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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dismas" data-source="post: 1166495" data-attributes="member: 7195">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 <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> 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 <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />. 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 (<a href="http://www.wirepaladin.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=102" target="_blank">http://www.wirepaladin.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=102</a>) thread.</blockquote>

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