ExorSystems Inc. is a Modern d20 campaign setting from Octavirate Games. The zipped file is fairly sizeable, at almost forty-five megabytes, and contains a single PDF. The book itself is one hundred sixty pages long, counting a page each for the cover, credits/legal, table of contents, and OGL. Full bookmarks are also present, as is an MP3 greeting from the ExorSystems CEO to the new franchise holder.

ExorSystems has quite a bit of art spread through its pages. The cover is done in full color, as is the majority of the interior art. In a wise move, the majority of the artwork is done in bright colors with a style that ranges from cartoony to almost feeling anime-inspired in a few places. This, of course, fits with the feel of ExorSystems quite nicely. However, it also means that printing this book out could very well be a daunting task for your printer. A printer-friendly version really would have been helpful here.

So what is ExorSystems all about? The best way to sum it up is that this is Ghostbusters with the serial numbers filed off. While that isn't a bad thing, it's something that can't be overstated enough. The guys at Octavirate are quite clearly familiar with not just the Ghostbusters movies, but also the cartoons and comic books. This isn't to say there's nothing new or interesting here; far from it. The feeling of the source material has not only been perfectly preserved; but also enhanced with several new twists that are original to this book.

To summarize, the original ExorSystem members conducted paranormal research that not only led to them concluding that the rate of supernatural incidents is growing exponentially (referred to as the Ectonic Progression), but they also were able to make ion weapons to capture supernatural beings (such killing them is almost always virtually impossible). Shortly after they made this discovery, an ancient deity (Tiamat, in this case) arrived to stomp all over their town, and they put her down. Fast forward almost twenty years, and the original members have decided to make their business a multinational one, selling the rights for people to buy franchises of it set up in various areas. And the PCs can now buy their own franchise to hunt monsters, save the world, and get rich doing it.

The book is presented in the tone of being a manual sent to those who've just bought a franchise, though the book has no trouble losing this when it has to talk about meta-game concepts (such as creature type, etc). This makes it very easy to pass out various sections of it to your players as-is. It even opens with a single page advertisement for joining ExorSystems, followed by an introductory letter from the heads of the company to the new franchise owners.

The book is laid out in eight chapters. The first chapter covers the various organizations in an ExorSystems campaign. This is one place where it differs quite a bit from Ghostbusters in that there are rival organizations around, each with their own schtick. Department-7, for example, is the government's answer to the Ectonic Progression, while Mithra Group is also dedicated to hunting monsters, but using magic and faith instead of science.

Chapter two covers classes and occupations. Several new occupations are given, before also presenting a handful of new prestige classes. There's also a section outlining classes that are questionable for an ExorSystems game, and others that aren't appropriate at all. Likewise, chapter three covers new feats.

Chapter four covers the large variety of new equipment available in an ExorSystems game, from the ion blasters, SNAREs, and LIMBO devices that are the bread and butter of all ExorSystems agents, to things like ectotoxins and more esoteric forms of ionic weaponry. It also goes over vehicles and vehicle equipment characters can use, and even the equipment of other companies. A number of options are presented for these devices (need to make your own ion blaster? The rules for that are here), making this chapter have a very exciting feel to it.

The fifth chapter is the field guide for new ExorSystem agents. This fluff chapter isn't the longest section of the book, but it might be the single most important for getting the feel of an ExorSystem campaign. It lays out things like the terminology of how monsters are classified (by using the Multi-Spectrum Analyzer in the preceding chapter); you can call it a demon, for example, but the pros refer to it as a Class 4 Transplanar Ectoplasmic Manifestation. This chapter also covers researching the monsters you face, the "psychology" of the dead (some but not all the monsters you face are dead people, but they don't look or act like it at all), the rules for how to be a successful paranormal exterminator, and more.

Chapter six covers new monsters. It opens with the notation of how all creatures fall into three categories: normal, paramortal, and ectoplasmic. A dozen new monsters are then given, three of which are templates (each of which has at least one sample creature); all of them also have a header that typifies their ExorSystem classification (as well as the suite of d20 variant rules that Octavirate is famous for). Beyond all that, the monsters do a great job of capturing the feel of the game; these are dangerous, but oftentimes kooky, and cover a broad and seemingly bizarre range of foes. My favorite, for example, is the Glam Reaper, a dead glam rock star who is upset that his brand of music is deader than he is. He now appears among the living to rock out with his evil music, making innocent ladies into his undead groupies, on an apocalyptic quest to find more undead musicians so that they can play the heavy metal song that'll usher in the end of the world. His entry even lists how the PCs can fight him with music (either by trying to out-rock him, or by using the type of music that he's weak against), and a sidebar even suggests that the GM and a player face off in a few rounds of Guitar Hero to simulate a musical battle between the Reaper and a PC. Needless to say, this is beyond cool. The chapter closes out with a more detailed breakdown of how monsters in an ExorSystems game are very hard to permanently kill, and a long listing of supernatural hazards that can be faced instead of (or in addition to) monsters.

Chapter seven is a list of NPCs by organization. There are a sizable number of characters here, all with backgrounds and tactics given as well as stats. Several of the CRs seemed to be off, however, but this is easy to fix. At the end of the chapter are generic stat blocks for cultists, kids, teens, and adults who just happen to be standing around. While it's good to have these here, I wonder if there are a few too many stat blocks for these faceless supporting characters.

The last chapter covers other ways to run an ExorSystems game. Discussion is given towards making the game darker, as well as in other genres. Running the game in Fantasy d20 is given expanded coverage in a mini-campaign called Banishers. The idea is that monsters came to a "normal" fantasy world when a special stone fell from the sky. Now, pieces of that meteoric crystal are used to make magic weapons to imprison the monstrosities.

All in all, ExorSystems Inc. does a spectacular job bringing the Ghostbusters sub-genre to your d20 game. The stats are solid, the new equipment is expansive, and the listing of new monsters and rival departments, along with other adventure hooks, gives you plenty of adventuring to do. The ExorSystems campaign setting presents a multitude of ideas and possibilities for not just adventuring, but for adventuring in style. It's time to save the world, and present it with a hefty bill after doing so.

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The presentation for being a scientific spook-hunter is excellently done! From the stats for weapons and monsters to the fluff on how to get down the feel of an ExorSystems game, this book spared no expense in what it presented.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: There were a few minor errors that cropped up (such as NPCs with incorrect CRs). Also, a printer-friendly version would have been nice.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>