Ewen Cluney

This was a brief and enjoyable read though it could have used a little more detail here and there. I was initially interested in this because Palladium's Rifts was my true gateway into the tabletop RPG hobby, I had played AD&D several times beforehand but frankly, I hated THAC0 and the combat lacked something in my opinion. This zine did not overstay it's welcome and the author had a tongue firmly in their cheek the entire time adding a little flavor and attitude to the piece. If you're at all interested in Palladium Books I would recommend this.… (mehr)

Another small zine about the history and this time downfall of a tabletop roleplaying game company. I am less familiar with BESM though I have had discussions on message boards a long time ago with fans of it. This work like its previous companion piece, [b:All That Glitters is Palladium: A Short History of Palladium Books|43738696|All That Glitters is Palladium A Short History of Palladium Books|Ewen Cluney|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548722150l/43738696._SY75_.jpg|68069237], is written with tongue firmly in cheek and a little attitude. It does bring up some points of mutual nostalgia like the animated movie Ninja Scroll which I saw as the Comic-Con bootleg titled The Wind Ninja Chronicles.
It goes into some detail about the Tri-Stat system and the history of BESM and the publisher. However, it lacked detail around the single business failure that caused the game publisher to collapse. Although this was due to the author's admitted lack of business and finance knowledge, although I am not necessarily an MBA myself. The entirety of the decline was well documented I think. I would recommend this to someone who was involved in games and watching the few bits of anime before the flood at the time as well as fans of BESM of course. Just like its counterpart, it was brief and to the point.… (mehr)