I had a good deal of skepticism when I hovered over the "Add To Cart" button. Very unique game covering a very unique topic. Tongue planted firmly in cheek on this one, but found it more than mildly entertaining. Glad I bought it, and will be getting the expansions very soon.

"Imagi Nation" contains a clutch of good, interesting ideas for a novel RPG set in the modern-day British Isles, whose main island has been beset by a cloud of dream-nightmare effects. The "Description System" game mechanics are innovative, as detailed by earlier reviewers here, although as the adjectives and adverbs used in it must be converted to number bonuses to a D6 roll for game-use, the difference to the commoner numerical-skills-based RPGs is less than it might seem initially. The book has plenty of mysterious atmosphere about it, including flavour paragraphs presented as "postcards from the front" and illustrations, all of which is useful for players and GMs alike.

However, GMs have a lot of work ahead to turn the ideas here into a proper RPG campaign. Some examples. Remarkably little information is given on the origins and nature of the dreams-become-real effect, and how it may be countered by the PCs. There are no maps of where things were, and still might be, across the British Isles, a particularly surprising omission in an otherwise well-illustrated book. PCs must possess creative talents and suffer from an active mental illness to combat the effect on the mainland, yet these key talents are allowed from a quite restrictive list of arts-related options only. For instance, architects and sculptors are there, but not equally creative mathematicians or builders, a distinction in need of some justification in game terms.

Overall, the concepts presented are fascinating, and could be readily adapted to different times, settings and game-systems, perhaps most workably for a greatly-reduced physical area affected. Had this book been presented as such a background setting for other RPGs, I'd have rated it more positively. As it is, it's too much of a players' guide, with too little help for GMs, to be classed as a full RPG. With regret, because I do like the ideas here, I've marked it down accordingly.

I was curious about how the author would approach the mechanics of old school D&D and still apply it to a modern, futuristic sensibility and I was pleasantly surprised to see it was very well done and looked very playable. Cheeky and light-hearted at its core, the game looks like fun to run and even more fun to play. Specifically the alien character creation is brilliant. There is enough detail to make it interesting and it's simple enough that you won't be upset rolling up a new character once yours has been sucked out another airlock. The spaceship rules look great! I can't wait to jump in and build a few ships. Psionics looks like a lot of fun as well. There is also a really well thought out section on running games and playing games that has some really good advice, but without being too preachy or taking itself too seriously. A sense of humour is a must for this game to be enjoyed.

I disagree with this book in the strongest possible terms, but I respect it.

It is opinionated, provocative, and – as it itself admits – futile.

I am a sucker for a lost cause.

It is also wrong, hateful, stupid and deserving of criticism.

It is also something games should be doing more of.

I’d rather not give this review any kind of “stars”, good or bad. It’s more complicated than that. I”ll go with one star to be provocative, but please know that’s not a genuine reflection of my opinion. (Meaning: we need more of this kind of game, as much as I disagree with it.)

“LGB” has a point of view, a political idea or two, something RPGs and games in general desperately need more of. It is also grim and mean. It equivocates tolerance with uniformity and pride of genetics with individuality. It takes place in some land where the politically correct have won and (presumably) mindwarped or otherwise conquered the right, free thinking among us into gentle submission. Our names, we are told, are “a history, an expectation and a source of pride.” So in the world of the game they have been replaced with gender-neutral nothings. “Alex, Bailey, Charley, Jamie or Taylor.”

Sex, we are told, has become transpolibieverything. This dystopia accepts everything. All humanity has become equal. Specifically:

Which sounds awesome! Or it doesn’t? Whatever, man. It’s all good… except, wait! It’s not. We’re quickly told things “tend to go… wrong.”

And they do, and that’s the game. It’s free, so you might as well get it and read it. No harm, no foul.

Except…

There’s a darkness in the logic of the setting that goes beyond being a mere game. And being beyond a mere game certainly seems the intent here: this reads as satire. But what is it satirizing? This is not Animal Farm or Brazil. This is not a defense of humanity against an increasingly mechanized and dehumanizing age: it’s complaint that our “natural” “betters” are not sufficiently indulged.

Fantastic art. Dead Goblin games is glad to have included this in our latest module, "The Slaver Caves of Dorden". Well done..this is an awesome illustration.

Fantastic art. Dead Goblin games is glad to have included this in our latest module, "The Slaver Caves of Dorden". Well done..this is an awesome illustration.

Fantastic art. Dead Goblin games is glad to have included this in our latest module, "The Slaver Caves of Dorden". Well done Bradley! Your art rocks!

Fantastic art. Dead Goblin games is glad to have included this in our latest module, "The Slaver Caves of Dorden". Well done Bradley! Your art rocks!

If you like zombies, you are going to love this one!

It's a fine pen & ink style sketch, coloured discretely in shades of red (on his check flannel shirt and also for flesh showing through a battered pale skin and blood around his mouth from the last meal) which proves remarkably effective and atmospheric.

This would make a fine cover for a zombie game or scenario, an image that grabs the imagination and draws you in to the core theme of ravaging hordes of zombies that have to be defeated at all costs.

Shame about the potty-mouth title, a few coy asterisks do not obscure obscenity. Fortunately the licence terms only require credit in the shape of the artist's name, should you use this picture in a commercial product, you do not need to give the image's title.

It's enough to make me write something zombie-related, just so I can use such a great picture!

This is a delightful resource, a wander through some of the cities in the world of Camelot Cosmos.... but a wealth of detail that would provide flavour to any steam-fantasy setting even if you do not use this one which you ought to try if you like steampunk meets fantasy with a bit of chivalry thrown in.

There is a lot crammed in here. It's more flavour than hard fact with everything from likely names of street gangs to notes on the Gentlemen Assassins and Unseelie influences... Evocative descriptions of the Factols - distinctive bastions of industrial might - jostle with tables of Wyrd Effects and discussions of the war economy, Fyrd patrols and the role of Hags, grotesque crones with oversight duties within the Factols.

Some bits are very setting specific, although there is little rules 'crunch', but much could be transplanted elsewhere if your fantasy setting is subject to heavy industrialisation in steampunk style - I can think of a couple of games in my collection in such a style for which this might be raided.

This makes for an entertaining and flavourful read. While it is primarily aimed at the GM, there is little conflict in allowing players access if they want to get more of a feel for the world in which their characters live.

I have bought it and do not regret it. Already i have used a few seeds in my Shaintar campaign, allowing my players to go beyond the dungeon adventure. The various twists, even if you don't use them can sprout other ideas.

I have ear marked plenty of the seeds for the future use and i look forward to use one of them in the next game.

This is a very good value and an excellent product (despite the occasional typos).

Filthy Shades Cliche is a hilarious word game and literary exercise. And cheap. Just buy it and check it out.

It has nice art work, and was cute to look at. I bout it mostly for the amusement I would get from the art work.

An evocative piece of art from Bradley K McDevitt and Postmortem Studios, this black and white illustration would work great in a dark fantasy or horror work, demonstrating the during (or after) of a ritual sacrifice. The quality of the scan is excellent and it is well-framed for use in a game book. McDevitt is one of the best at "dark art" in gaming, and these Clipart Critters are an excellent way to get access to his art on a small press budget.

A wonderful product all around! The story concept is completely original, yet compelling and immersive. Well done.