The RPG version of the wargame finally gets a 2nd Edition after 19 years, and they've ironed out most of the creases to produce a top quality dark and gritty fantasy game.
Post originally by Fulsrush at 2005-04-01 16:54:09
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My first review, and that many typos slipped past me...
The lores in the Magic chapter were meant to be on separate lines (they were in Word, but maybe I should have double-entered them - oo-er...).
And the first sentence about forbidden worship in the Religion chapter has a missing word (capitalised) and should have read: "Sadly, the section on forbidden worship is also BRIEF, with single-paragraph descriptions of Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh and Tzeentch, the four Chaos gods."
Post originally by Robert at 2005-04-01 17:58:01
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I couldn't give a rats rump, even Clan Esher rump, for how this book reads. If there are any people left on RPG.net who still deign to actually *play* RPGs, could we please hear how the new edition plays vs. the old?
Post originally by Dan Davenport at 2005-04-01 21:11:17
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Nice, comprehensive review!
I was a little sad to find out that the bestiary in this edition is so much smaller. What you say about the human(oid) enemies is true, but the huge bestiary in the 1st edition gave me a good feel for the scope of the setting.
Post originally by Pollyjumped at 2005-04-01 23:35:23
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Excellent review, Richard.
Useless trivia: According to Isaac Asimov's "Asimov's Chronology of Science & Discovery", matches were first produced in the early 1800s, but it wasn't until 1831 that a French chemist, Charles Sauria, produced the first practical friction match. Unfortunately, the match making process was poisonous to those involved, resulting in "bone degeneration [that] killed them slowly and painfully". Ick. It took seventy years to make production safe.
Post originally by Pollyjumped at 2005-04-02 00:28:40
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Addendum: Charles Panati's "Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things" has a more detailed examination of the history of match making, and mentions that British physicist Robert Boyle developed a protomatch in 1680, with fellow countryman and apothecary John Walker pre-empting Saurier's invention in 1826, but failing to capitalize on his creation; businessman Samuel Jones was inspired by Walker to manufacture his own matches, which he called "Lucifers".
Saurier improved upon Jones' design, but his poisonous phosphorous-based matches produced some very unpleasant effects on those exposed to their fumes. Panati writes: "Dr. Sauria ... unwittingly ushered in a near epidemic of a deadly disease known as "phossy jaw". Phosphorous was highly poisonous. Phosphorous matches were being manufactured in large quantities. Hundreds of factory workers developed phossy jaw, a necrosis that poisons the body's bones, especially those of the jaw. Babies sucking on match heads developed the syndrome, which caused infant skeletal deformities. And scraping the heads off a single pack of matches yielded enough phosphorous to commit suicide or murder: both events were reported."
Now, imagine how this might play out in the Old World...
Post originally by Pollyjumped at 2005-04-02 00:32:19
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Warp-stone coated "Lucifers" that summon daemons when lit, babies sucking on the match heads developing "unusual" deformities... Entire adventures written around matches!
Post originally by Eric at 2005-04-02 01:14:27
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There is a Bestiary Vol 1 coming out soon in april that should help fix this i think
Plus the GM screen and short cuts so we dont have to bound through tables.
I highly reccomend the Character sheets (the quick rules are good refrence)
Post originally by Fulsrush at 2005-04-02 01:38:32
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Give me a chance...
I might put together a follow-up playtest review after my first couple of sessions of the Enemy Within (probably running Through the Drakwald - from the new corebook - as an introductory session).
Linear Mode
