I have to admit that the size of this book daunted me; I was not sure I was going to get it. My love for d20 modern weighed in heavily and I got this book which says that it is not a watered down version of the hardcover; it is the hardcover packed into this smaller package and, having read the hardcover and this one it is exactly what it claims to be.
I was blown away by the system and one of the best things is material for the GC (Game Controller); the use of words like season tells one where the inspiration came from and, eventhough they do not use the word that I know of one could say that each gamne was an episode. That by no means says that a one session (episode) game can't be done it just gets it inspiration from television ala I-Spy/Mission Impossible. The other good thing is the gear system taking the whole idea of Characters choosing gear and flipping it on it's head. Modern fans should get this book.
A wonderfully written Adventure Sourcebook; for those who are familiar with the Vanguard through the Siege on Tolkeen arc; they will find this invaluable. Great ideas flow through this work for hours of fun and suspence.
Anyone who loves English Fantasy should stay far away from this book. The information on Merlin and Camalot was not what I came to expect from the guys at Palladium.
Not a book to buy if you love using Vampires in your campaigns. The Alien Intelligence actually takes away from the overall evil potential of the Vampire. Although this is a different take on the whole Vampire scenario it seems flat and more of a cop out
Well for those of us who have been waiting for a decent reprint this is the one. The layout is a little better as is the flavor text. The stats are better dealt with and the added material from other sourcebooks like the Cyber Knight information is excellent.
Well I am a martial artist and a gamer and for the longest time every time I saw someones attempt at creating a Martial Arts Sourcebook I walked away feeling livid at the lack of respect that was paid to the source material. It got to the point that I actually considered writing my own since no one seemed to be able to write anything with any knowledge whatsoever of the subject.
The I saw that one of my favorite publishers "Green Ronin" was working on one and I thought to myself..."Wow; the creators of some of the best source material were actually working on one. This should be good since they did great work on the Drow and the Modern Player Companion and the Future Players Companion..."
Oh man was I wrong. Where to begin. Let see: How about the fact that as a player it is a cacophony of unreadable material It is so convoluted that one needs a PHD to suffer through it. I have played and ran RPG's for twenty plus years and never have I seen a book come out that disrespects not only the Martial Arts Community but also the RPG community.
Now I hope that this is a bump in the assuredly positive road that is Green Ronin and their history of fine work and not a trend that will be repeated.
Buy this book?? NOPE!!!!! Do not waste your money.
I will start with the downers: First being the binding issue mentioned by Lilith. Now I can understand that the company being small may not have access to the best binding services so I might be willing to let that slide.
However there is another issue I have with the book that I might not let slide: I have studied a few of the styles mentioned in the book: Kenpo, Kajukenpo; Taijutsu (Ninjutsu) to name a few. And it is clear that some of the main concepts were left out in the form of moves and the like.
The Point made by Lilith about the Reading of the book is valid however it is not as convoluted as 'Martial Arts Mayhem.' by another publisher.
On to the good points. For those familiar with the feat layout of DnD or D20 the layout is the same...almost...the writer does not use the word FEAT but it is in the description of said action.
Another Good point: As a student of martial arts for over twenty years I have had nothing but negative things to say about so called martial arts material as the authors have no concept of the material and do the arts a large disservice....Although there are missing pieces in this book I walked away from it feeling like the author and the publishers actually respected the topic enough to give it the coverage it deserved.
