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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
gothic and ornate fantasy, 9 Nov 2003
By A Customer
The latest edition of the Stormbringer RPG is excellent: a superbly conceived variant of Chaosium's house system that covers all levels of skill within a fantasy world, from everyday folk up to all-powerful heroes. The system is largely percentile based and easily modified to all situations that may occur within a game- a large number of such improvisations (`spot rules') are included in the book for easy reference.The magic system has always been the best thing about the Stormbringer game and remains so- the most powerful magic based around the summoning and research of demonic entities to perform tasks for the sorceror. Demons may be objects, weapons, guardians, sources of knowledge- just about anything a player or gamemaster can think of. Included is a spell system, that is not as innovative but maintains the feel of the game nicely. Simply put the game is superb, and easily adaptable to many other milieus: even to other genres with some effort on the part of the referee. The background setting of the game is, of course, the world of Michael Moorcock's `Elric'- the world millennia ago, an isle of law floating in an endless ocean of chaos. A battleground where the two cosmic principles fight over which will dominate this region of the `multiverse'. This background is ornate in feel and gothic and brutal in design, adhering reasonably accurately to the source material: occasionally there are large discrepancies, but presumably for the sake of playability. There is no other fantasy game around with the largely amoral feel of `Stormbringer'- characters are free to forge their destiny and carve a path in the world for better or worse, there are no abstract concepts of good or evil to direct them: only their own consciences can do that. The book is lushly, if lazily, produced: the cover is absolutely magnificent featuring the brooding albino emperor of ruins stood on the mist-laden deck of a ship gazing out over the seas of fate (presumably). The book is weighty, but the layout is absolutely dire: the reason being the bulk of information is little changed from the previous edition (appallingly named `ELRIC!'), although some infomation has been added and altered for the better- the text is about 25% larger than the previous edition and it shows. The artwork is excellent, and mostly derived from earlier editions: atmospheric and effective for the most part. The level of writing is good, liberally spotted with evocative quotes from the tales of Elric of Melnibone. Quite simply a marvellous fantasy roleplaying game with an edge- easily adaptable and customisable and totally recommended to anyone who wants a different fantasy game. If you own `ELRIC!` there is not a great deal of information new to this edition: the name change back to `Stormbringer' arguably makes it worth the money alone though... an excellent and enjoyable game.
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