Pan Pacifica sourcebook extended review

I was conflicted over whether to give this a 4 or 5 rating and the only reason for the "4" rating is somewhat unfair.. the torg eternity writers raised the bar so high with the outstanding Orrosh and Living Land sourcebooks (which you should absolutely purchase and read if you haven't already) that I feel like I'd be saying Pan Pacifica is as good as the two aforementioned titles if I gave it a "5" rating... but if it wasn't for that this would get a "5"... maybe I should say a 4.5 rating?

Which isn't to say this is a "bad" book by any means, as I've mentioned in my other reviews of the torg eternity cosm sourcebooks they are absolutely required reading in order to enjoy the torg eternity campaign to it's fullest.. old school Torg players in my opinion will find this to be a wonderful improvement to the original "nippon tech" sourcebook of the 1990's , superior in every way, although you don't have to be familiar with the 1990's Torg books to enjoy this by any means.  I found this book a pleasure to read, even more so than the Cyberpapacy, Aysle, Tharkold or Nile Empire sourcebooks making it my "next favorite" cosm book after Ororsh and the Living Land.

And yes there's a good reason the edeinos board member is on the front cover of the book and he has in my opinion a great write up later on in the book (I talk about him more in my review below).    

I will say I was disappointed that the sourcebook focuses on the status of Pan Pacifica one year after the initial invasion of Earth and that the contagion virus engineered by Kanawa is now assumed to be "dealt with" and removed as a danger (minus poor Taiwan, more on that below)... while I understand that Kanawa needs to present itself as an effective solution to the problems posed to Asia by said contagion I would have loved to see more attention paid to the period of time (roughly 5 or 6 months after the start of the invasion) when the contagion was a problem ... "zombified" citizens on the attack make for an exciting campaign in pan pacifica.   It is possible that the the delphi council pan pacifica adventures might go into this in more detail

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/400618/Torg-Eternity--Delphi-Missions-PanPacifica?src=hottest_filtered

and it seems that the  "Pan-Pacifica - Dr. Y and the Jiangshi & Kanawa Operations" book definitely goes into more detail on this

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/405318/Torg-Eternity--PanPacifica--Dr-Y-and-the-Jiangshi--Kanawa-Operations?src=also_purchased

(total speculation on my part since I have yet to purchase and read these titles - budget constraints :)  ) 

but I would still love to see a section of the pan pacifica sourcebook dedicated specifically to the first 5 to 6 months of the possibility wars where the contagion and it's "zombies" were a real problem.

The beginning chapter does a superb job of outlining how Kanawa's "benevolence" has allowed them to subvert and control practically all the countries in Asia with the exception of the Orgoth controlled India and neighboring countries taken by the Gaunt Man.. a frightening "big brother" level of control disguised in a way that makes it palatable to the masses.  It reads like a fascinating precursor that sets one up to the grim "cyberpunk reality" (not the Cyberpapacy , more so the cyberpunk novels and movies and TV shows we've all probably seen sooner or later).. reading it you can see how the scenario the Pan Pacifica writers present to the reader is the definite "opening stage" to this sort of grim and dark unfolding of events.

Chapter two gives plenty of new character options as far as perks/in game benefits.  Of course this being Kanawa's (that is Marketplace's) reality even if you spend perk slots to pick up the gene modification perks, there are scanners dotted throughout Pan Pacifica that can pick up on the "intellectual property theft" genes player characters and allied NPC's have "stolen" from Kanawa (though the perk when purchased does at least come with a superficial "facade" that presumably would hold up to "light" scanning so the PC isn't immediately detected).  I thoroughly enjoyed reading that, it's absolutely in the spirit of Kanawa Corporation's subtle yet evil grasp over the areas of Earth it's "stealth-conquered".

Chapter four deals entirely with power (armored) suits whether it be the electric samurai option detailed in the torg eternity core rules (but also expanded upon to some degree) or other power suit models with some nifty upgrades available if you spend perk slots.

Chapter five is devoted to martial arts and has more than enough info to let interested players (or GM's) write up appropriate martial artists based after various cultural icons.   I found the "gun fu" martial art (gives various bonuses to attacks with guns) to be a particularly unique write up and combined with the "trenchcoat" perk in chapter two (basically a homage to action movies where the protagonist seems to be practically overflowing with a supply of guns available to said protagonist) it would absolutely let a player model their PC after the appropriate type of action hero found in Hollywood.   

Also intriguing was the meshing of psionics with martial arts such that a practitioner of both can use one to enforce and strengthen the other (for power gamers out there take note that torg eternity does try to maintain some sort of game balance so not as overpowered as it sounds but still, neat).

The next chapter deals with psionics including commentary on "mutant psychics"(simply put psychics who manifest their powers naturally as opposed to those who had to be trained) who are of course viewed as both a threat and potential asset by the Kanawa corporation... I thought the datakinesis power (the psychic seizes control of a computer or computerized-type device essentially hacking it through the psychic's psionic abilities) was particularly neat.   It's worth noting some of the psionic abilities on the lists Pan Pacifica psychics can choose from are described in the Tharkold sourcebook meaning you'd need to buy that sourcebook too... but as I've mentioned in my other reviews I'm firmly of the opinion that you need to buy all the torg eternity cosm sourcebooks in order to fully enjoy and make use of the torg eternity setting to begin with.

The religion/miracles chapter was also intriguing.. basically a wealthy man named Palan from Marketplace had a spiritual awakening leading him to realize all his wealth wasn't making him happy and he walked away from it living a simple life devoid of material possessions.. when his philosophy caught on and gained in popularity among the poorer classes in Marketplace Kanawa Corporation not surprisingly saw it as a threat and publicly assassinated Palan.. this backfired turning him into a popular martyr ... Kanawa Corp then targeted and killed all Palanic priests seemingly ending the movement.. only to discover it had gone underground and has now resurfaced in core Earth's pan pacifica realm in opposition to Kanawa Corporation.   Players who want to play a Palanic priest may or may not be put off by not being able to collect lots of weapons and other gear (or to even carry money or other funds on them for that matter) given the non materialistic nature of the character but the concept and outlook is interesting enough such that players may be intrigued nonetheless especially those that focus more on the role playing aspect and less on power gaming " look at all my cool powers!" aspects of RPG's.  (worth noting that Palanic priests are also allowed to possess holy or sacred or arcane magical items as detailed in the Asyle sourcebook though given Pan Pacifica's low magic axiom there's the question of how much benefit this would be to a Palanic priest to begin with).   

There's nothing stopping Palanic priests from taking perks of the new or previously covered martial arts abilities described in this book or the Torg Eternity core rulebook and from the role playing aspect I feel the two - martial arts and Palanic miracle casting spiritual beliefs.. work in harmony with each other.   The miracles chapter also mentions Palanic priests even respect psionics as part of the "discovering one's inner self" aspect of the religion.. a psionic Palanic priest seems counter intuitive at first but the more I think about it the more it makes sense.

The next chapter on gear has a lot of new goodies for characters to purchase.. I got a huge laugh out of the explosive chewing gum but it absolutely fits the "death from unexpected quarters" feel of the Pan Pacifica cosm... two halves of the chewing gum are combined in the mouth, chewed upon, and detonate 10 seconds after being removed from your mouth.. particularly hilarious to me was the option to plaster it onto your enemy with a successful unarmed attack ("Fool, you're fighting for your life and you choose NOW to put a piece of gum in your mouth?  Perhaps you anticipate your impending death... perhaps you want to enjoy once last pleasurable sensation before.. wait, why are you putting your chewing gum on me?").. there are plenty of less hilarious but equally useful gadgets and the option to make them appear to be normal everyday objects (I also got a kick out of the fire once and done gun that can be assembled from what look to be seemingly innocent objects like a "garage door opener" , "ballpoint pen", and "interlocking plastic toys"... it immediately provoked an image of your average Kanawa agent casually rummaging around in her purse, assembling said gun and then equally casually blowing a hole through some hapless unsuspecting victim's head)

Another neat touch albeit one that gets it's full description in two different chapters is the datastack.. well aware that sensitive information can be hacked, runners with what's basically a small mini-computer dedicated to the storage of data are actually dispatched to their target audience in an attempt to make the transmission of sensitive data more secure... which again completely fits Pan Pacifica's secretive, espionage "we work in the shadows" vibe.   

The next chapter, Warzones, is always my favorite part to read for any torg eternity cosm sourcebook and pan pacifica proved to be no exception with an analysis of how Pan Pacifica's reality has altered and changed the "real life" version of the countries it has "stealth conquered" (without said countries even realizing they've been conquered and switched to Pan Pacifica's reality) .. for example China surprisingly dropping it's strict internet censorship aka the "great wall" in favor of simply adopting the same Plexus internet access Kanawa Corporation provides (which simply trades one evil for another as the censorship now comes from Kanawa not China) but it's one of many signs how heavily even China's dictatorship type government has come under Kanawa's control.

I could cite a huge number of similar examples that would balloon this review to an even longer length than it currently is but it would suffice to say that you're probably going to enjoy reading this "alternate version of earth-asia" that has changed under Pan Pacifica's reality and there's plenty here for gamesmasters to implement to truly give the "feel" of Pan Pacifica's reality for PC's who find themselves in this cosm as well as providing plenty of character idea and backgrounds for say formerly core earth PC's who have transformed over to Pan Pacifica's reality.   There's also a discussion of how closely each Asian country cooperated with Kanawa regarding the "living zombie contagion" outbreak and the consequences for dealing with said contagion.    

Particularly interesting to me was the positive impression the high lord of Pan Pacifica (though of course the Asian countries of Pan Pacifica don't recognize her as such), Reiko Kanawa, made on the very same Earth denizens she's conquering and exploiting (albeit without their knowledge), attracting kudos and praise from the Chinese government due to her "humanitarian" efforts to help victims of the Contagion to the point where China's powerful business leaders (who of course would wield a significant amount of influence in China) can't help but see Kanawa Corporation as a benevolent organization whose sole intent is to help them... of course like the rest of Asia China has no idea Kanawa engineered the Contagion precisely to be able to exploit it like this as far as cementing control over Asian countries. And of course as previously mentioned Kanawa corp has used the same tactic for all other Asian countries conquered by Kanawa Corp's reality whether it be that country's major businesses or governments, a two speared approach of conquest to arguably the two most powerful forces in any country... indeed Reiko Kanawa is described as being in control of Shanghai (one of the largest Chinese cities) businesses for all intents and purposes (the assassinations of "problematic individuals" that she orders certainly helps her here as well).

Worth noting lest readers misunderstand that the cure to the Contagion was released by someone other than Reiko and sooner than she had planned although she made sure Kanawa Corporation took credit for said breakthrough (something which the Dr Y adventure book mentioned above apparently goes into more detail about).

The fall of Taiwan and the resulting "living dead" (as in the TV show and movie) scenario there would be a fascinating area for PC's to adventure in as far as humanitarian efforts to save the beleaguered Taiwanese there and I do find myself hoping the torg eternity writers (or someone using the torg infiniverse "open license" to write their own Torg Eternity adventures) comes up with a Taiwan based campaign that not only allows Taiwan to rescue itself from said zombie outbreak but also lets them "reform" themselves as a country in staunch opposition to Pan Pacifica firmly allied with or perhaps even a part of the Delphi Council.

I was ashamed at my surprise over the next chapter on Reiko (High Lord) and the mega-corporations in that it revealed my (unintentionally) racist assumption that everyone in Reiko's home cosm was Asian although for what it's worth the Nippon Tech 1990's Torg sourcebook that was the precursor to Pan Pacifica had artwork that overwhelmingly depicted everyone as Asian (with admittedly one high ranking "second in command" to Ryuchia Kanawa being described as "euroasian" in appearance which should have told me something right there).   The mention of "Bartholomew O’Reilly" career being ruined by his five year imprisonment in Marketplace's London and the previous chapter's mention of Caucasians, Polynesians, and Aborigines from Marketplace sent to Australia as part of Kanawa Corp's stealth invasion of said country makes it abundantly clear Marketplace is more like an "alternative version" of Earth complete with earth-equivalent geography and racial/ethnic backgrounds in which all our worst fears about corporations seizing utter and complete power to the point where the masses are nothing more that resources for them to exploit have come true.

I don't want to spoil what's an enjoyable read as far as the background and personal history of the twin children who at first shared control of Kanawa Corporation (until in true Marketplace fashion Reiko screwed over her own brother Ryuchi .. some might argue he had it coming .. to take control of Kanawa Corp herself) but it absolutely captures the backstabbing, deceitful, manipulative, soulless nature of the Marketplace cosm.  Reiko is a fascinating character study and I found her far more interesting than the "original" high lord of Marketplace Ryuchi.  Her personality makes her a perfect candidate for High Lord as far as her darkness device is concerned .. she spreads the destruction and misery all darkness devices crave she just does it in a far more subtle manner than say Barak Kaah for example.   I found it very interesting that they've tied her brilliant scientific mind and expertise in genetics to the Akashan biotechnology us Torg fan's from the 1990's are so familiar with - her game stats include the use of an Akashan biotech "gravity ray" gun (damages and staggers an opponent with unlimited ammo) which brought back fond memories of the "space deities" sourcebook from 1990's Torg.

Given the rather overt effects of some of the gene mod perks.. being able to spit toxins at a victim for example.. at first one might wonder how Kanawa Corporation can possibly explain this away and continue to maintain that they are not in fact "dimensional invaders" similar to the more obvious invaders in other parts of Earth.   Kanawa's complete and utter control of the media in Pan Pacifica is certainly one way to explain this with such events being whitewashed, dismissed as a "hoax", eye witnesses killed by Kanawa assassins and so forth.. however I was also intrigued by the book's explanation as far as Kanawa investing in formerly core earth scientists (ones who are unethical enough to suit Kanawa's mindset of course) who have transformed to Marketplace's reality (possibly without even being aware of said transformation)  and nudging them towards "breakthroughs" of scientific theories they've already been working on which in fact turn out to be nothing more than technology already in existence in Marketplace's home cosm.. or to put it another way with some brilliant Earth scientist proudly declaring an extension and improvement of her previously published and established work on genetic modifications has borne fruit thanks to "the generous funding of Kanawa corporation" and Kanawa allowing this to become public knowledge the venom spitting genetically modified human becomes more believable as a "core earth" technological advancement.

I enjoyed the write up of Ryuchi Kanawa whom old school 1990's Torg fans will remember as the original High Lord of what the Torg Eternity team refers to as the Pan Pacifica realm, powerful in his own way but definitely not nearly as powerful as his sister, defeated by his own vices, and delusional in that he seriously considers himself a candidate for High Lord, unaware that the Darkness Device of this realm doesn't even rate him as worth consideration for such a role.

Also very enjoyable was the write up of the underlings most vital to Reiko's ongoing conquest-of-Earth efforts.   This review would become even longer than it is already if I was to detail why I enjoyed each underling's write up but I got a huge kick out of "Len, edeinos board member".   At first it seems nonsensical.. why would a savage, live-for-the-moment edeinos find himself a valued member of the Kanawa Corporation?  To me this is the writers' (successful in my opinion) attempt to embody the "predator and prey, winner take all, show no mercy, greed profit and exploitation above all, law of the jungle" aspect of capitalism which Len embodied without realizing it back in the Living Land to the point where his enraged fellow tribe members, tired of Len's hoarding and backstabbing ways, demanded Len be killed.  The tribe's leader instead assigned Len to go look for treasure in realms conquered by other cosms, assuming this effective banishment of Len would do the trick.  Len the edeinos realized he had truly "come home" when he arrived in Pan Pacifica and proved to be a natural candidate for Pan Pacifica's cutthroat capitalistic maneuverings.   Obviously Len has transformed over to the Pan Pacifica reality but I was disappointed that the writers didn't provide stats for Len.

The next chapter on axioms and world laws was a fun read for me as has been the case for all other torg cosm sourcebooks... there's a great write up of the "tech axiom limits part 2, biotechnology" which is meant to act as a supplement to the same rules in the torg eternity core rulebook and it's particularly appropriate given high lord Reiko's use of and research into biotechnology.    Page 107 mentions at the tech level 24 that the marketplace cosm (and thus the pan pacifica realm on Earth) operates at, aging is slowed to the point where reaching an age of 200 years old is common.   This raises a question for for me that has been sort of hinted at but not always outright stated in the various torg cosm sourcebooks.. how old are the high lords and their most valued henchmen?  I do remember the old 1990's Torg rules flat out mentioning that darkness devices can use the possibility energy they drain to slow the aging of high lords and any underlings the high lords choose to enjoy the same benefit, but if memory serves me correctly this isn't specifically mentioned in the torg eternity books though reference is made say to the Gaunt Man being around for who knows how long?   Some commentary on this from the torg eternity writers would be welcome although I'm sure GM's interested in this topic can just "hand wave" it and assume the darkness devices have this additional anti-aging power that it can confer in situations where the world axioms or some other explanation isn't offered.

I also found myself a bit confused about how much Reiko's darkness device has revealed to Reiko about possibility energy, axioms and so forth for that matter.. the book does mention the darkness device disguises itself as nothing more than "advanced technology", a sort of supreme artificial intelligence but to me this just confuses the matter.   With a Mind score well above the normal human maximum and her written description as being a brilliant mastermind,  I find myself thinking even if Reiko's darkness device hasn't bothered to tell her this that Reiko could figure it out for herself but again more exposition on the part of the writers would have been nice.

The world laws explanations also explain why Kanawa Corporation was able to maintain a "stealth invasion" such that it can plausibly deny that they're invaders in the first place.  People and objects transform gradually not suddenly to Marketplace reality (a computer subtly upgrading itself over an extended period of time for example to Pan Pacifica's tech level 24) and even reality storms becoming muted pools of mist or fog to the point where one might not even realize they're in the midst of one until it's too late compared to the far more dramatic and obvious reality storms seen in other torg eternity products.   

Another interesting point, but one I wish had been expanded upon further, is Kanawa Corporation being able to use their higher tech axiom to more efficiently product tech 23 (that is Core Earth) weapons to supply to Core Earth areas fighting the other realms' dimensional invaders, which makes sense - Reiko would want the other cosms weakened and also makes a profit off such sales boosting Pan Pacifica's power.   The book mentions this makes Pan Pacifica "the arsenal of core earth" given the understandable disruption to production in core earth areas due to the dimensional invaders.

The question this raises though is what is the reaction of nations who realize that Pan Pacifica is overseen by Reiko's dimensional invaders from Marketplace?  Do they buy the weapons from Pan Pacifica out of desperation, possibly knowing full well that it would be easy for Kanawa Corporation to place bugs or other "trackers" in the weapons feeding information on their users to Kanawa Corporation?   Or do they take the arguably more dangerous route of dealing with a scarcity of weapons while fighting dimensional invaders from other cosms?  For that matter which nations believe Quinn Sebastian's assertion that Pan Pacifica has been invaded and which don't? (the book makes it clear the member nations of Pan Pacifica don't believe this at all but what about outside of Pan Pacifica?)   It seems a given that members of the Delphi Council whether PC's or allied NPC's would accept Quinn's assertion and evidence he is said to have provided as fact but what about the rest of the world?  I would have liked to see the book go into more detail about this.

A GM who had players write up Pan Pacifica characters in part because of their love for the Law of Vengeance will also have disappointed players on the GM's hands since the book has done away with the Law of Vengeance - even non Pan Pacifica PC players might be disappointed this and the game effects that go with it are gone.  I think GM's should take a poll of the players and if the consensus is in favor of keeping the law of vengeance the GM should just "hand wave it" and say that Deiko's darkness device in an unprecedented show of power managed to implement the Law of Acquisition AND keep the law of vengeance around.   

One neat aspect of Pan Pacifica's world laws in true capitalistic "acquire all assets" fashion is the ability to "borrow" higher axioms from other cosms (albeit geared towards only a particular category of tools or concepts), allowing Reiko's biotech gene mods and other biotech to function at tech level 25 despite Kanawa's tech axiom level of 24...  and to even replace world laws inherent to Marketplace's (and thus Pan Pacifica's) cosm with world laws from other realities.  Personally as a GM I would alter this to Reiko's darkness device being able to introduce and propagate world laws from other cosms that work side by side with Pan Pacifica's world laws instead of replacing them entirely.  Obviously GM's should tread carefully here given the dramatic effect "importing" world laws can have on gameplay not to mention world laws that disrupt the subtle nature of Marketplace's reality such that people Kanawa has otherwise fooled start to suspect they've been invaded.

The next chapter deals with the themes of stories (adventures) set within Pan Pacifica and how to run them and confirms what I said in my opening paragraphs above - in Torg Eternity while corporate espionage, backstabbing, power plays in the dark and subtlety plays as much of a role in Pan Pacifica as it did in the Nippon Tech sourcebook from 1990's Torg, there's undeniably a "cyberpunk" element (with genemods replacing cyberware in a sense) where large overly powerful corporations control the masses, individual rights are diminished (so far on a scale subtle enough that most people are unaware of Marketplace's dimensional invasion/takeover but it's absolutely headed towards what anyone would recognize as the dystopian setting of a cyberpunk novel) and outlying "street punks" mount their own meager resistance against said powerful corporations.

This chapter also mentions that interestingly enough instead of provoking reactions of fear or hatred (not uncommon given that dimensional invaders set on conquering, enslaving and/or killing earth residents can result in a general Core Earth feeling of " if it doesn't look human it's a threat!") dwarves, elves, humans and aspirants (technically technodemons from Tharkold but ones who have turned their back on their inherently evil natures and choose to fight it) have been featured often enough on television to the point that in Pan Pacifica by the end of year one of the invasion .. the era Pan Pacifica covers and assumes is the default state in it's description of the Pan Pacifica realm.. that people are more likely to react to said races with curiosity than fear making Pan Pacifica the area they're most likely to not attract hostile attention.   

For humor's sake as a GM I would have such hapless non human PC's be the target of countless requests for "selfies" and other photo shoots from the average citizen in the areas they're traveling through... it's entirely possible the player may say "no" trying to keep a low profile on whatever mission they're on allowing a GM to ramp up the humor when said average citizen tries to quietly snap a picture of the non human PC when the PC isn't looking (I would allow a Perception check to see if the photographer is spotted)... this could quickly go sideways if the PC gets violent (hopefully something the PC wouldn't sink to given the heroic nature  PC's are expected to have based on the description from the torg eternity core rulebook alone.. see my review of the Aysle cosm sourcebook for some thoughts on this) even if they limit themselves to destroying the camera... as a GM I would make sure some camera hidden from view was planted close by (I would give the PC's a chance to see the camera but make the difficulty number so high as to be practically impossible) ... the PC's just happened to be in an area Kanawa Corporation was keeping under surveillance for whatever reason and sure enough damning media footage of the bullying PC is aired and a negative media blitz is aimed at the PC's damaging their persuasion and other skill interaction attempts in Pan Pacifica (penalties to the skill check like say -4) for a while when dealing with persons who would react negatively to such things (even fellow storm knights who understand why the PC didn't want pictures of said PC floating around might view the PC's as "loose cannons" who don't understand the importance of secrecy and subtlety in Pan Pacifica and become more reluctant to help the PC's).

The next chapter, a closer look at the Delphi Council, has tended to be hit or miss for me as far as how much I enjoy the read and I found this chapter to be a collection of "hits" and "misses".  I understand why the Delphi Council has to undertake a subtle resistance given the world laws but it came across to me as so subtle as to be, much as I hate to say it, somewhat boring with some notable exceptions (see below), and the named delphi council agents really didn't stand out as being that interesting to me with the exception of Hachi Mari Two and that was mainly because of the nostalgia factor given her original presence in the 1990's Torg books and the very interesting twist the writers put on her, the presence of her clone sister who betrayed her and her other clone sisters causing all but Mari Two to die and then promptly joining the enemy, Kanawa Corporation, and rising to become one of Kanawa's most brilliant scientists and assets.. that and the hatred the two sisters have for one another is admittedly something of a trope we've seen in other works of fiction but still something I enjoyed reading.   My usual complaint about the lack of stats provided for important delphi council members applies here as well (as with other torg cosm sourcebooks there are no stats).

Operation Eris was an interesting read for me in this chapter given Pan Pacifica's world law of intrigue and the inevitable betrayals and back-stabbings by traitors that pop up in any organization... storm front is a rival organization opposed to the delphi council that, if memory serves me correctly, has more of a write up in either the torg eternity core rulebook or the living land cosm sourcebook (maybe both?) .. but basically they feel the delphi council's approach of refilling hapless transformed earth residents with possibility energy by spreading tales of glory such that they can survive stelae being ripped out is a hopeless task that will inevitably hand victory directly to the high lords and take the much simpler (and brutal) approach of ripping out stelae and letting transformed earth residents die in the process without bothering to spread tales of glory.   That in and by itself is an interesting plot-line.   Operation Eris involves the delphi council agent Jayne Campbell.. a formerly amoral mercenary who made the decision to save innocents instead of allying with attacking high lord agents and consequently transcended into a storm knight, not a stormer, during her moment of crisis.. still (presumably) has a known history and reputation for her cold hearted mercenary ways that earns her the respect of persons who still follow that mercenary way of thinking.  Jayne uses Delphi Council funds to pay off mercenary stormers to act as "double agents" who freely commit the evil acts Kanawa Corporation pays them to do but also funnel information about Kanawa Corporation back to the Delphi Council, effectively allowing the stormer to collect two paychecks (as a reminder from the core rules, a stormer is an individual who becomes possibility rated during a moment of crisis who makes a decision for "evil" or "destruction" rather than "good" or "creation" during said moment of crisis and presumably follows the selfish path they've chosen there afterwards).   It's pointed out that the delphi council doesn't hold it against storm knights who end up killing "spy-stormers" in the process of the storm knights fulfilling a mission since it wouldn't do much good to reveal the stormer's "spy" identity given the law of intrigue (the more people who know the more likely the information is to be leaked) and of course the "spy stormer" isn't going to hesitate to kill a delphi agent anyways.

I also enjoyed the write up of the various "lone wolves" movements that get around the law of intrigue by keeping their numbers small for the most part... the dragon dogs, formed as a reaction to Kanawa Corporation seeing psychics as a threat to be killed or brutally controlled who (obviously) use their powers in opposition to Kanawa Corp... rather effectively at that with telepathy allowing them to weed out intruders, precognition helping them avoid discovery and capture and kinesis for the inevitable fight with Kanawa forces that breaks out; the electric samurai which is definitely one of the cooler concepts in the book, persons favoring the martial arts and/or swordplay who have captured and modified Kanawa Corporation powered armored suits and use said suits and their martial prowess to fight Kanawa Corporation while following a samurai's code of ethics; the ghost syndicates, smaller remnants of the Yakuza and Triad organized crime families whose power was broken by Kanawa Corporation and who thirst for revenge (though obviously they're not the most trustworthy allies); the Phantom Tiger Organization, a business for hire that combines Taoist religion based exorcism services, martial arts abilities and skilled use of a shotgun for hire which dates back to the year 2011 well before the Possibility Wars began on Earth (that is the dimensional invaders from other cosms arriving on Earth); and the aforementioned earlier on in my review priests of Palan.  Regrettably for the most part there's no example stats for these groups.. hopefully someone using the torg eternity infiniverse open license will write up a sourcebook for one or more of them.

The next chapter, threats, had gospog entries that were an absolute joy to read although the rest of the entries, various common NPC foes, while appropriate to the Pan Pacifica cosm were a less interesting read for me followed by robotic drone servants of Kanawa Corp that were an enjoyable read (the disguised "look like real birds" avian assassins with their poison payloads and briefcase bots - an unassuming briefcase unfolds into a functional robot that defends it's owner - were particularly interesting).  Also very enjoyable was the "Pan pacifica flavored" nightmare (that mimics a video game creator sucked into his own creation that targets, corrupts and kills players) that not surprisingly popped up given that the Pan Pacifica realm borders the Orrosh realm on the appropriate conquered parts of Earth.   

Reiko Kanawa has no intent of using the Gaunt Man's "gifts" of gospog shock troops nor the Gaunt Man's dimthread trees and their ability to create "teleportation portals" linked between said trees thanks to a healthy distrust of the Gaunt Man, instead choosing to use her scientific expertise in genetic engineering to modify the gospog seeds into the Contagion and then having Kanawa Corp step in as Asia's saviors when the "living zombies" resulted from said Contagion.   Much to Reiko's surprise (and displeasure when she found herself unable to gain control of nor genetically reproduce them - she's trying to "cover" for this by assuring the other high lords it was "her plan all along" for this to happen) the Contagion has still resulted in uncontrolled mutations in turn creating it's own form of gospog native to Pan Pacifica and I found their write up to be truly unique and inspired especially given they're the result of a contagious disease as opposed to the standard "plant dead bodies in a specially prepared field and watch them grow into gospog" approach.

As a fan of the 1990's Torg books I also appreciated the tie in to the virus that the Akashan space-faring race desperately needed help with.. much like the 1990's books, the virus results in a "hive mind" among the gospog allowing them to at the very least identify who's a gospog and who isn't and, I would assume, allowing them to even coordinate a mounted attack among themselves.  The fact that they're uncontrolled and just as likely to attack Kanawa Corporation forces is to me a very neat wrinkle in the gospog concept.

The "first generation" of gospog are your typical "living zombie, infect others to become living zombies" die within 24 hours types that have much more difficulty spreading their disease thanks to the aforementioned cure introduced by storm knight forces.

The "second generation" of gospog has the (presumably) psionic ability to hypnotize it's victims into standing still, gazing transfixed at the face of a beloved, dead, family member or friend or lover or the like while the gospog attacks the hapless victim.

The "third generation" of gospog are plant like in nature much like certain gospog from other realms with a nasty surprise... while PC storm knights are protected from this due to being reality rated when killed said gospog erupt into a spray of thorns that infects ords within 100 meters turning them into gospog as well.   One question I wish the book had addressed however is whether or not the cure to the virus that stops people from being turned into 1st generation gospog also protects a hapless Ord from this presumably new strain of the virus.

The fourth generation, Jiangshi, were already mentioned in the torg eternity core rules... reality rated victims (or victims who had the potential to become reality rated should they have lived) becoming muscular versions of first generation gospog with the ability to jump longer distances.

"fifth generation" gospog are, of course, more powerful stats wise in terms of physical combat than previous generation gospog but also have the nasty ability of being able to flat out steal possibilities a hapless PC would otherwise use to heal said PC's damage and add it to the gospog's possibility pool - as one might imagine these gospog are always possibility rated.

The sixth generation (the first instance I've ever seen of a 6th gen gospog and a very neat concept) ties in neatly to the "giant raging monster" concept so popular in Japanese fiction.   In this case a 30 foot tall constantly shifting and mutating in a way that aids it's defense, very strong (19 Strength!) being that on top of everything else can steal possibilities a PC is using to attack this monstrosity (and like the 5th generation gospog is always possibility rated).

A lot of the other threats are NPC's skilled and specialized in different areas to cause problems for the player character storm knights.  Their write ups made sense given the nature of Pan Pacifica, ranging from subtle hackers to combat oriented Kanawa Corporation security forces.   The robot opponents were also a fun read, for example robotic birds practically indistinguishable from their living counterparts who go so far as to disguise themselves in flocks of "real" birds and then dive bomb to deliver a poisoned attack, or the briefcase-bot that looks like a briefcase at first but unfolds into a robot complete with gun and perfectly capable of threatening your average beginning (not beta level or higher) storm knight.

The eternity shards chapter to me actually seemed to be the most appropriate fit to the Pan Pacifica realm compared to the similar chapters in other torg eternity sourcebooks.. GM's will have to decide what they want to do with the marketplace "credit card" (considered an archaic and outmoded form of currency but still granting bonuses to acquisition roles to acquire weapons, armor, tools or other assets the PC's might require) ... I understand why the writers have the credit card steal a possibility from the wielder each time it's used, presumably it's for game balance reasons so the PC's don't end up hoarding too many things that will make them too powerful but it severely limits the usefulness of the eternity shard in my opinion.   I find myself wondering if a reality test instead starting at DC 10 then increasing by 1 each time the card is used in order to not have the card steal a possibility might be a better option.   A badge once worn by one of the very rare security guards from the marketplace cosm who actually cares about marketplace citizens and tries to protect them from exploitation by the corporations of marketplace (and whom not surprisingly are killed off by the corporations in question or otherwise rendered ineffective) complete with a bullet lodged in it from presumably some corporate minion that grants possibilities to martial arts wielders who would normally have to drain their own personal pool of possibilities was also an intriguing write up (though of course like all possibility shards it has a finite number of possibilities that get used up).

Overall I enjoyed this book.. a lot.  It's absolutely worth the purchase price.

even more extended review.. yep believe it or not I've got even more to say in addition to what I mentioned above.. kudos to you if you're still reading this and you got this far :) ... my reviews are this long only because I enjoy the torg eternity products so much and hopefully after reading this you'll come to the same conclusion I did, that this book is a must-buy.

Please note that when I say "also fascinating" and "also interesting" I am in no way shape or form saying I admire the Kanawa corporation in real life.  Rather I'm trying to drive home the point that the writers have done a brilliant job of marrying what we see in everyday "real life" Earth to a frightening fictional reality that is all the more frightening because it builds upon what we see in everyday real life.. a reality that could consume real life earth were the appropriate circumstances present.  There's a lot of talk about the disproportionate power corporations wield here in real life earth.. the Pan Pacifica sourcebook gives birth to the concept of "what would happen if corporations REALLY got out of hand and seized control of everything?" .. the difference here being it's a single corporation rather than the rival ones you'd find in say your average cyberpunk work of fiction but the entertainment value is still the same.. just as we enjoy a good horror movie or book because it scares us, so too can we enjoy the Pan Pacifica sourcebook in the same way while also letting it serve as a sobering reminder of what happens when we yield too much power to corporations.  

Given Kanawa's brilliant strategy.. manufacturer a disaster via the virus that turns plague carriers into "living zombies".. and then supplying the solution to said disaster it's not surprising that one government after another... North and South Korea, Japan, surprisingly enough China 

(Kanawa Corp, presumably, just made a point of letting said disaster get so bad the Chinese government felt it had no choice but to accept Kanawa's help.. and effectively resulting in Kanawa influencing decisions in this and all the other mentioned countries to the point where anything against Kanawa's interests is effectively nullified.. )

as well as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand.   The timeline on page 17 was, as with the other torg realm sourcebooks, fun to read as far as listing which countries initially refused then finally accepted Kanawa's assistance and on what dates as well as other significant events during year one of the invasion.

Of course in true Kanawa "subtle power behind the throne" style Kanawa makes a point of quietly exerting said government influence in a fashion not too overt.. that is unless you are say a crusading reporter or civil rights activist which means you're putting your life in danger, speaking of which...

Also very interesting was a description of the other subtle means Kanawa's assumed control of the aforementioned countries referred to collectively as "Pan Pacifica" (which is the name the collective of countries has given itself in the campaign setting)... Kanawa's tech surge has resulted in robots taking humans' jobs but said humans qualify for Kanawa sponsored welfare... persons who are unemployed get food, shelter and enough money to get absolute basic needs met but while it's better than starving it's not a pleasant existence... of course since this is Kanawa we're talking about even this level of assistance comes with a price.   

If you accept this kind of help from Kanawa you're expected to either serve as a test subject for their experiments (see the bit on genetic engineering below) or to accept employment if Kanawa offers it which of course also cements Kanawa's control over the countries of Pan Pacifica as well as providing Kanawa with a steady source of labor and potential operatives that might otherwise have been overlooked (say a brilliant but financially poor high school student who could be fast tracked into a career as a Kanawa scientist or a financially impoverished person who has the makings of a good soldier who could be recruited into Kanawa's security forces ) ...and of course they're expected to buy from Kanawa owned only organizations, live in areas owned by the Kanawa corporation and even watch only entertainment channels owned by Kanawa, further increasing Kanawa's profits not to mention effectively enslaving persons on Kanawa's version of a welfare system.  Of course no one is interested in criticizing this publicly, either because you're on Kanawa's welfare system and don't want to endanger the meager benefits you're currently receiving, or because you're "everyone else".. someone who's seen what it's like being on said welfare system and will do anything, ANYTHING to keep that Kanawa corporation job you're working at (note as well there are many corporations quietly and privately owned by Kanawa).

....given Kanawa's interest in genetic engineering to the point where it's not unusual to see someone in public view with said genetic engineering plainly visible... and yes this can give you in game benefits provided you buy the appropriate perks for it using experience points, something the sourcebook goes into more detail about in chapter two.. but the impact on entertainers in Pan Pacifica is also fascinating - you now have say a J-pop singer literally descending with spread wings singing to their adoring audience or say a K-pop singer genetically engineered to be a literal mermaid singing to their audience.  

Strangely enough while the mermaid gene mod is described in chapter two the wings mod is not but I imagine a GM could simply use the Vav Razor Wings occulttech stats on pages 59 and 63 of the tharkold sourcebook as far as stats for game use of the mod, cost, and tech level (interestingly enough genemods are described as requiring tech level 25 yet still function within pan pacifica's tech 24 axiom/reality).   Mind you it's entirely possible this was a deliberate omission on the part of the writers in that a PC or even NPC flying around on wings really doesn't fit with the dark, subtle, "in the shadows" nature of Pan Pacifica and is best left to say "flashy" NPC entertainers quietly paid off by Kanawa Corporation to help keep the masses enthralled and obedient.

Also fascinating is the way Pan Pacifica's entertainment industry has stepped in to fill the void it mentions exists in what used to be America's Hollywood with the Living Land's invasion of the USA effectively bringing Hollywood (and the production of movies) to an end.. as most readers know even if you're not a fan of anime, J-pop or K-pop they are absolutely popular exports into American culture in "real life" as far as entertainment .. the writers are no doubt aware of this which makes this aspect of the campaign setting even more fascinating.. another example of art imitating life.   The more benevolent uses of genetic engineering (which of course still further Kanawa's goals in terms of presenting them as a benevolent organization) include genetic engineering that allows a transgender man or woman to fully adopt the gender they were meant to be born into in a way superior to what core earth technology surgeries and drugs can provide and the effective removal of what would normally cause one to be physically handicapped.

Given Kanawa's well publicized "humanitarian efforts" to combat the contagion and given we see celebrities in real life appearing in commercials to encourage people to donate to various charities, we have another "art initiating life" instance where celebrities advocated for countries who were suffering from the contagion and "living zombie" outbreak to accept Kanawa's offer of using it's own corporate security forces to put down said living zombies as opposed to relying on any given country's government (military, police) forces (page 7 of the book first paragraph if you're looking for the specific reference) as well as pundits who were presumably equally popular.. in "real life" celebrities and pundits on say YouTube can exert an enormous amount of influence so we have yet another example of the writers using real life in a brilliant (in my opinion) fashion to drive home just how easily a corporation like Kanawa can take control of the masses.   Although the book doesn't say so one would assume these are celebrities and pundits within their respective countries advocating on Kanawa's behalf to their countries.  Although the book doesn't say so but given it's Kanawa we're talking about one would assume said celebrities either were flat out bribed with an enormous amount of money or promised an increase to their fame with Kanawa working behind the scenes to say get a celebrity a movie deal or managing their form of the "internet" Kanawa has utter control over to "push" viewers towards say a YouTube pundit increasing said you-tuber's number of views and thus fame and profitability.

Kanawa has instituted it's own version of the "internet", vastly superior to real life "core earth's" internet (which makes connecting to it using core earth computers problematic) but also, of course, firmly under Kanawa's control.  Anything on Kanawa's version of the internet, referred to as the Plexus and what for all intents and purposes serves as the internet for the aforementioned countries making up the Pan Pacifica alliance, is tilted to show Kanawa in a positive light, never negative, complete with news stories or other sources of information being altered or omitted accordingly - basically you only see and hear what Kanawa wants to to see and hear.   In a skillful "public relations" movement citing the dangers of the cyberpapacy and tharkold using internet access to attack, convert and or control the populace, Kanawa touted the Plexus as being a secure and safer alternative.   Particularly sinister is Kanawa's announcement to extend it's "superior" version of the internet to the entire world which of course would further Kanawa's influence (although one would assume this would only work in areas that can support Kanawa's tech axiom of 24... one point above core earth's 23 tech axiom and of course if Kanawa agents succeed in planting stelae in a core earth region and converting it to Kanawa's reality this is easily explained away as Kanawa's technological brilliance being "gifted" to the area being invaded). 

Of course Kanawa wants people in Pan Pacifica (and presumably yet to be conquered other areas of Earth) to have easy access to the Plexus so free cell phones are made available to those who can't afford it.. of course given this is Kanawa we're talking about said cell phones (called "zuzu"'s) monitor everything the user does and reports it back to Kanawa in a way that probably makes say google look like an amateur by comparison.    Furthermore given that all currency is handled electronically in Pan Pacifica persons without said phones find it impossible to buy anything, effectively forcing them to submit to Kanawa's control.   The sourcebook does mention that on the streets and in remote villages barter is used instead to conduct financial transactions.

In an example of art imitating life, those who have watched real life news reports about Taiwan are aware of China "flexing it's muscles" and trying to intimidate Taiwan into submitting to Chinese rule.    In the Pan Pacifica sourcebook Taiwan has no interest in bowing to either Kanawa or China's rule.. and pays the price with Taiwan's government and society basically collapsing as the contagion of "living zombies" eventually overwhelms the country.. which makes it a great area for "zombie outbreak" type adventures.   As the book mentions in the warzones chapter and thanks to Kanawa Corp. quietly and deliberately making sure the zombie-creating Contagion spread even further in Taiwan after said country's declaration that they wouldn't accept Kanawa's "help" (i.e. control)  the tragic fall of Taiwan only serves to reinforce Kanawa's rule over the other aforementioned countries further.. or to put it another way thanks to Kanawa's control over the media and the spin Kanawa is putting on events they only need look at what happened to Taiwan to be intimidated into continuing to accept Kanawa's influence lest a future outbreak should occur.

In real life Taiwan is well known as the major supplier of the semiconductors (CPU's and so forth) without which technology (not just computers which would be disastrous enough but also, cars, phones and anything else "computerized" enough to rely on said chips) would essentially collapse.. see this time magazine article for an explanation

https://time.com/6219318/tsmc-taiwan-the-center-of-the-world/

while the pan pacifica sourcebook doesn't come right out and say this, and while countries that would normally rely on supplies of semiconductors purchased from Taiwan are too busy worrying about their own dimensional invaders in their respective countries to be concerned about this (which in turn would imply things like say new computers, cars and/or phones are now impossible to come by given the collapse of Taiwan if you're living in say a core earth area of earth which would normally rely heavily on such things making the existing computers/cars/phones all the more precious and scarce ), one would assume that Kanawa has filled the void with their own brand of CPU's and other semiconductors for the countries in Pan Pacifica.. of course said Kanawa controlled CPU's and the technology it's placed inside would be firmly under Kanawa's control.    

Given how firmly Kanawa has established control of Pan Pacifica using methods that no doubt would have guaranteed success even if said countries had not already been converted to Marketplace's (the name of the cosm controlled by Kanawa that has imposed it's reality onto what used to be core earth's reality) reality, it's not surprising that when Quinn Sebastian finally felt he'd gathered enough evidence to put forth what he thought was a convincing case that the Kanawa corporation were themselves a dimensional invader, the countries making up Pan Pacifica scoffed at and dismissed out of hand Quinn and the Delphi Council's "preposterous claims" , writing it off as the Delphi Council being jealous of the prosperity and protection Kanawa was providing to said countries.    The Torg Eternity core earth rulebook mentions this as well but thanks to the in depth look I just described that the Pan Pacifica sourcebook details it's far easier to see now why Kanawa remains fully in power over Pan Pacifica despite what would normally be a damning statement by the Delphi Council.

Also fascinating was the Pan Pacifica sourcebook's flat out declaration that birth control is so readily available in the invader's cosm, Marketplace, that unplanned pregnancies simply do not exist.  The book doesn't go into detail as to how much this gets implemented in the Pan Pacifica areas on earth under control of Kanawa corporation, but if it was myself gamesmastering the campaign I would flat out tell the players (especially characters who hail from Pan Pacifica and/or characters who migrated over from Marketplace to fight the Kanawa corporation) that advanced methods of birth control have become so readily available (read "free" and "easily implemented") that any teenager interested in doing so with access to the Plexus can discretely make an appointment at a Kanawa sponsored clinic, have some sort of pregnancy-preventing implant put in whether the teenager is male or female , and basically have the Kanawa corporation guarantee that word never gets back to the teenager's parents.. this would be combined with targeted information campaigns transmitted to the teenagers (who would almost certainly have the kanawa Zuzu cell phone ... anyone who has a teenage child knows said child spends a lot of time on their cell phones) that quietly warn about the difficulties of unplanned pregnancies and give a safe, discrete way to protect yourself against this sort of thing.  of course given this is the Kanawa corporation we're talking about one would assume the implant also serves as a monitoring device and a bomb of sorts that can be set off effectively killing the teenager in some sort of chain reaction that looks like death due to natural causes should said teenager grow up to become someone who acts counter to Kanawa's interests. I realize I just wrote up an incredibly grim and frightening scenario there and I would also as GM make sure the players aren't too disturbed by that scenario in real life to the point where the game becomes uncomfortable for them to play but I would argue this fits perfectly with Kanawa's sinister, merciless profit and exploitation of the masses above all sort of motivation.

The book also mentions interestingly enough that Marketplace has no interest in what people do in their spare time as long as it doesn't work counter to the effects of the Kanawa corporation... I've already mentioned the gene engineering available to transgender people above but this makes Marketplace strangely enough very progressive compared to say real life core earth where transgender rights have increasingly and depressingly come under attack (at least here in my home country, America, I can't comment on other countries because I don't know what's going on as far as transgender rights over there).    

I'm going to quote from page 14 of the book here.. "Even though Marketplace is ruled by plutocrats, they recognize the worth that diversity in sex, gender, sexual orientation, neurology, and

disabilities provide."    Putting my GM hat here I would read this to translate to "Marketplace.. and the Kanawa corporation.. has no interest in interfering with any of the above areas since they've discovered the wide and varying aspects that manifest in an individual can result in profitability to the Kanawa corporation that would otherwise be overlooked."   So when the book says that for example persons who choose not to have their physical handicap genetically engineered away are given full accommodations at the workplace that let them function at their full capacity .. or as the book says "Although it may seem contradictory for the mega-corporations to spend resources in this way, they have done the cost-benefit analysis and accommodations allow those who have disabilities to fully provide their labor. Otherwise, as long as the choices a person makes do not significantly harm others (or more importantly, threaten the mega-corporation power structure) they are free to do as they like.".. 

I would add to that "The Kanawa corporation has discovered through past experiences that persons who are strong willed enough to choose not to have their physical handicap gene-engineered away and consider it to be part of their identity make incredibly valuable assets who make loyal, highly effective Kanawa operatives thanks to the aforementioned strength of will.. far better to do what it takes to make sure they serve Kanawa faithfully than to have someone with that potent force of will working against the Kanawa corporation or even worse transcending into a storm knight."   

Of course there's absolutely nothing stopping say a physically handicapped PC or PC allied NPC from discovering the hard way the "deal with the devil" they've gotten themselves into, quitting the Kanawa Corporation in disgust and going over to the Delphi Council.. or in true Marketplace law of intrigue fashion working as a double agent quietly funneling information to the Delphi Council.    Similar arguments could be made for a transgender person who has no interest in gene-engineering to physically adopt the gender they identify with.   And of course Marketplace doesn't care in the slightest about same-sex relationships between genders (LGBT), Marketplace is far more interested in what can you do to further the Kanawa corporation's profitability.   

The book also mentions that even with the contagion "living zombie" virus now considered to be more or less under control in Pan Pacifica , Kanawa security forces are now thoroughly immeshed within the police forces of Pan Pacifica who are being trained by Kanawa security "consultants" in the use of non lethal "electroshock" weaponry and who are increasingly adopting said weapons instead of the "old fashioned guns and bullets".   Of course this only serves to further cement Kanawa's control over Pan Pacifica along with the "Nameless" surveillance system implemented in Tokyo (where the Kanawa corporation successfully argued it would serve as a way to control future contagion outbreaks given Tokyo's successful track record of being the city able to repel the contagion) where all security cameras and zuzu phones can be tapped into , in theory to monitor for future outbreaks and allowing Kanawa Corporation to quickly mobilize and deploy it's forces to contain said outbreaks.. of course this also gives Kanawa an immense amount of control over Tokyo in a true "big brother is watching" fashion and Kanawa no doubt plans on rolling the "Nameless" surveillance system out to other areas as well.. 

Chapters two and three were an enjoyable read for me in that the character perk options provided there make the pan pacifica sourcebook a real treat to read in comparison to the original 1990's Nippon Tech book character options which were so close to "real life Earth" advantages that it at times seemed a bit boring in comparison to the more exotic other cosms invading Earth (though of course as someone who focuses on the role playing / getting into character aspect more than the "power gaming" part of RPG's this still would have been perfectly acceptable as a player  if my character concept just seemed better suited to what at the time was called Nippon Tech reality).     Between genemods, armored power suits, new psionic rules and some truly intriguing perks that make even PC's who don't rely on genemods or psionics (I particularly enjoyed reading the revised speed demon perk that gives say an electric samurai riding say a motorcycle +4 to damage on melee attacks made while the motorcycle is moving at speed value 11 or higher ...I imagine this would incur a multiaction penalty but is still highly cinematic and very much in keeping with the "martial arts movie" aspect of pan pacifica).

The only quibble I have other than an explanation of the wings gene mod as mentioned above would be a bit more explanation of the songbird gene mod.. while I imagine players would be primarily interested in the mod's ability to let you mimic other being's voices or animal sounds the "gives a great singing voice" part would be of interest to players like myself who are into the role playing/getting into character aspect of PC's...it would have been nice if the writers had included a simple line of text stating "singing tests are favored" or "singing tests are up" and some commentary about whether or not famous singers have this mod implanted to further boost their vocal range and whether or not the entertainment industry of their respective countries considers this "cheating" to the point where say awards for musical performance are taken away from said entertainer would also have been some welcome commentary from the writers (though of course the GM could easily make some decisions on this by him/her/themselves if it comes up in the game).