The Inside Scoop on Gaming

--Major Strengths:

F&B did what it was supposed to - I got really enthused about the subject while reading it. I really want to play a Blessed character (A Franciscan to be exact) It's a good thing that I'm the one running my game otherwise my GM would kill my off for my rotating characters (when Smith and Robards came out, I wanted to create an Alchemist, Hucksters and Hexes encouraged me to create a Huckster, Ghost Dancers - Indian Warrior, etc).

More options/more variety:

Gifts - F&B adds in a new type of Blessed ability called gifts that adds a new dimension to the Blessed. Instead of taking a miracle, players can take a gift in its place. Gifts are nothing more than holy edges that can be revoked if the character loses faith or sins against his religion, but they really round out the class.

Miracles - Several more miracles are available in F&B - along with the miracles in the main book. (No thumbing through this book or that book to find the exact miracle.)

Different Religions - Most of the religions that are to be encountered in the Weird West are discussed and given a few guidelines.

With all these options a player creating a Blessed can "create" the character in his mind and have a reasonable chance of finding the appropriate powers in F&B.

--Other Strengths:

Scriptures at high noon. Fire and Brimstone contains rules for the theological showdown. Well, it's really a debate and it takes some time. It is even possible for the loser to lose Faith - permanently. Even better this debate uses the Professional: Theology skill, something that any powergamer running a Blessed tends to gloss over.

The writing was excellent and enjoyable to read. For example - in the section on cults, the information on how they work is not presented to the gamemaster, but as a lesson to the player.

The descriptions of a Blessed's view on hucksters and harrowed are "player friendly". It gives reasons to not kill on sight those offending classes. On this note - the whole book emphasized strongly the turn the other cheek and forgiveness attitudes of Christianity. And it does mention that once you've been slapped on both cheeks, it may be time to take an eye for an eye.

But it shouldn't be your first course of action. I'm putting this in the other strength section because I like anything that promotes solutions other then violence. (I'm far from a pacifist, but I grow weary of my posse killing everything that moves.)

--Weaknesses:

As always - the book makes the Blessed appear more common then they should be. It's happened in every character class book also. While the book makes it seems like there are roving bands of Blessed out there, you certainly don't have to play it that way.

The descriptions of the religions were skimpy. This is understandable due to space limitations, but.... they were still skimpy. I had a feeling that there was a little bit of "the less said, the better" going on with the descriptions.

The gifts are too cheap. For an initial point cost of eight points (three for the arcane background edge, and five for the faith) you can get five gifts - which is the equivalent of 10-20 points in edges. Ideally your players are picking only gifts that apply to their character concept, but if you play with some of the powergaming/tournament-MTG-player/Hero-system-seller-of-Con.-based-stats and other rules rapist types -- consider yourself warned.

Specific power counters - There are miracles to counter other magic types - hexes, mad science, and black magic come to mind immediately: but it takes separate miracles to do each. I don't really like this as it's a game of rock, scissors, paper and you are always stuck with rock.

I think that the hexes and black magic could have been covered by the same miracle, and I don't really see being able to counter weird science.

Miracle names are not very descriptive. Without actually reading the miracle descriptions, it is hard to tell just what a miracle does. By reading a list, just how are you going to know what Parley, Ordain, and Wellspring do? This requires a familiarity with the whole book before making a Blessed.

Actually, this may be a blessing in disguise (rimshot). Since I am already familiar with the book, when a player making a Blessed wants to pick his miracles I'll just tell him to provide me with a list of abilities that fits his concept.

--Trivial/miscellaneous comments:

Several religion with a strong mystic bent (Kabbalism, Sufis and Tibetian Buddism) have their powers coming from the religious side instead of the occult side. A bit bland, but better then a different magic system for everyone.

I think I missed something. F&B mentioned the large Buddhist population in the Great Maze and South Dakota, but doesn't mention it again. A bit more explanation in the book would have been nice. I remember why the Buddhist are moving into the Great Maze, but I don't remember why they are moving to South Dakota. (If someone has the reference for me, please let me know).

And another good guy group. Putting the count of good-guy organizations at 8, and bad guy organizations at 8. But this one was only a sidebar reference and unlike the other organizations listed in the previous books, the order of St. George probably can be dropped without much difficulty from the Deadlands storyline. (I am not certain as I don't know what the long term storyline is - but I think they are going to have problems resolving and/or continuing all the other plot lines they have introduced)

It just has to be said - D&D Cleric of Deadlands. That is the thought that popped into my head as I read the book and especially the miracles. Not too surprising since both classes receive their inspiration from the same source materials. But both the Cleric and the Blessed are the healers and nurturers. They both pack mostly defensive and support type spells with a weak selection of offensive mojo. At least the Blessed can't pray to change his spell selection.

Not a good thing, not a bad thing - but something that I think had to be addressed.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Fire and Brimstone
Author: John Goff Category: game Company/Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group Cost: 20 Page count: 128 ISBN: 1-889546-21-6 Playtest Review by Allan Seyberth on 05/15/98. Genre tags: none	--Major Strengths: F&B did what it was supposed to - I got really enthused about the subject while reading it. I really want to play a Blessed character (A Franciscan to be exact) It's a good thing that I'm the one running my game otherwise my GM would kill my off for my rotating characters (when Smith and Robards came out, I wanted to create an Alchemist, Hucksters and Hexes encouraged me to create a Huckster, Ghost Dancers - Indian Warrior, etc). More options/more variety: Gifts - F&B adds in a new type of Blessed ability called gifts that adds a new dimension to the Blessed. Instead of taking a miracle, players can take a gift in its place. Gifts are nothing more than holy edges that can be revoked if the character loses faith or sins against his religion, but they really round out the class. Miracles - Several more miracles are available in F&B - along with the miracles in the main book. (No thumbing through this book or that book to find the exact miracle.) Different Religions - Most of the religions that are to be encountered in the Weird West are discussed and given a few guidelines. With all these options a player creating a Blessed can "create" the character in his mind and have a reasonable chance of finding the appropriate powers in F&B. --Other Strengths: Scriptures at high noon. Fire and Brimstone contains rules for the theological showdown. Well, it's really a debate and it takes some time. It is even possible for the loser to lose Faith - permanently. Even better this debate uses the Professional: Theology skill, something that any powergamer running a Blessed tends to gloss over. The writing was excellent and enjoyable to read. For example - in the section on cults, the information on how they work is not presented to the gamemaster, but as a lesson to the player. The descriptions of a Blessed's view on hucksters and harrowed are "player friendly". It gives reasons to not kill on sight those offending classes. On this note - the whole book emphasized strongly the turn the other cheek and forgiveness attitudes of Christianity. And it does mention that once you've been slapped on both cheeks, it may be time to take an eye for an eye. But it shouldn't be your first course of action. I'm putting this in the other strength section because I like anything that promotes solutions other then violence. (I'm far from a pacifist, but I grow weary of my posse killing everything that moves.) --Weaknesses: As always - the book makes the Blessed appear more common then they should be. It's happened in every character class book also. While the book makes it seems like there are roving bands of Blessed out there, you certainly don't have to play it that way. The descriptions of the religions were skimpy. This is understandable due to space limitations, but.... they were still skimpy. I had a feeling that there was a little bit of "the less said, the better" going on with the descriptions. The gifts are too cheap. For an initial point cost of eight points (three for the arcane background edge, and five for the faith) you can get five gifts - which is the equivalent of 10-20 points in edges. Ideally your players are picking only gifts that apply to their character concept, but if you play with some of the powergaming/tournament-MTG-player/Hero-system-seller-of-Con.-based-stats and other rules rapist types -- consider yourself warned. Specific power counters - There are miracles to counter other magic types - hexes, mad science, and black magic come to mind immediately: but it takes separate miracles to do each. I don't really like this as it's a game of rock, scissors, paper and you are always stuck with rock. I think that the hexes and black magic could have been covered by the same miracle, and I don't really see being able to counter weird science. Miracle names are not very descriptive. Without actually reading the miracle descriptions, it is hard to tell just what a miracle does. By reading a list, just how are you going to know what Parley, Ordain, and Wellspring do? This requires a familiarity with the whole book before making a Blessed. Actually, this may be a blessing in disguise (rimshot). Since I am already familiar with the book, when a player making a Blessed wants to pick his miracles I'll just tell him to provide me with a list of abilities that fits his concept. --Trivial/miscellaneous comments: Several religion with a strong mystic bent (Kabbalism, Sufis and Tibetian Buddism) have their powers coming from the religious side instead of the occult side. A bit bland, but better then a different magic system for everyone. I think I missed something. F&B mentioned the large Buddhist population in the Great Maze and South Dakota, but doesn't mention it again. A bit more explanation in the book would have been nice. I remember why the Buddhist are moving into the Great Maze, but I don't remember why they are moving to South Dakota. (If someone has the reference for me, please let me know). And another good guy group. Putting the count of good-guy organizations at 8, and bad guy organizations at 8. But this one was only a sidebar reference and unlike the other organizations listed in the previous books, the order of St. George probably can be dropped without much difficulty from the Deadlands storyline. (I am not certain as I don't know what the long term storyline is - but I think they are going to have problems resolving and/or continuing all the other plot lines they have introduced) It just has to be said - D&D Cleric of Deadlands. That is the thought that popped into my head as I read the book and especially the miracles. Not too surprising since both classes receive their inspiration from the same source materials. But both the Cleric and the Blessed are the healers and nurturers. They both pack mostly defensive and support type spells with a weak selection of offensive mojo. At least the Blessed can't pray to change his spell selection. Not a good thing, not a bad thing - but something that I think had to be addressed. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)