Apart from the fact that the John Sinclair series does not exist here in the US, and that there exists virtually no dime novel culture here in the US either, as Steven pointed out already, the intention was solely to pay homage to one of the greats of the genre. I grew up on dime novels back in Germany and when I decided to create my own one there was never a doubt in my mind that I would have to send a big fat nod in John Sinclair’s direction. Without Sinclair and its author Rellergerd, there would be no “Jason Dark” series. I acknowledge and appreciate that fact by saying “Thank you” that way.

What a rip-off…

Jackob! Wow! Been forever man! You probably don’t remember me, but my handles were “The Irate Marcus Vitel Fan” and also ‘Righteous433′ … maybe also “Sabbat666′ or something silly like that. It really HAS been years, lol.

Wow. DragonCon. Forgot all about that one!

There used to be a time when kobolds were…well kobolds, they were weak and could be killed in a single hit, and couldn’t do a thing unless there were loads of them. Now I send five against a party of five and no onelives to tell the tale. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, the Dragon, once a feared monster of legend, can be taken out by a groupof lowlevel adventurers in a snap.

SkeithInus out

I can’t wait for Changes to be available so I can devour it, but I already know that I will want the next book just after the last line ^^.

Thx for the review, j’en ai l’eau à la bouche.

BTW, in my game there is a reoccurring villain the gang loves to hate named Professor Arbighast.

I believe we have at least 8 books to go in the series. Jim’s statement in the past has been that the series will have 20 “or so” casefiles, then to be followed by an apocalyptic end-cap trilogy. I strongly suspect Changes will be seen as the series’ midpoint, regardless of how all of those count out.

The writing style is certainly no prize winning accomplishment, but RPG books (especially core books) are a form of technical writing where readers take what they read very literately, even the flavor text. There isn’t a lot of freedom there for great literature, so I don’t see there being room for the writing to get much better.

The setting is somewhat derivative, but maybe that was the point. I think that the intent of the entire book could have been to create a broad and easily accessible common world for players coming from different dark fantasy games. That is really just my own hunch.

Similarly, the rules are familiar enoguh for comfort. The system seems to be a very smooth and nicely done amalgamation of other systems. I recognize elements from Storyteller, Palladium Megaversal, and whatever the system was called for old school Shadowrun. I very much like this system.

The humor does poke through from time to time. The trenchcoat rule is a good example. No matter how monsterous the character, that person can always pass unnoticed through a crowded street by wearing a trench coat and wide brimmed hat. I would have liked to have seen more, but the game seems to rely heavily upon the creativity of the players. That is not entirely a bad thing. Perhaps the tone is best carried by the artists who present characters that are expressive and a little cartoony — like the water demon in the swim trunks.

That brings me to the sexuality issue. Yeah, it had me scratching my head as well. Beyond the definitions, this issue keeps reappearing throughout the book. At least half of the example characters are homo- or bisexual or pregnant men or something. It’s worth mention here because it feels forced and artificial every time it occurs. If the game were about sexuality, I wouldn’t have noticed, but the game has nothing to do with that. It’s like the designers were trying to reinforce a point that they forgot to make (or I missed) in the first place.

Outside of the sexuality issue feeling artificial and distracting and a setting that is a little general and bland for my tastes, I very much like this game. The price from RPGNow is great. I am very much looking forward to the upcoming sourcebook about specters.

The contest is closed and prizes have been mailed out.

Stay tuned for more contests this year.

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