Midnight: Fury Of Shadow

Rating:
Summary: Sticker Shock!
Review: First of all...I agree with the person who said this was overpriced. It's one of the reasons I don't like boxed sets. And I see no reason for this to be a boxed set, to be honest. The maps aren't very detailed, and not created by a professional cartographer, which I would expect for a product in this price range. The writing is choppy, and the plot lines are overly complicated.

The screen, from what I saw, wasn't very helpful, and the character sheets don't seem any different than what I can get online. This product in no way lives up to the hype.

If it is true, and this is being produced by the official fan site...then I can certainly see why the quality has gone downhill. That particular site is cliqueish, and the members are rude. It's sad, to see this line marginalized this way, not to mention that FFG seems to have been hit with the whacky stick of profit.

Rating:
Summary: Plenty of good ideas
Review: Fury of Shadow has many good points, but it has a couple annoyances that could have been cleared up to make a better product.

First, the good. It is filled with details for a large swath of the continent of Eredane. By combining the stories and ambitions of several key characters (both friend and foe), an overriding campaign is instantly created. Plots within plots, character scheming, and political intrigue are all readily available for the DM to place the characters into truly epic setting-altering events. Details of the geographical regions and locations can be used as miniature settings- i've already got many ideas for the Plains of Blood and Ash.

There are a few minor scars on this product though. The localized maps in the book are in black and white, but contain such detail it becomes difficult to read. The giant poster map of Eredane is very nice, but because Fury focuses on the war upon Erethor, the new details are limited to the center of the map. The result is a map with plenty of detail in the center, but with no new information on the edges. The writing is good, though with so much detail a reader might get confused- i often found myself asking, `now who was that character again?', and then flipping back through the book to keep things straight.

But overall, an impressive product. Even if you're not running a Midnight campaign, I don't see how you could not find good ideas for your own campaign from this set.

Rating:
Summary: Overpriced
Review: While in physical quality, this is a very attractive set, it is overpriced, and the writing is flat. The quality of this line seems to be going downhill with each publication.

The booklet of character sheets are the same sheets that are available online, and seem to have been put in as filler. The GM screen is of the odd, horizontal design, and seems to be rather random in it's placement of information. On some occaisions, the information on the screen contradicts what's in the main book. The maps in the map booklet are too tiny, and the poster map included lacks the one inch squares so it can be used with miniatures (which is a personal preference, but I also found the map lacking in detail as well).

The book itself is attractive, as is most of the artwork, but the writing is flat. The authors seem to be trying to turn the setting into more of a Tolkien clone, and the elves end up feeling very distant from the players. I believe this setting has been turned over to some sort of fan site to be produced, and the quality has suffered for it.