Product Review

Lady Jenna Smythe landed perfectly in a forward roll. The desk she was now behind was some kind of metal, which was handy as it was now being plastered with a lot of bullets. Suddenly they stopped firing. Jenna could hear the guard’s footsteps as they left the room. This was strange, normally they didn’t retreat till she’d incapacitated at least half of them… maybe they’d heard of her? She risked a glance over the desk and saw the lab door slide shut behind the last guard. A light above a much wider door on the far wall began to flash, intermittently bathing the room in a red glow. Jenna stood up and stuffed a test sample jar from a nearby bench into her rucksack.

Then the big door opened. A stooped lumbering ‘thing’ with armour around its head and arms loped into the room. It reminded Jenna of a badly shaved gorilla. It stopped and watched the flashing light bouncing off the walls in front of it. It looked confused.

Jenna made a move for the door on the far side of the room. But as soon as she moved it fixed its visor covered gaze on her and began to move forward making a low growling noise. Drawing her Browning 9mm pistol and feeling a little inadequate, she emptied the clip into its chest. For a few seconds she thought it had been put off, but the bloody wounds didn’t seem to bother it a great deal and now the confusion was gone, now it just looked angry. Jenna ejected the pistol clip and reached for another. This was going to be harder than she'd previously thought, on the bright side at least the guards had legged it.

Seed of The New Flesh – it sounds grim… do I even want to know?

Well, this is the sourcebook for the Architects of The Flesh (probably the coolest name I’ve ever heard - ever) and they’re like a grim thing on a grim day with extra grim sauce on the top. They are the rulers of the 2056 juncture of the Feng Shui setting and all in all not very nice chaps.

So what does the future have in store for us all?

Generally bad things, but it’s not as simple as that. The future is one of dedicated consumerism and a totalitarian government in the extreme. On paper life would probably look pretty good, but in reality things aren’t quite as shiny as the Buro (the Architects under a different name) would like you to think. The powers that be keep the public in line and maintain order by hugely invasive surveillance and harsh punishment.

In this world there is no inequality because if you get ideas above your station you could just attract unwanted re-education style attention. Everyone has a job, but then it’s a job that’s been given to you by the Buro – no choice involved (on the upside no Job Centres either – I hate Job Centres). Personal freedom has been put on hold in the pursuit of the greater good.

So what’s actually in the book?

This is a pretty good book with generally decent content. I was expecting a little more to be honest as I had really enjoyed the Golden Comeback sourcebook, but it is by no means a poor product. The story which is runs through the book and focuses on the ups and downs of three characters, beginning with their capture by the Buro is a really good way of giving background and setting information in an interesting enjoyable way, I didn’t want it to end and could easily have read a lot more on these guys alone.

There are six new archetypes for you to give a go. These are the Militant, the Drifter, the Consumer on the Brink, the Criminal Mastermind, the Supersoldier and the Über-kid. Of these I think the Criminal Mastermind and the Über-kid are the best. The Mastermind would be good fun to play and although the costume in the book may make it a little hard to go anywhere incognito the idea is great. I found the Über-kid far more tolerable than the Scrappy Kid from the main rulebook (who I came close to killing a few times in our games) and I really like the background as well.

The gadgets section is great and has lots of new stuff to scatter around your fight scenes to add even more carnage. I could imagine some of the weapons in our games as I read the descriptions and the Gravity defying devices could mean even those stunts listed as impossible in Jackie Chan’s little black book could become a reality.

The NPC section has some well thought out protagonists and potential allies to work with or against. The descriptions of Boatman and Bonengel help give the setting a slightly ‘less than face value feel’ as you see what they were trying to achieve and how potentially noble ideas can have a butterfly effect, warping as they grow.

Of the two adventures included I thought the first was ok (The Cancer Factory) and the second was mighty fine (The Fist of Shiva). Basically the storyline to each adventure is as follows… //// Official Buro Censorship \\\\ …like some kind of huge steaming great goats - so good luck.

Greg Stolze did most of the Architects stuff in the original Daedalus book Back For Seconds and it was a easy to get a feel for his future in a few short pages so with an entire book I think the 2056 future is pretty well covered, at least to a level where your left with enough freedom to fill in your own ideas while still having a guideline.

The Jammers are only given a brief seeing to in here. First off they have their own book, Gorilla Warfare. Secondly, the Buro don’t really want you to know anything about them anyway so it kind of fits that there is sparse information in here.

Every silver lining usually involves a cloud, so what’s not so good?

The biggest downside I would note with regards to the book is the cover art, which I hate. I guess it’s just the artists’ style and each to their own, but this isn’t mine. The internal art isn’t bad on the whole but perhaps some more pictures of the NPC’s, a Buropad (futuristic housing) and the Technology could have been provided (pictures of guns always earn extra brownie points with me).

So basically if you have the Feng Shui Rulebook and you want to build on it, this could be the book for you. It will allow you to add an extra level to your 2056 games and the Fist of Shiva adventure is one of the best I’ve seen for Feng Shui.

Of course you DON’T have to buy this book consumer. Of course you have a choice NOT to choose it. But perhaps the Sub-Bureau For Constructive Personal Perspective would like to hear about this very negative attitude you seem to be taking.

Reviewed By Jon Simpson