OK, I wrote for it, so my opinion's not impartial, but here goes:
It is in the now-standard Issaries format (8 1/2 x 11, 72 pages color cover, lots of illustrations, mostly pretty to very good). The bulk of the book is the descriptions of 27 hero bands. They are broken down into five groups (combat-oriented, healers, scholars, wanderers, and magicians. Most are entirely new, but some WB&RM counters now have HeroQuest "flesh." They do a good job of covering different Gloranthan cultures, although it's pretty Dragon Pass-centric. The bulk of the bands are predominantly theist, but there are animist and sorcerous groups, and a few that are not easily classifiable or welcome more than one world view. Some of the entries are pretty goofy, but they can fit into any but the most serious campaigns. For the most part, I liked the entries; each had something interesting, although I doubt any Narrator would want to use all of them (I think a survey would show a good spread of most and least favorites -- there really is something here for everyone), but even the ones that I'm not fond of told me a little about Glorantha. Besides the herobands, there is an introduction for each class of bands suggesting ideas for dealing with the specific problems of a campaign based around, say, a healer's group. There are additional tidbits on topics like concentrating Donandar and Lanbril magic, new elemental progression rules, info on the Wolf Pirates, and a bunch of new common religions, animist practices, theist subcults, and sorcerous orders. There's even statistics for a particularly appalling animal....
Pros:
Nice production values
Lots of narrative color
Good examples; even if you don't like the featured bands, they ought
to give you ideas for your own creations.
Cons:
Less theism and more animism and sorcery would have been nice.
I would have liked to see more non-Dragon Pass groups
A couple of entries direct the reader to the Imperial Lunar Handbook
2, which won't be out for a while.
Overall, I say this is a good addition to the Issaries line; it doesn't have the scope of the culture books or earth-shattering additions to the world (like, say, the Battle of Iceland), but it's fun to read and it will be useful in play for most Narrators.
Peter Larsen
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