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Deadlands: D20
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<blockquote data-quote="trancejeremy" data-source="post: 2008495" data-attributes="member: 924"><p>The Deadlands d20 rulebook is softcover, fairly good sized (200 pages), and fairly reasonably priced at $25. The physical quality is perhaps a bit poor, but the book is packed with lots of content, and is fairly hefty (always a good thing in a RPG book). The artwork is mostly recycled from other Deadlands products, and is often printed rather darkly, but more than adequate. </p><p></p><p>Deadlands is a fairly popular game combining the horror and western genres. The closest comparison would be to Shadowrun, only set in the old west, minus the fantasy races and with bits from The Adventures of Brico County Jr. & The Wild Wild West thrown in. </p><p></p><p>It's set in 1877 or so, in North America. While it's 1877, it's not our 1877. Thanks to "The Reckoning", essentially a magic ritual done by Native Americans, magic has come back into the world, bringing with it evil critters. The US Civil War still rages on. Much of California has fallen into the ocean, creating a series of islands called the Maze. A magical fuel source found there, "Ghost Rock" allows wild, steampunkish technology to be created, making the Civil War even more hellish.</p><p>Against this backdrop, it's up to the PCs to fight the evil critters and foil plots of the Reckoners. </p><p> </p><p>Besides a somewhat similar background to Shadowrun, the original version of Deadlands also uses mechanics similar to Shadowrun, only more complex and using all sorts of dice, poker chips, and decks of cards. While the original game has lots of flavor, a pain to actually play. Which is part of the reason Pinnacle came out with Deadlands d20 - to allow more people to actually play the game.</p><p></p><p>Getting to the game itself, there are 9 new basic classes - Blessed (sort of like a Cleric), Brave, Gunslinger (sort of like a fighter, only with guns), Huckster (sort of like a wizard or sorcerer), Mad Scientist, Maverick (sort of like a Rogue), Rowdy (sort of like a fighter, but with melee weapons), Scout, and Shaman (sort of like a Druid). As mentioned, many of the classes resemble D&D classes, but have been altered to fit a Western (or Horror) style flavor. There's also an NPC class, the "Black Magician", and 3 prestige classes, the Texas Ranger, the Agency Operative , and the Harrowed. The first two are basically government investigators of evil, while the last is essentially an undead character. The classes seem to be very well thought out and well balanced. A few npc classes stay in the game, but otherwise all the other classes from D&D are replaced.</p><p></p><p>Also replaced is the old magic system. A new magic system, involving spell points, is also included, and uses regular D&D spells (with some additions and subtractions from the spell lists). While not perfect, it seems to fit the nature of the game much better than the regular D&D spell system. There are also a number of new feats, new skills, and many mid to late 19th century firearms. </p><p></p><p>Some of the new skills are perhaps unnecessary, especially since some of the classes in the book don't have all that many skill points. Some of the feats are perhaps a bit overpowered. </p><p></p><p>Combat in Deadlands d20 is actually quite deadly. Pinnacle has increased the damage rating of firearms over what is found in the DMG. Most guns do two dice of damage, typically 2d6+2 or so for pistols, 2d8 or more for rifles. Some feats can increase that damage, as can the special abilities of some classes. </p><p></p><p>Besides the new rules, the book also contains an extensive amount of background, including fairly indepth coverage of Dodge City. The background text lacks the flavor of the background presented in the original Deadlands books (portrayed there as articles in a newspaper) but there is nothing wrong with it. And there is more than enough background in it to start a Deadlands game. </p><p></p><p>So, to sum up, Pinnacle has done an excellent job. Rather than doing a slapdash conversion to d20, or simply using a word processor to search and replace, Pinnacle has seemingly created a d20 game from the ground up that fits the Deadlands universe. Bravo! Buy this book if you have any interest in Deadlands itself (it is a pretty cool universe), or even just running a Western game using the d20 rules. </p><p></p><p>Let's hope Pinnacle puts out more d20 Deadlands books. In the future, all products will be dual statted, but I would like to see a book with more character classes (for instance, for martial artists, more guns, more powers for the Blessed, more totems for the Shaman and Brave, etc)</p><p></p><p>As a note, much of the book is open content. The classes, equipment, spells, feats, etc, are all open content. The only complication is that some names are considered to be 'Product Identity", but thankfully, not many.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="trancejeremy, post: 2008495, member: 924"] The Deadlands d20 rulebook is softcover, fairly good sized (200 pages), and fairly reasonably priced at $25. The physical quality is perhaps a bit poor, but the book is packed with lots of content, and is fairly hefty (always a good thing in a RPG book). The artwork is mostly recycled from other Deadlands products, and is often printed rather darkly, but more than adequate. Deadlands is a fairly popular game combining the horror and western genres. The closest comparison would be to Shadowrun, only set in the old west, minus the fantasy races and with bits from The Adventures of Brico County Jr. & The Wild Wild West thrown in. It's set in 1877 or so, in North America. While it's 1877, it's not our 1877. Thanks to "The Reckoning", essentially a magic ritual done by Native Americans, magic has come back into the world, bringing with it evil critters. The US Civil War still rages on. Much of California has fallen into the ocean, creating a series of islands called the Maze. A magical fuel source found there, "Ghost Rock" allows wild, steampunkish technology to be created, making the Civil War even more hellish. Against this backdrop, it's up to the PCs to fight the evil critters and foil plots of the Reckoners. Besides a somewhat similar background to Shadowrun, the original version of Deadlands also uses mechanics similar to Shadowrun, only more complex and using all sorts of dice, poker chips, and decks of cards. While the original game has lots of flavor, a pain to actually play. Which is part of the reason Pinnacle came out with Deadlands d20 - to allow more people to actually play the game. Getting to the game itself, there are 9 new basic classes - Blessed (sort of like a Cleric), Brave, Gunslinger (sort of like a fighter, only with guns), Huckster (sort of like a wizard or sorcerer), Mad Scientist, Maverick (sort of like a Rogue), Rowdy (sort of like a fighter, but with melee weapons), Scout, and Shaman (sort of like a Druid). As mentioned, many of the classes resemble D&D classes, but have been altered to fit a Western (or Horror) style flavor. There's also an NPC class, the "Black Magician", and 3 prestige classes, the Texas Ranger, the Agency Operative , and the Harrowed. The first two are basically government investigators of evil, while the last is essentially an undead character. The classes seem to be very well thought out and well balanced. A few npc classes stay in the game, but otherwise all the other classes from D&D are replaced. Also replaced is the old magic system. A new magic system, involving spell points, is also included, and uses regular D&D spells (with some additions and subtractions from the spell lists). While not perfect, it seems to fit the nature of the game much better than the regular D&D spell system. There are also a number of new feats, new skills, and many mid to late 19th century firearms. Some of the new skills are perhaps unnecessary, especially since some of the classes in the book don't have all that many skill points. Some of the feats are perhaps a bit overpowered. Combat in Deadlands d20 is actually quite deadly. Pinnacle has increased the damage rating of firearms over what is found in the DMG. Most guns do two dice of damage, typically 2d6+2 or so for pistols, 2d8 or more for rifles. Some feats can increase that damage, as can the special abilities of some classes. Besides the new rules, the book also contains an extensive amount of background, including fairly indepth coverage of Dodge City. The background text lacks the flavor of the background presented in the original Deadlands books (portrayed there as articles in a newspaper) but there is nothing wrong with it. And there is more than enough background in it to start a Deadlands game. So, to sum up, Pinnacle has done an excellent job. Rather than doing a slapdash conversion to d20, or simply using a word processor to search and replace, Pinnacle has seemingly created a d20 game from the ground up that fits the Deadlands universe. Bravo! Buy this book if you have any interest in Deadlands itself (it is a pretty cool universe), or even just running a Western game using the d20 rules. Let's hope Pinnacle puts out more d20 Deadlands books. In the future, all products will be dual statted, but I would like to see a book with more character classes (for instance, for martial artists, more guns, more powers for the Blessed, more totems for the Shaman and Brave, etc) As a note, much of the book is open content. The classes, equipment, spells, feats, etc, are all open content. The only complication is that some names are considered to be 'Product Identity", but thankfully, not many. [/QUOTE]
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