Modern Campaign Options: Treasure Hunter

[Crothian]

The Modern Campaign Options: Treasure Hunter Sourcebook is a supplement for use with the D20 Modern rules system. As its inspiration it takes such films as Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Mummy and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider . In the style of these classic pulp-action adventure movies, intrepid heroes travel the globe in search of priceless and powerful artifacts. Rival treasure hunters lurk always nearby, waiting for any chance to steal the prize away from their competitors. Trap-ridden ruins and the dangerous animals that inhabit the wilderness are not the only dangers in the treasure hunter’s path, however. Centuries-old secret societies vie for power behind the scenes, some looking to gain the knowledge of the world’s lost civilizations and others intending to keep it hidden for all time.

The Treasure Hunter Sourcebook contains a wealth of rules options for bringing this world of modern pulp adventure to life.
§ New advanced classes such as the retrieval specialist, scholar, priest and occultist.
§ Expanded rules for both divine and occult magic in the modern world, including spells and artifacts.
§ Rules for traps, natural hazards, chases and other elements that make treasure hunting a dangerous occupation.
§ Background information on mysterious locations throughout the world and the secret organizations that seek to exploit or protect their secrets.

Written by Nathanael Christen (181 pages, PDF)

 

[Crothian]

Treasure Hunter

In the modern era the idea of treasure hunters is seems to have lessoned. At the turn of the ninetieth century there were more people and more stories of people exploring the Egyptian Pyramids and the dark continent of Africa. Now with communication lines open world wide, the little mysteries have seemingly fallen to the side. But of course that does not have to be the case in the role playing games. Treasure Hunters is a new book that brings back the mysteries of tomb raiding and getting the priceless artifacts before the bad guys. It uses d20 Modern and it has some options for greater amounts of magic in the world if that is what is desired.

Modern Campaign Options: Treasure Hunter is a new book by Emerald Press. These one hundred and eighty pages are written by Nathanael Christen. Emerald Press has put out a few very interesting books of those I enjoy their book on Labyrinths best. This PDF comes in two versions one for one screen viewing and one for printing out. The one screen version is full color though not with much art. The lay out is good and the book is well book marked.

Treasure Hunter starts strong, has some really great things in it, but I found too much of it reprinted from elsewhere. I do like the feel of the book and I am part of the target audience for this book. If I were to run a modern d20 game it would be of the same feel and direction of this book. It could have gone a little more Pulp for me as it does have plenty of the same foundation that pulp games do. That is a short version of this book, now to look at it a little more in depth.

The first six chapters are pretty much all about new characters options. They include six new advanced classes, advice for using some of the advanced classes from d20 Modern in this setting, a couple new occupations, information on skills, some new feats as well as many reprinted ones, and a chapter on alliances, contacts and relations. The Retrieval Specialist a.k.a. tomb robber is probably my favorite of the new advanced classes. The items in these first few chapters really do a nice job of setting the theme with the characters and giving options that support it all.

The book continues on with more DM oriented material though the players can get use out of it to. The new tools are nice like ice climbing equipment and multi tools. The book has some simple ideas for chases and traveling the globe as these types of games can easily include both. There are some nice occupational hazards like the classic quicksand, avalanches, and frigid water.

The magic section has some good ideas for magic in the modern world. Many of the spells though are reprints form D&D although they did a nice job of including ones that make sense for the setting. There are also two types of spells one for a much lower magical setting that they referred to Discreet and more obvious ones referred to as Vulgar. Magic items include the options from the DMG that make sense of the setting, but it is the artifacts that really are a great part of the book. There is a nice variety of items from myth and history. One could easily have a book on these sorts of items and I would really like to see someone actually do that. But until that day this section serves to offer some great ancient artifacts that many players will recognize.

There are some really good animal write ups of gorillas, snakes, bears, and other creatures. With the artifacts and mystical locations presented here I was surprised to not see anything on mythical beasts. But the Mythical Locations are another great area and another topic that would make a great individual book. Mythical Beast for the modern era complete with backgrounds would also make a great book. But I digress. The locations offered here are many of the famous and not so famous places. There are over two dozen places from the real world mentioned here and each is provided with a nice plot hook.

The book does a great job of capturing the Treasure Hunter and this type of campaign. The reprinted material is a difficult thing for a publisher to decide to do as there are many reasons to include it and to not to. I really enjoy the mystical locations and artifacts. This is a great book for anyone wanting the pulp feel for a modern game.