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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2009521" data-attributes="member: 18387">By Steve Creech, Executive Chairman, d20 Magazine RackThis review is for Spycraft by Patrick Kapera and Kevin Wilson. Published by AEG (Alderac Entertainment Group), Spycraft is a modern day espionage role-playing game for the d20 system. The book is a healthy 286-pages in length and retails for $34.95. Spycraft represents a break from the typical fantasy style setting that we have been accustomed to in worlds such as Dungeons & Dragons, Dragonstar, Ravenloft, or any others where nearly everything is derived from the Player’s Handbook and the Monster Manual. There are no fantasy races (elves or dwarves) nor are there monsters here (dragons or any other) in this game; only humans. If you think about the greatest secret agents and spy movies that Hollywood has produced, you get an understanding of the flavor of this game. Your character can be a suave James Bond, or an agent like the one on ABC television’s Alias, or even part of a Mission: Impossible team. Spycraft really succeeds in providing the tools to customize our character as you want rather than limiting your options. The first five chapters give you everything you need to create a Spycraft character. Initial creation is exactly like any character from the Player’s Handbook. One difference is that characters come from a department that has trained him or her in special techniques. Each department gives certain benefits to the character, so planning and wise choices are needed. There are six possible classes a character may select from: Faceman (master of disguise), Fixer (the team’s early warning system), Pointman (a jack-of-all-trades), Snoop (the computer geek), Soldier, or Wheelman (the team mechanic). Each class has its own special abilities that are gained through level progression just as any class from the Player’s Handbook. The skills and feats are diverse and appropriate for the genre. In addition to familiar skills such as Appraise, Handle Animal and Search, there are also new ones like Boating, Driver, Mechanics, and Surveillance. The feats are one of the strengths of Spycraft. There are 131 feats to choose from, including those originally listed in the Player’s Handbook. The feats are divided into several different categories, or “feat trees” to better organize the type and purpose of each feat. This is something I wish everyone would do. It makes it very easy to ascertain appropriate feats for a character and what required feats that are needed beforehand. New combat feats include Career Operative (your superspy experience makes you hard to kill), Confident Charge (you can charge around corners – think Han Solo from Star Wars), Master Assassin (expertise with striking at your opponents’ weak spots with a weapon), and Iron Fist (you can easily shatter items with your attacks). Chase feats include Baby It (you can coax a damaged vehicle to continue to perform), Lock It Down (you can put a vehicle back together with duct tape and bubblegum while it’s moving), and Wave Runner (you are completely undaunted by high seas, narrow channels, or churning rapids). Covert feats list Hidden Run (you are a fleeting shadow, nearly invisible even as you rush past opponents), Spider Walk (capable of climbing wet or slippery surfaces effortlessly), and Traceless (the habit of removing signs of your presence) as a few choices. There are also gear feats (which offer more equipment), basic skill feats (such as acrobatic or athletic), and advanced skill feats (talented or track). An additional category of feats called Style feats is one of the cooler aspects of Spycraft. Style feats “deal with the matters of espionage lifestyle and methods, enhancing your basic ability as a spy.” Choices of style feats include: card shark, charmer, filthy rich (I like this one!), five star service, flawless identity (another good one), hard core, the look, old debts, private identity, and safe house. These feats can really add flavor to your character. The chapter devoted to gear is everything you would expect in a book like this. The modern weapons are relatively balanced as far as game mechanics go with nearly everything covered or at least mentioned. The rest of the chapter goes into the more mundane equipment that would keep Q at MI-6 (James Bond reference for those who don’t recognize it) quite busy. Combat is very similar to what you are accustomed to from the Player’s Handbook. The differences are minor and actually add to the overall experience. An example of this is the use of wound and vitality points rather than straight hit points. This definitely adds to the realism of the game. The rules presented for combat cover just about every foreseeable scenario and course of action. It is very well done. The chapter covering chase rules is equally well done with a step-by-step guide on handling them. Personally, I like the maneuver descriptions and how to adjudicate them. The chase rules are not restricted to vehicles only. Air, water, foot and other chase variations are also addressed. The remaining parts of Spycraft address tradecraft (how to use your character’s abilities in the world of espionage) and control (the GM section on running a mission). Both chapters are a wealth of information and are filled with enough stuff to keep a creative GM busy for some time. In conclusion, Spycraft has the stuff to make a real winner. As a GM who likes to occasionally combine elements of cross-genre games, this book has awesome potential for a character I created some time back. It is a breath of fresh air to the standard Dungeons & Dragons game and should be essential material for anyone wanting a modern d20 game setting. Despite the $34.95 price tag, this book is worth every cent. I highly recommend it!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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