[HoE] A Complete Review Of HoE

["Chris Aniballi" <aniballi@mc.net>]

Hey all,

First off, a quick explanation. When HoE came out last year I bought it at
Gen Con. Ran a few one offs here and there while waiting for Wasted West to
come out. It did, and I read most of it, but at that time I was headlong
into a very solid Weird West game, so it kind of filtered to the back burner
for a bit. I still bought all the books as they came out, but I never really
read them, I just kind of flipped through the new edges and powers and all
that. Knowing full well I would read them eventually.

Given the fact that there havent been any new Deadlands books of any sorts
since Gen Con, and i've already read all the BNW books and the Anthology
With No Name. I decided to read all the HoE books that had been piling up on
my books shelf.

And I did. as of 2:30 today I just finished off Cyborgs. I read all seven of
them in one week (Wasted West, Brainburners, Childern O' The Atom, Road
Warriors, Last Crusaders, The Junkman Cometh, and Cyborgs), much to my
suprise. Since they're still fresh in my mind I though this would be a good
oportunity to post my reviews of them, and perhaps strike up a bit of dialog
with anyone who agrees or disagrees with me. So here they are, in the order
that I read them.

1.The wasted west
OK so I already read it once before, but I thought it would be a good idea
to review before going on, as it has all the seeds of the whole HoE world.
In general, I thought it was pretty good. Some of the weapons were a bit
rediculous, but as I learned in the next week of reading, that was pretty
much the norm (thay'd have to be, to keep up with the Sykers). I had a few
points of contention, a minor one is the Double Tap rule, I just don't care
for it. Course, i'd just counteract it's use by drying up the supply of
bullets and see how many of the brainers bothered to put a lot into their
fighting apptitudes. Movie town kinda bugs me too. Seems a bit silly. I do
like the secrets about it, but unless they amount to something of greater
magnatude I won't be likely to focus my attentions on it too much. Maybe a
mention here or there. Veteran O' The Weird West seems a bit powerfull, but
it should be, I guess. Still, any charactert of mine who wants it it gonna
be hard pressed to convince me to let them have it. Or course, the table is
more than enough tobalance it out (i'd have to follow it to the letter, and
watch em squirm). Archetypes were great (even some of the plain ones, like
the scavenger. The Sawbones is a personal fave). The Witch character and
spells were pretty nifty, too. Thought they could use more (the ones up on
the webpage right now help). Over all the story and setting were gresat, and
they leave plenty of story seeds. They whole section reminds me of the
Epitaph Guide in The Quick In The Dead IE: it made me want to buy more books
(fortuanatly for me, I already had them).  Finally, the abobomintaions guide
in the back was a good addition to the few from HoE.

Overall thoughts: Great, definitely required reading.

2. Brainburners
Congrats to Steve Long! This book started out with a bang. All the Banshee
storyline was terrific. Gave me a solid sense of the whole mess that was the
Banshee war. Plent of great visionry, battle repolrts, life as a Psycher.
Details on the aunouks, even a few sneak secrets from Lost Colony. Wow. I
was impressed, and truly anticipate LC now more than ever. It even went a
bit further with the whole bit with the Syker Oaths and Squad descriptions.
And the mystery of the attack on the Unity. The edges and hinderances were
good, with plenty of opportunity to make nifty Blaster. Archetypest were
good as well, if not with little variety (being all sykers and such). The
introduction of schools of syker powers was a good idea as well. As for the
powers, yeouch! Some are just plain nasty (Aztec Suprise, Boneripping),
others are just plain cool(Meat Puppet, Slow Burn), some are just strange
(Gift, Mind Transference(ok, so they aren't that strange, but they could be
used in fun ways). I'm not sure what to think of the Syker drugs. Some are
just plain dangerous, and others have mild effects at high costs. I might
let a Syker have some of them here and there, but pity them if they manage
to get addicted. The gear is annother story, i'm speaking of the TSAR. That
gun is way to powerfull, if it ever showed up in one of my games it would be
pointed at the posse. After the fight (if they live, or course) it would be
found with almost no (or no) ammunition. WAY tough. Secrets were good, some
great seeds there. (like the Jericho academy)Also, the individual power
flaws were terrific (can't wait).

Overall thoughts: Good, definitely required for Sykers.

3. Children O' The Atom
Story and background were acceptable. The whole founding of the Doomies was
good, and the witnessing of the transformation of Silas was a good read. I
like the whole saints thing will Holst, Oppenheimer, Hellstron, etc. That
was pretty good. No longer a mindless cult it makes the Doomies a potent and
powerfull adversry. The Lectors, Hekants, Atum, and Amarna. What can I say?
I didn't like this one bit. It was booring, silly (I didn't care for the
whole Egyptian myhology and sun god angles to mutations.) Dull, and in my
case, nonexistent in any campaign I run. Then there is Brin, what's not to
like about Brin? I actuall am serious, the character is great, and has a lot
to offer and a motivating NPC. Edges and Hinderances; mosrt were pretty
good, even Hekant is ok ((since it's not restricted to actual Hekants) the
major mutations were a hoot). Grundy Syndrome was cool, as is Super Mutant
(a top notch Edge, IMHO). Sucked; Not a Pepper, I'm a Pepper, I'm a Pepper,
too. These three struck me as just plain useless (and I don't care for the
mention of Pop Rocks and Mikey, just a bit too immature).. Overall, I
thought the powers were good. I did not that some seem very easy to
activate, where others are much more difficult and have lesser effects. Some
of the powers were a bit (I hate to use the word) useless, like Altered
States, Globs (just because I can see a PC continually nagging me "Are there
any frogs around" at ever available opportunity), Hard Water (Sounds more
like a Syker power to me), Viridian Goliath (Arrgghhh! Hulk Smash! Hulk
think power silly! Arrrggghh!). The Marshal section had some good bit in it,
and the Cult O' Doom stuff will be sure to intill fear in hearts of the
Purple Doomies for many great sessions. In fact the whole section is good on
all accounts (except for all that Atum stuff, yech). Major Mutations were
pretty dur fun, despite the fact that the 10 of Clubs was missing. Ooops!
Still, i'll have a great time if anyone is unfortuanate enough to end up
with one of these. Doom Comes To Frog Town. Hell, it's good just for the
name. Makes me want to see that movie again sometime soon.

Overall thoughts: Very Good, despite that whole Atum nonsense. Required
(obviously) for Doomies.

4. Road Warriors.
Ahh, what can I say about Road Warriors? Well, the intent was certainly
good, and effort was made, but there isn't enough here in the way of story.
Sorry to say it, but the whole deal with the Convoy was nice, it it has
place in the Wasted West, but this infor would have been better off if it
had a place in the Wasted West book itself (much more brief, of course). I
wouldn't call it "fluffed", and there was good effort to make it more
usefull, like the general info on the west, the Maze (like the fires), what
the Combine has to say about the Convoy, Etc. Overall, not Drek, but it
needed more. On the other hand, the driving rules and vehicle costomization
was top notch. If you're gonna have a lot or vehicle combat, or one of your
brainers took a rig, hell, this book is friggin' cool. Weapons, gadgets,
automobile damage, all that stuff fer yer greasemonkey brainers. Archetypes
were, well, obvious. And despite the fact that this book is called Road
Warriors, there are no edges and hinderances, gadgets, relics, or anything
that you could use if you had a road warrior character (I was hoping for a
relic that was a Hacksaw used by a waster to saw his own hand off to escape
a soon to blow up vehicle (Ok, so it's blatantly lifted, but it wouls still
be neat)).

Overall thoughts: Great, but only if vehicles play a large part of your
Wasted West games, if not, call it below average.

5. Last Cruasders
Annother wow. Well put together book, with a really great detailing of the
Templar Organization. Great trial by fire with the Baphomet. The Boise
Horror has me scratching my head, but I have my thoughts on that subject.
Also nice to see Jo recover from her wounds, interesting personaliy and
definitely an excelent NPC. Anti-Templars are OK, I should have seen them
coming a mile off, and they will make good villains. The Saints. Now that's
a cool idea. I read each description will some kind of subdues glee. They
were all pretty nifty, and their granted powers are great. Of particualr
note, I though using John Wayne as the Saint of Grit was *perfect*, with
that nift back story about his conflicts with the reckoning. Totally cool.
Ronan Lynch was pretty durned neat too. The whole Rex Stern thing makes me
think of Captain Stern in the Heavy Metal movie (Stern being  the saint of
ruthlessness and all) i'm sure that connection is not entirely coincidence.
Edges and Hinderances were welcom and appropriate, esspecially Squire (it
just make sense, all Knights had Squires). Combat manouvers were good, too.
No more, "I'll hit it with my sword" combats. Rewards were good, and in line
with the whole Templar thang, not too powerful, usefull, and good greater
rewards and such. It's also good balance that you can only ever have a few.
Excess is the stomping ground for Sykers and Doomies. I do think some of the
rewards are kind of useless (or "sucker" powers): Guardian Angel (mostly the
greather reward), Scavenger (untill the greater reward, then it's pretty
good). Some rewards are just plain great, like; Deadeye, Gallantry is great,
too. Though I did note somethin with the Speed reward (+1 pace per level) at
level 5, and the Fleet-Footed edge at level 5 (+1 pace per level) and a good
nimbleness, say, d12 (which a templar is likely to have for Fighting:
Sword), this would give your character a pace of 22, meaning they can run at
pace 44. Youch! I think it says somwhere in Road Warriors that a pace of
4-something (I can't remember the exact number, nor can I find it right now)
is equivalent of 20 MPH, or so. So a Templar can run at about 20 MPH? S@$%!
That's one fast PC. In fact, i'd be willing to bet that this would make the
character The Fastest Man Alive (with apologies to the Flash). Ouch! The
Marshals secrets were good, and I said before, leave plenty of unanswered
questions that would be fun to torment posses with. It even mentions that
there will be a Boise Horror adventure (in 2k, I assume) that will clear up
that mystery. Can't wait.

Overall Toughts: Excellent, Up untill this point I was convinced that this
was the best character book for HoE, then I read....

6. The Junkman Cometh
OK. I gotta admit, John Hopler (and this book) are currently tops on my list
for best RPG supliment for next years Origins awards. Man, this book was
un-friggin'-believable. Totally amazing. The background story at the front
of the book was so well written, so clever, and so cool. That whole thing
with Junker Magic and Tech Spirits is great. The Whole bit about how the
Manitou pulled out all their assisatance once Ghost Rock bombs were
deveolped was great, especially the torment (and violence, and suicides,
that followed, with distraught scientists). The early development and the
Sons of Sitgreaves story was good as well, and I have to admit that I love
how the Weird West comes full circle and it's influence pops up in HoE from
time to time (like Ronan Lynch as a Saint and such) it's what makes this
game so damn cool. Hopler evidently knew this and used it to full effect.
Totally dig the whole thing with the Browser Spirtis, and their home in the
Hunting Grounds, the Net. Familiars get a bit goofy, and that picture of the
familiar owl reminds me of Clash Of The Titans ("It's a gift....from the
Gods"), hokey, but plausable. The Chamber is neat, too. and I like how they
like to be like the Wizards of old with beards and cloaks (and a guy named
Gandalf, woo hoo!). Speaking of browsers, I love the whole malicious side of
the Gun Browers. Makes sense, you toy with the spirit of a tool of
destruction, and you're gonna get burned. Taint is nice, too. Gives Junkers
evil nemissi (is that the plural of nemisis? (sp?)) that will make it easy
for many survivors to distrust them, and lots in the way of proving
themselves benificial to the survival of humanity, and redeeming the dark
images that Mad Science has left on the Wasted West.

As for the rules for making a junker PC, I thought they were good. I was
suprised to see AB: Huckster in their list of edges (I thought you could
only have one AB, but I guess that has changed), but others, like buying
browsers and additional powers was a nice addition. Browsers, and their
powers, as I said, are great, especially the computer browser and being able
to ru background checks for a blue chip. Nice. The inclusion of the Tricks
were interesting, but they seem to be a bit dangerous to use (you do have a
one-in-twentseven chance of frying your brain for 4d10 damage, after all).
Loved that "Is there a draft in here?" quote on the repairman archetype. I
was thinking there might be a bit of exposed but crack on the picture, but
there isn't. The guidelines of construction were what realy made this book
as good as it is. The inclusion of Frame to the construction is a good idea,
so we know how big our sensor drone is, or how portable our e-mail
transmitter is. Chemical components were a good idea, too. Overall the
powers are good, and I caught myself trying to think of a power I might want
to use that wasn't listed there (I couldn't come up with anything, but my
brain was clogged with all this new info as it was). While construction is a
complicated process (i'd never alow it mid-session, always well before or
after) and takes some time to get it right, all the rule were laid out as
well as could be expected, with great examples. All could be easily
referenced from the table of contents. I thought that the book could have
done well to have a few more premade gadgets available for free devices for
starting Junkers, but space must have been tight as the book is crammed full
of neat powers (and I guess making gadgets is more important than buying or
starting with them). There weren't really a lot of "Junker Mysteries", but
they were good (That whole thing with the Taint). The new Backlash and
Instability tables were good, too. They'll put the fear of God inta 'em.

The only thing I thought was that this book could have done well to have had
maybe 16 more pages, more premade gadgets, more secrets, of maybe the usual
adventure.

Overall thoughts: The single best sourcebook for HoE. You won't be
dissapointed.

7. Cyborgs
Again, annother good book from John Hopler. Not nearly as good a Junkman
Cometh, but good still. It almost makes for better villains that it would
for PCs, but I guess it depends on what kind of game you run. If it's all
krush-kill-destroy, by all means Cyborg away. I must say that the
Infiltrator Cyborg is great, though. Light on cybornetics, and just the
right blend of equipmant make them pretty damn neat.  Background was well
developed and had a lot of good info on the use of cyborgs in the last war,
alway a plus for roleplying a Last War era cyborg. All of the Harrowed stuff
(with the exception of a few new powers) was originally printed in The Book
O' The Dead. I understand the nead to reprint old information here (because
who'd like to buy 2 books before they were able to make a cyborg character?)
so I won't complain about that. The cyborg edges and hinderance were OK, if
not fairly obvious (Like Emancipated or Unfettered). The Rules Of Engagement
were just about the coolest thing you could expect as far as the programing
and deployment of Last War cyborgs go, and the matching Feedback / Overload
rules are just damn clever. As in, well, "So what if my AI says to destroy
all resistance?" - Zzzzzaaap!. hehe, I love it. New harroed powers were
good, no real suprise there. They fill in the HoE-ish blanks that would have
been left if you were just stuck with the Weird Wests Book O' The Dead.
Cyborg equipment was neat, though I think there is room for more stuff in
the future (hell, what am I talking about? There's always room for more
(Jell-O)). Some of the weapons wer just darn nast, but some people just go
for that stuff. Fortunately, all the ammo is incredibly hard to find as it
is, and in this case, terribly expensive. Optional programing and anti-virus
software, the whole nine. Scret section was a bit small, but this book, like
Junkman, was so crammed full of stuff there really isn't any room (and
certainly no fluff to toss out) for more stuff. Certainly don't want to give
any secrets away, but there is one inparticular in Cyborgs that I really
want to see develop. If you've read it, you probably know what i'm talking
about.

Overall Thoughts: Great for Cyborg and Harrowed wasters, good overall.



That's it. I've had enough typing. I can't even see strait. That's it. No
more reviews untill more books come out. But I will say that after having
read the whole smear of books I have just as much desire to see the whole
HoE story unfold as I do the Weird West story, so let's see some more books,
and forge on ahead agains the Combine.

Chris Aniballi
Anciously awaiting M3 and Iron Oasis

When the weather gets rough / and it's whiskey in the shade
It's best to wrap the savior up in cellophane
Tom Waits - "Chocolate Jesus"