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Paradox: The Brainstorming $3.03
Average Rating:3.3 / 5
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Paradox: The Brainstorming
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Paradox: The Brainstorming
Publisher: White Wolf
by Charles S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/10/2019 02:06:38

The absolute nicest thing to say is that this is quite a list of possible effects. Beyond that, though, it badly needs editing and is very, very clearly translated from a non-English language (references to Quiet as "Silence" for example). It openly acknowledges that many of the effects are "funny" and "may not be appropriate for your game."

As for the flaws...they're all over the place. "Permanent hiccup" and "Paraplegic" and "Lethal Temperature" are all treated as the same (maximum!) severity, and the grammar rapidly becomes a barrier ("sneeze permanent" could perhaps mean "constantly sneezing forever" but it's unclear). The scaling is also strange, like "intense beep in the ears" grows to "head explodes" and "his eyes have different colours" goes to "strange hair colour" to "strange skin colour" (which all make sense as a scaling of a single problem) then suddenly "he vomit rainbows' [sic] and "he becomes a unicorn with strange colours" which...come right out of nowhere.

Some of the flaws aren't even flaws "Mage is teleported to a node" is often going to be a non-problem, and "a nail is broken" is so minor as to be baffling as to why it's here and comparable to being teleported to a Node! Similar levels of "problems" are "a phone rings" and "you have an orgasm for a turn." The scaling and selection are just baffling in many cases.

The book's decreased price is still WAY too high for it (for comparison, most vault products cost about $0.10/page, this is currently $4.44 for 20 pages, meaning at most a $2 price tag is appropriate) and the quality is uneven, but never quite reaches high. I can't recommend that people buy it until it's had a thorough editing, by a native English speaker, had the price cut roughly in half, had the layout cleaned up a bit, and have the general quality of the results evened out and improved so that a "tiny" backlash in a consistent level of problem and a "drastic" one doesn't vary between "permanent hiccups" and a dozen sorts of instant death.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
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Paradox: The Brainstorming
Publisher: White Wolf
by Harold N. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/24/2019 16:54:52

Great idea, but some of this stuff is pretty stupid in a mostly serious game. Also, while all of the words are in English, the collective isn't... and it takes some interprteting to figure out what was meant in several cases.

So, I just rewrote it, using the original as a template. I cut out the goofy stuff and replaced it with things more in line with the general mood of Mage.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
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Paradox: The Brainstorming
Publisher: White Wolf
by Omar S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/15/2018 04:34:02

My Narrator liked this table. There are very much flaws, some are more dramatic and another more funny but they are a useful collection of distortions of reality. In the table appear more backlashes like realms or burn but they are more flaws than another else. Well, the web text is sincere, its a table, 350+ flaws, a useful list with all paradox spirits appeared at official books, another blacklashes integrated (not refill!)... this isn´t a book for reading like a novel, its a table with 100 results in 14 pages. Nice work!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Paradox: The Brainstorming
Publisher: White Wolf
by Jason E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/14/2018 17:06:08

With no indication of how well thought out this file was I was super disappointed that I paid $12 for only 14 pages of charts with effects such as "leaves fall", "a bird poops on the mage", or "Burn of one die of aggravated damage and reroll" the last of which appears many, many times.

Many of the effects are underwhelming and not scaled to their severity IE; a "Minor flaw" of a Mage walking upside down vs a "Severe flaw" of the mages XP becoming candy that must be eaten to regain the xp........

This book would have an appropriate value if it was closer to $3 or $4. The effects are random, unorganized, filled with type-o's, and over-all feels lazy.

This was a great idea, but I feel that it should have been crowdsourced and had more input to provide more options of actual clever flaws........

Edit: Thank you for putting the price point near a more realistic point to reflect the shape of the product, please post an actual preview page of content when you host a book like this......it makes me seriously question the quality and value of ALL of your other projects.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
I'm sorry you did not like the table but my players love it. I make these modules or aids to raise funds for the aid to the investigation against the E.L.A. Give me your email and I will send you a free book.
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Dear Jason, i was thinking about your review and well, you are my first bad review for many years. A primitive version of this table was at the Hachaweb, a spanish web for role-playing resources with the rules of Mage first edition. many narrators downloaded and used this table. I updated the table with the Mage20 rules incorporating another backlashes like Quiet, Realms and Spirits, there are a 70% of Flaws, the rest are the options from the Paradox Table from Mage20. I had many players over the years and all players, friends or not, liked the table and they get fun. I agree with many aspects of your review like the cost, but i thought that the money is inverted in the investigation of A.L.S. and I thought that was a good idea. Another customers bought this table and no problem. Yes, only 14 pages because there is only a Wrinkle drawing, this is a table for quick reference for Narrators. I could insert more drawings and get 28 pages but i prefered to be a sincere work, the Mage20 have more than 700 pages and iI thought that is better do not put more weight at the Narrators back ;) I have reduced the cost and i was thinking how to improve the table (make different lists for sphere? make more serious flaws? not funny flaws? make flaws only for Technocracy?...), I will try improve this work... But Jason, I understand you rage but your conduct on internet also can be improved, the correct action is discuss here or email me but i have not time for explain and defend my work and the fight versus A.L.S. at all facebook groups, web forums or the deep web
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Paradox: The Brainstorming
Publisher: White Wolf
by DSC T. G. C. _. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/14/2018 11:53:52

Paradox the Brainstorming is exactly what it says it is, a table listing possible pardox effects. The DSC gaming club found the table useful, for quick reference when the storyteller needs to come up with a paradox effect. There are a few minor spelling and format errors but nothing that decreases its usefulness.

The DSC Gaming Club believes this product is useful in any Mage Storyteller's library and with the proceeds going to ALS its a worthwhile investment.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Paradox: The Brainstorming
Publisher: White Wolf
by Esther N. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/10/2018 13:08:20

It is a very useful list to know the effects of the paradox, we will use it a lot because until now it was not possible to find a simple table to use during the game. It makes the Narrator's work easier. He is also very creative.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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