Real Life roleplaying resource books

[Ejacobs]

Has anyone used the Real Life Roleplaying books from Holistic Designs with any success? (Colombia/Somalia/Afghanistan D20)

Am curious about starting a non-Fx real world game and am looking for good background classess/AC's/PrC's for some pre-made characters.

 

[jezter6]

Might I suggest the Blood and _____ line from RPGObjects. Aside from Blood and Relics, the others seem to be a straight focus to non-fx campaigns, from Blood and Guts (military) to Blood and Fists (martial arts)...there's good stuff to be had there.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

I've got Somalia, and I like it a lot. The classes and rules are well-done, and the background and campaign resources are very good. There's even a whole slew of "social feats" specifically for an all-military campaign, so that the soldiers can do something other than shoot things.

There's also two adventures and a campaign framework, plus ideas for adapting the sourcebook to other settings like near-future, etc.

I've been meaning to pick up Colombia, but I haven't found it yet. I'm not sure if I'll get Afghanistan or not, since it isn't D20 Modern.

 

[ElectricDevil]

I don't think holistic design necessarily grasps the concepts laid out in d20 Modern very well. Every "advanced class" is little more than a prestige class of some kind or another, rewritten to work with the d20 Modern mechanics.

Then there's the oddity of the writing. There's a lot of research put into the books, yet there's something strange about it. While reading about a South American terror group called the Tupac Amaru, you get a nice big block of text devoted to Tupac Shakur, who has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Tupac Amaru.

I do like the adventures/missions and the campaigns that are recommended in both Somalia and Colombia. They are worthwhile books for Military-style operations and other similar games.

 

[Ranger REG]

I got Afghanistan: d20 and it's a good source of information ("fluff") that you could use if you want to set a campaign in that region.

 

[Pagan priest]

I have Somalia. I got it to use the officer and other military classes. For that, I like it. I have no real interest in running a game in Somalia, nor in non-FX games in general. On the other hand, I think that the core book is a little light on good military classes, and I think the social feats are good albeit limited.

 

[Ranger REG]

What do you use them for, Pagan priest?