Review of Access Denied

Ever since I accidentally came across Biohazard Games' booth at GenCon a few years ago, I've been a passionate Blue Planet fan. I bought the base book as soon as I could, and I read it straight through, loving every minute of it. I waited anxiously for the first supplement, hoping that there would be one, and then Archipelago came out and I snatched it up and read it, loving it just as much as the first release. I joined the email list and went to the webpage frequently, looking for more information, and I heard that they planned to release a game master's screen and guide, and I was disappointed because I have never really much like "overflow" books, and screens are usually of very little use to me. Before I got a copy of Access Denied and read it, only Werewolf: the Wild West had published a really useful GM's guide with Frontier Secrets. Despite my worries, I rushed to my game store and grabbed a copy before the store owner had even been able to put them on the shelves. My initial reaction was somewhat disappointed. While the book was packaged with a beautiful screen and in a nice re-useable bag, it had no real cover (just a paper one) and cost a staggering $15.95 for the screen and the 28 page booklet. I had to buy it anyway, since Blue Planet is my favorite game and I want to do what I can to support Biohazard Games, but I was definitely taken aback by that.

On with the review.

The Screen

The screen itself is beautiful, full-color gloss maps cover on side while the other is black-and-white charts and tables. The maps are the best feature of the screen, and while the print is sometimes tiny and near unreadable, they are truly amazingly done and very professionally executed, unlike most industry maps. On the other side are the skills list, combat information, weapons lists, the Poseidon clock, and much more information. The most useful bit, I think, was the interesting addition of "NPC Information," giving average skill and stat ratings for varying levels of competency, allowing a GM to quickly and easily make up NPCs on the fly. The strangest feature, however, is that the nice and sturdy game screen folds out oddly. A three-paneled screen, it folds out lengthwise, creating a long and low screen, unlike most of the ones I've seen that unfold in a more book-like fashion. Not a bad thing, but it just struck me as somewhat odd. It may not shield everything you hide behind it from the player's eyes, but I would use it more for the charts than anything else anyway.

Access Denied

This is the meat of the "book," and where it got its title from. For those unfamiliar with Blue Planet, all of the books have been sprinkled with little gray sidebars titled "Access Denied." They are adventure hooks or peeks behind the scenes to what is really going on. It is nice and refreshing to have all of the immediate questions answered within one book, although it often only leads to more questions. The little sidebars are often the most interesting points in a book, and they are never boring. Access Denied itself has 28 new ones, many of which were taken from the Blue Planet email list. There was not a single one that I didn't like, but not all of them immediately leapt at me from the pages of the book, and they also seem to lose something when they are taken and collected together instead of sprinkled throughout the book in appropriate sections. They are definitely useful, however, and I once again got all riled up about running a Blue Planet game in my area, but sadly, there seems to be a definite lack of sci-fi loving role-players with any time in Boston.

Some of these new adventure ideas are completely new while others are extensions or tangents on earlier ideas, and it makes for a nice mix. Some are also incredibly and delightfully devious, they would be great fun to use. Any of them could be used for a short adventure of drawn out into a detailed chronicle with relative ease. They are not incredibly detailed, but they do have enough information that the footwork the GM will need to do is not overwhelming.

I was also amused to note that whoever "Bye-bye, Miss Bavarian Pie" has good taste in anime. Miss Asuka Lang… er Schneider indeed.

Character Creation Revisited

After the 13 pages of plot hooks and adventure ideas, there is a short (2 page) summary of the character creation process. I am not sure just how useful this summary is, as I haven't been able to run a Blue Planet game, but I would imagine that it would be moderately useful if your group is the type that will all gather around the table and then fight over who can get the book to look up what ability.

Expanded Blue Planet Index

From the size of the index in the base book and this addition of this seven page comprehensive index that the folks at Biohazard Games like indexes. They certainly do not suffer from White Wolf's lack of any way to find information, and I am amazed at the effort they must put into this, but I am also left wondering if it is really the necessary. I am tempted to say it is, considering how intricate and detailed the setting itself it, but I am unsure.

Miscellaneous Charts and Data

The book closes out with several charts of varying utility. There is a "Settlement Data" list that seems to have taken the major "cities" and a smattering of smaller settlements in an effort to give an overview of the hard numbers on Poseidon. The chart for "Vehicle Range, Speed, and Endurance" is self-explanatory and useful for comparisons, but I am still wondering if the rang is one way or for round-trips. There is also an "Intersettlement Distances" chart, which I found to be an interesting and useful surprise. It takes all the locations from the previous "Settlement Data" list and compares distances between them, to ease in calculation of travel times. Finally, there are four pages of hit locations and results. I am not much impressed by these (they are simply reprints from the base book for ease of reference), but then I have never really liked hit locations to begin with. As such things go, they are quite well done.

In Summary…

Buy this if you like Blue Planet and you either was/need a screen and some charts or if you are just so overwhelmed by the book that you do not know where to begin a game, there are enough ideas in Access Denied to run many, many games, although you will have to work for it.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)