Exit Stage Right

"Neoexodus Campaign Setting (Color)" by Various Published and Distributed by Louis Porter Jr Design ISBN-13: 2-370-007-788-26-2 -- 268 (?) Pages

Let me begin this review with a very unusual statement. This appears to be a first edition first printing of this material. This also appears to be a color rendition of the same material. Bear that in mind when reading on.

I had to take the unusual precedent of actually physically counting the real numbers of the pages in this book. Several page numbers given are =not= correct. This is just the beginning of typos in this volume. There are banners in the upper outermost corners of the book that are supposed to contain the words "Neoexodus Campaign Setting" (which they all do), but, they are also supposed to contain the Chapter Title. No sooner than in the fourth page, this becomes "Section Title Goes Here".

Let's look at the other mistake first, page numbering. Up until page eight this seems correct. By this, I was led to believe that the full page art on the other half of the open book should be page nine. But, on the back of page nine, is page number twelve! Not only is this wrong, but it totally messes up the Table of Contents (which is also supposed to be an index) making finding any page in the book a challenge. This changes this seemingly professional looking book (great full color throughout!) into an amateur looking publication. Even a decent proofreader could have found and corrected these mistakes.

So, right off the bat, I subtracted one star for not having correct page numbers, and one star for not having correct page banners. But wait - there's more! I had always believed that "Janissaries" was a series title by Jerry Pournelle, but upon digging, found out that it had also been used during the Mongol Era, so, Ball One.

As many of my readers know, I am not a fan of Psionics in a Fantasy campaign. With this odd campaign mixture of some Fantasy and some Science Fiction, and some Psionics placed into a pot where even game balance might be hurt, made this text look like a bad "Star Wars" rip off. I have a feeling that this project was rushed through to allow the Kickstarter backers to get their product.

This is the first edition full color version. Other than being completely in color, it seems to be exactly like the black and white edition, and this edition carries the same mistakes. There is also a newer edition, called "Neoexodus: A World Divided". Even stranger, there appears to be an earlier edition from "Devils Workshop". I have not had the opportunity to look at these.

In summary, if you can get past the many page errors and other things, this might be of interest due to its totally unusual nature. I cannot recommend this edition, but will keep you posted on what I find from later editions. Your Mileage May Vary.