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POSTMODERN: The Versatile Hero
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/29/2007 00:00:00

D20 Modern is an odd game for me. I find it tough to wrap my head around the generic classes that they have like the Fast Hero, the Strong Hero, etc. They seem to be versatile, but just not enough to actually do what I want them to do. And then I look at a product like this, the Versatile Hero. It is even more adaptable then the six base classes, with the possibility of doing them better then they do. But I am not sure it is actually better.

Versatile Hero is a ten page PDF by Big Finger Games. They have a few other PDFs like Troll for the Mutants and Mastermind Superlink system. There is no art and the layout could use a little help. It is nothing that makes the PDF unreadable, but the font and table sizes are a bit big and the last page has a big empty space that just does not look good. The book has book marks though at this size it might not actually need them.

The Versatile Hero is a single class that can do the job of all the others. Or that is what it seems to be able to do. It has a simple point system that allows it to select the saves, hit points, skills and skill points, base attack bonus, and talent tress it has access to. Since it can select any talent tree of the other classes, it can really become those classes.

There is also one new talent tree for each of the six original classes. They range from really not that great like the Rage talents for the Tough Hero to pretty cool like the Authority Talents for the Charismatic Hero. The talents offered are interesting and seem pretty well suited for the game.

The Versatile Hero is versatile but not in the right way. It can mix different class mechanics like the base attacks, saves, etc. but it does not really bring anything new with it. It would have been nice to see a talent tree specifically for the Versatile Hero to take advantage of it being able to be assembled in so many configurations. The Talent tress I feel are the more useful part of this book.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
POSTMODERN: The Versatile Hero
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POSTMODERN: Fantastic Classes
by Shane O. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/29/2007 00:00:00

Postmodern: Fantastic Classes is a Modern d20 supplement from Big Finger Games. The zipped file is slightly over five megabytes in size, and contains a PDF and a Microsoft Word document. The PDF is fifty-four pages long, including a page of ads and a page for the OGL. Unfortunately, no bookmarks are given.

There?s a fair amount of art in Fantastic Classes. The picture of the girl on the first page is the only instance of full color art. Quite a few other pieces are interspersed throughout the book, all of them in a fairly gritty black and white style. Not having a printer-friendly version isn?t too much of a burden here.

The idea of using Fantasy d20 classes in a Modern d20 game isn't a new one. However, despite the two games being very closely related, problems of compatibility quickly arise if you try. What Modern bonus feats does a Fighter get? What Modern skills are class skills for a Rogue? What Modern weapons is a Wizard proficient with? What's a Cleric's Reputation bonus? Periodically, there have been a few supplements, few and far between, that tried to answer these questions. Fantastic Classes just might be the first one to get it right, though.

The first part of their answer is to not use the standard Fantasy d20 classes, per se. Rather, a dozen new Modern classes are given, based on the archetypes of the Fantasy classes. You don't have a Bard class, you have the Beguiling Hero, for example. Each of these is a Modern class in the truest sense of the word, having things like a Defense bonus, gaining action points and talent trees, etc. Right away, Big Finger Games starts to offer quite a few options, giving a page listing optional prerequisites for all of the new classes if you want them to be advanced classes instead of basic classes. Likewise, many of the classes have an addendum listed for what feats and talents should be removed if you don't want overt magic and psionics in your game.

Once done with the new classes, the book offers a variety of Plus feats. For those who don't know, Plus feats are originally from Future d20. You take one, and immediately gain two talents from two different trees (which are laid down in the feat). A Plus feat is given for each of the new base classes in the previous section, along with each of the original six Modern d20 base classes. After this, the book has a section on how to best replicate Fantasy d20 classes with the new rules found here. While not exact, each of these covers what classes, feats, and talents you should take to best mimic one of the Fantasy d20 classes or prestige classes.

All of the preceding material takes up half of the book. The second half consists of new talent trees. These trees, of which there are a great deal, effectively break down a lot of the class abilities for various Fantasy d20 classes. There's more flexibility here than just reprinting the Fantasy d20 class abilities though. The Allegiance Energy Channeling talent tree gives you levels of how well you?re able to turn undead, or the option of turning other kinds of creatures, for example. The possibilities given here are myriad, almost to the point of being slightly overwhelming.

As a note, those worried about how the product page says this product may require the Talent Tree Compendium, worry not. The Microsoft Word document that comes with this product is a reprinting of twelve talent trees from that product, given here to help round out this one. BFG made sure to include them all so as to not force you to have to buy their other book to get the most use out of this one (though, they point out, it helps).

Altogether, Fantastic Classes not only does a good job, it sets the standard for Fantasy classes in a Modern game. The reinvented Fantasy classes fit perfectly in with a Modern game, and the new feats and talents make it possible to add a more mystical (or just higher-powered) flavor to your game even without the new classes. And of course, there's myriad options presented all over the place to help you tweak things however you want. Fantastic Classes is fantastic. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The new classes, along with the talent trees, make it possible to bring the Fantasy d20 archetypes seamlessly into a Modern d20 game. The new options and suggestions make sure you're given maximum flexibility to achieve the kind of character you want.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: At over fifty pages in length, this product really needed bookmarks.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
POSTMODERN: Fantastic Classes
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POSTMODERN: Iconic Combat Feats
by Chris T. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/01/2007 00:00:00

Awesome book! It was extremely useful for my players who just found that there were so many things that they couldn't do before that they can now.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The amount of feats given with the price was just phenomenal.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Absolutely nothing. As stated before it was quite a handy buy.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
POSTMODERN: Iconic Combat Feats
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POSTMODERN: The Versatile Hero
by Darryl J. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/11/2007 00:00:00

When I first read the description of this product I was intrigued about the possibilities it offered. Here was a chance to make customize a class specially to how I needed (or wanted) it to be. And best of all every time I need to personalize a class this pdf will work.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: I found the point based system of buying characteristics for the class to be ingenious. It felt well rounded and was very easy to implement. The bonus new talents were also well done. Things like Authority - to make people stop and listen to the characters voice - and Soldiery - to emulate the basic abilities of the soldier - are useful in non-combat situations, as well as providing new ways of overcoming obstacles. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: There is nothing I can say bad about this product. The cost is very appealing, the size is good, and the content is usable in any setting.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
POSTMODERN: The Versatile Hero
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POSTMODERN: The Versatile Hero
by Kevin L. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/05/2007 00:00:00

Interesting twist on D20 Modern. Woth checking out.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Bloody Hooks
by Michael D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/28/2007 00:00:00

As is expected with the better adventure hook compilations, I found about half of the scenarios on offer here to my liking, and the rest may be useful with a little alteration. For example, "The Projectionist" (a captive audience at a horror film festival suffers the deaths depicted onscreen) does little for me on its own, but it would be great as an escalation to the menace in "The Collector" (Monsters vanish from old horror film posters along with their collector). I'll have to do the work of fleshing out specific stats and encounters, but I have plenty of books and PDFs full of those without much in the way of suggested adventures, so this should be quite useful.

I especially like the sidebar called "The Devil is in the Details" which is filled with delightfully creepy little events to drop into an existing adventure just to get everybody unsettled, which may or may not have bearing on the horror at hand (but your players won't know that... bwah-hah-hah...).<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Bloody Hooks
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STOCK ART: Armed & Anime #1
by Michael S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/11/2007 00:00:00

Great looking art in three different color schemes: b/w, color, and color with a splash background. The quality is very good and the resolution is excellent.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Great resolution.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
STOCK ART: Armed & Anime #1
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Adepts of the Arcane (M&M Superlink)
by Shane O. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 11/30/2006 00:00:00

Adepts of the Arcane is a villain sourcebook for Mutants and Masterminds 2E, from Big Finger Games. The zipped file is a little more than twelve megabytes in size, containing a single PDF that?s just over fifteen. The PDF is eighty-three pages long, including a page for the cover, one for the credits/legal, one for the table of contents, and one for the OGL. It has full bookmarks along with a hyperlinked table of contents.

Adepts of the Arcane has a dozen villains of varying Power Levels. The PLs here range from 5 to 20, with the majority of them being in just above 10 or so. It?s also worth noting that all of the NPCs here have interrelated backgrounds, weaving the strands of what will be Big Finger Games?s own setting, the Infiniverse (mentioned in a sidebar).

Each of the characters here has a full description for their personality, appearance, powers and tactics, vital stats (their character information, such as height, weight, eyes, tagline, etc.) and their game stats. Most of them also have one or more of several innovative new sections, such as origin-in-a-box, which describes how they could be part of how your PC got their powers, or endgame, which describes how they could meet their end (usually in a fitting manner for their backstory), and more. Many also have a sidebar describing a related character, such as an associated sidekick, rival, or friend.

Beyond the full-color cover, the book has a very well-done full-color shot of each of the characters, showing them completely. The book does have minor borders at the edge of the pages, but these thin blue lines are easily ignored. Given the relative generosity of the artwork here, however, the lack of a printer-friendly version is fairly notable.

The book closes out with three in-depth adventure hooks, before going over a glossary that mostly details organizations previously given oblique mentions, as well as one heroic NPC, the Patriarch.

Adepts of the Arcane is a book overflowing with flavor. The characters presented here all weave a rich tapestry that, altogether, sows the seeds for a truly memorable campaign. The information is as plentiful as it is evocative, and there?s no end to the sidebars that offer supplementary information, giving expansive detail to help flesh things out. The villains here range from sinister tempters to thugs to uncaring antiheroes. A GM looking for a new bad guy for his M&M game need look no further than Adepts of the Arcane. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The characters given here are rich in background and presentation, with seemlessly interwoven stories and wide supplementary information. Clearly a lot of skill and a lot of work went into this book, and it shows.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A printer-friendly version would have been useful, as there's a decent amount of full-color artwork here.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Adepts of the Arcane (M&M Superlink)
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Adepts of the Arcane (M&M Superlink)
by Andrew B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 11/30/2006 00:00:00

(Edit: I accidentally posted only a portion of the original review. My apologies, the full review is now posted.)

Magic, and the characters that wield its mysterious power, have long been a staple of comic books. Characters such as Dr. Strange are nearly as iconic as Superman or the X-Men. Basically, Adepts of the Arcane is a collection of magically-themed NPCs for the Mutants and Masterminds game. More than that, however, it's a toolkit for adding these new NPCs to your campaign through adventure hooks, character origins, and story ideas.

There are twelve NPCs in this book, each presented in lavish detail. Besides the origin, background, and statistics for each villian or anti-hero, the designers have included a variety of special sidebars. These sidebars are designed to help you better incorporate the characters into your home campaign, give you ideas to inspire the origins of new player characters, and help use these NPCs in your own adventures. I really like the sidebars. They add a great deal of depth and usefulness to the characters specifically, and the book as a whole.

The characters in Adepts of the Arcane are meant to be villains, and they are often very dark. The very first NPC, Armageddon Girl, is an insane former heroine who believes herself to be the embodiment of justice. The fact that her acts of supposed justice are perverted into senseless murder escapes her. I found the act that triggered her slow decline, the murder of her brother and cousin at the hands of a gun wielding villain fed up slow and escapable death traps, perversely clever. Like most of the other characters in this book, Armageddon Girl has a clever and believable (for a comic book) reason for being one of the bad guys.

Not everyone is as grim and dark as Armageddon Girl. Troll, for example, is basically an archtypical thug-for-hire, except he's a troll. The Magister is an obsessed wizard whose background just drips with inspirational bits. Among other things, Magister has "bestowed the Promethean blade to the original White Knight," "halted a curse-war between the lich Koschei the Deathless and...Baba Yaga", and has "continually defended the world's sea-coasts from a cult of sea-dwelling hybrids determined to summon degenerate gods to devastate the cities of man." There are three adventure hooks right there, and that's in an NPC origin. The above mentioned Promethean Blade is even detailed in a sidebar, allowing an interested player to tie his character's origin directly to the story of Magister.

As a bit of a bonus, an appendix contains a hero called the Patriarch. I really like this character. He's something of a paragon or original, except his powers are mystical in nature. Patriarch is obviously inspired by Hebrew myth and legend. He is a kabbalist who discovered a secret name of god, battled a deity of the philistines, and had his powers and memory stolen by evil cultists. There's really great stuff here, and I'll likely make this character a part of my home campaign.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Adepts of the Arcane is a nice collection of magically-themed NPCs, and its also a perfect example of what an NPC collection should be. The backgrounds are highly detailed, the characters are interesting and inventive, and the sidebars add a fantastic level of utility. I also have to mention the art, which is very important in a supers game like Mutants & Masterminds. The art in this book is top notch.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: There's really no reason with a PDF product not to include some kind of printer-friendly version in the download. In this case, even a separate file containing a ink-friendly version of the NPC stats would have been nice for those GMs wanting to nab the stats and save on a little ink.

That's my only real criticism, and it isn't enough to hurt my final rating in any way. This is a fantastic product, and it deserves all five stars.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Sons of the Gun (M&M Superlink)
by Andrew B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 09/25/2006 00:00:00

The cleverly titled Sons of the Gun begins with an interesting introduction in which the authors describe the influence of firearms on comic-book superheroes. The gun-toting hero (or anti-hero), the book argues, is merely a modern interpretation of age-old character archetypes. I tend to agree, and I also happen to think that gunslinging superheroes make for interesting characters. This book contains 10 such characters, each suitable for use as a villainous addition to any supers campaign using the Mutants & Masterminds rules set.

In addition to each NPC's full stats and description, Sons of the Gun describes each character in a number of innovative ways. The first, called Origin in a Box, gives the GM ideas for tying a new hero's origin in with the origin or background of each villain. The Origin in a Box sections contain some neat ideas, and each is supported with fully detailed items, templates, and other rules bits.

The second new feature is called Story Point. These sections give the GM a few different hooks for working the new NPCs into his or her existing campaign. These sections often contain details such as new organizations and hero teams, but each is written in a generic enough way that a resourceful GM can use them with only slight modification.

The In Game section of each villain's description gives advice for working the villain in to an adventure. Where the Story Point focuses on how the character is connected to the world at large, this section gives more concrete ways the characters can be introduced to the heroes over the course of one or more adventures. This is where the real "adventure hooks" for each villain are listed.

Next, each villain is given an "Endgame", which describes a likely resolution to the character's plans...whether through his or her death, capture, or some other means. Coupled with the In Game information, the GM should have enough tools to introduce the new villain, put him or her in conflict with the PCs, and wrap things up at the end of the story arch.

As for the characters, it's hard to pick a best of this lot, as they are all very good. The authors did a nice job designing villains with a wide variety of backgrounds and powers. Sons of the Gun contains, among others, a villain with cursed handguns possessed with the spirit of an old west outlaw, a precognitive former CIA agent, and a soviet android. There are some similarities between these characters, and you certainly won't be able to make use of all of them. However, I could see at least three of them fitting right in to my current campaign, and I'll likely use a few more some time down the road.

Finally, the designers intended this product to serve as a kind of introduction to their campaign setting, called the Infiniverse. To this end, the book contains an appendix detailing a number of individuals and organizations that are mentioned in the villain descriptions. There are some things in this section that are certainly worth stealing for your own home campaign, and I look forward to seeing more products in this line.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: This is a PDF with a very professional look to it. The ten villains detailed herein are well designed, and a Mutants & Masterminds GM should find at least a few that he can drop directly into his current or future campaigns. The added details, such as the End Game and Origin in a Box sections are very helpful, and they make this book stand out from similar NPC collections.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Whenever a book of characters is written around a single theme, there is bound to be some overlap. While I think that the authors did a good job making each character unique, no GM is going to be able to easily work 10 gun-toting villains into his campaign without things feeling a little overdone. Of course, Sons of the Gun wasn't written so that you would use all of its villains in one shot, so this is a very small point.

Also, the villains herein have strong connections to NPCs and organizations from the Infiverse setting. The authors did their best to make these groups generic enough that a GM can file off the serial numbers and tailor things to suit his or her campaign, but its worth pointing out that some work will have to be done in order to make these characters work for everyone.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Sons of the Gun (M&M Superlink)
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Sons of the Gun (M&M Superlink)
by Nathan C. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 09/13/2006 00:00:00

Guns are not a new concept in comics. They did not start with 100 bullets, Spawn and certainly not the Punisher. Guns have been used by heroes and villains alike in comic books since the 1930s. Nowadays there are a number of publishers creating edgy comics with gun toting heroes and villains.

So if guns are not so unique with comic book characters, how does Sons of the Gun, by Big Finger Games, manage to create a unique take on gun usage for the comic book themed Mutants and Mastermind system better than most comics?

Sons of the Gun is suppose to be a villain sourcebook for bad guys whom use guns. But the writers have managed to create not only a good PDF of baddies, but a book that is also a good source of adventure hooks, hero archetypes and campaign ideas. Other D20 genres could learn a thing or two about NPC books by reading this one.

As with previous Big Finger Games works, the artwork is phenomenal--- Colorful and action inducing. A lot of it is the kind of stuff you want to make into handouts. What makes the NPC descriptions different is the added sections. Beyond the typical origin of the bad guy and stats, the book also contains four very unique parts.

For the Dungeon Master Two of the sections are primarily for the DM. The story point sidebar is a very detailed and useful break out box that helps DMs fit characters into their game. This is a great tool and allows one to essentially open up a book and use a villain after taking a few notes. It is so much more interesting for players when the villains history seems to mesh seamlessly with your campaign history. The In Game section is more of an immediate tool for the DM providing a series of adventure hooks to weave the villain into a current adventure. Beyond these two sections there is the Endgame. This is an event or series of events that will bring resolution to the villain.

For the Player Unlike most comic book movies, Sons of the Guns understands that the one thing that makes a great hero is having a great villain. The book goes the extra mile by providing a hero idea for each villain. Called Origin-In-A-Box, this section is more than just an origin. It contains some form of weapon or power that players can use to build their characters out of. Players can also use the villain archetypes with a bit of tweak as heroes.

The Iron Word I assumed that NPC supplements were pretty much all the same, but Big Finger Games has upped the ante quite a bit by going above and beyond the average. The villains in this book are done quite well, though there are a couple you can live without. The Gunbunny and Merchant could have used a bit more work. The cool thing is that even if you do not like a particular villain, the extra sections such as Origin-In-A-Box and In Game can still be used in other parts of your campaign. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: - Innovative new sections that add more depth to NPCs.

  • Artwork is great
  • Players can use this book too<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: - Some of the villians did not go over well
  • Some of the gun uses seem similiar to other villians<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>


Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Bloody Hooks
by Jim C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/25/2006 00:00:00

A series of short (1 to 2 paragraph) un-statted story hooks in the genre of psychological horror and weird events, as well as a useful sidebar of minor disturbing events. The hooks without explanations were better than those with, I thought.

Readers of d20 Call of Cthulhu will recognise the layout in slope-sided columns.

The document is only 5 pages plus cover, but the space is all content (two columns, no OGL and a column's worth of art). The price is steep for what you get, but quality of writing and ideas is high.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Bloody Hooks
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Fantasy Folio: Allegiances
by Jacob S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/25/2006 00:00:00

I was looking for a system that would:

  • Fit within or replace the existing alignment system
  • Not be too complex
  • Not break the alignment-based aspects of the game (restrictions, spells, etc.)
  • Define/explain some of the nebulous aspects of alignment, such as how two people can have the same alignment (e.g. Lawful Good) and yet have completely different beliefs and be enemies

This ebook does fit within the existing system and isn't too complex, and the author shows how to fit it with existing spells, but the part that I was interested in was the allegiances to people, organizations, and beliefs (that might satisfy the fourth item above). That part is extraneous and does not fit within the existing rules. To make use of it, there are some new feats that provide bonuses for allegiances that match their prerequisites.

I'm generally not a fan of getting new feats, spells, monsters, prestige classes, etc. I can make those up on my own. What I wanted was some sort of organization or structure to fit allegiances to people, organizations, and beliefs into the existing alignment system. If that's what you're looking for, you'll have to keep looking.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: A couple of good ideas (scaled alignment and the seed of a concept with allegiances).<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I would have preferred a revamped alignment system that included the allegiances and fit entirely within the existing one (e.g. allegiance to an organization or belief is lawful, allegiance to a person is chaotic).<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Fantasy Folio: Allegiances
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Creator Reply:
From the Author: Not every product is right from everybody, but as I read your review it seems your problems with this product stem from very specific pre-conceived notions on your part rather than the product itself. I also think your philosophical view of the ideal function of alignment differs from mine, and the multiplicity of views among gamers is part of what has always made alignment controversial. In any case, the part you don't like-- the allegiances to ideals outside law, chaos, good and evil-- was part of what I really wanted to achieve. I disagree with you that allegiance to a belief is lawful or allegiance to a person is chaotic-- I think there are patriotic people who are not lawful, or people loyal to a loved one who are not chaotic. The product succeeds in what it set out to do, and what was laid out in the description, I feel-- I do not think the product did not fail, but achieved a goal that differed with your gaming philosophy. I respect your different take on what alignment should do, but I do feel the product's overall quality rated a better rating than 2 stars. Your own review history gives products you really thought were poorly done better ratings than that. Also, most people do find new feats useful when they interact with new game mechanics-- even if they don't use the feats themselves, the concepts present an idea of how to integrate the new mechanic into existing character ability types, which I think is a responsibility on my part as a game author. I am sorry you didn't find this product useful, but I strongly disagree with this rating, and find your reasoning for it both disappointing and unfair.
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Fantasy Folio: Masterwork Qualities
by Jacob S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/25/2006 00:00:00

For the price, this a great way to get ideas about how to create special weapons in a nonmagical way, which is especially good for low magic campaigns. The ideas aren't too high-powered and provide for unique item descriptions, a few of which are provided as examples.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It has good ideas that are balanced.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I would have liked to see some masterwork item qualities in additon to the weapon and armor ones.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Fantasy Folio: Masterwork Qualities
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Bloody Hooks
by Peter I. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 07/18/2006 00:00:00

Bloody Hooks is a short 6 page pdf containing a number of horror-related plot hooks. It's suitable for use in most horror games, although in particular for modern horror, rather than fantasy horror since most of the plot hooks provided contain elements of some form of modern technology. The pdf contains some pieces of excellent art, including the cover, and the writing is wonderfully visual and evocative in its execution. Editing is acceptable, but for a small and short product the overall presentation is excellent.

The pdf provides twenty-two plot hooks for use in modern horror games. Each plot hook is only a paragraph long, and the intent is to present the seeds of an idea in a GMs head, or to spark the imagination of the reader. Creative GMs can then take the plot hooks provided and build adventures or even entire campaigns based on them, whether they are for single characters or larger parties. The plot hooks cater for a wide variety of different concepts, from stalkers, to murderers, to the macabre. Originality and creativity abounds, although one has to admit that some of the plot hooks hold elements of the stereotypical, probably not due to any fault of the writer, but just due to representation of the genre in the modern world.

Examples of the plot hooks include the Collector (a horror-movie collector strangely gone missing), It Slices, It Dices (featuring a rather strange game show), Bloodwork (people seem to require a whole host of repeated blood transfusions), and Grand Guignol (a theatre company that is not all that is appears to be). I generally liked all that I read - the writer has a way of drawing the reader into the text, and providing strong descriptive representation of each plot hook in the writing. All of the plot hooks were decent, and should provide numerous ideas for horror-related games.

In addition to the plot hooks, a single sidebar also provides a number of short descriptive pieces of text to add an element of flavor to the game, or to heighten the sense of dread in a game. These are nice little touches to round of the plot hooks of the pdf.

Bloody Hooks is an evocative (in name and execution) product from Big Finger Games that provides a number of horror related plot hooks. This is a short product, and despite the lack of detail in the plot hooks, stands well on its own and succeeds at its intention to inspire or spark the imagination. If you're looking for a few ideas, perhaps just some random elements of thought, then this is a nice little product to take a look at.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Bloody Hooks contains some decent and very useful plot hooks for modern horror games. Writing is very good, and the plot hooks strong in their concepts and ideas. Presentation is very good.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Nothing much - the product doesn't really support fantasy horror, but that's not really a dislike, more a general comment. Some of the plot hooks can sound familiar, although the writer has succeeded at adding elements of the creative in all of them.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



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[4 of 5 Stars!]
Bloody Hooks
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