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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rpghost" data-source="post: 2683278" data-attributes="member: 2834">[Posted with permission from Morrus]****************************************** RPGNOW.COM NEWSLETTER & COUPONS ******************************************CONTENTS: - Intro/Editorial/News - What's New - Staff Reviews - What's Hot - Special Coupons - Helpful Links======================================== INTRO, EDITORIAL & NEWS ========================================Welcome to the RPGNow Newsletter. We hope you enjoy it and welcome your feedback.If you do not want to receive this, please change your settings under MY ACCOUNT / EDIT.=================================== FREE PHYSICAL BOOK OFFER ===================================FROM: Troll Lord GamesFor a limited time only if you purchase Gary Gygax’s World Builder & GaryGygax’s Living Fantasy through RPGNow Troll Lord Games will ship you ahardcover copy of Living Fantasy for free! Both these sources togetherprovide any gamer with invaluable material for design and play!  The WorldBuilder covers outdoor settings, indoor living settings, merchandise witha  completely illustrated armor and weapons section and everyday factsfrom the government structure to the tensile strength of rope.  The depthof information gathered in Gary Gygax’s World Builder is Legion. In LivingFantasy game designers captain their own creations when they masterknowledge of the high and low, the hamlets and towns, cities and castlesand all that accompanies life in a world of our own imagining. More thanthat, Living Fantasy breathes strength into the arms of your imaginingswith pirates and palace life, eating and entertainment, villains andvagabonds, communications and commerce.<a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5491&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5491&SRC=Newsletter</a><a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5663&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5663&SRC=Newsletter</a>Once you have purchased the 2 ebook, please contact <a href="mailto:troll@trolllord.com">troll@trolllord.com</a>with your order numbers and the address you want the books shipped to.Keep watching the newsletter for more offers like this!========================= RPGNOW UPDATES =========================We have implemented an automated bundling system for our publishers to use.This allows you to purchase several products at once for an increased discount.You can see all the current bundles by using this link:<a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/search.php?query=" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/search.php?query=</a>[bundle]&sortby=p.products_name&SRC=Newsletter(Currently there are probably not to many as we just released this feature.)=============================== CURRENT COUPON BOOKS ===============================Holloween Coupon book:  <a href="http://www.uk-gamerz.com/publishing/HALLOWEEN05.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.uk-gamerz.com/publishing/HALLOWEEN05.pdf</a>Ronin Arts October Coupon book (FREE):  <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=3313&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=3313&SRC=Newsletter</a>========================================== NEWEST PRODUCTS AT RPGNOW ==========================================Lion's Den Press: Halloween Horrors by Ronin Arts (d20 Creature Books)  <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5671&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5671&SRC=Newsletter</a>THRILLING TALES Advanced Class Collection Two by Adamant Entertainment (d20 Pulp)  <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5670&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5670&SRC=Newsletter</a>THRILLING TALES: Advanced Class- BIG GAME HUNTER by Adamant Entertainment (d20 Pulp)  <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5669&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5669&SRC=Newsletter</a>Egyptians Set by Arion Games (Paper Miniatures)  <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5045&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5045&SRC=Newsletter</a>Gary Gygax's Living Fantasy by Troll Lord Games (d20 GM Tools)  <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5663&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5663&SRC=Newsletter</a>The Enchanter: The Core Specialist Wizard by Misfit Studios (d20 Class/Race Books)  <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5668&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5668&SRC=Newsletter</a>The Malay Coins by Hero Games (OTHER/UNIVERSAL)  <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5667&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5667&SRC=Newsletter</a>THRILLING TALES: Advanced Class- FEMME FATALE by Adamant Entertainment (d20 Pulp)  <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5666&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5666&SRC=Newsletter</a>After Sunset: Werewolves by Clockwork Golem Workshop (d20 Horror)  <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5661&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5661&SRC=Newsletter</a>Map Borders I Symbol Catalog by Split Eye Productions (SOFTWARE)  <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5660&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5660&SRC=Newsletter</a>============================================ NEWEST PRODUCTS AT THE EDGE ============================================Grimoire #3 by Fool's Moon Entertainment Inc. (E-BOOKS & SUBS.)  <a href="http://edge.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5664&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://edge.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5664&SRC=Newsletter</a>The Swansong Tarot Deck by Prince of Darkness Games (Card Games)  <a href="http://edge.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5662&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://edge.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5662&SRC=Newsletter</a>War Machine: Battle Lines Sourcebook by Happy Nebula Adventures (SCI-FI)  <a href="http://edge.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5638&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://edge.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5638&SRC=Newsletter</a>Blades of Purpose by Genjitsu Gaming (d20 Equipment/Treasure)  <a href="http://edge.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5548&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://edge.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5548&SRC=Newsletter</a>Mirror Universe : : Volume 1 by Inspired Device (M&M SUPERLINK)  <a href="http://edge.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5541&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://edge.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5541&SRC=Newsletter</a>===================================== NEWEST STAFF REVIEWS =====================================<a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/contact.php#reviewers" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/contact.php#reviewers</a>-------------------------------------------REVIEW - 5 OUT OF 5 STARS from James Hargrove:Brainwashed by 12 to Midnight (d20 Horror)Aesthetically pleasing as well as both witty and well-written, as an adventure module, Brainwashed does not failto please. Weighing in at 39 pages (or at 31 pages in the included ‘printer-friendly’ edition), Brainwashed wasspecifically designed to showcase the 12 to Midnight OGL sanity rules found in Fear Effects, serving as a meansto introduce those rules to your players. My experiences with the product follow. I’ve tried to sum up the adventure’s basic plot line here without spoiling too much of the charm inherent todiscovering such things on your own. The basics are as follows: Several members of a hippy commune in East Texashave dug up something in their field. Something bad. Something alien. Something that has enslaved their minds andturned these once peaceful people into violent maniacs. When a young boy becomes wrapped up in the cult-likeactivities going on up at the commune, you are tapped to investigate. Sprinkled with cattle mutilations, poisoned fruit punch, tin foil hats and other bits of conspiracy theory popculture, at first glance you might assume that Brainwashed is yet another schlock conspiracy theory adventure -but that would be an assumption made in error. By presenting these tropes in a serious context rather playingthem up as humorous in-jokes, Brainwashed manages to convey a tone of urgency that many other suchconspiracy-oriented adventures fail to capture. As an engaging modern horror adventure, Brainwashed is well worth the admission price of $5.00. As a showcasefor 12 to Midnight’s Fear Effects, it is slightly less impressive, but will serve as a good introduction to thatproduct’s insanity rules for your players. Brainwashed is disturbing, atmospheric, fun that shouldn’t beoverlooked by those with a genuine interest in Horror as a genre, or in modern conspiracy adventures. LIKED: The tin foil hats, cattle mutiliations, and other pop culture conspiracy references being executed'straight' rather than as in-jokes. DISLIKED: Nothing, really. I was honestly impressed with all of it. QUALITY:ExcellentVALUE: Very Satisfied<a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5189&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5189&SRC=Newsletter</a>----------------------------------------REVIEW - 5 OUT OF 5 STARS from Mark Charke:The Enchanter: The Core Specialist Wizard by Misfit Studios (d20 Class/Race Books)The layout of this book caught my attention immediately. Everything is Valentines day red and it looks veryappropriate for the enchanter. This immediately sets the tone of the book as one dedicated to the manipulation,charming, of others. The book is very light on romance however, focusing on the core enchanter abilities.The core enchanter is rewritten. This new class gains spell DC increases against “favored races” with its forceof will ability. It also brings up the DC of all enchantment spells. The class gains additional spells like aspecialist but gets fewer feats than a Wizard, which is balances it out. The change from Intelligence to Charismafor spellcasting is appropriate and synergies with many sorcerer feats and spells the character may wish to take.Of the two prestige classes, I really like the Alpha Warden, which blurs the line between wizard and druid,giving the character animal companions and spellcasting every other level. The requirements are stiff with 8ranks required in Handle Animal, a cross class skill for the Enchanter unless you hunt down a skill adding feat.The book has a host of new feats and rules for hypnosis.I was not sure if the book had anything to do with Valentines day until I ran across the Lovers Arrow in themagic item section. This is about the only direct reference to cupid and it’s enough. It keeps the book frombecoming silly while allowing for a little fun.LIKED: This is a solid addition to the enchanter. If I wanted to play an enchanter, I would want this productfor the additional options it provides.DISLIKED: Evoker is not out yet. I’m very much looking forward to evoker.When all the schools are done, I would really like to see a print compellation of the books.QUALITY:ExcellentVALUE: Very Satisfied<a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5668&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5668&SRC=Newsletter</a>----------------------------------------REVIEW - 5 OUT OF 5 STARS from Mark Gedak:FLASHBALL by 93 Games Studio (Card Games)>From the Math Teacher prespective:“Flashball” is an inexpensive game/teaching aid from 93 Games Studio that combine the route learning of basicmathematics that with the excitement of baseball.  The game is designed for two players who compete to move theirplayers around the bases and score 10 points first.  The game uses a modified system for hits that require thebatter to answer of a series of questions (with increasing difficult) to hit a single, double, triple or homerun. The pitcher has an opportunity on a hit to throw the batter out at the plate which makes sure both membersplaying receive a nice range of questions for practice.Originally reading the runs I was at a loss as two what I was supposed do with the player and ball tokensbesides making sure they were available but as I read the example of play it all became clear.  There are “only”120 question in this game but the inclusion of a template in this product means you could make:Multiplication, Division, Order of Operations, Fractionsor Really any class concept that you need to review and can be route learned.LIKED: - Inexpensive teaching aid- Links math with a sports games- Easy to learn and use almost immediately after printing- Although designed for the early elementary, the inclusion of a flashcard template means I could make up cardsfor harder mathematics problems, fact memorization, or even chemical nomenclature.- handy to review concepts before tests.DISLIKED: Nothing, this now adds to my pile of reviewtechniques/strategies.QUALITY: ExcellentVALUE: Very Satisfied<a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4044&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4044&SRC=Newsletter</a>----------------------------------------REVIEW - 5 OUT OF 5 STARS from Chris Gath:MEG: Bluffside:City on the Edge-e version by Ronin Arts (d20 City/Location Books)The Bluffside PDF has not been updated to 3.5 nor has any new material been added to it.  It does howevercontain all the errata that has been collected to date so the few errors of the original print book have beenfixed.    The cover art is by Paul Chapman and is a picture of the city.  It shows the mountains that surroundthe city, the river, waterfall and cliff the city sits on and beside, as well as the different individualsections of the city itself.  Many of the more prominent buildings are easily identifiable as well.  The interiorart is all black and white and well done.  The maps however are a little difficult to read.  They are availablefor free download at the Mystic Eye Games website and the ones they have there are a lot more crisp.  So, whiledownloading them from a separate site might be a little inconvenient it is easy to do and well worth the effort. The layout of the book is very well done.  The dual column format is a very easy to read and even moreimportantly easy on the eyes.    There is not an abundance of white space and at the same time the pages do notseem crowded.          One of the great things about PDFs is the inclusion of the bookmark ability.  Bookmarks are basically alinked index that is at the side of the PDF.  It can be closed so that the PDF fills the screen, or opened toallow one to glance down the list to find what one is looking for.  Then a simple click on the link and the PDFgoes directly to that section.  The Bluffside PDF has one of the most complete set of Bookmarks that I have seen.They have them listed by chapter.  One can open up all the bookmarks in an individual chapter at a time so theyare not overwhelming.          Bluffside starts with the introductory chapter.  In here it explains the city is dividing into eightdistricts, it explains about the places of interests (POI) and how they include NPCs and hooks for using eachplace described, as well as talking a little about the religions and the areas around Bluffside.  Now the POIsare really great.  There are over a hundred described and each is its own place with unique NPCs and plot hooks. Many of them are tied together and can easily lead characters from one place to another as the characters explorethis vast city.  The POIs are easy to use and filled with great ideas.   For me they offer the core material forBluffside and make sure that it is near impossible to run out of ideas here.                The second chapter deals with the rich and mysterious history of Bluffside.  The city is on theremains of a much older city and there are many mysteries about who these original people were.  It explains afew key buildings that are still around and not fully understood by the inhabitants of Bluffside.  It mentionsthe great adamantium mines that are found in the mountains nearby and the goblin wars and the chaos that broughtto the fair city.  There is a nice little timeline and even a brief description of the cliff divers.  They are asmall organizations that dives from the cliffs.  They are stunt men and women who risk their lives for a briefthrill.          Chapter three really starts to get into the going ons of the city.  It is here that the many differentgroups the lobby for power in the city can be found.  Groups like the Adamantine Security council who is incharge of the mining and smelting of the precious ore, the Five a group of very important citizens and theactually rulers of the city, and the Wizards Council.  There are more groups in the busy city of Bluffside butthese three are by far the most important and the most widespread.          The fourth chapter goes into the Old City district first.  It is here that all the power players seem tocome from.  This place is full of money and important people.  It has a rich history and is not well thought ofby the rest of the city.  It is also a place that few people are allowed in.  There are many plots going onbehind the scenes described in the more then abundant POIs of this area.  There is also the Miners District,Temple District, Military District, Wizard District, and New City District.  Each is brilliantly described andfilled with rich POIs.  Each district could actually be removed and used as its very own city with out the restof Bluffside.          The fifth chapter goes into the city beneath the city.  The Undercity is a maze of sewers, tunnels, andeven a few places of business.  The Undercity has a unique history with many places for adventures as well asexploration.  There are dangers of the monstrous variety as well as more mundane things like traps and diseases. Many of Bluffsides mysteries can be found here and lucky group of adventurers might even find a way to learnsomething about them.          Chapter six covers Sordadon.  This is the district that floats in the water below the cliffs.  It ishear the boats dock and most of the merchandise goes through.  It has a different feel then the other districtsbeing literally on the water.  There is plenty to do here and much danger to be found.  As always the POIs arenumerous and intriguing.          The seventh chapter deals with the many guilds that can be found in Bluffside.  There is a guild foradventures and explorers, archeologists, traders, and miners.  The guilds serve a few purposes and characterswould benefit from using them.        The eighth chapter deals with the secret societies of Bluffside.  There are many to be found.  Some arebased on adventure while others are more based in religion.          Chapter nine is about and deals with the areas around Bluffside.  There is a map that shows Bluffsideand the lands many hundreds of miles inland.  There is plenty of info to take characters farther inland and tohave many adventures there.  The POIs are used and as can be expected to a great effect.          The tenth chapter deals with the many, many religions of Bluffside.  There is a pantheon listed withgods and their domains.  It would be fairly easy to bring in gods from elsewhere instead of these or alongsidethese.  The gods are well described and there are little articles about a few of the debates that seem to alwayscrop up in the Religion DistinctThe book from here goes to the appendixes.  The first one is a complete list of all the NPCs mentioned.  EachNPC is giving a full stat block making them very easy to use.  It is impressive that they stated all the NPCs asthere are at least a hundred in this book.  That cannot have been a fun task.  The next few appendixes are very useful.  The second lists a few new creatures that can be encountered inBluffside.  The third is stat blocks for the many different tyopes of gaurs one is likely to run into during astay in the city.    The fourth appendix lists some new races that can be encounter in and around the lands ofBluffside.  The Dragori for instance are a race of reptilian humanoids from a vast and old empire in the DragonSands, a vast desert near Bluffside.  Next, the book goes into prestige classes.  The first is the BluffsideMountain Ranger.  They explore the mountains around Bluffside and make sure goblin raids and attacks do nothappen.  The cat burglar is a thief extraordinaire that may stalk his prey for months before the right time tostrike comes.  Explorers prefer to go to places civilization has yet to reach and blaze trails for others tofollow.  The Tunnel Fighter goes below the city of Bluffside to operate in the many tunnels, sewers, and caves. The next appendix covers a variety of new spells.  Many are utility spells like Detect Ore and Improved Scribe. New equipment covers the next appendix and it lists many special pieces that are used for exploration and miningas well as many of the other activities Bluffside provides.  Lastly we have new magical items, feats, anddomains.  The Bluffside book is filled to the brim with information and intrigue.  The city is truly alive and has a greathistory filled with mystery and adventure.  The POIs are truly inventive and provide heaps of information andideas for any Dungeon Master.  Bluffside is a one of the best cities to ever come from a Role Playing Game.  QUALITY: ExcellentVALUE: Very Satisfied<a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1945&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1945&SRC=Newsletter</a>----------------------------------------REVIEW - 5 OUT OF 5 STARS from Chris Gath:Blue Rose - The Roleplaying Game of Romantic Fantasy by Green Ronin (FANTASY)This review covers Blue Rose the PDF but the content will be the same as the print book that comes out hopefullylater this month.  Blue Rose is a setting and twist on the d20 system to make it a bit more rules light and toadapt it to the setting and structure of Romantic Fantasy.  That begs the question of what is Romantic Fantasy? It is a genre that has really only been around for twenty of so years.  It deals more with personal connections,character emotion and growth, and can tend to be rather black and white.  The good guys accept all kinds ofpeople and all kinds of life styles.  Ones sex, race, religion, or personally beliefs does not matter as long asyou are not making life worse for your neighbor.  It deals with an almost utopian based society but it has itsenemies.  The bad guys are controlling and just evil.  They live to destroy the good society and usually comereally close but never succeed.  In that regard it reminds me a lot of the pulp stories from the 1930’s.  Thebook recommends the following authors for a better feel of romantic fantasy: Kristen Britian, Diane Duane,Mercedes Lackey, Elizabeth A Lynn, Robin McKinley, and Tomara Pierce.          Blue Rose is a two hundred and twenty five page PDF by Green Ronin.  It is a big file over ten megszipped.  The book is designed by Jeremy Crawford, Dawn Elliot, Steve Kenson, and John Snead.  The book is reallyeasy to find things in having a nice two page table of contents, is fully book marked, and has a very big indexan item that is not seen in many books these days.  The layout and art in the book is great.  There are somereally impressive full page art pieces. .There could be more art in the monster section but really that is aminor complaint in the scope of this book.        The book starts with a section that is rarely seen in RPG books these days; it explains what roleplaying is, what romantic fantasy is, and walk people through the basics and the jargon.  This is a small sectionof about ten pages but it really sets the tone and shows how the writers are really thinking about their audienceand are prepared for people new to gaming using their book.  Next, the book goes into the world.  Without divingto deeply into it; this section gives s a good overview of the gods, the countries, and the histories.  There aregods of light (good), gods of twilight (neutral), and the gods of shadow (evil).  The section talks about thecreation of the world and how things fit together and have developed over time.  It really lays the ground workto make the places seem real and realistic.  There is a simple logical progression on how things have happened. Aldis is the country the game focuses on.  We get some great details like day to life, education, government,travel, some customs, crimes and justice, how arcane abilities are viewed, religion, and holy days.  The detailsare just great making the day to role playing and the feeling of actually living in this country really come tolife.          There are plenty of threats to this nation of freedom.  From the unscrupulous merchants and the fallennobles, to the very real and deadly shadow cults and all sorts of the threats in between.  There are pirates andbandits and sorcerers and cabals.  It seems like a dangerous place to live at times.  All in all there is a niceover view of the different countries and some of the opponents to good in the area.  There is a nice map of thearea and hopefully more maps will be coming in up and coming products.  A bigger view at the world map would alsomake a great web enhancement.          Creating a character is a bit different then a standard d20 game.  First of all attributes arerepresented by a modifier and not just a number.  The average score is a zero with the lowest be a -5 and thehighest being as high as they can get.  However, no score can start out greater then +5 before racial modifiers. This is very similar to the Ars Magca attribute system for people familiar with that.  Assigning attributes isdone through a point based system that is very simple.  Each player gets 6 points to distribute.  They can lowersome stats to higher others on a one by one basis.  So, I can lower intelligence to a -2 to boost dexterity by+2.  The attributes are very well defined and there is even a great side bar that discusses what a character withsome high and low mental attributes behave.  It is a great side bar that should help let people figure out howstats help with role playing a character.  Next the player can choose her race and back ground.  Backgrounds helpdefine where the character comes from like one of the countries, an island folk, the forest, etc.  Not all racesget backgrounds as some races are only from one area.  The races include the standard human, and some odderchoices like intelligent animals and more mystical races like the long lived Vata.  The races are all prettyfascinating and offer some very interesting role playing challenges.  For instance playing an intelligent dolphinwill hold some unique opportunities for both e Narrator (the person running the game) and the player.          The role of the character is the class.  Blue Rose uses three generic classes much like the genericclasses found in Unearthed Arcana.  Blue Rose though adds a few differences to them given each a class defenseand reputation score.  The roles are Adept, Expert, and Warrior.  Most abilities are gained through theacquisition of feats.  Unlike other games feats are gained every level since none of the classes offer anyspecial abilities that are set in stone.  There is a lot of general feats and a section of feats that are onlyavailable to each class.  Multi classing is fully allowed and allows characters to become broad of skill.  Skillsare also done a bit differently.  Characters do not get skill points, instead they have known and unknown skills(class and cross class) as well as favored and not favored.  A favored skill is assumed to have max ranks forones levels.  It is possible to acquire new favored skills by multi classing or through gaining the right feats. This will be an odd change that I think will take a bit of getting used to.  But it will make character creationand leveling up a lot easier with out worrying about skill points.  There is another little extra idea they havehere called Conviction.  Each character gets so many based on their level and they can spend them to heal, reroll a die, get a bonus to dodge etc.  A character regains conviction slowly through time but faster depending ontheir actions.          The skills and feats make up the bulk of what the character can do.  The skill list has been trimmeddown to twenty five skills about ten or so less then a standard d20 game.  I like the scaled down skill selectionit still covers everything a character will want to do and allows for plenty of customization.  The featsrepresent the true character power.  There are feats for combat, for skills and for magic and psionic abilities. It really has a great and simple system for magic and psionics.  There are no spells or spell levels that one hasto worry about.  No preparations of spell lists or anything like that.  The arcane systems has a nice fatiguesystem that will slowly effect the caster to prevent lots of magic in a short period of time.  There are somefamiliar feats like far shot and the ability to gain a familiar.  There are plenty of options and it would beeasy to take feats from other products and have them work for the setting.  The game has no advanced classes andno prestige classes.  The simplest way to include them I think is to make their abilities into feats withinteresting names and requirements.  This will work perfectly within the system as it is set up with the littlestamount of work having to be done by the Narrator.          Magic is very interesting.  It is skill and feat based.  The effects have a difficulty and thatdifficulty can get harder depending on the relationship between the caster and the recipient of the magic. Seeing the person has a no modifier to the check, but spells cast with out the person around can really getchallenging.  Some spells require attacks and other have saving throws.  There are lots of options within thesystem.  It seems easy to use and pretty straight forward.  That actually can be said about the whole game, Ilike the simplicity of it all.          The game uses the wealth system from d20 modern.  One minor change they made is they do not have theprofusion skill to gain wealth.  Instead they recommend determining which of the skills the character would use(diplomat uses diplomacy, musician uses perform, thief uses slight of hand etc) instead of having a single skillwho’s only purpose is the wealth mechanic.  The game does use a damage system like the one found in Mutants andMasterminds and not the hit point system of D&D.  Each weapon has a single damage bonus and not a range ofdamage.  Critical hits multiple the damage so critical can actually be really bad.  The weapon and armor tablesare familiar and a little smaller then in most games.  The equipment lists on the other hand a little larger.  Italso includes some basic magical elixirs and stones.  Most magical creations can not be made anymore as theknowledge has been lost but these two types of simple magical things are still being made today.          Next, the book goes into playing the game.  It covers the basic rules like standard actions, usingsocial skills in game, and movement.  It starts out very rules oriented but then moves and covers a few areasthat are very important for narrators to know about.  These include when to fudge a die roll, how to improvise,saying yes to the players, and making mistakes.  There is some really good advice in these few pages thathopefully most narrators have had a chance to read or something like it.          One big change from most ordinary games to Blue Rose is the different types of role playing that areemphasized.  These are specifically discussed in a very thorough way.  The book goes into emotional role playing,effect of reputation, role playing romance, and intrigue.  The book has great advice and urges Narrators to notcreate situations that the players will be uncomfortable with.  Not every one wants to role apply a love interestor experience the emotionally lose of a pet through their character.  It is very important for the Narrator andthe players to be on the same page in this area.  While Romantic Fantasy does include these elements, the game isnot hinged on them.  Any or all of these can be removed from the game.  It will change how the game is run andhow it feels, but it will not make the game unplayable.          The book finishes up with a small bestiary, a short adventure, and conversion rules to make this bookwork with and d20 product.  The creatures presented include many animals and basic write ups for the playerraces.  There are plant creatures, elements creatures, and shadow spawn the mostly evil creatures that make lifedifficult for our heroes.          This product is one of the few I have been waiting for.  Ever since I learned of it last year it hasbeen on my must get as soon as it comes out list.  And frankly not many books make that list.  This book haslived up to my expectations and really surpassed them.  I have read some of the books that inspired the settingand it really shows through with the level of though t and detail that this product has.  It works for me as avery well done rules light version of d20 and also as a very fascinating setting and role playing challenge.  Ieager await the follow books Green Ronin has planned.  QUALITY: ExcellentVALUE: Very Satisfied<a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4239&SRC=Newsletter" target="_blank">http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4239&SRC=Newsletter</a>----------------------------------------=========================================== HOTTEST PRODUCTS AT RPGNOW ===========================================Fantasy Grounds - Full License by SmiteWorks Ltd. 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