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Message: <blockquote data-quote="cthulu_moose" data-source="post: 2011180" data-attributes="member: 17946">Two stars? Am I sure? I bet there's lots of folk out there who'd be surprised to see such a low review for a bunch of quality writers as the Games Mechanics.  And until I read Modern Magic I'd have been one of them.  I've always liked the work they do, 'Staves' and 'Swords' are high quality products, IMO, if somewhat limited.  The Modern Player's Companion is a very useful product, if somewhat dry, perhaps. I think Modern Magic suffers from a problem that all their other books have managed to get around - TGM books are experimental.  The guys themsleveshave even been quoted on this (and even admit to it in the intro for MM).  Whereas the other books have come out okay because they produce a good quality produce with a not unreasonable quantity-to-price ratio.  However, Moden Magic can be largely seen as an experiment that failed.Don't get me wrong, there are elements of the book that are great.  Chapter 2 has a fantastic ritual magic system that made me think as I started to read the book that it would be a winner.  Unfortunately this is not carried through to the rest of the book.Chapter 1 is spells, and as with many such chapters there are things I like and things I don't.  When I read it at first I was not so bothered about the things I didn't like and felt I could just ignore them, but taking into account the product as a whole makes me think I need to comment.  There's just a type of modernisation of D&D magic which I really don't like.  It's what I call Cheese-Puff magic: really bad applications of technomagic.  These spells manipulate high tech items as if they were typical magical artefacts (Save to disk is a classic example of this in MM where a creature is temporarily stored on a computer disk).  It's not TGM doing this kind of thing.  Urban Arcana has a few similar spells.  I just don't like this as a basic concept.  It's an ill-thoughtout attempt to come up with ideas for technomagic that completely destroys all the really cool dark, twisted, horror lments it could evoke.   Maybe I'm on my own here, but heck, it's my review and I'm going to score it against.Chapter 3 is Military Magic.  To say that I was little inspired by this chapter is an understatement.  Okay, I can see the point in a chapter on the military applications of magic, but the amount of the book that is taken over to this is just plain offensive.  They should perhaps instead have called it 'Military Magic' and I would have known to stay clear.  The main problem with this chapter is the lengths that the writers go through to inform you about military practices. I think there are two possible ends of teh spectrum here: either take it as read and let them buy Blood and Guts instead, or give fully detailed information. TGM go for a middle ground approach that doesn't provide me with as much as I might need to know whilst still taking up space in the book away from the good stuff.  But the main problem is that the chapter is as dry as a cracker.  Nothing is there to capture the flavour of what a military magic campaign might be like, nothing to spark the imagination.However, there are some good points to this chapter worth mentioning.  The chapter provides a number of brief campaign model descriptions, similar to in the main D20M rulebook, but perhaps not quite as much information.  Each campaign model comes with one class, either a prestige class or an advanced class.  The camopaign models are just simple ideas for military campaigns in worlds with varying amounts of magic.  As a former Delta Green player my interest was sparked, but the ideas are a bit bland and ordinary, butcertainly worth putting in.  The classes are far from bad (I do have a bit of an issue with how powerful the Arcane Spec Op is, but I like big PrCs in D20 Modern, I think it fits the flavour of the game).  Overall the classes are fairly well constructed and meet the needs of the campaign models suggested.  But as I mentioned above, it is very dry.The final chapter, save for a few appendicies (which are very much needed due to the poor organisation of the product, with spells, classes and items dotted around and about throughout the book), is FX equipment.  This is, to me, the most offensive in the book.  It's overridden with Cheese-puff magic. Highlights include Madame Zu-Zu's Advice column, postcards of travel and the piggybank of saving.  In my mind these things should not exist outside of an Eddie Murphy movie (excluding Beverly Hills Cop 1).Overall I almost gave it a 3.  There is some good stuff in here.  I just hope that th second one concentrates on some of the more flavourful aspects on urban magic.  If it does I might still buy it.  The ritual magic system is fantastic, a 4star element in itself, but it's too isolated in a see of cheesepuffs.</blockquote>

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