Thrilling Locations
A James Bond 007
Game Supplement

Game Review

Reviewed by Sam Shirley


Designed by Robert Kern
Developed by Robert Kern and Michael E. Moore
Victory Games Inc. 43 West 33rd Street, New York, NY 10001
Released: May, 1985
Catalog No. 35010
Price: $9.95
Complexity: Low
Solitaire Suitability: None
* * * 1/2

Thrilling Locations is a useful sourcebook from Victory Games Inc. detailing the posh and debonair places where James Bond and other fast-living secret agents may often be found. it comes as a single, 148-page book divided into six chapters on casinos, hotels, restaurants, trains, boats, and planes and airports.

With Thrilling Locations you can gamble all day in the Casino de Monte Carlo, fly with your beautiful companion by Regent Air jet to New York for dinner at the Tavern on the Green, and then take a lazy boat ride to Bangkok to spy in luxury at The Oriental Hotel.

Each chapter features at least one sample location with a description and map. Also included are major nonplayer characters for each type of location, such as owners and managers for the casinos, or conductors and security officers for the trains. There are many typical James Bond encounter ideas for each location, and a compilation of actual encounters James Bond had at these locations in the movies. There are even a few bonuses such as casino gambling rules and a sample layout of a typical major villain's cruise ship.

Many photos and maps are included to convey the ambiance of the locations. Most of the maps are quite good, but some are difficult to read because they are poorly marked and do not seem to use all of the conventional gaming notations. The map of the European train routes is strangely malformed. There is also plenty of artwork to illustrate the authors' ideas.

The production quality of Thrilling Locations is high. There are few typos or grammatical mistakes. The writing is readable and makes sense. Thrilling Locations uses many actual locations in its examples. They look authentic, and with the photographs and maps, your characters will feel as though they are there.

In all I like Thrilling Locations; not only is it good for James Bond, it would be useful in any modern day campaign.

Most of the information is presented in a descriptive, non-mechanics dependent format, which means that although James Bond mechanics are used in vehicle and non-player character descriptions, with minor effort the entire supplement can be converted to work with any game system.

Thrilling Locations is a valuable reference work if. you. are running any sort of a modern-day campaign where your characters take the train, go to a fancy hotel, gamble at the casinos, or even drop in at a fancy restaurant for a leisurely meal. If your game is James Bond 007, I don't see how you've been getting along without this.

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© Copyright 1985 by Dana Lombardy.
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