The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Published in 1992 this book was the PLayer's Handbook to the Sun & Storm Universe, that being said this book,The Enchiridon, is all that is necessary to run the game. Althoughlike all games the Gamemaster's Guide called, The Codex, would be a nice addition. You noticed I said was right? Well I am presuming it is out of print since I can find no word to the contrary.

Rules: The rules are packed through a 95 page rulebook with Table of contents but no index (big surprise) the book covers character creation and all that entails, races, professions, etc. There are three primary races, the Kehessek, Requessek, and Hadiboreans, and a fourth race that amounts to person of mixed parentage from the above three. THe Kehessek and Requessek are related, one being the 'warrior' race and the other a 'wizard' race and Hadiboreans fill the roles of Mystic,'preist' types, however it's not quite so cut and dried. Those are genetic tndencies appearently, and nothing says that a Requessek (wizard type) cannot run around with weapons and such,however the genetic based 'magicks' tend to keep Kehessek from beign Wizards-Kehessek magics are tyed to enhancing their physical abilities,while Requessek have device making, technomagic(simple things like blast and such exist but they can create Boltcasters (guns) as well as other devices. Attributes range from 1-12, only two attributes can be 0 and those relate to one's use of Magic and technology. A 14 is possible for very focused or magically enhanced characters. The magic, while not the flexible, and variable system as similar to many modern games, it is unique in that a character can channel city destroying magics, of course that will kill your pc dead but...there have to be a few limits.

The system boils down to a series of derived 'pools' Fatigue,Damage Resistance,Physical Defense, Improvement, Magic Defense, and Hand of Fate. They are used pretty much as their names indicate, Hand of Fate lets a player turn Improvement points into luck for the purposes of staying alive--which is a pretty good idea in the game.

One of the very nice things is high skills can make any weapon lethal, and in one case they even give you reasons why a pc may want to take artistic talents. Now I can ramble on because they pack a lot in 95 pages, mostly it's rules with a brief introduction to the universe but I will say the Rules work, and in a way that few games do.

Setting: While covered oly briefly its an interestingly different approach to Fantasy, Dragon's created the Universe, Storm Dragon's are twisted and evil and Sun Dragons good and light, or something like that, what is really interesting is when it gets to the point that the world was once a beautiful paradise of technowizardy ntil Hectizor arrived killed cities, and animated the corpses of the dead as Kreidempek Shock troops and sent them out to destroy more cities and so on....but whose Hectizor?

Well hes a Stormwyrm, evil and malovelant and trying to destroy the beauty created by Saurileth named Merdesaur, and yesguess what that the PC's homeworld. While it is suggested that Space Travel is possible it is convered in the game though they mention Wyrmships which are ships of technomagical power created in the image of the Wyrms.

Gems:Where the game really shines is the humor, it's full of interesting writing style that focuses on the game almost as if it were a real world and someone was talking to you about it...It sets the tone quite well, a star, bleak world on the brink of ending filled with people who at least have a sense of humor

For example on pg 81 in Chapter 12 under the heading : Casting Lethal spells

"Well that's just great!" Now we've had it! I've got a Power score of 10, but don't have skill in any of my special abilities to control it! The Kriedetempek will come for us, and kill us, and I'm helpless to do anything about it! We're dead,dead,dead!"

"SHUTUP!!! IT'S NOT THAT BAD! Look at what the rules say!"

The game is full of this GM(DP-Divine Presence hows that for a God Complex) and this player/player character chatting back and forth about the rules it is a little distracting but since they tend to be informative as well as conversational it helps add to the game rather than detract from it.

Layout: Ugly, very little art, but what can you expect in a book this size, the text isn't anything special other than the sidebars.

Overall this is a great buy if you can pick it up for it's original cover price, even better if you can pick it up in a bargain bin, it's worth it just for the fun of reading it, and the fact that it has a workable system makes it doubly attractive, it's not 'great' but it does have some interesting ideas, and is definetly worth at least skimming through for laughs.

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

Sun& Storm: The Enchiridon
Author: D. Pilurs Category: game Company/Publisher: Storm Press Line: Sun&Storm Cost: 12.95 Page count: 94 ISBN: 0-9636551-0-8 Capsule Review by Tim Kirk on 10/24/99. Genre tags: Fantasy	Published in 1992 this book was the PLayer's Handbook to the Sun & Storm Universe, that being said this book,The Enchiridon, is all that is necessary to run the game. Althoughlike all games the Gamemaster's Guide called, The Codex, would be a nice addition. You noticed I said was right? Well I am presuming it is out of print since I can find no word to the contrary. Rules: The rules are packed through a 95 page rulebook with Table of contents but no index (big surprise) the book covers character creation and all that entails, races, professions, etc. There are three primary races, the Kehessek, Requessek, and Hadiboreans, and a fourth race that amounts to person of mixed parentage from the above three. THe Kehessek and Requessek are related, one being the 'warrior' race and the other a 'wizard' race and Hadiboreans fill the roles of Mystic,'preist' types, however it's not quite so cut and dried. Those are genetic tndencies appearently, and nothing says that a Requessek (wizard type) cannot run around with weapons and such,however the genetic based 'magicks' tend to keep Kehessek from beign Wizards-Kehessek magics are tyed to enhancing their physical abilities,while Requessek have device making, technomagic(simple things like blast and such exist but they can create Boltcasters (guns) as well as other devices. Attributes range from 1-12, only two attributes can be 0 and those relate to one's use of Magic and technology. A 14 is possible for very focused or magically enhanced characters. The magic, while not the flexible, and variable system as similar to many modern games, it is unique in that a character can channel city destroying magics, of course that will kill your pc dead but...there have to be a few limits. The system boils down to a series of derived 'pools' Fatigue,Damage Resistance,Physical Defense, Improvement, Magic Defense, and Hand of Fate. They are used pretty much as their names indicate, Hand of Fate lets a player turn Improvement points into luck for the purposes of staying alive--which is a pretty good idea in the game. One of the very nice things is high skills can make any weapon lethal, and in one case they even give you reasons why a pc may want to take artistic talents. Now I can ramble on because they pack a lot in 95 pages, mostly it's rules with a brief introduction to the universe but I will say the Rules work, and in a way that few games do. Setting: While covered oly briefly its an interestingly different approach to Fantasy, Dragon's created the Universe, Storm Dragon's are twisted and evil and Sun Dragons good and light, or something like that, what is really interesting is when it gets to the point that the world was once a beautiful paradise of technowizardy ntil Hectizor arrived killed cities, and animated the corpses of the dead as Kreidempek Shock troops and sent them out to destroy more cities and so on....but whose Hectizor? Well hes a Stormwyrm, evil and malovelant and trying to destroy the beauty created by Saurileth named Merdesaur, and yesguess what that the PC's homeworld. While it is suggested that Space Travel is possible it is convered in the game though they mention Wyrmships which are ships of technomagical power created in the image of the Wyrms. Gems:Where the game really shines is the humor, it's full of interesting writing style that focuses on the game almost as if it were a real world and someone was talking to you about it...It sets the tone quite well, a star, bleak world on the brink of ending filled with people who at least have a sense of humor For example on pg 81 in Chapter 12 under the heading : Casting Lethal spells "Well that's just great!" Now we've had it! I've got a Power score of 10, but don't have skill in any of my special abilities to control it! The Kriedetempek will come for us, and kill us, and I'm helpless to do anything about it! We're dead,dead,dead!" "SHUTUP!!! IT'S NOT THAT BAD! Look at what the rules say!" The game is full of this GM(DP-Divine Presence hows that for a God Complex) and this player/player character chatting back and forth about the rules it is a little distracting but since they tend to be informative as well as conversational it helps add to the game rather than detract from it. Layout: Ugly, very little art, but what can you expect in a book this size, the text isn't anything special other than the sidebars. Overall this is a great buy if you can pick it up for it's original cover price, even better if you can pick it up in a bargain bin, it's worth it just for the fun of reading it, and the fact that it has a workable system makes it doubly attractive, it's not 'great' but it does have some interesting ideas, and is definetly worth at least skimming through for laughs. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Sun& Storm: The Enchiridon