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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2010264" data-attributes="member: 9860">The Encyclopedia Of Weaponry details over 100 weapons from world history.Encyclopedia Of Weaponry is a 128-page mono softcover product from Fast Forward Entertainment costing $19.99. Font and margins are fairly standard size, and though there is a small amount of white space on most pages, it does mean each weapon has a page of its own. The illustrations, whilst basic line drawings, clearly depict the weapons portrayed, and every weapon has an illustration. The writing style is elegant and informative - e.g. "Naginata are pole-arms, roughly analogous with halberds and consisting of a steel blade atop a long shaft." Editing is good, with just the occasional minor mistake (e.g. snuggly rather than snugly, voluge rather than voulge).The Encyclopedia Of Weaponry covers gunpowder weapons and siege engines as well as the more 'standard' fantasy weapon types, and new weapon categories are introduced to cover these new areas - cannon, gunpowder, and siege engines. This section details any general rules that apply (such as minimum ranges for some siege engines). A new skill - Artillerist - is also offered in this section, allowing a character to use and create an artillery weapon (though the rules section of the skill focuses entirely on the construction of a siege engine) - the book hints at an optional skill of Profession (Siege Engineer) instead of 'Artillerist' in the combat section, which could easily replace the Artillerist skill for the purposes it is used for with some extrapolation. A section on new feats gives weapon proficiencies and advanced weapon proficiencies (allowing faster reloading) for the new weapon types. A further section on combat related to these weapon types gives a walkthrough discussion with examples of a rule-set for using artillery fire - the attack is modified by Intelligence, and such influences as ranks in the Artillerist skill, and the size and distance of the target.The majority of the book is of course taken up with the historical weapons. Each weapon uses a basic template to cover the information provided:* A brief physical description* Historical origins* A brief listing of the D&D races who are likely to use it (with occasional extrapolation for some weapons)* An illustration* A magical example of the weapon (typically taking up about 2/3 of the text), including caster level, prerequisites, market price, and weight.* The weapon statistics including size, cost, damage, critical, range increment, weight, and type.The weapons vary greatly, from small simple weapons such as the knuckle duster to large exotic weapons such as the heavy trident on to a range of gunpowder weapons (e.g. wheel-lock pistol) and siege engines (e.g. heavy trebuchet). They also come from a wide variety of historical backgrounds from Ancient Greece to Victorian India, with other weapons from Japan, Africa, North America and of course mediæval Europe.Appendix 1 tabularises the stats from the weapons all in one place, split into appropriate sections - i.e. simple weapons - melee, martial- weapons - ranged, etc.The High PointsI was impressed by the variety of weapons in this tome - in terms of size and type, and in historical timeframe and location. The notes on historical origin should help most GMs use the weapons in the most appropriate culture in her campaign and this aspect is aided by the listing given for the fantasy races that would most likely use the weapon (the historical notes and descriptions also made for interesting reading). The 'one page per weapon' presentation keeps things clear and makes for easy reference. The background stories of the magical items also make for interesting reading. Most of the weapons' stats seem to fit their descriptions, using the d20 rules without error (though see below).The Low PointsThe amount of space used to describe the magical versions of the weapon dwarfed the basic information about the weapon. I would have liked to see more information on the historical origins and an explanation of the linking of the weapon to certain races, rather than just a listing - this is done to good effect on a few of the weapons such as the ulas, a throwing club from Fiji. I would have found this more general information useful for suitable campaign placement, and found the magical items somewhat setting-specific (e.g. "Shadow Hand is closely associated with the legend of Kwai Sin Ko, a traveling monk of the Sainted Dragon temple. Throughout his life, he traveled the land of Jadai...") and fairly powerful (many having a +3 designator, or a special ability if of lesser magical bonus) - seeming more suitable for a high-level or magic-rich campaign. Some of the weapons mirrored existing similar weapons exactly in terms of stats (e.g. the Cinquedea, a medieval Italian dagger, has exactly the same stats as a standard dagger), and a few of the rules seem incorrect (e.g. Two-handed Executioner's Sword should not be a double weapon as it only has one blade) or need further rules clarification (such as the small one-handed double weapon, the Haladie, an Indian two-bladed dagger, which would have benefited from some further detail on how to handle its unique properties - for example, if wielding one in each hand).ConclusionThe focus on specific magical examples of the weapons to the exclusion of the more useful information on cultural/campaign placement disappointed me. The weapons where this focus was reversed shone out compared to the others, even though the magical item histories made interesting reading. The variety of weaponry was impressive, and the inclusion of cannon and gunpowder weapons may appeal to those who are intending to run campaigns using this type of weaponry.</blockquote>

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