JoeGKushner
Adventurer
In terms of doing the review:
Part of it depends on my system knowledge of it and how often I've used it in game play. I'm not always on though. My love for Mercenaries for example, especially since I was reading Black Company and watching the anime Berserk, probably caused me to give Mercenaries Born of Blood a higher rating that it was due.
Anyone looking at the chronology of reviews for Mutants & Masterminds may note that I'm one of the last staff reviewers to hit it. I waited until I had several games under my belt and generated a character and went through the system to see how it was.
And I'm not the fastest reviewer by far. I've got several books, mostly settings, that haven't been reviewed 'formally' because I have to go back and see what I've used from them or how they've played out. Take Testament. Great book overall but I haven't really found too much actual use for it. Same thing with Everstone. Some interesting ideas and concepts there, especially using the BEMS d20 rule set.
That's one of the reasons I like books like Sandstorm. They're quick to integrate into the campaign. One of my friends brought his copy over and I snagged it while GMing a group in the Great Grey Land of Thar in the FR setting and unleashed some variant trolls, crocsphinx, and a tiefling explorer with exotic weapons on the group. Crunch is easy to throw into a campaign, while background has to be added a little more slowly.
In terms of getting your own reviews done, reading the material and talking about what you like is always good. I try to up front about my preferences. For example, art. I love good art. I also don't like wasted space. Many White Wolf books, especially in the SL line, really suffered in that department, especially towards the end of the run and even other books, like Adventure d20, look like they could've been tightened up. I also like a good layout that's easy on the eyes, especially as I get older. Some say content is king but I say this isn't the 80's anymore. Take Redhurst, Denizens of Avandu or BESM d20 deluxe edition. I haven't used any of them to death, but they are some of my favorite books.
Well, that's enough ranting for now. Back to the boards.
Part of it depends on my system knowledge of it and how often I've used it in game play. I'm not always on though. My love for Mercenaries for example, especially since I was reading Black Company and watching the anime Berserk, probably caused me to give Mercenaries Born of Blood a higher rating that it was due.
Anyone looking at the chronology of reviews for Mutants & Masterminds may note that I'm one of the last staff reviewers to hit it. I waited until I had several games under my belt and generated a character and went through the system to see how it was.
And I'm not the fastest reviewer by far. I've got several books, mostly settings, that haven't been reviewed 'formally' because I have to go back and see what I've used from them or how they've played out. Take Testament. Great book overall but I haven't really found too much actual use for it. Same thing with Everstone. Some interesting ideas and concepts there, especially using the BEMS d20 rule set.
That's one of the reasons I like books like Sandstorm. They're quick to integrate into the campaign. One of my friends brought his copy over and I snagged it while GMing a group in the Great Grey Land of Thar in the FR setting and unleashed some variant trolls, crocsphinx, and a tiefling explorer with exotic weapons on the group. Crunch is easy to throw into a campaign, while background has to be added a little more slowly.
In terms of getting your own reviews done, reading the material and talking about what you like is always good. I try to up front about my preferences. For example, art. I love good art. I also don't like wasted space. Many White Wolf books, especially in the SL line, really suffered in that department, especially towards the end of the run and even other books, like Adventure d20, look like they could've been tightened up. I also like a good layout that's easy on the eyes, especially as I get older. Some say content is king but I say this isn't the 80's anymore. Take Redhurst, Denizens of Avandu or BESM d20 deluxe edition. I haven't used any of them to death, but they are some of my favorite books.
Well, that's enough ranting for now. Back to the boards.
