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Nile Empire: War in Heliopolis The year is 1547 BC. The setting is Egypt. The Period of the New Kingdom has just begun, with a strong centralized government under the leadership of Pharaoh Ahmose I. But there is a war in Heliopolis, a conflict among the gods. The evil god Set has established a...

Testament Hi all! I definitely recommend this book for Egyptian games. Many of the mechanics introduced in this game are perfectly appropriate for an Egyptian game. The equipment lists are excellent. The classes are well designed. The magic, feats and combat rules are solid. Egypt itself...

Hi all! Another excellent review, Simon! Great job! I really love this book. I haven't put it through enough playtest to write up a review, but I think this one might be a 5 star for me. The sheer utility of this book is amazing. The use of icons, the various appendices, and excellent index...

Currency & Passive Narrative Control Hi all! Skill points represent a form of "currency" by which you delineate those tasks where your character has a certain degree of expertise. Like any other form of currency, they may be wasted by ill-considered investments. So, you may want to consider...

Social Simulation Hi all! Here's my take on this issue. For you RPGnetters out there, my apologies for reinflicting the "social simulationist" rant on you in yet a new venue. :D First, let me lay out the groundwork on my game design terms of criticism. There are five primary areas of conflict...

Hi all! Excellent review, Nighttfall! Asides from the encounter charts, does this book contain any other "wilderness survival" style challenges, specific to the Hornsaw? I thinking along the lines of the challenges presented in the "Wilderness & Wastelands" supplement for the Scarred Land...

Hi all! Simon, this was a very clear and informative review. I especially appreciated the "Mother's Venom" example. The review reads like a 5 to me; does the use of nongeneric backgrounds lower it to a 4? Or is there some other failing which keeps it from perfection? In any case, this sounds...

Excellent Setting Idea! Hi all! This is a really sweet concept! It's an evocative image, filled with both hope and frustration. The whole sense of futility is emphasized by the inability to travel "off road." Yet, this is an implicit statement of purpose; you can't get anywhere off of the...

Diomin "The journey from Tel-Harsa to the Shield of Ashima will also be uneventful. Feel free to use the wilderness encounter chart on page XX if you feel the need for the PC's to encounter something." (Diomin, p.93) I feel that this passage appropriately sums up the Diomin experience. It's...

Hi all! Alan, I think you hit the nail square on the head. This book could have expanded the parameters of "relic" implementation by offering low-powered examples. It doesn't; instead it retreads the standard big "kewl" uber-standards. This is a viable design choice, but it limits the books...

Slaine Hi all! I can understand your point, but I think that it's a rather minor frustration when compared to overall issues of implementing a totally different system, like GURPS or Hero. To take an extreme example, which would be easier to implement for Celtic Myth for a group used to...

Needed Variation Hi all! I agree that there is a little bit of difficulty in jumping from one d20 implementation to another. However, I feel that this is needed to match the different premise of the game; it is a necessary variation for the purposes of simulation and resource allocation...

Attending Vendors Hi all! Me too! There was a post on RPGnet a week or so back, where Matt Colville was speaking about attendance expectations. IIRC, 4000 attendees is the breakeven point; 6000 is Peter & Co's "happy number." 8000-10,000 is an amazing success. GenCon Indy did something like...

Rules and Stances Hi all! Currently, I'm playing in a Nyambe game; still using 3.0. There are five players, including the GM. We've been gaming together for about six years now, through a bevy of different game systems. I game with many different groups, but this one is impressive because of...

Exploration of Setting and Mood Hi all! It looks like we've covered the bases on why Western and Victorian can work together, but there's been little discussion on why some feel that they don't work together. I that the aversion that some players feel towards the combination is one of mixed...

Voting is Good Hi all! The book club is a sweet idea. I think the voting idea is a good one. However, the restriction on having read a work before recommendation will almost certainly skew the reading selection towards the "classics" rather then the new releases. There's nothing wrong with...

Dark Victoriana Hi all! I think there was a free d20 conversion pdf of the Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death setting used in the RPGA's Living Death campaign. It's a horror game set in the 1890s, but it does a passable job of covering the late Victorian world. Try to hunt it down at the RPGA...

"No" said Merricat. . . Hi all! "Merricat" said Constance, "Would you like some tea?" Shirley Jackson's fiction is extremely creepy. If you enjoy these stories I'd recommend that you also check out some of her shorter works, like the "Lottery" and "The Lovely House." Currently, I've just...

Engel This OGL game is set in 27th century Europe. A post-apocalyptic setting, the Earth is radically different; technology and 21st century level of education have been wiped out by various catastrophes, including a few virulent plagues, a rise in sea level and the resulting coastal floods...

Excellent Analysis Hi all! Sweet analysis, Technik! You've really pointed out some interesting possibilities and differences. Thanks! Personally, I think that Ice Storm is a pretty decent spell, but I'd suggest the following applications to give it a bit more "oomph." 1) Allow it to effect...