Of all the reviews I have written these last few years, "The Munchkin's Guide to Power Gaming" is one of the more difficult. This isn't due to it being an ill-conceived product or poor writing, it happens to be neither, but rather due to the nature of the product. Similar to "Knights of the Dinner Table" or "Dork Tower," this product spoofs a long-standing institution of gaming - the munchkin.
Whether you happen to call them munchkins, twinkies, or rule-rapists, you probably know one. These are the guys who take a group's system of choice and manipulate loopholes to build heinous characters. Some even resort of psychological warfare in their attempts to manipulate the GM and other players so that their own personal goals are obtained.
The guys who wrote this book have obviously seen (or done) quite a bit of mischief in their gaming career. With twenty years of Gming experience, I found myself alternating between laughter and shuddering with memories of players pulling the same antics. They even came up with a few that were new to me.
Written tongue-in-cheek, this book covers the essentials of being a munchkin in every common genre. The chapters and the "hints" tend to be spotty as some genres lend themselves more to munchkinism than others do. The basic message? Play strong, dumb, psychotic types.
Other helpful "hints" for munchkins include:
casting a portable hole on a monster's belly and watching it's guts poor out;
running your space ship on nuclear fission power so you can dump the waste on enemies;
to get extra cash sell one kidney, one lung and any limb you intend to replace with cyberware;
and how to fiddle with dice rolls.
So is it worth twenty bucks? That is a tough one. On the one hand this is a fairly amusing product. On the other, it has little practical worth for GMs or those hoping to become twinkies. It's a humorous book that would probably make for a good gag gift between gaming buddies.
Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)
