[Blood and Guts] Has anyone played Raid On Ashkashem?

[FraserRonald]

Operation Dead Drop and Winterkill. I have the former. It's a pretty interesting adventure, but since it takes place in Antarctica I have a hard time using it in a campaign that has gone through Adelie 14 (a paramilitary free adventure on WotC's D20 Modern site). The statblocks in it were ... bad. Good adventure, bad NPCs. I saw Operation Dead Drop at a store, but didn't buy it. The stat blocks looked a lot more useable. Operation Winterkill and Adelie 14 are both designed as 7th-level adventures.

Just out of curiousity--and the hopes of not making the same mistakes--how were they bad? Incorrect information, lack of information, poor design?

Actually, considering Weekend Warriors is designed for level 5, Operation Winterkill and Adelie 14 are both designed for level 7, and the Albenistan series is designed for levels 9-11, that might be a bit of a campaign right there. Would take some work to string them together, but not too much.

Thanks and take care.

 

[FraserRonald]

Will you be coming out with more adventures?

As Vigilance (hi Chuck!) and C. Baize (hi Charles!) mentioned, the second adventure in the Albenistan series, The Qalashar Device, was just released. The series will conclude with the Khorforjan Gambit in March.

Once the Albenistan series is completed, SEP will be releasing a series of adventure supplements for our Arcane Kingdoms line. The Albenistan series is part of the SEP Spec Ops line, which is no-FX, Modern, and military-style. The Arcane Kingdoms line is standard fantasy, with magic, demi-humans and monsters. Also, we have plans to release a Spec Ops sourcebook and possibly a cross-over adventure that merges the Modern, military-style of Spec Ops with the FX of Arcane Kingdoms. As it stands. definite plans include the Khorforjan Gambit and then 3 products from Arcane Kingdoms.

Thanks for your interest everyone! Take care all.

 

[Christopher Lambert]

Just out of curiousity--and the hopes of not making the same mistakes--how were they bad? Incorrect information, lack of information, poor design?

Actually, considering Weekend Warriors is designed for level 5, Operation Winterkill and Adelie 14 are both designed for level 7, and the Albenistan series is designed for levels 9-11, that might be a bit of a campaign right there. Would take some work to string them together, but not too much.

Thanks and take care.

From Operation Winterkill, Natalia Vukovich.

Stat Block – d20 Modern
Smart Hero 6 CR 7; SZ M; Spd 30ft; HP 6d6 (23); Init +1 (+1 Dex,); Defense 13 (+2 Class, +1 Dex); Attacks: Makarov Sidearm (9mm) +4 (1d10); Face 1 square, Reach 1 square; SA None; SQ None; SV Fort +2 (+0 Con) Ref +5 (+1 Dex, +2 Lightning Reflexes) Will +4 (+1 Wis); Str 10 (+0) Dex 13 (+1) Con 11 (+0) Int 16 (+3) Wis 12 (+1) Cha 15 (+2)

Skills: Computer Use +12 (+3 Int), Craft (Electronics) +12 (+3 Int), Craft (Mechanical)
+12 (+3 Int), Diplomacy +2 (+2 Cha), Disable Device +11 (+3 Int), Drive +3 (+1 Dex), First
Aid +10 (+1 Wis), Hide +5 (+1 Dex), Jump +3 (+3 Str), Knowledge (Physical Science) +12
(+3 Int), Knowledge (Technology) +12 (+3 Int), Knowledge (Earth and Life Science) +12 (+3 Int), Knowledge (Antarctic) +5 (+3 Int), Listen +1 (+1 Wis), Navigate +12 (+3 Int), Repair +12 (+3 Int), Research +12 (+3 Int), Search +1 (+1 Int), Survival +3 (+1 Wis), Speak/Read/Write Cantonese, Speak/Read/Write English, Speak/Read/Write Mandarin;
Feats & Class Abilities: Builder, Educated, Lightning Reflexes
Talents: Linguist, Plan, Trick

So... inaccurate CR (not that important), inaccurate weapon damage, no occupation!, and no bonus feats.

That adventure is written for both Spycraft and D20 Modern, and has helpful rules for different situations from both rulesets. It seems the author was only familiar with Spycraft, however. (First Aid is the name of the Treat Injury skill in Spycraft, and in Spycraft a small handgun does 1d10 damage instead of 2d6 damage.)

There were a few areas where the text was poorly formatted as well, but in only one area was the formatting so bad that it interfered with understanding the material.

Also from "Shots Rang Out"

Joey Scarpelli
Class: Smart Hero Level 4
STR: 14 INT: 16 DEX: 13 CON: 15 WIS: 16 CHA: 12
MV: 30
HD: 4d6
HP: 21
Base Attack: +2
Defense Bonus: +4
Action Points: 23
Skills: Demolitions +9, Disable Device +9, Driving +15, Gambling +9, Investigate (Int)+8, Knowledge(Pop Culture)+14, Knowledge (Organized Crime) +13, Knowledge (Streetwise)
+12, Search +11, Thievery +7
Languages: English, Italian, Spanish
Background: Member of the Carlucci Family
Drawbacks: Braggart, Hatred of the Santucci Family, Pursued
by Police, Reputation in Organized Crime
Feats: Endurance, Personal Firearms Proficiency

High stats (and out of order), inaccurate number of APs (that's about 21 too many), an undefined skill (Thievery), not enough feats, no occupation (one of the best parts of D20 Modern) and not a talent in sight.

I've run Shots Rang Out, and by substituting NPCs from my little black box for the ones in here, it ran quite well.

 

[FraserRonald]

From Operation Winterkill, Natalia Vukovich.

So... inaccurate CR (not that important), inaccurate weapon damage, no occupation!, and no bonus feats.

And kind of a weird statblock. Maybe it's just me, but I really don't like all the parantheses.

That adventure is written for both Spycraft and D20 Modern, and has helpful rules for different situations from both rulesets. It seems the author was only familiar with Spycraft, however. (First Aid is the name of the Treat Injury skill in Spycraft, and in Spycraft a small handgun does 1d10 damage instead of 2d6 damage.)

Cool that it's written for both--increases its utility--but it kind of defeats the purpose if the statblocks are only in Spycraft.

There were a few areas where the text was poorly formatted as well, but in only one area was the formatting so bad that it interfered with understanding the material.

Also from "Shots Rang Out"

High stats (and out of order), inaccurate number of APs (that's about 21 too many), an undefined skill (Thievery), not enough feats, no occupation (one of the best parts of D20 Modern) and not a talent in sight.

It almost looks like it was written using variant rules but then those variant rules weren't included. Weird. Maybe an oversight. Whatever the reason, certainly annoying.

I've run Shots Rang Out, and by substituting NPCs from my little black box for the ones in here, it ran quite well.

Cool that the adventure itself is good, but it makes it all the more a shame that the statblocks were such a problem. Wonder how badly that hit their sales.

Take care!

 

[Roudi]

I was really impressed with the Raid on Ashkashem fiction that appeared in MODERNIZED Issue #1 and seriously regret not having an appropriate player group to run these adventures. It's also great to see a fellow Canuck doing well in the industry. Congrats on the latest release, Fraser!

Oh, by the way, MODERNIZED just made an open call for Issue #3... we'd definitely like to see more from Sword's Edge Publishing, if you're willing.

 

[FraserRonald]

I was really impressed with the Raid on Ashkashem fiction that appeared in MODERNIZED Issue #1 and seriously regret not having an appropriate player group to run these adventures. It's also great to see a fellow Canuck doing well in the industry. Congrats on the latest release, Fraser!

Thanks for the kind words! Always appreciate the support

Oh, by the way, MODERNIZED just made an open call for Issue #3... we'd definitely like to see more from Sword's Edge Publishing, if you're willing.

I'm pretty deep in a couple of projects right now, but I'll see what I can cook up. Drop me a line and let me know what you need, I'll see what I've got. Always happy to help!

Take care all.