In my opinion Vigilance is an ingenious adaptation of the d20 system. The author, Mr. Rice, was able to seamlessly capture almost every element imaginable in the super-hero genre in just one neat and well-organized book of rules. The classes, feats, powers, and origins all help to make characters truly three-dimensional. Origins and Disadvantages also lend a hand in creating ideas for spontaneous adventures or entire campaigns that can revolve around the character?s weaknesses and history without ever getting tired. Nice touch there, it shows a lot of attention to detail. Each rule, feat, and special power is also easily envisioned (unlike some games, where it often takes a stretch of the imagination), because you can really see super-hero or comic book characters, in film and literature, with these same powers. It helps stoke the imagination in a lot of ways. Really cool!
One of the best things I noticed, technically, was the ingenious way the author made powers like "skills", with increasing ranks giving increasing abilities. I think this system blows away traditional feats, which primarily give a one-time bonus, and add a new dimension to level gains. It really feels like gaining levels equates to gaining power; I like that a lot.
All in all, Vigilance is really well-written, well-researched, and inspired!
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