The Inside Scoop on Gaming

First let me say that I love super-hero RPGs. I saw it in a store and almost didn't buy it. It is a 9 x 6 book, 165 pages for $19.95 (a little high for my taste), but I decided to take a chance.

For the first part of the review I will talk about the cover and overall looks of the book, the cover is dark with a lightning bolt and you can just make out some guy. To say that I'm unimpressed by the cover is an understatement. The book doesn't have an acknowledgements page (I find that interesting, more real pages but it also means that no one will put their name too it). It starts off with the writings of a guy talking about how the world is and the way it might or should be. This is interesting because these same words are used in other sections of the book.

This to me is the theme of the book: reuse, reuse and reuse again. The explanation of the world in the front part of the book is used again in "A piece of history" and again almost word for word in "complete timeline". The thing you have to understand is that "a piece of history" is a timeline, as is the front part of the book and then you have yet anther timeline in "complete timeline".

This isn't the only example for instance, the picture for the main good/bad guy is used 11 times, the picture for "hero of the people" is used 8 times, the picture for IRA is used 6 times, the picture for Machine is used 6 times, Kamrade (5 times), Highlander (4 times), Galatia (5 times), Rook (4 times), Musketeer (3 times), Power Ring (3 times) and I could go on many more times. It isn't that the pictures are bad (some are, most are fine) but to use them so often is the crime. The layout of the book is sparse and the typeface is big, about size 12, so you get very few words to a page. The book could have lost half its pages and you wouldn't notice it.

Now I will review how the game plays and the world. Best thing about the game is the world but even that has been done elsewhere, just take a read of Brave New World and you will get the feeling for this world. For instance, in unsanctioned and Brave New World President Kennedy lives. In this world the UN controls all the nations on earth and in order for heroes to fight crime they must break the law similar (kind of) to Brave New World. A good thing is the little UN Today newspaper clipings throughout the book (I really liked those).

I will now move to the system, or lack of system. The system itself takes up about 23 or so pages but considering those pages are small you see the problem. The usual (unimaginative) powers just a few more than Brave New World. I have a few characters that I must make in order to play a game: Green Lantern, Dr Fate and Wonder Woman. I can't make any of them. I also must test the rules, for instance, Superman must be able to punch Aunt May and kill her (in champions as well as all the others so far she lives). Now I'll move to the adventure in the back of the book, a good adventure designed to get the players set up as unsanctioned players (note, it says that you can't play any sanctioned characters, just rebels). This is where Nightshift games should have placed their attention. The Adventure is great but I need more for $20 than a good adventure. A few miscellaneous notes: There is no character sheet and the books pages have a yellowish tint to them (is this the way it was meant to be?).

In summation I'll have to say that this book is way overpriced and filled with too much reused fluff (easily the book could have been 40-pages).

UN Sanctioned
UN Sanctioned Capsule Review by Sol Greenburg on 30/08/01 Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 2 (Sparse) A Super-hero game that doesn't want to be Product: UN Sanctioned Author: Paul Arden Lidberg Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Nightshift games Line: UN Sanctioned Cost: $19.95 Page count: 163 Year published: 2000 ISBN: 1-929332-21-1 SKU: CFE2000 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Sol Greenburg on 30/08/01 Genre tags: Superhero	First let me say that I love super-hero RPGs. I saw it in a store and almost didn't buy it. It is a 9 x 6 book, 165 pages for $19.95 (a little high for my taste), but I decided to take a chance. For the first part of the review I will talk about the cover and overall looks of the book, the cover is dark with a lightning bolt and you can just make out some guy. To say that I'm unimpressed by the cover is an understatement. The book doesn't have an acknowledgements page (I find that interesting, more real pages but it also means that no one will put their name too it). It starts off with the writings of a guy talking about how the world is and the way it might or should be. This is interesting because these same words are used in other sections of the book. This to me is the theme of the book: reuse, reuse and reuse again. The explanation of the world in the front part of the book is used again in "A piece of history" and again almost word for word in "complete timeline". The thing you have to understand is that "a piece of history" is a timeline, as is the front part of the book and then you have yet anther timeline in "complete timeline". This isn't the only example for instance, the picture for the main good/bad guy is used 11 times, the picture for "hero of the people" is used 8 times, the picture for IRA is used 6 times, the picture for Machine is used 6 times, Kamrade (5 times), Highlander (4 times), Galatia (5 times), Rook (4 times), Musketeer (3 times), Power Ring (3 times) and I could go on many more times. It isn't that the pictures are bad (some are, most are fine) but to use them so often is the crime. The layout of the book is sparse and the typeface is big, about size 12, so you get very few words to a page. The book could have lost half its pages and you wouldn't notice it. Now I will review how the game plays and the world. Best thing about the game is the world but even that has been done elsewhere, just take a read of Brave New World and you will get the feeling for this world. For instance, in unsanctioned and Brave New World President Kennedy lives. In this world the UN controls all the nations on earth and in order for heroes to fight crime they must break the law similar (kind of) to Brave New World. A good thing is the little UN Today newspaper clipings throughout the book (I really liked those). I will now move to the system, or lack of system. The system itself takes up about 23 or so pages but considering those pages are small you see the problem. The usual (unimaginative) powers just a few more than Brave New World. I have a few characters that I must make in order to play a game: Green Lantern, Dr Fate and Wonder Woman. I can't make any of them. I also must test the rules, for instance, Superman must be able to punch Aunt May and kill her (in champions as well as all the others so far she lives). Now I'll move to the adventure in the back of the book, a good adventure designed to get the players set up as unsanctioned players (note, it says that you can't play any sanctioned characters, just rebels). This is where Nightshift games should have placed their attention. The Adventure is great but I need more for $20 than a good adventure. A few miscellaneous notes: There is no character sheet and the books pages have a yellowish tint to them (is this the way it was meant to be?). In summation I'll have to say that this book is way overpriced and filled with too much reused fluff (easily the book could have been 40-pages).

UN Sanctioned