The pdf is also indexed and fully selectable (which is very handy if you're running an online or play-by-post game and need to copy and paste some information from the book.)
It's available from Ronin Arts at this link:
http://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=3&products_id=498
A free "sampler" of this book is also available here:
http://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=3&products_id=476
The great thing about The Vault of Dr. Mechaniaikal is that it delivers much more than you expect. (or - at least - more than I expected)
At first glance - you might think this is an equipment supplement. A handy reference to have on hand when designing an adventure.
Which, yeah, it is.
And, yeah, it's a good one.
With over 30 devices (fire lance, gravity gun, needler pistols, several different varieties of power armor, sentient weapons systems, mecha, and many more), an extensive background for the villain Dr. Mechaniaikal, as well as supplemental rules for super-inventing (and the associated dangers), Protocol Zero Productions is giving you much more than your money's worth given the product's meager 4.95 price tag.
But it's also a bit more than it.
They're not just giving you equipment for your supers game.
What might have been a bare equipment resource in less capable hands becomes an artifact from a world of super-powered heroes and villains.
It's like the catalog J. Peterman would produce...if J. Peterman were an amoral mercenary super-genius.
(if you're not familiar with J. Peterman, you probably didn't watch much Seinfeld. To get the reference (and to read perhaps the most entertaining catalog entry ever written for fuzzy knit gloves), check out this link: http://jpeterman.com/product.asp?cat=110208&sku=WAC%202187)
Here's a sample - a snippet of the descriptive text for the Medusa Ray - a delightful sidearm that (naturally) emits a ray that turns flesh into stone:
"While we try not to speak about the Medusa Ray's inventor (an odd fellow from a rather Eastern European-sounding galaxy), one cannot argue its effectiveness. Compact, with excellent 'retro' styling, the Medusa Ray is an amazing piece of nonlethal offensive engineering, perfect for those weapon-wielders that want a solidly thematic hand-weapon. While other methods of petrification are available on the market, I daresay they don't measure up to the high standard of this fine sidearm."
So, it's not just a handy toolbox of nifty devices to you arm and outfit your supers game. The descriptions of the devices provide background and depth that invoke the feeling of the genre. It helps your supers campaign feel more comic-booky, and there's not much more you can ask for from a product like this.
If I had one gripe about this product it would be that more illustrations of the devices would have been nice. But given the often prohibitive expense of art, this is easily forgiveable.
