Edit this Review | Unlink This Review from Fantastic Four Roster Book

Goto [ Index ]

The "Fantastic Four Roster Book" is a set of character stats and potted biographies for the Fantastic Four and around 100 other threats. This book also covers the "galatic level" affairs, such as eternals, inhumans, watchers, and the Silver Surfer. (Why the Shi'Ar are in the FF book rather than the X-Men roster escapes me.) People familiar with the Marvel Super Heroes game roster books will know the format: a page or two for each hero or villain, with pictures taken from the appropriate cartoon. Minor characters get a paragraph.

The layout is up to MSH's usual standards - and the artwork is up to Marvel's usual standards, which is nice for an RPG. The format is digest, with thick glossy paper - a pleasure to browse through. The potted biographies are accurate and interesting, but the statistics sometimes turn out to be lacking in playtest. There are some sound pieces of advice to GMs and players (such as about Silver Surfer level campaigns), but many of them are within the character listings, and not indexed.

For a stats example, the invisible woman's force fields are power 15. This means that Lockjaw could chew through them, and is obviously too low. She is also subject to the usual rules for force fields: almost all uses of the power take concentration, so only one stunt can be used at once. Although a good GM can add a 'Multiple Force Fields if power level split between them' stunt, that groundwork should have been done by the writers.

This book is good - and fun to browse - with a couple of flaws. If you are considering a FF or galactic level MSH campaign, get it but be prepared to double-check their thinking.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)