makes me happy on two different fronts. One, I love rules systems that don't drone on and on. And the second part, all the datafiles for the Marvel characters, lets me read up on all those wonderful heroes, without having to go out and buy comics. I finally understand what my comic-book-fan friends are talking about!
I did have a couple of complaints with this book. The first was the section on character generation. This book assumes you'll be playing one of Marvel's characters through the Events. While they do present rules to make you own, they're more of a suggested guideline and there is no discussion, that I saw, of how to incorporate your characters in the Marvel universe.
My second complaint was at how large and complicated the Event creation process is, as presented in the book. Creating an Event, as they suggest you do it, seems like it's going to take about as long as creating a stereotypical fantasy campaign. I will say that, while you're reading that section, it'll be easy for you to distill the essential elements of the Event and dramatically shorten the process, but I think it would have been good to have more of that discussed in the book, as well.
All in all, this is another great Cortex Plus game from the awesome team at MWP. Thanks, guys!
http://podcast.sharkbonegames.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The first thing I'm going to say about this game is that it's GUMSHOE. I really, really like GUMSHOE. It's a wonderful system that really supports the style of games I like to run and play. So, as soon as I saw there was a new GUMSHOE game out, and that it was space opera, I was as giddy as a school girl and had very high expectations for this game.
After reading the game, I'm very please with it. But it didn't meet all my expectations.
The positive aspects of this game are many. It's GUMSHOE, so I know I already like the system. However, a few additional character traits have been added that I think will make for a few more interesting twists during game play. I like the addition of Drives in this game. I see them as adding an extra dimension and direction to the characters, one that I've not seen in the previous GUMSHOE games I've played. The Reputation score is also very intriguing and I'm excited to get my hands in there and tinker with that system and see how it works.
The only real negative aspect I saw in the game was the space combat. In theory, I like the process of setting a goal to achieve through combat and having all your exchanges add points towards achieving that goal. But, in this case, it felt like that system was just another step back from the action. It seemed like another layer of insulation between the characters and the players. Personally, I feel it is going to require a bit of tweaking and testing before I'm happy with how that runs in the game. And, I don't feel space battles really fit with the flavor of the rest of the game.
Even so, this is a wonderful book and if you're a fan of GUMSHOE, you really need to pick this one up. The sections on running the game have been the most helpful of any GUMSHOE game I've read. The setting is extremely interesting and has just enough detail to get my imagination going and enough blank spaces for me to insert my own creations. Wonderful job!
Check out the podcast @ http://podcast.sharkbonegames.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm not a huge fan of d20. But I must say this is a great class!
The first thing that jumps out at me is the wonderful character art at the beginning, and the stylish and attractive background. It's very well done and really makes the document fun even before I get to reading it. And once I started reading it, it only got better. This class is presented in a way that gives enough information to start my imagination churning, but doesn't go so far as to provide too much information to squash the awesome ideas it spawns in my brain. While some parts are pretty technical, I find that's just an element of the game it's made for.
One of the things that has me most excited about the Pyromancer, is the end goal. I'm a big fan of classes that present a big change when you reach level 20. Instead of being just "better", the character actually undergoes a change and becomes something more than he was before. I really think this class would be a lot of fun to play.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I really enjoy tools that make my life easier as a GM, and I think this is a great tool. It's apparently based on a real life science, psychometrics, something that I know nothing about. But, it dumbs it down enough that I get a general idea of what it is and how it's used to classify different personality types. One of the things that I'm really excited to experiment with from this generator, is the Communication Style. I think it's a great tidbit to help add depth to your NPCs and to make them each a little more unique. This document is short and easy to read.
The text was easy to read, but there were a few errors which jumped out at me. It also has enough complication to it that, if you want to jump in and use ALL of the options to generate NPCs, that I would have a tough time getting it all to work. But, this looks like a great product with some basic information to start with and has some more complicated parts to slowly add in once you've got them more committed to memory.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Publisher Reply: |
|
Oops yes, looks like the proofing could have been a bit better! All put right now. Actually it was put right a while ago but I've only just worked out how to reply to reviews! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The calendar is nothing fancy. It's a calendar. It has the holidays listed on it in a nice light blue to separate them from normal days of the week.
The pictures, on the other hand, make this a good product. The models are not super-models, but real women that I'd expect to find walking down the street (albeit, with a bit more clothing on). The costumes are fun and attractive and the poses are good. February is my favorite. :D
For people who like these sort of calendars (as I do), this is a good product.
It seems this product is geared primarily towards people who want to print the calendar and mount it on their walls. It would be nice for a more digital-friendly version, such as desktop backgrounds with the picture and calendar combined into one. I, personally, would find that version more useful.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Publisher Reply: |
|
In regards to the models. Yes they are real woman, (Attractive woman.) They are paid models, but not Super Models. They are as seen in the samples. If that is what typical real girls look like in anybody’s neighborhood. – I want to move there. (Enough Said.)
In regards to calendar format.
The format for this calendar was chosen to provide users with nice prints from a typical bubble jet printer, as well as a large informational calendar. Placing calendar and print on the same 8.5 x11 or 11 x 8.5 would have provided a much smaller picture and calendar and was deemed by our focus group to be less desirable. After all, this is Calendar & “Print Set.” For those who wish to display both Calendar and Print at the same time as a background on their desktop. It takes less than 1 minute to copy both pages and place them on 17 x 11 bitmap using windows MS paint. This allows the user to start with a large full size photo of each subject. Starting big has the advantage of allowing the user to adjust the size down to fit their computer screen. In most cases shrinking the image by up to 50%. (I reduced my copy to 58% of original size, yet it still fills my 23” wide screen monitor nicely. Thus for those looking for a more digital friendly version this critic speaks about in this review, it is quick matter for the user to create a custom one using MS Paint.
Generally I personally use my calendar as a pdf icon on my desktop, opening it as needed, and placing notes where desired. I save the pictures and either print them out for my game room and/or use them as a screen saver without the calendar portion attached. How people use this calendar and print is up to them, but with the format we chose, we have given our customers the best options to maximize the quality of prints and usability of the Calendar, and the flexibility needed to display this calendar many ways. (Essentially the best of all worlds.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 0 items |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Log In 
![The Frugal Forge: 101 Magic Weapons [PFRPG]](images/553/100722-thumb100.jpg)
