[RPG]: Lesser Shades of Evil, reviewed by Jocelyn Robitaille (5/4)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13010.phtml

Jocelyn Robitaille's Summary:

Lesser Shades of Evil is a science-fantasy game with a unique setting that offers novel roleplaying opportunities, with a system that has a nice old-school crunch vibe to it.

Go to the full review for more information.

[Dan Davenport]

Thanks for the review, Jocelyn!

I'm really looking forward to checking this one out at GenCon. Sounds really unique!

What sorts of critters does it have in the monster department?

[Jocelyn Robitaille]

Originally Posted by Dan Davenport

What sorts of critters does it have in the monster department?

All you can eat.

LSoE offers a few templates for animals and monsters, but you can build up pretty much any sort of critter you want with the chargen rules. Moreover, since those monsters actually are manufactured in-game (by either the Genomancers or the big bad Ravencross), you don't have to bother with stuff like monster ecology or some such. A monster designed by the GM to kill and maim can simply have been designed by an NPC to kill and maim.

[Poster #15672]

Ah, cool! A review is finally out! Hopefully, access to the book itself will soon be forthcoming on the EOS Press site.

So, since I'm feeling curious, what interesting factoids can you spring on us about Ravencross' mad sister? I'm interested in what kind of wacky niche she's carved out for herself.

[Jocelyn Robitaille]

Originally Posted by Poster #15672

So, since I'm feeling curious, what interesting factoids can you spring on us about Ravencross' mad sister? I'm interested in what kind of wacky niche she's carved out for herself.

Fact 1. One of her bodies is a black dog the size of an elephant.
Fact 2. She managed to get Ravencross to let her be instead of conquering her land by using weapons of mass destruction called demon eggs... on her own territory.

How's that?

[Brad Elliott]

Originally Posted by Jocelyn Robitaille

Fact 1. One of her bodies is a black dog the size of an elephant.
Fact 2. She managed to get Ravencross to let her be instead of conquering her land by using weapons of mass destruction called demon eggs... on her own territory.

How's that?

Ohhh yeahhhh. What Oppenheimer was to the atomic bomb, Delphina is to bioterror weapons... only unlike poor Oppie, she's seriously barking mad crazy.

She frightens her brother...


Thank you, Joce! A comprehensive and thoughtful review - couldn't ask for more!

[Lethe]

Great review. I've been really interested in this game since I first came across it at Eos' website a month or so back, and your review definitely makes me want to check it out.

I don't understand your reasoning for altering your style score from a 4 to a 5 based on the fact that it was put together by one person rather than a professional company, though.

It's really impressive that one guy did it all, but that fact doesn't actually make the end product any better, does it? I mean, if someone gave you a book and didn't tell you who put it together, could you actually discern if one was done by a company or an individual? And would it make it inherently better either way?

[Jocelyn Robitaille]

Originally Posted by Lethe

I don't understand your reasoning for altering your style score from a 4 to a 5 based on the fact that it was put together by one person rather than a professional company, though.

It's really impressive that one guy did it all, but that fact doesn't actually make the end product any better, does it? I mean, if someone gave you a book and didn't tell you who put it together, could you actually discern if one was done by a company or an individual? And would it make it inherently better either way?

That's a personal choice, as a reviewer, of course. Let's put it this way, though. If I jump on a skateboard and manage to do a single somewhat hard trick move, people are going to be flabergasted because I've never skateboarded in my entire life. If, however, Tony Hawk or some other professional skateboarder does the same trick, people are going to be bored. Why? Because the means you have at your disposal have an impact on how much doing something is going to be an accomplishement or simply a routine task.

For this reason, it didn't feel fair to give LSoE the same style rathing as I would have if the produced had been put together by WotC or WW. It wouldn't have been fair, however, if I hadn't explained why the rating was such. Thus, I took the time to explain. Hopefull, I've fallen into the best of both worlds category - my review is both informative about the game's style, and fair in regard to what was accomplished and the means at the author's disposal to accomplish it.

[ravencross]

Thanks for the review Jocelyn. Quite a complete one at that!
Hi to all of you reading this thread and curious about this little thing called Lesser Shades of Evil.
Yup, LSoE is finally out there now. What a tough, maddening, exhausting and ultimately extremely rewarding experience was the making of this book! But then, it had to be. So much good stuff out there, one can't go about things half-assed (pardon my french).
But after seeing the support and interest the book has gotten in the last year, namely from Eos Press and its growing fan base, and now that LSoE inches its way into the RPG.net community and rolls its way into retailers across the world, I am starting to see that hard work sometimes gets noticed.
With the good people of Eos behind it, LSoE can finally do what it was intended to do: entertain!!!!

Great times indeed!

[Poster #15672]

So it is out?

And when will it be posted on the EOS Press site?

And one more question: I'm pretty sure the answer is yes, but: this is one of those games where the PCs can end up just as badass, if not moreso, than the Big Bads in this setting, right?