[C.W.Richeson]

Originally Posted by Gavken

My copy arrived today and I've only skim read bits but I cannot see how the reviewer can give this product 5/5, particularly with having no Index, mediocre art

You haven't read the game and your first issue are two flaws I address at the beginning of the review? Did you read my review?

Let me post some of my issues with the game as it stands.

Here's the thing about games. Everyone will find things about games they like and dislike - we each have preferences. A game can be an excellent game and totally be a game that a given person doesn't like. Often my scores have little to do with my personal interest in playing a given game. As something to consider, perhaps the game can be a great game to play despite some of the things you dislike.

* The art is mediocre at best and in places is often inappropriate for the setting. Many bits seem to have been culled from open source and some of the pencil drawings are just poor quality.

I agree. As an art book it sucks, with only occasional illustrations that are really useful to the reader. Compared side by side with a glossy full color RPG <I>S7S</I> gets its butt kicked. Those somewhat accustomed to small press games, though, shouldn't be overly surprised that art was not a primary concern for the author.

Of course, when I was playing <I>S7S</I> my players had a really kick ass time despite the artwork in the book they didn't look at. I consider artwork's primary task to inspire, and I was certainly inspired from the quotes and ideas presented already.

* Whilst the descriptions of the various flora and fauna are quite good, they lack in many details. In a world quite so different there are loads of things I'd like to know about these things. How big are they? What do they eat? Are they a danger to people? Good art pictures of the creatures in the setting would really have helped here.

I agree that another 300 page setting guide for the 7 Skies would rock. I'm aware of very few RPGs that contain a detailed bestiary or guide to flora and fauna in the main release, and none of them spend as much time working towards making play excellent as <I>S7S</I> does. Yes, we do not know how large some of the plants are but somehow a few quick imaginative description words from a player still does the trick.

* The history of the various cultures is laughable. Most of them are half a page long and do not contain any detail on relative dates. So we are having to make these details up ourselves. the history of Sha-Ka is just 4 lines long!

That's true, the cultures do not have several pages of detail on their history complete with lengthy historical timelines and other information that could be included. I suspect the author thought folk would want to swashbuckle in the 7 Skies, and that his job was to inspire them towards this end rather than provide something that may be enjoyable to read but which would not advance game play. Much like the size of the plants, at the table this general guidance results in Qualities being much stronger in the hands of imaginative players who want to craft in those details as they go.

* We are not really told what a year is, a season a day is or how it is measured. There is no reference to the currencies used to trade (which is supposedly a big part of the system) and no idea what things cost. I object to paying £20 for a setting where I have to make up half of the stuff myself.

Except, of course, for all the detail on the seasons presented at the start of the book which is extremely important to play. Did you read <I>S7S</I>? You could totally have taken out the first chapter in the time it took you to write up your grievances.

* We have about 4 pages at the back of the book that are adverts for Evil Hat production stuff. Presumably this is where the index would have gone. Contrary to what the reviewer says this is actually needed in the book as the contents are not comprehensive.

Since you have neither read the book nor played it, I'm comfortable with my own judgment regarding the need for an index rather than a detailed ToC. As for the advertisements, I have few RPGs that don't have ads in the back. WotC, White Wolf, and small press authors all do this.

* Muskets and how to handle ranged weapons are not really given in the rules and some suggestions how to handle them are posted on P263. There is no concept of range and reloading these things in the rules.

I guess I'm dense, but for the life of me I don't understand why this is an issue. The way I see it you have two choices. Either reloading is too slow to reasonably happen in combat and folk carry several pistols, or the camera only moves back to a character after they've reloaded or acquired a new pistol.

These are just things I've found out on a skim read. So in conclusion I really would disagree on the 5/5 rating given by the reviewer. I would give it 4 for style and 3 for substance.

That's cool. I recommend reading the book and then writing up a review of your own so you can share your thoughts! The more perspectives we get the better.

For me, your objections have zero to do with playing the game and would never impact the fun my group is having at the table. I think you're more interested in a book to read than a game to play. That's ok, a lot of RPG fans are, but it may be that we just have a fundamentally different approach since the question that always drives my reviews is "How is this / would this be in play?"