Exalted 2nd Edition Review

 

Hi everybody!  I thought I should review Exalted Second Edition!  Exalted is part of the Storyteller system by White Wolf, and it's a different take on Fantasy Roleplaying Games than other games.  You see, Exalted takes it's cues from world literature.  This includes the Bible, the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Ramayana, Journey to the West, Arabian Nights, and Anime. So, instead of starting out like Frodo Baggins -- with nothing and little experience, you create a super human character called an Exalted.  In fact, in this game you will be playing Solar Exalted -- humans that carry a divine spark provided by the Unconquerable Sun.

What's in it?

The first chapter introduces you to the setting of Exalted.  Which is not set on a globe, but a flat planet called Creation.  At first, it starts with the Primordials, who made Creation and the gods.  Then they made the various races of Creation, including humanity.  Then the gods grew dissatisfied.  They took the best of humanity and exalted them with their essence.  The result was a Superhuman.  The Unconquerable Sun created the Solar exalted, the Moon created Lunar exalted, the planets created the Sidereal exalted, and the elemental dragons created the Terrestial exalted.

Then the gods with their exalted humans made war on the Primordials. After many years of war, the Exalted triumphed.  But not without the Primordials cursing the Exalted with a terrible curse. After that, the Exalted ruled over creation.

But after a time, the curse wore powerfully on the Solar exalted, and the Terrestial exalted rebelled against the Solar exalted and overthrew them.  Mostly at the urging of the Sidereal exalted. It was to save Creation.  But now, after a few thousand years, the Solar exalted are returning.

The second chapter talks about character creation. The character creation is similar to other Storyteller games by White Wolf.  Including Werewolf: the Apocalypse. You begin with a concept and are given free reign to create your Solar Exalted. He or she can come from any nation or creed of humanity.  He or she is a superhero, that's for sure, but he or she probably doesn't know unless she was instructed by a mentor.

You start with a concept for your character, then choose a caste (which is analogous to Character Class in other roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons or Palladium Fantasy), then choose a motivation.  After the core of your character is chosen, then you decide attributes.  The game allows you to develop between mental attributes, physical attributes, and then social attributes.  You decide which your character excels at.  Like other roleplaying games -- Attributes in Exalted are your ability scores (in D&D), or attributes (like Palladium Fantasy).

After that, you choose your abilities.  These are your skills, and they are divided after which Caste excels at. Dawn abilities are warrior abilities.  Zenith abilities are priestly abilities.  Twilight abilities are spellcaster or wizard abilities.  Night abilities are thief or rogue abilities.  Finally, there are the Eclipse abilities which are social abilities.  Of course, you may also specialize in an ability to two.

After your abilities are determined, your advantages are determined.  These include your background, your charms (which are superhuman abilities), then you determine your virtues -- which are an aide in roleplaying. After that, you apply your finishing touches which include your character's willpower, her intimacies (another aide in roleplaying), essence and health levels.  After your solar exalted character is created, then you work with the storyteller to work about a background story, called the prelude.  There are also some basic questions to ask about your character.  After all this, an example of character creation is recounted. After that, there is a character creation summary.

Chapter three describes the traits used in the game. This chapter also contains a discussion of each Caste of Solar Exalted. Starting with Dawn, which are the warriors of the Solar Exalted. After that, comes the Zenith caste, which are the priests. After that is the Twilight caste, which are scholars and wizards.  Night comes after Twilight, who are thieves, assassins, and rogues. Finally comes the Eclipse Caste, which are diplomats and social butterflies.

After that, the attributes are discussed.  As said before, the attributes are a total of nine, divided into three.  Physical attributes are your character's body capabilities, while social attributes are their looks and charisma.  Finally there are the mental attributes, which include perception and wits. After all this are the virtues -- a roleplaying aid.  Then the flaws.

After the flaws come the Abilities. All the abilities denote the Solar's skills.  There are five abilities for each Caste. First the Dawn cast abilities are given, then the Zenith abilities, and so on. After the abilities, the backgrounds are discussed.  And each background works like the backgrounds in other White Wolf storyteller games. Then Essence and willpower are explained.

Then comes Chapter four: Drama and Systems.  This chapter discusses how the game is played.  It's the longest chapter in the book.  Although the first rule of the game is to have fun.  The second is if you don't like it, you change it for your game.  Then the rules, and how they interact with your character, are discussed.

After this comes chapter five. Which includes all the Solar Charms, combinations, and sorcery.  Here, the superhuman abilities of the Solars are discussed.  And there are several charms for each skill. You can create combinations of charms for your solar character.  It is here that certain spells are discussed as well.  After chapter five, comes chapter six, Storytelling.  This chapter talks about telling the story for the game, and it's invaluable for the storyteller (or game master).

As a storyteller game, Exalted does not disappoint.  But the game assumes that you already know how to be a storyteller (or GM).  The chapter goes over game styles and other things the storyteller needs to know. Including action and experience.  The comics help here too (there are comics included in the core rulebook).

Chapter seven deals with antagonists.  The examples in the book cover everything, including a small bestiary.  Of course, there are other books (like Exalted: the Infernals, the Dragonblooded, et. al.) that can help you round out antagonists for your games. Finally, chapter seven talks about disease, and how different diseases (including leprosy, consumption, and hysteria and others) affects your game.  There is two diseases for each virtue. 

by Immanuel Giel.

The last chapter deals with items in Creation.  Everything is bought and sold by the Jade standard, which is different from other fantasy roleplaying games (D&D and Palladium Fantasy uses a gold standard). This depends on how many dots in Resources you have.  The more dots, the more you can create your panoply with.  After all this, there is an index.  There is a map of Creation both in the back and the front of the book.

Conclusion

 This game, Exalted Second Edition, is White Wolf's better game.  It's the best, better than Werewolf or even Vampire.  The game allows you to play over the top heroes in an over the top setting.  You aren't playing monsters, but super-heroes in an fantasy setting.  It's a storyteller game, though, and requires some thought to play.  Despite it's flaws, I recommend it for adults (it's marketed to adults). It's not good to start with, although if you are a kid reading this, I suggest starting with Dungeons and Dragons or Palladium Fantasy.

The Open RPG Creative license

 A big deal has been about the Open RPG Creative license.  Or ORC (hereafter, as ORC).  I think its a good idea that all publishers should look into.  It allows you to license your RPG game as license content out to other creators.  In fact, Basic Roleplaying is a licensed product under the ORC.

The ORC Allows you to:

* License out your game mechanics to be used by downstream publishers in derivative works.  Just your game mechanics.

* Protect your Trademarks and story and other elements as Product Identity.  For RIFTS and Palladium Fantasy -- this would be the worlds these games are based on.

* Allows, currently, a safe harbor for 1st party publishers and 3rd party publishers.  This allows for more creativity within the game community.

The ORC license doesn't allow:

* Violation of your trade marks and other Product Identity.  This means for Palladium Books their trademarks will be theirs.  But remember, the idea is to create a virtual circle in allowing for derivative works to be produced.  If a trademark is violated, then the Upstream publisher will allow the malefactor sixty days to repair his breach or be sued.

I am not a lawyer, but I think strongly that the ORC license is ultimately a good thing for the hobby.  Several publishers are on board with the ORC license, and several games will be released within the ORC license.  The first of these, Basic Roleplaying, has already been released.  Chaosium was brave to do so, but it means that their fans will be able to produce derivative works without fear or reprisal.

More over, the license will be unable to be amended, changed, altered, or revoked.  That's why Azora Law is working to make it right the first time.  The license is in it's second draft.  You can join the beautiful discord group and join the conversation.  There is an FAQ that is called the AxE, that you can also download and read.  It explains what the License is, although it's not to be construed as a Lawer/Client relationship. Check them out!

Combining Barsoom with Lothlórien

After reading all of the posts on the Palladium boards and the Savage Worlds RIFTS boards I can world build a little.  The game is set in the New West setting for RIFTS, and my wife wants to play a nude elf cowgirl.  The game system we are using is Savage Worlds, the setting is RIFTS from Palladium.

by Mezzotint on Shutterstock.

I'm figuring a dude ranch in Southern Utah (like the one above is in Zion National Park).  She wants to be based in Moab, Utah, however, but we'll talk about it.  The changes everyone is suggesting is either cosmetic or mechanical, however.  The trick is creating a culture that combines Barsoom with Lothlórien.  Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote Barsoom to be an exotic Mars.  The Martians wore harnesses and very little clothing (their harnesses are their only clothing).  Something my wife approves of.  Remember, she's a nudist and wants her character to be nude in game.

Lothlórien is an elven forest found in the Lord of the Rings. The magical nature of the kingdom is protected by Galadriel's ring. I'll figure more out of the setting once I talked to my wonderful, nude wife. I'll be world building this for her.  And North America is a big place in RIFTS.  The most powerful nation, the Coalition States, only takes up a small part of the Heartland of America.  The rest is considered to be wilderness by the Coalition States.  There's room for an elven kingdom in Utah.  Even if they are nudists.

Barsoom and Lothlórien

My wife had the great idea of playing in a Rifts game (campaign) as her first introduction to roleplaying games.  She wants to play RIFTS mostly because she had read my entire Rifts library and wanted to play.  She wants to play an elf cowgirl in the New West (a setting where the Old West comes to life in RIFTS, see my Rifts: New West review below).  Not just any elf Cowgirl, but a nude one.  My wife is a nudist and yes, I'm very lucky.

This is the first time for her playing any sort of Roleplaying Game, especially Rifts.  I already reached out to the gaming community.  Both at the Palladium Forums and the Pinnacle Entertainment Group RIFTS forums for some ideas for creating an elf community that is based both on Lothlórien and Barsoom.  And both communities have responded with ideas of their own. I was surprised that she picked RIFTS as her first foray into Roleplaying Games, actually.  RIFTS is not an easy setting to grasp, but then again she read my entire library and picked both the New West setting and the Atlantis setting as places to start a campaign in.

Rifts Atlantis Review

Cover by Keith Parkinson

Ah, Atlantis.  Atlantis is my second favorite setting for Rifts®.  Kevin Seimbieda wrote Atlantis and a lot of good ideas flowed to him. Atlantis is the lost continent, the ancient enemy, the place of lost secrets. And in the Rifts Earth it has returned with all the magic and technology. Returning to KS' vision of Atlantis is not exactly coming home for me.  Although I know a lot about Atlantis (I studied Atlanteology). Rifts World Book Two: Atlantis is a book with good ideas.  Ley line storms, true Atlanteans, Bio-Wizardry (an advanced form of genetic manipulation), Rune Weapons and ultra technology, this book is an unique setting for your Rifts® campaign.  Since my wife wants to play in a campaign featuring Atlantis, I thought this is a good book to review.  It's one hundred sixty pages long.

What's in it?

Atlantis contains a lot of good ideas.  It begins with a diatribe from Erin Tarn about Atlantis, and how she will predict war with Atlantis and the Coalition states.  Although the CS is over extending itself in the Heartland of America, the war would not go well.  Atlantis returned after millennia and the Splugorth -- aliens with a Cthulhu Mythos inspiration -- had already conquered Atlantis.  They built their city of Splynn and it's become a haven of trade and commerce through out the Megaverse®. When the Atlanteans returned, they found that their continent had been conquered by these alien beings.  Also, Atlantis is adjacent to the Bermuda Triangle, a region of sea that has become very dangerous to sail.  Called the demon sea, the place is an unsettled region.  It typically can appear in different worlds at different times, and sea monsters roam the area.  And true to Palladium system fashion, there is a random table you can roll to see what happens while you are on the Demon Sea.

Next are the ley line storms, and they are storms of energy that happens along ley lines.  The random tables provide occurrences that can happen along a ley line.  Then Atlantis is talked about.  All of it is wild imagination, even the Splugorth that conquered Atlantis is just imagination.  Good imagination, I should say!  Then the Atlantean race is discussed, and are given an R.C.C. treatment (in Savage Rifts, they are an alternate race that you can apply an Iconic Framework to).   After this, the various nations of Atlantis are visited.  With a dragon city, a gargoyle kingdom, a refuge, and then the kingdom of Splynncrith are all detailed.

Splynncrinth is a Splugorth, a mighty being that looks like a shuggoth from the Cthulhu mythos. He enslaved everyone and has built a mighty financial empire that rivals that in power of the Coalition States.  He built a market where everything and anything imaginable is bought and sold.  He also enslaved the humans of Atlantis and sells slaves from all over the Megaverse.  Is Splynncrinth powerful enough to conquer Earth?  Most probably he is.  But his financial empire is enough to satisfy him, for now.

Atlantis Map by Will-Erwin.

 

Player Options

There are a lot of player options in this book.  New Racial Character Classes (R.C.C.) such as the true Atlantean, the Atlantean Nomad, the minions of the Splugorth, including: the Highlords, power lords, and others.  Oh the Splugorth slaver and the blind Warrior Women are detailed in this book.  Also included are the Kittani, and other options.  Including some slave stock (which more are detailed in Splynn Dimensional Market). After that comes the OCCs.  Including Tattooed men (of which there are four different types).  And so far humans, neanderthals, and elves may become tattooed with magic tattoos.  Stone magic is discussed, along with Bio-Wizardry.

Bio-wizardry itself is described as disgusting.  As it is used to manipulate the DNA of a person, animal, or whatever.  (Splynn is a big place).  It's a magical science that includes transmutation of a person.  Then there is a transmutation table.  After that, various bio-wizardry items are discussed.  Some of these are just strange, others are beneficial.

Then there is a section of bio-engineered parasites.  These include the brain feeder, the mystic leech, the mind slug, heart worms, zombitron, and others.  Then there is a section of symbiotes.  Including the chest amalgamate or chest thing, the elom, mind link, and pathic healer, talo mind worms and others.

By Gaius31duke.

Then comes the bio-wizard weapons.  And there are many.  From items that can be used to control slaves, to P.P.E. batteries that are powered by captured and enslaved fairy folk.  Then rune weapons are discussed.  After that, futuristic vehicles and power armor are introduced!

Conclusion

This book contains a lot of information on Atlantis as a setting for your Rifts campaign. Most of it is imaginative, wildly so. The city of Atlantis has been renamed the city of Splynn. And it's ruled by aliens and D-bees.  There is a lot here for the setting and should be a good starting place for GMs.  A good book for your Palladium Rifts game.  I give it seven stars out of ten.

Rifts® New West Review

 

Welcome to a world where there is no law amongst the West.  It's the Old West reborn, for your Rifts® campaign.  Rifts World Book 14: New West describes my favorite setting for Rifts.  The region of the old United States called the Old West.  Written by Christopher R. Kornmann and Kevin Seimbieda, the book doesn't disappoint bringing the Old West into the New.

What does the book have in it?

The first few pages introduces you to the New West.  After the coming of the Rifts, the region had returned to the ways of the Old West.  Mainly through pre-Rifts Western shows and books that romanced the time period.  The ways and style of the Old West return with a vengeance.  People riding horses, wearing the styles of the old west, and other trappings have made the Old West come back.  There is no law, but the Code.

The book starts out with an overview of the territory of the New West.  Beginning with a journal entry from William McKinnith -- a gunslinger.  The west is a vast wilderness beyond the Coalition States.  Considered to be a true wilderness, there are villages and towns beyond to the West.  Places like Ephraim, Tombstone, Arzno, Charity, and Boise.  These places were the towns of the New West.  The vast wilderness that in between places of settlement is a place of danger and excitement. 

By Sascha Burkard, available from Shutterstock.

 The culture of the New West is a romance of the Old West.  John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and other actors are viewed as heroes.  Western music dominates, and the fictional cowboys of Hollywood Westerns are viewed as cultural templates.  From this romanticism arose a culture of freedom and chaos.

Character Types

There are several character types that one could play, most based off the romance of the Old West.  From bandits and desperados, to bounty hunters and gunslingers (there are three types of gunslingers -- by the way), to mining borgs, to justice rangers and sherrifs.  Other character types include the cowboy, preacher, saloon bum, gambler, and barmaid.  Of course, there are new skills included in the book to support the various character types. Yep, there is everything you need for a campaign in the New West. Even the Code is remunerated.

By Sherwood, shutterstock

 .

Then comes a list of monsters for your campaigns.  Which include the dream snake, gwilacks, and others -- including a worm man. Others include various dinosaurs.  Including the hadrosaur, the triceratops, and tyrannosaurus rex.

After that, various items you can buy, even borg conversion packages are detailed. What was interesting, Bandito Arms have gotten access to the Area 51 site and found some SAMAS suits.  Pre-Rifts suits.  Bandito then copied the technology and made it available.  Then whats available from the Black Market and Wilks merchandise is made available.  Even robot horses, although it's possible to get an AI installed in the horses, so that cowboys could talk to their horses.  The book ends with Techno-wizard weapons and gear.  Including the iron horse -- a train powered and follows the ley lines.

Conclusion

This is one of Rifts better world books. I suggest it wholeheartedly.  Of course, you can do research and watch Westerns for your adventures.  You can base your adventures on actual Western movies -- like True Grit and the Searchers.  Even Clint Eastwood movies can be a source of inspiration.  Also, reading books can give you inspiration for your adventures.  The book provides a starting point for your adventures in the New West.

So, what's bad about it?  Well, the OCCs aren't balanced with other World books.  Other than that, it's a good book and I recommend it for your campaigns.

Savage Worlds Rifts: The Tomorrow Legion's Guide

 

Ah, original Rifts.  Good setting, very good setting, but the game mechanics was something of a fusion of AD&D and Chaosium Basic Roleplaying. While it worked when I was a teen and a little later, today it's dated and in need of a overall.  Fortunately, the Savage Worlds team approached Kevin Seimbedia one day and said they like to do Rifts for Savage Worlds.  Well, Kevin thought it would be a good idea and so we have Rifts: the Tomorrow Legion Player's Guide. While most players would play Rifts with a different system, the Tomorrow Legion Player's Guide contains all the rules for playing Rifts in Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE).

Kevin is a gregarious and generous person.  And while I liked him when I met him, he will not open Rifts up to third party publishers.  I don't know if he will use the Open RPG Creative license, although it would be awesome if he did.  Rifts is very imaginative: Man just rose from a Dark Age, although illiteracy is common in the Coalition states.  The world is not how we see it.  The world is beset by the rifts: doorways into dimensions and far away worlds. The Tomorrow Legion Player's Guide contains all you need to get started with a Savage Worlds Rifts campaign.  Of course you'll need the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition core rulebook to play.

What is in it?

Savage Rifts still does not contain classes, but most of the classes in Rifts were converted into Iconic Frameworks for Savage Worlds.  These iconic frameworks work like the Occupational Character classes in Rifts. And as Savage Worlds does not use levels, there are no levels for these classes. But don't worry, you can improve your character using the Savage Worlds RPG.  The iconic frameworks include: Burster, a pyrokinetic; combat cyborg, a being built with cyber-bionics; crazy, a person with cybernetic brain enhancements; Cyber-knight, Rifts answer to the D&D paladin; dragon hatchling, yes you can play a dragon!  Glitterboy, a futuristic warrior in a power suit; Juicer, a person that uses drugs to enhance their performance; Ley-line walker, technically a wizard; MARS, catch all for iconic frameworks for the doctor, headhunter, and others. Mind melter, a super psionic person; Mystic, a man of magic that creates miracles like a priest; finally Techno-wizard; a man of magic that can create gizmos.

After all this, some of the Rifts dimensional beings and aliens are discussed. These include: the Altara blind warrior women; D'Nor, the devil men; dog boy, a genetically enhanced dog; Fennodi, or cactus men of the West; Grackle Tooth, a dee-bee found mostly in Canda; Lyn-Srial, an eagle like humanoid with bat wings.  They are found in the West too. Of course, you need a psi-stalker, a mutation among humans that feed on magical and psionic potential; Quick Flex, a dextrous human like alien.  And of course the simvan, which are found in the Lonestar state.  Finally, the Trimador is discussed.

  After that we get into traits.  These include new abilities, like Anti-personnel and nimble; and a few new attributes for a Savage Rifts game.  Including strain, and super strength.  And then there are new skills: like Cybernetics.  And there is discussion of how existing skills work in the Savage Rifts setting.  After this, languages are discussed.  Including American and Elvish/Dragonese. 

New hindrances and edges are discussed.  Although magical edges (such as the Weird Science edge) are discussed in the magic chapter; this section discusses how some edges are reconfigured for the World of Rifts. It also includes new edges.  Many new edges, including some that are iconic.

The next chapter deals with Gear. Player characters may start with a lot of gear already, depending on which iconic framework is chosen.  Then gear in the game is discussed.  There are a lot of items in Rifts listed.  Plus, you can use gear from Savage Worlds.  Then there is a section on Armor, after that power armor is discussed (this includes the Glitter-boy armor).  Then we have a section on weapons. Many different weapons. 😀

Gear also goes over vehicles.  There are several vehicles to choose from. Including robot vehicles. After vehicles are discussed, we get to the cybernetics section. And several cybernetics are discussed.  Like organ replacement and strength upgrade.  Everything you need for your character to have cybernetics.  Of course the Atlantis module talks about bio-wizardry.  That I will be reviewing at a later date.

By sakkmesterke, on Shutterstock.

Chapter three discusses the new setting rules in Rifts.  These include: Blaze of Glory, rules that state when the character using it goes to die.  Blood and Gore, like it says.  Death and defeat; when the player character decides not to use the Blaze of Glory rules. Siphoning PPE rules (from another individual to cast a spell), includes rules for blood sacrifice.  Rules for technical difficulties are put forth.  After that, vehicle fatigue rules are discussed.  And that rounds out chapter three.

After that, rules for magic and psionics is discussed in Chapter Four: Psionics and Magic.  First, some basic rules -- like how spells work with mega-damage rules (yes, mega damage is discussed in Savage Rifts), and basic rules for strain are discussed.  After that, the arcane backgrounds are also discussed how they work in Rifts. There are some changes rather than those discussed in Savage Worlds. Ley lines and how they work are discussed.  Then there is a section on rituals and items that can be used for rituals.  Including PPE batteries.  Then some rules regarding magic spells in powers in Rifts are discussed.

Finally, in Chapter five the hero's journey rounds out the chapters in Savage Rifts. This chapter goes over various hooks you can use for your character's background.  These include body armor, education, close combat weapons, and other tables.  After these are discussed, we get an index.

Innovations from Vanilla Rifts  

One thing you've got to remember is that the Savage Worlds system is completely classless. Well, what I mean is that they don't have classes.  While vanilla Rifts does have classes, occupational character classes -- or O.C.C.s; and (if you're going by the 1990's version of Rifts like I do) racial character classes or R.C.C.s. So, what did Pinnacle do with this sort of situation?  Come up with Iconic Frameworks!  That is one good innovation right there.

The iconic framework in Savage Worlds Rifts allows you to pick a "class" while allowing you some customization.  While vanilla Rifts allows for some customization through skills -- you are still playing that O.C.C. or R.C.C.  And while vanilla Rifts was a step up from the class system of AD&D and the skill system of Call of Cthulhu -- the probability that you will end up with two different Glitterboys in Savage Rifts is very high.  Customization is par excellence in Savage Rifts that you might end up with a Glitterboy who can do magic (Arcane Background: Magic) and one who can do psionics (Arcane Background: Psionics).  The frameworks are there to provide you with a scaffold to build your character with.  It's kind of like a class, but then it's not.  You're not defined by your framework in Savage Worlds Rifts.  You are allowed to come up with any kind of character you want: the framework is there to help you leave the occupational character class of Rifts behind.  In fact, you define the character you want to play.

If you want to play a gunslinger with psionics you can (in fact, the Psi-Slinger is an iconic framework in another, later SW Rifts product.)  If you want to play a cowboy who does magic, it's very possible to do that (Empires of Humanity details the cowboy and the gunslinger).  Each iconic framework "is a package of powers, special abilities, Edges, gear, and other character elements that define an iconic
role within a setting. In the case of the world of Rifts®, where characters begin with incredible capabilities and devastating machines of war as a matter of course, the Iconic Framework is a necessary tool to help represent these ideas while still working within the core ideas of Savage Worlds."

An iconic framework is there to help you make the character you want.  How different races are handled is another innovation.  While you can select a race in Rifts (human or Dimensional Being, like elf, orc, or simvan), some of these are considered Racial Character Classes in vanilla Rifts®.  That means it has it's own skills and other things to consider.  In Savage Worlds, you can choose a race and then choose a framework.  This means you can play a simvan cowboy, a grackletooth mind melter, or a "mutant" dog crazy (the dog boy is actually genetically engineered, something I'll discuss once I get to Rifts: Lone Star). Each race in Savage Worlds Rifts is just an option to pick.  To help you customize your character to your tastes.  And yes, you can still play a dragon hatchling.  Except it's an iconic framework, not a race.

One other innovation over vanilla Rifts is how skills are handled.  In  vanilla Rifts® you roll percentile dice and hope to get under a certain percentage.  Savage Worlds handles skills differently.  You roll a die.  The better the die, the better the probable outcome.  Rolling a skill with a d4 in it is a lot different than rolling a skill using a d12. It can provide different results than rolling a percentile die (note: I know skills in Rifts are varied in their application -- one skill might just raise your Physical Strength, another might raise your Physical Prowess).

Cybernetics is another important innovation over vanilla Rifts®. You can still get cybernetic implants, but you are simply restrained by a mechanic called strain.  Strain tells you how you may recover from cyber-surgery.  Although some systems are unlimited, some are not, and some may require a basic cybernetic implant.

So, mega-damage.  Is it in there?  Yes, it's in there. A weapon in Savage Rifts that can do mega-damage is considered to be a heavy weapon in Savage Worlds.  Armor capable of having MDC is considered to be heavy armor in Savage Worlds. One problem with vanilla Rifts® was that you had different scales of damage and most weapons did mega-damage.  In Savage Worlds, this is handled differently. The damage scaling is more realistic.  A hand-held Wilk's laser weapon does not do mega-damage in Savage Worlds. Therefore, if you shoot a regular Joe with your laser weapon in Savage Rifts®, you aren't going to suddenly turn him into a pile of ash. He'll be hurt, but he won't automatically burn up.  However, a mega-damage weapon -- like a rail gun -- does gritty damage per Savage Worlds' rule systems.

Potential Psychic Energy, or P.P.E. and Inner Strength Points, or I.S.P.  Are they in Savage Rifts®? Yes, they are.  P.P.E. can be transferred like it is in vanilla Rifts®, and there are ways of cultivating your personal P.P.E.  Usually everyone has P.P.E. (this includes Mystics), and psychics have I.S.P.  This is discussed in the Magic and Psionics chapter, including a discussion on each Arcane Background (Gifted, Magic, Miracles, Psionics, or Weird Science).

Conclusion

So, you're a Rifts player of the original system. Maybe you enjoy the original system.  And you are curious of how Rifts work with the Savage Worlds system.  And they did their best translating Rifts to Savage Worlds. It's beautifully laid out in living color.  And it looks well done!  I suggest you get a copy of Savage Worlds Adventure Edition and this book to begin a campaign.  Savage Worlds and Rifts work well together.  There are no levels, that's for sure, and no alignments. But Savage Worlds brings Rifts up to date and nearly into the 21st Century.

Central Casting: Heroes of Legend Review

by Paul Jaquays

 Ah, the Tour de Force of random tables and charts for your fantasy roleplaying game.  Central Casting: Heroes of Legend was written to help you as a gamer figure out the background of your character.  From unusual births (such as, being born exactly at Noon or Midnight), to childhood events and events in your adolescence.  To events in young adulthood, this book has it all. Although it's dated (like how it treats homosexuality, we now know that there is nothing wrong with a homosexual). This book is still useful in creating a 3D character.  Although some roleplayers tend to think up their characters whole cloth for fantasy roleplay, others could use a little bit of help.  As such this book is out of print and buying a copy from Amazon is way expensive: it costs almost a thousand dollars on Amazon.  So it's best to download it from the Internet (as if anyone is willing to spend that amount of cash for this book.)

What's in it?

Paul goes over how characters in most roleplaying games are one dimensional.  Actually, characters are often one dimensional.  Even characters I created do not have the depth to them.  I just go with a character with a small background and then proceed to play them.  The tables and charts in this book proceed to change all that.

The book takes you through some considerations for your character. The book talks about survival skills (something that equals the skill survival in Pathfinder first edition and Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition). Literacy, motivations, and generating NPCs using the tables in this book.  The tables begin with your character's race.  Of course you could choose your race, or randomly generate the race. Races in the book include humans, elves, dwarves, half-elves, halflings, beastmen, reptilemen (Dragonborn or lizardfolk), orcs, and half-orcs.  Although your fantasy campaign might have their own races.  

By DomCritelli from Shutterstock.

The book continues with a random table choosing culture (and this goes from neolithic and stone age cultures to decadent cultures). Then you can randomly choose your social status and whether or not your character is legitimate (bastards are possible).  Reasons for being illegitimate (like your character's mother might be a harlot), then your character's family, your character's siblings, then birth order.  The tables are relentless -- birth order, your character's time of birth, place of birth, even exotic birth locations.  Then you see whether or not your character had an unusual birth.  After that, your character's parents and important NPCs can be randomly generated.

After that, you can randomly generate what happened during your character's childhood and adolescence.  First, you figure out how many events happened during your childhood and then you roll.  This table, unlike other tables in other products (Ultimate Campaign, for instance); does not pull any punches.  It is very detailed and controversial.  One of the events that happens in childhood or adolescence (since you are using this table twice) is that the character could have been sexually molested.  There's even one where the character enters a political marriage with another (arranged marriages can happen).

Besides that, certain events require you to go into other tables. And there is a lot of them. But, the book maintains that in childhood and adolesence a personality develops -- so you may get certain traits based off of your character's history that you roll up.

From Shutterstock.

After that there are many tables with which you can generate your character's history and personality.  A lot of them.  From randomly generating personality traits, to love, to others, to non-humans, to time in the military, to being enslaved, to unusual skills, this book has it all.  Even something that is GM only.

Conclusion

If you are looking to go beyond what Ultimate Campaign and other similar character generators offer for generating your character's background.  This book provides that.  Unfortunately, unless you are ready to pay a small fortune for this book, I suggest downloading it off the internet.  It may be illegal, but it's the only way you're going to get it.  The book is worth it to get off the Internet, or to pay for the near one thousand dollars for a copy.  It's an excellent resource for your fantasy campaign; even though it's jaded and dated.

Urban Arcana for d20 Modern

 

Urban Arcana from Wizards of the Coast

Before I delve into anything else (still have to do that Starfinder review), I thought I should review the Urban Arcana Campaign Setting.  I'll be doing a page using Salt Lake City as your setting for Urban Arcana, so I thought I should review this book now.  It's available as a PDF on Drivethru (link already provided) and you can purchase a hard copy that is in paperback.  At a premium of course.

The Urban Arcana campaign is for d20 Modern, and it mixes fantasy concepts from D&D into the modern day, creating quite the unusual campaign setting.  I mean most of the time, I want to run fantasy horror (Werewolf: the Apocalypse), but sometimes good modern fantasy means Urban Arcana.  Urban Arcana is published by Wizards of the Coast through Drivethru now.  It's a good buy if you are looking for modern fantasy.  Here, you can blend drow, dragons, undead, and other beings from D&D into your d20 Modern game.  (So many products to review, so little time).  And while you aren't playing werewolves in the modern day, you can play mages and clerics.  I mean, how cool is that?

From GuruOX on Shutterstock.

 

The Nature of Shadow

The book opens up with an introduction on the book's material. Oh, and you also introduced to the concept of Shadow.  Shadow is the way which creatures of fantasy cross over into our own world.  Shadow touches a world (say like Oerth or Faerun) and brings creatures from that world to our world.  Anyone could come: elves, dwarves, drow, yaun-ti, anyone and anything.  Including orcs.  They come here, appearing like regular folks, but some people -- like your PCs -- can pierce this veil and see them as they really are.

Beyond that there are new additions to your d20 modern campaign, covered in Characters.  You see new occupations like the apothecary (really a pharmacist), psychic and shadow scholar. There are new feats ripe for the picking. This chapter introduces metamagic feats (for your mage or acolyte characters).  Along with other feats you might find cool for your character.  After that, Shadowkind (races or species) are discussed.  These include elves, orcs, dwarves, drow, and other Shadowkind, including humans.

Fantasy Elf from Shutterstock.

After that, new advanced classes and prestige classes are introduced for the d20 Modern game. These include the arcane arranger: a face class that could be linked to the Occult.  Others include the Archaic Weaponmaster, Glamourist, Shadowjack (something like a decker), speed demon, technomage and wild lord.  Prestige classes are five levels long and include: the Archmage, Artificer, the Ecclesiarch, and the holy/unholy knight.

Chapter two includes equipment.  With items like new weapons, hazmat suits, kits, generators, holy water, and other items.  The chapter also includes a list of vehicles to use for your d20 Modern campaign.  Chapter three includes new spells for your Urban Arcana campaign (and other d20 Modern games).  These are neatly divided into Arcane spells, Divine spells, and Incantations. New ones include Arcane Graffiti, Clean, Clown Car, Crawling Carpet, and others. Chapter four includes new magic items, while chapter five includes tips on running an Urban Arcana game.

Urban Fantasy from Shutterstock.

Chapter six goes over organizations included in the setting. Organizations include Department-7, Draco Industries, the Church of Pelor, Heirs of Kyuss, and others.  Including a restaurant franchise called the Prancing Pony (which is like McDonald's and Arctic Circle). After that is chapter seven, which includes a number of creatures and a drowic rock band.  Chapter eight includes a number of locations on where to set your campaign -- including a suggestion to use your own home town.  Chapter nine finishes off the book on how to meld D&D with your Urban Arcana setting.

Conclusion

If you are wondering how to run an urban fantasy campaign, Urban Arcana can definitely give you tips on how to run one.  The art is very good, and there are few considerations to think about.  You can merge D&D with Urban Arcana but it's best to start simple -- like your home town.  If you are looking for another regular fantasy setting, you can skip this book.

The Book of Erotic Fantasy Review

 

From White Wolf

This review is one that was made as a request.  I talk about it in my censorship article, and one of my players said I should give it a proper review.  So, I bought it from Drivethru and read through it, as fast as I possibly could.  It was written by Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel and Duncan Scott.  The project's manager was Anthony Valterra.  Who used to work for Wizards of the Coast.  It was published by White Wolf's Art Haus.  White Wolf (Paradox Interactive) owns and publishes the book through Drivethru.

Disclaimer

This is not a book for minors.  At least, not a book for the immature. It contains photos with depictions of the naked body, sexual congress, and fetishes.  While the pictures do not affect me, some are clearly pornographic in nature and some aren't.  Since the subject matter is sex, there are pictures of people having sex (only two, mind you).  Reader discretion and parental guidance is advised.

Sex

Okay, disclaimer aside, lets talk about this very controversial book.  The book is controversial because it talks about something our culture doesn't like to talk about.  That is, as you guessed, sex.  I'm a married man, so I enjoy sex with my wife (as much as I can get it, we're currently separated as of this review).  As a nudist (as if you couldn't guess), I can talk about this openly without restraint. This review only contains a picture of the cover, and not any pictures of people -- both real and imagined, having sex.

Sex is an important part of our lives.  But our repressed culture doesn't like to talk about it. It's something discussed behind closed doors.  In roleplaying games, it's hardly something to talk about.  You make a pass at the barmaid, and the GM either has the barmaid hit your character, or if she likes you, go into a room and things fade to black.  However, without sex, none of us would be here.  Sexuality is important for us as a species to reproduce ourselves.  It's a physiological drive to have us mate.  Most of the time, it's with the opposite gender (Adam knew his wife); however there are some that seek sexual congress with the same gender.  With today's politics going about how one can change their gender, and other topics, we have to talk about sexuality some time in our games.  So lets talk about it.

This book is the result of Wizards of the Coast making a change in their d20 logo guide.  This was done long ago, and I didn't like it.  I liked seeing naked bodies in my RPG products for the d20 system.  However, Wizards of the Coast made the change in order to increase sales.  They would try to change the OGL this year for the same reasons. Yes, this book talks about sexuality, but in the context of a roleplaying game.  And this book doesn't pull any punches.

The book begins with an introduction to what the book covers.  It then goes into a discussion of Sexuality.  And boy, it has a lot to talk about.  Most of the material covered in this book is in the first chapter.  It talks about including sex in your game, and why you should include it.  It also talks about marriage, sexual taboos, the consequence of love and sex, handling sex in a mature way, and how sex fits within a roleplaying game. Given how most of this book is written for Dungeons and Dragons third edition; this chapter has good advice for any roleplaying game.  Including GURPS.

After that, rules for the d20 System is covered, including new skills and feats. All appropriate for a game that includes sex. (remember, feats are important resources within a d20 OGL game). One of the new skills included is Perform (Sexual Technique), a very good skill for everyone to have actually.  Although this skill is apparent when I do my Central Casting: Heroes of Legend review.  And I like the new feats -- some feats are described as sexual and others general. My favorites are the Kundalini feat and the Tantric feat.  As both feats give a bonus to your wisdom and your intelligence respectively -- after twenty minutes of sex.  Also, the chapter talks about crossbreeding and other matters of sex.  Also, a new ability score -- Attractiveness -- is discussed here.

The next chapter talks about introducing new classes and prestige classes into the game.  These include the imagist, which is a sorcerer that uses her attractiveness as a font for magical power.  The kundala, which is a monk that has a sexual code of conduct.  They also gain spells from sexual congress.  The Kundala works well in campaigns based off of Indian mythology.  Last new class is the Tantrist, A mixture of divine and arcane spellcaster -- and she turns sexual energy into spells.

After that comes the prestige classes, which is usual for prestige classes for games that uses the revised rules -- they are all focused on a theme.  Some of which can be useful in a game that includes sex.  These include a prestige class that is devoted to a life of Chastity.  And another for temple prostitutes.

The next chapter goes over spells.  And there is some new domains introduced for the d20 system.  And includes new spells for each spellcasting class.  Some of these spells are questionable -- plus it talks about new uses for old spells -- and the ethical ramifications for using certain mind control spells  for getting what you want.

Gods are described in the next chapter.  And there are a lot of gods having to do with sex.  Although you don't really need them, you could adapt Forgotten Realms gods to these rules easily.

The next chapter discusses magical items.  And there are some interesting ones. From sexual items to weapons, they are all discussed for use in a d20 game.  Like Pathfinder.  Then the next chapter talks about creatures, and there are no shortage of interesting creatures.  Some creatures do best as a race, while others are special in their own way.  The final chapter talks about certain adventures that can happen. And also provides about one hundred adventure seeds for use in a campaign. Finally there are two appendices and an index.

Conclusion

This is a book that really talks about IT!  If it weren't for mature readers, I suggest you get it.  It contains frank pictures of naked humans.  While not particularly attractive, all of the pictures are tastefully done and not very explicit.  There are pictures of humans having sex, but there is like two of them (also one of a human masturbating).  But it's expected in a work like this.  The book is the seminal work on sex in a roleplaying game. It is one hundred and ninety pages long and came out in a time when Wizards of the Coast got repressive to protect their sales.  Although it's a double standard since Wizards of the Coast did include a naked succubus in their revised Monster Manual for 3rd edition.

Introduction to the Electric Universe

 

Before I do a review of Starfinder, I should begin with the Electric Universe.  The Universe is electric, space is not a vacuum, it's teaming with electric particles -- both ions and electrons.  Plasma exists in the Universe.  There used to be plasma instabilities during the Neolithic Age.

 The Universe is electric.  If you watch the Youtube video provided, you will be presented with Plasma Cosmology.   Watch it, and I'll have a Starfinder review for you.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide

 

From Paizo.com

Thought I should do something Paizo related.  Don't worry, I'll be getting to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game in quick order.  Right now, I'm reviewing the Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide.  Why, because I have a hard copy I can check out and go through it chapter by chapter.  It's an ambitious project -- recounting the Inner Sea region for campaigning using your favorite game system, not just Pathfinder.  Although I suspect my GURPS peers may have a conversion guide up (soon I'll be reviewing GURPS Banestorm and GURPS Fantasy).

The Inner Sea World Guide is quite simply, a guide to a piece of the world of Golarion called the Inner Sea.  It's as ambitious as the original Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting for 1st edition, 2nd edition, and 3rd edition.  My copy came as new, and I also have a digital copy. I refer to the hard copy I got from Amazon.  It's also the third incarnation of the Pathfinder campaign setting.

Disclaimer

This work is a fantasy world.  Thus it has many gods and the people are usually polytheistic.  Plus, there is nothing tying it to the Electric Universe.  You shouldn't take it as reality, it's a work for a game and therefore not real.  Yet. 

 Overview

Inner Sea World Map

 Lets get into it.  The first part of the book is the Introduction.  It welcomes you to the Inner Sea, a campaign setting that works with Pathfinder and written for Pathfinder.  However, like I said, you can use The Inner Sea with just about any game system you wish.  Including FATE, Rolemaster, and Dungeons and Dragons.  It describes how a god of humanity died and now the world is in need of heroes. It also describes the Inner Sea region as the trading and cultural hub of two mighty continents: Avistan and Garund.  These are based on Europe and Africa, respectively.  The book provides a broad overview of the Inner Sea region, yes.  And already I have an area I'd like to run a campaign in.  Also the introduction goes over the Pathfinder society, which is like the National Geographic Society.  Kind of.

The next part of the book goes over races.  And there are many different races that are recounted in this chapter, mostly human ones.  Then it devotes a page to the common races in Pathfinder.  The first chapter is scant, to tell the truth, but most of the meat of the book is in Chapter 2 -- The Inner Sea.

The Inner Sea region chapter goes over the Inner Sea in detail.  First water ways, including the Eye of Abendego -- which is a perpetual hurricane, like the Red Eye Spot of Jupiter. Then we get history.  And a good part of it. After the timeline, we get into the roll of nations.  Each nation in the Inner Sea region gets four pages detailing it's culture and a map of that nation.  The first nation, Absalom, gets turned into Absalom station in Starfinder (another game I'll get to reviewing).  Each kingdom and nation has a theme going for it.  For instance Andoran is based on the American Revolutionary War, while Cheliax is a kingdom where devils rule. And Jalmeray (an island kingdom) is based on Medieval Hindu India.

After the roll of Nations and Kingdoms, some effort is put forth on what is beyond the Inner Sea. Including Arcadia, Azlant, Casmaron, and Tian Xia (which is based on China and Japan, I'll review the Far East later).  Also what is recorded is the Solar System of Golarion.  Which I'll get into detail with my Starfinder review.  After that the lost empires of the Inner Sea is recounted in a section called Before the Inner Sea.  It's a hefty chapter full of information for you and me.

 

The Religion chapter goes over the Gods of the Inner Sea. There aren't a lot of Core Deities worshiped in the Inner Sea region, this is different from the Forgotten Realms powers -- where there is a a lot of them.  There are two additional domains for Pathfinder in this section and each Core Deity gets an overview of what their area concern and their domains. After that, there are a few other deities and Archdevils and demon lords.  And then other powers that are worshiped as well.  After that there is a whole section of Philosophies that are covered.   Then the great beyond is also covered -- these are the outer planes.  And each is given a section.

After that a chapter is devoted to life in the Inner Sea. This chapter covers trade, weather and climate, languages, coinage, and technology.  Animals and plants are also covered in this chapter. One of the technological wonders it covers is the moveable type printing press. Since it makes printing spell books easier, its also instrumental in publishing books on a far range of topics.

After that, the book covers Factions in the Inner Sea on an entire chapter devoted to them.  Each major faction has two pages devoted to them. After that, the chapter on Adventuring is covered.  Here you find ways on how the classes are worked into the Inner Sea, from alchemists to magi to the wizard.  Then there is a section of Prestige Classes remunerated.  From the Harrower to the Hellknight, to the Red Mantis Assassin.  Then there is a section of new feats, along with new equipment and spells.  Finally there is magic items.

The book's final chapter is on monsters.  And there isn't a lot of them.  However, they are there as suggestions for use or conversion into your favorite roleplaying game systems.  Then there is an index and the Open Game License with it's lengthy Section 15.

Conclusion

At three hundred and eighteen pages, this is a hefty tome.  But one that should be considered if you are adventuring in the Inner Sea region with your favorite game system or Pathfinder.  Conversion from Pathfinder to GURPS should be easy.  Some monsters may need work to do, but beyond those the book can be used as is.  I suggest you purchase the digital version first before getting your hard copy, just to see if the Inner Sea is somewhere you'd like to adventure in.

Nudity and Censorship

Picture by Chunie.

 Hi everyone.  I am LDS, I grew up in a culture where nudity always equaled sex.  Predominately.  Thus, when my father went to Italy, he came home with three miniature sculptures.  These sculptures were the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Michelangelo's David, and a sculpture of Diana.  In my early teenaged years, I perved on the sculpture of Diana.   And I'd have this problem for ten years, because nudity equaled sex in my eyes.  Only when I was twenty-four did I break the cycle.  So, what's the point about this?  We live in a culture where nudity is both reviled and admired.  All for the wrong reasons.

How did we get here?

Easy, I'll have to take you back about two hundred years. A certain sculpture was unearthed in Pompeii.  It's below.  It's a sculpture of Pan having sex with a nanny goat.

Naples National Archaeological Museum, CC BY 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons

SCANDAL!  Many people thought that it was wrong, and classical art was depicting Pan having sex.  With a nanny goat by all things!  Children must not see this!  So they locked it away, censored it, to protect the children.  What happened is irrational to say the least.  But it did happen.  Why?  Because Victorian society believed that the body must be hidden.  That nudity equaled sex, and it's something that happened in private.  Behind closed doors.  And that was the day that Pornography was invented.

Now, don't get me wrong, the Victorians did a lot for us.  There were a lot of invention and incentive that went on.  However, the culture repressed anything that had to do with nudity. In fact, they had clothes for grand pianos, lest the legs of pianos would be perved on. Yes, Victorian culture was repressive. And the effects of such echoed down through the Twentieth and Twenty-first centuries. Irrational attitudes about the human body will persist.  And Madison Avenue exploits them.

Censorship

The response is to censor the body. And how that has become a problem. In a Nation where Freedom of the Press is enshrined with our Constitution, the response to censorship is overwhelming.  To this day, the body had been censored in America.  Although now this has been challenged where the nude body of a woman is in every fashion magazine. And the nude body of a man is viewed with revile.  Naked women sell, that's for sure.  Both to men and women.  However, as we get more Authoritarian, we have censored nudity every where, since nudity equals sex in our culture.  No where do I see this as apparent as in Roleplaying Games.

In the Beginning . . .

I was there when the OGL came out.  And it was a Wild West as far as RPGs came out.  Of course, Wizards of the Coast put out the STL guide for products using the d20 logo.  But there was products that featured nudity.  Female nudity, of course, but nudity was there.  Then Wizards played the censorship game and one of their employees published a book called The Book of Erotic Fantasy that dealt with sex in the game.

Still the ban was there, and if you published a book you better not have nudity in the art or have the license revoked.  It's to protect the children.  And Thomas Jefferson advocated that there won't be censorship in a free society.

Pornography and Censorship

I know you who are parents that are reading this, that you want your children to be protected.  But Pornography depends on two things to thrive: censorship and shame.  Censorship of nudity, because the body must be hidden -- especially the penis of the male.  Shame, because through shame, pornography must thrive.  Can we as a culture get rid of Pornography?

The answer is a resounding yes!  But it would take some changes to our culture. One must come to accept that our fear and anger at the naked human body is irrational.  Both male and female.  We must throw off this irrationality towards our own bodies.  We must look at the naked human body as good, not evil.  Read Heinlein's novel Stranger in a Strange Land.  Go to nude beaches, and leave behind your swimsuit.  Take your kids with you, and show them pieces of art from the Renaissance.  Teach them the body is good, and natural.  Be nude around your children.  Fight against censorship.  Show your children that the nude body is a good body to look at.