Arion Games continues their line of 3d rendered paper miniatures with this fantasy offering. As with previous sets there are both two and three-sided versions of each figure. Instructions are not provided in this set, but they are available from the publisher's website, or in any of the other products in the line. These instructions show you how to assemble the figures in A-frame (two-sided pyramid), flat and trigonal versions, and offers advice on creating custom pages.

Many of the figures in this set are big ? perfect for lording over a group of puny PCs; this large size is also one of the problems with the set. Certain figures have too much white space present. While the overall size of the miniature might be large, the amount of white space causes the image to look smaller. This effect is particularly noticeable on the front of the flying dragon figure, (both the two and three sided versions) and on the giant snake.

The overall quality of this set is quite high, and includes many of the little details that add so much: the satyr has a tattoo on his upper right arm, and the inner mouths of the giant worm and giant snake are rendered in vivid detail. The better to eat you with, as the story goes.

Despite the level of quality, the set does suffer some of the problems that using 3d models brings. The surface textures of some of the monsters look artificial, and some of the poses look stiff and artificial; the hell hound's fireball is perhaps the most obvious victim of both these effects.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Option for trigonal miniatures. Nice, big figures to tower over the "heroes." A gargoyle hound that looks like it could have been an extra in Ghostbusters.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: In the two-sided figures section the Centaur is incorrectly labeled as a Unicorn. The Manticore just isn't scary. The griffon's colors might appeal to some people, but I personally wasn't fond of them.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

The Thieves' World stories give rise to such notables as Cappen Varra, Enas Yorl and One Thumb to name but a few. Just as important as any of these figures is the city of Sanctuary itself. It provides the backdrop, shaping (and just as offing) taking the lives of the players on its decrepit stage. It is fitting then that Shadowspawn's Guide to Sanctuary provides more information on both the city, and some of the more notable figures to walk the streets. Most of the information in this product is devoted to the Rankan & Irrune eras as presented in the stories.

We learn the history of Sanctuary, and have a chance to walk the streets of its distrincts ? seeing the sights and learnings its secrets. More than just a guide to the streets and alleys, information about life in the wretched hive of scum and villainy is provided; from what you eat, to who controls the drug supply, and what the proper Sanctan punishment should be applied to your PCs when they get caught being naughty.

Details for some of the important players from both the Rankan and Irrune eras is provided, as is information about some of the unique and magical items carried by these notables. Though they may be less recognizable, the everyday people that fill the city are more important than the (in)famous, and receive a chapter all their own.

For characters there are new cultures, backgrounds, feats, and prestige classes such as the Harka Bey assassin, or the coveted title of Freelancer.

Supplemental material, new and variant rules are laced throughout the book; covering such things as converting other material to your Thieves' World game, a quick reference rule for knowing how likely a PC is to be spotted while doing something he shouldn't be, or the much sought power of the Ur-Words.

If you play Thieves' World this is a must have, and if you're looking to bring Sanctuary and its characters into your games, there's plenty of information you're likely to find useful.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: More information on groups like the Beysib, and the mysterious Shapeshifters.

Details that help bring the city of Sanctuary to life.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Despite being well bookmarked, I miss the hyperlinked table of contents of the Player's Guide.

Ur-Words struck me as being less the language that was used to speak the universe into being, and more like a complex alternate way to cast spells.

I would've liked at least a few more quips and quotes from Shadowspawn.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

I have fond memories of some of the earlier Xanth novels. I worship Terry Pratchett as a minor deity. All of which is just a long-winded way of saying that I like humorous fantasy. So the promises made by books like The Pun is Mightier Than the Sword attract me like a moth to the flame.

Not that everything in the book is slapstick, or even funny for that matter. The feats in particular are presented as rather standard fare, with an effect adapted from the name. I'd be at a loss if asked to explain how some of them actually work, and you may not always agree with what effect the writers have assigned to a given saying, but they're all presented as normal feats.

The spells provide us with a bit more in the silliness department. It's also here that we encounter some sayings which are a little more modern and culture specific. All Your Base Are Belong to Us is a perfect example; it did certainly seem to catch on widely, but the actual audience was fairly limited to internet/geek culture. There's nothing wrong with this, but for gamers of more recent vintage, among others, might miss the references.

Many of the spells are both amusing and useful. High on Life ranks among my personal favorites, as if Kentucky Fried. As for Light as a Feather... let's just say that the other half of that particularly saying is missing from the spell lists.

Chapter three is given over to items. Here I was a bit disappointed with the jury rig, as they just limited it to traps rather than making it something that applied to all devices. The rest of the chapter features such items as the slapstick, the uglystick and just to prove everyone wrong ? the free lunch.

There are four new prestige classes ? the all around handy jack of all trades, the not always so funny jokesmith, the spit and polished knight in shining armor, and the proverbial proverbial. Some of these have fairly powerful abilities; particularly the ability of the jack of all trades to stack prestige class levels to class levels for a number of class abilities.

As a bonus, a brief appendix provides information on a few spells from two of the publisher's other products.

I didn't always agree with the writer's interpretations of a given saying. I also would have liked a little more slapstick to some of the selections, but at the same time that lack of outright goofiness makes the product usable in a wider variety of games.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Lots of fun new toys.

Nature's Calling.

For such a short product, it's well bookmarked and has a hyperlinked table of contents.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The cover of the print version is just the cover for the screen version turned grayscale ? which isn't all that printer friendly.

Some of the feats just seemed inexplicable.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

The latest volume in the series, Weapons of Power Armor Destruction 5 provides us with more enhancements for power armor of all sorts.

We kick things off with flight systems. These range in power from the magnetic levitation system to the ability for orbital flight, and are supplemented with systems to enhance your armor's speed and range.

As always there is a selection of new weapons systems presented. As with some of the weapons seen in previous versions, the four offerings this time around are certainly... unique. In the case of the Spatial Mortar I read the entry several times to be sure, but the damage information for this weapon appears to be missing.

The miscellaneous section presents as varied a selection as always. Some of the highlights are self-assembling armor, cover in a can and extendo-hands.

If you've enjoyed the previous installments of the series, then you'll likely find this a worthy addition to your collection.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Fun new equipment like the extendo-hands, and useful options like the mag-lev flight system.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The same old green headings.

Despite being mentioned in the informational section for this product, no new superstructures are included. I was disappointed, as those are usually one of my favorite components covered in this line, and was looking forward to seeing the new offerings.

Some of the options, like self-replicating ammunition and the g.n. Stream are way out there, making them less useful for GMs wanting a less over-the-top style of game.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Provided they don't overshadow all other weapons I've never minded firearms in my fantasy settings. Some of my fondest campaign memories involve heavily armed halflings. While Treasure Trove 1: SpirosBlaak Arsenal is designed with the SpirosBlaak setting in mind, the information is usable in other campaigns.

The primary focus of this product is on black-powder weapons, but those aren't the only things that can be found in its pages. Several new skills and skill uses are presented, along with a selection of feats; while many of these are focused on the black powder aspects of the book, not all of them are ? I found such skill-related feats as Savant, Studious and Unfettered Adept to be particularly interesting.

There is also a selection of new weapons, ranging from the simple fist wrap to the complex dwarven flamethrowers. Flamethrowers make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and my enemies feel all warm and hurty outside.

With the exception of portions of the Technologist core class description, the remainder of the book is largely given over to black powder; not just in the form of new equipment, but in a host of rules information ? along with four black powder related prestige classes.

There is a lot of information about black-powder weapons; starting with which races and nations like to use which sorts of weapons. Handy if you're using the SpriosBlaak setting.

There's also more than just the generic pistol and musket. There are a host of pistols and muskets, including some odd variants such as chest-mounted dwarven gatling guns, grenade launchers and fowling pieces (shotguns); there are also accessories like bayonets and musket-launched harpoons.

Not that TT1 stops there. Next we have cannons ? starting with the wee three pounder, and working our way up to a 150-pound cannon. With a one pound swivel gun thrown in for good effect. After cannon we have mortars which run from six up to 200 pounds, and come in both mobile and stationary varieties. Each cannon and mortar listing provides information about several different types of ammunition. If cannons or mortars aren't your style than maybe you should try out an organ gun, or one of the more exotic dwarven artillery pieces. Don't forget to check out the accessories you can use to spruce up both your personal firearms and your artillery.

If weapons with barrels aren't your thing, you can try a three or 300 pound rocket, or maybe you'd prefer to satchel charges or ice grenades.

It's to be expected that there are a lot of rules that come along with all these additions, and it's here where I have various minor issues.

There are a lot of charts, and some of them, like the misfire chart, are ones that would need to be consulted during play; I prefer to avoid doing that whenever possible.

Firing a pistol provokes an attack of opportunity. Which doesn't make a lot of sense. Pistols are meant to be used at close ranges, and to replace weapons such as the sword as sidearms; they're also much smaller and easier to maneuver than a lot of melee weapons. While reloading would provoke attacks of opportunity, firing certainly shouldn't.

On the subject of pistols, the range increments listed are far too long. Even a modern handgun's effective range is generally considered to be 30 feet and closer.

The weapons tables list different damages for different sizes of firearms; for example a .44 weapon will list damage for Small, Medium and Large versions. I find myself asking ? what are the differences between the sizes, how much more or less powder does a different sized weapon use and how does the new powder charge and barrel length effect the range? Changing the size of a firearm is a bit more complicated than with other types of weapon.

There are some nice rules included as well ? I'm personally fond of the optional rule about spooking horses.

Overall if you want firearms in your d20 games and don't mind a lot of rules information, than there's a lot of stuff to like here; if you're not so fond of rules but like black-powder there's still a lot of stuff to like, but you may need to make some changes. And if you play SpirosBlaak, this becomes a must have.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Rules which can be easily ported to any d20 setting.

Methods of Mayhem. Lots and lots of methods of mayhem.

Flamethrowers.

The fiction is at the end. While there's really nothing wrong with this particular piece, I like where it is, so I don't have to skip past it to get to the game information.

Did I mention flamethrowers?<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Two instances of "page @@" errors occur on page 12, and another on page 23.

While short enough that they're not essential, this product is still long enough that bookmarks would have made browsing much easier.

While as mentioned flamethrowers and gatling guns make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and it was nice to see technologically advanced goblins, it would be nice to see someone other than dwarves portrayed as inventing the nifty stuff.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Every good adventurer needs a trusty weapon. Not only for killing things and taking their stuff - a good weapon is an essential fashion accessory for all dungeon crawlers. Armed and Dangerous presents a selection of enhancements that you can use to spice up your favorite orc sticker.

The enhancements found in this product come in both mundane and magical varieties; there are seven mundane options, and 11 magical options. There are some interesting options presented such as mundane collapsible weapons, or the magical diseased property.

There are some problems with this product. The first of these is relatively minor: the flavor text runs right up to the end of a description, with no clear separation between it and rules text. This makes it a bit difficult to note the properties of an enhancement at a glance.

Of potentially greater concern are issues of balance ? particularly of the magical enhancements. Several of these feature a pricey +2 bonus, but provide very little actual effect, while others just don't seem to fit as weapon enhancements. Brilliant weapons would seem to require you to focus most of your attention on your weapon, and not the battle; while the Reflective property is more traditionally found on shields. These problems particularly stand out when compared to options like the mundane Weighted enhancement ? which increases a weapon's damage die type, and for the bargain price of only four times the weapon's base cost; there's also the magical Concealment property, which grants a +8 skill bonus, and is only a +1 enhancement.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: New options for weapons.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Repeated spelling and grammatical errors.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

I'll forgo my usual introduction to stock art collections, because while all those things apply here, this isn't your typical collection of images.

While I've never had much reason to look myself, I gather that publisher usable images of dice can be hard to find. I can only guess that this is because there doesn't tend to be much of a call for them; it's just not something you think about needing pictures for, particularly when there's more important things to think about - like what image to use for your new monster. Not that any of that really matters when you find yourself in need of pictures of dice, but can't find any.

The latest entry in V. Shane's Arcane Publishers Edition line aims to provide images of dice when you need them. It succeeds in this regard, providing you with several images of the most commonly used polyhedral dice. As advertised there are color versions of each, though when I checked the black & white version of the d8 it was a shaded grayscale image, and not just b&w lineart.

The colors were as easy to adjust as advertised. For a fun color effect try creating two layers. Desaturate the lower layer, and turn the saturation on the top layer all the way up. After that play with gausian blur and the upper layer's transparency.

There are some small issues with the images in this product. Because they're two-dimensional pictures, you can't flip them around to different numbers etc. Which probably isn't a huge deal in most cases. While it's easy enough to change the base color of a die, they're still just flat colors; no cool marbling, sparkles or other effects.

The final disappointment was with the overall selection. The d6 has three different versions. Which is understandable - it's probably the most commonly encountered die type. All the other dice get stuck with one color and grayscale image each; with the exception of the d12, which gets two views. While this might please S. John Ross and Pokethulhu enthusiasts everywhere, I find it a bit odd that it would get an extra image while more frequently used dice didn't.

Still, this is an excellent set, and seemingly much needed. At just over $.44 an image, if you need pictures of dice than you should give this set a try.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: A well-put together product that provides good quality images in what seems to be an under-represented category.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Like many three-dimensional objects done as illustrations, some of the images seem akward and a bit askew.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Images can enhance an rpg; breaking up the flow of white space, and presenting readers with a visual representation of the style and theme of the book. Purchasing original art can be expensive. Which can be a bite on start up and smaller publishers whom may have little to no budget to pay an artist with, or maybe you simply can't find an artist to work in the desired style or within the range of your deadline. It's times like these that stock/clipart comes in handy; giving you already completed art that you can drop into your product, and at prices usually less (sometimes much less) than what it would cost you to commission that piece from an artist. One of the immediate downsides of this is that both in the cases of stock or clipart, it doesn't tend to be a unique purchase: any number of people other than you may have copies. This can result in your product being less visually unique.

He did the mash He did the monster mash....

ahem Ok, that we've got my opening stock art spiel out of the way, and worked the nostalgia out of our systems we can get down to business.

Arcane Publishers Edition 8 is all about monsters. 32 monsters, to be precise; 20 classic creatures of fantasy gaming, and 12 new creations. The 20 classic monsters are of mixed variety; several goblinoids, a few undead, some scaly critters and others. No dragons, though the lizard guy is sort of close. As with any collection there are images I like and images I don't so much like, but they all seem up to V. Shane's usual standard of quality. I think the ogre is probably my favorite, and I think I went to high school with the goblin.

The 12 original creatures haven't been given any sort of names - the files are all just labeled M#. It's certainly an interesting collection of critters; they cover the gamut from kind of cute to outright odd. Everything I said about the other images applies to these as well.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Monster pictures, I like monster pictures. Specifically, there are several interesting versions of old favorites, along with a selection of all new monsters to fire your own ideas.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: No quick reference sheet was included, so that I could see what each image was at a glance.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Images can enhance an rpg; breaking up the flow of white space, and presenting readers with a visual representation of the style and theme of the book. Purchasing original art can be expensive. Which can be a bite on start up and smaller publishers whom may have little to no budget to pay an artist with, or maybe you simply can't find an artist to work in the desired style or within the range of your deadline. It's times like these that stock/clipart comes in handy; giving you already completed art that you can drop into your product, and at prices usually less (sometimes much less) than what it would cost you to commission that piece from an artist. One of the immediate downsides of this is that both in the cases of stock or clipart, it doesn't tend to be a unique purchase: any number of people other than you may have copies. This can result in your product being less visually unique.

Arcane Publishers Edition 7 weighs in at 51 images and two files for the Wizard Kanji fantasy font (one of which registered as gibberish to my system - I'm guessing it's the Mac version). The images cover a wide range of subject matter; there are pictures of scenes and buildings, animals, characters and creatures and several images of dragons. There is also a nice selection of page enhancements: borders and backgrounds for boxed text etc.

As with any art collection some of it doesn't appeal to my personal tastes, but all of it is of above average quality. The weakest pieces are in the images of buildings; most of them lack the attention to detail that goes into the rest of the images.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: A large number of images covering a wide variety of subjects.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The images of cats all had various "magical" effects around them, meaning they'd have to be modified before being useful as images of normal cats.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Many fantasy stories include the idea that the time or events surrounding a person's birth can not only shape that person's later life, but may well provide her with special gifts. Born on the Eighth Day presents a system that aims to do just that.

Four different aspects go into shaping a character's astrological information: year, month, week and day. The are listings for eight years, ten months, four weeks and eight days; each of which provides a different benefit.

The year a character is born in grants her a spell-like ability which she may use one time a day, as if a first level caster. Each of these abilities is drawn from one of the lists of first level spells. In addition to this effect, the birth year provides the character with a +1 benefit to a skill or specific type of save. No information is provided, so I presume it is a constant unnamed bonus.

The character's birth month also provides a spell-like ability. This one is usable twice a day, and is drawn from among the various zero-level spells.

The week of a character's birth provides them with a list from which to select a bonus feat. Three of the days offer four feats that may be chosen from, while one of the days (Hate) offers only three.

The final component of the astrological equation is the particular day of the week the character was born on. Six of the eight days provide a +1 Attribute bonus, while the seventh day is a day of good fate. Children born on the eighth day have it a bit rougher: they get stuck with a -2 Attribute penalty, and one or two bonus feats.

Also provided is information for the skill Knowledge (Astrology), a new feat relating to the use of a character's spell-like abilities, and an astrologically-related magic item.

This product admits that characters generated with this system are slightly better-off than average, but that using it for major NPCs etc. should help offset this. It also suggests making characters expend a starting feat, though this penalizes nonhuman characters more than human characters, and given that the birth week provides a bonus feat doesn't seem to be much of a solution. DMs wanting to include this product in their games might want to consider an alternate way of balancing it, such as a minor experience penalty applied to starting characters.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: An easy to use system for adding a new option to characters.

Attractive, easy to read layout.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: More consideration needs to go into balancing the system against average creatures and other encounters; not just NPCs that also use the system.

The penalty for being born on the 8th day of the week (-2 to an Attribute, meaning a corresponding -1 bonus) is unbalanced with the +1 to a stat granted by the other days. The bonus feat(s) isn't enough to offset this given that attribute bonuses have an impact on a number of character elements.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Swarms. They creep, crawl or fly, and usually don't do much more than provide an annoyance. Notebook Essentials: Swarms, Stampedes and Skirmishes aims to add a little more depth to these types of encounters.

Two new types of swarm are introduced: the aquatic swarm, which is handled much like a flying swarm, and the intelligent swarm, which only comes about as a result of magic. In addition to these swarm types advice is given for creating a swarm, there are new swarm-related feats, and one new monster feat, new special abilities that can be used by the largest of swarms, and three new spells relating to swarms are also included.

Two new subtypes of swarms include the stampede and skirmish. A stampede is made up of Small-Huge sized bipeds or quadrupeds. Stampedes behave much like swarms, though follow their own rules for movement and attacks. A skirmish is a chaotic mass of individuals which can grow the longer they are allowed to continue. Examples and specific rules are provided in the form of a barroom brawl and an angry mob.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: A number of options for enhancing swarms, along with relativly simple and quick rules for handling the new subtypes of stampedes and skirmishes.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The epic-level swarm of demiliches both seems over the top and hard to believe.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

The OGL Barbarian books provide supporting content for Mongoose Publishing's d20 Conan line. At the time of this review, there are currently three volumes available: The Barbaric Warrior, The Barbaric Sorcerer and Barbaric Treasures.

Killing things and taking their stuff has long been a staple of fantasy games. Often that treasure consists of nothing more than generic stacks of coins or items of X value read from a chart, along with piles of magic items. Since there aren't a lot of magic items floating around the world of Conan, the traditional swag just doesn't work.

A large portion of the information in this book is made up of lists of mundane goods. Reading through the listings you can find out how much you can get for the 60 pounds of tea leaves you recovered from the remains of the enemy lord's camp, or what it would run you for a gallon of perfume. More than just your standard good are available: information is provided on such things as the cost of animal pelts and meat, or how much it costs to buy the supplies for a shop. More traditional treasures also have their place, with charts covering gems and objects d' art. New skill and feat information relating to all this is also provided.

Weapons and armor also have a good sized presence in the book. Some of the weapons, and the rules for piecemeal armor are reprinted from The Barbaric Warrior. New material is also provided in the form of weapons, new suits of armor and barding. In addition to the mundane equipment, rules are given for Atlantean weapons and armor. These rare and valuable items are of hardier stuff than mundane equipment, and offer enhancement bonuses as well. In addition to these benefits an item may have exceptional qualities: these are similar, though not identical to some of the magic item properties of normal d20 Fantasy.

Example items of legend are presented. These are rare and/or storied but mundane objects. Each provides some flavor information; then goes on to present the item's value, the DC for Appraise checks regarding the object, and various levels of information that can be discovered with a Knowledge (History) check.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The information contained here can be applied to any low-magic campaign, or even a standard d20 Fantasy game where the DM doesn't want so many magic items floating about, or just wants to add a little more flavor to treasure hordes. The lists of goods also present a good starting place for other sorts of campaigns; from frontier explorers to games focused on merchants.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The amount of reprinted material.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

A sequel to Weapons of Power Armor Destruction, Weapons of Power Armor Destruction 2 presents us with additional systems to add to the arsenal of your armor-clad warriors.

First up is a new superstructure. living metal gives suits a boost to their hardness and hit points, but the process of merging presents pilots with unique dangers. In the theme of unique metals we have a new armor in the form of liquid metal. Not only does it provide a good bonus with no armor penalty, it is capable of forming into simple weapons and increases the overall number of available slots.

The active defense system makes things difficult for unarmored opponents without ranged weapons; making it ideal for things like riot control... provided the people doing the controlling don't mind casualties. The energy absorption system is effective at doing just what its name suggests.

Three new weapon systems are presented. All of these are designed to be non lethal, and present much better riot control options than the active defense system; with the added benefit that they can be used against armored opponents as well.

The miscellaneous systems category features several new movement enhancements, non-lethal ammunition for ballistic weapons, and a built in fire extinguisher.

Things are rounded out with the addition of grappling systems; a pair of extendible gloves for use in microgravity, and a full on tractor beam.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Several new systems to enhance power armors with.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The same old unpleasant green header.

A few small errors, the most glaring of which is large superstructures gaining two more base equipment slots in the liquid metal entry.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Sometimes a 50' tall engine of mayhem just isn't enough to satisfy, or maybe your goals are a little less destructive and you simply need a ride to another galaxy. In either case, Weapons of Starship Destruction might have just what you need.

To keep you cozy and safe from turbolaser fire you might try organic armor; it's alive and capable of regenerating some of its total hit points each round. If you're more worried about good old fashioned ballistic technology, then reactive armor might be more what you're looking for.

The defense systems include not only shield improvements, but also feature artificial intelligence units and a phasing cloaking device sure to provide hours of fun when it leaves the PCs stuck in the middle of an asteroid.

Weapons of Starship Destruction wraps up with a selection of new weapons systems. If you're looking to penetrate someone's armor, unleash a storm of energy weapon fire, need missiles with a series attitude problem or mines that breed like rabbits you'll be able to find it here.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Useful new options for equipping ships and general mayhem causing.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The same unpleasant green heading and tendancy for minor errors that can be found in other books in the Polymecha line.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

The latest addition to the series, Weapons of Power Armor Destruction 4 continues the tradition established in previous volumes, and brings us more new options and equipment.

This time out we open with Skin Suits: a new sub category of small power armor. It doesn't offer the Strength boost of other suits, but does have the benefit of being able to be hidden under bulky clothing.

There is a new superstructure in the form of high tech, high powered smart light. In addition, three options for customizing your suits superstructure are provided: garage built, g-ride (for when you need a little bling)and sexualized power armor.

Several new types of armor are provided, from the organic cellulose material, to the extra heavy protection of dark matter foam.

New power cores run the gamut from bio-diesel engines with limited running time, to the effectively unlimited power of the inertial winder. For added spice there is the kirllian aura tap - which gets its juice by sucking it directly from the armor's wearer.

Three new sensor systems provide new ways of seeing things. In addition to the powerful blindsight suite, a new drone and dropable cameras provide a way to get a look at things without heading in yourself.

Point defense lasers and chaff launchers are classic defense systems, while the medical diagnosis array would seem to more properly belong with the miscellaneous gear.

The weapons section presents several powerful and unique means with which to wreak havoc upon one's enemies. The most distinctive of these offerings are gauntlets which contain a black hole, and a weapon which teleports its payload directly into your target. As with the defense listings, the mind breaker array would seem a better fit in the miscellaneous section.

The miscellaneous equipment provides some interesting options, which includes such offerings as an internet connection that hooks straight into the pilot's brain, animal brains in a jar and an incredibly advanced cloud of nanites.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Even more stuff, with several unique offerings.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The green headings still look awful on my screen.

While amusing, and they do have precedent in various sources, the G-Ride and Sexualized options aren't something I really see the need to provide statistics for.

Despite the high PL requirements on some of the equipment, GMs might want to keep a close eye on some of the options, and carefully compare them to other available equipment before letting them in the game.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>