The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Book of the Dead

a review by Russell Mirabelli

Pinnacle's first "in-depth" supplement, Book of the Dead, is a wild exploration of the life of undead characters in their game, Deadlands. Weighing in at 128 pages, the book is split into three sections. Just like the main Deadlands book, there is a "Posse Territory" section meant for any player who choses to play a member of the undead, a "No Man's Land" intended for the players after they have spent a few sessions as undead, and a "Marshall's Handbook" section, intended for the GM only.

The Posse section takes up fully one half of the BotD. New Edges and Hinderances are presented for undead characters to choose from, as well as a slew of new powers. Much like the previous Deadlands rules, great care has been taken to keep all the powers consistent with the mythology of the deadlands universe. For example, rather than just giving players an option of a "flying" power, they wrapped the power into the harnessing of a hurricane. Also, they have tried to encourage players and Marshalls to link the powers to the Edges and Hindrances the character had in life.

The powers presented are pretty darn powerful. In fact, about halfway through the book, I got the sensation that Pinnacle had made a mistake, and turned their wonderful RPG into "Monty Haul with sixguns".

Then came the Marshall section.

Without giving too much away (since this information is supposed to be for the Marshall's eyes only), they added balancing factors. The unlife of an undead character can (and with a good Marshall's help, will) truly be Hell. There are plenty of opportunities pointed out for the Marshall to keep the undead characters not just on a leash, but firmly under control. The balance provided is truly amazing. No GM need fear the undead getting the upper hand during a campaign.

The last bit in the book is a scenario. The scenario is really not workable as a plug-in to an existing campaign, it's designed more as a one-off or maybe as an introductory scenario (though it might be a bit too tough for that). Once again, it's tough to say much more without giving too much away.

My peeves at the book? There's an ad on the last page for an upcoming supplement. Thanks, but no thanks. Leave it blank, put in some artwork, anything BUT an ad for a product that I'll probably have in six months-- but not due to the ad. There's at least one table (on page 42) that lists the numbers 1-5 in the left-hand column, then those EXACT SAME numbers in the right-hand column. There's new information for a different group of characters (clergymen), hidden in the No Man's Land section. This should have been out in the open.

If you've enjoyed Deadlands so far, you'll definitely want to pick this one up. Its usefulness for GMs running non-Deadlands campaigns (including Werewolf:Wild West) will have a really tough time making use of this material. But, you were planning on picking Deadlands up anyway, right?

Right?

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Book of the Dead
Author: Lester Smith Category: game Company/Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group Capsule Review by Russell Mirabelli on 08/21/97. Genre tags: none	Book of the Dead a review by Russell Mirabelli Pinnacle's first "in-depth" supplement, Book of the Dead, is a wild exploration of the life of undead characters in their game, Deadlands. Weighing in at 128 pages, the book is split into three sections. Just like the main Deadlands book, there is a "Posse Territory" section meant for any player who choses to play a member of the undead, a "No Man's Land" intended for the players after they have spent a few sessions as undead, and a "Marshall's Handbook" section, intended for the GM only. The Posse section takes up fully one half of the BotD. New Edges and Hinderances are presented for undead characters to choose from, as well as a slew of new powers. Much like the previous Deadlands rules, great care has been taken to keep all the powers consistent with the mythology of the deadlands universe. For example, rather than just giving players an option of a "flying" power, they wrapped the power into the harnessing of a hurricane. Also, they have tried to encourage players and Marshalls to link the powers to the Edges and Hindrances the character had in life. The powers presented are pretty darn powerful. In fact, about halfway through the book, I got the sensation that Pinnacle had made a mistake, and turned their wonderful RPG into "Monty Haul with sixguns". Then came the Marshall section. Without giving too much away (since this information is supposed to be for the Marshall's eyes only), they added balancing factors. The unlife of an undead character can (and with a good Marshall's help, will) truly be Hell. There are plenty of opportunities pointed out for the Marshall to keep the undead characters not just on a leash, but firmly under control. The balance provided is truly amazing. No GM need fear the undead getting the upper hand during a campaign. The last bit in the book is a scenario. The scenario is really not workable as a plug-in to an existing campaign, it's designed more as a one-off or maybe as an introductory scenario (though it might be a bit too tough for that). Once again, it's tough to say much more without giving too much away. My peeves at the book? There's an ad on the last page for an upcoming supplement. Thanks, but no thanks. Leave it blank, put in some artwork, anything BUT an ad for a product that I'll probably have in six months-- but not due to the ad. There's at least one table (on page 42) that lists the numbers 1-5 in the left-hand column, then those EXACT SAME numbers in the right-hand column. There's new information for a different group of characters (clergymen), hidden in the No Man's Land section. This should have been out in the open. If you've enjoyed Deadlands so far, you'll definitely want to pick this one up. Its usefulness for GMs running non-Deadlands campaigns (including Werewolf:Wild West) will have a really tough time making use of this material. But, you were planning on picking Deadlands up anyway, right? Right? Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)