PALLADIUM BOOKS
$19.95/233 PAGES
WRITTEN BY C.J. CARELLA

Almost anyone in the gaming industry is familiar with Palladium Books' style of RPG. Rifts is the prime example of the high impact, high action, big guns, big muscles super-intense Palladium game. It goes all the way to "11." When I read my copy of Nightspawn, I expected more of the same. Well get your cameras ready folks, you're not going to be hearing this one too often:

I was wrong.

Nightspawn is an action game, but it's also much, much more. Sure, there's big guns and big muscles and high volume excitement, but there's also conspiratorial intrigue and horror and a whole mess of campaign ideas and suggestions. It's just not what I thought it was going to be, and I'm glad. Now don't get me wrong, I love the action genre as much as the.next guy (I own all three Die Hard films, thank you), but I don't need a role, playing game to teach me how to run an action game. At least, that's what I thought before I read through Nightspawn.

The book shows a lot of forethought and is organized very well. The art is also consistently exceptional. High kudos go out to Vince Martin, Randy Post, Scott Johnson and Andy Peterson (and, of course, Brom for his beautiful cover). Also, the text is virtually free from typos, a rarity in our industry. Good work on the production staff.

Now with all the technical stuff out of the way, what's the game like?

It's great. It's a dark future setting with an "Other Side." There was a "Dark Day" in which this other side (called the Darklands) crossed over and invaded. The problem is, nobody noticed the invasion, they were too busy being occupied with the mutations going on in the streets. For some reason or another, the invasion caused some folks to mutate into the Nightspawn. These poor souls are ostracized from society, but they're the only ones who know what's really going on. Their mutated state allows them to see the invaders, but nobody will listen to them because they're the monsters. Pretty keen, eh?

The character generation system is thick with ideas. Nightspawn are humans who have mutated in some way by the Dark Day, and the charts for Nightspawn mutations are wonderful. They include: Reptile, Arachnid, Insectoid, Rodent, Snake, Stigmata, Unusual Facial Features, Unearthly Beauty, Bat, Biochemical and (I kid you not!) Equine/Bovine/Deer tables! just making up a Nightspawn was worth the price of admission on this one, folks! For the first time in a long time, I actually had fun rolling up a character. It was great.

Everyone in the industry knows how the Palladium system works, but if you don't, here's a re-hash. You've got 8 Attributes rolled on 3d6 with a chance for bonus dice if you roll well.

So, you've got big guns and muscles, conspiracy theory, horror, sorcery and political intrigue with the Palladium RPG system to back it all up. It sounds like a lot of fun because Mr. Carella and Co. had fun doing it. You can tell by reading it. Also, just about every other page has hints and tips on how to run the game that aren't just for show. Only about fifty pages are dedicated to "hard rules," the rest of it is all flavor. One of my major pet peeves with Rifts was that the book was the complete opposite from Nightspawn. I'm overjoyed that Palladium has taken a new approach with this product.

For both players of Palladium and other horror roleplaying games, Nightspawn is truly a superior product from Mr. Carella and Mr. Siembieda and the folks out in Michigan. It takes a lot to convert me to a game with so many dice and charts, and this is one game that did one damn fine job of it.

PALLADIUM NUMEROLOGY

NO PALLADIUM CHARACTER EVER HAD A "16" IN ANY ATTRIBUTE IT'S TRUE YOU ROLL 306 FOR YOUR ATTRIBUTES IN PALLADIUM, AND IF YOU ROLL A "16", 17", OR 18", YOU ROLL AN ADDITIONAL D6 AND ADD THE RESULT. THUS, THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A "16" IN THE PALLADIUM MEGAVERSE. JUST IN CASE YOU NEEDED TO KNOW

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