A New T&T "Class"... umm....

Scott Malthouse, little Werdna, has just released his Shadow & Blade: A Guide to Assassins in Tunnels & Trolls (Assassins!). Now the dude has done about one thousand items since I met him, way back when. He has, when he's worked on T&T, been always pretty cutting edge. At the same time, he's always had a good grasp of the mechanics of the game as it should be written, that means "With two six-sided dice and mathematics." This current project is a bit of a departure, so it has piqued my interest beyond just the initial read. Let's start out with Assassins! being a Godzilla of a product and work from there.

Mind everyone, I try not to give out spoilers.

The cover art is in color and isn't a piece of clip art, at least as far as I know. I personally think it's a picture of Scott doing a weird David Bowie which I can't complain about, but must award a Sasquatch to the rating. That's "Godzilla+" in my greater scheme of things.

Jumping into the work, I see a bunching of houses or guilds where RPG players can affix their assassin Characters to in any campaign. Indeed there is no mention of a rules system relevant in this section. Not a bad tactic, but there is no introduction. I am not being academic here. As a T&T player/GM/author, I've never needed an "Assassin" as a full Type ("Class" for the D&D-head reading), a bit of salesmanship would have avoided my subtracting of two Saquatches-- that's a " -Godzilla,"  now.

When the organizations give way to prosaic rules, there is more than one kind of assassin. I am treated to three categories of assassins. It's kind of a paradox here. It is all very generic, though the Assassin types's and their mandated skills required are not. I am speaking about the ease at which Malthouse makes his assassins easy to relate to to any gamer. This is a RoboMonster-sized plus (almost back up to a Godzilla). BUT... .

Then there is a solo-dungeon, the big T&T selling point since 1979. Who can argue with that? A neutral point to me, though I am sure it sells like hot-cakes.

As maybe the last of the "real" T&T players in the world remaining, the rest have been sidetracked into tepid almost-celebrity worship qualified with money-giving, I still don't get it. All my Warriors, Wizards, Rogues, and Warrior-Wizards can be assassins as needed already.I am not going to be buying any D&D products because it is T&T adaptable. While the author makes sense of why anybody would bother to add "assassin" to literary-based fantasy setting, there is a slip in getting some full-out high fantasy need for them.

No Malthouse (all grown up now, lil' Werdna) , I can't give Assassin! a Godzilla. Work on the explanation, even if it is filler. You've got the math down for T&T, easy enough. Now get the literary bit down. Maybe work on your titles and subtitles to be more interesting. Shadow & Blade: A Guide to Assassins in Tunnels & Trolls is a King Kong worth of a work.

By the way, folks, "King Kong" is on a scale of "Smurfs" to "Godzilla." This is about the best gamer literature on assassins as PCs that I've ever read.