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How I Review:
I don’t believe that everyone has the same tastes. Thus, I will do everything I can to place my personal taste and personal opinion as separate notes. These notes will not affect the rating of the review. They are only my personal thoughts and opinions. Thus, if I’m not into D20, Supers or art that includes nudity in an RPG, the review will state my opinions, but those opinions will not be reflected in the rating given to the product.

First Impressions
My first impression of Deliria must begin with walking past the booth at GenCon. It was a small booth, ten-by-ten, somewhat isolated by the cloth walls and piping used to separate booths. It wasn’t really open--but was situated in a well-traveled walkway. Utilizing their space to good advantage, however, Deliria was displayed aggressively and their booth-staff were smiling and always pleasant.

When I requested a copy of the book in exchange for my own product (which I will not pimp in someone else’s review!), Kevin smiled broadly. He made me work for the swap, but never once made me feel uncomfortable. In fact, I offered him two of my products in exchange because Deliria was so beautiful. He used the swap as a means of promoting other services offered by his staff: helping people produce books as beautiful as Deliria. An offer I am not soon to forget!

The book itself is gorgeous. It is glossy black, with bright letters in a very readable font on the cover. The face on the cover, which looks somewhat like a blooming marigold, is reminiscent of the white dragon in The Neverending Story. This was my first clue that this game may be somewhat unusual. (Leave it to me to totally miss the signs in the booth advertising that it’s a game involving faeries.)

The back cover is minimalist, maintaining the black theme and providing a short poetic description of the world. In the bottom corner are the bullet points that tell us what the book contains.

My first impression of the book: 336 pages (318 are numbered), heavier weight of paper, full-color, full-color end-plates (the inside front and back covers) and sheer weight of the book are quite impressive. The $39.95 price-point is clearly earned with the production values evident in the product.

Skimming Through
I was forced to remind myself as I flipped through the book that it is an RPG. The images are, to say the least, “uncommonly beautiful”. It is clearly a book about faeries, the fae and otherworldly things--this clarity is not from reading the book. It is solely from the skimming of texts and images.

My wife sat down and and perused the book while I was writing this review. She was amazed by the musical and artistic composition. As a musician herself, she was delighted with the combination of art and music into an RPG. “I’ve never seen an RPG that truly stressed fine art,” she said.

Page-by-Page Examination
There is nudity. It is not gratuitous. It is not unpleasantly shocking. It flows into the beauty of the images artistically. Since I am attracted to the female form, I don’t find it out of place that all the nudity is feminine. Yes, there is full-frontal nudity--and it definitely solidifies the notion that fairies are “smoothe”. There is also a depiction of coitus. This is not a child’s fairy tale--but, then, it doesn’t pretend to be!

My only distraction in the artwork and presentation are the scrolls held by hands that provide some “world insights” throughout the book. These look marvelous on full page and are quite cool as an effect all the way through. I was slightly distracted that in a single column, the hands appear somewhat “stretched”. It would have been better to use a different graphic for in-column images. (Comparing the image on page 79 with that on page 82 will show the reader what I mean. Yes, I’m assuming you have the book. ;) )

There is a marvelous index. I was quite pleased to see it was extremely detailed and complete. As someone who appreciates a good index, this is a very good bonus, especially with a product where it is easy to become distracted through simply reading it!

Prose
This is not your typical RPG. There is poetry, music, art. There is a lot of “purple text” in this book. If you are looking for a game full of mechanics, engineering, systemic details, look elsewhere. This is a game for dreamers, lovers of the fanciful; it is for artists.

The whole point of the prose is to draw the reader into Deliria. You are immersed in the world, in the beauty, in the passion, in the horror, in the hunger. The prose tells you stories, feeds you impressions and dances in your mind like an ethereal creature summoned to entertain you.

“It is imagination run wild!” My wife exclaims as she examines the book. Not even speaking in complete sentences, she says, “…every aspect of the fantastic…” “Oooo, extremely unsettling… Ick…” “…wow…” “…cool!”

Art
I have said so much already on the artwork, yet I find more to say. One thing struck me as I was involved in my page-by-page evaluation: the art is eclectic. There are line drawings, paintings, digital paintings, Photoshopped images, photographs--even watercolors! One would imagine this conglomeration of styles would be chaotic. But…

…it works! It really works!

I’ve never been a fan of photos in an RPG--usually they are just fillers, jammed into the text either to save money or to showcase the designers friends and family--sometimes as a means of showing off their photography “talent”. But that’s not what you will find in Deliria. These images fit. Some are stunning. Some are moving. Some are quiet. They don’t define the art--they are just another spice in the great stew of Deliria.

“It is high class--and yet low class. It mixes profane, crude and crass statements, with extreme, artistic sophistication. Its art is of the highest quality, blending the most beautiful paintings with a raw, tattooed woman’s ass, “ my wife is speaking to me, flipping through the book. A moment later she demands, “We have to play this!” (And she is not a gamer.)

“Oh! I’m disappointed! Several pages with no pictures!”

“Because it is done artistically, the nudity doesn’t bother me. The first sight of nipples was surprising, though.”

My wife hasn't taken this much time to look at a game since she edited my own book!

Mechanic
I’m going to have to short-change you here. I did not play Deliria. I read through the mechanic and found it to be quite fitting for the world--unusual and fascinating, unique and extraordinary. However, after 30 minutes with Deliria, I have come to a conclusion:

No one will play Deliria for the mechanic--and if you do (just to spite me!), you missed the point.

Deliria is about telling fantastic, amazing, incredible stories using every ounce of your imagination. It is about beauty and otherworldly weirdness. It is about life, love and the essence of life. It is about fairies and flights of fancy. If you play it for the numbers, you have completely missed the point.

“Somebody has put a lot of thought into developing the attributes, mechanic and meshing it all with the world,” my wife, the non-gamer, exclaims as she reads through Deliria “You should tell them that female gamers would really like this.”

Opinion
I don’t like fairies. I’ve never been interested in them. In fact, I think they are kinda silly.

I am horribly jealous of the product. It is, quite simply, beauty between two book covers. The writing and artwork combine to draw in the reader to a wonderfully presented world of breathtaking beauty and design. But, once there, I find myself trapped by my own inability to comprehend such a place.

Please don’t let my opinion sway you, however. Just because I’m not a fan of fairies should not dissuade you from Deliria. I also don’t care for D20 or Supers--but you are still playing those to your heart’s content!

Deliria is a book that every game designer should have on his or her shelf. It is a book that every gamemaster should have at his or her disposal. Concepts in this book would shake up any World of Darkness game, send ripples through any D&D fantasy world and sunder the bedrock of your Hero games.

Xeroxing the character sheet is also going to be a challenge, not to mention costly, standing there at the color copier at Kinko’s!

There is a strong Wiccan element in the book. This was enough to turn my wife off during her examination. “It’s really a bummer that it had to be included,” she said. It is the most distasteful element she encountered and her final statement was, “If we can play it without magic or Wicca, I’m interested. Otherwise…” For my wife, this is a very serious matter; her faith restricts her involvement with other religions and worshipping other gods--even in a role-playing setting. Unfortunately, because of this, I lost her interest and the chance to play the game with her.

Conclusion
Whether you play this game or not, you should own it.
If you gamemaster, you should send your players on this roller-coaster ride.
If you write games, you should use this as your measuring stick.
If you publish games, you should use this as your guide.


…pardon me while I crawl back into my cave and gibber for awhile…

(Note: I did receive a "free" copy--I traded two of my books for Deliria. Not exactly a "free" copy--but no, I didn't pay for it.)