Spycraft 2.0 is awesome!

[Byrons_Ghost]

At $40 for 496 full color, that can't be too big a quibble about return on investment ?

Nah, but I know how often my players buy books that they need. I'm lucky if I can get spellcasters to actually pick up a PHB and learn what their spells do.

Mind you, I'll be the first to admit that I'm a friggin' cheapskate when it comes to RPG purchases. It took me a year to get around to buying the 3.0 books, even though I was running the game almost as soon as it came out...

Thanks for the GM screen tip- I'll be sure to check that out!

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I just got the book, and will comment more in depth after I digest it. I have just got back into RPG after a long time of not playing. I just dropped $120 on D20 Modern, and now I think it's going to be a waste. Wish I would have found this board a month ago... lol

Note that d20 Modern has a lot of 3rd party support, though.

Plus I think the class system is fundamentally superior to archetypes, but that's just me.

I tend to buy things to strap ON to Modern, though, instead of replace it.

--fje

 

[Johnny Bravo]

I have already dropped my interest in doing some d20 Modern games in favor of Spycraft 2.0. Though I am still digesting the rules, I really like what I see. There are several different campaigns that I would like to run using the rules; (1) A action adventure game kind of like something from Jonny Quest or Thunderbirds, (2) A 1930's Pulp game, and (3) a near future Aquatic game with undersea domes, high tech submarines, weird deep sea aliens and the like.

Now you have that Shadowrun 4E game to get running.

 

[King of Old School]

Plus I think the class system is fundamentally superior to archetypes, but that's just me.

In theory, I agree. In practice, I find that the feats and talent trees in the d20 Modern corebook are limited and somewhat lame, and many of the cool abilities are gained only by taking Advanced Classes... which are archetypes, so you're back to square one. This is mitigated somewhat by some of the talents and feats in supplemental material, but it's still an issue; plus, that makes chargen the kind of multi-book odyssey I used to mock the Spycraft line for with its "collectible rules" approach.

I think d20 Modern would really benefit from a 2nd edition that takes some lessons from third-party material (including Spycraft and Grim Tales) and from some of the consistent fan feedback (e.g. the near-universal unpopularity of the nonlethal damage rules), to create a truly generic and open-ended system that aims at a lower crunch threshold than Spycraft... because let's face it, as much as I love Spycraft 2.0 it's a huge crunchy beast and there's a market for d20 games that aren't that crunchy, somewhere between the current d20 Modern and True20. However, I think at this point the chances of seeing any new edition of d20 Modern are virtually nil.

KoOS

 

[wedgeski]

Spycraft 2.0 is awesome.

As part of my mission to look at other candidate systems for my modern game than d20, I picked this up yesterday. The product itself is just gorgeous. I've read the character generation chapter (this being my first experience of the Spycraft rules), and skimmed a lot of the rest of the book. Looks like a great system. It doesn't by any stretch meet my need for a lighter rules-set than d20 Modern, but in and of itself seems beautifully designed. Like any good RPG book, it just begs to be played.

I'll write a full review when I've digested it properly, but on first appearances, AEG have done the business with this one.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

The NPC system is my personal favorite.

Finally, a d20-based game has codified the fast, flexible process of guestimation based on party level.

I've found it's actually *faster* to use Spycraft 2.0 for this than it is to make stuff up, and that includes converting Spycraft terms to a d20 Past/OGL Conan hybrid.

 

[trancejeremy]

There's one thing that really bugs me about Spycraft 2.0 - the art. Not so much the style, but the thumbs. In most (say 70%) of the drawings that feature people, they either don't have a thumb, or the thumb is in the wrong area or is too finger like, or is doing something a thumb doesn't do.

It's a minor thing, but it's just downright creepy.


Also, I find it very weird that apparently one of the settings has a character class for people of my religion, the "Gnostic". I wonder if we'll see other classes based on religion? Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, etc. Since I haven't seen it, I can't really comment on the actual class itself, I find the idea just somewhat tacky in general. 10th Level Jew, 15th level Hare Krishna, 7th level Baptist? Blah

 

[Armistice]

Also, I find it very weird that apparently one of the settings has a character class for people of my religion, the "Gnostic". I wonder if we'll see other classes based on religion? Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, etc. Since I haven't seen it, I can't really comment on the actual class itself, I find the idea just somewhat tacky in general. 10th Level Jew, 15th level Hare Krishna, 7th level Baptist? Blah

I believe you are referring to the Dark Inheritance setting and the Base Class is the Craft (magic) user who use themselves as focuses to channel ethereal energy as opposed to the Arcanist who uses objects for the same purpose. No offense intended I'm sure as they are using the term 'gnostic' as the adjective (ie: relating to knowledge, especially knowledge of spiritual truths).

I can refer to someone as having a gnostic or catholic worldview. Those terms are not exclusive to relegions that have adopted them to describe themselves. So no, there will probably not be a Jew class or Hare Krishna class.

 

[King of Old School]

Also, I find it very weird that apparently one of the settings has a character class for people of my religion, the "Gnostic".

What Armistice said: the Gnostic deals with the "of, relating to, or possessing intellectual or spiritual knowledge" definition of the word, not a literal adherent of any of the big-G Gnostic religious traditions. It's almost as much of a catch-all term for users of divine magic as "Cleric" in D&D.

KoOS

 

[Morgenstern]

Just as a point of idle curiousity, when people are taking swipes at d20 Modern, do they usually count in stuff by the third party folks as fair game when trying to drum up problems with the main game ? Mythic Dreams clearly felt that the gaming populace could tell a not-entirely-uncommon Latin word from the followers of the religion that chose to appropriate it to describe themselves . Then again, Dark Inheritance has an entire divergent Catholic sect lurking under the Vatican who kill for God as a main faction, character options for literally being descended from the gods of myth (plural), and open the show with blowing up Jeruselem, so maybe examining modern Religious themes are part of the feel they were trying to evoke.

The thing that cracks me up is reactions to the art. Beyond being a wildly sudjective element (we all knew that) , in some places it gets described cartoony and booing and hissing follow, other places it's described as being "like Danger Girl" and then much oooing and ahhing ensues . Can't win them all, but man, we did try .