Hiyas!

From RPG.net

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/15/15075.phtml

Please don't blame the messenger

L

LETE said:

Good stuff, thanks for posting this. I like what I have been reading, the art doesn't interest me as much as the content, maps can be fan-created here and one weak mission can be spiced up. So overall I should be fine with TEP.

Alex

All I get is a 404 error when I try to find the review.

Yeah it has been taken down.

Bing has a cached version left (google didn't):

cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx

Alex

Te link has been broken for days, it seems the article in question was removed

The cached version is gone as well, curious what happened to the review

Edit: Alex´s link didnt work for me, if you search for the rewiev directly on bing however, you can stil read the cached version

Well, I happened to have saved the cached version (lol, 100 xp for me?)

Here:

www.filesonic.com/file/41668197/tep.rar

Alex

Hiyas!

Emperor's Teeth! 'Tis the hand of the Holy Ordos at work, brothers! Either that, or The Vault at Erioch has closed again!

L

Brothers,

Here's the revue's text, just for the sake of completeness.

"The Emperor Protects is the first supplement for Deathwatch - a new line of Warhammer 40.000 role-playing games published by Fantasy Flight Games. Unlike Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader lines, in Deathwatch the players assume the role of legendary veteran Space Marines – genetically engineered and cybernetically enhanced super-warriors, protecting mankind from various threats. The Emperor Protects contains three adventures, linked together by an overarching plot and several common themes, that have the players combat a wide variety of foes across very different worlds, as well as socially interact with various important characters, as they work to stop a terrible agenda. I have found the book to be a solid product and a useful supplement in some ways, but with a number of issues that prevent a higher score.

Brief disclaimer: this review is based only on a reading of the product and not an actual play-through experience. I have relied upon my experience as a GM who has been running a Deathwatch game, as well as Rogue Trader and Dark Heresy campaigns for a number of years to evaluate this product. Furthermore, some spoilers are unavoidable, so read at your own risk. This review assumes some familiarity either with Warhammer 40.000 or the Deathwatch RPG.

Physical description: full-colour, hard cover, glossy pages, the page count is 143 pages. Art is relatively sparse as compared to other FFG Warhammer 40.000 products, but mostly full-colour as well.

Overall structure: the book consists of an introduction, three chapters each with its own appendix (each chapter constitutes a stand-alone adventure), as well as two appendices at the end that contain maps and helpful charts.

Introduction: the author presents the background for the adventure, identifying the objectives and motivations of the main antagonists, as well as a brief summary of each adventure and how they connect together. The author also presents some helpful advice on running the adventures and how to scale the adventures to better fit the players’ numbers and rank. Finally the author provides a brief summary of each antagonist faction. These include a rogue Chaos sorcerer and his apprentice, a cell of Alpha Legion traitor Space Marines, and a fascinating heretical tech-priest cult. These three disparate factions are working together (and predictably backstabbing each other) to defeat an Imperial Crusade by collapsing a Warp Gate and turning it into a new Eye of Terror (in Warhammer 40.000 that kind of means like opening the gates to hell).

Chapter 1: Price of Hubris. Overall I found this to be possibly the more interesting and open-ended adventure in an interesting environment, and a number of challenges – not all of them combat-based. The themes of this adventure are: pride, clash of cultures, shame, fear of the future. The players are tasked with a diplomatic mission, rather than a combat one; their objective is to convince a proud warrior-culture to join the Imperium. Throughout the course of the adventure the players have to use their investigative and survival skills on a Lost World style planet (complete with dangerous dinosaurs, noble savages, dubious allies, and a big finale). I enjoyed the premise of the adventure as it would really make the players feel conflicted between loyalty to the Imperium and personal sympathy for the noble natives whose culture and values are bound to resonate with the Space Marines. Of course the natives are harbouring a dark secret that the players will need to uncover and confront to accomplish their mission, and there are a number of hoops and trials that the players might have to jump through to do so.

What I found admirable in this adventure was how much effort and thought the author put into coming up with optional scenarios and advice for the GM in case the players go off the adventure’s beaten path. My only points of criticism for this adventure are fairly minor. My biggest problem is that this adventure features only a tenuous link to the overarching plot, only a hint of bigger things to come. This adventure can easily be run on its own without any work required. The other point of complain is that there is no map for the final climactic fight scene of the adventures – it is a scene that features scores of non-player characters and dozens of opponents and a map would be most helpful.

Chapter 2: A Stony Sleep. Of the three adventures this was probably my least favourite one, even though it features an iconic alien race that has not yet appeared in previous Warhammer 40.000 RPGs (fans of Warhammer 40.000 who have read Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader can probably guess what that race is). The themes of this adventure include: treachery, rebellion, ancient slumbering evil. In this adventure the players journey to the fortress world which guards the Warp Gate that makes the Crusade possible in search of a missing inquisitor, and instead stumble upon a heretical cult, traitor Space Marines, and slumbering ancient alien evil. Put like that it sounds exciting, but this adventure is rife with setting inaccuracies, some rather contrived plot devices, and a linear structure. For instance the adventure starts with the players accompanied by a non-player character who would probably easily solve the mystery of the missing inquisitor, but that character falls prey to a threat early on so that the players can solve the mystery themselves; the problem is that trap scenario can probably be easily bypassed by canny and experienced players, thereby derailing the entire adventure. The other big problem is that the players are led through the adventure by one obvious clue after another because the bad guys are apparently both inept and inattentive, leaving important evidence intact. There is not a whole lot of interaction required between each link in the clue chain, as the adventure: a) assumes that the players stumble in on the clue regardless of their actions, b) allows the players to brute force their way through this adventure.

The other problem I had with this adventure is that it takes place in some very interesting environments, including underwater and in a submerged alien city, yet does not sufficiently take advantage of the opportunities such environments can provide (for example the author thoughtfully provides optional rules for underwater combat, but does not put in any underwater combat encounters). The adventure’s end is also very unsatisfying as the bad guys present the players with all the clues and information they will need for the next adventure (going so far as to spill what they know without any prodding just to backstab their erstwhile allies). The adventure’s high point is supposed to be a tense exploration of the submerged alien city while trying to avoid awakening the slumbering alien evil, and a dramatic escape as the city collapses and drowns completely. Yet most of this climax consists of dungeon exploration, one mandatory combat against the traitor Marines, heavy clues for the players about the nature of the aliens who had build the city, and a final puzzle that can be overcome with several tests. I think the author could have done a better job expanding that last part of the adventure and its denizens and making it more interesting than a dungeon crawl.

Chapter 3: The Vigilant Sword. In this adventure the players journey to the dark Forge World of Samech to put an end to their enemies’ plans. The themes of this adventure are: heresy, ultimate evil, abuse of power and knowledge, sacrifice. This adventure is longer than the previous two and includes a good mix of interaction and combat, and some interesting and very deadly environments, but is also a fairly linear adventure, where players’ actions may have great repercussions on what happens after the adventure, but do not have a lot of impact on the adventure itself. One of the highlights however, is the “Mission Consequences” chart in which the author outlines how important choices made by players in the previous two adventures have tangible effects on “The Vigilant Sword” adventure, from extra gear and bonuses to unexpected allies or even penalties. It is a very neat and useful addition and I really have to give the author kudos for this. This chapter also has a good number of maps to provide directions to the GM and the players, unlike the other two adventures.

The adventure itself takes place on a planet that is more machine than world, ruled by dangerous and twisted heretical elite, and presents many innate dangers even to a Space Marine. The author has done a great job coming up with descriptions and dangers of Samech, from feral machines and servitors, to strange fauna that feeds on technology, immense lava-fed forges and radioactive power plants, and a huge blade and spike-encrusted ghostly train. It definitely makes for one memorable and hellish locale. The players can explore the forge city where the bulk of the adventure takes place largely at their leisure and in whichever order they wish, but ultimately the adventure propels the players from one mandatory encounter to another. They have some opportunities to interact with the downtrodden slave masses, traitor Space Marines, and even a daemon, and even create alliances of convenience with some of these (an unlikely event but one for which the author thoughtfully provides contingencies). Once the players enter the final stretch of the adventure it becomes a linear fight-after-fight affair, although the author provides a number of interesting ways in which the players can wreak havoc, confuse the enemy, or bypass the enemy entirely. The final confrontation with a Chaos sorcerer amidst Warp-tainted machinery as the planet begins to be consumed by a Warp storm is quite climactic and an appropriate finale, and the author even provides ways for players to use Heroic Sacrifice rules found in the Deathwatch core book to accomplish their mission.

Appendices: this section provides several quick reference charts to help run some of the more complex scenes in the book, as well as a map for the second adventure’s alien city.

The Good: the first and third adventure are quite good and provide a good variety of combat and interaction, and memorable environments and opponents – from dinosaurs to mutated machines and rogue psykers. The author for the most part does an excellent job with descriptions, the flow of the first and third adventures, and provides many helpful options, advice, and supplemental information and material for a GM – the writing is good and thoughtful throughout. The adventures really drive home the idea that Space Marines are a Big Deal and their choices have consequences for entire worlds. The book also includes new stats for an iconic Warhammer 40.000 alien race, as well as a large number of NPCs and new opponents that the GM can easily use in other adventures. The first and second adventures can be easily run on their own without any overarching plot, and can be inserted into ongoing campaign.

The Bad: the second adventure is rather weak compared to the other adventures and is also quite linear. There are a number of baffling setting inconsistencies (a Warp-capable ship smaller than a Marauder bomber and able to land on a planet’s surface for example), and rather contrived plot devices to ensure the players stay on track. The other complaint I’ve already mentioned is the relative scarcity of maps. There are a number of locations where important scenes and combats take place that simply beg for some sort of a map. I’ve also had some problems with the layout, particularly a number of important sidebars (such as the one in the first chapter that explains how Arrival Counters – a new mechanic vital to the events of that adventure – worked) that were not easy to find and were not referenced in any way. The other major problem I have with this product – albeit a more subjective and personal one – is the art. Normally I enjoy FFG books as much for the art as for the content, but most of the art in this book was either uninspired or flat-out bad, plus compared to most FFG books there was not nearly as much art as usual. There are some good, even stellar pieces of art, but they are few.

The biggest problem I have with this book is the elephant in the room, and FFG is by no means the only company guilty of this. The book is hardcover and quite thin – 143 pages, yet it costs 40 dollars. The pages are full-colour and glossy, but the art is sparse. I find it somewhat hard to justify paying 40 dollars for a book this thin, even knowing that the printing costs and transportation costs have gone up in recent years.

Overall thoughts: this is a solid adventure book that can be mined for ideas, locales, characters and enemies by an enterprising GM. Two of the three adventures are quite good and allow for a degree of freedom by the GM and players, while the other adventure is rather linear and dull. Production value is mostly high, but the art may be a turn-off for some. This book is firmly for GMs and fans of Warhammer 40.000, and the cost is rather high for the overall size and content."

Opinions?

L

tkis said:

I asked for RPG.net to pull down the review. I was a tad too hasty in writing it, and decided that I'll rewrite and update it after I finish running at least the first two adventures in the book. My apologies for the broken link.

The (GE's) Truth shall set ye free!

L

LETE said:

GE? <- /confused/

P.S. I hope that at least the capsule review was helpful to an extent.

Razorboy said:

GE: hiver slang for the Gawd Emperor, ya-hah!

L

Let me know how the final fight went!

SPOILER

The main bad guy has a psy power that is able (granted, with a lucky roll) to deal 100 dmg! (roll result x Psy Power, he has 10). Might be an exciting fight!

Also - I haven't read my copy thoroughly yet (my son was born on 25th )) ), but I noticed that the enemies don't have 'troops', 'elite' etc categories - does the book scale the encounters, tell the GM how many hordes attacks etc?

Skie said:

First of all, congratulations on the new addition to the family.

Unfortunately the book does not scale the encounters, though there are a few places where it says "Use a Horde with magnitude this or that". It's pretty much guess-work as to which enemy is elite and which can be used as a Horde, but in my experience so far very few should be used as Hordes even for Rank 3 Marines (my group). I'm a little puzzled by this design decision as Hordes rules are one of the biggest additions to the ruleset in Deathwatch and yet two of the three adventures in EP make scant-to-no use of Horde rules. Personally I found the idea of a Genestealer Horde to be ludicrous in the first adventure, as the Aurum Genestealers are plenty deadly in an ambush scenario (as they should be). Ironically, a Horde of Genestealers is very easy to spot (the size disadvantage of a large Magnitude horde) compared to a single Genestealer, and then easily decimated with a Devastator Marine, marines firing Iron Storm rounds, or a Librarian Pushing Avenging Angel or even Smite. Also, my players raised eyebrows when they decimated a Horde of Genestealers, as their reaction was: "Wow, it took us only one round to kill a Horde of them, but 5 rounds to kill 4 Genestealers in the previous encounter?!"

I'm not running the third adventure any time soon, but I'll post the results for the second adventure's conclusion (and if it was as bland as I expected in my review) soon hopefully.

Mebbe they were using that tried & true TV-trope:

One ninja = Instant Death; Several ninja = cannon fodder (the ninjas, that is).

L

LETE said:

LOL, maybe they did, but it seriously irked me to see it apply to Genestealers. Now, I think what the adventure should've done instead of massing Genestealers until they become a Horde is to have a Horde of Infected Auran warriors and a slowly increasing number of individual Genestealers massing. For instance:

Round 1: Infected Auran Horde Magnitude 10, 2 Genestealers.

Round 3: Infected Auran Horde Magnitude 20, 3 Genestealers.

Round 4: Infected Auran Horde Magnitude 30, 4 Genestealers.

If I was to run the adventure a second time, that's how I would do it.

i really liked this book the adventures are atmospheric and interesting but i do wish FF would put the encounter stats next to the encounter not at the end of a chapter as i am constantly having to book mark the stats and the pages where i am in the advetnure or else write out the stats on paper separately

i'd certainly buy another book like this and its the first sceanrio book for an rpg i have book for 15 years as i usually write my own stuff