Wow just about sums it up, this tome is possibly one of the best RPG supplements I've seen in ages maybe even ever.
The book itself shares a cover style with the main rule book with the same high quality of paper and binding. Overall it weighs in at 128 packed pages of tables and descriptions.
Adventuring Gear and Basics: This section contains everything a party could want with the possible exception of a kitchen sink. Just flipping through it Explosive Eggs and Fairy Dust immediately caught my eye as things that could spice up a game. Really looking forwards to reading this section in detail.
Trading and Quality: Only skimmed this so far but looks very useful with tables for settlement size, quality, bartering etc...
Armour: Lots more nice choices here but sensible in size, not the usual 500 variants on a theme you see in some games. Probably about twice the choice of the MRB plus some nice specialist armour items like the Crabclaw Gauntlet. Also has details on armour modification (useful if your group are a bunch of scavengers like mine) and armour repair.
Weaponry: Probably about twice the choice again here as in the MRB. All the weapons from the MRB are here so no need go have to resort to flipping books to find something. Nice things to see are more ammo types for ranged weapons, alternate weapon materials (Bone, Coral, Stone etc..) and Black Power Weapons to really round out the periods the rules will fit with.
Transport and Buildings: Not really read any of this yet but a quick flip shows carriages, ships, sea travel/damage rules and an extensive list of buildings. All useful for when my brain has a seizure five minutes before a game and I need a village description quick.
Beast and Cohorts: No beast stats here but a good listing of what you can buy should you ever feel the need for a trained Crocodile or sheep. The companions and cohorts list is very useful with details of skills, apptitudes and daily rates of most professions you could wish to hire .
Enchantments: This is most likely the section I'll be reading first as I need a magic sword for my game on Monday night. A quick flip shows details of Spell Matrix creation, sorcery enchantment (for all you Elric players) and power crystals.
Alchemy: This looks to be slightly more niche but useful none the less. A quick glance shows tables for things like Transmutation Backlash and Alchemy Poisons. Not high on my reading list but it is the last chapter.
Now to the best bit of the entire book. Right at the back is the reference section. This gem is 18 pages that contain every table from the book all together in one place absolutely jawdroppingly brilliant. Given that as far as I can tell everything in this book has details for cost, enc listed this section makes a big chunk of the MRP and the GM screen redundant during game play. I'm almost certainly going to be photocopying this section and laminating it to stop my book getting dog eared through overuse.
Overall based on first impressions this gets a 10/10. Buy this book, you won't regret it.
The book itself shares a cover style with the main rule book with the same high quality of paper and binding. Overall it weighs in at 128 packed pages of tables and descriptions.
Adventuring Gear and Basics: This section contains everything a party could want with the possible exception of a kitchen sink. Just flipping through it Explosive Eggs and Fairy Dust immediately caught my eye as things that could spice up a game. Really looking forwards to reading this section in detail.
Trading and Quality: Only skimmed this so far but looks very useful with tables for settlement size, quality, bartering etc...
Armour: Lots more nice choices here but sensible in size, not the usual 500 variants on a theme you see in some games. Probably about twice the choice of the MRB plus some nice specialist armour items like the Crabclaw Gauntlet. Also has details on armour modification (useful if your group are a bunch of scavengers like mine) and armour repair.
Weaponry: Probably about twice the choice again here as in the MRB. All the weapons from the MRB are here so no need go have to resort to flipping books to find something. Nice things to see are more ammo types for ranged weapons, alternate weapon materials (Bone, Coral, Stone etc..) and Black Power Weapons to really round out the periods the rules will fit with.
Transport and Buildings: Not really read any of this yet but a quick flip shows carriages, ships, sea travel/damage rules and an extensive list of buildings. All useful for when my brain has a seizure five minutes before a game and I need a village description quick.
Beast and Cohorts: No beast stats here but a good listing of what you can buy should you ever feel the need for a trained Crocodile or sheep. The companions and cohorts list is very useful with details of skills, apptitudes and daily rates of most professions you could wish to hire .
Enchantments: This is most likely the section I'll be reading first as I need a magic sword for my game on Monday night. A quick flip shows details of Spell Matrix creation, sorcery enchantment (for all you Elric players) and power crystals.
Alchemy: This looks to be slightly more niche but useful none the less. A quick glance shows tables for things like Transmutation Backlash and Alchemy Poisons. Not high on my reading list but it is the last chapter.
Now to the best bit of the entire book. Right at the back is the reference section. This gem is 18 pages that contain every table from the book all together in one place absolutely jawdroppingly brilliant. Given that as far as I can tell everything in this book has details for cost, enc listed this section makes a big chunk of the MRP and the GM screen redundant during game play. I'm almost certainly going to be photocopying this section and laminating it to stop my book getting dog eared through overuse.
Overall based on first impressions this gets a 10/10. Buy this book, you won't regret it.
