Wonderful game. Just as the title states you will be playing this pretty darn quick. I found a couple points a bit confusing but after a second read I found it easier to follow. Again even with the second read we were playing it about 20 minutes or so from the time I downloaded it. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Quick20 promises a d20 fantasy RPG in under 10 pages, and delivers on that - in fact, if you lose the cover and OGL, it does so in 7 pages. In so short a space, there is no room for monsters (they are in a separate PDF, Monsters and Fantasy Races, in the same download) or guidance for the Game Master, so I feel this game is better suited for someone already familiar with other RPGs. The monster expansion includes 10 standard monsters, rules for generating more, and the usual PC races - dwarf, elf, etc.

In some ways it is similar to, though simpler than, True20 (I don't imply plagiarism here, both are simplifying OGL d20 and there are only so many ways to do that). Damage saves replace hit points, ability die modifiers replace the abilities themselves, and magic is 'collapsed' into a smaller number of spells, each with broader powers and more options - I like that very much in both.

Quick20 differs in replacing feats and skills with point pools based on the character's role (class) and level. It also provides some guidance on when to advance characters.

This will be an ideal game to stuff in the travel bag and play in a hotel or airport.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Does exactly what it promises. Good for gaming while travelling (but would need an experienced GM).<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Structure relies on numbered paragraphs. Character hook refers to table on p. 2, couldn't find table.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

I have to admit, I had my doubts-I rather like the D20 system, but I don't like it in my D&D. Hearing the word Feats in conjunction with Osric rather sent chills down my spine... Until, that is, I actually read the product. The combat techniques(each taking up a normal WP slot) were quite nice. I won't go into too many details-just suffice to say I may be using these in the future in my own games.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It reminded me of a time when houserules were the order of the day-highly creative and well suited to the vagaries of old-school turn-based combat.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The title-First Edition Feats? in Osric? I nearly didn't download because of the title...to be fair, I believe this to be a flaw in my character, not the product. :)<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

I have to admit, I wasn't looking for a Swashbuckler Class-but since I was grabbing other products from this company(and it was cheap) why not? I'm glad I did. The design for this Class is so simple that I could use it in AD&D 1st or 2nd. edition, Basic D&D, the old Blackmoor/Greyhawk stuff-with a simple skillset addition, I could port the Class directly into a Palladium Fantasy 1st ed. game. I'm probably going to add this Class to another supplement of yours and start a Pirates game this month.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The actual Swashbuckling mechanic-i'll not go into details here but it screams Old-School to me.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Can't think of a thing.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

It delivers what it says-more balanced at both low and high levels, and integrated even more fully into the rules than the old one.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Short and to the point, well-reserched.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

This was a product that made me go "why"? The cover is somewhat garish but not too bad, although it lacks the old-school look that a lot of OSRIC products have; probably sets it apart. The concept is interesting but this is something I very likely would not use.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Interesting concept and nice to see the OSRIC rules being extended<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: retrofitting OGL/d20 concepts like this into OSRIC just strikes me as odd<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

A compact d20 system in 8 pages? I had to see this. And in fact, it's 7 pages. You have 3 classes (the ever-popular Expert, Mystic (or Spellcaster), and Warrior), and it operates much like a slimline version of True20 (damage saves) without skills or feats. The magic system is freeform, simple, and clever.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Quick20 is actually pretty impressive - the magic system alone, while nothing innovative, is worth the cost of the pdf, and I've been expanding on it for my own tweaks.

Likewise, the class ability pool system is a simple but brilliant idea. I'd very much like to see them both in play.

Contrary to Tim Gray's review, a 1st level Mystic can do a fair bit in a day, especially if he prepares his spells; it's just 2 points (out of a likely 4 or so) to heal an ally of 2 hits (which is a lot). <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The layout's not brilliant (it's cleaner now).

I'm no fan of the damage save system (it just doesn't work for me when I GM), but that's easily fixed (I roll damage against a soak TN, rather than the other way around).

The character classes (certainly at 1st level) are a bit cookie-cutter - one Warrior is much like another, and all Mystics can cast all spells if they've got the points. Again, easily fixed if you don't like it (I added specialities at first level, and Mystics have to choose a limited number of effects they can call on).

I think more base stats would be a good idea - I can see where they come from, but the normal six would probably be better (I changed it to Might, Reflex, Fortitude, Intellect, Will, and Grace). All can be used for saves (Intellect vs illusions, Grace vs ageing/polymorph) in a C&C style.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

I actually thought about writing up a d20-lite system for myself and to publish, but upon seeing this, I think I'm going to change my mind and not bother. Quick20 fits the bill quite nicely. It takes the ideas from the OGL system and boils it down its very essenses.

The game uses a kind-of success by consensus, which I've seen used in other games. I'm looking forward to trying this concept out.

The product delivers on everything that the description promises. I recommend this OGL interpretation highly. I'm hoping to see a modern version soon.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: I think that Quick20 is elegant in its simplicity, both in presentaion and in the system itself. I think it compares to the way Tunnles and Trolls simplified AD&D.

The thing that really caught my attention in Q20 was the greatly simplfied magic system, which boils OGL magic to a system of effects, and has rules for either memorization or creating spells on the fly, and by itself, it's worth the cost of the book.

The experience system is pretty neat, too, and unlike any way I've seen, and does away with the whole XP concept, and works a bit more like what we see in heroic fiction.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I have to admit, it seems to miss a certain... something not having the standard ability scores, but what it does have works well. Also, I think it could have used just a smidge more detail - just a tiny bit. A little more explanation on magic and experts (or maybe put the Expert special ability with the class description). Otherwise, it works nicely.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

I picked this up thinking it might be a pared-down version of the d20 rules, a little bit like True20, which would be a handy tool to have. It's not: it's kind of a blend of the author's own system with bits borrowed from d20 and elsewhere, specifically catering for fantasy. Nothing wrong with that, but unfortunately it's poorly presented and poorly thought out. Basically it's a product that wasn't ready to be released.

Characters are defined extremely simply. Their capabilities are almost entirely defined by four attributes: Fortitude, Might, Reflex and Will. They have an open-ended rating that's added to a d20 roll vs a target number. (You might think they look a bit like saves, and they're used for those too.) Will covers all mental and social tasks, including perception - presumably this means the author thinks these not terribly important in the business of monster-bashing, but it also means it's a disproportionately good investment for your points. The other important feature of a character is class: Warrior, Mystic or Expert. (Pretty much the same as True20, though it doesn't appear to be a source.) Each has a points pool that helps it to be good at its kind of stuff. And that's basically it. In the rules for advancing in level there's a bit about gaining bonuses for specific tasks for sneaking around, so you'd get some differentiation over a long period, but there doesn't seem anything to make characters interesting.

Combat rules are fairly D&Dish, with an odd blend of simplification and fiddliness. Damage works by saving throws rather than hit points, with a number of possible states (again reminiscent of True20), but it's complicated and hard to understand - not good for a very condensed thing like this, where simplicity is key. (It needs a damage track diagram or something.)

Magic's kind of freeform - it talks about a number of common kinds of spell and how they might be implemented, probably covering most of the D&D standards. Spellcasting runs off the Mystic class' pool (unlike the others, which boost rolls). You have to spend some points to memorise a spell so you can access it, then some more to cast it at a basic level, and more if you want to extend area, duration or range. It could be a reasonable toolkit, though again too fiddly for this size product. I think the cost is a problem: a Level 1 Mystic is basically going to be able to cast one weak spell per day, which doesn't give them a big input to the fun.

EDIT (10th Nov, original review content unchanged): This product has been updated 4 times in the few days since I reviewed it. The layout has been slightly improved (more column spacing) and some sections made a bit clearer; some typos removed but I think I saw more creeping in. In particular:

• It is now stated that memorised spells and woven spells are different ways to use magic rather than parts of the same process, which will enable mystics to do more. The former is an advance commitment of points allowing unlimited use of that spell at base level; the latter is improvising on the spot.
• There is now an included supplement that models standard fantasy races and gives guidance for creating monsters - a welcome and important addition. (I suppose making this separate preserves the claim that Quick20 itself is under 10 pages.) I still think the product has a lot of problems, but it's certainly worth the $2.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Well, I think it could probably work - with a GM willing to untangle it and a group that's not bothered by cardboard cut-out characters. With some strong editing and extra material there's a better product to be made of this. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Layout: columns squashed close together, ugly word breaks at line ends (like oth- erwise and be- tween, yuck). Editing - frequent typos, unclear and confusing bits, repetition and redundancy, and stuff being referred to that we haven't seen before. Organisation - needs better planning, for instance the section on encumbrance appears before basic task resolution. No info on what characters are supposed to do, or on creating opponents; no sample monsters. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

Universal Sword: Refined Swordfighting for All Characters by Mob United Media is a sourcebook on swords and historical sword fighting techniques for the D20 System. Universal Sword is a 18-page document (16 after cover and OGL). The layout is fairly clean but unexciting and the artwork (aside from the cover) is black and white clip art, mostly photographs of swords or Japanese prints. No printer friendly version is provided, but the artwork is not extensive so that should not cause any excessive ink to be spilt.

Universal Sword is designed as both a sourcebook about the sword and about how more actual swordfighting technique can be used to make D20 sword fights more exciting. After a brief introduction about what the book is for, it moves into the anatomy of the sword and how these parts can be used. This section is quite interesting but would have benefitted from a few more illustrations. Scattered throughout this section are new maneuvers that use parts of the weapon (such as hilt punch) and feats that build off the new maneuvers. This section also has rules for weapon customization and modifications and for very poor quality swords (or SLOs ?sword-like objects?). The work concludes with sword techniques, new maneuvers that any character using a sword can perform, such as lunge or parry, again with new feats to support these maneuvers.

This is a very interesting document and it has many good ideas, unfortunately they are poorly presented and the layout is not conducive to finding anything easily. This work needs:

? An illustration of a sword with its part clearly labeled, preferably for the swords of several cultures. ? A master list of the feats presented, their prerequisites and a summary of what they do. ? The feats need to be consolidated so the feats that give minor bonuses (too minor to make them worthwhile to take) are rolled into wider feats (such as ?Basic Swordplay?, ?Thrusting Swordmanship? or other such titles).

This work has a lot of potential, but it has not yet reached it. There is interesting information for those who wish to bring more depth to the swordplay in their campaign, but it is ill-organized. Hopefully Mob United Media will produce a second edition of this work that will be easier to use as they obviously enjoy the subject.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>

(The posted 09/27/06 review makes reference to an earlier version of this supplement. This review is of an upgrade to the product that took place in October 2006.)

This supplement?s text calls the arcane duelist a "spell-wielding warrior," and that is exactly what this class is. Wizards and sorcerers so often are relegated to support positions at worst or ranged combatants at best at lower levels, but the arcane duelist can keep up with fighters and other warriors right off the bat. Writer David Caffee has taken care, however, to keep this class "magically-flavored." That is, its melee capabilities don?t outshine its arcane magic abilities. In fact, its better class abilities combine both casting and weapon wielding.

At first level, the arcane duelist is simply a caster with a good attack bonus, but at second level, it gains the 'Spell and Blade' class ability which grants the character the ability to attack with both a wand and a weapon during his or her turn. More caster-specific class abilities come with higher levels - 'Craft Wand' and 'Counter Casting,' for example - but at fourteenth level, the arcane duelist gains 'Spell Parry,' which is a supernatural ability that allows the character to, with a weapon, deflect a spell targeting him or her. At eighteenth level, the arcane duelist gains 'Enhancing Touch,' which grants any weapon in the arcane duelist's hands a +1 enhancement (or adds an additional +1 enhancement to an already enchanted weapon).

The arcane duelist is a caster class, but its spell list is extremely limited. Writer Caffee wisely included existing spells in the class? spell list; there are no new spells here, which will help to keep the spellcasting capabilities of this class from disorienting or confusing the non-arcane duelist-players at the game table.

There's enough "flavor text" to make this an attractive supplement; it's not just a new class for the sake of being a new class. "The Arcane Duelist" can fill a unique role in your Dungeons & Dragons party.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: This is a unique character that combines two important elements of the D&D game - magic and combat. The balance between spell-casting and melee ability is well thought out and crafted, and the "fluff" material in this supplement makes it an attractive addition to the standard D&D game. The cover page is well-rendered, and gives readers and users an excellent idea as to what they'll find beyond this first page.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: There are a few minor grammatical and layout errors throughout the supplement, but hardly enough to detract from the actual text. The background image that serves as a sort of "watermark" to the text is a bit distracting and still somewhat bogs down the loading of this .pdf.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

Nice system, based on d20 roll where you add two attributes and two skills based on your character's between-game stories that the player writes.

Very high-trust system.

Generic enough to be applied to almost any system.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

OGL: The Arcane Duelist is a short 7 page pdf detailing a new base class for fantasy d20 games, the Arcane Duelist. This products forms part of Mob United Media's Frontline series of core classes, where each class uses the full base attack bonus progression and is strong enough to enter melee combat and stand beside other warriors and fighters. The Arcane Duelist blends magic and skill with weapons to create a formidable opponent capable of dual-wielding magic and weapon.

This product comes as a single pdf file. As a short product there are no bookmarks or a table of contents. There is some interior art, and a good cover has been included with the product. The file is quite large for such a short pdf, coming in at close to 9MB and for some reason this is telling when reading the pdf on my machine (P4, 1GB RAM). This is presumably due to the large background image taking time to load before the text appears, and it's quite frustrating that it happens on every page. Writing and editing is generally good, although the mechanics could do with some improvement. For one, the product contains a number of references to 3e rules, rather than 3.5e rules, and in places could've used a clearer or more complete description for a particular mechanic. Nevertheless, for a short pdf it looks good and presentable.

The arcane duelist is a master of blade and magic. He wields both with equal proficiency, and is a respected member of society. The pdf provides enough detail to get a flavor of the class, although the concept is nothing new. In this instance the arcane duelist appears to fill the standard fighter/wizard role, with a focus on the fighter, and the implementation rather than its background is the original aspect of the class. In essence this is more of a fighter orientated eldritch knight, but lacking perhaps in the versatility in balance between the two classes that the eldritch knight prestige class provides.

The arcane duelist's key feature is to blend wands and swords in combat, and as such an arcane duelist gains the ability to use wands and strike with a weapon in the same round. Another key feature is the ability to parry spells with his weapon and the ability to counterspell other magic. Other than these three primary abilities, the class is rather bare, simply increasing in BAB while gaining a very limited spell selection (up to 5th level spells at 20th level, but the spell list contains about 30 spells in total through all levels).

The concept of a magic wielding warrior is not a new one, but I think Mob United Media has found some interesting implementations for this in the arcane duelist. I think more could've been done to make the class less empty, and perhaps adding more flavor. Mechanics could've been strengthened a bit by being clearer. For example, at 18th level the arcane duelist gains an ability called Enchant Weapon (which should be Enhance Weapon, you can't enchant a weapon) that gives any weapon the arcane duelist wields a +1 enhancement bonus. While the implication and intent is that it only applies while the weapon is wielded, and is not permanent, a little extra wording would've put the mechanic on a firmer footing as to the situation the enhancement bonus is valid. It's also a rather weak ability to gain at 18th level. How much good is an +1 enhancement bonus at that level in any case? Still, the product has some merit, and the arcane duelist can be used in situations where a more fighter orientated magic wielding class is required.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: OGL: The Arcane Duelist is a warrior-orientated look at the fighter/wizard archetype. It provides some interesting blending of magic and weaponplay, and should fill some niches where other classes fail to do the same.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The class is perhaps a bit empty in that it offers very little other than the spellcasting and BAB progressions, and in the former case is extremely limited. The mechanics could've used a bit more firming up, or correction in the case of 3e material such as the Pick Pocket skill.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

OGL Universal Sword is a short supplement from Mob United Media. The zipped file is 7.43 megabytes in size, and contains a single PDF that?s marginally larger. The PDF is eighteen pages long, including a page for the cover/credits, and a page for the OGL. There are no bookmarks or table of contents.

The front cover is the only instance of full-color artwork. There are several pieces of black-and-white interior art, which seem to be historical pieces showing swordsmen of various stripes. The pages have small borders in the form of swords at opposite corners of each page. There is no printer-friendly version, but this is a minor issue, due to the relative lack of interior graphics.

The book opens with an introduction explaining what it contains, and when to use the material therein. It also notes that this product is intended to be used with swords specifically; GMs and players can use it with other melee weapons, but that relies on adaptation on their part.

The first part of the book covers the anatomy of the sword. This has various subsections that go over each specific part of the sword, such as the pommel, hilt guard, ricasso, foible, and more. After each description are then listings for new attacks, options, and/or feats. New attacks are specific melee actions that anyone (wielding the right kind of sword) can take. Options are specific ways in which the sword itself can be modified, though this often requires having the sword constructed that way. The new feats usually improve upon a new attack listed previously, though this isn?t always true.

The second part of the book covers new sword techniques. Not quite the same as the new attacks listed previously, these are attacks that anyone can do with any kind of sword, such as a moulinet, lunge, or parry. Each of these actions is essentially a special combat action (like a trip attack or a bull rush) and each has a few feats that usually improve upon them or negate a penalty.

Altogether, OGL Universal Sword does a good job in presenting swords as more than just the sum of their stats. By introducing new options and attacks using specific parts of the sword, as well as new sword-fighting techniques, this book goes a long way towards putting the flair back into sword-fighting in the d20 system. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The combination of new sword techniques, new attacks based around specific parts of the sword, new options for how the sword is made, and new feats expanding on all of those, make this a very viable book for sword-fighters.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The lack of bookmarks results in having to search around for the relevant information, which can be slightly irking when using this book in your game.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>