This is a great collection of interesting hand outs, and other bits and pieces that just make the game feel a lot more alive. The share certificates alone are useful in various scenes. If you are running One Death in Grangor, definitely get this.

Super, dass Graubarts Haus dabei ist! Mit und ohne Legende. :)

I was conflicted over whether to give this a 4 or 5 rating and the only reason for the "4" rating is somewhat unfair.. the torg eternity writers raised the bar so high with the outstanding Orrosh and Living Land sourcebooks (which you should absolutely purchase and read if you haven't already) that I feel like I'd be saying Pan Pacifica is as good as the two aforementioned titles if I gave it a "5" rating... but if it wasn't for that this would get a "5"... maybe I should say a 4.5 rating?

Which isn't to say this is a "bad" book by any means, as I've mentioned in my other reviews of the torg eternity cosm sourcebooks they are absolutely required reading in order to enjoy the torg eternity campaign to it's fullest.. old school Torg players in my opinion will find this to be a wonderful improvement to the original "nippon tech" sourcebook of the 1990's , superior in every way, although you don't have to be familiar with the 1990's Torg books to enjoy this by any means. I found this book a pleasure to read, even more so than the Cyberpapacy, Aysle, Tharkold or Nile Empire sourcebooks making it my "next favorite" cosm book after Ororsh and the Living Land.

And yes there's a good reason the edeinos board member is on the front cover of the book and he has in my opinion a great write up later on in the book (I talk about him more in my review below).

I will say I was disappointed that the sourcebook focuses on the status of Pan Pacifica one year after the initial invasion of Earth and that the contagion virus engineered by Kanawa is now assumed to be "dealt with" and removed as a danger (minus poor Taiwan, more on that below)... while I understand that Kanawa needs to present itself as an effective solution to the problems posed to Asia by said contagion I would have loved to see more attention paid to the period of time (roughly 5 or 6 months after the start of the invasion) when the contagion was a problem ... "zombified" citizens on the attack make for an exciting campaign in pan pacifica. It is possible that the the delphi council pan pacifica adventures might go into this in more detail

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/400618/Torg-Eternity--Delphi-Missions-PanPacifica?src=hottest_filtered

and it seems that the "Pan-Pacifica - Dr. Y and the Jiangshi & Kanawa Operations" book definitely goes into more detail on this

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/405318/Torg-Eternity--PanPacifica--Dr-Y-and-the-Jiangshi--Kanawa-Operations?src=also_purchased

(total speculation on my part since I have yet to purchase and read these titles - budget constraints :) )

but I would still love to see a section of the pan pacifica sourcebook dedicated specifically to the first 5 to 6 months of the possibility wars where the contagion and it's "zombies" were a real problem.

The beginning chapter does a superb job of outlining how Kanawa's "benevolence" has allowed them to subvert and control practically all the countries in Asia with the exception of the Orgoth controlled India and neighboring countries taken by the Gaunt Man.. a frightening "big brother" level of control disguised in a way that makes it palatable to the masses. It reads like a fascinating precursor that sets one up to the grim "cyberpunk reality" (not the Cyberpapacy , more so the cyberpunk novels and movies and TV shows we've all probably seen sooner or later).. reading it you can see how the scenario the Pan Pacifica writers present to the reader is the definite "opening stage" to this sort of grim and dark unfolding of events.

Chapter two gives plenty of new character options as far as perks/in game benefits. Of course this being Kanawa's (that is Marketplace's) reality even if you spend perk slots to pick up the gene modification perks, there are scanners dotted throughout Pan Pacifica that can pick up on the "intellectual property theft" genes player characters and allied NPC's have "stolen" from Kanawa (though the perk when purchased does at least come with a superficial "facade" that presumably would hold up to "light" scanning so the PC isn't immediately detected). I thoroughly enjoyed reading that, it's absolutely in the spirit of Kanawa Corporation's subtle yet evil grasp over the areas of Earth it's "stealth-conquered".

Chapter four deals entirely with power (armored) suits whether it be the electric samurai option detailed in the torg eternity core rules (but also expanded upon to some degree) or other power suit models with some nifty upgrades available if you spend perk slots.

Chapter five is devoted to martial arts and has more than enough info to let interested players (or GM's) write up appropriate martial artists based after various cultural icons. I found the "gun fu" martial art (gives various bonuses to attacks with guns) to be a particularly unique write up and combined with the "trenchcoat" perk in chapter two (basically a homage to action movies where the protagonist seems to be practically overflowing with a supply of guns available to said protagonist) it would absolutely let a player model their PC after the appropriate type of action hero found in Hollywood.

Also intriguing was the meshing of psionics with martial arts such that a practitioner of both can use one to enforce and strengthen the other (for power gamers out there take note that torg eternity does try to maintain some sort of game balance so not as overpowered as it sounds but still, neat).

Despite my best attempts to actually write a short review for once I'm sure I've once again exceeded the word count allowed on drivethrurpg's reviews, for the rest of the review if you'd like to read it please see

https://andrerpgreviews.blogspot.com/2023/05/pan-pacifica-sourcebook-extended-review.html

https://www.ulisses-ebooks.de/product/438604/NoralekOtter-Gift Regeln für fehlendes Noralek-Otter Gift und Berufsgeheimnis zum Heilen findest du auf der neu verfassten S. 3 des Abenteuers als Scriptorium-Beitrag!

Ich finde die Idee des ABs eigentlich ganz gut, aber irgendwie hab ich das Gefühl dass die Betreuung des Autors hier nicht funktioniert hat. Das Gift um das es im AB gibt, existiert regeltechnisch nicht in DSA 5. Aus diesem Grund MUSS es in dem AB als Regel definiert werden. Außerdem muss das Berufsgeheimnis zu dem Gift nicht nur als Fähigkeit des Protagonisten aufgelistet sein, sonderen eben auch klar als DSA 5 Regel definiert werden. Wurde beides nicht gemacht. Da wir gerne offizielle ABs so anpassen, dass es in unsere Gruppe passt, haben wir hier ein echtes Problem. Wir können den Antagonisten nicht als echten Char bauen, der so zur Gruppe stößt. Das nervt, denn ohne die Regeln ist es schlichtweg nicht möglich das Abenteuer im Kern zu spielen. Es dreht sich alles um die Besonderheit des in DSA 5 nicht vorhanden Giftes, denn ohne diese gäbe es keinen Grund die Hexe dort zu suchen. Gleichzeitig wir mit einer Garadan-Dame ein Meta-Plot Ereignis gesetzt, das mit offiziellen Regeln nicht gelöst werden kann. Auch wenn die Setzung nicht im AB selbst, sondern im Roman vorgenommen wird, stört diese Regellücke. Da beschleicht mich irgendwie das Gefühl, dass hier ein DSA 4 Fan für DSA 5 schreiben "musste". Wir hätten sogar noch Platz für die fehlenden Regeln gehabt - das Layout hat genügend Raum um diese noch unterzubringen.

Für alle Gruppen denen die Regeln fehlen, haben wir sie mit der Community auf dem Ulisses-Discord erarbeitet: https://discord.com/channels/630668307628032030/982180968163069952/1109452671141810176

Noralec-Otter Gift

Verursacht der Biss SP, kommt das Gift der Noralec-Otter zum Tragen und das Opfer legt alle 2 Monate (oder zu Beginn eines Abenteuers) eine wiederholte Giftprobe ab. Mit einer um -4 erschwerte Probe auf Heilkunde Gifte kann das typisches blau-grüne Adergeflecht um die Eintrittswunde richtig gedeutet werden. Heilung ist jedoch nur mit dem Berufsgeheimnis: Neutralisierung von Giften (Noralec-Otter) möglich, welches nur bei wenigen Schlangenhexen bekannt ist.

Stufe: 6 Art: Waffengift, tierisch Widerstand: Zähigkeit Wirkung: -1 KO, -1W3 max LeP / - Beginn: sofort und alle 2 Monate (oder zu Beginn eines Abenteuers) Dauer: gegen das Gift wirkt ausschließlich ein Absud aus verschiedenen Hornmehlen in Verbindung mit dem Spruch KLARUM PURUM. Kosten: 60 D

Das Berufsgeheimnis: Neutralisierung von Giften (Noralec-Otter) Voraussetzung: Heilkunde Gift 8, Tierkunde 8, KLARUM PURUM AP-Wert: 4 Publikation: Das Geisterkrokodil

Das Abenteuer spricht von einer fehlenden Rezeptur für das spezielle Antidot, einer Mischung von verschiedenen Hornmehlen. Auch dieses Rezept ist nicht vorhanden. Sollte jemand wissen wo dies in alten Quellen vorhanden ist, bitte hier antworten. Danke :)

(as usual my review is so long that it exceeds the character/word count, if you like please see my blogger post below for the whole thing.. see also my review of the torg eternity core rulebook which should be your starting point before reading this and if you like see also my review of "blood on the blasted sands" which in my opinion is very much a companion-piece of writing that nicely complements the Tharkold cosm sourcebook)

I should start out by saying I'm probably holding this, and other Torg Eternity cosm sourcebooks, to a rather unfair standard .. the torg eternity writers raised the bar so high with the excellent Orrosh and Living Land sourcebooks that I feel like giving this a "5" rating would mean I liked this as much as those two other cosm sourcebooks which, unfortunately, is not the case here. And when you read my comments below you may feel like I'm telling you not to buy the book despite the "4 out of 5" rating I gave it. That is absolutely not the case.. while I would argue a GM has his/her/their work cut out for them in order to drive home the "mad max Apocalypse" feeling that a Tharkold adventure is supposed to convey, a GM who's willing to put in the work can make it happen either though their ability to "off the cuff" come up with interesting but doomed NPC's that elicit sympathy from the players or for GM's who don't have that kind of spontaneity, writing up a number of suitable NPC's in advance that can be dropped into a Tharkold adventure at a moment's notice.

Obviously players may grow tired of watching one NPC after another they've grown to care for die off and if I was the GM in this situation I would warn the players in advance, and again every time one of their beloved NPC friends they've become invested in dies, that this is meant to drive home that the Tharkold cosm is the closest to "hell on Earth", perhaps even more so than the Orrosh cosm. The Gaunt Man (high lord of Orrosh) is smart enough to know that having practically all of your loved ones doomed to death all the freaking time will numb the denizens of Orrosh to the point where it becomes more difficult to provoke the fear response the Gaunt Man is hoping for as emotionally numb and broken citizens shrug their shoulders and learn not to care about anybody.. whereupon in Tharkold this is, sadly, I would argue the response of the average hapless Earth citizen subjected to the horrors described in the Tharkold cosm sourcebook under cyberdemon rule.. emphasis on demon or as the Tharkold sourcebook describes them, the literal walking embodiment of evil.

The book is careful to describe members of Tharkold's version of humanity from the Tharkold cosm.. the Race.. as focusing on the bonds of love and friendship as weapons to be used against their cyber-demon rulers (not surprisingly the majority of demons can't seem to grasp this concept although the book does have some interesting examples of "corrupted" cyber demons who have found themselves actually starting to care in a way similar to the human thralls they subjugate .. and who obviously would be executed on the spot by their fellow cyber-demons should this be found out). While I see where the writers are going with this, I would personally play members of the Race as "brutally resigned" to death, maiming, suffering and other horrors in a way that shocks and discomforts the player characters , said Race members shrugging their shoulders and simply saying it's the way of life in the Tharkold cosm. Of course the Race members are also capable of fierce ties of love and friendship but I would portray them as putting EVERYTHING into said ties while the object of their affection is still alive, living for the moment since they are grimly certain tomorrow will bring death. This could make for an interesting PC concept although you'd want to have a frank discussion with the players as to whether or not this is going to cause real life conflict when the "soft" non-tharkold cosm PC's start arguing with the PC Race member from the Tharkold cosm.

Out of all the cosm sourcebooks the tharkold entry is definitely the darkest in nature to the point where it comes with an explicit content warning.. there's certainly a lot of potential here to be sure but at the risk of sounding like a broken record the Tharkold entry suffers from the same weakness the Aysle and Nile Empire sourcebooks do in terms of needing more source material particularly in the warzones section to properly capture the flavor and "feel" of the cosm.. though honestly after having read through both the Aysle and the Nile Empire sourcebooks and having read the accompanying mega length adventures Revenge of the Corredon and the Fires of Ra, I find those books in combination with their mega length adventures did a good job of bringing their respective cosms to life..the same observation applies to the tharkold sourcebook as well, "blood on the blasted sands" should be seen as a companion piece to the tharkold sourcebook particularly for the two final chapters that give a more in depth look at things left out of the tharkold cosm sourcebook.

And I'm not saying " don't buy this" by any means either... there's a lot to love in this sourcebook and as I've been arguing all along in order to fully enjoy your torg eternity campaign you need to purchase all the cosm sourcebooks to really bring your torg eternity campaign to life. I do find however that I tend to enjoy even the smaller adventures say from delphi council rising storm set in Aysle or the Nile Empire more so than I do adventures set in Tharkold ... I think the big problem is that Tharkold does it's best to create an even darker, more dystopian sort of "Mad Max" movie... but in order to really drive that home you need to actually care about the poor innocents that are being victimized in order to drive home just how dark and depraved the realm is... I would argue that the torg eternity writers are also hampered by their tendency to stick to "PG" ratings for a collection of adventures like those found in say delphi council rising storm or even the pay what you want torg eternity day one adventures...

.... the tharkold sourcebook states in it's "graphic advisory" warning on page 5 that quote "Tharkold is a reality where very bad things happen to good people. Acts and situations described in this book may trigger those who suffer from trauma caused by sexual assault, torture, slavery, and violence.".. but then it leaves those elements out of the tharkold published adventures that I've seen so far.

(at this point I'm going to insert the link to the rest of my review below)

https://andrerpgreviews.blogspot.com/2023/05/tharkold-sourcebook-extended-review.html

Langer Rede kurzer Sinn: Tolles Abenteuer, das sich mit so manchem Heldenwerk messen lassen kann. Eine einfache Grundidee, die perfekt in die Spielwelt eingebaut wurde. Absolute Empfehlung für alle Gruppen in der Gegend.

Lange Rede: Wir haben das Abenteuer an drei Abenden direkt im Anschluß an „Donnerwacht I: Zeichen der Macht” gespielt. Zwar schaltet die „Epik“ ein bis zwei Stufen runter, und das gefällt vielleicht nicht jeder Gruppe, aber meiner Meinung nach bringt passt es hervorragend als Anschluß. Denn Spuren im Schnee schafft es meisterlich, die Interessen und Konflikte der unterschiedlichen Gruppen in Gashok, die nach der Befreiung von der orkischen Besatzung aufkeimen, darzustellen und in die Handlung einzubauen. Ein Paradebeispiel von „Show, don’t tell“!

Die einzelnen Meisterpersonen aus den verschiedenen „Gesellschaftsgruppen“ sind schlüssig vorgestellt und wirken überzeugend. Besonders der Tairach-Jünger und der Fanatiker haben mir als Meister sehr viel Spaß gemacht. Es sind wunderbar skurrile Figuren, die im Kontext des Svellttals aber absolut Sinn ergeben und realistisch wirken.

Mir und meinen Spieldenen hat’s sehr viel Spaß gemacht und ich kann es wie gesagt nur allen Gruppen, die nach Gashok kommen, empfehlen.

Ein herrlicher Berechnungsbogen, wodurch ich endlich nachvollziehen konnte wie das "Baukastensystem" von DSA5 funktioniert. Vielen Dank für deine tolle und emsige Arbeit.

Mir ist nur evtl. ein kleiner "Fehler" aufgefallen, wobei es auch sein kann, dass ich mich lediglich etwas dumm anstelle. Wählt man die Tradition Mythos-Magier und anschließend die Sonderfertigkeit Mythos-Zauberer aus... werden die zwei Wissens-Talente Mythos-Wissen und Mythos-Zauberei nirgendwo angezeigt. Bin mehrfach das Dokument durchgegangen, aber sie erscheinen nicht. Habe ich nur was übersehen oder wurden diese nicht implementiert?

Beste Grüße!

Perfekt zur Ausgestaltung des Abenteuers neue Bande & uralter Zwist

Großartig! Macht Spaß zu lesen. Lob an alle beteiligen des Projekts. Ich freue mich auf mehr.

Großartig! Macht Spaß zu lesen. Lob an alle beteiligen des Projekts. Ich freue mich auf mehr.

Tut mir leid... das Abenteuer ergibt von vorne bis hinten keinen Sinn. Von der Anwerbung über die Motivation des Abenteuers bis zum Ende. Wobei... welches Ende? Das Abenteuer endet nach 16 Seiten ohne Abschluss, als würde man da in der Redaktion noch 4 Seiten vergessen haben. Es gibt zwar einen "Ausklang", aber es wirkt eher abgebrochen oder ihr müsstet als SL noch selbst viel Arbeit investieren um alles A) zu begreifen und B) zu einem befriedigenden Ende zu führen.

Schönes Buch, gutes Layout, alles übersichtlich.

Für eine erste Scriptorium Veröffentlichung super.

Eine ziemlich gute Spielhilfe. Einziger Punkt zum Meckern: Erneut Zauber hier drin, die in andere Bücher gehören würden. 5/5

The setting is a little bit strange as we are on another continent, Uthuria. It still provides a strange, different jungle environment to the players used to a more civilized Aventuria. The story itelf is pretty nice and the adventure has many surprises for the adventurers. I suggest playing a handful of adventures in Aventuria before putting your feet on Uthuria as it's so different compared to all other adventures.

Nice adventure, romping through the streets of Phexcaer. Even though city adventures can be difficult to prepare, this adventure offers a great timeline and sequence of events to ensure the group enjoys every scene and have a chance to complete the story successfully.