This door fits tight, but opens with a gentle tug, and the squeak of the hinges. "Well, I am flattered that you would seek out my humble opinions. Please, have a seat and ask your questions."

This is going to be my first review page. I will be reviewing only 3 things. First I will talk about one of the new supplement books by TSR, Powers and Skills. I will then look at one of SSI's computer games, Dark Sun II: Wake of the Ravager. Then I will talk about a new book series by TSR, Planescape: Blood Wars. Again, these are only my personal opinions.

1. Powers and Skills- This is one of the new rule books put out recently for the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game. In case you haven't seen them, TSR has recently revised their 2nd edition games yet again. Normally I would say this is just another way to make more money, but these expansion books seem to be something that is actually new. I have read through most of this book, and am impressed with the overall concept. This book gives you more control over the initial character creation process. For a long time I searched for a way to make a character modeled after Artemis Entreri ( R.A. Salvatore books), but could not find a way to do it "by the book". Well this supplement introduces a new concept (for D&D) of character points. With these points you can do such things as give a fighter thieving abilities, or let a mage cast spells in armor, or even a priest who can cast one school of mage spells as if they were priest spells! I really like this concept. The main problems are this: First, not only must you buy your extra abilities, but you must buy ALL your character's abilities. If you want your preist to cast spells, you have to buy access (major or minor) to the spheres you want him to cast from. But then again, I guess a tit for a tat, you have to give something up to get something back. One problem that turned out to not really be a problem at all was the amount of character points you start with at first level. We laughed and said "this CAN'T be right". But when we started rolling them, our preist started with like 120 pts or something, and had 40 or so left over, so that's not as big a problem as we thought. But the biggest drawback I could find was character creation time. The first time we used this book, we started rolling characters at 7:00 and weren't finished untill 11:00!!!! And that was only 2 characters! I expect, though, that once we get used to using the new rules, time will be cut in half (especially when one of our guys has no life and tends to memorize rule books!) Overall, I'd say this is a very good book that we could probably live without. If you can afford the $20, get it, if not, you'll survive. I give it a B+

2.Dark Sun II: Wake of the Ravager- This is a computer game put out by SSI for TSR (can you stand all the acronyms?) If you've played Shattered Lands, then you've played Wake of the Ravager. There are only a few differences. The plot is more involved, so you really have to think on this one (or use a walk through like the one at Lord Soth like I did!). It also adds in some great audio components. Instead of just reading what the NPC's say, you can actually hear some of them talk! The graphics are also a touch better than the original, but the original was fine for me. If you haven't played the first, a warning: if you are used to the goldbox games like I was, this game will confuse the piss out of you. A peice of advice: to use an item, right click (with your mouse) on the item you want to use (fruit potion, scroll, etc) then left click on the icon in the upper right corner of the box that comes up. It took me about 2 frustrating days (and 4 dead characters) to figure this out. Out of all the new concepts SSI has come up with for new games, I like this one the best. You can still control each individual character during combat, unlike those first person games, and you don't get killed trying to use a scroll or switch weapons. At the first of this game, they do have you running around like a chicken with your head cut off, trying to do this for him so you can get him to do that for her, so she can tell you how to do that for him. Other than that, the game runs pretty smooth, and you don't have to follow a certain order to get everything done. Another thing I didn't like is that in most of SSI's games that are in a series, you can export characters from game to game, but not this one. No matter how long you spent on the original, you can't bring them to this game. Damn. If you do get stuck, I suggest you follow the link above and use his walkthrough. I found this game at a Sam's Club with 5 other CD games for $14.99. It was called the SSI Masterpeice Edition. If you can find a similar deal, grab it. Otherwise, you'll have to make up your own mind whether it's worth $59.95 or not. Overall, I like this game, and recommend it (but don't go into debt to buy it). The opening animation I give an A+, but the rest I rate a solid B.

3. Planescape: Blood Wars trilogy book I : Blood Hostages - You've known your Uncle Artus all your life. He's always been a bit eccentric, and he speaks with a weird accent, but he's just like every other soldier that fought in the ogre wars, right? Wrong. The main character, Aereas and his uncle's adopted daughter Nina find out that even your closest relatives aren't who you thought they were. Their seemingly normal lives are turned inside out when Uncle Artus is captured by a gargoyle and and taken to the plane of Gehenna. They then find out that he never really fought in the ogre wars, but instead was a proxie of the Lady of Pain! So the new adventurers are off on a romp around the multiverse trying to save their plane-jumping uncle. I first ran across the Planescape campaign setting by accident (actually I stole it from this druggie who used to play with us. I don't think he even knows it's missing, 2 years later). I liked the fact that now I have a better idea of how the planes are supposed to work. Now we have the first trilogy set in that setting. Overall, this book is one of the better books TSR has put out. It doesnt drag on like some do, and it will keep you on the edge of your seat. But the best part about this book is the characters. From a teifling with the look of a crow, to a talking dog, to a manta ray mage (who'd a thunk it?), this book has more than its share of memorable personalities. If you have any interest at all in the Planescape setting, don't be a leatherhead, berk, get this book. I give it a very solid A.

Well, there they are, my opinions, and we all know what opinions are like. So if yours differ with mine, or if you have more to add, use my Email link at my opening page, and I'll try to put it on a seperate page in the future. Also, if you have a product you want my opinion on, Email me, and I'll check it out.

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