xorial's page

I really haven't wanted to write a review on this product, but I feel compelled to. Why? I get tired of seeing many people on the boards tout this as the alternative for modern rules for Pathfinder. They are not, as far as I can see. They have decent enough ideas, but organization leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth.

I have a problem with the concept and execution. Archetypes in Pathfinder modify classes to better tweak them to something a player may be looking for. Archetypes in this product turn the single base class into another class. I see no reason to have a supposed single class, complete with bases attack, skills, and saves; simply to change ALL of those when you add an archetype. It makes for a confusing product. I can see if you made a 20 level base class out of the old d20 Modern base classes, then made the old advanced classes into archetypes. Or even if they had created a bunch of base classes for modern use. They may as well have doen the latter, because you pretty mush need to refigure the class charts in order to see what you have when you add the archetype to the class.

Another issue I have is with the weapons. They took all of the Open Content weapons and nerfed the crap out of them. That wouldn't be an issue, but they nerfed them compared to the firearms that are already in Pathfinder. That is pretty unforgivable in my eyes.

The short of it is, I feel I would have to house rule too much of this to find a use for it at my game table. I sorry for writing a bad review, as I don't like to, but I felt I needed to give my honest opinion on this product.

EDIT
I am revising my review in light of a new update to this file. THe system has what amounts to a major overhaul. There is still one class, but it mechanically it is more like six. One for each of the old d20Modern Base classes. The acrchetypes can be applied to any of these Paths. The weapon damages are more in line with d20Modern, as well. Actually, they are sort of a combination of d20M & Super Genius Games Anachronistic Adventurers line.

Overall this overhaul makes the product much more usable. I feel that this could see a spot at my table, if I decided to run a purely Modern Campaign. Overall, I would rate this at 3.5 Stars, which I will round up to 4, for the limitations of this site.

The Leadership feat. How many times have you seen a GM hand out a list of House Rules and seen at the top of the list, "The Leadership feat is not allowed?" This attitude takes away the last vestige of an old school class ability, gaining followers. I admit that this can get in the way & overwhelm a GM. that is why I really like this product. It gives a couple of options for Leadership, so that it is useful to have without scaring a GM to death. The purpose of both options is behind the scenes help, rather than a bunch of followers following you around.

Option 1: Allies and Associates
You gain a small support team of three skilled
characters (an artificer, a healer, and a sage).

Option 2: Patron Country
You're a hometown hero & get help accordingly.

Don't want to get too deep into it, but that is the basics. It gives you options for downtime help & support. Your own behind the scenes pit crew. Great for the struggling GM. Great for the traditional adventurer that has a "lair" to come back too.

I know many people buy these products so they can play Godlings. That said, I see HUGE potential for awesome NPCs. The concept lends very well to a BBEG at the end of a long campaign, such as what I am working on now. The dynamics of all of the Godling products has so many plot devices that is just too awesome, even for Super Genius Games.

That said, the feats in this little product lend very well to the entire concept of Godlings. They add flavor, as well as those plot devices I mentioned. This just makes it even easier to emulate various "descended from the gods" tropes. Great work SGG.

This product really raises the bar, even for SGG. From alternate uses of Grit, to variations of Grit, to a swashbuckler like alternate class, you can't go wrong with this book.

Alternate uses for Grit allows for deeds to used for weapons other than firearms. This is a great option for GMs that do not want to have firearms in their campaigns. If you used this option, I would consider retooling the fighter to get Grit & Deeds instead of the various training options.

Want to reflavor Grit? Now you can get variations of Grit that rely on different stats. This can alter the feel of a gunslinger immensely.

My favorite part of this is the alternate class, the Fusilier. This is a firearm using class more appropriate to the renaissance eras & feels like playing one of the 3 Musketeers.

I really like this book and can't recommend it enough to anybody that wants to put more flavor into firearms & firearm users in their campaign.

The templar fills a niche for holy warriors that are not necessarily paladins. Personally, I see it replacing paladins in my campaigns.

First off, the templar is a strong, well balanced, warrior class designed to give any church/temple an order of defenders. The various match domains, so it would be pretty straight forward to make a new order for a new domain, should you need to for your campaign. The class features, as a whole, seem to emulate what a faith based fighting class should be. They are resolute in their dedication to their faith. Overall, any problems I have is more along the lines of, I'm not sure I would have done it this way." I still find it very well balanced & worthy of inclusion in just about any campaign.

Anachronistic Adventurers: The Enforcer is an amazing product from the creative geniuses at Super Genius Games. Weighing in at 19 pages, with the last page taken up by the OGL, this book is packed with some nice options for anybody wanting to run a classic campaign trope of a modern hero stuck in a fantasy world. The class is flavorful and pretty dynamic. It can easily be used to represent a gunfighter from the Dodge City, or a leatherneck from Iwo Jima. There are valuable rules for modern firearms, as well as how to handle what is a simple & martial weapon, based on the character’s original era. This product looks to be some of the work that most likely started with SGG’s aborted P20 Modern system. It is nice to see that some of their ideas are not going to waste. Maybe we will finally get to see that system, even if it is just a little bit at a time.

I will admit I was a little disappointed with this book. I was under the impression from previews that there would be some airship & space travel rules here. Wasn't expecting much, but at least a solid look at any type of vehicle rules. I appreciate the tables & NPC stats, but that wasn't exactly why I wanted this book. I have other products that can fill all the charts & stats out.

I would have given it 4 stars, if I judged this book solely on production values. I was expecting something else, though. My rating is from the disappointment. I have been GMing since 1985, so I have read most of the advice from other sources. Nice to have it all in one place, but not really much I haven't seen already.

I recommend this for beginning GMs, but the value isn't as high for experienced Game Masters.

I really liked this product. I was worried that this would step on the toes of Luven Lightfinger's Gear & Treasure Shop a bit. They may have some overlap, but not much. The two products compliment each other rather nicely, I think. I haven't had time to make an in depth read of the book, but since it is only 30+ pages, it won't take long. This book gives some good flavor options for all classes as well as some expanded equipment lists.

This is just a great magazine, free or paid for. This reminds me of why I originally subscribed to Dragon Magazine back in the 80s. I may not be using much out of a particular issue, but I still enjoy reading it. All I can say is keep up the good work.

I challenge everybody that downloads this magazine to review it. The staff need to hear just how much their work is appreciated.

I have had my PDF & now my hard copy for over a week now. So far, everything I have read for this AP is just awesome. The story line, as well as the setting, are some of the best I have seen from Paizo. This AP is also one that I feel that could be ported to another campaign world a lot easier than any of the previous ones, if one was so inclined to do.

The only reason this is a 4 star rating is due to the PDF. The PDF does not have bookmarks. Bookmarked PDFs are the main reason to want the PDF. Makes it easier as a GM to run an adventure with bookmarks. That is especially with the sandbox nature of this AP. The PCs will be all over the place in the story, so I feel that Paizo really needs to update the PDF with some bookmarks.

[Paizo notes: Both the single-file and one-file-per-chapter versions of the PDF do contain bookmarks, and lots of 'em. I've contacted the reviewer.]

The problem was with my Adobe Reader. After reinstalling it now shows the bookmarks. Adjusting this to 5 stars.

BTW, great customer service, too.

I received this book with my regular subscription, but hadn't realized that I forgot to review it earlier than now. First off, in response to the review that this is not a revolutionary book, it was not meant to be. This simply updating monsters to the new PFRPG. For that, it is an excellent resource.

My only complaint is that the dragons were a little skimped on, here that is. They received their own book which I have not purchased yet. I know that is an OGL product, but I imagine they got more info in that manual. Basically, thought, there could have been more crunch on dragons in this book. I have to wonder if the original progression charts in the SRD still apply.

Picked this up for gamers coming to my house without any dice of their own.

1 full set of 7: White with pink speckles. Pretty enough for my wife, lol.

9 d4
34 d6
13 d8
25 d10
6 d12
14 d20

Total of 108

All in all, not too bad. 3 of the d6s have a little dragon serpent design where the 6 should be.

The cavalier seems to be good as a class, but not really what I would want. i feel it will be solid in the final product, anyways.

The oracle? I was skeptical about this class before the playtest. Wasn't sure if I liked what I was hearing. Now that i ave seen this class....WOW!!! Yes, it needs some polish, but seems pretty solid already. I just wish I wasn't the GM of our games all the time. I would LOVE to play this class. I see TONS of roleplaying potential in the oracle class.

I actually purchased this product just before finding that it was being given away for free. This is a very good marketing idea to get some name recognition for a new company. That being said, here is my review of Dredan.

First off, the production seems a little amateurish. This is not necessarily a bad thing for a part time company, unless it becomes distracting. Here I can say that it is not that distracting. One thing that is distracting and I don’t know if this is because of the rules blending with T20, but they misuse the PFRPG version of Favored Classes. This is in the BLU Race. Also there is still the use of Level Adjustments, which is not core with PFRPG. Most of the races follow some non-standard features, as far as PFRPG is concerned. The VOID seem to be a neat race, as a BBEG. I would rather see them as a monster, rather than as a racial option.

I find the Legacy Synbiot PrC very confusing. It seems to be a PrC you take while still advancing partially in your original class. The main thing, this seems to be a collection of PrCs mainly for the villans. I don’t find this appropriate. There should be more heroic options for the players.

The skills draw heavily from the T20 game. Understandable, but I think it ignores some of the Pathfinder conventions. It is very confusing not to have skill descriptions included.

There are some rules covering the main power source, a type of magical dilithium crystal. I didn’t really care for this, but it is a setting thing. Not to my tastes, but could be just fine for somebody else.

Allot of this book is heavy into T20 conventions, more than into PFRPG. I actually am disappointed with it, maily because I was looking for more. Base classes and maybe starship rules. I didn’t care for the T20 system when it first came out, so I don’t own the book. This is NOT a complete rules set. You will need to own Traveller20, as well as the Pathfinder RPG. I really don’t see much in this that really is all that compatible with PFRPG. It reads more like an alternate setting for T20, with a FEW Pathfinder rules tacked on. That being said. This product may fit your needs, just not mine.

As a subscriber, i got the PDF to this too. Both are fantastic. If Paizo updates any errata, should be just a matter of getting the updated PDF & taping new page over the old. Artwork looks good. Thick stock is just awesome. Will get plenty of use out of this GM Screen.

I have had my copy for less that 8 hours now, but I am VERY impressed. I am a GM (we need to come up for a new title for the PFRPG, lol) and this promises to keep me enthralled for a few days as I digest the subtle, and not so subtle, differences between this & my 3.5e material I have lying around. So far, there are plenty of goodies to get my players excited with. This is the direction 4e should have took. Not flaming 4e, just not satisfied with it as I am with this. Kudos to Paizo for giving me a system & a company that I can be excited about again.

I fall into the camp as a person who actually likes 4e & PFRPG. That being said, This product really has me excited. I get to use all of my 3.Xe material that I have around. The streamlined skills are something I have been houseruling for years. The CMB is another sweet spot. This is overall, is a VERY well designed ruleset. Especially true for a Beta Playtest. I wish I could give it 6 out of 5 stars, lol.