Though released back in April, the Big Bang series has gained the benefit of two new licenses for FUDGE and Action! System. And, as is the case with any electronic publication, revisions come quick and easy, even if to the detriment of the wallets of anyone printing them out.

Additionally, with my first review, there was some nonsense posted about licensing violations. Some of the claims were correct, many were not. And overall, the problems were insignificant compared to some that I have seen in d20 licensed products.

This edition fixes all the problems produced by those two issues. First, each and every gun listed in the first edition is still here, but is now presented with statistics for four different game systems, including D20 Modern, Action!, FUDGE, and the publisher's own in-house system, CyberThriller. A few things have been revised from the earlier publication, like changing the D20 damage for the .45-70 bullet from 3d4 to 2d10, since it is a rifle bullet (being fired from a derringer, of all things!). The only other changes I noticed in the gun section are the details provided for both the SiG .357 cartridge and the .45-70 cartridge, both detailed briefly under the weapons that use them.

The rest of the book suffers from the dreaded Palladium "cut'n'paste" disease. The entire rules section, legal section, and catalog presented in this edition are lifted straight out of Volume 2 of the series, forcing the lengthy forward to be squashed down in a small font in order to fit the one page the Volume 2 introduction consumed. Fortunately, the author remembered to include the data for the SiG .357 and .45-70 bullets in the charts section of the rules. Other than that, the book also sports a back cover, obviously added for the exclusive purpose of providing space for that "requires use of rulebook X" clause in the licensing agreements. I guess I can't complain too much because this time around, Volume 1 also includes acrobat bookmarks for far easier navigation. But still, Palladium disease must be stopped at all costs, so as punishment, I'm knocking a point off the style score.

If you bought the earlier version of the book, rejoice, as you need not print the entire thing out yet again. I guess there's a little benefit to Palladium disease after all...

Overall, though the price has increased by 50%, the book is still well worth the buy.

For more information on the series, check out the other half dozen or so reviews on the site.