This unassuming booklet, the cover of which is adorned only with a quartet of bikini-clad, gun-toting babes and a giant happy-face killer robot, is an extension of the Macho Women with Guns tradition. It’s not quite as uproarious as the first book, but what is?
If you’re thinking of buying it for the humor value alone, it’s probably not worth it - it’s a bit like comparing Airplane! and Airplane! 2 - once you’ve seen the first, the second is nowhere near as funny. On the other hand, if you play MWWG on a regular basis, the scenarios in this book will be useful, whether you’re actually role-playing or just messing around with the wacky combat markers.
Inside are two full-length “adventures” (each a loosely tied-together series of reasons to kill things in an exotic setting): “Barbarians are a Drag” and “Indeterminator”. There are also four battle-only setups for killing things (no particular plot, just lots of shooting): “Man Hunt”, “Ship to Ship Mass Massacre”, “Invasion of Nazi Nurse Headquarters”, and “Vengeance”. Plus a new order for the Renegade Nuns on Wheels: The Order of Our Lady of Harley-Davidson. And finally, a solo “choose-your-own” adventure, “Showdown on Omnicron Delta IVa”. Among these, you’ll find killer robots that look like Indiana Jones, painful-sounding pieces of machinery, humorous interludes, obnoxious footnotes, sex changes, lots of dead things, and exploitative artwork.
Who could ask for anything more? Unfortunately, I could. I’m not a combat wacko, and most of these scenarios center around battle pretty much for battle’s sake. While this could be said of the system as a whole, I seem to remember the scenario in the original book having a couple of opportunities for actual role-playing written into it.
“Fun Guys from Yuggoth”, the scenario in the original book was a complex take on a well-known Mythos, with several humorous creatures (Gnarlyhotep, the surfer with a thousand toes; Yoko Uggoth, that which screams but has no voice; and ZsaZsatoth, who attacks with a ringing slap, etc.). By contrast, the scenarios in this book are flat, one-joke ponies.
“The Indeterminator” revolves around a robot from from the future which looks like Indiana Jones, sent back in time to kill all women. It’s an Indeterminator - get it? - because it isn’t very well versed in the difference between men and women. That’s pretty much it, except for the fighting. “Barbarians are a Drag” is essentially the same, content-wise.
I have to admit that the choose-your-own-adventure style of “Showdown on Omnicron Delta IVa” put me off, (having OD’d on those books in junior high), so I can’t make any kind of judgement of its plot, since I couldn’t get through much of it. It’s a fairly novel idea, though; the last solo adventures I saw were for Tunnels & Trolls .
As in the original book, there are three new character sheets, each of which parodies the sheets of an entirely different game, one of which I’m pretty sure is Nephilim, and another GURPS, but the third one doesn’t ring any bells.
Oh, and did I mention that it comes with a poster? It comes with a poster.
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This review originally appeared in Serendipity’s Circle Issue #9 - Health & Fitness. You may visit the Serendipity Circle website at http://members.aol.com/SercCircle/. Subscription information may be found on this page.
