Forums of the Megaverse®

I'm expecting this to be answered quickly since most people are more in the know than me.

What happened to the Rifts Conversion Book: Two? For those who are new and aren't more in the know than me, yes there is one, no it isn't dark conversion and I didn't see it in the product list.

..Written by C.J, the uber-overkill writer, discontinued because of it's imbalance (conjecture) and the forthcoming Dragons and Gods book for Rifts...

-Mike >8]

MADMANMIKE wrote:..Written by C.J, the uber-overkill writer, discontinued because of it's imbalance (conjecture) and the forthcoming Dragons and Gods book for Rifts...

-Mike >8]

Uh aren't gods supposed to be overkill? They didn't discontinue Nightspawn (call it whatever you want), or SA2. At the same time I had always thought that CB2 wasn't really a conversion book what did it convert from?

MADMANMIKE wrote:..Written by C.J, the uber-overkill writer, discontinued because of it's imbalance (conjecture) and the forthcoming Dragons and Gods book for Rifts...

-Mike >8]

Forthcoming??? "Dragons and Gods" has been out for a couple of years now......

cornholio wrote:

MADMANMIKE wrote:..Written by C.J, the uber-overkill writer, discontinued because of it's imbalance (conjecture) and the forthcoming Dragons and Gods book for Rifts...

-Mike >8]

Forthcoming??? "Dragons and Gods" has been out for a couple of years now......

Read what I said. for Rifts. As in a different book. Read some of the coming soon sections in the Rifters. It's a different book on the back burners for Rifts.

-Mike

Zer0 Kay wrote:I'm expecting this to be answered quickly since most people are more in the know than me.

What happened to the Rifts Conversion Book: Two? For those who are new and aren't more in the know than me, yes there is one, no it isn't dark conversion and I didn't see it in the product list.

Pantheons of the Megaverse.
An excellent book, despite the whining from detractors of C.J. Carella...

I always rather like CJ's stuff. I thought he brought a certain amount of sensibility to Rifts. Ya know, like Gods who actually CAN take out a small platoon of soldiers, and anti-tank guns that can maybe blow up a tank in only two or three shots instead of like fifty. Besides, Pantheons was one of the books that wasn't too much for overkill (the stuff in it was no more powerful than the stuff in Rifts: Africa).

Besides, CJ doesn't have a lock on "uber-overkill". Again, check out Africa (just tell me a Phoenixi isn't up there in the same power catagory as a godling or a dragon).

AnubisXy

Vrykolas2k wrote:

Zer0 Kay wrote:I'm expecting this to be answered quickly since most people are more in the know than me.

What happened to the Rifts Conversion Book: Two? For those who are new and aren't more in the know than me, yes there is one, no it isn't dark conversion and I didn't see it in the product list.

Pantheons of the Megaverse.
An excellent book, despite the whining from detractors of C.J. Carella...

Word... Imbalance Schmimbalance... Unless that material is updated/re published/replaced before 2007, I'll be very cross at some Michigan people

Zer0 Kay wrote:I'm expecting this to be answered quickly since most people are more in the know than me.

What happened to the Rifts Conversion Book: Two? For those who are new and aren't more in the know than me, yes there is one, no it isn't dark conversion and I didn't see it in the product list.

It's just not a worthwhile book IMHO, don't care who wrote it. I don't have a need to see (let alone buy a book of) stats for a bunch of mythological beings/gods I'll never use in ANY type of a campaign.
I don't know anyone who has it around and there's no requests for it from what I understand from local shops.

Okay, so lemme see if I can understand what you guys are saying. You want deities and godlike beings who go down like flies in front of a vagabond with a Wilks laser pistol? You want someone like Hercules (the child of a god) to be weaker than your average run of the mill Juicer?

While I agree that some of CJs material was overpowered, I really fail to understand how people could have any real problem with Conversion Book 2. Yes the power-level is high in that book, but come on, if there was ever a book that calls for high power, it's one thats based around deific beings.

I think alot of the problem with Conversion Book 2 is that it, with the exception of the Aztec deities, it has nothing in it for North America (which isn't much of a surprise considering the religious situation here), and since the vast majority of games take place in Northern America, they feel that the book is useless...

Am I right? Or is it because you guys honestly feel that deific beings have absolutely no place on Rifts Earth?

AnubisXy

The book itself is overkill. I know of very few games where gods play an integral part.

AnubisXy wrote:
Am I right? Or is it because you guys honestly feel that deific beings have absolutely no place on Rifts Earth?

AnubisXy

Basically. I've run games for 19 years and not needed a god of any kind in any of them. Rifts I think makes that even more true.

evilgeek wrote:

MADMANMIKE wrote:..Written by C.J, the uber-overkill writer, discontinued because of it's imbalance (conjecture) and the forthcoming Dragons and Gods book for Rifts...

-Mike >8]

that's awesome. I love your frankness in regard to CJ. It may be conjecture but that's certainly how I feel about him.

cornholio wrote:
Forthcoming??? "Dragons and Gods" has been out for a couple of years now......

Isn't it obvious that the statement was regarding the situation as it was at a time at or before the release of "Dragons and Gods".

Zer0 Kay wrote:
Uh aren't gods supposed to be overkill? They didn't discontinue Nightspawn (call it whatever you want), or SA2. At the same time I had always thought that CB2 wasn't really a conversion book what did it convert from?

Mythology.

1. I take it your not a fan of Phase World, Mercenaries, SA1 or Juicer Uprising either?

2. Uh no it is obvious to those who know that there is a Rifts Dragons and Gods coming out that, that is what he is talking about and not the PFRPG Dragons and Gods that those who don't know there is a Rifts Dragons and Gods coming out mistook it for.

3. So are vampires and gargoyles as well as most of the mystic monsters.

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:The book itself is overkill. I know of very few games where gods play an integral part.

Would have to in Africa with the 4 Horsmen. If the Mechanoids found a way to open up a gate. Maybe the Xiticix are controlled by Ares? The Vampires by Lillith.

Haven't posted on these boards for a while but I thought I would start it off again with a rant!

The problem with Pantheons of the Megaverse, I believe was not the fact that the gods and beings were overpowering (because they are supposed to be, they are gods) but the fact the 90% of the written backgrounds, descriptions, powers and abilities of gods were absolute rubbish.

Here are my points of argument:

C.J. didn't really make an effort to define each of the gods (except a handful) and make me think of them as a unique being with it's own unique agenda. Most had a little bit of history with a Rifts twist but to be honest a 10 year old could have come up with a better story for each of the gods than what he did.

Nearly all the weapons they possessed were some kind of rune weapon (what about different types of unique magic weapons?). This just seemed to me as a lazy shortcut or lack of imagination.

Their powers were almost exactly the same or even non-existant, most seem to me to just possess magic and psionics and that's is it. Why not give them unique powers to make them unique, different forms of magic, make them more exciting and more playable by GMs or PCs in games.

Taking into consideration that they are human pantheons and gods, why not bring in some alien gods and pantheons, afterall Rifts Earth is not just inhabited by humans but by many other different races as well now, why not bring some new wacky or sinister pantheons to Earth.

What I would like to see is more individuality and more character each of the gods and pantheons, possibly with more of their own minions, powers, special gifts for Priests, examples of the gods home dimensions, how they live, etc. The way Palladium Dragons and Gods has been written would be a very good starting point or guideline for Rifts Dragons and Gods (artwork needs to be top notch aswell).

I guess I'm glad that I bought that book when I saw it then. I enjoy the book. I think I've only used the book twice in role plays but I still like the book. The funniest part is though that when I bought it I was deciding between it and palladium's dragons and gods book.

Excellent book.
If you see it get it.

Gods have followers.
Players sometimes play a god's followers.
Do you REALLY want to make up stats on the fly all the time?
Or would you rather have gods described for the game, in the GAME'S context, and which fir into the game as they should since they were written for it?
I do.
I was a bit miffed when they decided Dagda should be insane, and alot of deities are not exactly they way they've been described in certain religions. So what? They're written for the game, not for real people to read the books and start a church...

Dustin Fireblade wrote:

AnubisXy wrote:
Am I right? Or is it because you guys honestly feel that deific beings have absolutely no place on Rifts Earth?

AnubisXy

Basically. I've run games for 19 years and not needed a god of any kind in any of them. Rifts I think makes that even more true.

err... are you not mistaking NEED, with "possibility of introducing a fun and interesting element"?

even if you're not the kind of GM who throws deities at his players (as munchkin foes, a means for railroading, or whatever) every other game, there's still plenty of fun and interesting use to be made from them godlies.

..There is no way to misinterpret what I said about Dragons and Gods being forthcoming if you read the entire sentance.

..I never said I don't like the book, I do. But I don't use it, as I like to play games at power levels more in line with what Kev prefers...

..Not a huge fan of Phaseworld for one reason: CJ did a terrible job with the ships; no rhyme or reason. Even if you were taking into account the difference in technology from one race to another, you still can't find any system by which to design those myriad ships that would fall in between the ones presented.

..Mercenaries was rough but I think his best book for Palladium.

..Good to see you AXy, been a looooong time.

-Mike >8]

MADMANMIKE wrote:..I never said I don't like the book, I do. But I don't use it, as I like to play games at power levels more in line with what Kev prefers...

-Mike >8]

Huh?
Have you heard any of the Defilers stories?

MADMANMIKE wrote:..There is no way to misinterpret what I said about Dragons and Gods being forthcoming if you read the entire sentance.

..I never said I don't like the book, I do. But I don't use it, as I like to play games at power levels more in line with what Kev prefers...

..Not a huge fan of Phaseworld for one reason: CJ did a terrible job with the ships; no rhyme or reason. Even if you were taking into account the difference in technology from one race to another, you still can't find any system by which to design those myriad ships that would fall in between the ones presented.

..Mercenaries was rough but I think his best book for Palladium.

..Good to see you AXy, been a looooong time.

-Mike >8]

You know there is this one screen thing that is no longer in print that I found somewhat useful but poorly designed. A GM's screen is supposed to have the GM's info on his side and helpful player info on the other. This is normally done so that when it is stood up with the inside facing GM the GM has his info and the players theirs.

Dr. Doom III wrote:

MADMANMIKE wrote:..I never said I don't like the book, I do. But I don't use it, as I like to play games at power levels more in line with what Kev prefers...

-Mike >8]

Huh?
Have you heard any of the Defilers stories?

You know I was wondering what level are Splugorths on? How about the Vamp Ints? How about the Old Ones? The three from the FoM? The Lord of the Deep? Any other AIs I missed?
Point being Doom's absolutely right there are critters of that level if not higher all through the Palladium Megaverse. Remember an Ancient dragon can keep up with a god since a Dragon god is to a god as Dragons are to man.
Is the Cosmic Forge an AI? Was that concept or at least name taken from Wizardry?

Hey Mr. Owl, what is the answer.

Yes, no, maybe.

The world may never know.

Vrykolas2k wrote:Gods have followers.
Players sometimes play a god's followers.
Do you REALLY want to make up stats on the fly all the time?
Or would you rather have gods described for the game, in the GAME'S context, and which fir into the game as they should since they were written for it?
I do.
I was a bit miffed when they decided Dagda should be insane, and alot of deities are not exactly they way they've been described in certain religions. So what? They're written for the game, not for real people to read the books and start a church...

Toally agree, I quite like Pantheneons especially compared to the Gods presented in England. I know some pagans who would be very offended by the portrail of InDagda, me, I just thought it was stupid and unnessesary.

I LOVE CJ!

z0b wrote:

Vrykolas2k wrote:Gods have followers.
Players sometimes play a god's followers.
Do you REALLY want to make up stats on the fly all the time?
Or would you rather have gods described for the game, in the GAME'S context, and which fir into the game as they should since they were written for it?
I do.
I was a bit miffed when they decided Dagda should be insane, and alot of deities are not exactly they way they've been described in certain religions. So what? They're written for the game, not for real people to read the books and start a church...

Toally agree, I quite like Pantheneons especially compared to the Gods presented in England. I know some pagans who would be very offended by the portrail of InDagda, me, I just thought it was stupid and unnessesary.

I LOVE CJ!

I'd have been more offended if i hadn't been mature enough to realize that it was just written for a game... if they tried to portray their game deities as IRL deities, however, that would be a scoche different and some writers might end up with a personal visit from me...

I've read many game products that have been offensive to me, a Whitewolf product places Christian Faith as a Canible Faith, of flesh eaters.

Luckly the Ficton of the Setting makes it not so offensive, compared to other Opions i've read.

Cj's Work in Cb2 was Quite nice. most of the Gods were Quite Fearsom, and had a bit of a Rifts Flare to them, others could have used work to be Closer to mythology, but its Rifts not mythology (its that same argument i use for likeing the Kevin sorbo Heraculese Show)

I LOVE CJ as well, but only on a Platonic Level.

Vrykolas2k wrote:

z0b wrote:

Vrykolas2k wrote:Gods have followers.
Players sometimes play a god's followers.
Do you REALLY want to make up stats on the fly all the time?
Or would you rather have gods described for the game, in the GAME'S context, and which fir into the game as they should since they were written for it?
I do.
I was a bit miffed when they decided Dagda should be insane, and alot of deities are not exactly they way they've been described in certain religions. So what? They're written for the game, not for real people to read the books and start a church...

Toally agree, I quite like Pantheneons especially compared to the Gods presented in England. I know some pagans who would be very offended by the portrail of InDagda, me, I just thought it was stupid and unnessesary.

I LOVE CJ!

I'd have been more offended if i hadn't been mature enough to realize that it was just written for a game... if they tried to portray their game deities as IRL deities, however, that would be a scoche different and some writers might end up with a personal visit from me...

I think his point is that others here are complaining how CB2 say that the descriptions are all wrong. SFW it is a freakin game make your own descriptions if you don't like it. If you can't don't complain about others. Of course when I say you I don't mean the quoteee I mean those who are complaining.

Colonel Wolfe wrote:I've read many game products that have been offensive to me, a Whitewolf product places Christian Faith as a Canible Faith, of flesh eaters.

Luckly the Ficton of the Setting makes it not so offensive, compared to other Opions i've read.

Cj's Work in Cb2 was Quite nice. most of the Gods were Quite Fearsom, and had a bit of a Rifts Flare to them, others could have used work to be Closer to mythology, but its Rifts not mythology (its that same argument i use for likeing the Kevin sorbo Heraculese Show)

I LOVE CJ as well, but only on a Platonic Level.

if you had to say that are you sure?

Zer0 Kay wrote:

Colonel Wolfe wrote:I've read many game products that have been offensive to me, a Whitewolf product places Christian Faith as a Canible Faith, of flesh eaters.

Luckly the Ficton of the Setting makes it not so offensive, compared to other Opions i've read.

Cj's Work in Cb2 was Quite nice. most of the Gods were Quite Fearsom, and had a bit of a Rifts Flare to them, others could have used work to be Closer to mythology, but its Rifts not mythology (its that same argument i use for likeing the Kevin sorbo Heraculese Show)

I LOVE CJ as well, but only on a Platonic Level.

if you had to say that are you sure?

very Sure, as i never have Met CJ, a Physical Love would be immposible, until such a meeting it is purly a Love for his work. (All Flesh must be Eaten is quite the good game)

Zer0 Kay wrote:

MADMANMIKE wrote:..There is no way to misinterpret what I said about Dragons and Gods being forthcoming if you read the entire sentance.

..I never said I don't like the book, I do. But I don't use it, as I like to play games at power levels more in line with what Kev prefers...

..Not a huge fan of Phaseworld for one reason: CJ did a terrible job with the ships; no rhyme or reason. Even if you were taking into account the difference in technology from one race to another, you still can't find any system by which to design those myriad ships that would fall in between the ones presented.

..Mercenaries was rough but I think his best book for Palladium.

..Good to see you AXy, been a looooong time.

-Mike >8]

You know there is this one screen thing that is no longer in print that I found somewhat useful but poorly designed. A GM's screen is supposed to have the GM's info on his side and helpful player info on the other. This is normally done so that when it is stood up with the inside facing GM the GM has his info and the players theirs.

..Obviously you're just trolling, here, so I'm not going to argue with you. Read the post you quoted here, it's got nothing to do with my project and it's quality.

..And as for that, I sent them the proper layout four different times. Each time they sent it back with edits, they sent it back in the wrong order. Each time I returned it I called them and pointed out that it needed to be in the order I put it.

..I've complained about the layout several times. But it's a moot point. Like CJ's Pantheons of the Megaverse, my Game Master Screens are not going to get a reprint.

..Sorry to disapoint you, but this isn't going to get an emotional rise out of me. I've moved on. You should grow up.

-Mike >8]

MADMANMIKE wrote:

Zer0 Kay wrote:

MADMANMIKE wrote:..There is no way to misinterpret what I said about Dragons and Gods being forthcoming if you read the entire sentance.

..I never said I don't like the book, I do. But I don't use it, as I like to play games at power levels more in line with what Kev prefers...

..Not a huge fan of Phaseworld for one reason: CJ did a terrible job with the ships; no rhyme or reason. Even if you were taking into account the difference in technology from one race to another, you still can't find any system by which to design those myriad ships that would fall in between the ones presented.

..Mercenaries was rough but I think his best book for Palladium.

..Good to see you AXy, been a looooong time.

-Mike >8]

You know there is this one screen thing that is no longer in print that I found somewhat useful but poorly designed. A GM's screen is supposed to have the GM's info on his side and helpful player info on the other. This is normally done so that when it is stood up with the inside facing GM the GM has his info and the players theirs.

..Obviously you're just trolling, here, so I'm not going to argue with you. Read the post you quoted here, it's got nothing to do with my project and it's quality.

..And as for that, I sent them the proper layout four different times. Each time they sent it back with edits, they sent it back in the wrong order. Each time I returned it I called them and pointed out that it needed to be in the order I put it.

..I've complained about the layout several times. But it's a moot point. Like CJ's Pantheons of the Megaverse, my Game Master Screens are not going to get a reprint.

..Sorry to disapoint you, but this isn't going to get an emotional rise out of me. I've moved on. You should grow up.

-Mike >8]

Grow up if I do that life would be boring. You need to grow down find the whimsical in everything. Geez even your Avatar is stuffy. Besides there's no reason for you to get an emotional rise if it was the fault of palladium. As I said I found your work useful just poorly executed in layout. My point being do you really have the credentials to make those comments seeing as he is far more prolific in his writings and more sought out than yourself by multiple game corporations. That is probably because I can't find anything on the internet under MADMANMIKE and am too lazy to look up your name on the gameshield. Too bad about it not being reprinted in a correct format though that would be keen/neat/cool.

Zer0 Kay wrote:...My point being do you really have the credentials to make those comments seeing as he is far more prolific in his writings and more sought out than yourself by multiple game corporations....

..I made no comments that would need credentials to back them up. He did a lousy job with the ships. It's pure fantasy and poor at that. This is a role-playing game and needs structure. There is no structure holding up the space ships of the Phase World setting. They are designed in a completely arbitrary manner.

..I haven't written anything. Nobody has published anything by me, save those Game Master Screens and the Character Sheets. I don't have the luxury of being a professional writer, I have bills to pay.

..That's a poor arguement, suggesting that I should be a professional if I want to have an opinion. I don't see anything by you floating around, so where do you get off having an opinion?

-Mike >8]

MADMANMIKE wrote:

Zer0 Kay wrote:...My point being do you really have the credentials to make those comments seeing as he is far more prolific in his writings and more sought out than yourself by multiple game corporations....

..I made no comments that would need credentials to back them up. He did a lousy job with the ships. It's pure fantasy and poor at that. This is a role-playing game and needs structure. There is no structure holding up the space ships of the Phase World setting. They are designed in a completely arbitrary manner.

..I haven't written anything. Nobody has published anything by me, save those Game Master Screens and the Character Sheets. I don't have the luxury of being a professional writer, I have bills to pay.

..That's a poor arguement, suggesting that I should be a professional if I want to have an opinion. I don't see anything by you floating around, so where do you get off having an opinion?

-Mike >8]

I thought Rifts was Fantasy Sci-fi
You saying professional writer's can't pay bills?
No just saying that your opinion matters just as much as mine right now...nothing. I didn't know about your screens being printed incorrectly. Maybe he did follow some rules you don't know about. Maybe each race was x% different from the other in y areas (hull, weapons, sensors etc.). I guess I just thought it was a...stuffy thing to judge someones books on one area when you don't know what he was thinking. I don't know maybe he does suck and I just don't care. Oh well.

MADMANMIKE wrote:you still can't find any system by which to design those myriad ships

And neither can I. Palladium's design system is: "Write it down," so I'd've been quite surprised if you had.

If you want grand system design, pick up ICE's Spacemaster, or Traveller:TNE's Fusion, Fire, and Steel (or one of the many other systems from Traveller's lengthy history), and whip our your calculator, or use one of the many software applications or spreadsheets over the years written to assist you in number crunching the designs.

Pantheons of the Megaverse: Rifts Conversion Book 2.

Reading the Book:

I enjoyed reading the majority of the book. The primary pantheon groups were well done, though obviously recast (and simplified) for the Rifts game environment. The “faux” pantheons were a mixed bag. The Greek Titans as various Entities were somewhat interesting (but then, I really liked Hecate and her armor). The faux Norse pantheons, both of them, made my teeth ache; but more about that below.

As a fan of the Norse myths and sagas, I found the section on them to be a little lacking and under-researched, but then, that’s because I’m in the know on them far more than I am on the others. My passing knowledge of the Greek myths didn’t set of any alarm bells, by comparison (but I don’t know them as well). I’d like to mention though, that I’m particularly accepting of the idea of “retellings” and “reforgings” of such stories, as long as they’re done well. Of course, the more you know about a subject and like it, the higher your standards are likely to be. For instance, right after the release of Rifts: Africa, I saw the Egyptian pantheon write-ups, and I immediately wrote up several Norse Gods (which wound up being quite different from what eventually came out in CB2), but I wrote them from a very specific standpoint. I wrote them as though they’d been around in the Megaverse for many millennia; and that the myths that came down to us from Snorri Sturlson (and many others), were just that, the myths known and quoted and written down from a small selection of people looking back from one to two centuries into a then-already vanished past. They couldn’t possibly have known the real truth, but just did the best they could (or, obviously, in some cases may well have made things up). This allowed me, as the author, to trim out or re-explain a variety of things I didn’t like about the Norse myths as given historically (like the fact that the actual myths themselves portray many of my favorite gods, like Thor, as little better than brutes). The entry I wrote on Odin runs approximately 16 manuscript pages, and the others aren’t too far behind. Not something that could be fit into the space allotted in the CB2 as it was done. (And yes, I never used any of it in any game I ran . . . but I tend to spend an extravagant amount of time on backgrounds and worldbuilding, so I enjoyed doing it.)

Someone mentioned something about wondering why all the pantheons were using Rune weapons. I noticed this in Rifts: Africa right off the bat. My Norse gods would hardly use runes from some other magic system, and so Norse Runes and Primal Energy were born. It wasn’t that difficult to invent something when I didn’t like a system as presented.


Using the Book:

Hmmm, in the last Palladium game I played in, one of the players announced he was going to run a Godling, but wound up taking something else in the end.

No gods have showed up in any of our games yet, though. I have some vague ideas for how the actions of the gods would affect backdrop events in a potential campaign, but that’s it.


Viewing the Book:

Vince Martin’s artwork makes the book for me (I like all his artwork, everywhere in Rifts).

MADMANMIKE wrote:..I made no comments that would need credentials to back them up. He did a lousy job with the ships. It's pure fantasy and poor at that. This is a role-playing game and needs structure. There is no structure holding up the space ships of the Phase World setting. They are designed in a completely arbitrary manner.

As I already mentioned, Palladium's design system for all tech, being the, "Write it down," system, is completely arbitrary on the face of it. All designs in all books are completely arbitrary.

MADMANMIKE wrote:I don't have the luxury of being a professional writer, I have bills to pay.

A large fraction of professional writers maintain day jobs, and they maintain them to pay their bills. Being a professional writer is not a luxury, it is a combination of a manner of conduct in business proceedings with publishers and fanns, and is usually a requirement in order to be successfully published. What writers do to actually write can be anything, and may even involve their profesionalism, but in many cases it does not.

MADMANMIKE wrote:..That's a poor arguement, suggesting that I should be a professional if I want to have an opinion.

I'll agree with this one. Everyone is free to their opinion. Insisting on professionally related credentials in order to allow that a criticism be made in the first place isn't valid.

If one is a gamer, and therefore a consumer of games, one has the right to put forth criticism about those games. How does one define "professional gamer?" (Yes, my tounge was stuck over in one cheek for that last sentence.)

Now, people who read those criticisms have, in turn, the right to judge those criticisms, and make statements about them, as well. When they make those judgments, many people attempt to look at professionally related credentials in order to help them decide how to rate the quality or validity of the criticism they are reading. But those credentials are not required to make the criticism in the first place. It's a bit a like saying that a high-school drop-out janitor in a nuclear power plant would require a degree in sub-atomic physics in order to criticize the improper disposal of plutonium waste.

RainOfSteel wrote:If one is a gamer, and therefore a consumer of games, one has the right to put forth criticism about those games. How does one define "professional gamer?" (Yes, my tounge was stuck over in one cheek for that last sentence.)

Sony Pays people to Play everquest, as many other MMORPG companys do... The "GM";s would be "professional gamer"'s

Palladium Rarely follows any set patten in its games, one Designer would make a Large Destroyer Capital Ship, then another would make a Cruiser with better weapons outloads and Armor, then another would give a Fighter comparable stats...

Compare the Dragon-Ship inWB2: Atlantis to some of the Fighters in CJ's books... really makes the poor Dragon ship not as bad arse as its description inplies.

Rather like Spirit West it's not a textbook.
It's a game book.
If you're looking for a mythology textbook you will not like it.
If you looking for a fun game book with a bunch of neat ideas you will like it.