This article originally appeared in d20 Weekly

Everquest Player's Guide

Everquest Roleplaying Game - Player's Handbook

Published by Sword & Sorcery Studio/Sony Online Entertainment

Line Developers Stephan Wieck and Stewart Wieck

400 full-color page hardback; $29.95

I admit I bought the EverQuest Player's Handbook because of the cover. But it's more complicated than that.

For the uninitiated, EverQuest is a sprawling, complex, highly satisfactory electronic roleplaying game from Sony Online Entertainment. Rave reviews and reference to "thousands of contented users playing it online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week" are the norm when the EverQuest franchise gets mentioned; through a number of supplements, and Deluxe, Gold, and Special editions, EverQuest has so far colonized a million computers out there and is a strong contender for the title of standard system for computer-based, web-capable roleplaying games: The gaming is fun, the choice of characters and classes is open enough to satisfy both munchkins and method players, the interface is simple, and the magical arsenal is wide enough to cater to the tastes of the most jaded spellcasters on the worldwide web.

Most roleplayers, even if they never play a single minute of EverQuest on their PC, will probably at least be familiar with the highly Elmore-esque pictures of buxom, scantly clad elven ladies gracing the boxes of the games.

Which brings us to the EverQuest Roleplaying Game Player's Handbook, Sword & Sorcery Studio's pen-and-paper version of the game. There's something . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: December 18, 2002

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