Open Sore

In which independent reviewers take a look at some new games.

Note: this was a reaction to the general tone of the "Open Box" review section in White Dwarf, self-serving magazine of Britain's Games Workshop Ltd, for which I wrote some rather more independent SF reviews. Eventually, all outside opinions and all mentions of non-Games Workshop material were banned altogether. – Dave Langford.

********
The Official ****-Playing Game

TSR Inc, £**.**

This ****** game of ****** is the latest in a long series of TSR *******. Based on ********* devised by Marvel, DC and ***** Enterprises, it features a great deal of ***. Yet in role-playing terms ** ***** *** ****** *** ** sexual ***********. In summary, one can only say, "****!"

[This review has been vetted for publication by TSR, Marvel, DC, the Department of Public Prosecution, and the Home Office (re. Official Secrets Act). Practically every word in it is a registered trade mark, so watch it.]

WAR AND PEACE

Leo Tolstoy PLC

A novel idea, a solo role-playing gamebook set not in the usual fantasy or SF scenario, but in Russia during the time of the Napoleonic wars. Unfortunately the presentation is appalling: no dice are supplied, character generation is unexplained, and the promising fatness of the gamebook is spoilt by the lack of interactive choices – after page 1 you are simply expected to read page 2, and then page 3, and so tediously through the text. I don't think this innovation has a hope of catching on.

SNAP
The Official Role-Playing Game

Games Workshop, £49.95

At last, the event the gaming world has been waiting for! This much-loved favourite has finally been packaged as it truly deserves. The superbly professional presentation only begins with the luxurious 15" x 45" x 45" carrying box. Inside, five high-quality photocopied rulebooks offer a perfect background to the most exciting of 1980s RPGs.

Snap, as regular readers of White Dwarf prepublicity over the last three years will know, is a game not only of strategy but of reflexes, and features a standard pack of cards. The 51 beautifully printed cards are perforated so they can be conveniently separated, as are the 144 scoring tokens, the soothingly featureless cardboard playing surface, and the seven easily assembled dice.

I confidently predict that GW will have another major best-seller on their hands.

Published in Black Sun VI, 1985 – an irreverent White Dwarf insert produced by some of the more rebellious staff.
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