The name's Davenport. I review games.

So the other day, a stripper, a porn star, and a necrophiliac walk into my office. And the stripper says how-

Whaddya mean, "you already heard this one"? Can a guy not finish a story around here?

Thank you. Sheesh.

So anyways, the stripper says how she's got a job for me. I start to make a crack about how that's a switch, but then she says the boys at Eden sent her over.

And I'm thinkin', "Heeeey, they must've really liked that Armageddon review…"

('Course, that wouldn't explain the necrophiliac. I hope.)

But no, she says she's got a book for me to review. The Book of Archetypes, she calls it. Seems those nuts at Eden put out a call to all their pervy zombie-fancier fans to come up with a bunch of ready-made zombie chow characters for All Flesh Must Be Eaten. She and her two buddies were just a few of examples.

The idea made sense to me, as fast as AFMBE characters bite the dust. (And as fast as AFMBE zombies bite the characters.)

So sure, I said I'd take the job.

I almost threw in a gag about zombies eating porn stars, but I thought better of it. I got my standards.

I know some people frown on lists in reviews... but I also know the first thing people will ask me about this book is, "What types of characters does it include?" Since there's no one "type" of character here, it's far easier – and more informative – to simply list them right off the bat. So, here they are:

ARCHEOLOGIST (Norm)	BITTEN HOUSEWIFE (Norm)	BOUNTY HUNTER (Survivor)	CIRCUS KNIFE THROWER (Norm)	COURIER (Survivor)	CRAZED TEEN (Norm)
CRUSADING PREACHER (Inspired)	DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN (Norm)	DRILL SERGEANT (Survivor)	EX-GOTH GAL (Norm)	EX-SPY (Survivor)	FATALISTIC CORP EXECUTIVE (Norm)
FIRE FIGHTER (Survivor)	FIREMAN (Norm)	GAMEMASTER (Norm)	GOOD OL' BOY (Norm)	GOVERNMENT AGENT (Norm)	GREAT WHITE HUNTER (Survivor)
GRIZZLED GENERAL (Norm)	GUN STORE OWNER (Norm)	HAM RADIO JAMMER (Norm)	HIGH CLASS THIEF (Survivor)	HISPANIC GANG MEMBER (Survivor)	INDUSTRIALITE (Survivor)
ISHTAR PRIESTESS (Inspired)	KENDO MASTER (Survivor)	NECROPHILIAC (Norm)	OBNOXIOUS LADY (Norm)	PARAMEDIC (Norm)	PARAMILITARY GEEK (Norm)
PORN PRODUCER (Norm)	PORN STAR (Survivor)	SANITATION SPECIALIST (Survivor)	STRIPPER (Norm)	SURVIVALIST COLLEGE STUDENT (Survivor)	TARGET SHOOTER (Norm)
TAXI DRIVER (Norm)	TERRORIST (Survivor)	TORMENTED GRADE SCHOOL STUDENT (Norm)	VIGILANTE (Norm)	ZOMBIE RIGHTS ACTIVIST (Norm)

Now the way I see it, there are two kinds of roleplaying game archetypes: golden retrievers and pink iguanas.

Stay with me here.

Everyone knows what a golden retriever is, lots of people love them, and everyone expects to find one at the pet store. Heck, they're almost the epitome of doghood. Hence, a pet store owner will sell golden retrievers both to people who come in specifically looking for them and to many others who see them while browsing.

Nobody, by contrast, expects to find a hot pink iguana at the pet store, let alone sets out to buy one. The pink iguana just doesn't have a huge built-in fan base. Now, it is an interesting and exotic creature, so there's always the chance that some special browser will say those three magic words: "Dude!! Pink iguana!!" But there are a lot more people for whom a pink iguana is just a little too exotic. So, stocking a pink iguana is a bit more of a risk.

The golden retriever is what I like to call the "true archetype" – a character epitomizing a certain type of individual, such as the Firefighter, the Paramedic, the Great White Hunter, and the Terrorist. Because these are universal concepts, they offer greater utility. Not only are players likely to pick them while browsing the book, but they're also likely to come looking for them, sight unseen – e.g., "Is there a firefighter in the book?" And besides, their generic nature makes them ideal stock NPCs for the GM.

The pink iguana, by contrast, isn't really an "archetype" at all, but simply a quirky pregenerated character based on an idea too specific to be the epitome of anything: the Ex-Goth Gal, the Ishtar Priestess, and the Survivalist College Student, to name a few. These characters may be more creative than those of the "golden retriever" variety, but that very novelty means nobody's going to come looking for them. How many players are going to ask if the book happens to include a character like the Sanitation Specialist: a crazy armed-to-the-teeth Vietnam vet who crushes zombies in a garbage truck? As great a character as that is, only players willing to flip through the book will find him, and only a specific subset of them will want to play him.

Keeping in mind the subjectivity of the distinction, I'd say that just over half of the archetypes here are golden retrievers. So, just be aware that the use you get out of a good chunk of this book will depend upon how your players feel about pink iguanas.

Now, to a few specifics...

The Bad

• The Archeologist appears to be an Indiana Jones clone, yet he gets the Norm treatment. Maybe that's just a problem with the art selection, though.
• The Drill Sergeant is a great character concept, but he highlights the sometimes problematic restriction against spending Drawback points on attributes. In this case, giving the character appropriately high levels of Constitution and Willpower has left him neither as strong nor as dexterous as I'd think a drill sergeant should be.
• The Fire Fighter/Fireman combo seems blatantly redundant, as does the inclusion of both the Ex-Spy and the Government Agent. Yes, the former is a Survivor and the latter is a Norm in both cases, but why not just have one entry with both Survivor and Norm stats?
• I've noticed that some players engage in what might be called "story munchkinism" or "story powergaming" – coming up with characters so oddball that they hog the spotlight by their very natures. Archetypes like the Ex-Goth Gal and the Ishtar Priestess seem likely to cause that phenomenon. This may not matter, of course, if you want the focus on these oddballs.
• And speaking of the Ishtar Priestess – an Inspired hooker who's turned her talents to the worship of a love goddess – there are an embarrassing number of sex-related archetypes here. In addition to the Priestess, there's the Porn Producer, the Porn Star, the Stripper, and, of course, the Necrophiliac. Maybe it sounds prudish of me, but they just give the collection a stereotypical "sex-starved gamer" vibe that makes me wince.

The Good

• The kung fu fightin' Crusading Preacher is a great choice for players wanting to "kick ass for the LORD!"
• In the Fire Fighter, players have a combat-worthy character who's not designed around combat, and who comes with a package of valuable non-combat skills.
• On the other hand, if it's a full-blown combat monster you want, the Great White Hunter is... well... great. I just love the image of this guy calmly stalking shambling corpses with his high-powered rifle or his hunting bow.
• The corpulent, carping Obnoxious Lady is what every group of horror PCs needs: a person you can't wait to see become a victim. Ditto for the Zombie Rights Activist.
• And speaking of corpulent, the Gamemaster with his combat-ready sword amused me in spite of myself.

New Rules

New Gear

I'll confess a soft spot for the "Boom Stick" Assault Rifle – an M-16 with an attached M-203 grenade launcher modified to fire 20mm cannon shells. I don't know if that's actually possible, but it sure sounds cool.

Other new weapons include the bokken (wooden training sword), briefcase gun, fire axe, fire engine hose, "hotfoot" (a bat turned into a torch), and shovel. On the defensive side, fireman protective equipment and kendo armor get write-ups. The command armored personnel carrier and the fire engine are the new vehicles, and night vision binoculars and weightlifting equipment fill the "miscellaneous gear" niche.

New Skills

AFMBE includes a number of skills I can't imagine seeing much use in the typical zombie survival horror setting. This book adds one more: Science (Cryptography). On the other hand, Martial Arts (Kendo) provides a welcome boost for martial artists who prefer katanas to bare hands.

New Qualities/Drawbacks

The strong selection of new Qualities and Drawbacks includes Absent Minded, Flashbacks, Gamer, Narcolepsy, Physical Disability (Overweight), and Quick Learner. None of these seem like additions just for the sake of additions, with the possible exception of Gamer. That one's clearly there for the comedy value – as is the archetype for which it's designed – but at least it amuses while serving a practical function as either a Quality (which allows the hardcore gamer to go without sleep) or a Drawback (which makes the burnout gamer a wreck when going without sleep).

New Miracle

The only new Metaphysic is Eye of the Storm, a miracle creating a fear-resistant aura of calm around the Inspired. I think this actually fits the typical "zombie rise" Deadworld better than do many of the flashier miracles imported from WitchCraft for the core rulebook.

Style

The book is a 7.25" x 9.25" softcover with black and white interior. Aside from the stylish cover, I can best describe the artwork as adequate and practical but not particularly impressive. The only outright problem I have with it is in regards to the aforementioned misleading Indiana Jones imagery for the Archeologist archetype. The layout gets a little cluttered in the new rules section, but as that section's neither very large nor the main focus of the book, this didn't really matter to me.

The writing is likewise pretty utilitarian, with nothing particularly good or bad about it aside from the occasional chuckleworthy humorous bit. I didn't spot any errors or typos.

Conclusion

This is a difficult sort of book to review, because while a GM is mostly likely to buy it, the players are most likely to use it – and then, only individual entries, not the book as a whole. So, there are a lot of different potential tastes involved. About the only general statement I can offer is this: due to the scattershot nature of the selection – a result of being a fan submission book, no doubt – and the high percentage of "pink iguanas" present, player interest – and hence, the usefulness of the book – will rely very heavily on luck.

Very few of the characters appeal to me, either as PCs or NPCs. That makes the $15 price tag pretty hard to swallow. But if I ran a game in which my players snapped up these archetypes – and came back for more, when the zombies snapped them up – the collection might be worth the money.

The best advice I can offer is to take a look at that archetype list. If the concepts intrigue you or your players, you might want to get the book. (And I'd be happy to offer some more details about individual archetypes in the review forum, if requested.) If not, I'd recommend saving your money.

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