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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gambler1650" data-source="post: 2010122" data-attributes="member: 11033">In my reviews I rarely give 1's, just as I rarely give 5's. While production qualities matter, the content is what determines a final rating. Good pictures or unique ideas won't save a product from a poor review, but it might push a good one slightly higher. Functionality first, then the flash if you please. Price is also generally taken into consideration. A quick summary of my personal ratings: 1 - Lazy, incomplete, shoddy effort. So disgusted I'm likely only to open it again to review it. 2 - Below average. Not completely unhappy I bought it since it probably has some good ideas. 3 - Average/Good. I got approximately what I expected in terms of content and quality. No major flaws and useful. 4 - Very Good. I got more than I expected. Inspired me enough to think about using it down the road. 5 - Excellent. The cream of the industry. I immediately want to use it somewhere. Excellent production values. This book is a hard one to give a score to.  On one hand, it's absolutely beautiful and stunning in the art, the prose, and the concept.  On the other, it doesn't require the Player's Handbook... and it probably should have.  There are also a few minor problems with the prose that I'll talk about shortly too.PRODUCTION QUALITY: The production quality of this 'campaign world' is very high. The cover is a striking black and white lettering with a version of the yin-yang symbol, with an Engel in the white half, and the dreamseed in the black.. Well, mostly white, and mostly black.. I think there's symbolism even here.  The rest of the cover is a handsome looking gold.  The map is well done, handsome, but sometimes a bit hard to read the places of given the unusual and small fonts used for some of the smaller locations.  There is good use of whitespace, but the margins are fairly wide, allowing room for illustrations all of which are beautifully done and add a great deal to the immediate understanding of the world of 27th century Europe.  The worst part is the rules section, which more or less seems to have been directly copied and pasted from the Player's Handbook with the Engel information worked in.  It reads poorly, and without diagrams especially in the combat sections I couldn't recommend just using this book alone to understand the D20 system.  The lack of a beginning adventure could have been addressed simply by highlighting those areas different from the PHB (like the Dragonstar PHB does) and using the saved space for an adventure.Production Quality Rating: 5CONTENT: As stated above, this game really needs a good introductory adventure.  Even if the storyteller does not use it, it'll at least give an idea of how to set up adventures and campaigns in this world.  Yes, there is some good advice on how to do so, but with two creatures (and I'd imagine nothing from the Monster Manuals would translate well) present in the sourcebook and only sketchy information given on various areas, it may be harder than most especially since the theme is so different.  Ok, so what is the theme?  Simply put, the apocalypse has begun, children who were spared the first plagues created a Unification Church which reinsitituted feudalism and took over most of Europe.  Shortly thereafter the Engel (Angels) appeared as physical manifestations of God's will, and just in time to combat the Dreamseed, supposedly created by Satan (The Lord of the Flies in the book) which appear from the infernos which raze Europe very slowly and with no way to stop them.  The players play the Engel (or can play more usual classes too if they really want to).    I can't even do justice to  this world, so I won't try beyond what I've done above.The prose is excellent in spite of this being a translation from a German RPG.  There are some ambiguities.  For instance, the Templars of each order of Engel are described initially as not being shy about their adoration and desire to be like the Engel they serve, and in the next paragraph it says how vehemently they'll deny their similarity of clothing and hair style to their Engel as being emulation since it's a sin.  In spite of  this, the sections on the history of Europe after the apocalypse, the descriptions of the Orders, life in 27th century Europe, etc, are very evocative and as good writing as you'll find in most novels.  The fictional interludes between each chapter actually give the best idea of what it is to be an Engel and to live in this world.  Finally, if you hadn't already guessed, things aren't exactly as they seem.  As is the case in White Wolf's World of Darkness, this game is more about telling a story, character growth and revelation.   The new feats for the various Engel orders are very nice for the most part.  I do have a slight worry about starting Engel as weak as they begin (basically a first level character with some pretty nice feats).  Given their supposed status, you wouldn't expect that they could be killed by a few goblins should any have happened to show up in 27th century Europe.  One other issue is that the game is designed for 6 players.  One storyteller and one Engel from each of the five main Orders.  More might be handled more easily, since someone could play a Templar or even another Engel assigned to a special mission within the Fellowship.  Less will be harder to do as  the various Orders almost perfectly complement each other.  Most likely the storyteller will have to play an NPC Engel.As implied, this section is a dichotomy.  On one hand you have a beautiful, dark, disturbing world which comes across very well through the prose and the images.  On the other, you have a very poor rules set basically hacked from the PHB which takes up space that could have been used for more useful information (more monsters - fortunately Creatures of the Dreamseed is available, or a beginning adventure).  The rules can be understood, since obviously White Wolf didn't feel that the original rules set would be as recognizable over here in the United States, and so jumped on the coat tails of the D20 system, but it's still disappointing.Content Rating: 4CONCLUSION: An incredibly well realized, unique and fascinating world.  Players will probably become much more emotionally involved in this game than in many others, even those who don't believe in God (as I don't for instance).  As a sourcebook, it misses on a couple of areas.  More creatures, more well fleshed out adventure ideas to get a new group started.  It's obviously meant to stand alone from the PHB but I think most groups will greatly appreciate having a copy of that to help clear up some of the ambiguities that were explained more clearly in the core PHB.  Overall Rating: 4</blockquote>

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