Crothian
First Post
Blood and Spooks
Who ya goin call? Since my early days of playing Beyond the Supernatural investigating ghosts has always been a great theme for a modern game. It has been years since I have played in such a game but the memories and excitement of such a game still ring true. Blood and Spooks brings back the fun of ghost hunting.
Blood and Spooks is a new PDF by RPG Objects. It is very much like another book they have that I liked Blood and Brains, that one is about zombies. RPG Objects have had quite a few really good books like their Darwin’s World line and the Blood and books of which this is obviously one. The book is well laid out, good art, and nicely book marked. One nice option that RPG Objects has is a printer friendly version one can get from their web site.
Blood and Spooks is a great addition to Blood and Brains. I like that the books are fun and serious allowing for a lot of different play styles. The ghosts and supernatural creatures are not as dark and horrific as say Call of Cthulhu and his buddies. The tone is lighthearted at times and makes the book a good read as well as a good RPG supplement.
The book starts with a good introduction and explains the feel. So few books really do this and it is always helpful to set the stage for the reader. The book uses d20 Modern rules and lists and explains so new allegiances for the players to have. There are some new good ones like Science, Wealth, and even Sex. It really opens the game up to some new possibilities there. There are new occupations as well, many of them very much in line with what the character is going to be doing. For instance there is Ghost Hunter Driver, the guy who drives the vehicle for the ghost hunters. There are also more mundane occupations like Antiques Dealer and Circus Performer. There are also backgrounds, these are ways the character become a ghost hunter. There are only eight so more would have been useful. Each gives a small benefit along with a small drawback. These are all weaker then feats and really serve more to offer the place a character came from then any truly great mechanical benefit.
What of the victims? One area that some horror based games seems to neglect is the easy creation of victims. Well, there are some simple rules using the d20 modern classes to create victims. It would have been nice to see some simple examples since creating NPCs in the d20 Modern system can take a little while with the feats, the skills, and everything else. But there are some nice simple rules for creating children and aren’t they the best victims?
The advanced classes are good in appropriateness for the setting, but are a bit like the ones presented in the D20 Modern book. Most of the ones here are pretty self explanatory like the Arcanist, the Clairvoyant, Exorcist, Ghost Hunter, and Skeptic. I like the classes but would have liked to see a little more move away from the advanced classes that have already been made. The Medium for instance is a nice psionic based class, but would have been more interesting with unique abilities.
Unlike most new books there are very few new feats; only two. There is one new use for a skill. But it is a cool one: Duct Tape Engineering. It uses the Craft Mechanic skill and anything that allows one to take advantage of versatile Duct Tape is a good thing.
Ghost hunting equipment is very important and dangerous. They require a license to use and the simple rules for that is nicely covered. The equipment includes all the typical items like ghost containers of different varieties and electrons packs and many types of detectors.
There area few pages about signs of haunting and other supernatural events, employers, mystic places and odd encounters. It is a good list for them but really could have been expanded on more. The general tips for every ghost hunter are nice.
Lastly, are a large amount of new FX spells and powers, following ghosts to their own plane, and stating out the ghosts. There are even some advanced classes for ghosts that can really allow for plenty of different types of encounters with ghosts.
Blood and Spooks do a nice job of presenting ghost hunters. These are more then just the Ghostbusters, the book offers plenty of new types of characters that would investigate and be involved with ghosts. One strength of the product will be combining it with Blood and Brains for a nice mix of Zombies of Ghosts for the players to have to handle.
Who ya goin call? Since my early days of playing Beyond the Supernatural investigating ghosts has always been a great theme for a modern game. It has been years since I have played in such a game but the memories and excitement of such a game still ring true. Blood and Spooks brings back the fun of ghost hunting.
Blood and Spooks is a new PDF by RPG Objects. It is very much like another book they have that I liked Blood and Brains, that one is about zombies. RPG Objects have had quite a few really good books like their Darwin’s World line and the Blood and books of which this is obviously one. The book is well laid out, good art, and nicely book marked. One nice option that RPG Objects has is a printer friendly version one can get from their web site.
Blood and Spooks is a great addition to Blood and Brains. I like that the books are fun and serious allowing for a lot of different play styles. The ghosts and supernatural creatures are not as dark and horrific as say Call of Cthulhu and his buddies. The tone is lighthearted at times and makes the book a good read as well as a good RPG supplement.
The book starts with a good introduction and explains the feel. So few books really do this and it is always helpful to set the stage for the reader. The book uses d20 Modern rules and lists and explains so new allegiances for the players to have. There are some new good ones like Science, Wealth, and even Sex. It really opens the game up to some new possibilities there. There are new occupations as well, many of them very much in line with what the character is going to be doing. For instance there is Ghost Hunter Driver, the guy who drives the vehicle for the ghost hunters. There are also more mundane occupations like Antiques Dealer and Circus Performer. There are also backgrounds, these are ways the character become a ghost hunter. There are only eight so more would have been useful. Each gives a small benefit along with a small drawback. These are all weaker then feats and really serve more to offer the place a character came from then any truly great mechanical benefit.
What of the victims? One area that some horror based games seems to neglect is the easy creation of victims. Well, there are some simple rules using the d20 modern classes to create victims. It would have been nice to see some simple examples since creating NPCs in the d20 Modern system can take a little while with the feats, the skills, and everything else. But there are some nice simple rules for creating children and aren’t they the best victims?
The advanced classes are good in appropriateness for the setting, but are a bit like the ones presented in the D20 Modern book. Most of the ones here are pretty self explanatory like the Arcanist, the Clairvoyant, Exorcist, Ghost Hunter, and Skeptic. I like the classes but would have liked to see a little more move away from the advanced classes that have already been made. The Medium for instance is a nice psionic based class, but would have been more interesting with unique abilities.
Unlike most new books there are very few new feats; only two. There is one new use for a skill. But it is a cool one: Duct Tape Engineering. It uses the Craft Mechanic skill and anything that allows one to take advantage of versatile Duct Tape is a good thing.
Ghost hunting equipment is very important and dangerous. They require a license to use and the simple rules for that is nicely covered. The equipment includes all the typical items like ghost containers of different varieties and electrons packs and many types of detectors.
There area few pages about signs of haunting and other supernatural events, employers, mystic places and odd encounters. It is a good list for them but really could have been expanded on more. The general tips for every ghost hunter are nice.
Lastly, are a large amount of new FX spells and powers, following ghosts to their own plane, and stating out the ghosts. There are even some advanced classes for ghosts that can really allow for plenty of different types of encounters with ghosts.
Blood and Spooks do a nice job of presenting ghost hunters. These are more then just the Ghostbusters, the book offers plenty of new types of characters that would investigate and be involved with ghosts. One strength of the product will be combining it with Blood and Brains for a nice mix of Zombies of Ghosts for the players to have to handle.
