The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Let me begin by saying two things:

1) I love Planescape. It's quite possibly the best thing to happen to AD&D, certainly the best-written, meatiest, and most original line, and is responsible for the vast majority of AD&D products which are as much fun to read as they are to play.

2) This is not a Planescape product, but I think it harbors hopes of being such when it grows up.

I ordered this book online, which didn't give me the chance to flip through it first. Had I been able to, I probably would have noted the absence of the Planescape logo - as well as that line's distinctive art style and tone of writing. And quality. And raison d'etre.

All right, I'm being unnecessarily bitter. It's a usable supplement. I will, in fact, use it. But only because I haven't come up with anything better yet. Warriors of Heaven is, ostensibly, a guide to using upper planar beings (ie, angels) in AD&D campaigns. This is Planescape territory all over the place, but Planescape has fallen out of favor with the Wizards That Be, and I suspect that this book was originally intended to be a Planescape supplement but was forcibly genericized -- suffering immensely in the process.

What Warriors of Heaven provides is brief -- far too brief -- explanations of the roles filled by upper planar beings, the capacity in which they serve their deities, and then lots and lots of interminable descriptions of the various celestial races and their capabilities. Of course, since they're meant to be used as PCs, the celestials are de-powered somewhat, at least until higher levels are reached. That's a good thing, and the desire to find ways in which to do that is one reason I bought the book, and one reason I'm keeping it.

But the editing is ... stunningly bad. First of all, there's no introduction. No "hi, thanks for picking up this book, here's how you use it." No "this supplement is intended for." No "in the next ninety-six pages, we'll be dealing with." That's much more jarring than I would have expected. Secondly, all you really have is a long list of new PC races with a bit of discussion of their cultures - but it's so generic as to be all but unusable. How would one incorporate this material into an existing Forgotten Realms campaign, say? Or Greyhawk, since that's the favored child now? Or, God forbid, Planescape? For that matter, how is the DM expected to go about beginning a Warriors of Heaven campaign? How do the various celestial races get along? Do they perceive themselves along racial lines, or those of alignment - or deity served? In other words, should a PC party be made up of all archons, all Neutral Good characters, or all characters serving Torm?

We don't know, and more importantly, we have no real way to guess. This is the kind of supplement that makes "generic" a bad thing. Imagine being handed the rules for D&D without knowing what elves and dwarves were, and without being told that they were intended to be used in a quasi-medieval mid-to-high fantasy campaign. "Now go out and have yourselves a ball, kids!" Right, now imagine that without at least the option of a random dungeon crawl. After all, these are angels. One imagines they don't adventure at random.

All in all, a painful sight for a long-time Planescape fan and AD&D supporter of far too many years. If this is an indication of where AD&D is going with their third edition ... then maybe I'll finally look into Ars Magica.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 1 (I Wasted My Money)

Warriors of Heaven
Author: Christopher Perkins Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR/Wizards of the Coast Line: AD&D Cost: $18.95 Page count: 96 Capsule Review by Bill Kte'pi on 02/04/00. Genre tags: Fantasy	Let me begin by saying two things: 1) I love Planescape. It's quite possibly the best thing to happen to AD&D, certainly the best-written, meatiest, and most original line, and is responsible for the vast majority of AD&D products which are as much fun to read as they are to play. 2) This is not a Planescape product, but I think it harbors hopes of being such when it grows up. I ordered this book online, which didn't give me the chance to flip through it first. Had I been able to, I probably would have noted the absence of the Planescape logo - as well as that line's distinctive art style and tone of writing. And quality. And raison d'etre. All right, I'm being unnecessarily bitter. It's a usable supplement. I will, in fact, use it. But only because I haven't come up with anything better yet. Warriors of Heaven is, ostensibly, a guide to using upper planar beings (ie, angels) in AD&D campaigns. This is Planescape territory all over the place, but Planescape has fallen out of favor with the Wizards That Be, and I suspect that this book was originally intended to be a Planescape supplement but was forcibly genericized -- suffering immensely in the process. What Warriors of Heaven provides is brief -- far too brief -- explanations of the roles filled by upper planar beings, the capacity in which they serve their deities, and then lots and lots of interminable descriptions of the various celestial races and their capabilities. Of course, since they're meant to be used as PCs, the celestials are de-powered somewhat, at least until higher levels are reached. That's a good thing, and the desire to find ways in which to do that is one reason I bought the book, and one reason I'm keeping it. But the editing is ... stunningly bad. First of all, there's no introduction. No "hi, thanks for picking up this book, here's how you use it." No "this supplement is intended for." No "in the next ninety-six pages, we'll be dealing with." That's much more jarring than I would have expected. Secondly, all you really have is a long list of new PC races with a bit of discussion of their cultures - but it's so generic as to be all but unusable. How would one incorporate this material into an existing Forgotten Realms campaign, say? Or Greyhawk, since that's the favored child now? Or, God forbid, Planescape? For that matter, how is the DM expected to go about beginning a Warriors of Heaven campaign? How do the various celestial races get along? Do they perceive themselves along racial lines, or those of alignment - or deity served? In other words, should a PC party be made up of all archons, all Neutral Good characters, or all characters serving Torm? We don't know, and more importantly, we have no real way to guess. This is the kind of supplement that makes "generic" a bad thing. Imagine being handed the rules for D&D without knowing what elves and dwarves were, and without being told that they were intended to be used in a quasi-medieval mid-to-high fantasy campaign. "Now go out and have yourselves a ball, kids!" Right, now imagine that without at least the option of a random dungeon crawl. After all, these are angels. One imagines they don't adventure at random. All in all, a painful sight for a long-time Planescape fan and AD&D supporter of far too many years. If this is an indication of where AD&D is going with their third edition ... then maybe I'll finally look into Ars Magica. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 1 (I Wasted My Money)