In Short
The Prophecy Player Manual is meant to be a player only guide to Prophecy, introduced as a boxed set. Because I have already reviewed Prophecy in detail you should read that review for information on the game and system. This book includes much of the same information as what’s included in the boxed set, and this review focuses on what’s included and how useful the book is to players of Prophecy. Read this review if you’ve already made yourself familiar with Prophecy and are considering picking up the Player Manual
The Good: The poor organization of the boxed set has been remedied a great deal, resulting in a much more useful and readable player aid. The inclusion of the monstrous Races as playable Races, a feature included in the boxed set but deemphasized, is helpful.
The Bad: The book treats this as an introductory product, which seems odd. While it’s a step in the right direction, a substantial revision needs to be put in place to improve concept flow and make the book more accessible. The book is primarily useful only to players building a character, and emphasizes character creation over game mechanics.
The Physical Thing
This 128 page black and white softcover showcases the same below average production values as the Prophecy boxed set. A cluttered appearance, lack of flow, and below average quality artwork come together to create a work that isn’t as appealing as it could be.
Under the Cover
This product combines portions of the Prophecy boxed set in an attempt to create a useful player reference aid. The focus is definitely on character creation and spellcasting, with just a couple of pages covering the general aspects of the combat system. This product combines the content of the boxed set Player Manual with the playable monster races and magic spells from the Continent Superius Reference Manual.
How useful is this to players? It’s most useful to folk generally interested in the game’s setting and mythology. With a focus on character generation most of this supplement becomes less useful as soon as the players have characters to run. The spell section will continue to be useful to the party spellcaster, but then the spell descriptions are short enough that a few index cards could also hold all the information the spellcaster needs. The brief overview of combat actions is similarly handy at first glance, but once players understand the basic actions (move, attack, etc.) they’re unlikely to benefit from this.
My Take
If you intend to run Prophecy and want more assistance for group character generation then this is an adequate product. A second copy of the spell list, character races, and other information could certainly speed up character generation and be useful as a ‘loaner copy’ for folk who intend to join the game. That said, since it does nothing more than reprint information from the core set the Player Manual is definitely an optional product.
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