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Deathstalkers II
[9717684-4-7-2]
$4.99
Publisher: Cutter's Guild Games
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by Curt M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/20/2008 23:40:20

The real question here is: why purchase an OGL product in the wake of 4th edition? The short answer is that Deathstalkers II diverges from d20 as much as it emulates it.

Innovations to OGL:

Two additional attributes--Courage and Speed; Attribute ranges contingent upon character race; races have special attacks; combat governed by actions per round; defense is dynamic, requiring a die roll, armor provides DR; Skills are specifically defined and can be leveled; Feats and skills may be purchased with raw XP, or leveled-up in the usual manner; Spell casting capacity is determined via Con; Clerics level up by purchasing spells with XP

"Old School" Elements: Wizards learn spells categorically, like in 2nd edition; Each class has a different XP table; XP can be gained by subduing monsters; Each character level for each class has a title The game is virtually self-contained.

General Overview:

I purchased this game during the GM's Day Sale in honor of Gary Gygax's passing because I was in the mood for something "old-school," and the game's description had a "white box" feel. You can see from the list above that it doesn't disappoint here. The available classes and races are, however, tailored specifically to the game world. Halflings and a monk class are curiously absent, for instance. Although the system is reasonably crunchy, I'd have few qualms introducing new roleplayers using it because the book contains a number of tutorial narratives covering key elements, like combat.

As far as the setting is concerned, think high fantasy with a horror twinge, though not as bleak as Midnight. The world is recovering from a series of global terrorist attacks perpetrated by a race of demons awakened from frozen sleep and a race of demoniac constructs. There are some clearly Tolkienesque elements here, but I see this as more of an homage to old school gaming rather than a hindrance. The setting information focuses on the nations of a single continent within the game world, and a full illustrated bestiary of threats is provided. Setting info is also embedded in the race and class descriptions, which are frankly fairly generic. A detailed pantheon, best described as Pantheistic Zoroastrian is provided.

Esthetically speaking, the art consists of top-notch pencils; the layout is professional; the font is notably small, but readable. The writing quality vacillates from crisp to droll. Reading consecutive passages about "the Dark Forge," "the Dark Anvil" and the "Dark Hammer" made me feel like I was trapped in a late 80s chocolate syrup commercial. Although this book is more complete than perhaps any other FRPG I've seen, it's not entirely so. It lacks encounter tables and any sort of NPC matrix for the given classes.

That said, Deathstalkers II is a mammoth accomplishment from a company whose philosophy clearly is to provide self-contained , playable games at reasonable prices. Fans of Palladium Fantasy, Fantasy Hero or Rolemaster, may want to have a look.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Deathstalkers II
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