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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010229" data-attributes="member: 18387">By Joe G Kushner, Staff Editor and Reviewer, d20 Magazine RackSecrets of the PhoenixEdited by D. J. TrindlePublished by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG)96 b&w pages, $24.95Sizing Up the TargetSecrets of the Phoenix is the third ‘splatbook’ that details the various clans of the Legend of the Five Rings setting with dual mechanics for the 2nd edition Legend of the Five Rings system and the d20 system.First Blood If you’re familiar with this style of book, you have a good idea of what to expect. Some fiction between each chapter, in this case, “Too Close to the Flame”, some background, NPCs, magic items, feats and other goodies that all relate to the Phoenix Clan. It uses the same two-column layout with the same blue ink for the L5R 2nd edition rules and black ink for standard d20 rules. It uses one page for the OGL and the same page for the Open Game Content. It uses another page for the table of contents and another page for the credits. In short, it’s almost exactly like every other “Secrets” book currently on the market. If you like those books, you’ll like this one. If you don’t, then this one isn’t going to change your mind.But what if you’ve never looked at one of these books before?Critical Hits The book starts off with some of the minute details of the Phoenix clan. How are births celebrated? What events take place at the Gempukku? How is Courtship and Marriage handled? How do the Phoenix march to war and what happens when soldiers retire or die? All covered in a few brief paragraphs. The history of the Phoenix section takes up four pages and does a nice breakdown of all the important events ranging from ancient history to more ‘modern’ issues like the War of Spirits and Oblivion’s Gate. Of great reference use is the Complete Phoenix Techique Feat List. It has the Feat name, Prerequisite and Location. Very useful for those wishing to craft Greater Daisho or utilize Way of the Phoenix or Invincible Sword of the Void. That last one and several other feats are introduced in the general section, providing new options for Phoenix characters like Void Smite where you get a Void bonus to your attack rolls equal to your left over Void Points with a damage bonus equal to your level.The real meat of the book comes from the different families and the new concept of vassal families that serve the main families. The first four chapters hit the Isawa, Shiba, Agasha and Asako families. Each family is detailed with major and minor holdings, which list important people with abbreviated stats (name, profession, class and level), followed by adventure hooks for that location. Important NPCs of each family are fully listed with detailed background and full game stats for both L5R 2nd edition and d20. The Vassals are listed by name with background, game stats like favored class, starting honor, class skills and starting family, in addition to game mechanics like new feats, ancestors, and PrCs.In addition to getting all sorts of new PrCs, feats, and other cool crunchy abilities, you get a secret, hidden place to use them. That’s right, for those who know the Phoenix, they’ll know I’m talking about Gisei Toshi, the oldest city of Rogukan. Those who don’t know this clan should realize this. A long time ago, the city was thought destroyed and the Phoenix saw fit to spread that misinformation, allowing themselves a stronghold from which to research all manners of magic without the worry of the Empire interfering with their studies. It’s mapped out and provides many brief gems that can keep the GM busy for a long time. Due to its secretive nature, it may be difficult to incorporate any characters but those from the Phoenix clan into it, but ah, the challenges one could think of in testing a party to get to this city.The last section ties together a lot of lose ends. What are the stats and abilities of the Last Wish, a major artifact of the campaign? How powerful are the Children of the Last Wish, beings created to guard it? How about information on how the Kolat have used secrets from the Path of Man? What about playing Yobanjin, raiders into Phoenix territories? A wide brush covers all this and more, ending with a full page map of the Phoenix Providence.Critical MissesIt’s hard to note obvious problems with this book because it has a specific focus and does its job there well. For instance, if you’re looking for information on the Dragon’s point of view of the defection of one of their orders, you’ll get a brief taste of that information, but not from the Dragon’s point of view. Remember, this is secrets of the Phoenix.The book, while more pricey than others of its size, is on heavy stock paper so perhaps while it’s overpriced, it’s not vastly overpriced. The problem comes when comparing it to other hard cover books which after careful review, don’t have the same sturdy structure found here so it’s a give and take. Higher quality paper, more expensive price.About the only thing that I wish the book had more of are maps. The major and minor holdings are well described, but I’ve always loved maps as they help bridge the worded description and the visual world. Coup de GraceLike other books in the series, the Secrets of the Phoenix takes a crucial look at some elements of the Phoenix while trying to gloss over information that’s already been in the market. I believe the book describes the differences between this and Way of the Phoenix as having “finer detail to the different families, their organization, holdings, vassal families and lesser-known schools”.If you’re looking for more Prestige Classes and other crunchy bits for your Phoenix character or a GM looking for more mystic information to add to your campaign, Secrets of the Phoenix is meant for you.To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at <a href="http://www.d20zines.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index&catid=&topic=3" target="_blank">www.d20zines.com.</a></blockquote>

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