Review: The Ultimate Brick

[TheQuestionMan]

I picked up both "The Ultimate Brick" and "Reality Storm: When Worlds Collide" yesterday. I've read through "TUB" several times and really liked what I read.
The rules refinement for Objects was awesome and the section on Mass (weights of raw elements and common materials). Check it out you'll understand better.

The Interior Art was not as consistantly good a previous products and in some cases didn't have anything to do with the text.

I would havew liked to see more of the Sidebars filled with flavour. Like in "USDB". Or different examples and uses of the same Brick Tricks. Creative interpretations, etc...(you folks gave us so much and all we want is more.)

The characters are useful. Two of the Heroic ones I placed dirrectly into my own Battletech HERO campaign. I look forward to future products in the Ultimate series.

On a scale of One to Ten I'd have to give it a 8.5 (the Interior Art kept it from being a 9.5 IMOO ).

Sincearly yours

QM

[Dr. MID-Nite]

I picked up both "The Ultimate Brick" and "Reality Storm: When Worlds Collide" yesterday. I've read through "TUB" several times and really liked what I read.
The rules refinement for Objects was awesome and the section on Mass (weights of raw elements and common materials). Check it out you'll understand better.

The Interior Art was not as consistantly good a previous products and in some cases didn't have anything to do with the text.

I would havew liked to see more of the Sidebars filled with flavour. Like in "USDB". Or different examples and uses of the same Brick Tricks. Creative interpretations, etc...(you folks gave us so much and all we want is more.)

The characters are useful. Two of the Heroic ones I placed dirrectly into my own Battletech HERO campaign. I look forward to future products in the Ultimate series.

On a scale of One to Ten I'd have to give it a 8.5 (the Interior Art kept it from being a 9.5 IMOO ).

Sincearly yours

QM

There is a lot to like about The Ultimate Brick. I would have prefered a bit more info about "role playing" Brick characters, but the included information was fine on its own merits. The expanded STR table was very nice....as was the clarification of combat moves for Bricks(Grab, Haymaker, etc). The expanded objects chart had way too much Fantasy hero items and not nearly enough modern/Champions items in my opinion. The characters were decent...though I'd rather have had new characters than updated Grond and Ogre. That said....the two new Champions characters were nicely done. Der Westgote would make a fine replacement for Durak in Eurostar(seeing as how Durak is likely to be killed in my campaign). The Brick Tricks had too many repeats ffom the USPD, but what was new was certainly worthwhile. The art DID leave something to be desired. It seems the best artwork is reserved for the "main" books. Overall, I give it an 8. If the subject of Bricks isn't particularly interesting to you.....this book is probably only a 6.
Rob

[pinecone]

I just bought it today...I am bummed that there was no Dragon man....I'l get back in a few once I've read the thing...

[Hermit]

Keep the reviews coming folks. Inquiring minds want to know.

[Southern Cross]

That includes me.

[Hermit]

Got it. Glancing through it, too soon to judge.

[Enforcer84]

I put my review in the TUB thread in Company Questions but here is a spoiler

[Fedifensor]

I've had time for a quick read and it looks decent, but it seems they really shortchanged optional throwing rules. The comment, "GM's who want to use these rules should consider creating a Long-Range Throw Combat Maneuver." sums it up for me. How hard would it have been to go ahead and include such a maneuver, saving the GM some work? The page count is lighter than The Ultimate Martial Artist by 50 pages for the same price - the space was definately available.

A total of 2 pages on throwing is not enough for something so integral to bricks in comics. What's even worse is that the "realistic throwing" rules don't include the effect of air friction...not very realistic if you ask me.

The thing I'm most likely to use out of The Ultimate Brick is the Increased Damage Differentation rule - it finally gives a reason to buy a STR that doesn't have a value ending in 0, 3, 5, or 8.

From what I've read so far, I can't really rate the product higher than a 6. Sure, some of the power writeups are new and different, but it's certainly not a required suppliment for a Champions GM. The Ultimate Martial Arts proved far more useful when creating supervillains.

[pinecone]

I have read through once now...a few funny typos...I actually wrinkled my nose trying to figure out why the damage collum had (Hexes)......I would call it a good write up on bricks, the page count is light and I could see more stuff fitting in...I liked the Brick trix, but would have liked to have seen more on the "Strength projector" set out of Champions, this is how I currently build my "playable kryptonians" I would recomend it to anyone who is not in a bad financial place, worth buying, but not a "must have" the charts are very nice and will likely be the most used part...I wrote up a brick the same evening I read throgh it and I generaly don't build bricks...so take that as a recomendation......

[John515]

TUB is a really good book. Lots of good stuff. While there was a fair amount of material in it that had already been covered, I don't feel it was excessive. It helped to make the book better as whole and put various topics in the right context. It was unavoidable. The recycled artwork was a little bit of a bummer, but I also understand the realities of comissioning artwork-it ain't cheap. Thanks for keeping it reasonably priced, too. As far as the page count is concerned, I think it was adequate for the price. How much really needs to be said, anyway? TUMA needed the extra pages, because it covered a wider subject. I expect the TU Armor, and TU Energy Projector to be about the same size as TUB. Still well worth the money, though. As usual, the "fit and finish" is top-notch. I love the overall look and "feel" of the current HERO line. Keep up the good work!

John Kohn
www.superock.com

[Blue]

So far I've had limited use for the Ultimate line. TUV has been used by me for one supervillain and used by a player for one character. UMA I used twice, despite having an inordinate number of martial artist characters.

But TUB is chock full of useful things. I will definitely be getting my money's worth out of this when my campaign picks back up.

[Storn]

I think there is a glaring ommission on the object strength charts... what STR is needed to lift an object? That should have been in a column. And there is room for it.

Now I have to consult two charts, the Strength chart and the object chart. Granted, for PCs this often worked out (using Hero Designer, Metacreator or a note jotted in the corner). But for doing a villain on the fly, in the middle of combat, I don't want to have to look up more than absolutely necessary.

hey, its great ot have the expanded objects chart, I just wish it went one more step toward utilitary use.

[Hermit]

While I like it, it does feel a bit short for the cost. I mean, it shouldn't, there are a 147 pages in the darn thing, but did we need the expanded Strength table twice?

If I did not already have the UNTIL Super Powers Database, the powers and brick tricks would have really delighted me, as it was, I still found gems that I hadn't seen before elsewhere, or at least nice variations.

The options for STR damage is a good idea, and the exta notes on lifting and other aspects of strength may prove to be useful.

I like the NPC examples, Super and non. I like the fact that both Visigoth and White Rhino could be used as links to their respective contienents (North American superheroes need to travel more ). Heck, some of the heroic level ones could easily be spruced up for Champions play if one needs to.

I'd say it's not a MUST have (Unless you are a true brick nut) but it surely is a "Nice to have".

[Enforcer84]

One of my few gripes about the book is that Visgoth is considered "Less Butch" than most bricks. However, his Defenses are 25/25 with 20 resistant and he has a 24 Dex and 6 SPD. to go with 60 Str and Martial Arts. He seems a sight better than most bricks; isn't Ironclad 25/28? Admittedly, Visgoth isn't a starting character but his defenses are just as good as Ironclad's he's got higher dex, spd, and martial arts, and regeneration. Less butch indeed.

All kidding aside, I would have actually liked to see Ironclad rewritten or updated to show how he's grown in the last year. I think that that was kind of the plan with the original "ultimate" books. Seeker got updated in Watchers of the Dragon, Solitaire in The Ultimate Mentalist, and then again in the Ultimate Supermage because they couldn't decide if she was a mentalist or a magician...had they released the other Ultimate Books under 4th edition, I suspect the other Champions would have grown as well.