Ghost Cartels - A Detailed Review Options

[Malachi]

Summary
Ghost Cartels is a fabulous triumph with just a few small nagging problems holding it back from being truly spectacular. Highlights of this product include: full-colour maps of key locations, full game stats for NPCs, an extended “colour� chapter that makes for great hand-outs for players, an easily-adaptable adventure “framework� format, and a wonderful over-arching story. Unfortunate lowlights include: annoying grammatical mistakes, errors in the NPC game stats, and some assumptions about the nature of characters running the campaign. Overall though, the few problems with the book are sure to be corrected in future errata releases. Ghost Cartels is sure to be an instant classic and become the first quintessential campaign for the SR4 system and timeline.

Maps
When purchasing the PDF copy of the book and opening it, after the front and back covers, the first then that smacks you straight in the eyes is a series of stunning full colour maps. These maps are now available as a free download from Shadowrun4.com for those people purchasing the print copy of the book. The full colour maps are among the best I’ve ever seen in an RPG product and are good enough quality to enlarge and lay out as a miniatures map. Given the often chaotic nature of Shadowrun combats along with the need to maintain precise positioning, the maps provided of key combat locations are an invaluable tool for Shadowrun GM’s. There are a total of 9 colour maps detailing most of the major combat or “target� locations from the campaign. These tools should help GM’s run solid encounters in those areas and help give some life to those areas for the players. Catalyst Game Labs has already said that Sean Macdonald (who created the maps) will continue to create them for future Shadowrun products, so this looks to be a high-quality addition that fans can come to expect. Top-notch.