I got asked to playtest Spymaster just before its initial release and had said "yes" as soon as @Symatt, the author, said "it uses cards instead of dice". I've never played a Spy/ secret agent based game before as id always seen complex rules systems as overriding the seat of the pants style action that many "spy" films follow. Not so with Spymaster. the system is very quick to pick up - i dont know anyone that hasnt played pontoon / blackjack / 21 - and aside from a little getting used to what the suits represent, my players dove straight in with pregenerated characters into a very fast paced adventure that by its nature can bring you back to anything from the Connery era Bond films, through Get Carter, the Bourne films, and anything similar. It'd also work with very little tweaking for a tv style game if you wanted to do, say, The A-Team, or McGyver, or similar. The simple system belies a lot of hidden choice - beyond just a game of 21, if players are resourceful enough to count their cards they can make decisions on how they play, how they push their luck and how much of a risk theyre prepared to take. Villains are easily generated, from minions to named threats to powerful NPCs that match or even beat the PCs at their own game. all in all it has been a breath of fresh air and a damn good introductory game to the genre, hopefully the first of a few using the same system (called System21) and many more from the producers.

excellent! meshes with the DnD minis tiles well... however some of them are a little dark, and "crowded" for regular use.

this is the icing of the cake that is DONJON. where the main RB leaves off this continues with about 10 characters that can be used as pre-gens (or as examples of how to do it) plus monsters of every stripe, enough to get you going and playing. i'd say essential.

this is an excellent resource for Pclasses - makes me wish i hadnt bought the Mongoose book "ultimate prestige classes"

i collect all sorts of games; my collection, when stacked up, is three times my height (i'm 6'5") and at the top of this stack, is my printout of Donjon. seriouisly.

we were going to play some dnd3.5

then i pulled this game out. its simple mechanic allowed me to play - we CO-GM'd the whole game (any other game allow you to not have a GM? well, none that work well..)

i got two words;;;; BUY IT. you wont regret it

well, i got this cause it was free. i always reckon that you get a good view on what a companiy's paid stuff is like by looking at the free..... (and i've not been wrong yet, i hasten to add)

IF your d20 game is looking for some more interesting races, like if you're starting a new campaign and want to stretch the genre a bit, or if you're just bored with all your players taking Humans (who are really good in 3e..) then this book, and presumably by extension the whole Evernor stack, would suit you well.

the races seem consistent, the ECLs balanced, and the art is good (although any book with different races always needs more art. folks can imagine elves, dwarves etc but any nonhumanoid race always needs more pics.)

all in all, good stuff.