I generally don't do reviews. In fact, I never had an interest in doing them. But a few years back, the rulebook for Multiverser came out and while it found its way into my hands, I hadn't read much on it elsewhere. I did a review on their First Book of Worlds, which impressed me even more than the rules. Fast forward to about a year ago and I had been made aware Valdron Inc. had been putting out the Second Book of Worlds. Again, I don't normally do reviews but I guess when something "review-worthy" comes along, it makes it worthwhile. Well, that is my unrelated build-up, so here's my review.
In comparison to past books they did, this book is 1000% better. Better quality, better printing, and better artwork, everything about it when compared to the First Book of Worlds. I gave the last book good reviews, so that says a lot here. It's rare things are improved upon with a sequel with the exception of Godfather II and Empire Strikes Back. Valdron Inc. was successful in pulling it off though and that's worthy of praise. I'll break it down and explain why.
The print, these guys do not sleep when it comes to going over the text with a fine-tooth comb. The book reads intelligent and clearly worded. It's a smaller font than many games and the text is laid out centered on the page, not two columns so you are getting a lot more words-per-page than standard RPG fare. So with that being said, a lot of information is crammed within these pages. That combined with the artwork limited to a page per chapter leaves you with a lot of material.
Speaking of artwork, a page per chapter may seem sparse but if a picture is a thousand words, these are double that. With each picture, they manage to capture each world to a tee. They even manage to cram a UFO attack, a witch/warlock being burned at the stake, and the angry mob in one image. Read further and see how this makes any sense.
Breaking the book down world-by-world, we start with a very alien realm called Bah Ke'gehn. This is the absolute gem of the book here. The world is so alien and without giving away any spoilers for potential players takes the largest chunk of the book to explain. I'll have to credit the authors on this one, they have basically done one of those 'forget what you know"-type concepts and started from an absolutely clean slate. It even goes to the extent where you are almost learning a new language. The only downside to the world is it is so alien, it is so different that anyone short of an excellent referee will have a hard time running it. But who says the challenge should strictly lie within the players? And while I say it is the gem of the book, it is just the tip of the iceberg, the rest of the worlds are very well done and can attribute endless hours of gaming.
The second world is the classic tale, The Prisoner of Zenda. The Valdron Inc. crew has successfully set up the scenario for the player (or "verser" as the world-hopping adventurer(s) are called) to be dropped into the beginning of the popular identity-switching story arc. Don't be fooled into believing the story can head only one direction as the authors do a pretty successful job of presenting just about every possible direction the story can head towards. They also describe the entire cast of characters (NPCs) in a more fleshed-out style than most RPGs are even touching on these days. So to sum it up, Prisoner of Zenda as a world based on a popular piece of literature works well but for the most part is attributed to the writing staff.
The third world goes along with that UFO/witch image I touched upon earlier. It is called The Farmland. While Bah Ke'gehn was unique for being something unique, The Farmland is unique because of the simplicity. The set-up is the verser landing in a farm community is the equivalent of the early Salem, Massachusetts. But in the game system since your equipment goes with you, odds are you'll have some items that'll get some attention in this world. Not only that, but your skills, if displayed, may be so unique to them it will prompt them to suspect witchcraft. But that's only one scenario, what happens when an alien invasion takes place in this realm? That's an option here also. So Farmland is a good, simple scenario.
The next scenario presented in the book is The New Ice Age. Taken from a theory that stated global warming prevented a new Ice Age from occurring. You don't have to think too far beyond that to realize this is the perfect survival scenario. It was originally posted to the web on the free download to www.multiverser.com visitors but upon print was switched to something called "Orc Rising". While the web download provided the basic outline of a world, the published version gives much more insightful details and gaming ideas. We are treated to descriptions of the beasts found in this frozen world, which is made up of the beats from our original Ice Age such as the Wooly Mammoth. I was least impressed with this world in comparison to the rest but it is far above average so it doesn't cast a shadow on my approval of this book as a whole.
The final three world chapters are all well done and quite unique to the RPG community. I think if nothing else, these could even be great world ideas beyond the Multiverser system as stats can be ignored or replaced making them basically great science fiction scenarios. The first one is basically a world that centers on the Darwinian theory of "Survival of the Fittest". No stone is left unturned here. For every question that may arise about the philosophy or approach to working this world there seems to be an answer. That's part of my appreciation for Multiverser, the authors seem to map out the game scenario. Whether they use test playing or extensive research to their worlds, the authors just seem to know how to plot these out. The same idea carries into the next sci-fi realm that is labeled "Industrial Complex". This is a familiar world that recalls several science fiction concepts. I almost imagine the Madonna video of years gone by with the steel worker amidst a giant industrial complex but if I thought about it, I'd have a better example. But back to the review, the world is based around the idea that machines got greater and the people beneath the surface seemed to get dumber thinking the machines were their superiors and just working under them and they have something of a tribal war going among them. So with the deterioration of man came the reversion back to the tribal mindset. So add two and two together and with the verser most likely a player character from our world, we have an interesting scenario to play out. The last of the three chapters I so conveniently clumped together in this review is a daylong time loop. As the saying goes, "stick with what you know", and the author M. Joseph Young did exactly that. If you look him up through the Multiverser site, you'll see he's a well-known authority on time travel. With that being said, the idea for Perpetual Barbecue, as the scenario is called, is all the things that go wrong following a scientist's tampering with time travel on the day of a huge picnic. The idea was based on a short story from the author conveniently printed at the beginning of the chapter which does make for a good read as well. Regardless, with a good player and even better referee this is a fun scenario to run. It works great in the same vein as the movie Groundhog Day and as I stated about the layout of the book even provides ideas for when the time loop is fixed. Not too shabby.
So, in summary the Second Book of Worlds for Multiverser by Valdron Inc. is one of those rare gems in role-playing where the second in a series outdoes the first. Hopefully the third book continues the trend but with my high marks all they need to do is equal this one and I'd be more than delighted. Hopefully I have provided enough insight to get my point across. I also hope borrowing their image with a link to their site doesn't upset them in any way.
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