Tommy's Take on Crime Network: Cosa Nostra

I want to cover a long overdue review in my queue next. Last year, I reviewed the adventure The Old Country for Crime Network, but did not review the actual game itself. Allow me to correct that grievous error now.

Crime Network: Cosa Nostra is an RPG built around playing mobsters, meaning you get to pretty much be the bad guys. Crime Network was made by Bedrock Games and distributed through Avalon Games, with the PDF available at RPGnow for $9.99. It clocks in at a relatively light 104 pages, but they didn't skimp on the bells and whistles, as it is not only searchable and fully bookmarked, but it also features a clickable table of contents. The cover art is competent, but not impressive, and book itself is black and white and with double columns, meaning there is a lot of text per page.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The book opens with acknowledgements, tossing a shout out to Terror Network, its sister game (which I will be reviewing, along with the Agency Handbook, very shortly) and how the two differ fundamentally.

INTRODUCTION

This starts as a basic "What is roleplaying?" type intro, but gets a little more in depth about the game, serving as a primer to the system (d10 dice pool system, take the highest result and compare to a Target Number, 10 is a "Total Success"). If you have no dice in a skill, you roll 2d10...and take the lower result.

Advancement runs on an official track and an unofficial one: You can spend XP to build your character up, while the actual rising through the ranks of the Family is up to the GM, based on who does what in various jobs.

Crime Network also professes to being incredibly gritty...to the point that they recommend everyone making 2-4 characters, so you always have a replacement ready.

CHARACTER CREATION

This chapter helpfully starts by breaking down the steps up front, before digging into the explanations.

Characters are divided into three types: Brains, Brawn and Casanovas. These determine your types of connections, as well as your Primary skill groups. Once the Primary skill groups are set, you get 12 points to distribute among the skills in each group (of which you will have two), and 9 for each of your Secondary skill groups. The cost is cumulative. For instance, two ranks in the Bully skill costs 3 points (1 for Rank 1, plus 2 for rank 2). For a single point, you can buy an Expertise in a skill, which gives you an extra d10 in certain circumstances.

From there, you pick a Family to belong to, and Crime Network provides eight of them, if you want to use the Baybridge setting included with the book. Note that your Family gives you a free point in two Crime skills (the family's specialty). There are six official ranks in the families, from Associate to Boss, and every character has Respectability, which is a measure of how much they can get away with, and for how long. Awesomely, this one is rolled by the GM in secret, and failure means *someone will try to kill you* if you do not make amends. It also governs your ability to tap your connections, and the above failure conditions don't really apply.

We get a little more clarification about skills next, notably that Defense skills are never rolled, but instead provide thhe target number for people acting against you (whether attacking you, lying to you, trying to bully you, or whatever). The one exception to the "never roll defensive skills" rule is Resolve, which you sometimes have to roll to avoid temptation.

Each of the skills are detailed, with their uses, with one important one being Crime (which has specific specialties)...now, you DO have to roll the Crime skill when committing a crime, but it doesn't determine success or failure: It determines a) the amount of financial benefit (if any) you gain from committing the crime, and b) the target number for the police investigation into the crime.

Once all of the skills are broken down, a list of Expertises for each skill is provided, with clarifications as needed.

With skills out of the way, we get into the second major system of the game: Connections. They come in five categories (Criminal, Political, Social, Business and Entertainment) and two types (Insider - with all of the deep information you may need, and Protector - providing actual services). If you tap a contact, except to have to do a favor in return. Keep tapping without repaying the favor, expect to make an enemy.

Shortcomings are disadvantages that can affect you, and provide a bonus Skill Point for each one that you take (and you can take two). These include things like Enemy, Illiterate and Rat (either you don't know when to shut up, or your family has a history of ratting people out). I particularly like Womanizer (and your lack of impulse control can cause a lot of problems), Henpecked (especially when you can't keep your wife out of your business) and Mama's Boy (complete with a daily visit, dinner twice a week and taking her shopping).

EQUIPMENT

A pretty good variety of weapons are covered, complete with full stats and descriptions, as well as optional rules (such as boosting damage for point blank shots, just in case). Drugs are also provided, in three broad categories (alcohol, opiates and stimulants), with their effect on the character using them. A broad listing of vehicles are given, as is three generalized types of body armor (which adds a bonus to your Hardiness defense). Finally, a catch-all of Things you may like to buy, from watches and fancy shoes to fake IDs to bugs.

The stat blocks are easy to read, and if there's really not enough weapons, armor and vehicles here, I have to imagine that Terror Network covers at least some different ground.

COMBAT AND NON-COMBAT RULES

We've covered the basic mechanics already, but this chapter provides further clarification and rules, such as damage. After a successful attack, you roll Damage against their Hardiness. Success equals a Wound. Every 10 you roll on the Damage roll equals an additional Wound. Three Wounds equals incapacitation, and dying sets in. If you get a Total Success (natural 10) on your Attack roll, you get an extra Damage die, to increase your chances of rolling that extra 10 and inflicting more Wounds.

The exception to this is the Assassination skill. If you have this skill, you get one shot versus your target's Wits. If you win, they're dead. Just like that. You have to make a second roll to see if you kept your trail clean, as assassinations sometimes lead to retribution.

Combat, by default, is grid based (and explosives have a chart for applying to the map grid), with the Speed skill being used for initiative. You can make a Move Action and a Skill Action each round, two Move actions, or you can take one Move and drop the skil Action, adding 1 to your Defenses, drop both for +2 to your Defenses, or just drop movement and add 1d10 to your attack roll. So, a decent level of options right there, without getting too complicated.

A handful of further tactical options are provided, including shooting someone from behind, targeting multiple opponents with automatic weapons and making called shots.

The chapter ends with basic vehicle rules, as well as "When Grenades Miss" (you've probably seen charts like this several times).

THE WAY OF THE GANGSTER

Here, we start getting into being a gangster.

I cannot vouch for the historical accuracy of the information in this chapter, but I can say that they say it convincingly enough that I won't argue with it. It begins with a history of mafia activity in the US, from the earliest recorded beginnings through now.

From there we get into some mechanics, such as setting up rackets (for when your players are higher up in the family) to generate additional income. Poor planning equals no money and arrested men.

Going to jail opens up its own set of opportunities, although anyone getting set up for a lengthy sentence are likely to just wind up dead, so they can't cut a deal.

Finally, this chapter discusses becoming a Made Man...the necessary steps needed to move from an Associate to a full fledged member of the Mafia.

THE GAME MASTER

Step by step tips on making your own campaign, including building mafia families from the top down. There are guidelines for points allocations for NPCs, depending on the challenge you want them to provide...but the really impressive part is the list of NPC Types: 25 archetypes often associated with the mafia in popular culture, like the Flash Madman (the guy who snaps on a moment's notice), The Fatherly Boss, The Reluctant Criminal and the Religious Hit Man.

The game encourages fostering paranoia among the PCs, as a PC who angers his superiors is likely to have his own crew gunning for him. Obviously, this is one area where you need to know your group first.

A discussion of the Mafia Movie themes is given next, like Violence, Love, Revenge and War, with each theme getting a good paragraph each, as well as thirteen story seeds to get you rolling.

I do have a gripe here, though. There is a table of modifiers for trials on page 66...but the chapter doesn't actually start talking about conducting trials until page 67. It just seems really awkward...but that is literally my biggest gripe thus far.

The chapter ends with a sizeable list of references, in book, film and TV, if you want to learn more.

REMO LOVES LUCY

Here we get a full fledged adventure for 3-5 characters. It's a pretty straightforward revenge scenario, in which the PCs are avenging the death of their (now former) Capo. The adventure is set up by the new Capo, and once they have their location and objective, it is pretty much up to them to figure how to get the job done.

I like the structure as, much like The Old Country, it does a nice job of giving the PCs plenty of freedom, even while they are following orders.

THE BAYBRIDGE SETTING

The default setting for the game, Baybridge is (shockingly) a corrupt city overran by the mob. Said to be founded by a pirate, the city has a long history of crime. Baybridge is broken down into districts and suburbs, with a brief overview of each area, complete with important sites. For instance, we learn that Chinatown is pretty much the center of Asian activity in Baybridge,  and The Golden Buddha is where the Triads call home.

Certainly enough information to get you rolling if you prefer to use their setting.

Major NPCs are fully detailed, such as the Bosses of the families, and Mayor Marino (who is pushing a pretty severe anti-crime platform).

A helpful chart of 14 sets of stock NPC stats are provided, from cops and reporters to a variety of mafia operatives.

The book tops off with a character sheet and an index.

THOUGHTS

Normally, I hate skill systems. Like, heavily skill based systems. I give them a bit of a pass here, because characters are defined entirely BY the skills. For instance, there is no Strength stat, there is a Muscle skill. I can handle that.

The damage system doesn't make me think it is as gritty as advertised, although the possibility of having a hit put out on you, and the lethality of assassinations does certainly step that up a notch.

More importantly, the writers went out of their way to make sure you have enough material to understand how to capture the "feel" of a mafia game, with the NPC types, discussion of themes, story seeds and the full blown city. It is worth noting that, at the beginning of the review, I commented that it was kind of "light" at 104 pages...but the sheer amount of information doesn't make me feel at all like it is overpriced. They don't waste a lot of space here.

If mafia roleplaying appeals to you at all, I give this a strong recommendation...in fact, I recommend buying it in the bundle with The Old Country, which was a wonderful piece of work in its own right.

I'll be digging into Terror Network soon...I wonder if you can mix and match for a "Departed" type game?

Tommy's Take on Mean Streets Expanded

Mean Streets Expanded is a single volume rolling the Mean streets RPG in with some supplementary material, to make a larger book, like Precis Intermedia did with Ghostories.

Powered by the genreDiversion system, which uses 2d6 for task resolution, Mean Streets is a "film noir" RPG, designed to emulate films like Gaslight, Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon in an RPG setting.

The PDF is $7.95 and, like most Precis Intermedia games, you can upgrade it to a printed version by paying the difference (in this case, $12). It is also compatible with the other genreDiversion games, most notably Ghostories, which includes a section specifically on combining Ghostories and Mean Streets.

INTRODUCTION

Pretty standard intro, serving as a primer on film noir, including six films to familiarize yourself with the film noir. Also, the six primary RPG concepts relevant to this game are listed as well (PC, NPC, Ability, Skill, Task and Difficulty).

Basic stuff...nothing ground breaking, but nothing bad.

CHARACTERS

Every character has five abilities: Fitness, Awareness, Creativity, Reasoning and Influence, ranking from 0 to 5. Skills are scaled from 1 to 8...(well, you can technically have a skill of 0, it just means you're unskilled).

Every character has a Role, which provides access to certain gimmicks and recommended skills. Roles are essentially what you do in life, such as Bank Robber, Private Detective, Gangster and Grifter. Role also determines your base Monthly Savings.

Health is measured on two tracks, ranked from 1-5: Fatigue and Injury. Fatigue makes you pass out, while Injury makes you die.

Abilities have a point buy method (12 points) and a random roll method, whichever you prefer, with an optional "heroic" method for more points. Characters get 30 points for skills, and any gimmicks dictated by their Role. You can get additional gimmicks at the cost of either one ability point or three skill points, or take detrimental gimmicks, which give an ability point or three skill points...(essentially, you can take positive and negative gimmicks at a one for one, since the points would balance out).

The skill list is pretty big, but manageable. Most of them are tied to an Ability, with Composure being the exception to the rule.

Gimmicks run through some pretty common stuff: There is an extensive list of Contacts categories, for instance, from High Society to Gangster to Hollywood to the Police. From there, you get into things like Acute Senses, Quick and Jack of All Trades, as well as interesting stuff like Criminally Insane, which lets you never fail Fear and Composure rolls.

Detrimental Gimmicks can be as straight forward as Clumsy and Gullible, or things like Dark Secret and Stooge, which puts you in debt to a gangster.

A two page chart summarizes everything for you.

THE ACTION

The basic mechanic entails adding a skill and an ability together, and trying to roll under that number with 2d6. The GM can assign a Difficulty, which is essentially the Margin of Success that the player needs to beat their Skill Total by when rolling. If the margin is 2, you need to roll under by 2 or more. If it's 4, then 4 or more. Snake eyes are automatic successes, double sixes are automatic failures. Optional rules exist for Calamities and Triumphs, which amount to critical successes and failures.

Other rules can modify attempts, such as taking a level of fatigue to reduce the required Difficulty.

Combat is handled under "Violence" tasks. Initiative is governed under "reaction", which is determined by rolling a die and adding fitness and awareness to it. Actions are declared from lowest to highest, and resolved (mostly) simultaneously. Ranged attacks go first, resolved in order. Melee attacks are resolved as contested rolls, with only the highest one winning in a given conflict. Different weapons have damage ratings, with some only doing Fatigue while others do Injury damage, and armor can negate that damage. The rules do cover common eventualities and conditions: Using off-hand weapons, called shots, hit locations, knockdowns, etc.

Chase rules are also provided, a series of contested tasks, opening and closing the Gap. If a roll fails, the person that failed the roll has to roll on the Chase Hazards chart, from potholes to traffic jams. There is also a Chase Activity chart, which determines the path and its effect on the chase.

The relevant rules and modifiers are also summarized at the end of this chapter.

EXPANDING THE GAME

These are optional rules you can use to tweak it around a bit, starting with Cliches. Cliches are cinematic abilities your characters can use, divided into categories and tied to the roles. Fighting Cliches include Bullets Unlimited (in which one firearm will never run out of bullets) and Heavenly Aim (allowing characters to ignore penalties and armor protection due to cover). Other Cliches include Master of Disguise (an uncanny knack for covering your identity with just a few moments of prep), Skeleton Key (letting you open any lock), Nothing But (a knack for forcing the truth out of people) and You Can't Do That (once per story, you can pull off an untrained task as if you had a skill rating of 6). Cliches can also be purchased the same way gimmicks are.

Character advancement rules are provided, as well as rules for quickly producing stats for extras, plus tweaks for reducing the number of dice rolls, or making it more heroic.

Drinking rules are also provided, as well as conversion rules for the Impresa and Masterbook systems that power other Precis Intermedia games, plus a diceless variant.

THE BIG CITY

This chapter provides overviews of three cities: New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, all perfectly suitable film noir settings. Each city gets an overview, including a history. Relevant locations, mood of the cities and the like are also provided, like the presence of Al Capone in Chicago and the racial tensions present in New York. Chicago also provides three new roles that are relevant to the setting, while LA provides one of its own (Stuntman).

In addition, the short essay from Ghostories is present here as well, if you wish to combine the two for some horror noir.

Half a dozen "quick locales" are also given, with basic descriptions, for use when setting up your stories: night clubs, PI offices, police precinct houses and so on.

CRIME & PUNISHMENT

Given the genre, this is a very useful chapter on crime in the 1940s. It starts with the major layers of law enforcement, from the local police, to county sheriffs and state police to the feds. Major crimes are described, including a few common defenses. The structure of the courts system is also provided, as is an 11 step system for trials, running from discovery through sentencing.

VENDETTAS

This chapter flips the coin and focuses on the American branches of the mafia. It even breaks them down by city, including information on various cities (like Philadelphia) that did not get full treatment a couple of chapters ago. It is also worth noting that this chapter doesn't just treat the mafia as adversaries: Some story seeds are provided, placing the characters in the role of black hats, rather than cops or PIs.

CASABLANCA

Thanks to the movie by the same name, the name "Casablanca" is now almost synonymous with film noir. Appropriately, this chapter details the city of Casablanca, as well as the country of Morocco, as a setting for your Mean Streets game.

Three new roles are also provided: Freedom Fighter, Refugee and War Criminal, as well as three new, appropriate, connection gimmicks.

This chapter includes three pages of incidental characters, as well as a map of the city and a quick reference of both French and Arabic phrases.

THE ATTITUDE

This is the GM section, essentially.

It starts with a discussion of the history of film noir, as well as the basics of laying out the plot, beginning with the McGuffin and building from there. The roles of both men and women are discussed, which will vary pretty dramatically, if you stick closely to the source material.

Eleven stories are included, complete with important cast members, ideas on how to involve your PCs with each story, and a series of twists for each story that you can use.

Mists of the Past involves the wife of a Congressman being blackmailed about her shady past in the pornography industry.

Suitable for Framing involves a wounded soldier who is claiming to be framed for the murder of his wife.

Raiders of the Lost Art involves valuable French art that has been sent to the US to keep it out of the hands of Nazis and has now gone missing, setting off a chase by all of the interested parties.

Angels with Sticky Fingers has a nun on the run after a woman turns up dead in a convent.

Dial H for Hitman has one of the PCs targeted by an infamous hitman...who is so good that no one knows his face.

The Dog That Wouldn't Be Fixed involves a boxer who refused to take a fall after he finds out an orphanage was depending on his victory.

Guess Who's Coming To Harlem involves a racially charged love affair featuring a mobster's daughter.

Father of the Bride has a missing inventor and his dead mistress to deal with.

We, The Jury involves the trial of a major Mafia Don and his attempts to disrupt the jury.

The First Thing We Do... sees a law firm being picked off one by one.

On an Empty Chamber features a missing judge and a missing court reporter.

Copping a Plea sees a homeless man found with the body of a murdered girl.

The chapter ends with a listing of 40s goods and prices.

THE STORIES

These are three complete scenarios, designed to be ready to run.

A Tangled Web (based off of The Big Heat) is set in 1943 New York City, and begins with the investigation of a suicide that obviously has deeper layers.

Where Shadows Fall has a poor woman in dire need of help, and only the PCs can truly help her out, of course. It starts simple enough, with a missing bracelet, which is actually the key to inflicting grievous damage on the mob.

Secrets of Casablanca obviously takes the PCs overseas, to investigate the death of a reporter, and turns into a race against time to uncover the truth and bring the situation to the head.

REFERENCE

A series of charts, featuring all of the modifiers and such that are likely to come up in play, as well as a full page character sheet, and a page that has three smaller sheets on it, as you and your group prefers.

TEMPLATES

21 templates are provides, such as Adventerous Dilettante, Classic Femme Fatale, Arrogant G-Man, Mystery Man, Bitter Veteran, Paranoid Bank Robber and Overhyped Boxer. These are ready to go (minus names) to be used as PCs or NPCs, or just as inspiration.

Finally, Disposable Dice can be printed out and assembled, if you really don't have two six sided dice laying around.

THOUGHTS

My overall impression of Mean Streets suffers just a bit from following so closely on the heels of reading Ghostories, which kinda blew me away. It is definitely a case where, to me, Mean Streets doesn't really have anything to add to Ghostories, while Ghostories probably has quite a bit to add to Mean Streets.

That said, there is certainly plenty of material here to take your game and run with it, and I really like some of the included gimmicks, especially some of the Cultural Gimmicks. The chapters on Crime & Punishment and the mafia, especially, are tremendously useful and well placed, as is the source material on 1940s Chicago, New York City, LA and Morocco.

If you wanted to play it a little more "Sin City" and a little less "Casablanca", kicking in all of the Heroic options, plus Cliches, would get you pretty close.

If you have Ghostories, and you are looking at this for mining material, I can't give it a strong recommendation...if you want a film noir game, especially one that seems like it would scale up fairly well, I give it a bigger thumbs up.

Tommy's Take on Ghostories Expanded RPG

I reviewed my first genreDiversion game last year, Bold & Brave, and found it to be pretty cool...it just got overlooked in the (ongoing) glut of supers games.

The Ghostories Expanded RPG uses the same basic game system, and incorporates the other Ghostories PDFs that had been made available.

The PDF weighs in at 128 pages, black and white, and allows for copy and pasting, searching and is fully bookmarked.

INTRODUCTION

This is a one page summary of what you're getting into with Ghostories, which are meant for Supernatural Mystery Roleplaying. You can play the supernatural as being mythical, as being real but people are unaware of it, or as being real and being an accepted part of life. Obviously, each approach will alter how your game looks.

PART 1: RULES OF PLAY

CHARACTERS

Every character has five abilities: Fitness, Awareness, Creativity, Reasoning and Influence, ranking from 0 to 5. Skills are scaled from 1 to 8...(well, you can technically have a skill of 0, it just means you're unskilled).

Every character has a Role, which provides access to certain gimmicks and recommended skills. Roles are essentially what you do in life, such as Criminal, Executive, Martial Artist or Professor.

You also need a Pursuit, which is really the driving force for you. Again, this can gain you access to certain gimmicks or skills. Some Pursuits include Faith, Magic, Science or Vigilantism. They can be innocent or tainted, and if the latter, they allow access to certain gimmicks and freakishness.

Health is measured on three tracks, ranked from 1-5: Fatigue, Injury and Dementia. The first makes you pass out, the second makes you die, the third makes you lose control of your character until he becomes a little more sane.

Abilities have a point buy method (12 points) and a random roll method, whichever you prefer, with an optional "heroic" method for more points. Characters get 30 points for skills, and any gimmicks dictated by their Role and Pursuit. You can get additional gimmicks at the cost of either one ability point or three skill points, or take detrimental gimmicks, which give an ability point or three skill points...(essentially, you can take positive and negative gimmicks at a one for one, since the points would balance out).

There are a pretty large number of skills, but almost half of them are tied to specific tainted Pursuits, which means the effective list is going to be much smaller than it looks. To me, that's a Good Thing.

Gimmicks run through some pretty common stuff: There is an extensive list of Contacts categories, for instance, from Paparazzi to Covens to Law Enforcement to the Underground. From there, you get into things like Legal Authority and Military rank, or Acute Senses.

Detrimental Gimmicks are things as basic as being Depressed or Color-Blind, to crazy stuff like having a False Destiny or even a False Power that the PC has tricked themselves into thinking it works!

Finally, each tainted pursuit has a whole number of gimmicks that allow things like channeling Divine Energy, drawing magical energy into a focal device or being able to sense if someone is truly possessed. There are quite a few options here to differentiate your characters with.

GETTING THINGS DONE

The basic mechanic entails adding a skill and an ability together, and trying to roll under that number with 2d6. The GM can assign a Difficulty, which is essentially the Margin of Success that the player needs to beat their Skill Total by when rolling. If the margin is 2, you need to roll under by 2 or more. If it's 4, then 4 or more. Snake eyes are automatic successes, double sixes are automatic failures. Optional rules exist for Calamities and Triumphs, which amount to critical successes and failures.

Other rules can modify attempts, such as taking a level of fatigue to reduce the required Difficulty. A scale is also provided for Composure Tasks, which can inflict Dementia damage...if a character hits 5 grades of dementia, he goes a little loopy and can have such reactions as hitting the fetal position, permanently blocking the memory of what happened, or attacking an ally, believing them to be a threat.

Combat is handled under "Violence" tasks. Initiative is governed under "reaction", which is determined by rolling a die and adding fitness and awareness to it. Actions are declared from lowest to highest, and resolved (mostly) simultaneously. Ranged attacks go first, resolved in order. Melee attacks are resolved as contested rolls, with only the highest one winning in a given conflict. Different weapons have damage ratings, with some only doing Fatigue while others do Injury damage, and armor can negate that damage. The rules do cover common eventualities and conditions: Using off-hand weapons, called shots, hit locations, knockdowns, etc.

Miscellaneous sources of damage, like asphyxiation, fire and even being dragged by vehicles (which wouldn't be terribly common, you would think) are included, as well as recovery rules.

TAINTED WORKINGS

And here we get into the Kewl Powers.

Second Sight is up first, and it requires a gimmick: Animal Sight allows you to sense the emotional state of animals, Innocent Sight allows you to sense the emotions of anyone who is untainted by the supernatural, Locus sight is residual emotional trauma in a location and Spirit sight focuses on any ghost or bound spirit. From there, you can learn other skills, such as Clairvoyance, Telepathic Sense and Postcognition.

Divine Arts requires either the Divine Benediction, Divine Symbol or Divine Consecration gimmicks. Divine Arts lets you channel Divine energy for several uses, such as Exorcising, Healing and even Illuminating the area.

Sorcery requires that you have at least one of the following gimmicks: Circles, Foci or Inscriptions, which dictates how you use magic. Magic itself has three major uses: Creating things, creating illusions of things and creating wards.

Revelations are visions that the character can have, which can be active or subconscious. People with this can also gain Expressions, which are special effects that they can learn to control based off of the visions. For instance, a character with Revelation of Passion can have visions relating to works of art and can use the Expression that allows them a -2Diff when attempting to seduce someone. Each Revelation also has an Overuse penalty...Passion gives a character the Guilt-Ridden, Liar or Selfish gimmicks for overuse. There are 9 different Revelations to choose from.

Unholy Arts require either the Quorums, Rituals or Sacrifices gimmick, and allows the characters to summon Phantoms, which can provide information, act on your behalf or provide you with Endowments that can range from boosting Abilities or providing new gimmicks. None of these powers are "free lunches"...they all require doing something for the phantom.

Binding Lore allows the character to infuse spirits into constructs or even creatures...making zombies, gargoyles, gremlins and creepy possessed people.

Heritage of Egis manifests among those with an overdeveloped sense of justice. There is a slight contradiction here, as one paragraph says you cannot have more than one of these gimmicks, while the other says that you can have two - in extremely rare circumstances.

Supernatural relics are the final entry, provide six sample relics that the GM can give the PCs instead of actual powers for the characters themselves.

The chapter ends with a chart summarizing the powers.

One thing I find interesting is that very few of the powers are inherently offensive abilities. A few of the Heritage gimmicks provide bonuses to attacks or damage, and you can boost your combat capabilities with Endowments from the Unholy Arts, but there is not a lot of flashy, damage dealing powers like you tend to expect from modern supernatural horror games that have such abilities. I think that is not only a nice change of pace, but also helps set the tone for the game.

TAINTED ENTITIES

As you may have guessed, this is the bestiary. It starts off with Etheria, which is the "health" for the horrors in the book, rather than the three types of health PCs have. The also have the Interaction skill here, which is what horrors without a physical form use to manifest with.

A whole slew of Special Gimmicks are present for the Horrors write-ups, explained at the end of the section. The entries are divided up into larger sections, with subsections as needed, and sample stat blocks.

Ghosts are the spiritual remnants of the deceased, and are bound by their unfinished business.

Embodied Spirits are the kinds of things you can make with the Binding Lore. Gremlins, golems, imps, zombies and dybbukim, which are spirits bound to electronics, masses of solid material, animals, dead humans and living humans respectively.

Phantoms are not unlike demons, and come in a few variants: Twilight bogies appear in people's nightmares, beguilers are succubi and incubi, kinders appears as children, fiends try to push people into violence, unholies appear as clergymen and hordes are just creepy, creepy monsters.

Banes possess people, and come in four varieties with specific M.O.s.

Brownies are fairies, and have the interesting variants of dwarves, elves and gnomes.

Liches are also known as vampires and have four variations, including an Asian vampire variant, classic nosferatu, modernized vampires, and more "classic" vampires.

Lost souls are mortals who lost themselves in meditative trances and are now twisted, disembodied remnants of people who can only take physical form from humans breach their domain.

Skinwalkers are a catch-all for shapeshifters, from werewolves to the bizarre fetches - which take on the form of a person and use it with little thought as to the consequences of what wearing their chosen face does to the person they stole it from.

Trolls are big, violent brutes that come in five varieties, most of which are just variations on a theme, but do also include hags.

Misguided Innocents are humans that may cross your path, either relatively well-meaning types like ghost hunters, clueless innocents like goths, and deranged serial killers.

Misguided Tainted are humans with powers who are likely to get in your way, like mad scientists and evil sorcerers. No stats are given for Innocents or Tainted, as you can use the standard character generation rules to build them.

Nearly 70 special gimmicks are detailed to give the horrors that extra necessary punch.

THE WORLD AROUND US

This is pretty much the GM chapter, but it does go further than just "how to run horror" and the like. While it does get into the elements of horror, it also focuses on making sure to make the most of gimmicks and pursuits, and talks about the reactions different groups, like police and media, are likely to have to the supernatural.

A section is included on investigations and research at various levels of the setting (Myth, Fantastic, Reality), and twenty or so plot seeds are provided, from a small scale zombie rampage to cult activity to hauntings.

EXPANDING THE GAME

Here we have character advancement rules, abstracting down extras so you don't need full stat blocks for every cop, thug, etc...variants to town down the dice rolling or ramp up the level of "heroics", lasting injuries and a few more optional gimmicks for "extreme" horrors.

Precis Intermedia has a couple of systems it supports, and while this game is powered by the genreDiversion system, conversion rules for Impresa (which powers Iron Gauntlets) is included, as well as the Unbidden RPG (which I'm pretty sure got the genreDiversion treatment in the genreDiversion 3 book...ah, yeah, there it is...I read the rules in that book, but didn't make it to the setting stuff). Precis Intermedia also purchased Bloodshadows and Masterbook recently, and conversions from there to Ghostories are also included, as well as updating from the original release of Ghostories to this one.

So...even if you didn't have enough options (and there are quite a few), you have more. Plus, it's compatible with other genreDiversions games, like Mean Streets, for some horror-noir fun. In fact, a page or so is dedicated to just that, and not from a rules standpoint, but meshing the two implied settings.

Diceless rules are included, as well as a very cool system for tracking "The Veil" between realities and its effect on magic and such...(for example, Samhain gives all Sorcery and Unholy Arts rolls -2DIFF, Horrors get a similar bonus on Interaction rolls, and Second Sight rolls get a +2DIFF penalty.

THE STORIES

These are actually nine complete adventures for you to us. Since the game only has an implied setting and not a concrete setting, these should be fairly easy to drop on somewhere.

Not Forgotten is a ghost story murder mystery meant for beginning characters, and sets up a potential recurring NPC. It is laid out in scenes, so you can skip ahead if the PCs fail to take the bait somewhere, so it's not an extreme railroad. It also provides another ghost that you can use for inspiration, especially with it's hauntings being in action in the adventure.

Desecration is in a different gear, as the PCs should be known troubleshooters, and this time they get to face a mad scientist and his zombie minion. This one leaves the end game open enough that it could prove more or less difficult depending on when the PCs find and confront the bad guy.

Web of Seduction is an interesting blackmail case flipped on its head...and no, it doesn't matter if the PCs don't deal in blackmail normally, as a connection to the case is built in for them.

Dark Tremors has potential to turn into a cataclysmic affair if the PCs don't work quickly and correctly, in a nice change of pace showing a much larger scale than the earlier adventures worked on.

From the Past is the first that requires a given character type, as one person must be a medium for the adventure. This one features an old friend of one of the PCs who has inherited a haunted estate, and is much more location based than event based as the previous adventures were.

Amends is meant for Innocents with no supernatural experience at all...meaning it should make for a decent introductory adventure...and thus should probably have led off this whole section.  Although, it isn't quite as fleshed out as the others.

The Reverend also requires a medium and leadsin interesting conflict with a cult leader...who is over 150 years old.

The Cup Runneth is meant to have some extra compatibility with Mean Streets if you feel so inclined...pitting the PCs against a killer who has found the key to eternal life.

Tears of Joy is probably the best of the adventures, and is a suitable introductory adventure as well, complete with pre-generated characters (if needed). If nothing else, it is worth the GM reading for some ideas on how to incorporate meditations and visions into their game.

REFERENCE

This section is a series reference charts (shockingly!) for the game, as well as a full page character sheet, a smaller, "3 to a page" character sheet, and a "3 to a page" set of sheets for recording your horrors on.

TEMPLATES

21 ready made characters, with the first 15 having template names instead of character names, with the final six being named characters designed for the "Tears of Joy" adventure. Some of these templates include Vigilante Cop, Millionaire Magician, Medium Housewife, Upstanding Sorcerer and Stalker by Night.

Finally, if you lack dice, you can print off and assemble Disposable Dice from the back of the book.

THOUGHTS

If I had to pick on something, I'm not a big fan of some of the naming conventions with the Horrors...especially in cases such as Phantoms, which invokes a certain type of imagery...but they are pretty much demons. It's not a HUGE quibble, mind you.

Honestly, I am surprised at the depth of the book, given the title. It really is pretty much an all purpose horror game, hitting most of your major "monster types", while giving you plenty of tools and example to expand even from there. If anything, it's got me excited about cracking into Mean Streets (my next review, which I was already excited about) and seeing just what kind of mixing and matching can be done...(yeah, there is a section in this book about it, but it lacks the proper context for me, since I haven't read Mean Streets yet). Toss in being able to convert Bloodshadows and using the Unbidden material from the genreDiversion 3e manual and this is a *really* impressive product. While I don't think it's just BRUTALLY lethal (actual play could certainly prove me wrong here), it also certainly isn't high powered (especially with the Tainted powers having so few combat applications), making it a great horror game with a real sense of danger.

Comparing the content from the first Ghostories release to this one is a pretty dramatic step up, with this one feeling far more complete, and far more impressive. A great amount of information for the price, especially since there is no hard setting, so you can easily drop any elements you don't like. Strong recommendation.

[My WWE Universe] Royal Rumble

ROAD TO ROYAL RUMBLE

RAW

Ezekiel Jackson looked dominant, taking out David Hart Smith.

Undertaker and Kane vs Yoshi Tatsu and Tyson Kidd in a Tables Match went pretty much as you would
expect, with Undertaker putting Kidd through a table.

Evan Bourne defeated The Miz in a hard fought match with Air Bourne.

Wade Barrett triumphed over Triple H and Sheamus in a Triple Threat Tables match that also saw Chris Jericho get involved and attack both Barrett and Triple H!

SUPERSTARS

Shelton Benjamin proved he can win when the odds are even, pinning Mike Knox.

John Cena faced Vladimir Kozlov with HBK in the crowd. David Otunga tried to get involved, but Triple H intervened and Cena made Kozlov tap.

Husky Harris, Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel looked dominant against Santino Marella, The Greatest American Bolo and Zack Ryder, with Slater pinning Santino.

SMACKDOWN

William Regal pinned Big Show in a colossal victory, but the match was restarted as a Falls Count Anywhere Match! Regal used the Power of the Punch and the Knee Trembler to drop The Big Show!

Rey Mysterio had to work for it a bit, but he pinned Vance Archer.

Cody Rhodes and Christian vs Ted DiBiase and John Morrison mostly turned into Rhodes vs DiBiase! William Regal came out to cause a distraction, but Christian ran him off and Rhodes pinned DiBiase with the Silver Spoon DDT!

In a bit of a Royal Rumble preview, World Champion Sting, Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler, Tag Champion CM Punk, Kane, Drew McIntyre and Kofi Kingston squared off in a battle royal! Drew went right after Kofi and eliminated him, while Kane and Punk brawled, and Dolph took Sting down! Drew threw out his second competitor, dumping Punk! Kane shockingly eliminated Sting! Drew dumped Dolph, leaving him and Kane! And Kane eliminates McIntyre for the win!

WEEK 2

RAW

John Morrison jumped Mark Henry before their match, and used his speed to stay out his reach, hitting Starship Pain for the win. R-Truth came out and ruined Morrison's celebration!

Primo's speed kept him in the game against Romero Contreras, but the Kool-Aid Krunch did put him away. Romero offered Primo a handshake and was refused.

Zack Ryder would have been completely outnumbered against Ted DiBiase, Sheamus and The Miz in a Fatal Four Way, but those three almost hate each other as much as they do anyone else. The match raged on chaotically, and Chris Jericho once more got involved, attacking both Sheamus and Miz! Miz was pinning Sheamus while DiBiase was covering Ryder, but Sheamus kicked out while Ryder stayed down! DiBiase is the #1 Contender to the US Title!

In another Rumble preview, Triple H entered a battle royal with Batista, Wade Barrett, Edge, John Cena and Shawn Michaels! The biggest news was Barrett nearly eliminated Edge right off! Cena went out first, at the hands of Batista, and Barrett dumped HBK. Triple H sent Edge out as Batista eliminated Barrett, and Batista clashed with the WWE Champion before throwing him out!

SUPERSTARS

Raven tried to play mind games from the crowd, but Shelton Benjamin stayed focused and pinned Mike Knox with the Exploder.

Joe Cothern stormed the ring early on, and took Evan Bourne by surprise! Evan fought back, but the hard hitting style of The Mucker was too much, and the US Champion ultimately dropped before Cothern!

Jack Swagger came to the ring with Alberto Del Rio in tow! So Cody Rhodes accompanied Christian to the ring, while Dolph Ziggler watched from the crowd! Swagger was a little ticked about that whole losing the title to Sting thing, and took it out on Christian. Del Rio and Swagger cheated, and ultimately got Rhodes ejected. Swagger finished Christian off moments later.

SMACKDOWN

Justin Gabriel took a seat at ringside, while William Regal and Cody Rhodes squared off in a Submission match! It turned into much more of a brawl than expected, and both men did a ton of damage. Christian got involved, but was sent to the back, and Regal ultimately put Rhodes out with a sleeper.

Chris Masters came out to give Kofi Kingston back-up, as CM Punk had Luke Gallows in tow! Kofi wound up knocking Punk flush out with the Trouble in Paradise! Drew McIntyre wiped Kofi out with a lead pipe after the match!

Sting and Kaval got jumped by The Straight Edge Society as they came to the ring to take on Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater in a Ladder Match! The damage done by the Straight Edge Society, combined with the speed of Gabriel and Slater led to victory for Nexus!

In the main event, Kane wiped out MVP in the Parking Lot to claim the Hardcore Title!

WEEK 3

RAW

With R-Truth at ringside, getting into Morrison's head, John Morrison faced Zack Ryder (with Greatest American Bolo at ringside). Morrison was well on his way to victory when Ryder got DQed after Morrison provoked Bolo into hitting him.

Chris Jericho looked cocky as he came to the ring to face Ted DiBiase in a Falls Count Anywhere match, even with Wade Barrett in the crowd and Joe Cothern at ringside. However, The Miz ALSO got involved, and the whole thing was FAR too much for Jericho, who fell prey to Dream Steet!

Alex Riley and The Miz ambushed Sting and Kaval before their tag team tables match, but could not put them away. As Sting and Kaval were getting the upperhand, CM Punk ran out and took Sting out. However, Kaval got Punk and nailed the Warrior's Way, allowing Sting to fire up and put Miz through a table!

Wade Barrett and Triple H went at it in another crazy brawl...and as they were both jockeying for the upperhand, Husky Harris hit the ring and attacked both men! As both men recovered, Barrett managed to hit a backdrop driver for the pin!

SUPERSTARS

Romero and The Greatest American Bolo met Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater in a tag match that went south when Husky Harris got involved and Romero got DQed for throwing chairs around the ring.

Ezekiel Jackson tried to take out Mark Henry as he battled Yoshi Tatsu, but failed. Tatsu was crushed with a bearhug. Henry offered Tatsu a handshake, but was refused.

The Great Muta, Mike Knox, Shelton Benjamin, Rob Van Dam, Terry Funk and Chris Masters competed
in a battle royal! Funk went first, and Shelton eliminated Masters. Knox eliminated RVD, leaving Shelton in there with Knox and Muta! Shelton and Muta worked together to dump Knox! Shelton ultimately prevailed, dumping Muta!

SMACKDOWN

Kane gave Raven a shot at the Hardcore Title...and then crushed him.

MVP jumped Rey Mysterio before the match and hit the Play of the Day, but refused to go for the pin! That cost him as Rey hit the 619 and a Springboard Splash for the win.

William Regal and Drew McIntyre used every dirty trick in the book AND interference from Wade Barrett to beat DX and become the new #1 Contenders to the Tag Team Titles!

Undertaker managed to topple Jack Swagger in a steel cage match!

WEEK 4

RAW

The Falls Count Anywhere stipulation meant nothing as Ezekiel Jackson jumped Mark Henry before the bell and spiked him for the pin. After the match, he brutalized Mark Henry with a chair!

Alex Riley, The Miz, Chris Jericho and The Greatest American Bolo met in a Fatal Four Way! Jericho was dominating, when Wade Barrett came in and attacked him with the Wasteland! Ultimately, Bolo wound up pinning a wounded Miz to score a MASSIVE upset!

Zack Ryder hit the ring and destroyed Daniel Bryan!

In a hard hitting brawl, Wade Barrett pinned Sheamus to become #1 Contender AGAIN.

SUPERSTARS

Mike Knox wiped out Rob Van Dam before their match and used that advantage to finish him off!

John Cena made short work of Tyson Kidd.

Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio handed Cody Rhodes and Christian a crushing loss.

SMACKDOWN

Smackdown opened with a battle royal that saw MVP eat the floor first. Shad dumped Dolph Ziggler as Kofi dropkicked JTG out of the ring! Kofi went on a mad tear, sending Shad out and then Shelton Benjamin to win!

Luke Gallows fought as hard as he could, but The Big Show devastated him! Show offered him a handshake after the match, but Gallows refused!

Drew McIntyre's and Christian's rivalry got the better of them, and Kane took advantage to pin Christian and become the #1 Contender to the Intercontinental Title!

Sting made CM Punk tap out in the main event! After the match, Justin Gabriel came out on the ramp and gave Sting a warning!

ROYAL RUMBLE

Evan Bourne looked impressive, pinning Ted DiBiase to retain the US title in the opening match! Bourne tried to be a good sport, but DiBiase refused.

Dolph Ziggler managed to cut Kane's knees out from under him and hit the Zig Zag to retain the IC Title!

Randy Orton squared off with Alex Riley! Miz ran out, but ate an RKO! Riley got one as well!

Sting had to defend the World title against Jack Swagger, The Undertaker and Drew McIntyre! And Drew came out of the crowd, wiping out Swagger! Sting drew blood on the Undertaker, and Swagger and Undertaker took most of the damage. In fact, Sting pinned Undertaker after a McIntyre Future Shock!

William Regal took a seat in the front row as Wade Barrett and Triple H squared off! Wade Barrett finally fulfilled his destiny, pinning Triple H with the Wasteland after making use of an exposed turnbuckle!

Royal Rumble Time!
1. Cody Rhodes
2. The Greatest American Bolo
3. The Great Muta
4. Edge
5. Husky Harris
6. Chris Jericho
e1. Muta (by Rhodes)
e2. Bolo (by Jericho)
7. Goldust
e3. Edge (by RhodeS)
e4. Harris (by Goldust)
8. Ezekiel Jackson
9. Chavo Guerrero
e5. Goldust (by Jericho)
e6. Rhodes (by Jackson)
10. Mike Knox
11. Undertaker
e7. Jackson (by Jericho)
12. Christian
e8. Knox (by Chavo)
13. Jack Swagger
14. Big Show
e9. Chavo (by Jericho)
e10. Undertaker (by Swagger)
15. Sheamus
16. Lex Luger
e11. Christian (by ???)
17. Vance Archer
e12. Luger (by Jericho)
e13. Big Show (by Swagger)
18. Shad
e14. Swagger (by Sheamus)
e15. Archer (by Jericho)
19. Rey Mysterio
20. Miz
e16. Sheamus (by Rey)
21. Kofi Kingston
e17. Shad (by Jericho)
22. John Morrison
e18. Rey (by Kofi)
23. R-Truth
e19. Kofi (by Morrison)
e20. Miz (by Jericho)
24. William Regal
25. Randy Orton
e21. R-Truth (by Regal)
26. Primo
e22. Jericho (by Regal)
27. Jake Roberts
e23. Orton (by Jericho)
28. Batista
e24. Roberts (by Morrison)
29. John Cena
e25. Regal (by ???)
30. Alberto Del Rio
e26. Primo (by Batista)
e27. Batista (by Cena)
e28. Morrison (by Cena)
e29. Cena (by Del Rio )
WINNER: ALBERTO DEL RIO

Tommy's Take on War of the Dead: Chapter Two Week Thirteen

Before I review the final Week of War of the Dead Chapter Two, some linkage:

War of the Dead Chapter One
War of the Dead Chapter Two Weeks One through Three
Chapter Two Week Four
Chapter Two Week Five
Chapter Two Week Six
Chapter Two Week Seven
Chapter Two Week Eight
Chapter Two Week Nine
Chapter Two Week Ten
Chapter Two Week Eleven
Chapter Two Week Twelve
The Paper Dead

And now, without further ado, the halfway mark of the series.

Feb-wu-ary FTW

One more quick note for the day:

Beginning today, Third Eye Games is giving away a copy of Wu Xing in PDF format every day this month.

Anyone who reads my blog knows I am a big fan of this game, and anyone who may be new to the blog can read my review here.

I highly recommend entering to win a copy of this amazing game. You can learn more about entering here.

Tommy's Take on Dragon Men and More Traps

10 MORE FANTASY TRAPS

The last set covered most of the "Standards"...while there are some classics here, they are of the slightly non-standard variety.

Written in the same format as the first set, this supplement adds doozies such as Acid Spray and Rolling Rocks (think Indiana Jones). A few of these are mostly set-ups for something else, like Wind Rush and Reverse Gravity. There are even Folding Stairs that collapse as you are nearly at the top and send you hurtling down.

Also included in this PDF are Small Cone Templates, designed to work with the Wind Rush trap.

My only gripe with this product is that, unless I am HORRIBLY mistaken, the font seemed to change in the entries, sometimes even in mid-sentence.

Still, if you like traps in your fantasy games, this is going to be an invaluable source of fun for your game.

PLAYER RACES: DRAGON MEN

On one hand, I am not a fan of "dragon men". On the other, this was apparently the runaway winner of a poll on the Misfit Studios blog about what race should get covered next, so there you go.

This is six pages on playing Dragon Men in Savage Worlds, who may or may not be directly descended from dragons.

Dragon Men, by default, gain flight, but they also gain "Breeding Hindrances"...a defect that the Dragon Man is born with. In addition to some of the common Hindrances, this can include having Thin Armor or blunt claws and teeth...or being unable to use their breath weapon without a Vigor roll first.

There are guidelines for Dragon Men variations based off of the dragons that have appeared in previous Misfit Studios Savage Worlds supplements as well.

A whopping 23 new Edges are present, which can tweak the PC's powers and abilities as desired, though some of them are "merely" Improved versions of other Edges.

The Small Cone Template makes an appearance here as a potential template for a Dragon Man's breath weapon (they can take on different shapes and sizes depending on the Edges purchased).

Finally, Dragon Man Scourge Armor is statted up.

I'm still not a HUGE fan of the idea of Dragon Men, but I cannot deny that this is an impressive amount of material, bringing a race in completely from scratch and dropping it alongside other Savage Worlds fantasy races, and still for the same $1.55 price tag.

MONSTER BRIEF: DRAGON MEN

Now, for all of my apprehension about Dragon Men as a PC race, I have zero problem using them as monsters.

Half a dozen variations on Dragon Men for use as antagonists...and you will want the Player Races PDF, because it references some of the Edges and Hindrances from there.

They are split pretty evenly among fighter types and arcane types (with one being a priest), with an even split of two extras and a Wild Card for each type.

Probably the most interesting variant is the drakeherd...a flightless dragon man who uses a saddled drake as a mount in order to take flight.

The Sorcerer Lord is particularly scary, boasting an impressive slate of Powers.

These could make for some good, interesting adversaries in the right campaign, although I definitely think the spellcasters are far scarier than the warrior types.

[My WWE Universe] TLC

ROAD TO TLC

WEEK 1

RAW

Ezekiel Jackson, with a little assistance from Joe Cothern, destroyed R-Truth in a Falls Count Anywhere Match.

Even though Miz jumped Jericho as he came down the ramp, Chris Jericho reduced him to a bloody mess before beating him in a Tables Match.

Randy Orton hit the ring on fire, taking it to Lex Luger! He gave Luger the Orton Stomp and then the RKO! Orton actually offered Luger his hand post-match, but Luger refused!

Lex Luger tried to remain relevant by buying a ringside seat for Wade Barrett versus Triple H. Despite distractions by Shawn Michaels, Wade Barrett took everything Triple H could fire at him and pinned him!

SUPERSTARS

Ted DiBiase stormed the ring to attack Goldust, but Goldust fought him off and hit Shattered Dreams for the win! Goldust offered DiBiase a chance to shake his hand, but apparently being kicked in the nuts left a bad taste in DiBiase's mouth.

Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio did their level best to destroy Kane, but he took advantage of a big mistake and pinned Del Rio!

Althouggh Santino and Shinsuke Nakamura were ostensibly outnumbered, they went right after David Otunga, Daniel Bryan, Vladimir Kozlov and Joe Cothern in a battle royal! Santino eliminated Daniel Bryan as Nakamura dumped Otunga! Cothern went next at Nakamura's hands, while Santino and Nakamura teamed up on Kozlov! Then Nakamura eliminated Santino for the win.

SMACKDOWN

William Regal and Dolph Ziggler jumped Cody Rhodes and Christian before their match with Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater, but Rhodes and Christian still came out on top after Gabriel ate a Killswitch and the Cross Rhodes!

As Kofi Kingston prepared to face Drew McIntyre, Drew stormed the ring! He beat Kofi down and hit the Scot Drop, but kept attacking! Kofi never got out of first gear as he fell prey to the Angry Scot!

Rey Mysterio, Big Show, Terry Funk, William Regal, Vance Archer and Shad Gaspard did battle in a Battle Royal! Despite a three on one attempt, Shad held on, and Regal wound up eliminating Vance first. Funk shockingly dumped Big Show, and then Regal tossed out Rey while Funk eliminated Shad! Funk and Regal went at it for several more minutes before Regal threw Funk out!

Mark Henry and David Hart Smith beat the Straight Edge Society in a very brutal Extreme Rules match after Henry crushed Punk with the World's Strongest Slam!

WEEK 2

RAW

Ted DiBiase put the Million Dollar Title on the line against David Hart Smith, who tore him apart! Tyson Kidd was in the crowd, getting into Smith's head, but ultimately it was heel chicanery by DiBiase that allowed him to lock on a sleeperhold and put Smith out.

Wade Barrett pinned WWE Champion Triple H in seconds after an ambush from the crowd!

Cody Rhodes and Christian prepared to face Tyson Kidd and Yoshi Tatsu in a Tables Match, when Justin Gabriel and Dolph Ziggler attacked them on the floor! Kidd and Tatsu tried to capitalize on it, but fell short, with Rhodes and Christian picking up the win!

In the main event, Sheamus battled Shawn Michaels in a tremendous Tables match...as Sheamus was wearing HBK down, Husky Harris came to the ring with a chair! As Harris entered the ring, Sheamus spiked Michaels through the table with Pale Justice, but we never learned what Harris was there for!

SUPERSTARS

Mike Knox ambushed Chris Masters from the crowd and pinned him in seconds!

Vladimir Kozlov attacked his former friend Santino from the crowd, but Santino would not die! He blasted Kozlov with The Cobra to put the giant Russian down!

Thought Miz and Alex Riley held in the match a while, it was basically just getting destroyed by Undertaker and Kane, even with CM Punk's help.

SMACKDOWN

Rey Mysterio shocked Tag Team Champion Luke Gallows!

Drew McIntyre ambushed The Big Show before their match, but The Big Show still made him work for it. Both men gave everything they had, and even Kofi Kingston got involved to keep Drew from cheating, but a GIGANTIC Michinoku Driver by Drew scored the pin!

Raven defeated Rob Van Dam, Terry Funk and Vance Archer in a crazy Extreme Rules match to win the newly recommissioned Hardcore title after pinned Terry Funk with the Evenflow on the floor!

Sting squared off with CM Punk in a #1 Contender's Match, but Punk stormed the ring before the match! Kaval came down to make sure there was no interference as Sting fought back, and Sting pinned Punk after a flying splash off the top rope! As Sting celebrated, a lead pipe weilding Gallows hit the ring and laid Sting and Kaval out!

WEEK 3

RAW

All week long, WWE is broadcasting from Tribute for the Troops!

Mark Henry crushed Ezekiel Jackson with a bearhug in a slow motion Falls Count Anywhere!

The Greatest American Bolo stormed the ring to take on Husky Harris! Harris bailed out to avoid the American Revolution, and got some licks in on Bolo. Ultimately, Bolo prevailed with the Snapshot!

Lex Luger has a SURPRISE for DX in a Tables Match...mystery partner PRIMO. After DX stopped laughing, the match began and Luger and Primo actually did alright...until Randy Orton ran in and gave Luger the RKO! Triple H spiked Primo through a table to end the match.

Sheamus and Wade Barrett faced off in a #1 Contender's Match, and Barrett dominated Sheamus, scoring a fairly easy pin...until the match was restarted as a Submission Match! Sheamus was on fire and the whole thing was intense, with Barrett even drawing blood on Sheamus. Barrett focused on Sheamus' back and ribs and ultimately made him submit to an abdominal stretch!

SUPERSTARS

David Otunga, perhaps bravely, came through the troops to attack Cena! He even hit his spinebuster, but that just made the match even, and Cena ultimately hit his top rope Rocker Dropper, Five Knuckle Shuffle, Attitude Adjustment and the STF for the win. Cena offered his hand to Otunga, who refused.

Chris Masters teamed with WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Snuka to take on William Regal and Drew McIntyre! Unfortunately for them, Snuka was never allowed in the ring, and Regal and McIntyre DISMANTLED Masters for the win.

Ted DiBiase put the Million Dollar Title on the line against R-Truth, accompanied by Evan Bourne! John Morrison was lurking in the crowd! Even Evan at ringside couldn't stop DiBiase, who busted R-Truth open and beat him.

SMACKDOWN

Undertaker had a surprise for The Straight Edge Society...Terry Funk! Unfortunately, Funk's a little hardcore, and got DQed.

Dolph Ziggler did commentary as Christian faced Jack Swagger in a Falls Count Anywhere match! Christian got a HUGE win thanks to The Big Show running down and clocking Swagger with a sledgehammer! After the match, Drew McIntyre beat Christian down with a lead pipe!

Dolph Ziggler continued to build his momentum with a great victory over Kofi Kingston.

Raven outlasted Rey Mysterio, Shelton Benjamin, Finlay, Vance Archer and Mike Knox in a Six Pack Challenge. Raven even put his own partner down, and after the match, went after Shelton Benjamin to inflict more damage!

WEEK 4

RAW

In the opening match, John Morrison and Ted DiBiase faced off with R-Truth in a handicap match. Goldust came down to get involved, but DiBiase attacked him! Morrison put R-Truth away. Post-match, Morrison kept up his assault on his former partner.

Evan Bourne met Zack Ryder and The Miz in a #1 Contender's Match for the US Title! It was crazy action, and John Morrison came down and wiped out Ryder with a chair! Bourne put Miz away with a huracanrana for the win!

Batista pinned John Cena after a shocking sneak attack!

Wade Barrett and Triple H collided in an EPIC Iron Man match, destroying many chairs and reducing both men to bloody messes...even had some Chris Jericho interference, before ending in a draw.

SUPERSTARS

Chris Jericho made Yoshi Tatsu tap to the Walls of Jericho. As he celebrated, The Miz came out and taunted him from the ramp!

In a surprisingly hard hitting match, Santino stopped Joe Cothern with The Cobra! He offered Cothern a handshake post-match, but Cothern refused.

Shelton Benjamin fought hard, but could not topple Raven and Mike Knox in a handicap match.

SMACKDOWN

Matt Hardy stormed the ring to attack Christian before their match, but Christian was unfazed and put him down.

Undertaker and Kane got punished by William Regal and Drew McIntyre, but prevailed after Kane cleaned house off of a hot tag and pinned Regal with a Choke Slam!

Mark Henry and David Hart Smith seemed to have words before taking on The Straight Edge Society, and that clearly cost them as Gallows and Punk dominated them before Gallows pinned Henry.

Jack Swagger beat Sting in a non-title Falls Count Anywhere match after timely intervention by CM Punk!

TLC

Evan Bourne snuck away with the US title after Sheamus stormed the ring attacking him and hitting Pale Justice on Ryder...but Bourne sent Sheamus out of the ring and pinned Ryder!

Dolph Ziggler failed to repeat Evan Bourne's feat, but tried...but he did still outlast Drew McIntyre and Christian, pinning Christian after the Zig Zag. Ziggler brutally attacked Christian with a chair after the match!

While Raven brawled with Kaval and Shelton Benjamin, MVP managed to climb the ladder and win the Hardcore title in a TLC match!

Ted DiBiase and John Morrison had words before their Tag Title Match with the Straight Edge Society, and Punk and Gallows proved you HAVE to be on the same page to defeat them, retaining in dominant fashion.

Sting somehow outlasted Jack Swagger and The Undertaker in a TLC match, despite taking the Tombstone and the Gutwrench Powerbomb! Sting ended Swagger's reign that has lasted since Backlash!

Wade Barrett jumped a heavily bandaged Triple H from the crowd, but got too cocky in their TLC match, and Triple H managed to get the WWE Title down!

Though the "year" is technically over, the WWE "Year" runs three more months: Through Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania.

RAW

WWE Champion: Triple H
WWE United States Champion: Evan Bourne

SMACKDOWN

WWE World Champion: Sting
WWE Intercontinental Champion: Dolph Ziggler

Unified Tag Team Champions: CM Punk & Luke Gallows

[My WWE Universe] Survivor Series

ROAD TO SURVIVOR SERIES

WEEK 1

RAW

Evan Bourne looked very impressive in a victory over Ted DiBiase!

DX faced The New Superpowers in a colossal cage match! HBK escaped first, leaving Triple H to battle Luger and Kozlov, which eventually gave Kozlov an opening to escape. Triple H ultimately prevailed, leaving Luger a bloody mess.

Tyson Kidd and Yoshi Tatsu came out to take on David Hart Smith and a mystery parter in a Falls Count Anywhere Match...Kidd and Tatsu were stunned when MARK HENRY came out! The action was wild, and got crazier when John Morrison got involved, helping out Smith and Henry! Henry crushed Kidd with the World's Strongest Slam.

In a #1 Contender's Match, Wade Barrett, Edge and Sheamus squared off. Barrett and Edge didn't allow their partnership to get in the way, and it went into a bloody brawl, with Sheamus and Edge both gushing blood. Chris Jericho ran in, and while Barrett - who had been in charge most of the match - was trying to avoid a fired up Jericho, Sheamus pinned Edge!

SUPERSTARS

Raven ambushed Shelton Benjamin before the bell! Shelton fought back, but got dropped with the Evenflow DDT!

Chris Jericho stayed about two steps ahead of Daniel Bryan, and pinned him with a small package, all while Wade Barrett watched on from the crowd.

In the Superstars main event, Zack Ryder battled Tyson Kidd. As Ryder was setting up The Zack Attack, The Miz ran out and got involved! Ryder and Miz exchanged blows, and The Miz got the worst of it! Ryder fought Kidd off and put him away to send the fans home happy!

SMACKDOWN

Kane and Luke Gallows opened the show in a Falls Count Anywhere Match. As these two behemoths brawled, Rob Van Dam ran out and interjected himself! He seemed focused on Gallows, but he and Kane had a run-in...however, Kane pinned Gallows after RVD his his Five Star Frog Splash!

Alberto Del Rio couldn't make Big Show tap out, but he was able to wear him down enough to pin him off of a flying senton!

Shad jumped Kofi Kingston before their match, but failed to capitalize. He used his power to beat Kofi down, but Kofi's speed was too much, and a Boom Drop followed by the SOS took it home.

The crowd was ELECTRIC for the main event, a #1 Contender's Match between CM Punk and Sting! Sting held off Punk and made him tap out to the Scorpion Death Lock...when the match was ordered to be re-started as a Falls Count Anywhere match! Sting and Punk brawled in and around the ring, and Luke Gallows came out of the crowd with a chair! Sting tried to fight off both men...when Kaval ran out! He brawled to the back with Gallows as Sting press slammed Punk through one announce table, then hit a diving elbow off the top through the second to score the decisive win!

WEEK 2

RAW

Evan Bourne stunned one Vladimir Kozlov to pick up another huge win!

Shawn Michaels had to fend off Vladimir Kozlov's interference, but he schooled Lex Luger in a Ladder Match!

Despite The Brothers of Destruction dealing out massive amounts of damage to Wade Barrett and Edge, Barrett still retrieved the briefcase to win a ladder match.

Sheamus attacked Triple H as he made his way down the ramp, getting their submission match off to an auspicious start. Triple H rallied back and brawled on the floor...but Lex Luger ran out and took him down! This put Triple H at a huge advantage, and Sheamus gained a ton of momentum as he wore Hunter down and ultimately won this non-title match! He tried to cripple Hunter after the match, but HBK ran out and ran Sheamus off!

SUPERSTARS

Steve Austin beat David Otunga bloody en route to a decisive win. Austin surprisingly offered Otunga his hand...Otunga, perhaps wisely, didn't take it.

Shelton Benjamin's superior speed allowed him to sneak past MVP and Raven in a handicap match! Benjamin tried to make nice with Raven, but Raven refused.

In a crazy main event, John Morrison had Daniel Bryan on the ropes when Justin Gabriel ran in...and Vladimir Kozlov came out of the crowd and brawled with Gabriel! Morrison scored the pin.

SMACKDOWN

Kane and Drew McIntyre fought in a great opener, with Kane dropping Drew with the Choke Slam.

Despite a pre-match assault by the Straight Edge Society, The Winds of Change beat Gallows and Punk when Edge pinned Gallows while Barrett hammered Punk with a chair.

Chris Masters hit the ring hard to take Great Muta down early, but Muta's unorthodox attacks wore him down! After the Poison Mist, Masters was never the same, and Muta pinned him after the Moonsault.

Jack Swagger found himself in the most unenviable position ever: Between Sting and The Undertaker in a Triple Threat match! And then it was made a Falls Count Anywhere Match! Swagger used every dirty trick he had...but Sting and Undertaker were ferocious! He even hit the Gutwrench Powerbomb on Sting, he just went nuts! CM Punk ran out as Sting hit the Scorpion Death Drop on Undertaker on the ramp, and he attacked The Stinger! As he was hitting the GTS on Sting, Swagger snuck over and pinned Undertaker!

WEEK 3

RAW

Justin Gabriel sat at ringside, getting in Kozlov's head as he faced Zack Ryder. The Greatest American Bolo was present to make sure there were no shenanigans, and Ryder pinned Kozlov after a reverse DDT on the floor and a Zack Attack in the ring.

Batista and Randy Orton had an intense fight, but Batista got the upper hand and scored the pin with the Batista Bomb.

Miz never looked like a real threat as Cena beat him in a Tables Match.

Tyson Kidd never seemed sure what he was getting into as he faced Shinsuke Nakamura, who blasted him with the Boma Ye for the win. After the match, he offered Kidd his hand, but Kidd slapped it and stormed away.

SUPERSTARS

Daniel Bryan took Steve Austin to the limit, but Vladimir Kozlov ran out! Though Bryan fended off Kozlov, it through Bryan off his game and Austin prevailed! After the match, Austin offered Bryan his hand, but Bryan thought better of it.

John Morrison pinned Sheamus in an amazing non-title match after Starship Pain!

MVP and Raven were FAR too much for Shelton Benjamin this week.

SMACKDOWN

Dolph Ziggler looked amazing as he battled Cody Rhodes in a Tables match. He fought off Christian before putting Cody through the announce table with a moonsault.

Christian and Kofi Kingston prepared to face off in a #1 Contender's Match for Todo Americano's Intercontinental Title...when it got turned into a Submission Match! Kofi looked tremendous, prevailing over Christian!

William Regal jumped Chris Masters before the match and hit the Knee Trembler on the floor, but could not follow up. Masters held his own in the ring, until Regal split him open with the Power of the Punch, followed by the Knee Trembler. He put his feet on the ropes for the pin.

Undertaker got some measure of revenge against CM Punk, fending off Gallows as well in order to score the pin with the Tombstone.

WEEK 4

RAW

A Fatal Four Way between Evan Bourne, Ted DiBiase, John Morrison and The Miz got off to a shocking start when Morrison attacked Bourne as he was coming down the ramp! Edge got involved for some reason as well, but Bourne still managed to pin Miz to get the win!

Chris Jericho rebounded from a prematch attack by Batista to beat him with the Walls of Jericho! Post-match, Wade Barrett came down to threaten Jericho!

Lex Luger brutally attacked Shinsuke Nakamura from the crowd before their match, but Nakamura gave him more than he was prepared for and finished him with a lariat!

Despite Shawn Michaels trying to cause distractions, Wade Barrett pinned WWE Champion Triple H after the Wasteland!

SUPERSTARS

Steve Austin fended off The Nexus in a Gauntlet! He reduced Gabriel and Bryan to bloody pulps, and made all three men (including Otunga) eat stunners.

Shelton Benjamin and Rob Van Dam squared off against Raven and his mystery partner...Mike Knox! Knox and Raven inflicted much damage, keeping RVD and Shelton grounded! Shelton was busted open by Raven before Knox ended him with the Knox Out!

Zack Ryder looked great, taking down Tyson Kidd!

SMACKDOWN

Luke Gallows never quite got in gear, getting pinned by Cody Rhodes as Christian made sure nothing crazy happened at ringside!

Shad jumped Big Show from the crowd, but showboated and it cost him as Big Show beat him down and made him submit! Swagger came out on the stage and taunted him!

MVP and Rey Mysterio brawled in the GM's office, with Rey ultimately knocking MVP out with a laptop!

Drew McIntyre and Todo Americano squared off as the first two competitors in a Championship Scramble for the Intercontinental title! They destroyed each other, until Christian hit the ring! Dolph Ziggler made his way out and put Todo Americano down with the sleeper hold, and remained interim champion through Kofi Kingston's arrival, winning the Intercontinental title!

SURVIVOR SERIES

Evan Bourne, Zack Ryder and R-Truth took on John Morrison, The Miz and Ted DiBiase! R-Truth let his emotions at his partner's betrayal get the better of him, and he got pinned by DiBiase! Ryder just UNLOADED on DiBiase, causing him to get counted out! Evan Bourne got some revenge on Morrison with the Air Bourne, and then pinned Miz as well.

Rey Mysterio, Rob Van Dam and Shelton Benjamin battled Raven, Mike Knox and MVP! Knox made short work of RVD, but then got counted out with Shelton on the floor. MVP and Raven were too much for Rey.

Lex Luger and Sheamus jumped DX before the next match, leaving Shinsuke Nakamura to battle Vladimir Kozlov in the ring! However, a snap Superkick by Michaels dropped Kozlov! Luger and Sheamus held on, but Nakamura blasted Luger with the Boma Ye and Triple H spiked Sheamus with the Pedigree for the pin.

Dolph Ziggler and William Regal ambushed Cody Rhodes and Christian, while Drew McIntyre and Kofi Kingston brawled. It was very even until Regal took Christian out with the Knee Trembler, then leveled Kofi with the Power of the Punch and the Knee Trembler as well. Cody tore Dolph apart on the floor, but Drew was the legal man, and he basically slid back into the Future Shock to get put down.

The Raw main event was bloody, as John Cena, Chris Jericho and Randy Orton faced Wade Barrett, Edge and Batista! Jericho ALMOST took out Batista with a Codebreaker, but fell prey to Wasteland. Batista crushed Orton with the Batista Bomb, and Edge pinned Cena with the Spear.

Sting joined The Brothers of Destruction in taking on Jack Swagger and the Straight Edge Society! Sting put down Gallows and Swagger with Scorpion Death Drops, while Undertaker sent Punk for the Last Ride!

Tommy's Take on MasterBook

I actually had no prior experience with Masterbook, so color me interested when Precis Intermedia Games saved it from death and obscurity after the complete collapse of West End Games.

Masterbook is a toolkit system designed to use a series of cards to alter and affect gameplay...honestly, it's right up my alley, at least in concept.

This review is of the PDF version, which is a 262 page PDF, fully bookmarked and searchable and all that...and, it is worth noting, including both a complete set of printable black and white MasterDeck cards, and a complete set of color ones. For those who don't want to print their own, Precis Intermedia just announced that the MasterDeck is back in print.

AN INTRODUCTION TO MASTERBOOK

This is pretty much what it sounds like, an introductory chapter explaining roleplaying games (complete with the Cops and Robbers "I shot you! No you didn't!" explanation), as well as explaining what MasterBook is (a generic setting designed to be played in multiple genres).

There's not a lot here that you haven't seen before, and I don't know if any of this was off the well beaten path even in 1994, but honestly, you just kind of expect to see that sort of thing in RPGs anymore.

BASIC RULE OVERVIEW

Counting a two page character sheet and a full page piece of art, this clocks in at about 16 pages or so and, honestly, I think an experience GM could almost run the game off of those pages, believe it or not.

CHARACTER CREATION

Characters have eight Attributes: Agility, Dexterity, Strength, Endurance, Intellect, Mind, Charisma and Confidence, and 68 points to spend. The scale, oddly, runs from the normal minimum of 5 to the human peak of 13...although the benchmarks chart curiously drops from 5 to -5. I started playing RPGs around 1994, and I don't think I would have questioned the scale back then, but it's just a bit odd now.

Once that is completed, you get Derived Attributes, like Toughness and Movement Rates. While Skills aren't TECHNICALLY Derived, you do get your skill points from your Intellect and Mind. There are a number of rules governing the spending of skill points, and while Specializations are present, they are annoyingly on a half point system...that is, each level (or "add") of a specialization is half a point. As a rule, I don't like bean counting in my games, and half points are more tedious than I like to deal with.

It is also worth noting that skills do not run on the same scale as Attributes, starting at 1 (if they are trained at all, of course) up past 16.

BACKGROUND GENERATION

Here we get a lot of common background questions to flesh the character out, but we also get Advantages and Compensations. Now this, I really like. Rather than assigning point values to the Advantages and Compensations, they are placed in Columns, with the effects being more and more extreme, the higher you go. Every Advantage that you take requires taking a Compensation from a corresponding Column. There is an optional rule for mixing across Columns...such as trading in a Column III selection for Column I selections...this requires taking a Column III Compensation still.

Five genres (High Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Real World, Science Fiction and Pulp) are provided, with recommended Column selections.

Column I Advantages are pretty basic: A snitch you can call on, an extra skill point, etc. Around Column III, you start getting into things like having a Danger Sense, while Column IV gives you options like Godlike Contacts and Natural Weapons.

Every Advantage is detailed, with notable restrictions and notes spelled out.

The Compensation Columns start off fairly light: Owing a small debt or having a minor enemy, and scale up to Employed - meaning you don't have a lot of autonomy - or being a victim of Prejudice, to having a powerful Enemy hunting you, or being so Infamous that you are doggedly pursued. There are no Column IV Compensations...at that point, the player and GM get to work something out that is suitable.

You can get rid of Compensations, just as you can lose Advantages, and they are often linked.

Guidelines are also given for making new races and species for your games, generally by mixing and matching Advantages and Compensations.

THE RULES

The core mechanic of the game involves rolling 2d10 and comparing them to a Bonus Chart, giving you a number that you add (or subtract) from your relevant skill to gain a total for your action. And yes, I did say subtract: If you roll below a 9, your "Bonus" is a penalty. Most people are familiar with the concept of Exploding Dice, but Masterbook has a very interesting variant: You can reroll and keep your 10s rolled - but ONLY if you have adds in the relevant skills or specializations. It is thus IMPOSSIBLE for a completely unskilled, lucky shot to explode and blow out someone gifted at a given action.

Well...normally. There are exceptions, through the use of the MasterDeck and the expenditure of Life Points (kind of like Fate Points/Action Points/Bennies/whatever).

If you beat the Target Number for the action, subtract your total from the Target Number, compare to the Success Chart, and see precisely what the effect of the action is.

Damage is handled under a Wound system that goes from Lightly to Moderately to Heavily to Incapacitated to Mortally to Dead. You can also gain "K"s and "O"s...if you have a K AND an O, you're knocked out.

A little sidebar I love is descriptive elements for the Wound types, such as Lightly Wounded being a bruise, while Incapacitated being a heavy concussion.

With the basics of combat out of the way, Combat Options such as Hit Locations (providing more or less damage, depending on the targeted spot) are given, plus options like capping melee damage based off of Strength, and providing different bonuses and penalties for different tricks and tactics with a gun.

Damage options are also given, if you want to incorporate bits such as bleeding out.

Rules and guidelines are given for Interactions as well, with these being old standards such as Intimidation, Taunts and Tricks, Con, Persuasion and Interrogation.

There are two sets of Initiative Rules, one using the MasterDeck and one using standard die rolls. In the former, you essentially draw a MasterDeck card and it tells you who gets to go when.

Pretty much most of the rules staples you would expect round out the chapter, such as Falling damage, multiple actions, dealing with gang-ups and so on. A Value Chart is also given, reminding me a bit of the benchmarks from the old Mayfair Games DC Heroes RPG.

SKILLS AND SKILL USE

The skill list is kinda huge, though not every one will even be available in every game: For instance, in a 1930s Mob War setting, Energy Weapons probably won't be needed.

Some skills require specific foci, such as Faith or Beast Riding, and specializations are given for each skill. while I generally like smaller skill lists, at least there is nothing that just drives me nuts here, like Beautician. Every skill is tied to an Attribute, because some skills can be used untrained (defaulting to the attribute), though others cannot...and being a skill based system, it is much cheaper to raise skills than to improve attributes.

THE CARD DECK

The MasterDeck is 108 cards, and the number of cards given out is dependent on the number of PCs in the game...(one PC gets way more for their own use than a group of 5 gets, individually speakning).

There are three types of cards:

Enhancements generally provide some manner of specified bonus, such as Breakthrough allowing a PC to roll a skill as if they are trained, and add +3 to their roll, but only if they otherwise have no adds in it. Haste gives an immediate extra action, and so on.

Subplots are in-game effects that come into play over the course of the adventure, like Martyr (which can let your hero go out in a blaze of glory...if you choose), or Mistaken Identity - which means that you have been confused for someone else. The Campaign card is used to make a temporary subplot permanent, perhaps gaining you an enemy for life!

There are four Picture cards (Wild, Interloper, Disaster and Opportunity) that each also have their own very specific effects if they come into play.

Oh, and there are blank cards, if you want to make your own.

Card based initiative is given more detail here, showing you just how to read the cards for initiative. For instance, certain conditions may come into play, such as Flurry, which may allow all PCs an extra attack that round, or Up, which means that side gets to automatically reroll all dice as if they had rolled 10s.

The initiative card also has "approved" actions...if the PC succeeds at those, they get an extra card from the MasterDeck for their use.

Lastly, cards are also used for Critical Skill Resolution, which are multi-step crisis situations, like defusing bombs or freeing someone from a trap without killing them. A few pages of examples follow, using cards in each type of situation.

CREATING AND USING SPECIAL EFFECTS

Magic, Miracles, Psionics and Super-Science mainly.

Rather than provide a laundry list of abilities and forcing you to shove everything into those, MasterBook devotes a chapter to making your effects piece by piece (with a few examples).

In fact, the book constructs a magical Fireball spell, piece by piece, to show you how it works, and includes a worksheet that you can use to track your FX construction. Be warned, special effects run the risk of harming PCs! They have a Feedback Value that can be reduced by high rolls when casting the FX. You don't necessarily FAIL if you get Feedback...you may just take out yourself and your opponent.

The plus side is, it's versatile. The downside is, other than that fireball, you don't start off with many FX written up, so there's some work ahead for you and your players in that first few go arounds.

BASIC EQUIPMENT

This is pretty much an equipment chapter. Most modern weapons are given static damage ratings (handguns, etc), while most melee weapons and muscle-powered missile weapons are given "STR+" damage.

Armor is handled in a pretty straight forward manner, adding to Toughness.

Certainly not the greatest equipment chapter I have ever read, but it gets all of the necessary information across.

GAMEMASTERING MASTERBOOK

This section gives a very broad overview of World Creation, emphasizing the five genres that it pointed out earlier in the book. There's some good, if not great, advice in here. A beginning GM without a setting book would probably be fairly lost, while a moderately experienced GM could probably suss it out.

A pair of character templates are included, one for fantasy and one for sci-fi, to show you what a couple of completed characters look like.

MASTERDECK

As mentioned above, the MasterDeck is included as printable pages (fronts and backs, both color and black and white), for those who want to get rolling right now. Some very helpful instructions and tips are included up front (such as recommended paper stock).

THOUGHTS

Honestly, a character sheet would have been nice, but the accomodations in the PDF for the MasterDeck were GREAT.

The system itself is almost 20 years old, and it shows in some places. I'm not a huge fan of skill-based systems, but that is a personal preference and not a knock on the quality of the system. I do really like the Advantages/Compensation system, and I think the MasterDeck is pretty neat.

I hope it gets some support setting-wise, whether in the form of reprints or new material, because it feels a bit hollow right now...I mean, for a fantasy game or the like, at least some kind of examples to eyeball for a bestiary would be gold.

I don't see enough here to have me clamoring to ditch Savage Worlds as my go-to "generic" game, but I certainly wouldn't be opposed to taking it for a spin in a game or two.