Amethyst d20 RPG Rocks

[elijah snow]

Another shot in the arm to the 3.5e grognard/pathfinder rpg community comes from the newly released Amethyst d20 RPG. Check it out here:

http://www.diasexmachina.com/

Amethyst succeeds where many, many others have failed - to fuse D&D with post-apocalyptic Earth. The well-written, skillfully illustrated tome weighs in at over 300 pages filled with short fiction, narrative description, and new races, classes, and crunchy goodness premised on the war between the ancient races of magic (dragons, fey, elves, dwarves, goblins, etc.) and the last bastions of humankind and their technology.

Amethyst is built on a foundation of great philosophic debates- magic vs. science, man's responsibility for his own downfall, where do we come from, are the classic monsters and myths of fantasy based in reality- and proceeds to spin a fascinating yarn that promises to reach its climax within a short series of supplemental releases.

I may not be launching a campaign in the Amethyst universe just yet, but I'm enjoying reading it purely for entertainment value. I'm also noting what ideas, fantastic locations, and crunchy races I can port into my own world.

If you're at all tempted by original, cohesive d20 campaign settings, you'll get more than your money's worth from Amethyst.

 

[Turanil]

300 pages : how many pages of new rules (races, classes, feats, and what not) vs how many pages of purely setting description is there in this book?

 

[Inferno!]

I picked this up today. I haven't had time to read much, but the art is fantastic.

 

[scourger]

How is the print quality? I've never purchased POD before. Thanks.

 

[Dias Ex Machina]

300 pages : how many pages of new rules (races, classes, feats, and what not) vs how many pages of purely setting description is there in this book?

Well, the issue about answering that is due to how we sprinkle in our setting. There are not huge sections of just rules and just narrative. Sure the Equipment section has no real fluff and is 40 pages and the book has 32 pages before the first rule is even mentioned, but the other sections are mixed with sidebars and tangents dealing with the setting. Races, for example, is 30 pages compared to Midnight's 15. Its not that we have more races (we don't) or more artwork (we don't, but the ones we do have are pretty cool), we just dive into a lot of backstory on the races, their culture, and disposition. We even have a half-page sidebar simply called "Romance."

There is a setting section which is 113 pages without a single rule. But I would have to go into the book in detail and mention the percentage of how much are hard rules and how much is narrative. Despite having 46 pages of core classes and prestige classes, I still think the final book is 80% setting detail and 20% rules.

We have a section on dragons which is 10 pages despite only have stats for four dragons. The rest is all fluff (holy dragons, pearl dragons, noble dragons, fire dragons, frost dragons, cancer dragons, yok-ani dragons, dragon kings, the seven lords of azhi, the dragon god, yadda yadda)

In comparison, Skills and Feats is only 6 pages including the chapter cover

I hope this answers your question.

Oh...scourger...your question...

Last week, I received the preview print of the first 30 pages. I was floored. First, they ship it covered in foam, shrink-wrapped to cardboard, and then placed in a larger box. Somewhere, Al Gore is crying.

The book has a full color cover, laminated, and glossy. The pages are perfect bound with astounding strength. Paper weight is thick and the artwork comes out clear and crisp. If I were to make a comparison, I would lay is alongside some of the softcovers that AEG or Palladium has put out. I know my word may not mean much considering my position as publisher, but we all were impressed and honestly surprised at the end quality.

Oh, and thanks for the comments, all of you. We really appreciate it.

 

[Mondbuchstaben]

How is the print quality? I've never purchased POD before. Thanks.

The US-printed LULU hardcovers are very, very solid and sturdy!
(The European-printed softcovers, less so...)

 

[elijah snow]

All of my POD purchases from Lulu have been stellar. To the casual observer, you wouldn't know they weren't off the shelf.

 

[scourger]

Thanks. It looks like an interesting concept, but I really don't buy many pdfs. So, having the HC option is ideal for me.

 

[Dias Ex Machina]

Well, this was posted recently on our site:

"Softcover is amazing. Black binding draws the eyes and cleanly separates the front and back artwork.

"I am a black tome, except I'm not pretending to be a tome, which would be silly.

"Front cover: font is epic. Art looks even better than on the monitor. The cover emphasizes the art.
Back cover: war scene. Always a plus."

When I get MY copy (sigh), I will post images showing the quality and you can judge for yourself. I am glad we have peaked your interest.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I would definitely like to see photos of the hardcover and softcover books. I haven't decided which, or whether I'll get the PDF instead, just yet. Depends on a few things.