I've read Scott Rehm's stuff for years and have been excited to read this carefully-formulated distillation of his work.

In this book, Scott discusses oft-debated RPG topics in a no-nonsense yet humorous way. He is good at breaking down these games to their "source code", and manages to present it in an accesible way.

I would feel comfortable handing this book to my 7-year old, and likely will, and feel confident that he could grasp most of these concepts.

Read this book if you:

-Want to get into tabletop RPGs or want to introduce a friend.

-Are a GM but don't know how to portray ficticious people believably, manage combats fluidly, or craft a coherent story.

-Want some basic lessons in being a decent human being.

-Like laughing.

I love this system. I've been GMing it for a while and my players love it. It's quite similar to two other games we love, The Strange and Star Wars: Edge of the Empire.

Feng Shui 2's two strongest points, the Setting and Mechanics, are also a bit difficult to describe simply. I hope the following comparions help inform GMs as they consider buying this book.

Setting-wise, the game is similar to Monte Cook Games' The Strange RPG and Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's book series The Deathgate Cycle.

• Multiple settings exist in which there are different rules for each, providing a large variety in scenery and situations.
• A dangerous "space between worlds" exists where the players/protagonists can go and use to travel to different settings.
• Portals weave the worlds together, and are important strategic points.
• Many factions exist and often entice the players/protagonists to work for them.

Mechanics-wise, the game mirrors Fantasy Flight Games's Star Wars: Edge of the Empire.

• In combat (which is the game's main activity), one roll resolves both hitting and damaging the target.
• Weapons and other attacks have preset damage values, modified by the characters' attributes and attack rolls.
• Enemies have multiple tiers of difficulty, and the lowest level of enemy (mooks for FS2, minions for EOTE) goes down on any successful hit.
• Characters advance by choosing "Schticks", closely resembling the perk/talent tree of EOTE in terms of power level or abilities added.

I should mention that the mechanical similarities to Edge of the Empire stop there.

• No custom dice required. Regular 6-sided dice will do.
• Actions have binary outcomes.
• To create a character, you print the archtype you want, add a name, and add a story hook.
• Advancing a character requires little book-keeping.
• No huge number of splat books (there are 2 or 3, as opposed to EOTE's 20+). Truthfully, you could buy this book and have everything you need to play a long-term campaign.

With less than 10 sessions under my GM belt, characterization has been something of a challenge/hassle for me. One would think with all the reading/gaming I've done over the years I would have this stuff down pat, but that hasn't been my experience. This book offers 1,000 breaths of fresh creative air so I can make meaningful characters that stick with the players. I'd love my players to remember my characters the same way we remember the people of the Simpsons.

Wow! Being a very busy person all-around (wife & 3 kids, demanding job, Church responsibilities, obligatory gaming, etc), this saves me a lot of time as a GM. And I, like many, even though pretty well-read & well-gamed, I still seem to gravitate to the same sorts of plots. Bad Guy Takes the McGuffin, PCs Need to Get it Back; NPC Dead, PCs Need to Find the Killer; and all of that gets old for both me the the players. This offers me 501 fresh breaths of creative air and I couldn't be more happy with the purchase.