Sally Slick and the Miniature Menace returns us to the world of Young Centurions and to the adventures of Sally Slick and Jet Black, first seen in Sally Slick and the SteelSyndicate . This time around we get right into the action as Sally fumes over being shut out of the local tractor races. With the circus in town, Sally decides to race “unofficially”; of course, Sally leaves everyone else in the dust. After showing up the local bullies and drawing the attention of the circus owner, Sally's prized tractor goes missing! Author Carrie Harris turns out prose with precision and clarity, aimed at a teen audience with an adult reading level. Her action scenes left me breathless and her description of Sally's and Jet's perspective on their adventures plunged me back through time to the days when 100 yards worth of woods around the neighborhood drainage ditch sheltered ninjas and monsters aplenty. Add in a dash of the exotic by having the two of them literally running away...

Sally Slick and the Steel Syndicate visits a 14-year-old Sally Slick in the years before she grows into her role as a Spirit Centurion. It introduces us to Sally's fellow Centurion Jet Black and a host of supporting characters, both villainous and otherwise. The novel sets the stage for the Young Centurions RPG , from 1910-1916. The first time I read this book I was charmed and very impressed; the second time I was still charmed but more aware of the story's flaws. It's a good book, the content aimed solidly at a teen and pre-teen audience with high-school reading skills. The story: The title promises a story centered around Sally's conflict with the Steel Syndicate, but I think a more accurate title would be “Sally Slick and Her Marvelous Racing Tractor”. Sally's older brother has gotten involved with the organized crime ring known as the Steel Syndicate, and when he falls into their clutches it's up to Sally to rescue him. It's the kind of adventu...

Visit a world of pulp action-adventure in the 1910s with the Young Centurions RPG from Evil Hat Productions. If you're new to Fate or to the Spirit of the Century setting, this book belongs on your shelf. If you're already familiar with either of those, take a minute to see if this book is going to add value to your collection before you jump on it. In Young Centurions, you take on the role of a unique individual, born in the first minute of the first hour of the first day of the new century. You embody a Spirit of the age, an aspect of the new century that shapes your character with the positive energy of things to come. Shadows oppose you, those people born on the last minute of the last hour of the last day of the previous century, empowered by the energetic detritus of what has gone before. It's not always easy to separate Spirit from Shadow in the confusion of the new century, even when it seems you're all working toward the same goals. And oh yes, you...

Fantasy Flight Games, Force and Destiny Beginner Game ($29.95) The Star Wars: Force and Destiny Beginner Game is the perfect entry into the Star Wars: Force and Destiny roleplaying experience for players of all skill levels. With its complete, learn-as-you-go adventure, players can open the box, ignite their lightsabers, and explore their destinies as Force users in the Star Wars galaxy. Pre-generated character folios keep the rules right at your fingertips, while custom dice and an exciting narrative gameplay system advance your story with every roll. The Star Wars: Force and Destiny Beginner Game includes: 1 32-page Adventure Book, 1 48-page Rulebook, and 1 Introduction Sheet 4 Full-Color Character Folios 1 Full-Color Double-Sided Foldout Map 14 Custom Dice 8 Destiny Tokens and 55 Character Tokens Goodman Games, Lankhmar - Through Ningauble's Cave ($9.99) Tread in the footsteps of the legendary Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser! Through Ningauble’s Cave is the first r...

Atomic Robo premiered in 2007 as a six-issue mini-series , quickly gaining a cult following and branching out into the two ongoing titles “Atomic Robo” and “Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures”. The story chronicles the adventures of Atomic Robo, a self-aware mechanical man created by Nikola Tesla. Each story arc focuses on a different era in the life of Robo, beginning in the 1920s and continuing to the near future. The stories imitate the pulp action novels of the 30s and 40s, with a healthy mix of Tom Swift in the recipe. Robo's foundation, Tesladyne, employs “Action Scientists”, which pretty much sums up the book's approach to storytelling. Recurring antagonists include Dr. Dinosaur (an intelligent deinonychus) and the ghost (phasically fluxed corporeal entity) of Thomas Edison. The creators premiered a free webcomic release for the entire series in January 2015 as a promotion for the tenth volume of the series, “Atomic Robo and the Ring of Fire.” The creators are curr...

Freeport: City of Adventure Freeport has been Green Ronin's signature setting of pirate adventure and Cthulhoid madness since the early days of the d20 System boom. The setting launched with the ENnie award-winning adventure “Death in Freeport”, and has seen several other adventure modules as well as multiple setting expansions centered around the flagship title “Freeport: City of Adventure”. In 2006 the setting went “system agnostic” with the publication of the “Pirate's Guide to Freeport” which contained no system stat blocks at all. This book was followed (slowly) by a series of “Freeport Companions” for different systems, all containing similar information tailored to different game systems. At this point, the line includes companion books for True 20, 3 rd Era (d20 System), Savage Worlds, Pathfinder, and Fate. In 2013, Green Ronin funded the production through Kickstarter of a single massive tome combining the Pirate's Guide and the Companion material as...

Cosmic Patrol from Catalyst Game Labs appealed to me the instant I saw the book. Such classic iconography with the rocket ship surrounded by orbiting bodies. A name so evocative of the pulp stories and radio serials that I love. Elegant graphic design in an attractive digest-sized hardcover. Wait. Digest size? I suppose that’s when I knew that something was about to go terribly wrong. After all, RPG books are supposed to be the full size of a 8.5x11 sheet of paper. It’s only reluctantly that Savage Worlds and Fate won me over to the 6x9 novel-sized format. Certainly Palladium’s decision to publish the new edition of Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles in manga-sized trade made the book completely undesirable from my point of view. I was rushed, so I passed by the core book and grabbed the Quick-Start rules instead. Let’s take a look.   Create Your Character: (D10)   The hardcover books are certainly very attractive leatherette numbers with nice quality paper stock inside...