Just got this today and each chapter I am awed by the effort to be so detailed. I been a paper n dice gamer since the 70s. What i have found for Anima Beyond Fantasy to be a great value. Diverse character generation, Excelent crafting rules, and a great section for dms to help flesh out other monsters or various npcs as well. My only critisism is that I wish a gm shield was available as well. <very minor critique> The artwork is very well done and the rule system looks complex, but doesnt require a rocket scientist to learn.

I agree...I recently aquired the book and me and some friends are seeting up our first campaign. When I was reading through the GM's Book I couldn't put it down! The world is so fleshed out and deep and I really can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm really looking forward to the GM Shield and other books to flesh out the world of Gaia even more. I'd definitely recommend this to any RPGer not just because it's an amazing system, but because it is so flexable and can be turned into just about anything you want. A must have for sure at a great value indeed!

What I did for a screen was to pick up a customizable screen from Hammerdog Games. It's an eight pocket document protector screen that lets you put the charts where you want them. This let me put charts that the players use on their side (along with a handy actions chart) while the charts I need are in the order I want (not someone else's). Sure it lacks the pretty picture that an official screen has, but they tend to get old after a bit.

A GM shield exist, it's a four harded panels with a great atwork who figures a battle between the main characters of the card game and a dragon-like creature, in front of the ruins of a ancient temple (i suppose).

Inside, you'll find a leaflet with additional rules, new merits, flaws and so on... plus 20 NPCs from all the classes.

There also is a adventure, A shadow in the dreams, playable for 3 to 5 characters (up to level 2, even if it can easily be adapted to more experienced characters).

To me, a good and cheap accessory to have ^^

Don't get me wrong, when I find a copy of the official GM screen I'll pounce on it like a wolf jumping a rabbit in the winter. It's just that I've gotten used to using home creation GM screens because they tend to have the info that I use more than the info that I may use. (I still have nightmares about the old D&D screens). It's mostly a matter of personal tastes, not to mention my players love having the charts they need on their side of the screen.

Dualgoth said:

But not in English right? Only in Spanish and French. And FFG have given no indication of any release date.

Skywalker said:

Oh, I stand corrected! I though that the release date of the GM shield (or for the sourcebook Gaïa) was the same for all

Dualgoth said:

It could be great ! But that's not true... Basing on the Corebook released dates, french edition is about 2 years late and English-speaking version is 3 years late (comparing to spanish edition). I think a german version was planned at the begining but it was never released (and I think it won't).

But it seems that the editors are catching up a few, so keep hoping for a GM screen soon ! (only 5 months waiting between the corebook and the screen in french edition).