This book is expensive for a PDF, so I was worried about getting bang for my buck. I shouldn't have worried.

Progenitor is an Earth-like setting, so it rides on the strength of its NPCs and its timeline. The NPCs are simply astounding, very well-written and put together. The timeline (and thus the actions of those NPCs) really works well, and makes a lot of sense. The whole setting hangs together very well.

If you play or run Wild Talents, this is a must-have. If you don't mind doing a little adaptation from their system to your favorite, it's probably still worth buying. I had some extra cash lying around, and picked it up just to read - it was totally worth it.

For anyone interested in running or developing an alternate timeline for Wild Talents, Progenitor is a must have. Seriously. The year by year timelines of what was going on in America since the mid sixties is key for anyone interested in developing a world where super powers have changed how the world operates.

I rarely do this, but I read progenitor cover to cover. The narrative was highly interesting and informative, the characters were compelling, and the personalities were deep and three dimensional. This last quality owed at least some credit to Stolze's decision to use historical figures as the basis for many of the recurring characters.

The book also contains a mountain of interesting characters with interesting powers. Anyone looking for more inspiration how to design interesting powers could do a lot worse than plundering character designs and powers for use in their campaigns.

I can't recommend progenitor highly enough for people with an interest in alternate history metahumanity stories.

For those storytellers looking for a comprehensive and well designed superhero setting, this book is worth the purchase. Progenitor takes advantage of the well designed system and then adds mechanics to make the players able to alter things on a global scale, be they social or physical changes. As for the setting, the themes of responsibility and family are intrinsically tied to every player, since your powers can pass on to almost ANYONE you use them on, good or bad. And since you got your powers from someone, a natural family tree is created of supers who not only know one another but in many ways are responsible for their abilities. I've never seen a better thought out superhero setting. Period. Combine that with the most abstract, comprehensive and quick rules set I've come across to date, you won't be disappointed.

Progenitor is like half history book, half Wild Talents super-supplement. Pun intended. This is a huge book that describes a campaign frame in which one Talent started it all. From there, the power spread to offspring and throughout the populace. There is a TON of rich history of the world, how Talents have affected it, and how you can run your game during any number of ages. It also provides new options for Talents (intrinsic traits, sources, etc.) and clarifies just how powerful someone with an Xd pool of dice really is. I love the added flavor and this is indeed a robust campaign frame. With the low price of the Essentials book, you can always afford to pick this up and launch an epic campaign with an entire world fleshed out at your fingertips.

Progenitor offers up an alternate reality setting for the 2nd edition Wild Talents RPG - the basic idea is that the world split off in 1968 with the empowerment of a single woman whose power turns out to be contagious, creating other super powered individuals creating a pandemic of super humans. It's an interesting premise and the book delivers on what it promises, with 380 pages of dense text (including quite a bit of fluff), nice black & white art, and a pretty cool cover. While I wouldn't consider it perfect, it's a great value, especially if you're a fan of the ORE-driven Wild Talents and are looking for something a bit different than the usual superhero setting.

I'm not too crazy about alternate history, but Progenitor is easily one of the most creative takes on the superhero genre. When I say "creative take", I refer to every aspect of "super" posited in Progenitor - manifestation and transmission of powers, the impact of said powers on history, etc. I wholeheartedly recommend Progenitor for the underlying concept alone.

As far as "crunch", new game mechanics outlined in Progenitor, it mostly encompasses metahumans throughout the Progenitor timeline. There are also rules for Syntergenics, which are basically super-contagious memes. But what really impressed me was the STEW gauge - Science, Technology, Economy, and War. It provides a metric to measure the impact of the PC's actions on a global scale. When any aspect (or combinations thereof) become dominant, there is a shift in global disposition. As with the Progenitor storyline, I absolutely loved the STEW system and heartily recommend Progenitor for this innovative scale.

So, why does this book not have a perfect rating, given my glowing praise? Well, it simply feels that everything is TOO well established in Progenitor. I am aware that we are free to select and incorporate whatever we wish from an RPG text - these aren't video games, after all. But after reading Progenitor, I found it difficult to devise any potential campaign arcs beyond the examples provided. Progenitor would make for an amazing television series or movie, but it seems to me that one is better served poaching concepts and mechanics from this book and creating a setting of one's own.

Progenitor does make for some great reading, though. Regardless of what you plan to do with the book, it is fun to simply skip to random page and read a metahuman profile or blurb of alternate history or whatever.

The Good: Great concept, with some interesting takes on historical figures. Great history structure leading to an open-ended Y2K.

The Bad: It feels like the writing could have bee more concise than what we actually got, or maybe it could have been arranged better...something.

For a full review: http://mostunreadblogever.blogspot.com/2010/11/tommys-take-on-progenitor.html

Very excellent production values, wow is what I can say, the setting is also excellent though could have been better(its already epic.). Great stuff.