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Overview:
The Equipment Guide is a single resource for weapons and gear built for use in the Hero System. It spans the gamut of genres from fantasy to sci-fi and the stages in-between. I got to admit that it has been a source of frustration to go digging from book-to-book looking to find a sword or club that works for the random mook or master villain in front of me. My gaming group has taken our own steps to resolve the situation by manually entering weapons data into a document that is kept at the table. Well, I that was yesterday. The Equipment Guide collates weapons found in Hero System 5th Edition, Revised, Dark Champions, Fantasy Hero, The Ultimate Martial Artist, and Star Hero into one well indexed and easily referenced book uncluttering the tabletop. There is also a 16 page section of new material on nuclear devices and other WMDs, strongly illustrating Hero Systems ability to build anything.
Layout & Design: This book uses the standard Hero System layout featuring two columns and sidebars. Unlike standard Hero books, the Equipment Guide doesn’t utilize the sidebar feature but that is somewhat given considering the nature of the book.
Cover and Art The cover is an all black background with a crossed sword and hammer over the Hero hex. It is clean and utilitarian if somewhat plain.
Interior works appear to be recycled art from the sourcebooks where the equipment is found. Barring the section on martial arts the illustrations of the weapons themselves is of excellent quality. The martial arts weapons are simple silhouettes. There is a fair amount of other art pulled in and it is generally of good quality.
Chapter by Chapter
Fantasy Weapons: The chapters are self-explanatory but could use a little elaboration. In addition to the standard fare of swords and bows this section covers the rules for making weapons suitable to your home campaign, armor construction, barding, and advanced rules for making legendary or poor quality style weapons.Martial Arts: Oriental weapons may appear simple but they are nuanced and complex. Chains and ropes mixed with oddly shaped barbs or folding staves connected by short lengths of chain are hard to model. Hero does them well. The section covers more than just the traditional Japanese & Chinese weapons (read katana in there), it also covers Indonesian and other, more obscure, weapons.
Modern Weapons: Hero covers the modern genre well with Pulp, Super Agents, Full on Supers, and the dark gritty streets of Dark Champions so it is no surprise that this section is bulky. Guns, weapons, ammo, and accessories – it is all here. The close to but not exhaustive list of weapons and gear could make Guns & Ammo jealous. These weapons all conform to Hero Systems standard, slightly less than lethal, damage mechanics. The second part of the chapter gets into the new rules on WMDs. I find my morbid side stepping out and reveling in the enormity of damage packed in the nuclear bomb. Poisons finishes out the section by presenting a small cross-section of some of the more popular (as in pop-culture) poisons. That isn’t to say that a few less than well know varieties aren’t in there. There are also a few fictional poisons.
Modern Equipment: This is the “everything else” category for equipment. It has body armor, spy gear, bugs, and the Batman-esque line gun. Not very exciting, but when you are looking for Tempest Equipment it helps convince the DM that you aren’t pulling a fast one to see the write up.
Science Fiction: Want a light saber…err…Energy Sword? How about a gauss weapon? Well, you have come to the right spot. Scifi includes several weird weapons, technologies, and energy types that should cover your needs. This includes types of matter conversion (teleportation).
I have not play tested any of the scifi gear – I generally don’t RP in that era but reading the well thought out sections on technology and theoretical equipment has me hankering to go buy the books for a cozy evening read.
Summation
This book is for people who play Hero System. Unlike the majority of other Hero supplements there is very little that is usable outside the system. The bells and whistles have less to do with a pretty book and lots o’ extra doo-dads than with a concise and well indexed book containing a vast amount of weapons and gear that are all integrated with each other.
The book has a great deal of utility and I hope it is apparent that it is a great resource. However, the utilitarian nature, at which it excels, drags down the ratings a little.
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