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"Indiana Jones and the Golden Vampires" is the most recent supplement for Indiana Jones to join my RPG collection. It contains information on San Francisco, Chinatown and mysticism, one mini-adventure, three longer scenarios and a pair of new character templates at the end.

The source material doesn't take up much of the book but is quite good. Living in California, I always take a critical eye to game material that purports to cover my home state. One omission from that section causes me to grind my teeth: there is no map of San Fran in the 30's. Chinatown is mapped, which is good, but the rest of the city needs to be covered. Both templates at the end of the book are 30's movie stereotypes, like those from the main book. The difference is that these are more specialized. As a GM I really would like to see some of my players try them out. Charlie Chan movies are required viewing for both. They would work well as tools for the GM to get information to the PCs and add a bit of comic relief.

The mini-adventure is set in San Francisco. That's really all that one can say about it. There is no strong element binding the story together. With some serious prep time a diligent GM can thread a conspiracy through it and stitch in some real NPCs. The second adventure takes the characters to Seattle. The reasoning for that escapes me. There is nothing beyond street names and neighborhood titles to keep it from being another city; so why isn't it set in San Fran? One house is mapped, but the GM will have to guess at the rest. Several elements in this second adventure grate on my nerves. If the NPCs for whom the PCs are working really are as omniscient as they end up appearing, why did they need the party's help? The basic premise is worth salvaging if the NPCs can all be made more mysterious and distant and the plot made just a little more twisting and sinister. A GM thinking about running this one should read Raymond Chandler's "Farewell, My Lovely." Making the ! Egyptians more like Jules Amthor would be a huge improvement. The 30's west coast feel would be helped greatly by reading the novel as well.

The last two adventures take up roughly half the book. Both are set in Central America in 1937. Both are well mapped and worth running without much tinkering. There are inconsistencies, however. In the second adventure, several NPCs are written as carrying "machine guns," while the illustrations have them toting submachine guns and the game stats show them having Italian-made bolt action rifles. In addition, several of the maps for both adventures are placed far from the section where they are needed. This is not a major problem, but an annoyance nonetheless. Both adventures are well-researched and quite suitable for the genre. With a bit of work, the GM can link the adventures carrying over some NPCs. The link might be tenuous, but it doesn't usually take much connection for the players to start seeing conspiracies.

The source material, the last two adventures, and the new templates make this a valued addition to the Indiana Jones game, though twenty bucks felt a little steep. While I genuinely like Paul Daly's artwork, there is no interior color and the cover is a movie still that has little or no connection to the book outside of the fact that both are Indiana Jones. Still, if one is going to run an Indy game in San Fran or is stumped for adventure ideas, this book is a must.

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

Indiana Jones and the Golden Vampires
Author: James Estes, Evan Jamieson, Brian Sean Perry, and Lisa Smedman Category: game Company/Publisher: West End Games Cost: $20.00 Page count: 144 ISBN: 0-87431-431-3 Capsule Review by C.H. Gallant on 03/07/98. Genre tags: none	"Indiana Jones and the Golden Vampires" is the most recent supplement for Indiana Jones to join my RPG collection. It contains information on San Francisco, Chinatown and mysticism, one mini-adventure, three longer scenarios and a pair of new character templates at the end. The source material doesn't take up much of the book but is quite good. Living in California, I always take a critical eye to game material that purports to cover my home state. One omission from that section causes me to grind my teeth: there is no map of San Fran in the 30's. Chinatown is mapped, which is good, but the rest of the city needs to be covered. Both templates at the end of the book are 30's movie stereotypes, like those from the main book. The difference is that these are more specialized. As a GM I really would like to see some of my players try them out. Charlie Chan movies are required viewing for both. They would work well as tools for the GM to get information to the PCs and add a bit of comic relief. The mini-adventure is set in San Francisco. That's really all that one can say about it. There is no strong element binding the story together. With some serious prep time a diligent GM can thread a conspiracy through it and stitch in some real NPCs. The second adventure takes the characters to Seattle. The reasoning for that escapes me. There is nothing beyond street names and neighborhood titles to keep it from being another city; so why isn't it set in San Fran? One house is mapped, but the GM will have to guess at the rest. Several elements in this second adventure grate on my nerves. If the NPCs for whom the PCs are working really are as omniscient as they end up appearing, why did they need the party's help? The basic premise is worth salvaging if the NPCs can all be made more mysterious and distant and the plot made just a little more twisting and sinister. A GM thinking about running this one should read Raymond Chandler's "Farewell, My Lovely." Making the ! Egyptians more like Jules Amthor would be a huge improvement. The 30's west coast feel would be helped greatly by reading the novel as well. The last two adventures take up roughly half the book. Both are set in Central America in 1937. Both are well mapped and worth running without much tinkering. There are inconsistencies, however. In the second adventure, several NPCs are written as carrying "machine guns," while the illustrations have them toting submachine guns and the game stats show them having Italian-made bolt action rifles. In addition, several of the maps for both adventures are placed far from the section where they are needed. This is not a major problem, but an annoyance nonetheless. Both adventures are well-researched and quite suitable for the genre. With a bit of work, the GM can link the adventures carrying over some NPCs. The link might be tenuous, but it doesn't usually take much connection for the players to start seeing conspiracies. The source material, the last two adventures, and the new templates make this a valued addition to the Indiana Jones game, though twenty bucks felt a little steep. While I genuinely like Paul Daly's artwork, there is no interior color and the cover is a movie still that has little or no connection to the book outside of the fact that both are Indiana Jones. Still, if one is going to run an Indy game in San Fran or is stumped for adventure ideas, this book is a must. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)