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This is what a player handbook suppliment should be, gang.

Golden Comeback covers the one faction of the Secret War expressly designed and intended for the PCs: The Dragons. This group of cross-time heroes, legends, and champions fought against the facist nightmares carried by all of the other factions for world domination. Despite being smashed repeatedly by these powerful foes, the Dragons always rose again.

However, it would help if the heroes didn't die so often. To that end, the folks at Atlas Games grabbed some writers and got to work on a book that gives a Feng Shui player everything they could want to make their PCs more effective at kicking the crap out all sort of bad guys.

Here's how it breaks down:

* Chapter One: Heroes

This chapter is all about the Dragons. It's a history lesson, but it's one worth reading. The reader learns the true idenity of The Prof, the true nature of Kar Fai, how their incarnation of the Dragons came to be, and how they went about recruiting the other heroes now known to Secret Warriors throughout space and time. It also includes the stats for all of these characters.

The stats were a good thing, because it cemented the idea that a PC in Feng Shui starts at or near the top of his game. By comparing these NPCs to a PC of the same sort, it becomes clear that the PCs--from the beginning--can make big changes in the Secret War. I like this for the positive example it provides for players who're used to waiting a while before the PCs has enough power to do jack about squat.

*Chapter Two: Being a Better Player

Now the meat of the book begins. This chapter expands on the advice given in the rulebook. While the main text has a long and detailed set of explainations for it, the essence is in the sidebars: Have Fun, Identify With Your Character, Cover The Bases, Leave Room To Grow, Use a Personality Code, Always Round The Corners, Keep It Simple, Take It Easy, Stay Believable, Have a Witty Line Ready, Work With The GM, and Feel Free Ignore Any Of This. This doesn't take a lot of time--no more than the usual for Feng Shui--and it helps most players with getting a handle on their PCs.

The rest of the chapter deals with commonly-seen subjects. It starts with an essay about how to take advantage of the stunt rules. It goes on with how to adjust real-world martial arts into the over-the-top fantasy of Feng Shui, and that includes melee weapon versions of the Gun Schticks. Placed through the remainder of the chapter are more sidebars that cover common conventions, useful trivia, and anything else the writers thought would be good to print. This is pretty good, gang.

* Chapter Three: Being a Better Character

Aw yeah! This is the good stuff, baby. There's scads and scads of new Schticks of all kinds for you to exploit. The first to strut their stuff are the new Stat Schticks, where you need a score of 11+ to buy them, and they range from Monumental Leap, to the Big Bruiser's Schtick, to a pair of Speed-related Schticks that make getting the First Shot painfully easy.

The new Fu Schticks are next; just about every path gets a new Schtick or two. The new Transformed Animals are next (Mantis, Cockroach, Dolphin, Mallard, Boar, Bat, and Salamander), and they include some Schticks that any Transformed Animal can purchase. Two that should be very popular are Fu Advantage (reduced cost for buying Fu Schticks related to animal type) and Latency (Reversion as for 69 characters).

The guns come next. Lots of new guns to be had, and a few new Gun Schticks to go with 'em: Cover Fire, 10K Bullets, Concealed Weapons, Dismantle Gun (in foes' hand), Shoot Weapon (out of foes' hand), and Bullet Storm. New Arcanowave Devices follow them, including a few that aren't Buro inventions, and then come the Gadget rules for making all sorts of keen kitbash devices or spy toys.

After this come the Sorcery Combinations. This is a set of rules for creating cool new Schticks from using the existing material, and the book has plenty of examples to show you how it's done. While I wasn't sure about this stuff at first, now I'm digging it. It allows players to make their mages cooler without requires scads and scads of books dedicated to the subject. You can combine Sorcery with Fu, Gun, and other Sorcery Schticks to achieve whatever neat thing you desire. To top this off, there are a handful of new Sorcery effects just for the folks who're looking to do adapt some anime to Feng Shui.

And next come the Creature Combos. These combine one Creature Power Schtick with another to create something else. Some of them are just prerequisites, while others are pure peanut-butter-and-chocolate combos. (I am so partial to Torrent of Blood; now I can play vampires like Kain.) From these come Advanced Creature Powers, which must be bought like any other, and they are truly cool and devastating. Neat!

Finally, there's a slew of miscellanious Schticks and two templates. The Athlete uses the new Stat Schticks, and Velocity Addict uses the Drive Schticks detailed in the next chapter. (Between the Addict and the chase rules, you have all you need to run "The Dukes of Hazard" with Feng Shui. Rock on!)

* Chapter Four: Other Trouble

Rules for strangling, throws, holds, car chases, instant knockouts, and disarming are all in the first few pages of this final chapter. The rest goes over to the ins and outs of the new chase rules, which are really cool extrapolations of the basic action sequence rules.

Vehicles in Feng Shui are rated by Pep (speed and coolness), and Wreck (How much it can take). Both are abstractions of the real deal, which is how it ought to be in an action movie RPG. Most small arms do one Wreck point; bigger guns do more damage. Mook vehicles go out like any other mook.

Side note: No other RPG on the market could ever do the Pod-racer scene from TPM, be sufficiently accurate, and still maintain the movie feel of the action like this set of rules do. That ought to sell it right there.

The book has a list of common vehicles, including horses and stuff from 2056. (The 2056 gravtank has a BFG that bypasses the Toughness of any sap that gets hit by it; Corinth is vindicated.) All you car fanatics can get your fix now.

Finally, what would a new realm of combat be without some Schticks to go with it? The new Drive Schticks: shorten Shot Costs of Drive actions, increase Ram damage, increase Initiative rolls for drivers, and give a PC a Signature Ride (+2 AV and Nigh-Indestructability.)

The conclusion? Why in the hell would you go without this book? Go and get it _right now_! You can buy the $200 of pudding some other time.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Golden Comeback: The Feng Shui Player's Handbook
Author: Bruce Baugh, Tim Dedopulous, Geoff Grabowski, Rob Heinsoo, Andy Lucas, Hal Mangold, John Snead, Greg Stolze, Tim Toner, and Rob Vaux. Category: game Company/Publisher: Atlas Games Line: Feng Shui Cost: $19.95 (US) Page count: 128 pages ISBN: 1-887801-80-4 SKU: AG4002 Capsule Review by Bradford C. Walker on 01/26/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Science_fiction Modern_day Historical Horror Far_Future Space Conspiracy Post-apocalypse Old_West Asian/Far_East Superhero	This is what a player handbook suppliment should be, gang. Golden Comeback covers the one faction of the Secret War expressly designed and intended for the PCs: The Dragons. This group of cross-time heroes, legends, and champions fought against the facist nightmares carried by all of the other factions for world domination. Despite being smashed repeatedly by these powerful foes, the Dragons always rose again. However, it would help if the heroes didn't die so often. To that end, the folks at Atlas Games grabbed some writers and got to work on a book that gives a Feng Shui player everything they could want to make their PCs more effective at kicking the crap out all sort of bad guys. Here's how it breaks down: * Chapter One: Heroes This chapter is all about the Dragons. It's a history lesson, but it's one worth reading. The reader learns the true idenity of The Prof, the true nature of Kar Fai, how their incarnation of the Dragons came to be, and how they went about recruiting the other heroes now known to Secret Warriors throughout space and time. It also includes the stats for all of these characters. The stats were a good thing, because it cemented the idea that a PC in Feng Shui starts at or near the top of his game. By comparing these NPCs to a PC of the same sort, it becomes clear that the PCs--from the beginning--can make big changes in the Secret War. I like this for the positive example it provides for players who're used to waiting a while before the PCs has enough power to do jack about squat. Chapter Two: Being a Better Player Now the meat of the book begins. This chapter expands on the advice given in the rulebook. While the main text has a long and detailed set of explainations for it, the essence is in the sidebars: Have Fun, Identify With Your Character, Cover The Bases, Leave Room To Grow, Use a Personality Code, Always Round The Corners, Keep It Simple, Take It Easy, Stay Believable, Have a Witty Line Ready, Work With The GM, and Feel Free Ignore Any Of This. This doesn't take a lot of time--no more than the usual for Feng Shui--and it helps most players with getting a handle on their PCs. The rest of the chapter deals with commonly-seen subjects. It starts with an essay about how to take advantage of the stunt rules. It goes on with how to adjust real-world martial arts into the over-the-top fantasy of Feng Shui, and that includes melee weapon versions of the Gun Schticks. Placed through the remainder of the chapter are more sidebars that cover common conventions, useful trivia, and anything else the writers thought would be good to print. This is pretty good, gang. Chapter Three: Being a Better Character Aw yeah! This is the good stuff, baby. There's scads and scads of new Schticks of all kinds for you to exploit. The first to strut their stuff are the new Stat Schticks, where you need a score of 11+ to buy them, and they range from Monumental Leap, to the Big Bruiser's Schtick, to a pair of Speed-related Schticks that make getting the First Shot painfully easy. The new Fu Schticks are next; just about every path gets a new Schtick or two. The new Transformed Animals are next (Mantis, Cockroach, Dolphin, Mallard, Boar, Bat, and Salamander), and they include some Schticks that any Transformed Animal can purchase. Two that should be very popular are Fu Advantage (reduced cost for buying Fu Schticks related to animal type) and Latency (Reversion as for 69 characters). The guns come next. Lots of new guns to be had, and a few new Gun Schticks to go with 'em: Cover Fire, 10K Bullets, Concealed Weapons, Dismantle Gun (in foes' hand), Shoot Weapon (out of foes' hand), and Bullet Storm. New Arcanowave Devices follow them, including a few that aren't Buro inventions, and then come the Gadget rules for making all sorts of keen kitbash devices or spy toys. After this come the Sorcery Combinations. This is a set of rules for creating cool new Schticks from using the existing material, and the book has plenty of examples to show you how it's done. While I wasn't sure about this stuff at first, now I'm digging it. It allows players to make their mages cooler without requires scads and scads of books dedicated to the subject. You can combine Sorcery with Fu, Gun, and other Sorcery Schticks to achieve whatever neat thing you desire. To top this off, there are a handful of new Sorcery effects just for the folks who're looking to do adapt some anime to Feng Shui. And next come the Creature Combos. These combine one Creature Power Schtick with another to create something else. Some of them are just prerequisites, while others are pure peanut-butter-and-chocolate combos. (I am so partial to Torrent of Blood; now I can play vampires like Kain.) From these come Advanced Creature Powers, which must be bought like any other, and they are truly cool and devastating. Neat! Finally, there's a slew of miscellanious Schticks and two templates. The Athlete uses the new Stat Schticks, and Velocity Addict uses the Drive Schticks detailed in the next chapter. (Between the Addict and the chase rules, you have all you need to run "The Dukes of Hazard" with Feng Shui. Rock on!) * Chapter Four: Other Trouble Rules for strangling, throws, holds, car chases, instant knockouts, and disarming are all in the first few pages of this final chapter. The rest goes over to the ins and outs of the new chase rules, which are really cool extrapolations of the basic action sequence rules. Vehicles in Feng Shui are rated by Pep (speed and coolness), and Wreck (How much it can take). Both are abstractions of the real deal, which is how it ought to be in an action movie RPG. Most small arms do one Wreck point; bigger guns do more damage. Mook vehicles go out like any other mook. Side note: No other RPG on the market could ever do the Pod-racer scene from TPM, be sufficiently accurate, and still maintain the movie feel of the action like this set of rules do. That ought to sell it right there. The book has a list of common vehicles, including horses and stuff from 2056. (The 2056 gravtank has a BFG that bypasses the Toughness of any sap that gets hit by it; Corinth is vindicated.) All you car fanatics can get your fix now. Finally, what would a new realm of combat be without some Schticks to go with it? The new Drive Schticks: shorten Shot Costs of Drive actions, increase Ram damage, increase Initiative rolls for drivers, and give a PC a Signature Ride (+2 AV and Nigh-Indestructability.) The conclusion? Why in the hell would you go without this book? Go and get it _right now_! You can buy the $200 of pudding some other time. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Golden Comeback: The Feng Shui Player's Handbook