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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greatwyrm" data-source="post: 2507990" data-attributes="member: 479">UpfrontI received Martial Law for free as part of the pdf review program.  This is not a playtest review.Role Playing WarriorsThe first chapter is an introduction, followed by Chapter 2 “Role Playing Warriors.”  This chapter gives some general advice on building warrior characters of different types.  While the more general advice won’t be of a great deal of use to more experienced roleplayers, there are a number of HARP specific issues dealt with that will help players new to HARP get the most from their character creation choices.Battle RunesChapter 3 covers a new type of battle magic.  While only two pages long, the subsystem for using Battle Runes as a new type of magic seems pretty easy to implement.  While HARP magic typically uses a different skill for each spell, Battle Runes use one skill, but requires a higher level of ability to use the stronger runes.  This is a nice way to give warriors access to some simple magic, while still letting them spend most of their ranks on more combat oriented skills.Fighting With StyleChapter 4 includes new skills, training packages, and a summary of the current and new combat maneuvers.  The skills include new fighting styles and martial arts styles, as well as expanding on some existing ones.  There are only 8 new training packages, but they do a good job in filling in some gaps for warriors in the existing packages and illustrate how to make a training package devoted to a particular fighting style or philosophy.  The new combat maneuvers also introduce new maneuvers available to those with a certain number of ranks (20, 40, or 80).This chapter is probably the backbone of this book.  It’s very well done and I’d recommend it to any GM whose HARP game sees frequent combat.Melee & Missile CombatChapter 5 begins with advice on handling the more common “special” situations in rpg combats.  Next is a brief outline on handling mass combats.  Finally, there is advice for designing and running different types of combat encounters.  Like chapter 2, this is well done, but will be of more use to new players or players just new to HARP.Weapons & ArmorChapter 6 is kind of a mixed bag for me.  I feel the weapons section is a bit much.  Some weapons are renamed from their historical names to what the HARP default races refer to them as.  This just seemed unnecessary.  I do like the nice, simple guidelines for adding new weapons.  I did like the second half of the chapter better.  There are loads of new materials and rules for the quality of workmanship for weapons and armor.  There are also charts detailing the rules for armors with all the new materials.Orders & OrganizationsChapter 7 covers creating new groups for warriors to belong to.  How to get in, what they do, how they work.  While most of the examples are martial to one degree or another, much of this would apply to building just about any organization, such as a Wizard’s Guild or a Church.  It’s good, I’m just not sure why it’s in the combat-expanding book.Critical TablesThe main focus of chapter 8 is the real engine of HARP combat -- the critical tables.  These tables have been expanded to include results for hit locations.  At first, they look rather intimidating compared to the basic critical tables in the core HARP book.  However, the revised layout also gives an easy, standardized layout for finding the damage, stun, bleeding, and death time (where appropriate) for each result.  I wasn’t to sure about these at first, but after taking some time to review them, I like them better than the originals.The only thing that really gives me pause is a section talking about how the new charts are written assuming the target has reinforced leather armor.  You need to adjust damage up or down if the target is poorer or better equipped.  This is the one thing I really just don’t get.  The way HARP damage works, better armor already makes it harder to score better hits.  Why provide even more of a bonus (or penalty) beyond what the defensive modifiers provide?  Again, this isn’t a playtest review, but I’m just not sure I like this.Magic ItemsChapter 9 includes a number of new weapons, armors, and miscellaneous items a warrior would be interested in.  A number of the new items are unique, but there aren’t even prices on the more commonly available ones.Creating NPCsChapter 10 begins with some advice on making warrior NPCs.  While this isn’t remarkable in itself, there are a number of NPCs fully statted out at different levels.  Especially for those new to HARP, it’s handy to see what different types of characters look like at levels 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20.  Of course, this also makes the GMs life a little easier by providing several types of warriors to use in encounters with fairly little preparation.Bottom LineI liked Martial Law and it is a good book overall, with the chapter on new skills and the new critical tables being particularly good.  However, I don’t feel it’s essential for a HARP game.  I would recommend it to someone who felt the basics of HARP combat weren’t detailed enough.  For those who think HARP combat is just about right in the basic book, I don’t think this would be necessary.</blockquote>

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