Blood and Spooks is a great D20 Modern Supplement that accomplishes most of what it claims with style and panache. It has its weak points which should give the reader caution but also contains a number of pleasant surprises.

The Good

My first impression was "You've got to be kidding! What kind of campaign could you buiuld with this?" Well, a very similar film in the 80s spawned sequels, a cartoon series, comics and who knows what else. There is plenty here to base a campaign on in here, especially if you decide to blend it nicely with Blood and Brains. You could have a pretty good run with the right group of players. I intend to run just such a game and I expect that 'Blood and Spooks' will be more than useful.

Blood and Spooks has several strong points worth mentioning. The art by John Longenbaugh is superb, the layout is as strong as any RPGObjects has put out and the hyperlinked Table of Contents in the print version was a nice touch. Credit must also be given to the editor Amber Tresca who has doubtlessly helped produce a very clean, tightly organized and streamlined document. The writing is crisp and suitably witty with a workable series of fictional vingnettes added for inspiration. As usual, Michael Tresca's quirky sense of humour shines through.

The second and fourth chapters ('Ghost Hunting' and 'The Ghost Hunter's Field Guide') offer the best of the supplement with tons of story ideas, charts (mmmm random charts), equipment ('electron' packs!!!!) and general campaign hints. This is the best part of the whole PDF, and probably worth the price of admission. The section on ghosts is simply indispensible for this type of game and seamlessly put together.

The third chapter details psionics for the setting and likely requires a more thorough reading than this reviewer gave it. Some of the powers seems familiar, some of them seem brand new.

The Not So Good:

The first chapter, despite some very good work on skills, feats, backgrounds and new occupations suffers from the supplements biggest drawback. Some of the "new" advanced classes are not new at all. They are cosmetically altered versions of advanced classes that appear in the MSRD. They work well for the setting and it's nice to have them put together in one place. (Something that the WOTC d20 Modern rulebook does not do.) It's an excellent translation of the material, but to call them new classes is a bit of stretch in my opinion. If you're looking for cool new classes, then you may wish to look elsewhere. The classes here are good and some seem to have more originality than others. YMMV.

Overall:

Despite the significant problem noted above, I found 'Blood and Spooks' to be an entertaining and useful supplement. It borders on becoming viable stand-alone mini game. There is a great deal of potential here for expansion and many great sessions of gaming. It's not as funny as Blood and Brains, nor as original, but it is a far more professional and playable supplement than its cousin.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Sheer usefulness, wit and a great looking product.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Advanced classes are not as original as they could have been.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

This is a solid product with a few minor flaws. The flaws are as follows:

1. Some of the artwork just isn't that great

2. There's tons of whitespace and the layout needs some work. The layout modeled in 'The Algernon Files' is probably the best MnM character layout I've seen. The whitespace does leave room for notemaking on a print copy and each character starts a new page. It's a matter of taste.

3. A few powers seem to break the rules as I understand them. For instance, the Ice Queen has Force Field and Energy Field at her maximum PL. This strikes me as redundant.

On the good side:

The villains are well thought out with GREAT backstories and adventure hooks. There is no lack of originality here, at least in terms of stories and origins. They tend to be a bit dark and grotesque, but I think it's fair to say that if the demo put you off, then you won't buy the product. Unlike many products, Thomson's villains should slip into any campaign with a great deal of ease. Everyone else claims this, but Thomson delivers. I can see myself using the vast majority of the villains in this PDF without any problem.

Almost all of the villains are good and some will provide absolutely memorable sessions for the MnM game. This product, despite its flaws, stacks up well against print products like Crooks and the Algernon Files, especially when the price is considered.

I'm looking forward to 'More Bad Guys'.

It seems silly to me to comment on a free product. In any case, the adventure is solid. I should note that my biggest complaint about the other (awesome) Lost Paradise products was the lack of an adventure to go along with them. I think that sourcebooks are often given a boost when the author shows how the materials might work in an adventure/module.

Here it is.... and it's FREE. Hmmmmm. I think that says a lot about RPGObjects.

Never let it be said that it's a bad idea to put out free stuff. I downloaded Mike Tresca's free zombie supplement from his own website a long time ago and much of the material has been recycled and refined into this fine product. I was pleased to see 'Tresca's' wry wit and knack for imaginative gaming meet up with the good folks at RPGobjects.

This PDF is a HUGE improvment on Tresca's older work and worth every penny, lest you be tempted to track down the freebie. The layout is a bit thick in places and I found the screen version hard to read under certain conditions. The green over the short story included made for hard reading. I recommend getting the print version. The story deserves it.

As far as mechanics go, there seem to be some problems with CRs and custom zombies. As I haven't playtested it, I won't make any solid statement, just a fair warning. The zombie critical chart (yes, zombies can take criticals in this ruleset. You'll need them) is quite good and especially sadistic GMs may apply it to PCs as well.

Some of the equipment has oddball stats and is redone from the MSRD. Keen observers will note that the Remington 700 from the d20 Modern Handbook is not a shotgun, but a bolt action rifle. This is the most glaring error in the PDF, where it is referred to as a shotgun. Oh well, I guess zombies don't care that much.....

The new rules for shotguns are nice and workable for genre purposes.

The interior art is excellent as John Longenbaugh delivers his trademark stuff that fans of Darwin's World know already.

The work as a whole is true to its subject matter. It's gory, gross, funny and a little cheesy in spots. Of course, a supplement based on B horror movies should be all of those things.

If nothing else, Tresca takes one of gaming's tiredest monsters, the zombie, and breathes some desperately needed fresh unlife into its stinky corpse.

Despite some minor flaws, this is an excellent work.

This is a very nice looking supplement with lots of good art and well thought out monsters/terrors. The authours have done an excellent job of creating creatures that make sense for the 'Lost Paradise' setting and have a place within it. They are original and credible. Most are clearly a creative outgrowth of the truly amazing sourcebook 'The Lost Paradise.'There are no 'junk monsters' here and no constant rehashing of the same one over and over again with absurd templates. Most are quite original and well thought through.

I was a tiny bit disappointed with the length and price of the work, however. The explantion given by the publisher on this site is satisfactory and should be considered fair warning. This company usually gives outstanding value for your gaming dollar, while this product is a tiny bit overpriced by their own standards. Kudos to them for saying so. RPGObjects is a classy outfit.

Having said that, this might also be the best artwork I've seen in a Darwin's World work.

I bought this PDF shortly after getting the DW2 hardcover, thinking this would be a good setting to play in. I was wrong.

The Lost Paradise is one of the best settings, if not the best RPG setting I have ever seen. The level of detail is excellent without devoliving into pointless minutiae and the storyline around the conflicted factions in the area is consistent and often quite engaging. The main map is nicely done and helpful.

The Lost Paradise offers a wide variety of places and conflicts to involve PCs in. The moral and ethical dilemnas in the setting are often far from black and white and the conundrums are genuine. The setting has been very well thought out. Even the religious elements of the setting have been treated with a great deal of seriousness and thougtfulness, which is something usually lacking in RPGs.

My only wish to improve it would have been a nice little adventure to go along with the whole thing. I'm really looking forward to Terrors of the Lost Paradise, which might just satisfy that nitpick. (HINT!)

I wouldn't have minded seeing more material in what remains of Canada as well, but I'm from there, so....