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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 9220376" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon/Polyhedron Issue 92/151: May/Jun 2002part 6/12First Watch: This continues to be large and multi-parted. First up, they fill in the missing symmetry in d20 Modern by adding the Tough Hero. In the process we get to see which bits have moved closer to the release version and which won’t be fixed until even more feedback comes in. They’ve gone from 20 level classes to a mere 10, and changed it from a fixed set of abilities to alternating choice of bonus feat and class-exclusive ones, although they’re still only approximately every third level each, leaving some dead levels. Reputation bonuses are now in. They are still using vitality points rather than hit points, and even the tough hero only gets 1d6 per level, which makes me think giving all the others 1d4 wasn’t a typo after all - they genuinely thought making them all that much more fragile than D&D or even Star Wars ones was a good idea. Even more weirdly, they give it 4+int skill points despite there being no con based skills except concentration, which isn’t a class skill for them! Make that one make sense folks. This is still very much a work in progress then, with only 6 months to go. Second, the release roundup. Affinity Games release the Windhaven City Campaign Guide, a mammoth 328 page setting book ready for adventuring in. If you liked the tone of the old Judges Guild books check it out. Alderac get round to covering Gods in their guidebook series, and are hoping to get Farscape d20 finished and through approvals soon, after repeated delays. Atlas have some Occult Lore for us, including multiple alternative magic systems of dubious game balance to try. Avalanche have four different books based on public domain ideas. I: Mordred, for if you think Arthur wasn’t such a nice guy after all. All For One, a rather straighter take on the Three Musketeers. Whispers in the Shadows, for your Illuminati and other real world secret society fun and Endless Sands, for if you want another take on fantasy Arabia. Bastion Press has Spells and Magic, another self-explanatory helping of the things players most look forward to getting their hands on. Fantasy Flight Games does Way of the Sword, the start of their series of class handbooks to rival Mongoose, White Wolf and the official WotC ones. Fast Forward Entertainment give us Dungeon World, which is a little tricky to google now because of an apparently unrelated recent PbtA game of the same name by a different company. Firey Dragon Productions have a pair of sequels, with both the Counter Collection and the Of Sound Mind psionic adventures selling well enough to stretch to third instalments. Green Ronin are a little more esoteric with their class handbooks, covering Necromancers and Shamen. It took TSR 6 years to get around to those in 2e. Holistic Design decide to be extremely topical with Afghanistan D20, so you can mix your war on terror with your D&D. Malhavoc release the book of Eldritch Might II and The Banewarrens, both of which contain elements that will be significant in Ptolus later. Mongoose are not the most prolific publisher this month, unusually, with just the Quintessesntial Wizard & Elf books, plus the Judge Dredd RPG. Monkey God Enterprises give us Librum Equitus, a collection of prestige classes varying from the classic to the very quirky indeed. Finally, Necromancer Games have a couple of adventures. Hall of the Rainbow Mage is new, while Necropolis is a d20 conversion of an adventure from Gary Gygax’s Dangerous Journeys. Let’s hope it still works with the much faster advancement rate of 3e characters. Thirdly, as a somewhat acerbic corollary, they put in a d20 trend tracker pointing out the most overdone topics that the d20 boom is producing. Seven different takes on pirates from different companies? You’ll definitely wind up with a fair bit of redundant information if you buy all of them. You’ll have to go a little more obscure than that if you want to make your offerings stand out from the pack.</blockquote>

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