Imaginative and very fun. Really sets the stage for the game. Basic version for kids and very big words for adults. Both really great!

4/5 Stars. Because I don't really understand how to apply approaches in FAE. I feel really comfortable with Fate Core skills. FAE almost seems "handwavium" at times in its approach to approaches (oh yeah I went there). I know folks have made all sorts of comments about "This should have been called FAE." "Or it really doesn't matter Fate Core and FAE are the same thing." I don't know about that. Personally I cannot get the hang of FAE. Approaches seem to be open to entirely too much abuse especially by players with the gift of gab.

Be that as it may, truthfully this is a delightful setting. First and foremost, this is a Fate Worlds of Adventure setting that means it is spare in detail. Typically Worlds of Adventure Settings are only about 50 to 60 pages. You can cram a lot into that many pages and Evil Hat and its contributors typically do so. But that still means there is only 50 to 60 pages and only so much setting material is going to make it in there. Especially if there are new rules or new ways to use old rules. Another thing typical of World's of Adventure Settings are they are professionally done. Production values are through the roof. Great art. Great editing. Each Book follows an almost identical format. Each is crisp, clean, and with enough detail to get you started.

Which brings up point number two; this is to get you started and your creative juices flowing. This is not that stack of Warcheese 20K books, or B&B 10th Ed, that require a stack of books as tall as I am. (I am about as tall as a half-welf from B&B). Worlds are yours to do with as you please.

In this setting you are presented with a Firefly meets Spelljammer type setting. You have a ship that is magic enough to fly through space and reach its destination barring any GM spawned distractions. Problem is that magic is expensive to maintain and you are on the fringes of the core worlds, maybe because your Ship's captain and a large percentage of the crew were on the losing side of a war with the Royal Hegemony or your mage has a problem with the Spell Casters Union. You gotta do what it takes to keep the ship flying (sailing?).

There are rules for spell casting. Not like B&B. More like "My Goblin Mage has the aspect, 'Fire, Fire, Fire' and the stunt 'Focused Flame Evoker' so I think I will set the pirates on fire." Then you roll your appropriate action/approach combination as per the FAE rules. There are rules for dabblers, focused users, raw magic users, or prepared spell users. I will not waste a bunch of time explaining all this.

There are rules for making a ship! This ship's aspects will be based on the aspects of the crew (meaning player characters). Very cool. Very straight forward. Your ship is pretty much like another PC.

If you want an FAE version of Firefly meets Spelljammer this is for you. If you are going to play beyond the first adventure you are going to have to flesh it out some more.

If you want a Fate Core version PWYW for "Sails full of Stars" another great Worlds of Adventure setting and combine the two. They don't match exactly but making changes and creating a new storyline can be a blast.

There is a vibrant Fate community on Google+. There are tons of good ideas percolating there for this setting. It's a great setting and it isn't going to cost you much. Having said that I am a Patreon supporter and I would really encourage you to pay something. The folks that make these settings are top notch and the monetary support they receive will go a long way toward encouraging them to make more.

First, I am giving this a 4 out of 5 stars not for any production issue or for any game play issue. I am a Patreon supporter of the Worlds of Adventure for Fate Core and FAE. This setting meets or exceeds all the game play criteria of any of the Evil Hat Settings out produced to date.

There are some well thought out new additions to Fate's version of skinning the cat. If you are a Fate fan you know that the is game is all about fun and not so much about the rules. The first or Golden Rule of Fate is to describe what you are trying to do before trying to come up with the "proper" mechanics. Fate is flexible on so many levels in dealing with obstacles, problems, dice rolls etc. Skills, or aspects, or even declarations of fact (using Aspects and Fate Points) can solve problems. So when a setting introduces new mechanics (or a new way to solve a problem) it is fun to see how Fate can accomodate those new mechanics. Pilot Skill isn't really something new. It is Drive skill reskinned. Several other settings include a very similar reskinning of the Drive skill. Renown skill is new in that it kind of mashes up some effects of Rapport, Contacts, and Resources. It represents your fame and how readily you can cash in on it. This is important because your characters live in a Communist Utopia. Resources no longer represents personal wealth; you don't have any. Resources represent how readily you can acquire the use of resources from the state to achieve your missions.

Conversion rules is an interesting wild card. You run some pretty typical Fate challenge to get NPCs to join your cause (Communism). You can do this even while the death rays are splattering the hull all around you. These rules add a fun touch to the pulp action for characters who aren't necessarily combat heavy types. How much more fun can you have as a Commisar than engaging in materialist dialectic with evil Americans while your brawny New Woman takes apart uses her immense combat prowess to pulp the less enlightened American mooks.

Here is where the four star rating comes in. Ideology. If you are an older gamer who remembers the Cold war and Communist rhetoric a bit more immediately than younger gamers who only know it from history books; this setting may leave you a bit cold. Jess Nevins always does a stellar job on his settings. He even dedicated a page to the evils of real life communism. That page can not make up for a lack of real life experience of communism's heinous record. On the Fate Google+ community there have been commentators that feel this setting seems akin to playing Nazi PCs. Those individuals who lived through the Cold War are probably going to have some strong reactions to the premise of this setting.

Remember once you have it, it is yours to change. It is a pulp setting so it doesn't really invite you to look under the hood at ideology all that much; it is about square jawed heros punching weak chinned ne'er do wells. If the setting doesn't tickle your fancy change it up. Maybe the Communists in the setting are more akin to the Empire of Space Opera fame and your PCs look more like a Rogue unit trying to throw a wrench in the works. So all the setting material in the book becomes self promoting propaganda instead of the actual truth. The great thing about Fate is its ability to mimic just about anything you care to throw at it. Frankly the price is right.

Bottom Line Up Front: This is a Beta. Still quite a bit of work to go. Under normal circumstances I'd probably only give this a 2 star rating. However, The setting is fun and despite being a mash up of a lot of different stories from different media it hangs together surprisingly well.

Needs a Beastiary or equivalent. The varying antagonists are spread out throughout the book and therefore difficult to find quickly. The Archetypes are pretty limited considering the vastness of the Dominion. The Archetypes use the standard 3 refresh 3 stunts and +4 pinnacle skill pyramid. You don't use a standard phase trio but this is adequately explained and appropriate for the setting. However, these rather pedestrian beginners are supposed to represent the God-like Deipotents and their Exalted-Human minions. Regular old Humans don't even get a mention.

The book would benefit from changing the chapter on themes into something more closely resembling the "Game Creation" chapter from FATE Core. The history is given in some detail but there are no pre-made campaigns. The author shows some possible themes, but doesn't elaborate on how to turn those themes into a campaign unique to the setting. If he doesn't do that then this book needs some pre-made campaigns or some varying story seeds. Why? The history and the setting is huge. Having a way to create a starting point or barring that having some actual starting points would be helpful.

Initiative is handled quite differently in Baroque. You roll your Tactics skill and whoever scores higher goes first. Then they get to choose who goes next. If someone wants to interrupt they can use a Fate Point to go next.

The Notice skill has been removed. In its place an new action has been created; Notice. Each skill has a Notice element. Use Tactics to Notice and Ambush. Use Technosophy to Notice a malfunctioning system. Etc. In most situations Notice can be used at the same time other actions are used so you don't lose your normal actions in a round.

I sometimes feel as I read the book that new rules were added for the sake of adding new rules without gaining any real benefit or without highlighting the really unique setting. I also feel as if there wasn't a great deal of time spent playtesting.

There are other niggling things that the author will probably fix in the near future. No character sheet. Paucity of Art (it is evocative what there is of it). No back cover.

This is a wonderful product and I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to GM FATE! There are so many ways to represent NPCs in FATE that it can be a bit overwhelming. This product gives a consistent and well thought out approach to representing NPC creatures and personalities. My only complaint is that there may have needed to be a few more creatures. However, with the number of creatures presented a GM should be able to extrapolate just about anything.

I have had this product for some time. I love it. Great originality. Very evocative. I like the story lines presented with each map. This product is well worth the price. However, with the creation of Big Hexyland2 I am wondering if it would be possible to use some of those features on this product. Layers would be great as an update. Being able to print these maps for players while hiding certain aspects from them would be great. The lack of these layers is the main reason I gave this three stars.

This product is so generic it is meh! I loved Big Hexyland. I loved the stories and aspects of the terrain presented. I loved the names. I loved the time taken to cross a region being shown on the map. None of that made it into this product. The layer idea is great, but when it robs the maps of originality, go back to the old style. I suggest you give us another three layers. First, a layer that gives a set of original sounding names for the terrain features along with paths and distances plus a story line of some sort for each significant feature. Second, a layer where you can put in your own names for terrain features (form fillable). A layer that replaces the drab terrain feature names on the maps with the new names. It seems very odd to me to go to all the trouble of making these wonderfully drawn maps and then label them in such a generic manner.

Bottom Line Up Front. This is not a FATE Core friendly game. Despite a text box in the book stating that it is. This game is firmly entrenched in the system used in Diaspora (that came out before FATE Core).

I really wanted to give this product 5 stars but I can't. I love the Arthur story. From "Le Morte d'Arthur" to "Dragon Lord" the various incarnations of Arthur has held my imagination. My hat is off to the authors. There is love in this book. There is thought and skull sweat present in spades...however, it is not current. It will require users of FATE Core to put in some serious thought and work to make this system compatible.

There is no Success with Spin. You pay your Fate Points for Aspects prior to rolling not after. You don't have Free Invokes or Boosts. Create Advantage doesn't exist. It is more SOTC-like; using maneuvers. Characters start with 5 free stunts and 5 refresh (reminiscent of SOTC). You can purchase more refresh with your free stunts. Stunts don't work quite the way they do in FATE core (you have to power your stunts with Fate Points) so you have to have the extra refresh or you won't be able to use your stunts (there are a few generic +1 stunts called specialisms, but these are few on the ground). You can still have aspects that are compelled to earn Fate Points, but since you have to power practically all your stunts with Fate Points you need a big supply straight out of the box. The mass battle system is intriguing and reminds me a lot of the Savage Worlds mass combat system. It does not match any version available from FATE Core (such as in the System Tool Kit book) Any FATE Core vets are going to have to do some serious work to adjust the engine to work they way they are used to. Warbands and battles get special attention, but since you aren't using FATE Core teamwork bonuses aren't used and number crunching becomes more prevalent.

Having said all that the setting itself is intriguing. Dark Ages Britain is a completely "open" time period. There are no real accurate historical records from the time the Romans left until two or three centuries later. (Bede or the Anglo Saxon Chronicle) These came out in the early to late 700s almost 300 years after the Romans left Great Britain. So little can be said for the historical accuracy of the setting other than there isn't any. That isn't a bad thing. It allows myth and conjecture to inform a compelling story about Player Characters facing off against invasions from the Saxons and from Hibernian pirates, while keeping an eye out being stabbed in the back by other would be British High Kings. Just about every aspect of the game is some sort of cultural or religious clash. Romano-Britains against the Saxons (or Hibernians) Christians against Pagans (or other types of Christians).

If this book were to get a re-write I would suggest getting rid of the dated engine. Then plug in the FATE Core engine. Get a bit more art. Change up the blocks of text to columns to de-stress your readership. (It was hard to read more that a page or two at a time). Give more examples. Of everything. Most people are not experts on the period. Move the setting to an earlier part of the book, or at least add some fiction so that the readership knows what the game is going to be about before they start making a character. This change is in fact critical if you expect Players to use the FATE Core method of setting creation prior to character creation.

The price point is too high for a game book that uses an older version of FATE that the majority of readers will find necessary to change. Any changes will necessarily be extensive and a 15 USD price tag will punish users of the FATE Core system who want to use this setting. In its present state this book may be worth 5 USD and certainly not more than 10 USD.

The setting sells the book. The engine detracts from it. Therefore I'll give this book three stars.

Edit: There is a rule for spin...in general if you get spin you get to add +1 to your roll. Again this is not typical of FATE Core. There are quite a few more dissimilarities but I won't burden the reader any further.

I have been looking for a quick miniatures game to play that offers tactical complexity. I have found it. This is a great game. You can mix Fantasy and Science Fiction and every genre in between and not feel that one or the other is favored over the other. The rules are written in such a way that purchasing gear and skills for each unit (figure) is well balanced. The math used to calculate gear cost is well thought through to make sense with the rules. Melee weapons get special attention with such things as Power Fist, Chain Blade, or Quake Hammer. Ranged weapons are more generic. You have Machine guns or Carbines. But they get love with rules for Opportunity Fire or Return Fire.

No measuring is part of the rules light aspect of the game, but this does not detract from the tactical aspect of the game. The Rogue Die adds an element of control to players using powered weapons or to actions involved in countering other players. The Rogue Die is quick to use and takes little to no math calculations and gives a great deal of flexibility to the game. FX rules makes collisions and blowing up obstacles and objects a possibility again with little to no math involved.

This is a cinematic style game that offers some real tactical crunch and I highly recommend it.

You absolutely have to have knowledge of how to play FATE from another source. This book discusses how the FATE hack works for this setting but the amount of rules discussion in this product (less than 20 pages FATE specific) would leave most players completely uninformed or totally confused or both using just this book. There is no discussion of Campaign Aspects or how to create them. There is no discussion of Situation Aspects how to create them use them...anything. From a purely game mechanic standpoint Amethyst is a good game. It explains the FATE hack and how it works with the FATE rules well enough. It cannot possibly stand alone. It is not a stand out in the FATE powered games presently available. It finds itself firmly in the middle in my opinion. It has some interesting concepts that can be used by players and GMs alike. Instead of using FATE dice you use a hand of five FATE cards from the Deck of FATE. The author encourages players to have 2 decks for use in the game. (This is not a small cost) There are discussions of how to use Fudge dice and die 6s. However the preferred method is the Deck of FATE, because several of the stunts available are predicated on the use of the Deck of FATE. I personally like the use of Vocations instead of Skills in this product. I wouldn’t do this for every FATE product out there, but it works for this setting. Vocations are just like they sound, a broad range of skills used for a particular profession. If you are an Investigator +2 it is assumed that you have the necessary skills and resources to perform the functions of an Investigator of better than average level, etc. There are a wide range of Vocations listed in the setting. The Vocations also have associated stunts and summaries of how those Vocations would be used in play. The Vocations are further broken into Species Vocations, Regional Vocations and Organization Vocations. Species Vocations define how you would act and what traits you have as a particular type of Fae. Organization Vocations define what kind of resources you have and how you would act as a member or a particular type of organization. Regional Vocations are used mostly by humans to define how they may differ based on where they come from. There is one adventure in the book. The setting is huge; all of North America. It is more of a sandbox style and the authors invite you to dig deeper and create your own adventures and campaigns. There is a small amount of advice on how to do this and a small amount of advice on what some typical campaigns may look like. I have gone to the Dias Ex Machina website and FB page and have found only one other adventure available, so there doesn’t seem to be much support beyond the primary sourcebook. (Remember this isn’t the first version of Amethyst and I am including the other versions in this as well) My biggest concern is the setting itself. Not the idea. I love the idea of Fantasy impinging on the modern world and how humans would react and interact with magic and magical creatures. What I don’t like is the underlying preaching that goes on in the setting. The setting as written is very a-theistic. Unapologetically it seems. The fiction used to illustrate the concepts of the setting features a character that is angered at a supposedly non-existent God. In the first few pages of story he mentions the non-existence of God as many or more times than he thinks about the differences of living in a technological world assaulted by the appearance of fantasy creatures and magic. Limshau the setting’s primary city for fantasy aligned characters is discussed as being enlightened and growing because of this enlightenment. But, the authors go on to say that this enlightenment consists of the outlawing of organized religion and corporations; the only organization allowed to exist is the government. Vice is not only legal, but the setting description goes on to mention prostitution several times in a way as to make it seem to be an ordinary occupation as valid as any other. Citizens are not allowed to be armed; only the police (Custodians and militia) are allowed weapons heavier than short swords (it doesn’t address that fact that spellcasters are walking weapons, or that some species are equipped by nature to be veritable tanks). Given that Limshau is ruled by a very long-lived hereditary oligarchy only exacerbates the Government’s power. When I grew up this wasn’t called enlightened it was called despotic, or totalitarian, or Stalinist Communism. I would hope that the amount of energy the authors put into the art, the fiction, the description of the various fae species, would find itself into the background of the setting, but it doesn’t. Teaching that Vice is ok and should be legalized, teaching that organized religion and organized business are detriments to a growing culture are not just counter-intuitive, but are lacking in logic and evidence. We, the human race, have tried communism. It failed. Nations around the world are trying to legalize vice to varying degrees and are finding that it is creating more cost (financially, physically and emotionally) than good. The Authors have responded well to questions on this site which I appreciate greatly. I will use this setting because I like the idea. I am going to have to rework the various communities so that they make sense in a cultural, economic and political way. I am going to have to create my own campaign and adventures. This isn't crippling. This isn't necessarily bad. However, it would be nice if this had been part of the description of the game and its setting before I had spent 15 USD on it. (PS I have a BA in Social Studies Composite with an emphasis on History and a MA in US History. I lived in Europe for three years and in Asia for six.)

Very easy to use. It has a lot of great ideas for creatures built in, but you aren't forced to take what the tables give you. Flexible. Use it before a session or during a session. I think I mentioned its easy. Also fun.

Production values are great. I like the addition of the two arcana. You can use these to quickly create a character or character concept. I love that each of the number "rolled" cards have several phrases on them that can be used to describe the actions of PCs or used as aspects. Great way to think this through. I can't wait to figure out how to use the moons and suns. Thanks for a great product. I can't give this a perfect score just because the deck doesn't come with some example descriptions for how to use the aforementioned arcana, card descriptors and moons and suns.

I have been looking forward to this one for months as well. Have to say I am disappointed. This is an average setting, not good enough to earn a 5 star rating. I was pleasantly surprised by the text. GRAmel is a Polish company and they seem to have done a serviceble job of translation. The rules, what there are of them, are concise. (with one exception) The only issue I have with the wording is the excessive use of hyphens that tend to break words and sentences into sometimes difficult to read mess.

As a whole the potential is there to use this setting as either one of Darkness with the forces of evil winning at every turn. Or a lighter one where humans battle insurmountable odds and come out victorious but bloodied. I don't know if this was intentional. But, it is nice when so many newer games seem bent on shoving bleak evil down our throats.

That said. I like the idea behind the setting. However, I was expecting a galaxy with 10,000 planets at war with a ravening horde of Dark Gods and their minions. In all honesty that was at least hinted at in the history. However, the setting as it stands is totally wrapped up in one star system. Three planets, one dying, one filled with hedonistic self centered rich, and the other a jungle world on the edge of being overrun with Dark Horde creatures.

There are cultists, black magic and psionics. There is no magic or miracles, and certainly no super powers, but there are cyborgs and cybernetics.

Much of the book is devoted to flavor over substance. Great art interspersed with not so great art. (The best you have already seen if you have SWD). The pics are generally not gory or suggestive. (However, there is one of Lij the poisoner that somehow passed censorship; erotic in a very disturbing manner.) Three chapters devoted to the three worlds of the system. Their history, organizations, and personalities. The writing is devoted mostly to setting history and flavor. There seems to be a lack of crunch.

You won't find an extensive section of new cool weapons or equipment. The only real additions to the SW tool kit are plasma weapons, personal deflectors and personal forcefields.

The Beastiary is only 20 pages long. The creatures don't all have pictures which is hard because they aren't like anything you could have seen anywhere else. The pics that are in the book don't seem to match, which is probably an editing issue. Half the creatures aren't even the evil Dark Horde kind...they're genegineered monsters made by humans. Most of the Beastiary is taken up by rehashes of Human critters like Homeless people or street thugs.

There is no plot point campaign; a PEG staple. There are no creature generators; like Savage Mojo's Caladon Falls. No adventure generators: like Gunmetal Games Interface Zero. There are no adventures per se, although there are tentative ideas for hooks in Histories, Organizations and Personalities sections. This is a sand box setting without much in the way of sand. [Note: I just downloaded the Adventure Generator listed in the blurb for Nemezis. Better than before, but still pretty generic. It has some more great art. There are references to travelling out system, but without descriptions of other systems let alone a method of getting there it sees a bit odd]

Overall it is worth the 10 dollars presently being charged. Unless there is a major revamp a la the Golden Edition of Beasts and Barbarians this setting is not worth 20 dollars.

Really great imagination. Liked the "nasty neighbors". I wish there would have been a scenario generator for them so there were an easier way to integrate them into an extended campaign.

Very imaginative set of missions/scenarios. Price could be a bit lower for what you get. If there were additional survivor types or a scenario generator this might be worth 5 USD. As for now I'd recommend a drop in price to somewhere in the 3 USD range.