Sometimes, Dog, sometimes you have to cut off the arm to save the life.Does the sinner deserve mercy?Do the wicked deserve judgement?They're in your hands.DOGS IN THE VINEYARDRoleplaying God's Watchdogsin a West that never quite was.

    If you're like most players, you struggle with nearly every aspect of the game: offense, defense, execution and combos, and generally having a game plan that is more complex than just mashing buttons at every opportunity. A Road Map Toward Improvement Street Fighter is a game that requires practice, finesse, and knowledge. Unfortunately, most players don't have any guidance on where to begin when learning the game which leads to lots of frustration and losses. This guide is designed to give you a road map for improving your skills so that when SF5 drops you can hit the ground running!Lots of players are under the misconception that since SF5 is a brand new game, there's no point in playing SF4 and improving. While it is true that there will be lots to learn in SF5 such as new engines and characters, this is not a reason not to improve on your Street Fighter fundamentals in the meantime. The Importance of a Solid Foundation Like anything else worth doing in life, developing a foundation of solid fundamentals is the key to improving. Even though SF5 will have brand new characters and mechanics, the core elements of Street Fighter remain the same throughout the franchise. Execution, footsies and space control, combos, punishing, and resource management are important in all Street Fighter games and this guide will show you how to use SF4 to improve on these aspects of your game. Who is gootecks and why should I bother? I've played Street Fighter competitively since 2003, starting with Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and continuing with Street Fighter 4. I've traveled to compete in tournaments around the world, including places like Japan, Singapore, Australia, Canada, and Europe.A lot of people may know me as the co-host of Excellent Adventures of gootecks & Mike Ross, or perhaps from my work on Cross Counter TV, the entertainment network for fighting game fans.Recently, I've begun training players just like yourself through Cross Counter Training, where players like EG.Justin Wong, EG.K-Brad, Alex Myers are available for helping players of all skill levels improve. Through working with my students, I've developed what I believe to be an extremely effective method of learning how to play Street Fighter. This method is based on the idea of learning one tiny aspect of the game at a time through the eyes of the poster boy of Street Fighter, Ryu. "But Ryu is boring, gootecks!" I know, I know, you think Ryu is boring and everybody plays him and you want to play a cool, flashy character so you can style on people on stage at Evo someday. Unfortunately, you'll need to learn how to walk before you can run and there is no better investment of time as a new player than to learn Ryu in order to build a strong foundation.Taking this time now to develop your fundamentals will serve you well as you transition to Street Fighter 5. Ryu is definitely different in SF5, but the tools and concepts you'll learn in this guide will give you a leg up on the competition when SF5 drops.

    This exciting world is complete with soaring cities, viscious wars, and a gritty mean-streets style that harkens back to the traditions of film noir.The Eberron campaign setting is updated into the 4th edition D&D family with the Eberron Campaign Guide. Featuring all of the character elements from the core rulebooks, this updated version of the Eberron world is a must for any gamer that likes the magic-as-technology, film noir, high-adventure campaign setting that was chosen from over 15,000 game submissions.

    Included in this essential work:- A detailed survey of over fifty new monsters and a half dozen cultures that lurk in the Veins.- Procedures for Referees to generate both small and large-scale maps and locations within.- Expanded rules for players navigating a realm that has never seen the sun.- Full descriptions of the different types of light and the different types of dark.- The worst kinds of fear, madness, and nightmare.

    Trained as a samurai warrior, she was to be the bodyguard of Isawa Tadaka, a powerful shugenja—and the man she loved. Although her new duties have drawn them apart, she refuses to stand by and watch as Tadaka falls to the darkness within him.Tsukune follows Tadaka north to Cliffside Shrine, home of the Kaito family, where he is investigating the mysterious death of a prominent priestess. All around them, the shrine shows signs of decay and desecration, and the wards that for centuries have bound an evil demon are fraying. What secrets are the Kaito family keeping? And can Tsukune save Tadaka from descending down a dark path before it’s too late?

     Fate Core is that engine. Fate Core is the latest evolution of the award-winning Fate roleplaying game system from Evil Hat Productions. We’ve streamlined and clarified the rules while maintaining the system’s trademark flexibility. Name your game; Fate Core can make it happen. Inside, you’ll discover: Easy-to-follow rules for character and world creation. Rock-solid storytelling advice for players and GMs to produce the best play experience. Clearly-defined systems to guide players both new and old. New and improved approaches to character actions, aspects, compels... and more! TELL YOUR TALE. ROLL THE DICE. EMBRACE YOUR FATE!

    

    . . or Destroy It!GURPS Powers is the ultimate book for the ultimate characters in the new Fourth Edition of GURPS! Here's everything you need to create every kind of amazing, off-the-chart superhero you can imagine . . . as well as amazing wizards, wuxia fighters, shamans who command spirits . . . even gods!Written by GURPS Line Editor and Fourth Edition co-author Sean Punch, GURPS Powers introduces some new rules, but it is mostly about using the rules that are already in the GURPS Basic Set to cover superpowered characters, megawizards, and earth-shattering psionics. GURPS Powers also include guidelines for "special effects" and several different ways to vary a power on the fly—two crucial concepts for comic-book superheroics.GURPS Powers is a Fourth Edition GURPS book that completely replaces the Third Edition books GURPS Supers and GURPS Psionics. Like our other Fourth Edition supplements, it's a gorgeous 240-page, full-color hardcover. If you've got a high-powered campaign—or high-powered players—you want GURPS Powers!

    You are a vampire, struggling for survival, supremacy, and your own fading humanity—afraid of what you are capable of, and fearful of the inhuman conspiracies that surround you.As a vampire you suffer the pangs of the Hunger, the relentless and terrible thirst for human blood. If you refuse to deal with it, it will overcome your mind and drive you to terrible acts to slake it. You walk this razor's edge every night.Dark designs, bitter enemies, and strange allies await you in this World of Darkness.The classic that changed roleplaying games forever returns! This fifth edition features a streamlined and modern rules design, beautiful new full-color art, and a rich story experience for players. Powered by the innovative Hunger cycle, the game also includes rules for creating system supported character coteries, Loresheets to directly involve players with their favorite parts of the setting and The Memoriam, a new way to bring the character's detailed backgrounds and expand on them in-session.V5 is a return to Vampire's original vision, moving boldly into the 21st century. While the rules have been redesigned, this new edition honors the deep story of the original, advancing the metaplot from where it left off and detailing exactly what has happened in the world of the Kindred up until tonight. The terror of the Second Inquisition, the conspiracies behind the Gehenna War, and the rekindling of the War of Ages: these are the building blocks of the modern V5 chronicle.

    Bushido’s staunch and unyielding code of conduct binds samurai to duty, strengthening their character and defining their choices. While some samurai serve the greater good, others use the strictures of Bushido to manipulate the lower ranks and advance their own power.Eight Great Clans form the heart of Rokugan’s culture. Each is defined by its own principles, values, and agendas. Each sees the Code of Bushido in its own way. Each seeks to serve the Emperor with its own unique talents. Take up the soul of your ancestors — the samurai’s daisho — and fight for the glory and honor of your family and Clan. Now is the time for heroes, in a world where Honor is a force more powerful than Steel.The Fourth Edition of L5R is the ultimate edition of the award-winning role-playing game. Inside this tome, you will find:• A game unlike any you’ve played elsewhere. Honor and service are valued more than magic swords taken from wandering ogres. Prepare for the glorious life of the samurai!• A unique Character Sheet. Legend of the Five Rings rules have never been more easy to learn and to play. No more need to flip through pages of rules while fighting your enemies!• A toolbox approach to role-playing in Rokugan. Fourth Edition encourages gamemasters of Legend of the Five Rings to customize their game, adding or removing from their campaigns as they see fit, customizing the game to fit their story lines and players.• A broad history of the Emerald Empire and the beliefs of all the Great Clans, with play options not only the major clans but also for outlying groups such as Imperials, Minor Clans, and the infamous Spider Clan.Draw your blade and join the fight for Rokugan.

    Stations and plot seeds are provided for each of the inner worlds and the factions that occupy them. Background and information on the Planetary Consortium, the most powerful political and economic force in the solar system, is also provided.

    Sure to be popular with both Dungeonmasters and players, this supplement to the D&D(R) game provides descriptions for a vast array of new creatures. Each monster is illustrated and utilizies a new statblock format that facilitates faster gameplay. In addition, each monster gets more pages than used in previous supplements to detail sample encounters and pregenerated treasure hordes. Also included are details on how to incorporate creatures in a Forgotten Realms(R) or Eberron(R) campaign. This product is tied to 2006's Year of the Dragon theme, which will be the target of marketing from RPGs, novels, and miniatures brands.

    Corruption from without and within has caused the destruction not only of the Garou's environment, but also of their families, friends and culture, which extends in an unbroken line to the very dawn of life. No matter how righteously the Garou hold themselves, no matter how they prey on their destroyers, the corruption spreads.Now the time for reconciliation is past. This grave insult against Gaia can end in only one way: blood, betrayal... and rage.Werewolf: The Wild West is a complete rulebook, containing everything you need to play the Garou of the Savage West, whether Pure One or newcomer, human-born or wolf-blood. Fight the undead parasites who maneuver to control fledgling towns, or tear into the corrupt humans who have gone where nobody should. The frontier is a savage battleground, where both glory and death await you. Welcome to the Wild Times.

    You spend hours setting up the perfect encounter, your players are out for blood, the swords are drawn—and then you realize that you've forgotten to build statistics for the enemy characters. Or perhaps your players go left when you expect them to go right, leaving you without any encounters prepared.Such problems are a thing of the past with the NPC Codex. Inside this tome, you'll find hundreds of ready-made stat blocks for nonplayer characters of every level, from a lowly forest poacher to the most majestic knight or ancient spellcaster. Whether you're planning out future adventures or throwing together encounters right at the table, this book does the work so you can focus on playing the game.Pathfinder RPG NPC Codex is a must-have companion volume to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook and Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. This imaginative tabletop game builds on more than 10 years of system development and open playtests featuring more than 50,000 gamers to create a cutting-edge RPG experience that brings the all-time best-selling set of fantasy rules into the new millennium.The 320-page Pathfinder RPG NPC Codex includes:- Statistics for more than 300 characters, including at least one for every level of every class in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook.- Tactical suggestions for every character, ensuring that you get the most out of each individual's gear and abilities in a fight.- Tons of flavorful names and backgrounds to give characters personality, plus ideas for using them in both combat and roleplaying situations.- Statistics for characters with lower-powered NPC classes to help populate your world with ordinary people, as well as characters with specialized prestige classes.- Animal companion statistics for druids and rangers, from level 1 through level 20.- Multiple versions of each Pathfinder iconic character, perfect for pregenerated player characters.- Encounter groups for conveniently crafting battles on the fly.... and much, much more!Cover art by Wayne Reynolds

    A fire is lit: is it a lamp perched over the inscription upon an ancient blade? Or a roaring conflagration consuming the house in which the howling fiends wait? Things will never be the same after this. You've set forth on a damning path. Carry the Vigil. Fight back the shadows.Rulebook for Hunter: The Vigil This book includes: * A rulebook for playing hunters, those humans who have seen the truth of the World of Darkness and are spurred to action. * A many-faced Vigil for many types of hunter: characters might choose a path of violence, of investigation, or even of rehabilitation. Decipher mysteries and confront the horrors. * Provides new player types and antagonists for crossover- intensive chronicles as well as those chronicles focused only on hunters.