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Review of STUFF: The Equipment Guide
Despite having had this product for some time, I've put off reviewing it until now because I wanted the time to be absolutely fair. On the face of it, it would be easy to simply write a scathing review and be done with it, since STUFF: The Equipment Guide appears at first glance to be the sort of thing kept around the office in order to punish tardy reviewers.
A 20 page,5 ½" x 8 ½" black and white booklet with light card covers, STUFF apparently has nothing to justify the $2.99 price tag it carries. Remember folks, that even now you can buy a full-colour, 32 page comic book for less. The artwork ranges from very good to execrable (my wife thought "execrable" was a little strong, but conceded it was accurate when I showed her the "rocket boots" illustration on the back cover), and the book only contains listings for 30 items. The cover makes the claim that the equipment can easily be adapted to other systems, though this is true only because the listings have almost no stats at all. As a roleplaying aid, STUFF is utterly useless.
However, this doesn't appear to be the point of the booklet. As a supplement for the candy-based QAGS (Quick Ass Game System), STUFF is apparently supposed to be taken as seriously as Monty Python. The QAGS rules are so simple that a five-year old could easily come up with a more thorough equipment guide. Unfortunately, he or she could probably make up a funnier one as well. While there are some decent gags in the book - Mr Pookums and the Great Cathedralpult of St Ballistio are personal favourites - the majority of the humour of that dreadfully dull sort that is best appreciated after a dozen or so beers. If this is your kind of thing, you're in luck.
My biggest gripe with STUFF is that, aside from the aforementioned terrible artwork on the back cover and some "humerous" prose, there's very little to indicate that you're buying a "comedy" item. Anyone picking this up sealed in a game store might be forgiven for expecting to recieve at least some useful gaming content for their hard-earned money. They would, however, be entirely wrong.
On reflection, it seems that sometimes first impressions are entirely accurate. Save your money.
A 20 page,5 ½" x 8 ½" black and white booklet with light card covers, STUFF apparently has nothing to justify the $2.99 price tag it carries. Remember folks, that even now you can buy a full-colour, 32 page comic book for less. The artwork ranges from very good to execrable (my wife thought "execrable" was a little strong, but conceded it was accurate when I showed her the "rocket boots" illustration on the back cover), and the book only contains listings for 30 items. The cover makes the claim that the equipment can easily be adapted to other systems, though this is true only because the listings have almost no stats at all. As a roleplaying aid, STUFF is utterly useless.
However, this doesn't appear to be the point of the booklet. As a supplement for the candy-based QAGS (Quick Ass Game System), STUFF is apparently supposed to be taken as seriously as Monty Python. The QAGS rules are so simple that a five-year old could easily come up with a more thorough equipment guide. Unfortunately, he or she could probably make up a funnier one as well. While there are some decent gags in the book - Mr Pookums and the Great Cathedralpult of St Ballistio are personal favourites - the majority of the humour of that dreadfully dull sort that is best appreciated after a dozen or so beers. If this is your kind of thing, you're in luck.
My biggest gripe with STUFF is that, aside from the aforementioned terrible artwork on the back cover and some "humerous" prose, there's very little to indicate that you're buying a "comedy" item. Anyone picking this up sealed in a game store might be forgiven for expecting to recieve at least some useful gaming content for their hard-earned money. They would, however, be entirely wrong.
On reflection, it seems that sometimes first impressions are entirely accurate. Save your money.
