DriveThruRPG.com
Browse Categories
$ to $















Back
pixel_trans.gif
Other comments left by this customer:
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
Gamers Helping Haiti $20 Donation with Coupon
Publisher: Roll20
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/28/2010 07:41:06

Fantastic fundraising idea - thank you to DTRPG for collecting funds for MDS and to all the publishers for contributing this huge bundle of great material.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Gamers Helping Haiti $20 Donation with Coupon
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Tangents
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/23/2005 00:00:00

The Alternity setting sourcebooks are great creative resources for GMs of any type of campaign. Tangents deals with alternate timelines and divergent histories, and there's some surprisingly good inspiration for making your home campaign world seem subtly...different. Or wildly different, depending on how you want to puzzle your players.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Good GM's toolkit for different kinds of time-line deviations.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The incorporated adventure and new classes/professions feel a little flat.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Tangents
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Alternity Arms & Equipment Guide
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/23/2005 00:00:00

This is the typical RPG shopping manual. Guns, jet packs, medi-kits, ammunition and armor - the usual. After being so pleased with other Alternity books, I was a little disappointed by the variety, but this is still a solid, unspectacular resource for SF roleplayers.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Alternity Arms & Equipment Guide
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Alien Compendium: Creatures of the Verge
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/23/2005 00:00:00

This is the Monster Manual for the Star*Drive campaign setting. That setting has been resurrected in d20 Future, so you might find something useful in these pages.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Alien Compendium: Creatures of the Verge
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
D20 Shakespeare: Macbeth (D20 OGL)
Publisher: LPJ Design
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/23/2005 00:00:00

Shakespeare has a plot for every occasion, and the d20 Shakespeare line is an attempt to introduce those plots to RPGs. Macbeth is a classic play of madness, political treachery and war.

The product begins with a Cliff Notes summary of the play, the stat blocks for the major characters of the play as NPCs, and then plot seeds - the straight adaptation of the play, followed by a couple of alternative readings of the play, including one that brings d20-style magic to the play.

The plot seeds are the most interesting part of the product. I would have liked to have seen more seeds and a shorter play summary.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Interesting adventure seeds - particularly the one setting up Macbeth as the hero, and Banquo as the real villain.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The unreadable Gothic font used for the section headings. The plot summary was too long.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
D20 Shakespeare: Macbeth (D20 OGL)
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
D20 Shakespeare: Othello (D20 OGL)
Publisher: LPJ Design
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/23/2005 00:00:00

Shakespeare has a plot for every occasion, and the d20 Shakespeare line is an attempt to introduce those plots to RPGs. Henry V is a tale of obsession, jealousy and murder..

The product begins with a Cliff Notes summary of the play, the stat blocks for the major characters of the play as NPCs, and then plot seeds - the straight adaptation of the play, followed by a couple of alternative readings of the play, including one that brings d20-style magic to the play.

The plot seeds are the most interesting part of the product. I would have liked to have seen more seeds and a shorter play summary.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The plot seeds contain some interesting surprises.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I know the designer has to stretch to find magic items in this world, but granting special powers to Desdemona's handkerchief is just...odd.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
D20 Shakespeare: Othello (D20 OGL)
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
D20 Shakespeare: Romeo & Juliet (D20 OGL)
Publisher: LPJ Design
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/23/2005 00:00:00

Shakespeare has a plot for every occasion, and the d20 Shakespeare line is an attempt to introduce those plots to RPGs. Romeo and Juliet has it all: vendetta, secret romance, murder, a crusading cop, a noble priest and tragic miscommunication.

The product begins with a Cliff Notes summary of the play, the stat blocks for the major characters of the play as NPCs, and then plot seeds - the straight adaptation of the play, followed by a couple of alternative readings of the play, including one that brings d20-style magic to the play.

The plot seeds are the most interesting part of the product. I would have liked to have seen more seeds and a shorter play summary.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: As always, the plot seeds. There's some good and surprising stuff here.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Not enough adventure seeds, and too much summary.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
D20 Shakespeare: Romeo & Juliet (D20 OGL)
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Dust Devils
Publisher: Chimera Creative
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/22/2005 00:00:00

Poker is tabletop narrative told in chips and cards and focused on the true nature of the unseen and the value of the concealed; players adopt different personae according to the stories they want to tell with their cards; drama comes from the betting patterns; and the story climax comes with the deal of the final card.

In short, from one point of view, poker is a table-top role-playing game. Dust Devils, by Matt Snyder, is a role-playing game that uses a stud poker mechanic to help discover the true nature of Wild West archetypes. In traditional cowboy lore, every rough and tumble character in the West is haunted by a Devil, some character flaw or tragic event that influences all the characters actions and reactions: a drinking problem, a moment of cowardice, or a case of mistaken identity are all suitable Devils.

The goal of the game is to tell the story of how the character either vanquishes or succumbs to his Devil.

Characters have basic attributes that relate to poker suits, two-line narrative descriptions of specialty skills that help establish character (e.g., "Mad as a hatter" or "Brings a knife to a gun fight") and their Devil. Conflict, however that is determined, is resolved by drawing stud poker hands and drawing a number of extra cards as deemed appropriate by the rules and game master. Using a specialty skill usually warrants an extra card, spending a poker chip (the equivalent of experience points or Action/Drama Dice) whereas extreme difficulty may negate any bonus cards.

There are two ways to win during resolution: highest poker hand ensures a positive outcome, but the highest card played wins storytelling control, allowing that player to describe the game events. Having a high-ranking hand with low-value cards might not be the best possible strategy for winning the conflict and telling the story.

This method means that one character's fate is often in the hands of another player's storytelling, which creates a more equitable distribution of narrative responsibility. Players aren't just responding to the descriptions and dilemmas of the game master, but also to the events of their own creation.

Eventually, almost inevitably, the characters are worn down by the grit of the West and their Devil becomes ascendant. The rules in <b>Dust Devils</b> one grand finale for the character, where the character chooses the moment of their surrender, draws extra cards and takes narrative control, no matter what. The character goes out with bang or a whimper, according to the needs of the player, the game and the story.

The Dust Devils rules includes everything you need to play, along with a sample scenario about adultery, a lynching, a case of mistaken identity and the real target of the lynch mob coming back to town to find out what happened to his namesake.

As you can tell, this isn't a rules-intensive system, but what rules that exist are flexible enough to meet the needs of other genres. "Concrete Angels" is an urban variant, and "Deathwish" is a super-spy version of the game.

If you want to sit around a table, bluff your way through good times and bad, and save your best story for last, this is a fun game for a couple of sessions. <br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Great poker mechanic integrated in every role-playing aspect of the game. Well-chosen, gritty art.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Dust Devils
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
The Externals
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/22/2005 00:00:00

"The Externals" describes the principal antagonists of the Star*Drive campaign setting. As seems to be the sci-fi standard, the enemy is based on biotech rather than hi-tech, and is controlled by outer-dimensional Lovecraftian aliens who possess their agents and seek to break free of their outer-dimensional prison.

But, just because these are themes are standard doesn't mean they aren't well-executed or exciting. To the contrary, "The Externals" presents the enemy as a vibrant conflicted agglomerate of conquered peoples and intrigue, and has enough space opera to keep fans of the genre and the campaign happy.

I was particularly happy with the gamemastering advice for adventures in wartime, which is an area that hasn't been sufficiently addressed in role-playing games. Battles, no matter how momentous, have been done to death, but ideas for stories about a state of total war are surprisingly varied and enjoyable.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Great backstory to the External threat. Excellent source of inspiration for wartime-themed games.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Muddy pencil sketches for the character art.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Externals
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Beyond Science: A Guide to FX
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/22/2005 00:00:00

The rules for magic and super-powers was glossed over in the core Alternity rules. Beyond Science provides a toolkit for devising your own magic powers for any tech level of Alternity game.

The range of powers is very thorough, from blood-magic, Lovecraftian horror worship to monotheism to energy-generating mutants. The rules for creating new FX and running high-powered campaigns are easy to understand and are valuable to players of other super-powered games such as Champions, Silver Age Sentinels or Mutants and Masterminds.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Excellent sourcebook about magic and super-powers and their possible roles in a RPG campaign.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The background images on the text pages make for dark scans. Readability is an issue.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Beyond Science: A Guide to FX
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Bloode Island: Diceless Swashbuckling Adventure
Publisher: Precis Intermedia
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/14/2005 00:00:00

More pirates in the Caribbean abound in this diceless campaign by Deep 7. Bloode Island has a keen campaign concept: an uncharted island populated entirely by pirates, with a plausible explanation for its existence.

Bloode Island does not appear on any naval map due to navigational errors on the part of Christopher Columbus and one of his junior officers, the difficulty in accurately determining longitude, and outright bureaucratic denial, because no country's naval authority wants to redraw all their official charts. I think it's that last point that makes the origin story shine.

Sir Francis Drake appears to be the leader of this pirate commune, sustained past all measure of old age by a voodoo magician. His intention is to thwart the development of a colonial culture and to create a brave new world of individual freedom. This is as unlikely as it is appealing to the modern reader.

The Island is host to all the resources and rivals a budding pirate or privateer could want: misfit scientists, a barkeep, and a typical cruel Terror of the Seas, and a source of endless replacement crew. There's an excellent adventure to introduce players to the internal politics of the island and to the dangers of earning enmities that can be enacted on the open sea.

Even if you don't want to visit the Island, the campaign setting provides a good short-form history of Caribbean piracy in terms of economic, political and nationalist drives, and what seems to me to be a comprehensive lexicon of pirate and naval terminology. Finally, I understand the distinctions between a pirate, a privateer, and a corsair. This also isn't a setting that skirts the issues of colonialism and conquest.

The rules portion of the game describes everything you need to handle ship-to-ship combat, storms, repairs, stealing prizes, and other swashbuckling goodness. The rules use the Active Exploits system from Politically Incorrect Games, so the emphasis is on estimating the costs of the actions you want to simulate in the story.

There are certainly interesting and exciting stories to be told on Bloode Island. Give it a try.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Cool twist on the lost island concept. Good use of historical fact in among all that fiction.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Bloode Island: Diceless Swashbuckling Adventure
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
The New Argonauts
Publisher: Sean K Reynolds Games
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/02/2005 00:00:00

Before I learned of D&D and role-playing when I was in the sixth grade, I was an avid reader of books on mythology: Greek, Aztec, Norse, Amerindian and whatever else the school library held. The stories were grand and exciting and were fodder for the imagination.

Once of the first characters I created when I cracked open the D&D Basic set was called Theseus, and I lamented the absence of minotaurs.

I bought <b>The New Argonauts</b> on the strength of the author's reputation as much as my interest in the subject matter. Sean K. Reynolds wrote the fine <b>Beyond Science: A Guide to F/X</b> sourcebook for the <b>Alternity</b> game line, and I was curious to see what he could do when he struck out on his own.

My curiosity was only heightened when I read the mission statement on his site, where he said he wanted to demonstrate how the d20 system could be made to work in a balanced manner. As is typical in the gaming industry, RPG systems suffer from an arms race as each sourcebook that is released has to have more firepower than the ones that came before. After all, how else can you attract the attention of the gaming public and encourage them to spend their dollars?

<b>The New Argonauts</b> is a fine example of craft as much as it is of creation. Reynolds outlines the story requirements of the setting ? in this case, the Greece of myth and epic ? and shows how the adjustments to the rules are necessary. This goes beyond simply saying "No elves, no plate mail, no sorcerers" by providing mechanical alternatives to the functions provided by those game elements. There aren't any sorcerers, but characters have new rules for crafting their own magic items; there are no clerics wandering around with a bandolier of healing potions, but there are combat feats designed to help characters avoid damage; and while there's no plate mail, there are skills and feats that emphasize excellence with the armour of the day, which accomplishes the same ends.

For players who want their characters to have a little more epic quality to them, Reynolds provides rules for bloodlines. Greek myth is littered with the bastard offspring of wayward deities, Zeus especially, and the heroes are often of Olympian descent. This gives them a little unwanted attention from the enemies of their forebears, but also a few extra resources while adventuring.

On the other hand, if you want your characters to participate in the Olympics instead of chasing after golden fleeces, the rules are provided.

<b>The New Argonauts</b> is a PDF production and is nearly impeccably laid out. Only a dropped sentence about the pentathlon in the Olympics section stands out.

The sidebars, which explain the differences in the rules and the adaptation of typical fantasy tropes to suit the truths of Greek history and myth are especially welcome: an explanation of what made Sparta different from the bulk of the city-states, and working with female PCs in a male-dominated culture are the highlights.

All in all, an excellent campaign setting for players who want more swords and less sorcery.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Designers notes and call-outs. Good advice on gaming.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The New Argonauts
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Creator Reply:
Thanks for the great review! FYI, the "dropped sentence" is actually there, just obscured by the art on that page ... you can still select the text it with the text tool. We've fixed the problem and by the end of the month we'll have the nev version up, with errata, and those who bought the current version can download the errata'd version from RPGnow for free (if you've signed up to receive email updates from RPGnow about products you've downloaded you will receive an email when the new file is ready).
pixel_trans.gif
Corsair: The Definitive D20 Guide to Ships
Publisher: Adamant Entertainment
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/02/2005 00:00:00

I don't know the difference between port and starboard, and if someone asked me to tie anything more complicated than my shoes, we'd be sure to have a nautical disaster on my hands.

Nonetheless, I've enjoyed reading games about ships and the sea, and Corsair is a PDF publication of open gaming content naval rules for the d20 system. The book focuses on ships and fighting tactics from the 17th and 18th centuries, before the Age of Fighting Sail of Nelson and his adversaries.

Corsair describes the different types of ships available, provides rules for the conduct of the crew, and describes how combat can be managed. Obviously, this doesn't cover strict historical details, but it does simulate the crash and thunder of cannon, ramming and boarding attacks. The rules for ship fires have an ominous sense of finality to them.

These rules seem to be reasonably complete for the purposes I can identify, but also seem quite familiar. I feel as if I've read the same concepts in other sourcebooks. That's probably not surprising overall, though ? there are some concepts that simply must be addressed to meet the requirements of the subject and the expectations of the readers and there's no discussion of a game world to enhance the description of the game rules. The book is necessarily a little blander for the lack of flavour text.

The art in the book is well-chosen, and the layout is clear and easy to follow. All it needs are some running headers and page numbers to help the harried naval GM find the right rule on the fly.

While the bulk of the rules deal with a "realistic" naval campaign, there is a chapter on the use of magic and the rules of non-human navies, such as the ships of the elves, and other section on creating magical and monstrous ships by applying the monster templates from the Monster Manual. The idea of a vampire ship appeals to the author, and reminds me of a short story I once read. That's a keen idea.

If the sea is where you want to go, Corsair has the rules to keep you afloat.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Clean layout, high-level abstraction of naval and crew combat.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: No running headers or page numbers to help me find the right spot.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Corsair: The Definitive D20 Guide to Ships
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Deadlands Classic: Doomtown or Bust!
Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment
by Stephen W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/19/2004 00:00:00

I've played the CCG off and on for the last couple of years, and always enjoyed the flavour of the setting. This book does a great job of spelling out the characters and factions in the terrific Doomtown CCG for the first 9 chapters.

Even if you don't play the CCG, and don't have that kind of curiosity to satisfy, there's something here for any style of Wild West campaign - chtonic, steampunk, or straight-forward High Noon hijinks.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Deadlands Classic: Doomtown or Bust!
Click to show product description

Add to DriveThruRPG.com Order

pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 1 to 14 (of 14 reviews) Result Pages:  1 
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif Back pixel_trans.gif
0 items
 Gift Certificates