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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2009603" data-attributes="member: 18387">By Steve Creech, Exec. Chairman, d20 Magazine Rack This review is for Spycraft: Modern Arms Guide from Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG). This 144-page perfect bound Spycraft supplement retails for $24.95. The book is the first in a continuing series of support supplements specifically for the Spycraft setting. Chapter one jumps right in with new rules for Spycraft. New skills, a prestige class, combat options and new gear make up the chapter. New skills include: Craft (gunsmithing), Craft (weaponsmithing), and Knowledge (firearms). The Triggerman is a prestige class drawn straight from Hong Kong action movies. His trademark style, a pistol in each hand and a non-stop spray of bullets coupled with martial arts. This is one very cool prestige class. The combat rules offer new initiative rules (making it more realistic but complex), combat actions, morale rules, and updated rules of existing Spycraft options. Chapter two is devoted to melee weapons (standard and improvised). Here you find descriptions and statistics for many weapons including: acetylene torch, sword cane, nightstick, scythe and tire iron. Improvised weapons consist of such things as a staple gun, power drill, mace or taser. Chapter three focuses on hurled weapons. Finally, someone has addressed compound bows in a gaming supplement. Different types of grenades are also detailed such as chemical, incendiary, fragmentation, and white phosphorus. Other hurled weapons include: ball bearings, Molotov cocktail, nail gun (my favorite), rock and shotput. Exotic weapons are the subject of chapter four. Martial arts enthusiasts will enjoy this chapter. Here you will find polearms, harpoon gun, butterfly sword, half-staff sword, nine ring broadsword, rope weapons, tonfa, and whip chain, just to scratch the surface. The variety of this chapter will really help flavor your campaigns. Chapter five is all about firearms, period. This is probably the most comprehensive collection of firearms rules and equipment to date in a publication. There are even optional rules to factor in recoil in order to add realism. Handguns are broken dwon into pistols and revolvers with each gun being listed according to manufacturer, model, caliber, ammunition capacity, length, and weight. Rifles see the same format only are broken into assault, bolt-action and sniper categories. Shotguns also see three sub-categories: break action, combat (semi- and fully automatic), and pump action. Submachine guns have a single category only. Here you find the likes of the Colt 635, Heckler & Koch family of MP5’s, or even the Israeli IMI Uzi. Ammunition is also given a comprehensive treatment. In addition to the seven bullet types covered in the main Spycraft book, rules covering blanks, Blitz-Action Trauma (BAT), boat tail, compacted powder, discarding sabot, dum-dum, hollow point, hydrashock, nozzler, steel core, talon and wad cutter are added. Personally, I like the acknowledgement that different kinds of bullets will do different levels of damage. (I’m a firm believer in Hydra-Shoks and Golden Sabers, which are very similar to Black Talons, for defensive rounds.) No modern arms guide would be complete without a chapter on equipment and accessories. Just about everything you could need or use to outfit your weapon is listed here. From slings to bipods, to flash suppressors to scopes; it’s all here. Someone really did his homework on this chapter. Chapter seven discusses tactical (military) weapons. Explosives such as claymores, fragmentation mines, cherry bobmbs, and toe poppers are covered fairly efficiently. Flamethrowers, grenade launchers, machine guns (such as the M60), mortars and rocket launchers also are detailed (as is the ammunition used for them). The final chapter is devoted to protective gear. After all, with everything that has been presented in the pages beforehand, a character is going to need all the help he can get. All three types of armor are covered along with safety gear like bomb blankets, combat boots, and gloves. Overall, Modern Arms Guide is an excellent resource for any modern setting RPG and not just for Spycraft. It is quite comprehensive in its treatment of weapons (especially firearms) and is a good addition to GM’s resource library. This is one book that will see a lot of use in the coming months. Especially once d20 Modern is out.To see the graded evaluation of this product, go to The Critic's Corner at <a href="http://www.d20zines.com" target="_blank">www.d20zines.com.</a></blockquote>

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