WatchGuard Sourcebook Paperback – March 23, 2012

I've been a comic geek from back when I was finally old enough to buy my first comic with my allowance (Spider-man # 121 Death of Gwen Stacy). I still read comics, but my favorite time is the Bronze Age stuff, the stuff that had Perez/Wolfman Titans, the Claremont/Byrne X-Men, Frank Miller's Daredevil, Byrne's Fantastic Four and the list goes on and on. Great stuff from that period, and this product reminds me of the best of that, when heroes were still heroes but there is a slight edge there. In this sourcebook all the heroes and villains, their world and history are all top notch. This product has standees as well, so you can copy the last page, or if you have the PDF, just print them on the right stock. I can go on and on how much I love these heroes and villains but I will just leave it with this, I love this product. There is a independent comic coming soon based on these characters and their setting...can you guess who will be one of the first to buy it? <raises hand>

I am happy to say that this sourcebook is of higher quality than the other sourcebooks that have been produced in the outsourcing of Mutants & Masterminds material beyond the game world presented by Green Ronin. The background is solid and the characters are as fun as those contained within Freedom City or Emerald City. I highly recommend this product as it provides some good characters to any campaign, for either as NPCs or as characters whose background makeup the history of any original setting.

Many excellent full page characters.A wonderfully laid out city, with plenty of plot potential.A very clean, compact presentation. It has the appearance that they started with a lot more material, then edited down to make a book filled with great stuff.I have hundreds of sourcebooks, and this is one of the best I've gotten. Highly recommended.

I must be missing something. The font is so small that the book is unreadable. You cant rotate to landscape to increase the font. You cant double tap to zoom. As it is the book is unusable...

Haven't had a chance to use it yet, but reading through has been excellent. Characters are well illustrated and have a real sense of history within the universe.

First, let me say that I was involved with this book. If you turn to the adventures, you may recognize my name. That said, this review is on the rest of the book, which includes the various character write-ups.This is the book I've looked for in this new era of gaming. When I was younger and gaming back in the '80s, an invaluable gaming resource was released under TSR's banner for the Marvel Superheroes RPG. It was the gaming companion to the Marvel Universe Handbooks and it gave gamers a plethora of useful characters to use. As a fan of the comics, and a gamemaster for the MSH RPG, I used the books beyond the weakening point of the punched holes (and even reinforced holes)and still own them to today. As I continued on gaming, which I still do to this day, I consistently sought out a book of the same caliber, hoping that another publisher would create a book in a similar format. And, after a few decades (give or take a few years), I found it in Xion Studios first previews of what would become The Watchguard Sourcebook. Fast forward a few years, and a few editions, later, and finally I hold the book in my hand. Not only does it deliver with some interesting characters and stats, it delves into the background of the universe that they belong to. Within the book, the reader gets an overview of Summity City, the campaign's city, which includes an excellent map of the city as well as a brief timeline.Th next chapter begins the 40+ write-ups for the characters, each presenting a background, notes on powers and full stats for each character. Add to that professional illustration, clean and creative design, and a fluid presentation, and you'll get lost, much like I have, within the world of The Watchguard. I urge anyone who likes a good superhero game book, or who likes comic books in general, to get a copy while you can. Join the Watchguard movement at the ground floor, for the book has all the makings of a hit RPG book. In time, I believe people will talk of this book in the same manner as they do "The Island of Dr. Apocalypse", "Strikeforce" or "Wings of the Valkyrie", all of which have been OOP for several years and yet are still coveted by the superhero gaming community. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll read through the book again for my 21st time.

WatchGuard is a fantastic sourcebook and supplement for Mutants & Masterminds. Packed full of enough heroes and villains to create a fully developed world. A must have for any MM game!

Okay, i'll start with a little disclosure: Yes i worked on this book as a play tester: If you flick to play tester my name is indeed in it. Second bit of disclosure is how i rate. An average book is 3 stars, its also where i start my ratings, going up or down from that point as necessary. Okay, now thats done, on to the review.Watchguard is a 3rd party Mutants and Masterminds sourcebook, an is at the moment completely self incaptulated (creatively speaking at least). Its a bit of a strange book in that it is a little bit of everything, containing world/setting information, local setting information (Summit City), a whole heap of hero/villain builds (with well written source information & great artwork), plus some adventure stuff in the back. Its a great pick and mix product, full of all the things needed to taste test the setting.Generally its a nice edition to my MnM library. Heck if you were just to get this book for the artwork alone, it would almost be worth the price of admission. Frankly this book puts the older champions source books to shame, with its wonderful full colour layouts & stunning art work. Its everything i could hope for in a campaign source book.