The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I have to admit to being a huge DEADLANDS and HELL ON EARTH fan. That said, I greet issue 1 of the EPITAPH with mixed enthusiasm. While it's useful for Marshalls of both games, and contains some quality material and good art, it also wastes a LOT of space and is severely overpriced.

The periodical starts out with the short Dispatch editorial, which includes updates on the events of the DEADLANDS and HELL ON EARTH RPG and CCG worlds, ending with guidelines for writing for Pinnacle (or not writing for them, as the tone is rather discouraging, which is funny considering the editing mistakes I spotted on the first page alone), and an introduction to the Pinnacle staff. Although it's just swell to see pictures and little bio's of the staff, this is the kind of thing that doesn't need pages wasted on it. Put it on the web site, anyone who really wants to know can look, and the photos will look a lot better. Same for the writing guidelines, between the two it's a waste of 6 pages (of 9).

Next up is the DEADLANDS adventure "Trouble at Table Rock". It's a straightforward, very fun Dino-Hunt Adventure, worthy of a Dime Novel of it's own. And there's an upcoming 2nd part "Tribulation at Trouble Rock" mentioned, which I would imagine will be appearing in a future issue (though it only says 'it ain't over yet...', and doesn't give any 'coming in Issue 3' information). The art on the first page of the adventure looks like it was scanned incorrectly, it's all dotted out, but that's quite minor.

Following the adventure part, we have "Veteran of the Faraway Wars", an article with a decent Veteran table for HELL ON EARTH Sykers. Again, this is useful in a HOE campaign, but it's the kind of thing you should be able to get for free off their web site (or that you can find on fan sites, or on free web RPG magazines). And the author misquotes BLUE OYSTER CULT! If you use a quote, get it right!

Another HOE world article follows, my favorite part of the magazine! "Story's End" is a HOE Dime Novel (short story) written by John Hopler. It's a powerful, hard-hitting story featuring a couple of your HOE Dime Novel faves, Teller & Gabriel Roth. In addition to this being one of the best Dime Novels I've read, you could turn this story into a HOE adventure for your local posse quite easily.

Then, another useful page before the full-color section begins; this being a listing of all the DEADLANDS (and HOE) products Pinnacle has released, including release status, retail price, and catalog number. I find this comes in very useful when looking at items on EBay, or when you're reading an adventure, and it says "you should also have book x to run this adventure to it's fullest", you can look up the price.

So far, so good. Here comes the least useful part, which adds the bulk of the inflated cost to this periodical; the full color section. I like comics just fine, but spending 12 pages on Ronan Lynch fightin' vampire trees is freakin' ridiculous! And then the final FOUR PAGES are all spent on full color Pinnacle ads! To be fair, the comic art is good, but I can't imagine why they would kick it off with a bad story about vampire trees.

All in all, there's about 22 pages in this that trees would be ashamed to die for. This periodical is worth about $6.95 (the cost of the average Dime Novel) as a mini-adventure with a short story. If I would have spent another 10 minutes looking at this at the game shop, I'd have saved $15 and had my Marshall photocopy the Dime Novel story for me to read. It may be worth it for a Marshall or someone who is both a DEADLANDS and comics fan, but the price will need to come down before I buy another issue.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 3 (Average)

The Epitaph - Issue 1
Author: Edited by Shane Lacy Hensley Category: Magazine Company/Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group Line: DEADLANDS, HELL ON EARTH Cost: $15.00 Page count: 64 ISBN: 1-889546-79-8 SKU: 3001 Capsule Review by UNODIABLO on 07/23/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Science fiction Horror Post-apocalypse Old West	I have to admit to being a huge DEADLANDS and HELL ON EARTH fan. That said, I greet issue 1 of the EPITAPH with mixed enthusiasm. While it's useful for Marshalls of both games, and contains some quality material and good art, it also wastes a LOT of space and is severely overpriced. The periodical starts out with the short Dispatch editorial, which includes updates on the events of the DEADLANDS and HELL ON EARTH RPG and CCG worlds, ending with guidelines for writing for Pinnacle (or not writing for them, as the tone is rather discouraging, which is funny considering the editing mistakes I spotted on the first page alone), and an introduction to the Pinnacle staff. Although it's just swell to see pictures and little bio's of the staff, this is the kind of thing that doesn't need pages wasted on it. Put it on the web site, anyone who really wants to know can look, and the photos will look a lot better. Same for the writing guidelines, between the two it's a waste of 6 pages (of 9). Next up is the DEADLANDS adventure "Trouble at Table Rock". It's a straightforward, very fun Dino-Hunt Adventure, worthy of a Dime Novel of it's own. And there's an upcoming 2nd part "Tribulation at Trouble Rock" mentioned, which I would imagine will be appearing in a future issue (though it only says 'it ain't over yet...', and doesn't give any 'coming in Issue 3' information). The art on the first page of the adventure looks like it was scanned incorrectly, it's all dotted out, but that's quite minor. Following the adventure part, we have "Veteran of the Faraway Wars", an article with a decent Veteran table for HELL ON EARTH Sykers. Again, this is useful in a HOE campaign, but it's the kind of thing you should be able to get for free off their web site (or that you can find on fan sites, or on free web RPG magazines). And the author misquotes BLUE OYSTER CULT! If you use a quote, get it right! Another HOE world article follows, my favorite part of the magazine! "Story's End" is a HOE Dime Novel (short story) written by John Hopler. It's a powerful, hard-hitting story featuring a couple of your HOE Dime Novel faves, Teller & Gabriel Roth. In addition to this being one of the best Dime Novels I've read, you could turn this story into a HOE adventure for your local posse quite easily. Then, another useful page before the full-color section begins; this being a listing of all the DEADLANDS (and HOE) products Pinnacle has released, including release status, retail price, and catalog number. I find this comes in very useful when looking at items on EBay, or when you're reading an adventure, and it says "you should also have book x to run this adventure to it's fullest", you can look up the price. So far, so good. Here comes the least useful part, which adds the bulk of the inflated cost to this periodical; the full color section. I like comics just fine, but spending 12 pages on Ronan Lynch fightin' vampire trees is freakin' ridiculous! And then the final FOUR PAGES are all spent on full color Pinnacle ads! To be fair, the comic art is good, but I can't imagine why they would kick it off with a bad story about vampire trees. All in all, there's about 22 pages in this that trees would be ashamed to die for. This periodical is worth about $6.95 (the cost of the average Dime Novel) as a mini-adventure with a short story. If I would have spent another 10 minutes looking at this at the game shop, I'd have saved $15 and had my Marshall photocopy the Dime Novel story for me to read. It may be worth it for a Marshall or someone who is both a DEADLANDS and comics fan, but the price will need to come down before I buy another issue. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average)

The Epitaph - Issue 1