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The World of Aden, Based on the hit computer role-playing game series by SSI. Truth be told I had not heard of the computer game when the cover of the book caught my eye. Actually the wheel-lock pistol and dirigible on the cover caught my eye among the fantasy styled characters. Long being a fan of the steampunk genre I opened the book up. A hefty sized book for a system I personally do not care for That being the D6 used in West End Games Star Wars. Still there seemed to be depth to the book and I decided to purchase it. A decent choice for lots of reasons once I started into the book.

The background is that in the fantasy world of Aden, 10 years prior to the book's details, an eclipse spread across the land. Out of the shadows caused in the eclipse came many monsters and creatures to slaughter the living These beasts ended up being called Nocturnals based on when they first arrived and initial hunting patterns. Since then the world has progressed and the inhabitants are waging a war for survival against the Nocturnals. The book covers this time after the invasion.

The book works to detail the entire world of Aden. An Introduction, 8 chapters, Character profiles, and Masterbook/D6 conversion notes comprise the table of contents. As with most of the older game products the only color is on the cover of the book. Depicting 6 characters on a slight rise, dark clouded sky and figures and shapes in the background. Nice looking, enough to get my attention and certainly high for the standards of when it was done. Several chapters detailing all the major places, write ups of the different main militaries per land, a chapter on magic, one on technology and also about some of the monsters and nocturnals that can be encountered. There is a lot of ground that is covered trying to detail an entire world in a single book. From civilizations, to creatures, encounters, military orders, weapons and technology it tries to do it all.

In reading it I can see where Shane Lacy Hensley may have gotten a few inspirations for Deadlands: Hell on Earth from his prior writing credits. There is a slight resemblance from the Reckoners to the Nocturnals. Very faint resemblance though. Told from the first person narrative from the start. A traveler, warrior and healer named Grimlack recounts places he has been and things he hears about or has seen. This lends a nice perspective to the book. Gives it continuity and a sense of a place. Acceptable character fiction is scattered throughout the entire book. Some statistics about the book. There are 63 B&W; illustrations including the ones on the character sheets; length is 144 pages, total of 13 of the "most common" spells in the setting, 9 civilizations with a couple of pages for each at least including statistics for the most common warriors in each, 15 monsters both good and bad in outlook, 5 sample character types and 4 pages of conversion notes from Masterbook to and from D6 systems. If that appeals to you then go buy it.

I bought the book for the concepts, ideas to use in my fantasy steampunk games, the first illustration I saw on pages 12 and 13 of a giant thunder train. Steam powered land vessels on tracks armed with cannons for defense from Nocturnals, and the steamtech elements to the game. Since buying it and reading through it there is ample information to make an entire game using the maps of the world on pages 14 and 15 and the details of the major civilizations. For me I would have to convert the entire thing into another game system since I do not use WEG's products. Still for 20 dollars and for an older product I have to commend this book as a keeper. Go for a discount price due to the age if you can though simply due to the age and no support is possible from the creators. I surfed for a while and on the West End Games site they are only supporting the DC Heroes game and Metabarons, love the look and feel of that book have not bought it yet. For $20.00 I feel I paid a bit much for the amount of use I will get. If you are someone who uses the systems presented then it would go a long way towards starting a campaign. A lot of work fleshing out major NPCs in the different areas, creating scads of Nocturnals and more of a focus than run around kill the monsters will be necessary. There is a campaign book also available that I did not purchase, another $15.00, that may address the perceived flaws and lacks in the first book. Of course you should make up your own mind in the end and decide how to spend your money.

The World of Aden
The World of Aden Capsule Review by Tad Kelson on 13/06/01 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average) This is a fairly thick book in an older style of presentation. Lots of good to it while trying to cover way too much ground in one book. There is a campaign book also available for more detail. For $20.00 seems a little steep for today's production standards. Still it tries to be all-inclusive something today's games are sorely lacking. Product: The World of Aden Author: Shane Lacy Hensley Category: RPG Company/Publisher: West End Games Line: Masterbook/D6 Cost: $20.00 Page count: 144 Year published: <1996 ISBN: 0-87431-467-4 SKU: WES29200 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Tad Kelson on 13/06/01 Genre tags: Fantasy Post-apocalyse	The World of Aden, Based on the hit computer role-playing game series by SSI. Truth be told I had not heard of the computer game when the cover of the book caught my eye. Actually the wheel-lock pistol and dirigible on the cover caught my eye among the fantasy styled characters. Long being a fan of the steampunk genre I opened the book up. A hefty sized book for a system I personally do not care for That being the D6 used in West End Games Star Wars. Still there seemed to be depth to the book and I decided to purchase it. A decent choice for lots of reasons once I started into the book. The background is that in the fantasy world of Aden, 10 years prior to the book's details, an eclipse spread across the land. Out of the shadows caused in the eclipse came many monsters and creatures to slaughter the living These beasts ended up being called Nocturnals based on when they first arrived and initial hunting patterns. Since then the world has progressed and the inhabitants are waging a war for survival against the Nocturnals. The book covers this time after the invasion. The book works to detail the entire world of Aden. An Introduction, 8 chapters, Character profiles, and Masterbook/D6 conversion notes comprise the table of contents. As with most of the older game products the only color is on the cover of the book. Depicting 6 characters on a slight rise, dark clouded sky and figures and shapes in the background. Nice looking, enough to get my attention and certainly high for the standards of when it was done. Several chapters detailing all the major places, write ups of the different main militaries per land, a chapter on magic, one on technology and also about some of the monsters and nocturnals that can be encountered. There is a lot of ground that is covered trying to detail an entire world in a single book. From civilizations, to creatures, encounters, military orders, weapons and technology it tries to do it all. In reading it I can see where Shane Lacy Hensley may have gotten a few inspirations for Deadlands: Hell on Earth from his prior writing credits. There is a slight resemblance from the Reckoners to the Nocturnals. Very faint resemblance though. Told from the first person narrative from the start. A traveler, warrior and healer named Grimlack recounts places he has been and things he hears about or has seen. This lends a nice perspective to the book. Gives it continuity and a sense of a place. Acceptable character fiction is scattered throughout the entire book. Some statistics about the book. There are 63 B&W; illustrations including the ones on the character sheets; length is 144 pages, total of 13 of the "most common" spells in the setting, 9 civilizations with a couple of pages for each at least including statistics for the most common warriors in each, 15 monsters both good and bad in outlook, 5 sample character types and 4 pages of conversion notes from Masterbook to and from D6 systems. If that appeals to you then go buy it. I bought the book for the concepts, ideas to use in my fantasy steampunk games, the first illustration I saw on pages 12 and 13 of a giant thunder train. Steam powered land vessels on tracks armed with cannons for defense from Nocturnals, and the steamtech elements to the game. Since buying it and reading through it there is ample information to make an entire game using the maps of the world on pages 14 and 15 and the details of the major civilizations. For me I would have to convert the entire thing into another game system since I do not use WEG's products. Still for 20 dollars and for an older product I have to commend this book as a keeper. Go for a discount price due to the age if you can though simply due to the age and no support is possible from the creators. I surfed for a while and on the West End Games site they are only supporting the DC Heroes game and Metabarons, love the look and feel of that book have not bought it yet. For $20.00 I feel I paid a bit much for the amount of use I will get. If you are someone who uses the systems presented then it would go a long way towards starting a campaign. A lot of work fleshing out major NPCs in the different areas, creating scads of Nocturnals and more of a focus than run around kill the monsters will be necessary. There is a campaign book also available that I did not purchase, another $15.00, that may address the perceived flaws and lacks in the first book. Of course you should make up your own mind in the end and decide how to spend your money.