The name's Davenport. I review games.

So there I was, sittin' in my office, when in walks this swell lookin' dame. And she says, "Hi! I'm here from Eden Studios to tell you about the all-new Book of Archetypes 2!"

So I says, "Book of Archetypes, eh? What's that make you, then: a hooker, a stripper, or a porn star?"

So then she karate chops my desk in half.

And then some little kid sticks his head in the door and says, "Mom? Is everything okay? What's a 'porn star'?"

Both of which made things kinda awkward.

Anyway, she says she's the "Shaolin Soccer Mom". I wasn't sure what the "Shaolin" part was supposed to mean, but near as I could tell it had somethin' to do with "dame who can kick your ass". So, even though I was just so-so on the last Book of Archetypes, I figured I'd better give this one a look, too.

Then I'd decide whether to bill Eden for the desk…

The most obvious change between this book (hereafter BoA2) and the first Book of Archetypes (hereafter BoA1) is the inclusion of character types from the three AFMBE genre supplements published thus far – Enter the Zombie, Pulp Zombies, and Fistful o' Zombies – as well as a couple of zombie PCs. I've marked them accordingly below:

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT (Survivor)	AGING DECKER (Survivor)	ASYLUM ESCAPEE (Survivor)	BOMB SQUAD OFFICER (Norm)	CAMP COUNSELOR (Inspired)	CANARY (Pulp Hero – PZ)
CLUB DJ (Norm)	CRIMINOLOGIST (Norm)	DISILLUSIONED MARTIAL ARTIST (Zombie – EtZ)	DRIVER (Pulp Hero – PZ)	ESCAPE ARTIST (Survivor)	FASTEST GUN IN THE WEST (Survivor – FoZ)
HOMICIDE DETECTIVE (Norm)	HORN PLAYER (Legendary Hero – PZ)	INDENTURED KILLER (Shooter – EtZ)	IRON HEAD (Martial Artist – EtZ)	LIBRARIAN (Norm)	LOST CHILD (Norm)
MAFIA HOOD (Survivor)	MERCENARY (Survivor)	MIRACULOUS SURVIVOR (Inspired)	THE MISSILATRIX (Pulp Hero – PZ)	OLD CRONE (Zombie)	OLYMPIC MARKSMAN (Shooter – EtZ)
PINKERTON (Survivor – FoZ)	REBORN DRUID SAGE (Inspired)	RELUCTANT FAITH HEALER (Inspired)	REPENTANT NINJA (Inspired)	RIVERBOAT CAPTAIN (Survivor – FoZ)	SEWER DWELLER (Norm)
SHAOLIN SOCCER MOM (Martial Artist – EtZ)	SMUGGLER (Shooter – EtZ)	SMUGGLER (Survivor – FoZ)	SMUGGLER (Pulp Hero – PZ)	SPACE MARINE (Survivor)	STRANDED AID WORKER (Norm)
STREET FIGHTER (Survivor)	TRAIL BOSS (Survivor – FoZ)	VOODOO HOUNGAN (Inspired)	WILD WEST RETIRED SHERIFF (Survivor – FoZ)	WILD WEST REVEREND (Inspired – FoZ)	WILD WEST ZOMBIE RANCHER (Survivor – FoZ)
YOUNG APPRENTICE (Lesser Gifted – EtZ)

Perhaps due to BoA2's access to the genre supplements, I see a much higher percentage of "true" archetypes as compared to BoA1 – and, what's more, a whole lot more characters that I'd consider playing. (Or using as NPCs, for that matter.)

Of course, those genre-specific archetypes won't do you much good without access to the relevant supplements. Even so, more of the "standard" AFMBE archetypes appeal to me here than in the entire BoA1.

The Bad

• As glad as I was to see a Legendary Hero from Pulp Zombies in the collection, the Horn Player's psychic powers feel a little tacked on. I'd have been happy with just a Legendary musician.
• The Criminologist and the Homicide Detective seem redundant. And, unlike the Fire Fighter/Fireman and Ex-Spy/Government Agent pairings from the previous book, both are Norms.
• Using the Wild West Zombie Rancher requires a Deadworld in which such a career makes sense – something the write-up doesn't even attempt to describe.
• The Space Marine suffers from the same kind of problem, only more so. His use requires the GM to not only create an appropriate Deadworld, but also all of the necessary sci-fi elements beyond the archetype's equipment. (Including more archetypes for the setting, in the likely event that all of the players don't want to use the exact same character.)
• The Reborn Druid Sage, Repentant Ninja, and Voodoo Houngan continue the practice started in the AFMBE core rulebook of using Miracles to cover any sort of Metaphysic. As flexible as the Miracle mechanic is, the results here seem watered down compared to what might have been done with other Unisystem Metaphysics – especially in the case of the Repentant Ninja, given the availability of Enter the Zombie's Chi powers. I can only guess that the Repentant Ninja's creator didn't have access to that book.
• Conversely, the Young Apprentice is a bit of a non sequitur. I'm glad to see an Enter the Zombie-style sorcerer as an archetype, complete with some of the spells (rather than Inspired Miracles) from that book, but I don't see the need to squeeze in the Lesser Gifted character type out of WitchCraft and Armageddon in order to do so – particularly since the EtZ spells are more like Chi techniques (and are listed as such) than WitchCraft Invocations. I'd have just used the Martial Arts character type and kept things simple.
• And speaking of martial arts, I can't imagine the two Martial Artist archetypes – the Iron Head (master of a head-butting technique) and the Shaolin Soccer Mom – working for anything other than a campy game. That's not bad in and of itself, but some more serious Martial Artists would have been nice as well.

The Good

• I like the fact that the Administrative Assistant is a Survivor. It gives players the chance to play a character who's not combat-oriented, but not a chump, either.
• The Norms serving their traditional non-combat role present very archetypal options – the Librarian and the Lost Child, in particular. Hence, they're more likely to match a player's preexisting character concept.
• The Camp Counselor fills a similar niche to the Fire Fighter in the first collection: a sort of "ranger" type, with a mix of survival and combat skills – in this case, skill with axe and bow. Plus, the Camp Counselor is Inspired, and he can work in either a campy or a serious game.

• Now, if you're really ready to kick zombie ass and take zombie names, there's a great selection of pure fighters here – many of them "true" archetypes, like the Mafia Hood, the Mercenary, the axe-happy Asylum Escapee, and the Street Fighter. (I particularly like that last one: a bare-knuckle, chain-swinging, zombie-stompin' badass.) And that's not counting the excellent Enter the Zombie Shooters and Fistful o' Zombies gunslingers.
• Speaking of Fistful o' Zombies, the Wild West Reverend serves as the equivalent of a Deadlands Blessed character. This didn't require any new rules, of course – just an Inspired preacher with Wild West trappings – but it's nice to have the archetype.
• The zombified Disillusioned Martial Artist gives players the chance to play the kind of Crow-ish undead avenger featured in the Enter the Zombie intro story.
• I love the inclusion of three different versions of the Smuggler archetype: one each for Enter the Zombie, Pulp Zombies, and Fistful o' Zombies. I'd have liked to have seen more of that, in fact.
• The Old Crone is a particular favorite of mine. I'm not sure exactly how many Deadworlds she'd fit, but I'm a long-time fan of hex-casting hags. An undead hex-casting hag is just gravy.

New Rules

New Gear

For the Street Fighter, the book includes stats for brass knuckles and a chain. Basic, but useful. The high quality katana used by the Repentant Ninja is anything but basic, and is, in fact, a touch munchkiny – on a separate roll of 9-10 on a 1d10, it severs a limb. Granted, it also goes dull rather easily, but still.

For the Space Marine, there's the pulse rifle and the multi-optics and video camera class III helmet – the latter borrowed from Armageddon. These items, like the Space Marine archetype itself, are only useful as a starting point in building a sci-fi Deadworld.

From the high-flying Pulp Hero template known as the Missilatrix, we get the jet pack. As those of you who've read my Pulp Zombies review know, I'm not too keen on the gadget creation process in that book. Still, it's nice to have stats for this pulp staple on hand.

I'm less sure that tricycle stats were really necessary for the Lost Child, but I guess it could prove useful in a shuffling-zombie-vs.-child-on-a-tricycle chase scene. (That would be pretty amusing, come to think of it...)

New Chi Technique

The "new" Iron Head technique is nothing more than the Iron Palm technique, except literally using your head.

New Qualities/Drawbacks

Like the previous book, BoA2 finds some Qualities/Drawbacks that don't seem like superfluous add-ons to the system: Curious and Tireless. The listing for the Overweight Drawback references the listing in BoA1 – bad form, especially since there's plenty of room to reprint this Drawback here. The Resistance (Weightlessness) Quality is yet another part of the Space Marine package, although I can see this one being more generally useful in any zombie game that happens to include space travel of any sort.

New Metaphysics

Again, one of the "new" entries here, Eye of the Storm, is nothing more than a stat-free referral to the Miracle's listing in BoA1.

Spiritual Ally provides the Inspired with a spirit sidekick – great, except that the abilities of this sidekick are completely up to the GM, with precisely no guidelines provided.

Spirit Armor is a nice addition to beef up the combat viability of Inspired, providing a kind of supernatural force field.

And then there's Invisibility – a classic supernatural ability, but as a Miracle? That seems a little strange. Besides, it's already written up as a spell in Enter the Zombie.

New Cast Member Type

Here the book gives a quick write-up of the Lesser Gifted character type from WitchCraft and Armageddon – again, an inclusion I find unnecessary and somewhat awkward.

Style

Pretty much everything I had to say about the style elements of BoA1 holds true for the follow-up. The only thing I'd add is that I'd have preferred to have the genre supplement archetypes separated into their own sections rather than sorted alphabetically with the others. After all, I'm not going to be looking for a Pulp Hero when running a Romero-style Deadworld.

Conclusion

As with the first Book of Archetypes – and with any pregen PC collection, for that matter – the usefulness of the book depends mostly upon whether your players choose to use the individual characters. So, since you presumably know your players better than I do, look the list over for any likely candidates.

That said, I find the quality, cohesiveness, and general utility of this selection far superior to that in BoA1. As such, it gets a higher rating from me, and I suspect that it will get more use from you.

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