Crothian
First Post
Spycraft is the game of modern spies and espionage. It takes the best of the d20 system and adds on rules for easy ways to equip characters with all the latest gadgets and has a great system of feats that give cool abilities. I have always preferred it to d20 modern so when I first got some of the PDFs I was excited to see what was being done with the game. I will admit for not being all that excited for seeing d20 modern classes done in the Spycraft style.
Back to Basics is a PDF by Crafty Games who now hold the Spycraft license. The twenty page PDF is written by Alex Flagg. The PDF comes in two versions. The main version is in full color and has nice art and looks very similar to the Spycraft book. The second one is a basic black and white PDF that has no art but will be really easy to print and use that way. What I like about the second one is the classes each take up one page so that a DM can just print out what a player needs and have it all there for them to easily reference. The main PDF is book marked though a book mark to each knack would have been helpful.
The basic classes of d20 Modern are all presented here. There is one that matches each attribute. For Spycraft they have been lengthened to twenty levels and they get an ability each level to match up with the Spycraft classes. Each class gets Knacks which are very much like d20 Modern’s Talent Trees. There are plenty of knacks presented in the book some of them for only one class and some of them that can be taken by multiple classes. The classes do a good job of being less of an arch type then the classes of Spycraft so someone can be the type of character they want to be without getting locked into what the class defines them as.
The book does a good job with the classes but one area I think it does not do that well in is with mixing the classes. It does have a little sidebar that talks about using the classes side by side and how the normal Spycraft classes will be a little stronger then the d20 Modern versions. But I also wanted to see suggests or ways to mix the character classes together through multi classing and any problems that might present. Also the same with prestige classes of Spycraft. I think this was a pretty big over sight as it is something players will want to do and DMs might be a little confused by the lack of anything on it.
For players and DMs of Spycraft this PDF will be a good addition for those that want a little more flexibility in the classes and less definition in what they are. It will also be beneficial for d20 Modern players that want to try Spycraft but really like the d20 modern classes.
Back to Basics is a PDF by Crafty Games who now hold the Spycraft license. The twenty page PDF is written by Alex Flagg. The PDF comes in two versions. The main version is in full color and has nice art and looks very similar to the Spycraft book. The second one is a basic black and white PDF that has no art but will be really easy to print and use that way. What I like about the second one is the classes each take up one page so that a DM can just print out what a player needs and have it all there for them to easily reference. The main PDF is book marked though a book mark to each knack would have been helpful.
The basic classes of d20 Modern are all presented here. There is one that matches each attribute. For Spycraft they have been lengthened to twenty levels and they get an ability each level to match up with the Spycraft classes. Each class gets Knacks which are very much like d20 Modern’s Talent Trees. There are plenty of knacks presented in the book some of them for only one class and some of them that can be taken by multiple classes. The classes do a good job of being less of an arch type then the classes of Spycraft so someone can be the type of character they want to be without getting locked into what the class defines them as.
The book does a good job with the classes but one area I think it does not do that well in is with mixing the classes. It does have a little sidebar that talks about using the classes side by side and how the normal Spycraft classes will be a little stronger then the d20 Modern versions. But I also wanted to see suggests or ways to mix the character classes together through multi classing and any problems that might present. Also the same with prestige classes of Spycraft. I think this was a pretty big over sight as it is something players will want to do and DMs might be a little confused by the lack of anything on it.
For players and DMs of Spycraft this PDF will be a good addition for those that want a little more flexibility in the classes and less definition in what they are. It will also be beneficial for d20 Modern players that want to try Spycraft but really like the d20 modern classes.
