Review of Access Denied

The second supplement for the Blue Planet RPG, Access Denied is a well produced, nicely laid out GM's screen. The screen itself is made of sturdy cardstock with full colour aeriel views of the six main regions of the Pacifica Archipelago (the main setting on the world of Poseidon). These views provide something nice for the gamers to look at, as well as showing exactly what kind of terrain covers the main land masses (ok, islands then).

The reverse of the screen collects (as in many screens before it) many relevant tables and numbers into one easy to read area. The wrting is not too small and all appropriate tables are grouped together. All in all, one of the best GM's screens I have come across.

However, my favourite part of the pack is the Access Denied booklet. There first eleven pages of this booklet contain new Access Denieds (for those not familiar with the game, these are short, GM only adventure seeds or plot hooks). These are all of a very high standard, offer some new insights into the world or some good bases for adventures or longer campaigns. I am given to understand that many of these were contributed by Blue Planet listserv members, someting that I think other games companies should take note of. It would either be a very imaginative or very hard to please GM wgho could not find some inspiration within these pages.

The remainder of the booklet contains a condensed character generation system, useful but not essential, a very (and I mean VERY) comprehensive index for the main Blue Planet rulebook, some useful settlement information and a reprint of the damage tables from the main rules.

All in all, this is a very worthwhile product, produced to a very high standard and containing new and useful information. It's well up to the standards set by the Blue Planet rules and the first supplement, Archipelago.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)