#1 Children of the Horned Rat for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 3:48 am
This is a supplement on Skaven, the sinister Chaos-Ratmen of the Warhammer World.
Cover: Good, not terrific. A Skaven with bloody weapons and the symbol of the Horned Rat.
Interior Art: Appropriate to the subject matter and good looking. Most of it is full colour. Some anatomy pics in the style of an old fashion illustration. Definitely good.
Layout: Good. It starts with what the people of the Old World know and believe about Skaven, with attention to the common people, scholars, and different nations and races. It then goes into detail about the Skaven themselves, their history, life cycle, society, unique technologies and so forth. Rules, spell lists, and other game mechanics are towards the back of the book, which makes it easier to find. Rules for running an all Skaven campaign as well as suggestion for managing such a campaign (think of it sort of a like playing Paranoia or Vampire). An adventure involving Skaven is included as well. The book is organized into chapters and has an excellent table of contents.
Feel: It succeeds in invoking the sinister world of the Skaven, one of the more insidious threats to the people of the Old World.
High Points: Skaven society, behavior, and equipment are very well handled, as is the role playing parts. The new rules for Warlock Engineering and Flesh Molding are nice and nasty
Weakpoints: Only two really. The first and most serious is the thinness of the detail involving the Skaven economy. Warp tokens can be used as currency and are quite valuable, but we aren't really given any context on how valuable they are and if there are any other currencies (say the equivalent of small bills) of value.
The second, and less serious, is the lack of detail on the existence of Clan Skyre Warlocks and the suitability of using the Wizard Career path for them or other Skaven magic users. There are magic using Skaven careers, but only one of them contains any mention of the Wizard Career and Skyre Warlocks aren't mentioned at all (although Warlock-Engineers get plenty of coverage).
Overall: Quite good.
Cover: Good, not terrific. A Skaven with bloody weapons and the symbol of the Horned Rat.
Interior Art: Appropriate to the subject matter and good looking. Most of it is full colour. Some anatomy pics in the style of an old fashion illustration. Definitely good.
Layout: Good. It starts with what the people of the Old World know and believe about Skaven, with attention to the common people, scholars, and different nations and races. It then goes into detail about the Skaven themselves, their history, life cycle, society, unique technologies and so forth. Rules, spell lists, and other game mechanics are towards the back of the book, which makes it easier to find. Rules for running an all Skaven campaign as well as suggestion for managing such a campaign (think of it sort of a like playing Paranoia or Vampire). An adventure involving Skaven is included as well. The book is organized into chapters and has an excellent table of contents.
Feel: It succeeds in invoking the sinister world of the Skaven, one of the more insidious threats to the people of the Old World.
High Points: Skaven society, behavior, and equipment are very well handled, as is the role playing parts. The new rules for Warlock Engineering and Flesh Molding are nice and nasty
Weakpoints: Only two really. The first and most serious is the thinness of the detail involving the Skaven economy. Warp tokens can be used as currency and are quite valuable, but we aren't really given any context on how valuable they are and if there are any other currencies (say the equivalent of small bills) of value.
The second, and less serious, is the lack of detail on the existence of Clan Skyre Warlocks and the suitability of using the Wizard Career path for them or other Skaven magic users. There are magic using Skaven careers, but only one of them contains any mention of the Wizard Career and Skyre Warlocks aren't mentioned at all (although Warlock-Engineers get plenty of coverage).
Overall: Quite good.