Desdichado
Legend
Well, that's really it -- no reviews yet? I'd really like to see some.
Menace Manual -- no reviews?!
- Thread starter Desdichado
- Start date
ColonelHardisson
What? Me Worry?
This is a overview/review of the book I posted at Nukinland just after it came out. When I have the time, I'll add to it:
I picked up the d20 Menace Manual recently. After giving it a couple of look-throughs, I have to say this book really pleases me as of now (I haven't read it thoroughly yet, so this is coming from just a few initial impressions).
What I kept finding myself thinking as I went through it was: "now this is a monster book done right!" What I enjoyed was that it was a combination of Rogue's Gallery and Monster Manual, with a section on organizations the PCs can interact with either positively or negatively (the CIA, the FBI, Dark Matter's Hoffman Institute, etc.)
Basically, there are three main sections, as I mentioned.
The first is what you'd expect: monsters. They range from plesiosaurs to bogey men. The Mothman makes an appearance, as does a number of other beasts from contemporary mythology; Sasquatch, Yeti, etc. A couple of the Alternity aliens show up - the Fraal are Greys, and the SSesheyans (or however you spell it). In general, this is a good, solid collection of critters that fit into the "real world."
The second section details a number of Ordinaries, for the GM's convenience (we saw this in the core book also). Firemen, cat burglars, etc. Reminded me a lot of the stock characters from Shadowrun. I love this kind of stuff; having a pool of NPCs with stats already done and waiting for me to use is one of my favorite things. There are also a number of heroic characters that belong to groups, from a very, very covert team that flies the infamous black helicopters, to a group of anarchists. The individual NPCs are useful even without the group background.
The third section is made up of organizations. FBI, CIA, and a number of other real and fictional ones are here (I mentioned the Hoffman Institute, which I thought was a neat touch). The history and motivations of these organizations are presented, with notes on using them in the various campaign models detailed in the core book (Urban Arcana, for example).
Generally, I like what I've seen so far.
I picked up the d20 Menace Manual recently. After giving it a couple of look-throughs, I have to say this book really pleases me as of now (I haven't read it thoroughly yet, so this is coming from just a few initial impressions).
What I kept finding myself thinking as I went through it was: "now this is a monster book done right!" What I enjoyed was that it was a combination of Rogue's Gallery and Monster Manual, with a section on organizations the PCs can interact with either positively or negatively (the CIA, the FBI, Dark Matter's Hoffman Institute, etc.)
Basically, there are three main sections, as I mentioned.
The first is what you'd expect: monsters. They range from plesiosaurs to bogey men. The Mothman makes an appearance, as does a number of other beasts from contemporary mythology; Sasquatch, Yeti, etc. A couple of the Alternity aliens show up - the Fraal are Greys, and the SSesheyans (or however you spell it). In general, this is a good, solid collection of critters that fit into the "real world."
The second section details a number of Ordinaries, for the GM's convenience (we saw this in the core book also). Firemen, cat burglars, etc. Reminded me a lot of the stock characters from Shadowrun. I love this kind of stuff; having a pool of NPCs with stats already done and waiting for me to use is one of my favorite things. There are also a number of heroic characters that belong to groups, from a very, very covert team that flies the infamous black helicopters, to a group of anarchists. The individual NPCs are useful even without the group background.
The third section is made up of organizations. FBI, CIA, and a number of other real and fictional ones are here (I mentioned the Hoffman Institute, which I thought was a neat touch). The history and motivations of these organizations are presented, with notes on using them in the various campaign models detailed in the core book (Urban Arcana, for example).
Generally, I like what I've seen so far.
Desdichado
Legend
Thanks, CH. I've been a bit on the edge for this one; although it appears to be well done, it seems a bit pricy considering what it offers (much of which I can either steal from another book o'stats, or use the same ideas from TV shows, Dark*Matter, Conspiracy X, etc. that I already have.) In short, I'm just not sure about buying it yet. And, perhaps a bit surprisingly, there are no reviews here or at rpg.net yet.
ColonelHardisson
What? Me Worry?
Well, the only thing I can add is that this book is one of the few d20/OGL books that I'm excited about. I rank it up there with Mutants & Masterminds and Freedom City, which is saying a lot, in my opinion. The Menace Manual is the book that finally mad me want to run a d20 Modern game. I'd encourage at least a thorough look at it.
Psion
Adventurer
The thing I dig about it is that finally d20 modern seems to be supporting something other than urban fantasy or close variants. The book has a lot of elements of alien invasion SF/horror in it.
Oh, I also dig that it shows I'm not the only one who doesn't twig to the d20 modern nonlethal rules.
Oh, I also dig that it shows I'm not the only one who doesn't twig to the d20 modern nonlethal rules.
Here is my mini-review:
I felt like I got a great deal on the d20 Modern roleplaying game book, the d20 Menace Manual is cool, but seems like less of a deal. I'm using the Creature section in my D&D campaign and a few in d20 M. The GM characters section saves me some time. The factions section, I don't use much verbatim (except more GM characters), but the ideas and templating I found useful.
It is 224 pages for 34.95$ list. So it is not that great price per page. It doesn't really have player material, it is mainly targetted at GMs.
I think it is good looking (but I like the d20 Modern dress- it follows that style). The art has highlights and low lights, but is mostly colour and is good.
It has 85 pages of Creatures. The creatures are Monster Manual style monsters. Some would be great in D&D. The monsters are assorted by types and CR so you get a cross section of all. The fraal appear along with some Alternity and DarkMatter creature converted to d20. There are a couple of templates in this section.
It has a few less than 50 pages of GM characters. The first 25 pages are 'ordinaries' so you don't have to generate NPC's- they are divided into jobs and have CR 1, 5, 9 statblocks for each job. The second 25 pages are specific, named, heroic GM characters some allies, some foes... I find the ordinaries useful, the Heroics not so much. The generic ordinaries I can dress up anyway I like, the Heroics already have a certain flavor, and my game isn't really set for any of them.
The next 80 pages are factions. This part is useful for a gm because of the templating ( I don't feel the actual factions are that useful, but I'm using d20M as a cyberpunk setting). They have details about an organization, some sample characters, gather/info research charts if the players research the organization. Those are kind of cool. There is the Hoffman institute and some other old flavor things creeping in. I like the balance of crunch and fluff. I use the crunch of the sample characters and the template for a faction, the fluff is just inspirational for me as it doesn't fit my game.
Instead of an index, there is a creatures ranked by CR chart. I like that but I also wish they would include a type chart. There are no appendix/concordance whatever- the table of contents at the beginning is how you are supposed to find things.
Overall: for a GM 4 out of 5 stars (B maybe B+) for a player 3 out of 5 (C maybe C-)
-E
Maybe I should go post this in the review section...
I felt like I got a great deal on the d20 Modern roleplaying game book, the d20 Menace Manual is cool, but seems like less of a deal. I'm using the Creature section in my D&D campaign and a few in d20 M. The GM characters section saves me some time. The factions section, I don't use much verbatim (except more GM characters), but the ideas and templating I found useful.
It is 224 pages for 34.95$ list. So it is not that great price per page. It doesn't really have player material, it is mainly targetted at GMs.
I think it is good looking (but I like the d20 Modern dress- it follows that style). The art has highlights and low lights, but is mostly colour and is good.
It has 85 pages of Creatures. The creatures are Monster Manual style monsters. Some would be great in D&D. The monsters are assorted by types and CR so you get a cross section of all. The fraal appear along with some Alternity and DarkMatter creature converted to d20. There are a couple of templates in this section.
It has a few less than 50 pages of GM characters. The first 25 pages are 'ordinaries' so you don't have to generate NPC's- they are divided into jobs and have CR 1, 5, 9 statblocks for each job. The second 25 pages are specific, named, heroic GM characters some allies, some foes... I find the ordinaries useful, the Heroics not so much. The generic ordinaries I can dress up anyway I like, the Heroics already have a certain flavor, and my game isn't really set for any of them.
The next 80 pages are factions. This part is useful for a gm because of the templating ( I don't feel the actual factions are that useful, but I'm using d20M as a cyberpunk setting). They have details about an organization, some sample characters, gather/info research charts if the players research the organization. Those are kind of cool. There is the Hoffman institute and some other old flavor things creeping in. I like the balance of crunch and fluff. I use the crunch of the sample characters and the template for a faction, the fluff is just inspirational for me as it doesn't fit my game.
Instead of an index, there is a creatures ranked by CR chart. I like that but I also wish they would include a type chart. There are no appendix/concordance whatever- the table of contents at the beginning is how you are supposed to find things.
Overall: for a GM 4 out of 5 stars (B maybe B+) for a player 3 out of 5 (C maybe C-)
-E
Maybe I should go post this in the review section...
Posted a review here and on my weblog the day it came out:
I received an early first (paper) Wedding Anniversary present yesterday. The postman turned up with a copy of the d20 Menace Manual
Still reading through it at the moment, but here are some initial impressions.
The book is a 224 page hardback (USD 34.99, GBP 19.99 - that's about 10 Happy Meals) and contains 4 and a bit chapters; Introduction (8 Pages), Chapter One: Creatures (86 Pages), Chapter Two: GM Characters (45 Pages) and Chapter Four (82) with the remaining pages making up front-piece, chapter, index etc.
Fans of the Alternity campaign settings Star*Drive and Dark*Matter may be please to see some of their wonderful Aliens and Organisations brought to the attention of the d20 Modern player.
So the big question is What is in it for me?
Chapter One:
For a Fantasy orientated campaign you get Doom Hags, more Fiends, Harpies, Ghoul and Half-Fiend templates, Satanic Ichor and other nastiness. Horror campaigns can be spiced up with Bogeyman, Maniac and Revenant templates or maybe the odd Night Terror or two. There is not much in this chapter for those playing straight modern; Giant Anaconda, chimps, scorpions, hippos are amongst the few real world creatures. Psionic campaigns have the old D&D standbys the Intellect Devourer and Thought Eater backed up some new creatures such as Rod and Rogue Tulpa. Moving on to the Sci-fi and Conspiracy brings us a host of Alternity alien goodness Elohim, Etolie, Fraal (Grey), Gardhyi, Kinori Korath, N'sss, Sand Slave, Sasquatch and Sesheyan.
We are also treated to a few new weapons (Mass Pistols, Black Laser etc) and equipment (Fraal scout ship, Dimensional Transformers), giving us a little taster maybe, of the way things might be working in d20 Future.
Chapter Two:
GM Characters, lots of them, same format as the Main Rule Book. Various archetypes shown in 3 levels, Low (2nd Level), Medium (6th Level) and High (10th Level). Need a Demolitions Expert, Grifter or even a Vatican Investigator, they're here. Unlike the samples in the Main Rules, some (like the hitman) stay with one class all the way.
Chapter Three:
Organisations, real world and fictional. The Hoffmann Institute, dedicated to the advancement of mankind. The final church, dedicated to the restoration of the dark gods. CIA, FBI, DoD and FEMA watch GNN news reports of the Cryptonaughts latest hacking attempts, while plotting raids on the Le Gente drug cartel.
The Menace Manual main strength lies in the fact that it is not just fantasy. I think it is time to re-read some of my old Dark*Matter notes.
I have posted the Table of Contents on my boards in this (http://www.wirepaladin.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=102) thread.
I received an early first (paper) Wedding Anniversary present yesterday. The postman turned up with a copy of the d20 Menace Manual
Still reading through it at the moment, but here are some initial impressions.The book is a 224 page hardback (USD 34.99, GBP 19.99 - that's about 10 Happy Meals) and contains 4 and a bit chapters; Introduction (8 Pages), Chapter One: Creatures (86 Pages), Chapter Two: GM Characters (45 Pages) and Chapter Four (82) with the remaining pages making up front-piece, chapter, index etc.
Fans of the Alternity campaign settings Star*Drive and Dark*Matter may be please to see some of their wonderful Aliens and Organisations brought to the attention of the d20 Modern player.
So the big question is What is in it for me?
Chapter One:
For a Fantasy orientated campaign you get Doom Hags, more Fiends, Harpies, Ghoul and Half-Fiend templates, Satanic Ichor and other nastiness. Horror campaigns can be spiced up with Bogeyman, Maniac and Revenant templates or maybe the odd Night Terror or two. There is not much in this chapter for those playing straight modern; Giant Anaconda, chimps, scorpions, hippos are amongst the few real world creatures. Psionic campaigns have the old D&D standbys the Intellect Devourer and Thought Eater backed up some new creatures such as Rod and Rogue Tulpa. Moving on to the Sci-fi and Conspiracy brings us a host of Alternity alien goodness Elohim, Etolie, Fraal (Grey), Gardhyi, Kinori Korath, N'sss, Sand Slave, Sasquatch and Sesheyan.
We are also treated to a few new weapons (Mass Pistols, Black Laser etc) and equipment (Fraal scout ship, Dimensional Transformers), giving us a little taster maybe, of the way things might be working in d20 Future.
Chapter Two:
GM Characters, lots of them, same format as the Main Rule Book. Various archetypes shown in 3 levels, Low (2nd Level), Medium (6th Level) and High (10th Level). Need a Demolitions Expert, Grifter or even a Vatican Investigator, they're here. Unlike the samples in the Main Rules, some (like the hitman) stay with one class all the way.
Chapter Three:
Organisations, real world and fictional. The Hoffmann Institute, dedicated to the advancement of mankind. The final church, dedicated to the restoration of the dark gods. CIA, FBI, DoD and FEMA watch GNN news reports of the Cryptonaughts latest hacking attempts, while plotting raids on the Le Gente drug cartel.
The Menace Manual main strength lies in the fact that it is not just fantasy
. I think it is time to re-read some of my old Dark*Matter notes.I have posted the Table of Contents on my boards in this (http://www.wirepaladin.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=102) thread.
MrFilthyIke
First Post
Joshua Dyal said:
I have not picked it up yet, but spent an hour or so flipping through it at the local Borders, so I'll at least say it looked really good to me. Very useful (but then again, I GM). I'd say it is probably player-unfriendly (unless you play AND GM), but still a great read.
The price is a bit higher than I'd like, but so are the prices for Decipher's LotR and any Mongoose hardcover.
Desdichado
Legend
I do GM, but I already have Dark*Matter, I already know quite a bit about the CIA or the FBI (and I watch Alias, and lots of other espionage shows and movies, so ideas are a dime a dozen.)
I'm not convinced yet, I suppose, and probably won't be until I just either pick it up or decide to stop worrying about it, whether or not it really has anything in it I can't easily make up or wing or convert from some other source.
I'm not convinced yet, I suppose, and probably won't be until I just either pick it up or decide to stop worrying about it, whether or not it really has anything in it I can't easily make up or wing or convert from some other source.
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