The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I bought this at ShoreCon 95 a couple weeks ago after talking with the author for HOURS.

Wow. At long last, a fantasy anime RPG, well, sort of, anyway. Something I've been after for quite a while. Everything else I've tried just hasn't suited that loose style anime seems like it should have. And this game has something for everyone, too. The system is a 'traditional' one ( the sort of system you're used to seeing in a lot of games), but is loosened up in some wild ways to make it feel like an anime game while remaining very familiar and detailed.

First off, the game can apparently simulate or work with a lot of different game systems with little or no work. The author showed me, no lie, how to work it within the framework of 15 different game systems, from AD&D to Palladium to GURPS to RoleMaster. It has random and point based character generation systems, and easy skill-based mechanics. And it uses a buying system for character advancement, which let's it simulate the character advancement systems of way too many games. The foreword says this was intentional to eliminate a lot of fights in the Author's game group over what game system to use. Character creation can seem a bit tedious, but it does one good thing; it moves all the hard work of the game into 'maintenance periods' (that's when you create a character or make the changes from going up a level, etc.). No playing with a ton of math in the middle of combat like some games.

Next cool thing is the chapter dedicated to beginning gamers. The entire chapter does nothing but give advice to beginners about how to play, why to play, dealing with various situations, the types of gamers, and how to become a better player. The chapter seems rather short but in those few pages, it sums up hours of lectures any of us would give a newbie and it does so clearly.

The third cool thing is the setting. It is realistic, yet reads almost like a description of an anime series, dark and forboding with a gleaming ray of hope, with all sorts of strangeness going on. And the setting permeates the book from one end to the other, so as you read, you're almost constantly learning about the game's default world.

The last cool thing about the book is the artwork. All of it is anime styled, right down to the gorgeous cover (which I saw at the con, but isn't included with the PDF; it'll be free online soon, or so I was told). And there's no chickening out, either. It's all done exactly like the Japanese would do it, right down to having 'shower scene' styled art. Only thing missing is that 'something cutesy' that just about every anime show seems to have.

There were some other great things as well. For instance, several chapters of the Player Guide will be regularly expanded and always free for download from their web site, along with other helpful freebies. They plan to produce 'metric editions' in PDF for the non-US consumers. Service-oriented, aren't they? And they'll be around for awhile, because I flipped through 8!!! manuscripts for upcoming products. Oh, and if you hate those adobe acrobat PDF files, don't worry; they'll be releasing paper versions of everything as well. And the author has the answer to the age-old question of why anime elves have those horribly long ears: Handlebars!

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

World of Barador Player Guide PDF
Author: Dana Jorgensen Category: game Company/Publisher: Alternate Realities Publications Cost: $12.00 Page count: 230 Capsule Review by david sinclair on 09/29/98. Genre tags: Fantasy Anime	I bought this at ShoreCon 95 a couple weeks ago after talking with the author for HOURS. Wow. At long last, a fantasy anime RPG, well, sort of, anyway. Something I've been after for quite a while. Everything else I've tried just hasn't suited that loose style anime seems like it should have. And this game has something for everyone, too. The system is a 'traditional' one ( the sort of system you're used to seeing in a lot of games), but is loosened up in some wild ways to make it feel like an anime game while remaining very familiar and detailed. First off, the game can apparently simulate or work with a lot of different game systems with little or no work. The author showed me, no lie, how to work it within the framework of 15 different game systems, from AD&D to Palladium to GURPS to RoleMaster. It has random and point based character generation systems, and easy skill-based mechanics. And it uses a buying system for character advancement, which let's it simulate the character advancement systems of way too many games. The foreword says this was intentional to eliminate a lot of fights in the Author's game group over what game system to use. Character creation can seem a bit tedious, but it does one good thing; it moves all the hard work of the game into 'maintenance periods' (that's when you create a character or make the changes from going up a level, etc.). No playing with a ton of math in the middle of combat like some games. Next cool thing is the chapter dedicated to beginning gamers. The entire chapter does nothing but give advice to beginners about how to play, why to play, dealing with various situations, the types of gamers, and how to become a better player. The chapter seems rather short but in those few pages, it sums up hours of lectures any of us would give a newbie and it does so clearly. The third cool thing is the setting. It is realistic, yet reads almost like a description of an anime series, dark and forboding with a gleaming ray of hope, with all sorts of strangeness going on. And the setting permeates the book from one end to the other, so as you read, you're almost constantly learning about the game's default world. The last cool thing about the book is the artwork. All of it is anime styled, right down to the gorgeous cover (which I saw at the con, but isn't included with the PDF; it'll be free online soon, or so I was told). And there's no chickening out, either. It's all done exactly like the Japanese would do it, right down to having 'shower scene' styled art. Only thing missing is that 'something cutesy' that just about every anime show seems to have. There were some other great things as well. For instance, several chapters of the Player Guide will be regularly expanded and always free for download from their web site, along with other helpful freebies. They plan to produce 'metric editions' in PDF for the non-US consumers. Service-oriented, aren't they? And they'll be around for awhile, because I flipped through 8!!! manuscripts for upcoming products. Oh, and if you hate those adobe acrobat PDF files, don't worry; they'll be releasing paper versions of everything as well. And the author has the answer to the age-old question of why anime elves have those horribly long ears: Handlebars! Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

World of Barador Player Guide PDF