The Great Maze is Pinnacle's first boxed set. The area it covers
is the coastline of California, which has been fragmented by an earthquake.
The set comes with the standard 128 page sourcebook on The Great Maze, a
map of The City of Lost Angels, and two 32 page supplements: one of rules
concerning martial arts, the other an adventure.
Da Map
I'm rather disappointed with the map. It is done in the style of those
in the Dime Novels, except in color. However, the region it covers is
limited--one side is The City of Lost Angels and the other is its
environs. I hoped for a larger scale map showing only the main channels
and towns, so that I'd have a framework to detail. Instead I got a map
that I will probably only use once or twice.(The city map would have
been useful except that it is also in the main sourcebook.)
The Sourcebook
The meat of this set is the sourcebook. It has Pinnacle's standard
excellent artwork, and is easily legible, like most Pinnacle products.
Robin Laws does an excellent job of describing the region. The book is
full of activity and adventure hooks--I can think up twenty or so off
top of my head. This is also its downfall, IMHO. Like
The Quick and the Dead,
it seems like there is something supernatural involved in EVERYTHING.
Some people like this, but I feel the need to ignore about half of the
paranormal stuff in it. Also, the book has very little "Western" feel
to it.
Martial Arts
The booklet on martial arts describes it nicely and with just enough
detail. The "Kung Fu" presented is over-the-top and absurd--just right
for Deadlands. The only question is whether your group really needs
another quasi-character class.(Please don't shoot me!)Pinnacle also
experiments with sketch-artwork in here.
The Adventure
The adventure presented is pretty standard fare--servicable, but nothing
spectacular. The difference between this and previous adventures is that
this one seems to be designed to introduce a campaign. This is a nice
change from the one-shot adventures previously presented--just as long
as they don't present too many of them.
Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
