The Inside Scoop on Gaming

This supplement has the following pieces:

First, it has writeups on David and Lilith. Both are well-done, though Lilith is definitely portrayed as grey rather than fully evil.

Then it has expanded information on Lilim: Bright Lilim and mechanics of geasa. Both are well-done, and the mechanics of geasa are very useful if you have either Lilim or geased characters.

The rest of the book is a long piece on Los Angeles, in three sections: one short adventure (the Premiere,) a lot of background, and one long adventure (Fall of the Malakim.)

The Premiere is amusing, but ... well, it wouldn't play well for all groups; it's hard to write an adventure that will work well regardless of what information- gathering abilities the characters do or don't have.

The city background is interesting on the whole, and it's interesting to see a demon-controlled city, but the setup pushes the suspension of disbelief on several points. First, the setup involves David essentially enslaving one of his Malakim to be tortured by the demons there. Now, that's nasty but possible, but I can't believe that David would do that without also having someone assigned to watch the Malakim in question (group, unity, and all that.)

Second, there's a Bright Lilim in Los Angeles. Why one of the rare and precious Bright Lilim (one with a strong geas on her, at that) is assigned to a demon-controlled city, where she could easily be captured by Asmodeus or have the geas called in by Malphas, is never explained.

Finally, it says that Servitors of Dominic never enter the city because new angels have to get the demons' permission, and if they don't do that the demons take it out on the angels already there. Laying aside the implausibility of demons being able to find discrete angels entering the city, I cannot believe that Dominic would play that game. Angels working in a demon controlled city are at great risk of Falling, Falling is worse than being Vesselkilled, if the demons are going to kill the local angels because Dominic sends around a Triad regularly, then the local angels are just going to have to move out or die on a regular basis.

Then there's the titular adventure. Frankly, it's both bad and stupid. It has plot holes worse than the above, because they're so gratuitously unnecessary. (Among other things, someone forgot that Seraphs can resonate on a videotape and find out The Truth, and that non-Stone angels can't find anything in David's Caverns without a guide.) And it's an implausible railroad job to screw over the PCs. I don't like railroading either as a GM or PC, I especially don't like railroading designed to screw over the PCs even if they do a good job, and any form of railroading has to be plausible.

On the bright side, both the background in LA and the Fall of the Malakim adventure can be patched if you need to use them. Just read carefully and be willing to make the changes that the editors should have.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Revelations IV: Fall of the Malakim
Author: James Cambias, Alain H. Dawson, David Edelstein, Kenneth Hite, Elizabeth McCoy and Derek Pearcy Category: game Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games Cost: $19.95 Page count: 128 ISBN: 1-55634-341-8 Capsule Review by Elizabeth Bartley on 03/03/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Modern_day	This supplement has the following pieces: First, it has writeups on David and Lilith. Both are well-done, though Lilith is definitely portrayed as grey rather than fully evil. Then it has expanded information on Lilim: Bright Lilim and mechanics of geasa. Both are well-done, and the mechanics of geasa are very useful if you have either Lilim or geased characters. The rest of the book is a long piece on Los Angeles, in three sections: one short adventure (the Premiere,) a lot of background, and one long adventure (Fall of the Malakim.) The Premiere is amusing, but ... well, it wouldn't play well for all groups; it's hard to write an adventure that will work well regardless of what information- gathering abilities the characters do or don't have. The city background is interesting on the whole, and it's interesting to see a demon-controlled city, but the setup pushes the suspension of disbelief on several points. First, the setup involves David essentially enslaving one of his Malakim to be tortured by the demons there. Now, that's nasty but possible, but I can't believe that David would do that without also having someone assigned to watch the Malakim in question (group, unity, and all that.) Second, there's a Bright Lilim in Los Angeles. Why one of the rare and precious Bright Lilim (one with a strong geas on her, at that) is assigned to a demon-controlled city, where she could easily be captured by Asmodeus or have the geas called in by Malphas, is never explained. Finally, it says that Servitors of Dominic never enter the city because new angels have to get the demons' permission, and if they don't do that the demons take it out on the angels already there. Laying aside the implausibility of demons being able to find discrete angels entering the city, I cannot believe that Dominic would play that game. Angels working in a demon controlled city are at great risk of Falling, Falling is worse than being Vesselkilled, if the demons are going to kill the local angels because Dominic sends around a Triad regularly, then the local angels are just going to have to move out or die on a regular basis. Then there's the titular adventure. Frankly, it's both bad and stupid. It has plot holes worse than the above, because they're so gratuitously unnecessary. (Among other things, someone forgot that Seraphs can resonate on a videotape and find out The Truth, and that non-Stone angels can't find anything in David's Caverns without a guide.) And it's an implausible railroad job to screw over the PCs. I don't like railroading either as a GM or PC, I especially don't like railroading designed to screw over the PCs even if they do a good job, and any form of railroading has to be plausible. On the bright side, both the background in LA and the Fall of the Malakim adventure can be patched if you need to use them. Just read carefully and be willing to make the changes that the editors should have. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Revelations IV: Fall of the Malakim