Franz Lunzer's page

The deck contains 108 cards, one for instructions, one for the OGL, and 6 'tracker' cards for conditional values or durations.

Unlike the first edition condition cards, these are double-sided with the same condition on both sides, which would be a reason for the grown deck size.

Not having 4 copies of each condition card makes only limited sense to me, as does including conditions that only the GM would usually use, like undetected.

The rules texts on the cards is useful, the presentation rather neutral.

It's a nice to have addition to the module, and the art is quite good (and close to the art in the module, if available).

One rather important NPC is absent though.

Really like it. Half the size, half the weight of a normal hardcover, about as thick.

Content is the same, with the same layout, just scaled down. (Yeah, the OGL is now very tiny, but who reads that anyway)
The text is small but easy to read, if the lighting where you are reading is okay. (If you have problems with small text, you might have problems here too)

The price on it is very right, you can replace it easy should the binding break (which is a question of time, given close to 600 pages are bound).

I might not get the Bestiaries in Pocket Edition, as I use the PDF's on the tablet instead, but some of the Core books being re-released in Pocket would be on my whish-list.

I like the base game, and wanted to like the expansion just as much, but the newly introduced game mechanics of the new factions are very different from the base game.

It's not bad, it's not too hard to get the hang of hiding cards and animated crew, but it's just very different.

The two new factions add quite a bit of strategy to the game, and playing well means having to know what the crews can do, even if you don't have them in hand or play on your own.

You can't play with 5 or 6 players without the new factions due to lack of cards, but may not want to introduce someone with the new factions in play.

Another expansion without the sneak and animate-subrules, more in line with the base game, would be appreciated.

Still, it's a nice expansion to play a sort of 'advanced version' of the base game.

I am a backer so I got to follow this game from Kickstarter to the real world.

Really liked it from first playtest to now, having the finished product in hand.

The base game plays really well, from two players up to the max of 4. The rules are quite easy, but have a nice depth once you get the hang of the game. Cascading effects are where the game really shines.

As usual, when there are rules on cards that supersede other rules of the game, there can be combinations where you have to look at how it works, but things clear up quickly.

Now if the game gets to be available for my not-english-speaking friends...

I only glanced over the main portion of the book, but the back inside cover glued my eyes to it. And it's perfect.

The detailed table and description of the different types of actions one can take during any given combat round on one page, easy to reference, and nice to see the differences.

Might update this review later on.

First of all, this book is mostly a compilation. And with that comes reprinting stuff that's been around.
For some or many, like myself, very much of the info in this book is not new. It's collected articles of books that are now partially out of print.

Regardless, I very much like what was done with the content: It has been collected (in part even been updated) into a single, nice, pretty book.
The artwork (old and new) is great. The layout is top-notch, as always.
The arrangement of the chapters and articles is fitting and logical.

But not all of the content is reprinted from other sources. There are three Prestige Classes that fit any and all of the Core 20 gods and are great for a large number of classes and archetypes.

What I liked most was the way equipment was presented, having the holy symbol of the associated deity (if any) right next to the name of the item. You just have to glance over the page to find a suggested item for a worshiper of a specific god.
Sadly this wasn't done for feats, traits and spells as well, though I can see the reason why it wasn't.

This book is going to be in my RPG-pack for a long time, as it is easy to reference (instead of having to grab the right AP-Volume, after looking up which one that was), and nice to look at.