Review copyright © 1999 by Michael O'Brien
Author: Fabian Kuchler & Christian Einsporn (eds.)
Company/Publisher: RuneQuest-Gesellschaft e.V.
Cost: UKP 8.50
Page count: 135
Ye Booke of Tentacles II is the second in a series of fund-raiser books
produced the German RQ Society to help stage their
annual RuneQuest/Glorantha convention in a picturesque castle above
Bacharach on the Rhine. Here's my mini-review.
Great CGI cover from Dan Barker, whose showing he's a dab hand at electronic
depictions of Uz. Nasty nipple-piercings
though...
Range of articles inside, from Glorantha through to Cthulhu, Nephilim,
Eternal Champion, Pendragon and Misc. Mostly
Glorantha though; in fact, a great whack of the book details the Culbrea
Tribe, by Martin Laurie and Patrik Sanberg. Lots of
stuff to complement any Sartar campaign: worth gettin' your hands on
the opus for this alone!
Some other articles of note include the entertaining German RQ Con Lore
Auction transcript, some weird but gameable tales
by Darvall, and more unfinished stuff from yet another Stafford work-in-progress.
There's a real strange article on Gloranthan
shells, and a running gag called "Glorantha's worst books" which seems
to have lost something in the translation. If you're into
rules-fixing, check out the swathe of useful articles on spirits, including
Sandy's revised Shaman rules (which makes shamanism
cool like it was in RQII) and Nick Brooke's cheerful ideas on spirit
cults.
At the end of the book, Shannon Appel's "Adventure of the Reluctant
Bride" is a superb Pendragon scenario that I've played
and can heartily vouch for.
My personal contribution to Tentacles II is "The Men with the
Golden Gun", more Sun Dome loopiness from Sun County,
this
time the left-handed misfits who man the giant spear-thrower at Harpoon.
Tentacles II is highly recommended to fans of Glorantha and the other Chaosium games it features. See the Reaching Moon Megacorp Products Page on Nick Brooke's Home Page for ordering information.
MOB's rating:1/2