Review of Rifter #6: Intrigue in Singapore
Rifter Article by Victor Russof
Summary
An N&S Adventure and new martial art style. This article rates 2 out of 10 possible stars.
General Review
The adventure seems to be geared toward heavy railroading and poor espionage tradecraft, ignoring several key points while emphasizing points that seem almost ridiculous. For example, the
introduction reads like a "who's important in the adventure and here they are so you can easily identify them without help" message. The British agent is somehow a "crack shot" who ignores
strike and damage rolls. The NPC, Yu Ji Kui is a combat encounter, since only one attribute is given, no details other than his hand to hand ability and weapons along with hit points and SDC
are given.
It also seems that no matter what the players do, YJK will get killed. I also like how failing to get the information from YJK results in a Santa Claus "gimme" on information. Isn't it interesting how one of the bad guy's henchmen just happens to have the phone number of the British intelligence agent in Singapore? The bomb is amazingly easy to disarm.
Kenpo Karate. Since this is the style created by Ed Parker, it's almost funny to read how it's a "Hawaiian style" and none of the information on what styles the moves were taken from are given. The Critical Strike on a Natural 20 given at third level needs to be removed, since it's already a given at 1st level, regardless of what the author thinks. Knockout/Stun is listed in the Combat Skills buyt not the level advancement bonuses. Other than that, there's not much of note about this style.
Overall Review
Appearance: Overall this appears to be a short jaunt on a GM's private rail road.
Artwork: Bad new pic and a reprint from N&S.
Structure: While well organized for rail roading, this article fails to be organized in a way to make it a useful adventure.
Editing: The major problems don't stem from lack of editing for once.
Continuity: Ironically, while the style is fairly decently done overall, if inaccurate, the majority of people don't seem to know it's even there.
