The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Valkyrie #22 (Quarterly)

Magazines for future reference are rather difficult items to review. Remind me the next time I attempt to do so. By their nature, being collaborations of many different authors with different styles, different tones, and even different intents. That being addressed I’m going forward with this review on an article-by-article basis.

Overall, the Magazine is high quality gloss/slick paper staple-stitched (like many magazines) and is approximately 68 pages. There are many advertisements, but not more than your other genre magazines.

Nightshift-Big Fish, Little Fish

Covering prospective product releases for Spring 2001. It is one of the most exhaustive lists covering the industry I’ve seen, very detailed, but now out of date (which isn’t the fault of the magazine so much as the fact I just got it, and am just now and am also just now reviewing it. Overall, the article was very useful and gets 5/5 it is as accurate as these things can be in the gaming industry, and very complete.

Readers Poll Results

Not really, an article but it does take up two pages—sadly being in the US, the UK publication didn’t come out in time for me to answer these questions. Not rated

News from the Trenches

Essentially an editorial commenting on Pat Pulling and her long standing anti-D&D stance and founder of BADD (She passed away a couple of years ago) for those that don’t know, she was a thorn in the side of the legitimacy of gaming as a hobby, due to her son’s death by suicide which she blamed solely on D&D. The article didn’t tell me anything I didn’t know, but the article was well written and somewhat respectful of her as a person. I must say gamers like the author who wrote this piece (Bill Walton) deserve a lot of respect for being able to comment without attacking entirely, and leaving it on a note of respect. Rated 4/4

Furtive Fumblings

Another editorial style article, commenting on gaming, the nature of sentience, and other ramblings many of us on RPGnet have probably uttered in some form or another. Rated 3/3 (not a lot to say good or ill of it)

Saints & Sinners

Highlights of the Year 2000, again woefully out of date due to the fact that we poor people in the US can’t get Valkyrie fast enough (add to that additional slowing of the process due to the difficulty of finding it) Rating 4/3

Big Big Rock Thing

Scenario Ideas for OG the Role-playing game, is the subtitle. Strangely enough, this offers rather interesting variants of OG—engines of war from a very Flinstonian outlook of OG. Variant Cavemen ideas that comment on films “From Pangea with Love” to Proto martial arts cavemen. It’s a fun little article that makes me wish I owned OG, briefly before realizing not only wouldn’t I run OG, no one I know would play it. That isn’t a condemnation of OG or the article just my groups tastes being very “non-humor game” centered. The article adds some interesting and funny ideas to the game. Rating 4/4

Will I Dream?-Exploring Artificial Intelligence

Written by three authors this article is very very useful, I cannot express how interesting and well written it is, addressing how AI’s might work, how they might be detected, understood, and other wise made use of, this article is a MUST for any Near Future, or Science Fiction gamer. It starts with “Mad Computers” and moves through a variety of points—such as False AI’s, Asimov circuits, and a variety of useful examinations on the topic of what it means to be a created intelligence in addition to having a very good selection of source material. Rating 5 /5

Two-Zero-Zero-One

A mini Paranoia adventure complete with campy equipment for outdoor use, it is brief and fairly well written, but lacks a definite edge of dark irony that came out in much of the Paranoia material I’ve read. It’s more a silly kind of humor, than dark, and just doesn’t get across the true madness of Paranoia’s existence. It may be useful for lightening the mood of a Paranoia game gone too dark (if such a thing is possible) but in general, it’s just not my thing. Rating 2/2

The Cephali

Another excellent well-detailed article, focusing on an alien intelligence (which is of course this issues theme.) It covers and Octopus based intelligence that is perfect for exemplifying alien-ness, yet still understandable creatures—the Cephali can be strange allies, enemies, foils, or flavoring for any SF game. With minor adaptation, they may be Cthulhu-Worshipping Ocean dwellers come to earth to awake their dread god, or simply be another creature interested in exploring Poseidon of Blue Planet fame. Rating 5/5

A Long Way From Home

Essentially a SF Call of Cthulhu adventure, called a “tournament” scenario. It’s interesting exploration of just how expansive a COC game can go, and has been touched upon by others, but not that I’ve seen so completely. (Perhaps it will be adaptable to the upcoming Spaceship Zero as well) or simply absorbed into any SF game to change the player’s perspectives. It does come compete with lists of the materials in the ship, stats for COC for the main players and is very well done. Rating 5/5

Dark They Were and Kind of Pretty

SF game-fans go and get this issue. Just as the article on AI’s this one seems to be an absolute must this one is also very useful covering the vast alien intelligences that are near to godlike in there perspective of the universe, that is to say those aliens often referred to, as an “elder” race. It covers the ideas very well, is very thorough. It even addresses issues of how to include them or there servitors in a game. Rating 5 /5

White Light White Heat

Two articles essentially under one heading—one covers technologies in SLA industry Vent—a retrovirus is part of the double header, and Foldships the other. Being unfamiliar with SLA industries, I’m not sure the latter is appropriate (I was under the impression SLA it was more Cyberpunk/Earth based, but they may be my mistake). Both the Vent virus, and Foldships seem specific to SLA in description, but being descriptive rather than having specific game stats, they may be useful for other SF games. Rating 4/4

ZOG!!

This is almost a companion piece to Dark They Were and Kind of Pretty, but it is more specific focusing on the alien intelligences of the Ancients of Babylon 5. Being a huge fan of the show, I’m very gleeful at the information, but being not so much a fan boy that I’d know if the information they tell us is accurate. (Having not read novels, and only limited gaming information from Babylon 5 Wars) needless to say I like the way these “godlike aliens” are handled, explained, and the sketches of the ships while not the CGI effects of the show do convey the alien natures and perspectives. It’s a good article; I’m not likely to make use of, because I tend to like original creations of my own in gaming, rather than using show/book inspired material. Rating 5/5 regardless.

BattleLines: Target Unknown

Scenario for Babylon 5 Wars, again I’ve only peripheral knowledge of this game, so from my perspective the adventure seems solid enough, and entertaining. I’m not sure how useful it is beyond the game it specifically supports (due to B5’s technological assumptions. Rating 4/4

Soldiers of Fortune

This covers miniature pieces showing and describing selected recent peices. Black and white pictures don’t do a service to minis without better lighting, though descriptions are pretty complete. Rating 3/3 (It could be better with color, but the price makes that unlikely)

Reviews

I will not review the reviews within Valkyrie, other than to say they seem complete and fair. They review the following games

Chivalry and Sorcery: The Rebirth At Close Quarters/101 Patrons (Traveller) Blue Planet V2 Hero Builders Guide Book (3ED&D) Freiburg ( 7th Sea) Quest for the Holy Pail (Battle Cattle) Way of the Shinsei (L5R) Clanbook Tremere, Assamite, Lasombra (Vampire: The Masquerade) Star Wars (D20) Diablo 2: Diablerie (3ED&D) Zombi Underworld Misc D&D3E Third Party Early Releases (Nemorean’s Vault, among others)

Overall, since the loss of Arcane there isn’t much in the way of gaming magazines that cover a broad spectrum of gaming, Valkyrie is a very good and worthy magazine (even though I’ve only managed to obtain 3-4 issues of it) but so far I’m duly impressed, it’s not the complete “WOW” that I got from Arcane, but it is a very good product altogether.

Valkyrie #22
Valkyrie #22 Capsule Review by Tim Kirk on 15/04/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) A worthwhile addition to the game shelf, all but required reading for an SF gamer (this specific issue) Product: Valkyrie #22 Author: Edited by: Jay Foster Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Partizan Press Line: Cost: Page count: 66 Year published: ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Tim Kirk on 15/04/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Science Fiction Modern day Horror Far Future Space Comedy Espionage Conspiracy Post-apocalyse Old West Gothic Asian/Far East Superhero Diceless Generic Other	Valkyrie #22 (Quarterly) Magazines for future reference are rather difficult items to review. Remind me the next time I attempt to do so. By their nature, being collaborations of many different authors with different styles, different tones, and even different intents. That being addressed I’m going forward with this review on an article-by-article basis. Overall, the Magazine is high quality gloss/slick paper staple-stitched (like many magazines) and is approximately 68 pages. There are many advertisements, but not more than your other genre magazines. Nightshift-Big Fish, Little Fish Covering prospective product releases for Spring 2001. It is one of the most exhaustive lists covering the industry I’ve seen, very detailed, but now out of date (which isn’t the fault of the magazine so much as the fact I just got it, and am just now and am also just now reviewing it. Overall, the article was very useful and gets 5/5 it is as accurate as these things can be in the gaming industry, and very complete. Readers Poll Results Not really, an article but it does take up two pages—sadly being in the US, the UK publication didn’t come out in time for me to answer these questions. Not rated News from the Trenches Essentially an editorial commenting on Pat Pulling and her long standing anti-D&D stance and founder of BADD (She passed away a couple of years ago) for those that don’t know, she was a thorn in the side of the legitimacy of gaming as a hobby, due to her son’s death by suicide which she blamed solely on D&D. The article didn’t tell me anything I didn’t know, but the article was well written and somewhat respectful of her as a person. I must say gamers like the author who wrote this piece (Bill Walton) deserve a lot of respect for being able to comment without attacking entirely, and leaving it on a note of respect. Rated 4/4 Furtive Fumblings Another editorial style article, commenting on gaming, the nature of sentience, and other ramblings many of us on RPGnet have probably uttered in some form or another. Rated 3/3 (not a lot to say good or ill of it) Saints & Sinners Highlights of the Year 2000, again woefully out of date due to the fact that we poor people in the US can’t get Valkyrie fast enough (add to that additional slowing of the process due to the difficulty of finding it) Rating 4/3 Big Big Rock Thing Scenario Ideas for OG the Role-playing game, is the subtitle. Strangely enough, this offers rather interesting variants of OG—engines of war from a very Flinstonian outlook of OG. Variant Cavemen ideas that comment on films “From Pangea with Love” to Proto martial arts cavemen. It’s a fun little article that makes me wish I owned OG, briefly before realizing not only wouldn’t I run OG, no one I know would play it. That isn’t a condemnation of OG or the article just my groups tastes being very “non-humor game” centered. The article adds some interesting and funny ideas to the game. Rating 4/4 Will I Dream?-Exploring Artificial Intelligence Written by three authors this article is very very useful, I cannot express how interesting and well written it is, addressing how AI’s might work, how they might be detected, understood, and other wise made use of, this article is a MUST for any Near Future, or Science Fiction gamer. It starts with “Mad Computers” and moves through a variety of points—such as False AI’s, Asimov circuits, and a variety of useful examinations on the topic of what it means to be a created intelligence in addition to having a very good selection of source material. Rating 5 /5 Two-Zero-Zero-One A mini Paranoia adventure complete with campy equipment for outdoor use, it is brief and fairly well written, but lacks a definite edge of dark irony that came out in much of the Paranoia material I’ve read. It’s more a silly kind of humor, than dark, and just doesn’t get across the true madness of Paranoia’s existence. It may be useful for lightening the mood of a Paranoia game gone too dark (if such a thing is possible) but in general, it’s just not my thing. Rating 2/2 The Cephali Another excellent well-detailed article, focusing on an alien intelligence (which is of course this issues theme.) It covers and Octopus based intelligence that is perfect for exemplifying alien-ness, yet still understandable creatures—the Cephali can be strange allies, enemies, foils, or flavoring for any SF game. With minor adaptation, they may be Cthulhu-Worshipping Ocean dwellers come to earth to awake their dread god, or simply be another creature interested in exploring Poseidon of Blue Planet fame. Rating 5/5 A Long Way From Home Essentially a SF Call of Cthulhu adventure, called a “tournament” scenario. It’s interesting exploration of just how expansive a COC game can go, and has been touched upon by others, but not that I’ve seen so completely. (Perhaps it will be adaptable to the upcoming Spaceship Zero as well) or simply absorbed into any SF game to change the player’s perspectives. It does come compete with lists of the materials in the ship, stats for COC for the main players and is very well done. Rating 5/5 Dark They Were and Kind of Pretty SF game-fans go and get this issue. Just as the article on AI’s this one seems to be an absolute must this one is also very useful covering the vast alien intelligences that are near to godlike in there perspective of the universe, that is to say those aliens often referred to, as an “elder” race. It covers the ideas very well, is very thorough. It even addresses issues of how to include them or there servitors in a game. Rating 5 /5 White Light White Heat Two articles essentially under one heading—one covers technologies in SLA industry Vent—a retrovirus is part of the double header, and Foldships the other. Being unfamiliar with SLA industries, I’m not sure the latter is appropriate (I was under the impression SLA it was more Cyberpunk/Earth based, but they may be my mistake). Both the Vent virus, and Foldships seem specific to SLA in description, but being descriptive rather than having specific game stats, they may be useful for other SF games. Rating 4/4 ZOG!! This is almost a companion piece to Dark They Were and Kind of Pretty, but it is more specific focusing on the alien intelligences of the Ancients of Babylon 5. Being a huge fan of the show, I’m very gleeful at the information, but being not so much a fan boy that I’d know if the information they tell us is accurate. (Having not read novels, and only limited gaming information from Babylon 5 Wars) needless to say I like the way these “godlike aliens” are handled, explained, and the sketches of the ships while not the CGI effects of the show do convey the alien natures and perspectives. It’s a good article; I’m not likely to make use of, because I tend to like original creations of my own in gaming, rather than using show/book inspired material. Rating 5/5 regardless. BattleLines: Target Unknown Scenario for Babylon 5 Wars, again I’ve only peripheral knowledge of this game, so from my perspective the adventure seems solid enough, and entertaining. I’m not sure how useful it is beyond the game it specifically supports (due to B5’s technological assumptions. Rating 4/4 Soldiers of Fortune This covers miniature pieces showing and describing selected recent peices. Black and white pictures don’t do a service to minis without better lighting, though descriptions are pretty complete. Rating 3/3 (It could be better with color, but the price makes that unlikely) Reviews I will not review the reviews within Valkyrie, other than to say they seem complete and fair. They review the following games Chivalry and Sorcery: The Rebirth At Close Quarters/101 Patrons (Traveller) Blue Planet V2 Hero Builders Guide Book (3ED&D) Freiburg ( 7th Sea) Quest for the Holy Pail (Battle Cattle) Way of the Shinsei (L5R) Clanbook Tremere, Assamite, Lasombra (Vampire: The Masquerade) Star Wars (D20) Diablo 2: Diablerie (3ED&D) Zombi Underworld Misc D&D3E Third Party Early Releases (Nemorean’s Vault, among others) Overall, since the loss of Arcane there isn’t much in the way of gaming magazines that cover a broad spectrum of gaming, Valkyrie is a very good and worthy magazine (even though I’ve only managed to obtain 3-4 issues of it) but so far I’m duly impressed, it’s not the complete “WOW” that I got from Arcane, but it is a very good product altogether.