Review: Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 2: Epic Treasures

Treasures: Treasures Kinda like
Review: Series: Subtitle?

Earlier this GURPSday, another book in the treasures series came out. $5 US, 13 pages, a small book. It is mostly a catalog of items with (almost) no mechanical information and just a tad bit of fluff. Let's see what the book covers.

Review

I always like to take a look at the table of contents when starting a review to get an idea of what we are getting into, so let's see. We have a repeat of the cover art, a short intro, weapons, armor, vehicles, and "fabulous artifacts." Each section is around equal in length, and spell out 4 to 14 items.

First off, the introduction gives us a bit about the philosophy of designing memorable items, and a tiny bit of advice to GMs in that regard. It also remarks that there is no price tag for the items in this installment because they are that unique. On that note, if you are trying to gauge power levels, most are extremely high level, a lot could be gauged in terms of character points in a system like sorcery or metatronic generators, but there are a few that could be difficult as they do go a bit further to break the mold. 

Weapons includes 7 weapons, ranging from 1 that is "cool, but not game world shattering" to many that are exactly that spectacular. In this section, we are given a few extra customization options for weapons that sacrifice quality for audacity, and a small table with some worked examples on how to extend some leveled enchantments for games where the power level is not high enough... also, is there a reference to a certain SNES RPG here?

Armor has 10 different types of armor, and most have, of course, various enchantments to make them especially good at protecting. One suit has an interesting twist though in actually being more of an offensive aid. The section concludes with a similar bit on some new enhancements that one can apply to any mundane armor.

Vehicles is the gem of this supplement. We have several (7) modes of transportation here that can move us further and more spectacularly than before, ranging from the ornate but mundane, to the spectacularly terrifying! I like a lot of the concepts here, and might find some direct application in campaigns that I am involved with.

Fabulous Artifacts, the final section covers a few consumable treasures, and special tools that (mostly) have less of a direct combat application.14 items in all, mostly extremely high powered, save for the medicine which is just a normal high power. The items are mostly unique and don't cover much functionality that already exists, except for the slightly confusing "universal tool" which seems pretty similar to the "Universal Tool Kit" in Dungeon Fantasy 4: Sages.

Conclusion

This book has pretty much no new rules, and is a list of ready to use equipment. The most important addition, in my opinion are the vehicles, as there isn't (as far as I'm aware) a tool for 4th edition GURPS that allows the creation of diverse fantasy vehicles. The pull quotes are mostly "meh", but I kinda like the pair on pages 8 and 9. I personally prefer books with new mechanics, but the items introduced are pretty diverse and unique. I'd like a quick way to gauge the efficacy of the items at a glance, but it simply requires having a firm understanding of the equipment before using it in a campaign.