The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I had high hopes for FALL OF THE MALAKIM when I first heard about it. I've always been a sucker for Armageddon-linked stories and this one sounded like a doozy. After purchasing and reading through it, I'm not sure whether it's exactly what I was expecting.

The expanded David and Lilith were decently done; David is certainly more interesting than he was before; the linking of the literal aspects of stone with the more metaphorical aspects make him more than just a physical pillar of strengh. The expansion on Lilith is well done, although I never did like the idea of her being a Prince of Hell; in the old legends, didn't Lilith pretty much make her own way free of both Heaven and Hell? I think that more justice would have been done to Lilith and her Lilim if they are been strict neutrals in the war and had made themselves too valuable to both sides to be crushed out by either one, but that is just my opinion.

The write-up on Los Angeles and its celestial denizens was VERY well done. Unlike some people, I enjoy the little snippets of story interlaced with all the details, and I chuckled at how the little snippets from all over formed one big story when taken together. The angels I found a little bland (although the Elohite of Eli could be a VERY interesting character if handled correctly); the demons are little more interesting (although Raul, the Servitor of Gluttony, is an almost direct rip-off of Sable from Gaiman and Prachett's GOOD OMENS). My only real fault with the section on L.A. was its brevity; yes, I know, there are only so many pages, but I think some of the sites (like Mann's Chinese Theatre) deserved a little bit more a mention.

The adventures. Oh, the adventures. Sigh. I had a REAL problem here. "The Premiere" was very lackluster and scant on details, althought I did chuckle at the stereotypical "actors" presented. "The Fall of the Malakim" really left me exasperated. After giving detailed write-ups of all the important celestials in the city, the writers permanently kill off nearly half of them. What is the point of creating these detailed characters if the players will never meet them? A brief mention of these characters and there place in the plotline would have been sufficient; the space they used up could have been used elsewhere. And to make matters worse, all of the exciting events of the adventure happen BEFORE the characters even enter the story! What remains is basically a bug hunt (or Fallen Malakim hunt in this case) for the Fallen Malakim. Question is, did the Malakim even REALLY fall? The story is so muddled at this point that I'm really sure what happened.

In sum, this supplement pays off really well by itself if you ignore the adventure at the end. I would heartily recommend it for those groups who want an interesting place to run their game. I dearly hope that THE FINAL TRUMPET answers ALL of the questions left over from this adventure. Because of the adventure, I rate this supplement lower than it deserves.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Revelations IV: Fall of the Malakim
Author: Author: James Cambias, Alain H. Dawson, David Edelstein, Kenneth Hite, Elizabeth McCoy and Derek Pearcy Category: game Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games Cost: $19.85 Page count: 128 ISBN: 155634-8 Capsule Review by Wade Wallace on 08/19/98. Genre tags: none	I had high hopes for FALL OF THE MALAKIM when I first heard about it. I've always been a sucker for Armageddon-linked stories and this one sounded like a doozy. After purchasing and reading through it, I'm not sure whether it's exactly what I was expecting. The expanded David and Lilith were decently done; David is certainly more interesting than he was before; the linking of the literal aspects of stone with the more metaphorical aspects make him more than just a physical pillar of strengh. The expansion on Lilith is well done, although I never did like the idea of her being a Prince of Hell; in the old legends, didn't Lilith pretty much make her own way free of both Heaven and Hell? I think that more justice would have been done to Lilith and her Lilim if they are been strict neutrals in the war and had made themselves too valuable to both sides to be crushed out by either one, but that is just my opinion. The write-up on Los Angeles and its celestial denizens was VERY well done. Unlike some people, I enjoy the little snippets of story interlaced with all the details, and I chuckled at how the little snippets from all over formed one big story when taken together. The angels I found a little bland (although the Elohite of Eli could be a VERY interesting character if handled correctly); the demons are little more interesting (although Raul, the Servitor of Gluttony, is an almost direct rip-off of Sable from Gaiman and Prachett's GOOD OMENS). My only real fault with the section on L.A. was its brevity; yes, I know, there are only so many pages, but I think some of the sites (like Mann's Chinese Theatre) deserved a little bit more a mention. The adventures. Oh, the adventures. Sigh. I had a REAL problem here. "The Premiere" was very lackluster and scant on details, althought I did chuckle at the stereotypical "actors" presented. "The Fall of the Malakim" really left me exasperated. After giving detailed write-ups of all the important celestials in the city, the writers permanently kill off nearly half of them. What is the point of creating these detailed characters if the players will never meet them? A brief mention of these characters and there place in the plotline would have been sufficient; the space they used up could have been used elsewhere. And to make matters worse, all of the exciting events of the adventure happen BEFORE the characters even enter the story! What remains is basically a bug hunt (or Fallen Malakim hunt in this case) for the Fallen Malakim. Question is, did the Malakim even REALLY fall? The story is so muddled at this point that I'm really sure what happened. In sum, this supplement pays off really well by itself if you ignore the adventure at the end. I would heartily recommend it for those groups who want an interesting place to run their game. I dearly hope that THE FINAL TRUMPET answers ALL of the questions left over from this adventure. Because of the adventure, I rate this supplement lower than it deserves. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)

Revelations IV: Fall of the Malakim