The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Ravaged Planet -BNW Players Guide

160 pages hardback book for $25 or £15-£20.

Continuing with my series of Brave New World reviews, we have the BNW players guide. It has much the same style as the main rulebook with 16 full colour glossy pages for the archetypes and art. Its littered with cartoonish artwork and those wide margins and low word per page counts that Matt Forbeck loves so much.

The first 50 pages mirror those of the main rule though this time narrated as Patriot's journal. Patriot of course being the delta that appeared in the mini-comic at the beginning of the main rulebook. (I should also like to clear up another point of confusion. There appears to have been two Patriots! The first was active in WW2 and his stats appear in 'Glory Days'. I also believe him to be the Patriot mentioned in the main rulebook under the 1953 McCarthy/HUAC hearings. Patriot Junior is the one in the rulebook comicstrip and evidently takes his name from the elder, though no mention is made of this in his Journal! Gah!.....I hate these sloppy inconsistencies which happen far too often in BNW)

Anyway the journal covers Patriot II's life and times, neatly mirroring that of Americas. Starting off as annoying orphan who memorises the American Constitution and hero worshipping the Yankee (as apple-pie an all-American delta as was possible) in the golden years of the 50's Patriot 'awakens' as a delta whilst only 16 or so. (Though irritatingly no hard dates or details are given.) Patriot goes on to join the Delta Squadron, an super-powered army unit that exports Uncle Sams policies to the rest of the world. (Propping up dictators, putting down Marxist guerrillas etc.) Then comes 1963 and the DRA. Forced to register and join Delta Prime (DP) he becomes a Government goon hauling in supervillians and young unregistered deltas. After the Bicentennial Battle (which he missed due to injury) Patriot joins the CIA side of Delta Prime in order to assassinate foreign leaders, destabilise pro-Communist regimes and any other James Bond tom-foolery. This ends in 1988 with the 'Big Mistake' incident. An attempted assassination on the Soviet Premier and the 'accident' at Chernobyl provoke the Russkies into nuking Atlanta and San Franciso.

Disgusted by JFK's public claims that the attack was unprovoked and that you cant trust those goddamn Commies, Patriot leaves Delta Prime and works briefly for the Mafia. Put in a moral quandary, he once more ditches his employer and joins the Defiance where he rescues new deltas from his former Delta Prime buddies. That is, until they finally capture him, put him in front of a kangaroo court and execute him with armour piercing bullets (because his hide is so tough!).

Once dead, he becomes a martyr to the Defiance and some riots erupt, while conspiracy theorists wonder if he really died. As amusing as this entire section is, it suffers from repetitive anti- Kennedy and DP rants that distract attention away from whatever patriot was talking about. Further the details on world governments and historical events are pretty sketchy, despite the fact that Patriot appears to have been everywhere and done everything. I got the feeling that Matt Forbeck is using this guy as a model PC for people to mimic, along with a degree of moral hand wringing and angsty philosophising that would do any Vampire or Wraith writer proud. Except in Patriots case, its not his inner beast he constantly worries about, but the ethical and constitutional implications of supporting the Kennedy regime. This doesn't really come off, and Patriot merely sounds like some backwoods gun-proud militia nut to me. (This may be because I'm British and don't really get excited about Constitutions and Bills of Rights. After all, we've got on perfectly all right without one till now.)

The next 45 pages or so cover Crescent City and life in other major American cities. We learn that the Mob, Delta Prime and the Kennedy Administration jointly run Crescent City, a wonderful heroic-gothic art deco new city built around where Chicago used to be. Spotlights race across skyscrapers at night as alpha supervillains break out from the nearby Fortress maximum-security prison, the Defiance feud with the DP headquarters and the Delta Academy in such pulp places as Superior Park and Triumph Towers. And lets not forget the fishmen in the nearby lake.....
If you think a mix of Gotham and Metropolis, then you've got Crescent City. It's not a bad setting, though somehow Forbeck's description of the environs and architecture is more interesting than his stereotypical characters. However there is a Crescent City sourcebook due out, which given past BNW form will probably invalidate or supersede most of the details here.

The rest of America seems slightly more stale and restrictive. San Diego hosts the American military and supplies the giant Wall that Kennedy had built to separate the States from Mexico. Similar to the Berlin Wall, illegal Mexican immigrants are shot and their bodies left to rot on the razor wire and minefields below the Wall. New York, Philadelphia and Washington have all been wrecked and depopulated by battling alphas and deltas over the years whilst Boston and Denver prosper by cracking down on Deltas more than usual. Meanwhile LA and Detroit have delta actors and gang warfare respectively.

This national overview takes over 20 pages, and apart from telling us that America is even more heavily armed with gunfights and even western-style duels commonplace, it doesn't adequately cover the details. e.g. For some cities, it mentions one or at most two prominent individuals, but no such luck for most. There is no indication if technology or society has regressed in this dangerous atmosphere, or what happened to local democracy and law enforcement. If martial law was declared thirty years ago, does that still mean the army patrols the streets in tanks? How has society and the economy changed in this now-fascist state?

A World of Hurt

A mere 16 pages is devoted to an even more skimpily covered global assessment. Africa and South America is in chaos as delta warlords battle it out. Europe's stable but depressed whilst China pretends to have few deltas and Israel has plenty. Amusingly Canada repatriates fleeing American deltas leaving only the humble and independent Costa Rica as a haven of Defiance tolerance and understanding. A few pages are also devoted to Soviet Russia under its new Red Army junta. A few other major countries are covered, but by and large its very thin on details. It seems that Forbeck just mentions the most obvious thing that he can use to identify that country and gives it the BNW twist. For example, Libya has Gaddaffi and CIA assassinations, whilst the only intelligent thing he says about the UK is to note the ban on firearms. No mention is made of government, or how they treat deltas, or if anything has changed socially.

For substance, this section, which could have been one of the most interesting and detailed only rates a substance score of 1. Its that old Forbeck/BNW problem of good cursory ideas, but no follow-through or useful information.

Rules Section

The next 35 pages covers 10 new player power packages. First off, we meet the Covenant which is the Catholic Church delta organisation. Seemingly descended from the Inquisition, they battle evil and creatures of darkness whilst bringing succor and healing to the innocent and faithful.
Unusually, all ordained Catholic clergy who 'awaken' gain the same power package, whatever the circumstances. It also uses the mysterious Faith skill from the main rulebook. For those that skipped it the Faith skill 'actually helps certain kinds of deltas use their powers. You'll learn more about it as the BNW saga develops.' and so we do in Ravaged Planet. Covenant members have a flexible selection of powerful effects, be it 'Might of God' to boost strength, to the "Cure light wounds" equivalent called Divine Mercy and the pyrotechnic 'Wrath of God' which calls down pillars of flame on the unbelievers!!
Bizarrely these guys are nothing like mono-powered deltas, but much closer to Deadlands Blessed (right down to the one miracle per faith point rule). Nor is there any mention of what happens if a Covenant member goes bad. As far as I can work out, once they have their powers they can leave the clergy and take up a life of crime and still call upon divine miracles!

Still the Covenant is a major force and it looks like Forbeck thought about its implications. Revealed in the 1920's the sense of security the Covenant provided for the Catholic Church increased congregation sizes by 50% and kept the Church powerful and traditional. With this popularity at an all time high as Covenant members protected the faithful from delta exploitation, the Pope felt no need to modernise or update the Church organisation and services. Mass is still said in Latin and the priest prays to the Crucifix and not the congregation and none of the reforms we've seen in the real world Catholic Church happen.
Furthermore, because JFK is a Catholic (and one who confesses directly to the Pope) the Covenant are legal in the US. As long as they register, Covenant deltas effectively have diplomatic immunity from Delta Prime. This means they can fight vampires and persecute Bargainers to their hearts content, without being arrested! The payoff for this freedom from interference is that the Church and Covenant are apolitical and only advocate resistance to the Kennedy Regime through prayer.

Of course the Protestant churches and more than a few Catholics disagree with this policy and they formed the Schism, sort of a second Reformation, but based around actively opposing Kennedy. Their deltas get to use the blessed power package too.

And at this point Forbecks author's voice breaks into the flow of game background. Seemingly embarrassed by his setting, he says that he doesn't particularly want to single out the Catholic church, that other religions deserve and have holy deltas too, and that in BNW Religion Is A Good Thing. I can only assume that Matt Forbeck felt he was leaving himself open to charges of religious discrimination or something here. However, this sudden burst of politically correct responsibility interrupts an otherwise excellent stream of information

The next 9 power packages are the Defender (Captain America type with an invulnerable energy shield), Genius (+5 to smarts rolls), Hot Shot (firebreathing living flamethrower), Screamer (voice is a sonic weapon that can make peoples brains explode!) Shrinker (down to 1'), Sneak (Shadow/Batman type, sees and hides in the dark.) Telekinetic (but weak, can only lift 50 pounds max) Teleporter (atrocious power, teleport range is between 10-50 inches!) and finally the Tough (invulnerable skin and fast healer).

GMs section and Afterword.

The next 12 pages or so are quite bizarre. For some reason, Forbeck includes a GM's secrets in a book ostensibly entitled as a Players Guide! However, only a mere 3 pages cover the secrets of Patriot, Crescent City, the other US cities and the rest of the world. The information is sketchy and definitely nonessential. It can be summed up as, everyone who could be a delta, probably is. If anything its worse than the GM's section in the main rulebook (which had one big, original secret at least.)

Once again Matt Forbeck refuses to explain important details that should be present. For example, for GM's and players wondering why the Covenant are different from other deltas. Forbeck says "No one knows why Catholic clergy who become deltas all end up with the same set of powers. Well we do, but we're not quite ready to tip our hand yet." Once more we see AEG's profiteering policy in action as we are required to buy yet another sourcebook ("Bargainers") to find out. But shouldn't this information either be in the main rulebook, or this one, where they introduce the Covenant?! Nor do they explain what happened to Chicago, despite their lengthy section on Crescent City. I still advocate a boycott until AEG releases a 2nd Edition with all these global secrets in one main book.

However, the Authors Afterword is quite interesting (though it still has no place in the Players guide, this should've been in the rulebook). These 4 pages talk about Forbecks inspiration (and that BNW is named after a line in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest', not Aldous Huxleys novel) and what sort of game he was trying to create. It seems he wants to reflect how things are so much more dangerous and uncertain these days. School shootings, domestic terrorism, random violence etc. have all shaped our society into one that embraces security at any cost, even oppression. BNW reflects that, as people with agendas frighten the populace into demanding a fascist state and crackdown on the 'others' be they non-conformists, Jews or Deltas, and how easy it is to do. And then, what happens to the oppressed, reviled minority as their fellow man turn their eyes away from their plight? What is it like for the players to be persecuted just because they are different? How will the react?
All of this is good, solid stuff, an excellent basis for a game. It would almost have rehabilitated Forbeck in my eyes, except that he lists his sources of inspiration, including such abysmal films as 'The Siege' and 'The Shadow' and a variety of 4 colour comics and generic superhero games. What about real, quality productions like 'The Prisoner' or 'Schindlers List'?

SUMMARY

So, what can we say about this book? Firstly, the information contained is relevant and important in setting up an American campaign and giving a better view of the US's relation with the rest of the world. The Crescent City and Covenant sections are both very good and make for some great game ideas. However (and I realise that I'm becoming a broken record on this subject) all of this should have been in the main rulebook and its an insult that I must spend more money just to get a usable game.

What other criticisms can be leveled at the book? The repetitive nature of Forbecks narrative style detract from an otherwise good style. The increasing similarities to the Deadlands game makes me wonder exactly how original a game this is. (For example, its pretty easy to assume that Covenant=Blessed, Bargainers= Hucksters, Gadgeteers= Mad scientists and Alphas= Harrowed. BNW's JFK= Deadlands' Jefferson Davis , demons=manitous etc.)
Now I realise that a charge of unoriginality is pretty hard to prove when Forbeck refuses to tell us his full game setting, but since I've also read the Bargainers sourcebook (and submitted a review) it looks likely.

Other nit-picks I noticed- Patriot's journal describes a delta with the explosive power package (the delta basically blows himself up, then reassembles) yet it doesn't appear in the rules section. I assume its in either the Defiance or Delta Prime sourcebooks. Neither is there any better word per page ratio than the main rulebook. Wide margins and unnecessary art means it gives less information and text than other comparable gamebooks.

Ultimately the question of whether this is a good book comes down to your plans for BNW. If you are committed to a BNW campaign then this is an essential book because the power packages here are often used in other books, and it contains other important setting information. If you only picked up a copy of BNW to mine for useful ideas (as I did) then forget about Ravaged Planet. Save your money until the 2nd edition comes which will probably consolidate the information into a single rulebook.

Once more style wins over substance.

Style -4 Good, readable writing, establishes atmosphere. Substance- 2. Little usable or important info. Secrets are still kept from the GM.

Ravaged Planet
Author: Matt Forbeck Category: game Company/Publisher: AEG Line: Brave New World Cost: $25 or £20 Page count: 160 ISBN: 1-889546-63-1 SKU: 7002 Capsule Review by Stephen Joseph Ellis on 10/02/00. Genre tags: Modern day Superhero	Ravaged Planet -BNW Players Guide 160 pages hardback book for $25 or £15-£20. Continuing with my series of Brave New World reviews, we have the BNW players guide. It has much the same style as the main rulebook with 16 full colour glossy pages for the archetypes and art. Its littered with cartoonish artwork and those wide margins and low word per page counts that Matt Forbeck loves so much. The first 50 pages mirror those of the main rule though this time narrated as Patriot's journal. Patriot of course being the delta that appeared in the mini-comic at the beginning of the main rulebook. (I should also like to clear up another point of confusion. There appears to have been two Patriots! The first was active in WW2 and his stats appear in 'Glory Days'. I also believe him to be the Patriot mentioned in the main rulebook under the 1953 McCarthy/HUAC hearings. Patriot Junior is the one in the rulebook comicstrip and evidently takes his name from the elder, though no mention is made of this in his Journal! Gah!.....I hate these sloppy inconsistencies which happen far too often in BNW) Anyway the journal covers Patriot II's life and times, neatly mirroring that of Americas. Starting off as annoying orphan who memorises the American Constitution and hero worshipping the Yankee (as apple-pie an all-American delta as was possible) in the golden years of the 50's Patriot 'awakens' as a delta whilst only 16 or so. (Though irritatingly no hard dates or details are given.) Patriot goes on to join the Delta Squadron, an super-powered army unit that exports Uncle Sams policies to the rest of the world. (Propping up dictators, putting down Marxist guerrillas etc.) Then comes 1963 and the DRA. Forced to register and join Delta Prime (DP) he becomes a Government goon hauling in supervillians and young unregistered deltas. After the Bicentennial Battle (which he missed due to injury) Patriot joins the CIA side of Delta Prime in order to assassinate foreign leaders, destabilise pro-Communist regimes and any other James Bond tom-foolery. This ends in 1988 with the 'Big Mistake' incident. An attempted assassination on the Soviet Premier and the 'accident' at Chernobyl provoke the Russkies into nuking Atlanta and San Franciso. Disgusted by JFK's public claims that the attack was unprovoked and that you cant trust those goddamn Commies, Patriot leaves Delta Prime and works briefly for the Mafia. Put in a moral quandary, he once more ditches his employer and joins the Defiance where he rescues new deltas from his former Delta Prime buddies. That is, until they finally capture him, put him in front of a kangaroo court and execute him with armour piercing bullets (because his hide is so tough!). Once dead, he becomes a martyr to the Defiance and some riots erupt, while conspiracy theorists wonder if he really died. As amusing as this entire section is, it suffers from repetitive anti- Kennedy and DP rants that distract attention away from whatever patriot was talking about. Further the details on world governments and historical events are pretty sketchy, despite the fact that Patriot appears to have been everywhere and done everything. I got the feeling that Matt Forbeck is using this guy as a model PC for people to mimic, along with a degree of moral hand wringing and angsty philosophising that would do any Vampire or Wraith writer proud. Except in Patriots case, its not his inner beast he constantly worries about, but the ethical and constitutional implications of supporting the Kennedy regime. This doesn't really come off, and Patriot merely sounds like some backwoods gun-proud militia nut to me. (This may be because I'm British and don't really get excited about Constitutions and Bills of Rights. After all, we've got on perfectly all right without one till now.) The next 45 pages or so cover Crescent City and life in other major American cities. We learn that the Mob, Delta Prime and the Kennedy Administration jointly run Crescent City, a wonderful heroic-gothic art deco new city built around where Chicago used to be. Spotlights race across skyscrapers at night as alpha supervillains break out from the nearby Fortress maximum-security prison, the Defiance feud with the DP headquarters and the Delta Academy in such pulp places as Superior Park and Triumph Towers. And lets not forget the fishmen in the nearby lake..... If you think a mix of Gotham and Metropolis, then you've got Crescent City. It's not a bad setting, though somehow Forbeck's description of the environs and architecture is more interesting than his stereotypical characters. However there is a Crescent City sourcebook due out, which given past BNW form will probably invalidate or supersede most of the details here. The rest of America seems slightly more stale and restrictive. San Diego hosts the American military and supplies the giant Wall that Kennedy had built to separate the States from Mexico. Similar to the Berlin Wall, illegal Mexican immigrants are shot and their bodies left to rot on the razor wire and minefields below the Wall. New York, Philadelphia and Washington have all been wrecked and depopulated by battling alphas and deltas over the years whilst Boston and Denver prosper by cracking down on Deltas more than usual. Meanwhile LA and Detroit have delta actors and gang warfare respectively. This national overview takes over 20 pages, and apart from telling us that America is even more heavily armed with gunfights and even western-style duels commonplace, it doesn't adequately cover the details. e.g. For some cities, it mentions one or at most two prominent individuals, but no such luck for most. There is no indication if technology or society has regressed in this dangerous atmosphere, or what happened to local democracy and law enforcement. If martial law was declared thirty years ago, does that still mean the army patrols the streets in tanks? How has society and the economy changed in this now-fascist state? A World of Hurt A mere 16 pages is devoted to an even more skimpily covered global assessment. Africa and South America is in chaos as delta warlords battle it out. Europe's stable but depressed whilst China pretends to have few deltas and Israel has plenty. Amusingly Canada repatriates fleeing American deltas leaving only the humble and independent Costa Rica as a haven of Defiance tolerance and understanding. A few pages are also devoted to Soviet Russia under its new Red Army junta. A few other major countries are covered, but by and large its very thin on details. It seems that Forbeck just mentions the most obvious thing that he can use to identify that country and gives it the BNW twist. For example, Libya has Gaddaffi and CIA assassinations, whilst the only intelligent thing he says about the UK is to note the ban on firearms. No mention is made of government, or how they treat deltas, or if anything has changed socially. For substance, this section, which could have been one of the most interesting and detailed only rates a substance score of 1. Its that old Forbeck/BNW problem of good cursory ideas, but no follow-through or useful information. Rules Section The next 35 pages covers 10 new player power packages. First off, we meet the Covenant which is the Catholic Church delta organisation. Seemingly descended from the Inquisition, they battle evil and creatures of darkness whilst bringing succor and healing to the innocent and faithful. Unusually, all ordained Catholic clergy who 'awaken' gain the same power package, whatever the circumstances. It also uses the mysterious Faith skill from the main rulebook. For those that skipped it the Faith skill 'actually helps certain kinds of deltas use their powers. You'll learn more about it as the BNW saga develops.' and so we do in Ravaged Planet. Covenant members have a flexible selection of powerful effects, be it 'Might of God' to boost strength, to the "Cure light wounds" equivalent called Divine Mercy and the pyrotechnic 'Wrath of God' which calls down pillars of flame on the unbelievers!! Bizarrely these guys are nothing like mono-powered deltas, but much closer to Deadlands Blessed (right down to the one miracle per faith point rule). Nor is there any mention of what happens if a Covenant member goes bad. As far as I can work out, once they have their powers they can leave the clergy and take up a life of crime and still call upon divine miracles! Still the Covenant is a major force and it looks like Forbeck thought about its implications. Revealed in the 1920's the sense of security the Covenant provided for the Catholic Church increased congregation sizes by 50% and kept the Church powerful and traditional. With this popularity at an all time high as Covenant members protected the faithful from delta exploitation, the Pope felt no need to modernise or update the Church organisation and services. Mass is still said in Latin and the priest prays to the Crucifix and not the congregation and none of the reforms we've seen in the real world Catholic Church happen. Furthermore, because JFK is a Catholic (and one who confesses directly to the Pope) the Covenant are legal in the US. As long as they register, Covenant deltas effectively have diplomatic immunity from Delta Prime. This means they can fight vampires and persecute Bargainers to their hearts content, without being arrested! The payoff for this freedom from interference is that the Church and Covenant are apolitical and only advocate resistance to the Kennedy Regime through prayer. Of course the Protestant churches and more than a few Catholics disagree with this policy and they formed the Schism, sort of a second Reformation, but based around actively opposing Kennedy. Their deltas get to use the blessed power package too. And at this point Forbecks author's voice breaks into the flow of game background. Seemingly embarrassed by his setting, he says that he doesn't particularly want to single out the Catholic church, that other religions deserve and have holy deltas too, and that in BNW Religion Is A Good Thing. I can only assume that Matt Forbeck felt he was leaving himself open to charges of religious discrimination or something here. However, this sudden burst of politically correct responsibility interrupts an otherwise excellent stream of information The next 9 power packages are the Defender (Captain America type with an invulnerable energy shield), Genius (+5 to smarts rolls), Hot Shot (firebreathing living flamethrower), Screamer (voice is a sonic weapon that can make peoples brains explode!) Shrinker (down to 1'), Sneak (Shadow/Batman type, sees and hides in the dark.) Telekinetic (but weak, can only lift 50 pounds max) Teleporter (atrocious power, teleport range is between 10-50 inches!) and finally the Tough (invulnerable skin and fast healer). GMs section and Afterword. The next 12 pages or so are quite bizarre. For some reason, Forbeck includes a GM's secrets in a book ostensibly entitled as a Players Guide! However, only a mere 3 pages cover the secrets of Patriot, Crescent City, the other US cities and the rest of the world. The information is sketchy and definitely nonessential. It can be summed up as, everyone who could be a delta, probably is. If anything its worse than the GM's section in the main rulebook (which had one big, original secret at least.) Once again Matt Forbeck refuses to explain important details that should be present. For example, for GM's and players wondering why the Covenant are different from other deltas. Forbeck says "No one knows why Catholic clergy who become deltas all end up with the same set of powers. Well we do, but we're not quite ready to tip our hand yet." Once more we see AEG's profiteering policy in action as we are required to buy yet another sourcebook ("Bargainers") to find out. But shouldn't this information either be in the main rulebook, or this one, where they introduce the Covenant?! Nor do they explain what happened to Chicago, despite their lengthy section on Crescent City. I still advocate a boycott until AEG releases a 2nd Edition with all these global secrets in one main book. However, the Authors Afterword is quite interesting (though it still has no place in the Players guide, this should've been in the rulebook). These 4 pages talk about Forbecks inspiration (and that BNW is named after a line in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest', not Aldous Huxleys novel) and what sort of game he was trying to create. It seems he wants to reflect how things are so much more dangerous and uncertain these days. School shootings, domestic terrorism, random violence etc. have all shaped our society into one that embraces security at any cost, even oppression. BNW reflects that, as people with agendas frighten the populace into demanding a fascist state and crackdown on the 'others' be they non-conformists, Jews or Deltas, and how easy it is to do. And then, what happens to the oppressed, reviled minority as their fellow man turn their eyes away from their plight? What is it like for the players to be persecuted just because they are different? How will the react? All of this is good, solid stuff, an excellent basis for a game. It would almost have rehabilitated Forbeck in my eyes, except that he lists his sources of inspiration, including such abysmal films as 'The Siege' and 'The Shadow' and a variety of 4 colour comics and generic superhero games. What about real, quality productions like 'The Prisoner' or 'Schindlers List'? SUMMARY So, what can we say about this book? Firstly, the information contained is relevant and important in setting up an American campaign and giving a better view of the US's relation with the rest of the world. The Crescent City and Covenant sections are both very good and make for some great game ideas. However (and I realise that I'm becoming a broken record on this subject) all of this should have been in the main rulebook and its an insult that I must spend more money just to get a usable game. What other criticisms can be leveled at the book? The repetitive nature of Forbecks narrative style detract from an otherwise good style. The increasing similarities to the Deadlands game makes me wonder exactly how original a game this is. (For example, its pretty easy to assume that Covenant=Blessed, Bargainers= Hucksters, Gadgeteers= Mad scientists and Alphas= Harrowed. BNW's JFK= Deadlands' Jefferson Davis , demons=manitous etc.) Now I realise that a charge of unoriginality is pretty hard to prove when Forbeck refuses to tell us his full game setting, but since I've also read the Bargainers sourcebook (and submitted a review) it looks likely. Other nit-picks I noticed- Patriot's journal describes a delta with the explosive power package (the delta basically blows himself up, then reassembles) yet it doesn't appear in the rules section. I assume its in either the Defiance or Delta Prime sourcebooks. Neither is there any better word per page ratio than the main rulebook. Wide margins and unnecessary art means it gives less information and text than other comparable gamebooks. Ultimately the question of whether this is a good book comes down to your plans for BNW. If you are committed to a BNW campaign then this is an essential book because the power packages here are often used in other books, and it contains other important setting information. If you only picked up a copy of BNW to mine for useful ideas (as I did) then forget about Ravaged Planet. Save your money until the 2nd edition comes which will probably consolidate the information into a single rulebook. Once more style wins over substance. Style -4 Good, readable writing, establishes atmosphere. Substance- 2. Little usable or important info. Secrets are still kept from the GM.