The Second World Sourcebook

[Messageboard Golem]

The Second World Sourcebook is a complete guide to multi-genre roleplaying in the d20 universe. Drop a team of Special Forces Ops into any fantasy world, trap your wizard, thief and cleric in a near future cyberbased metropolis run by greedy corporations. The possibilities are endless for how you can cross or jump genres adding hundreds of new and exciting options to your game.

The Sourcebook supports both the d20 Modern Rules and the standard d20 rules and provides a complete set of genre and technology rules for customizing the way reality works in the two worlds, in alternate planes, or even in your own game world. Over 200 powers spread across 8 prestige classes (with an alternate, feat-based system)are detailed. Each class gets to pick one ability per level from a list of at least 25 special powers; this provides maximum customizability in character development. It also includes a complete set of influence rules with over 30 organizations and 100 favors to request; this system provides a nifty method for adding crunch to the political aspect of a game. The Second World Sourcebook also provides a basic campaign setting designed to show off the full potential of genre jumping.

 

[GameWyrd]

I’m in two minds about this book and that seems rather appropriate for a sourcebook designed to let you play in two worlds. I’m not sure whether I want to encourage you to rush out and buy The Second World Sourcebook or to rush out hide every copy of the book.

Why the dilemma? The Second World Sourcebook takes the mucky crunch of game mechanics mongering and turns it into a graceful science. A fair proportion of the 288-paged paperback is spent looking at tweaking d20 rules to best suit a twin world setting. Steven Palmer Peterson doesn’t limit this discussion, this game science class, to producing just one solution but allows the large book to make a number of alternative suggestions. The First World is our world – or a world very much like it – and so the obvious rule set is d20 Modern. The Second World is a fantasy reflection of the First and so d20 Core would seem to fit here. For the record, the map showing Freeport ‘s location in relation to New York should be dolled up and turned into a poster. You can play with either d20 Modern or d20 Core because the Second World Sourcebook shows you how (and tells you why). In theory you’ll only need one set of rules. In practise you’ll want both. I think it’ll be impossible to read the SWS with its constant references to the two d20 sets without feeling as if you need to have them both to refer to. This produces a games mechanics discussion of a better level than I’m used to. I use the phrase "better level" rather than "higher level" quite deliberately. It’s a better level of discussion because it’s concerned with making the game playable despite the mechanics rather than because of the mechanics. It shows that you can stop being a greasy high school kid concerned with getting the highest possible Dexterity bonus at the smallest cost, become a mature gamer and be still concerned with how the numbers on your character interact with the game world’s mechanics. Game mechanics shouldn’t be glorified like this – they should be seen only as a necessary evil.

This is a book for experienced gamers. I don’t believe Second World Simulations has enough oomph as a company to ensure that the Sourcebook is a huge hit, I do believe it’ll become a cult hit. It’s really quite easy to see The Second World Sourcebook becoming the seminal advanced d20 product.

Let’s take Technology versus Magic as an illustration of the Sourcebook’s advanced style. The First World is one of technology and the Second World is one of magic. Although the First World hugely influences the Second you might not really want machine-guns from the First upsetting the balance of power in the Second and you might not want Fireball fights making the mass media of the First World. The latter is easy to deal with; magic is magic and it can simply be capped in the First World. The Sourcebook considers many different ways to do this – and discusses the effects. Perhaps you might just want to suppress magic in the First World so spells and magic items have smaller effects. If you take this option then there are different levels of suppression to consider. You might decide that the First World’s natural magic resistance must be overcome for each spell, requiring an extra dice roll against the DC for that or you might go with an alternative suggestion from the book and allow low level spells only. There are pages spent on the discussion of these possibilities. There’s even more in the book on why powerful Second World organisations and people don’t simply import crates of rocket launchers through Portals from the First World. One suggestion – and it’s a great one – is that physics just isn’t the same. What if in the Second World everything is made up from (as medieval alchemists once believed) the elements of fire, wind, earth and air? If that were true then it would seem entirely possible to dismiss advanced chemical formula from the First World as unusable in the Second. The Second World Sourcebook gives us the impressive Technology Tree as a way to manage this and decide what technology might be possible in the Second World. The Technology Tree presents clusters of Technologies that either progress to a new and better technology or require a prerequisite technology to work properly. Anyone who’s played the Civilisation computer game will be familiar with technology trees and will know that a world is not likely to get past the use of catapults and knights if it can’t develop Chemistry. At times it’s not particularly easy to pick up and understand what the Sourcebook is suggesting at first but once you do the thought "Oh! That’s clever!" is likely to follow.

Once you make it through to Chapter Two you’ll feel like a right expert. This is where the book’s lack of illustrations starts to kick. There are some new fantasy races for the Second World but you don’t get to see what they look like. The first race that’s introduced are the Raptors. What? Dinosaurs? Yes – exactly like the dinosaurs but as an intelligent player character race. The next race mentioned are the Orca. What? Killer Whales? No – not really. Black and white, whale like, amphibious creatures with trunk like legs. Oh. There are snakemen, catmen, fey-like men, and a human-like race from the Forge. Women too. The Forge separates The First World from The Second. The Sourcebook does present a cosmology, explains about the Forge and other realms as well as discussing issues like "where do ghosts come from?" The lack of visuals for the new races is a problem but there are very few others. I always find it frustrating when a book introduces a new race, remembers to tell me what their strength bonus is but forgets to tell me how long they live for or how tall the women are. The Second World Sourcebook doesn’t make this mistake. Some of the new races have a racial advancement table too; the Orca, for example, receive +2 Strength at level 2 and then again at level 5. Orca isn’t a character class it has access to a special racial prestige class. The chapter also offers a quick look at some of the d20 core races, pages of new feats and some new spells.

There aren’t any new basic or core classes in the Sourcebook. There aren’t any prestige classes either. Warden’s are very similar to prestige classes, can easily be counted and can be used as prestige classes but aren’t quite prestige classes. The Wardens are linked to the primal forces in the Second World; dream, motion, lightening, flesh, etc. You’ll have the likes of Dream Wardens, Motion Wardens and Shadow Wardens therefore. Each warden is capable of binding different powers to their self, powers influenced by the type of warden they are. You’ll find this chapter peppered with dozens of shaded lozenges decorated with powers and costs. These are the advancement trees for different warden powers. The Lightening Warden, for example, has a number of such trees including one that starts with Lightening Bold, leads then to Lightening Arc or Call Lightening and then to Lightning Storm. It’s an easy way to map prerequisites and costs. Typically, each power costs some experience points and some influence points.

The Second World Sourcebook introduces d20 to an Influence Point mechanic. There are times when the book seems rather defensive about this, aware that it could well be argued that influence should be kept an entirely in the realms of roleplay and out of rollplay. This is an argument that I would be happy to make. That said, the Sourcebook sets out to present effective and powerful game mechanics and so there’s no reason to flinch here. This isn’t a throw away mechanic. Influence isn’t a page or two of make shift rules. The Influence Point system has a chapter all to itself and it’s nearly 80 pages long. The argument for codifying influence is a good one. A great way to gauge how successful characters and NPCs have been is through influence. Gold and cash are good and well if you can buy what you want but without influence you’re only able to shop from the same lists as Joe Average. Lots of money can buy you influence though. This entire discussion is thoroughly mulled over. Once Influence Points are introduced as a mechanic than they can be spent as a cost. The bulk of the 80 or so pages in the Influence Chapter are spent looking at organisations in the Second World and just might be gained (favours and the like) from exerting influence on them.

The last two chapters are a familiar two: Equipment and Opponents. Even here the Second World Sourcebook’s unique style comes across in spades. Much of the equipment is considered with the to and fro from the Worlds.

It’s sometimes easy to forget that the Second World Sourcebook’s main goal is to help you gamesmaster and play in two connected worlds rather than the usual one. In this respect the Sourcebook is a run away success – if you accept the caveat that it’s not for beginners.

The Second World Sourcebook is a successful book but it’s a peculiar book to. It’s not references to the likes of Isaac Newton or the textbook feel that strikes me the most; it’s the use of the first person throughout. I’m just not used to phrases like "I designed", "I present," or quite simply "I" in roleplaying products. Well, I’ve seen it in other Second World Simulations products and it struck me as unsettling there but in a 288-paged it is striking. The book might well have shaved down its page count if every sub-section wasn’t introduced along the lines of "In this section I..." It’s a grumble. The lack of illustrations is a grumble too. They’re both small grumbles. They are insignificant grumbles in the face of The Second World Sourcebook’s successes. It’s also worth noting that there is more than just game mechanics for playing in two worlds, there is more than the Warden classes and new races too. The Second World presented in the book is rich in culture and history; it’s a tempting location in it’s own right. If you don’t like the two world idea then the SWS is tempting just for the alternative earth-like fantasy world it presents.

In short; if you’re a successful and experience roleplayer and you want to try and improve your gaming then look to the Second World Sourcebook.

* This GameWyrd review was first published here.

 

[Psion]

Second World Sourcebook

The Second World Sourcebook is a campaign setting and toolbox designed to work with both the d20 Modern rules and d20 System core rules (i.e., Dungeons & Dragons). The intent of the book is to provide ideas and support for a two-world setting, one world much like our own Earth, and a parallel more D&D style fantasy world.

The Second World Sourcebook is published by Second World Simulations and written by Steve Palmer Peterson, who wrote the excellent prestige class fighting style resource Masters of Arms.

A First Look

The Second World Sourcebook is a thick (288-page) perfect-bound softcover book priced at $29.95.

The cover of the book has a flat black background. The front cover art, by Jeremy Dale, depicts a dark-skinned raven-haired woman bearing a shotgun stepping through a rippling blue membane of an oval portal.

The interior is black-and-white and features artists Jeremy Dale, Craig R. Brasco, Jeff Doten, Dominic Hamer, Avi Katz, Phillip Kearney, and Owen Kuhn. The interior art is pretty sparse, with only a very few illustrations. Most notably lacking are illustrations of some of the new races. The art varies in quality from poor to good.

The interior layout is functional but a bit dry. The body text is moderately sized. A rather elaborate font ("Dreamscar") is used for all of the section headers; the font is interesting, but a bit too odd to use as frequently as it was and perhaps should have been saved for chapter headers.

The writing style and organization is a bit distracting. The author frequently introduces new concepts with little or no explanation to the reader, and in some cases this makes it difficult to follow the text.

The author uses some odd metaphors to relate some points; in one place he explains his world resistance rule by comparing it to the resistance of a generator. Being an electrical engineer, I understood the analogy, but it would go over the head of most of the readers.

The author entrains a lot of game design theory in the text. In some cases, this sort of information is very functional; in the first chapter where variants are presented to adapt d20 core and d20 modern rules, this information provides some important insights useful in when deciding which variants to use. However, in other cases, these discussions wax a little long. For example, the author spends 2/3 of a column explaining why he included the singular new skill in the book (the smithing category of the craft skill) where a few short sentences probably would have been expedient and sufficient.

A Deeper Look

The basic premise of the Second World Sourcebook is that there is a mirror of our own world that exists in another plane. This "Second World" is similar to Earth (or the "First World") geographically, but is very different historically and in fundamental nature. While the composition of matter is defined by the interactions described by the sciences of chemistry and physics in the First World, in the Second World, other primal forces define the universe. Though the worlds are superficially similar, these fundamental differences control what is possible in each world. The First World has better access to science and technology, and the second world is more defined by science.

It is possible to pass between the two worlds, but the First World rejects fantastic things. Characters who are part of the Second World - either natives or those who have come to know and accepts its wonders - cannot spend extended lengths of time in the first world. After a few short days at most, the First World forces such characters back into the Second World. Further, this rejection not only applies to a character's physical form, but also to the memories associated with the character. It's like soon, people forget that the character ever was.

The Second World, however, is perfectly aware of the first world. In fact, much of the second world religion and ethnic background is drawn from the First World. First World characters that are adopted by the second world also (in very SR-esque style) take on a whole different racial idea.

The author recognizes that many people may have their own ideas in mind for the first and second worlds, and on which d20 variants (or combination thereof) that they wish to use. To this end, the book is very open ended, providing a menagerie of options and ideas for the Second World, its relationship with the First World, and mechanics supporting such a game.

Much of the adapting material is dedicated to converting between d20 Modern and the core d20 System rules. The major thrust of this discussion is the defense bonus system. If you like the idea of the defense bonus, there is a well considered section on adding defense bonus to core d20 System (D&D) classes, along with discussion of how to compensate by removing magic. Along the same lines, there is also a discussion of removing defense bonuses from d20 Modern character classes. Part of this latter conversion involved the introduction of training packages that replace part of the function of magic items for characters from the First World.

Other aspects of the d20 Modern rules are touched upon, such as converting concepts like wealth rolls and action points. That said, I was surprised that the class adaptation did not seem to take into account that d20 Modern assumes that all characters are human and subsumes the skill point bonus into the class skill points; nowhere does the author recommend adding or dropping a point when converting classes to compensate for this.

In addition to the fundamental system conversion considerations, the book provides a variety of rules for tweaking the feel of the campaign. Some of these rules are rather general in nature, though many reflect the differences in the way things operate between the First World and Second World.

A lot of the variants tweak the d20 System combat rules (particularly the damage rules) in various ways, many of which address some conceptual shortfalls of d20 Modern. For example, have you ever found it odd that hits that exceed the massive damage threshold by a lot don't make the DC of the roll any more difficult, or that large creatures don't have much higher thresholds than smaller creatures? There are rules in here addressing both of those. Other rules include a "wound point" rule (but not the same one as appears in Star Wars and Spycraft, rules for "scars" that accumulate from repeated combat, and rules for adapting armor so that it reduces damage.

The author is very explicit and thorough in identifying the possible effects of whatever tweaks that you use in you campaign. The only one of the above systems that I am rather uncertain would work as stated would be the armor adaptations, which strike me as insufficient to satisfactorily convert between the systems.

The "world rules" cover two major areas that the two worlds may differ: magic and technology. Again, the rules are provided as options, and the author points out the probably consequences of using any given variant.

The magic variants include different ways to emphasize or (more often) de-emphasize magic in a world. Variants include a "world resistance" rating that acts as a spell resistance that applies to any attempt to cast spells in a world, and limitations on what sorts of magic items can be forged in a world.

The technology rules use a "technology tree" chart similar to those used by many "conquest" type computer strategy games. The technology charts allow you to make sensible decisions on what technology to allow in a world or campaign. If you don't have a necessary technology, you could not have a follow-on technology unless there is a suitable substitute for the base technology in your world.

Obstacles to technology come in two major types: hard limits and soft limits. Hard limits mean that the given technology does not work in the world at all, quite simply because the physics of the world do not allow it. Soft limits simply mean that the technology in question has simply not been developed yet, but technology brought into the world would work (and such technology could theoretically be developed.)

A blank technology charts is provided to allow you to visually diagram the technology situation, and a sample filled out chart is provided for the default Second World technology situation. Similarly, there is a campaign and world rules form to record which exact variants from this book you are using to run your game, which is convenient considering the large variety of option available. Again, there is a sample filled out for you.

The character rules introduce a number of new options for characters in the setting.

The first new character generation rule is the Background Option. Background options are basically a spin on the d20 Modern's starting occupation, though tweaked slightly to fit more than occupation and to be viable for more than just d20 Modern characters. Background options provide three new class skills (or a +1 bonus if you already have the class skill) like starting occupations, but also allow you to exchange two skill picks for a bonus feat. The author suggests the option of paying a feat for background options; this would minimize balance considerations if you are using the d20 System core rules as a baseline. I find this to be an interesting alternative to the background feats presented in other d20 System products.

A number of background options are presented, both First World and Second World. The First World options fall along the lines of starting occupation, reflecting the character's job background. The Second World options are more dependant upon the character's home region or affiliation.

There are six new races for the second world. Some of the new races are stronger than standard races. Instead of going the ECL route, the author provides statistics for class levels that can be used to represent the character's progress from a young to mature member of the race.

The new races are:
-Raptor: Just what it sounds like, raptor are pretty close to being intelligent velociraptors, bipedal dinosaurs. Contrary to the real world beast from which they are derived, they are not particularly violent.
-Orca: Again, just what it sounds like: bipedal killer whales. I had a real hard time taking this one seriously.
-Halcón: The text associated with this race is not terribly clear, but as near as I can tell, the halcón are humanoids that can learn how to transform into a jaguar-like form (via feats they have access to.) Halcón cannot reproduce with each other and must mate with other humanoids.
-Hsüan: Hsüan is very different from the typical races. Hsüan is almost a template or a special quality added to another race. By taking a feat, you can take levels in the hsüan racial advancement. A hsüan seems to be a very fey-like member of their base race, and have an abnormal talent with magic.
-Escidi: Escidi are essentially snake people. Not unlike many other such races in the game and fantasy literature, escidi are not generally nice people, and see other races as food or servants. Escidi have racial level like raptors and orca, and with their racial class, they have access to the assume form ability that lets them polymorph self into the form of a medium size or less creature that they have consumed. This may be a bit powerful at low levels.
-:Ved Qayat Primarily servants of a villain in the setting, the Ved Qayat are a human looking race with a swarthy complexion and a metallic sheen to their skin. This look is more than just cosmetic; ved qayat receive an armor bonus from their skin.

There are also Second World adaptations of standard d20 fantasy races, and a number of Second World feats and Spells, and one Second World skill.
One of the most significant and concept heavy features of the Second World Sourcebook is that of the Wardens and Warden powers. Warden powers are fundamental forces that shape the Second World. There are twelve Warden powers, and each Warden power is associated with a "great city" in the Second World, as well as being associated with a Warden prestige class which can shape that warden power. (The author merely calls Wardens "like prestige classes", but I think the duck rule applies here.)

Though these powers form the basis for the abilities of Wardens, they are not limited to that. They shape the landscape and history of the Second World. Each of the Great Cities is a place that is truly shape the character of the city.

The twelve warden powers are: dream, feral, flesh, gate, lightning, metal, motion, pattern, rune, shadow, tone, and vector. All of these have equivalent warden "prestige classes", but only eight are listed in this book. Gate, pattern, rune, and tone wardens are not in this book because the author states that these classes would be a system of magic unto themselves.

Wardens are a rather unique concept. The special abilities of a warden are based on bindings. Bindings are associated with specific parts of the body, corresponding to the 13 different "magic item slots" of the core d20 system game. The idea here is that the magic item slots are not at all coincidental, but are associated with specific body parts that have magical significance. The book calls these locations Vedas. The idea is similar to the concept of charkras, which (through no coincidence) are locations of special significance described in the traditional Indian writings called the Vedas.

Each warden class receives a binding slot for every class level they have. Binding slots permit one binding. A binding is a special ability that has some resemblance to a magic item in that it takes time and costs XP and influence (see below) to acquire. Once a binding is purchased, it is a special ability available to the character. However, if the character is not using a particular binding, they may release it and re-invest some of the expense in a different binding.

Bindings are somewhat like feats in that they have prerequisites and trees according to those pre-requisites. The binding trees are shown graphically in the book. There are more bindings available for each warden class than the 10 levels the wardens may have.

The net result of the bindings system is that the wardens are very flexible prestige classes. Two wardens of the same type can have a different set of powers, and a warden can even alter his powers in play.

Another major new concept introduced in the book is that of Influence. The influence system is an alternate way to model the relationships that the character may have, and the pull that they have to get people to do things for them. This system is used throughout the Second World Sourcebook.

The basic concept of the influence system is that characters have a number of abstract "influence points." Influence points have a cash equivalent, and can do some of the same things cash can. However, they are handled a little differently, and help emphasize the effect that belonging (or not belonging) to social organizations.

Basically, you can try to use your influence to get something you want or need. This influence is often not assured. By spending a number of influence points you are allowed to make an influence checks. These checks are based on skills, but what skill depends on the organization.

Your position with the organization strongly affects the difficulty of such checks. Being a member or a leader of an organization makes a check to influence that organization much easier. To influence a given organization, you must have an access which can be purchased or acquired through other means. Each level of access varies in effectiveness, i.e., in modifiers to influence checks.

You can form "influence chains" through accesses. That is, if you have an access which gives you an influence roll at -5 with an organization, and that organization has access to another organization at a -5, you can roll an influence check at -10 against the second organization.

The influence chapter includes a number of organizations. Much of the meat of the setting is locked up in the organizations section of the book. The chapter also includes some standardized influence tasks and defines how to use them.

I am not certain I would go to the trouble of using the influence system; under normal circumstances, I prefer to roleplay these things out and can see how such a strictly defined system could actually pull the reins from the GMs hands. However, it does seem like it would be a nice system if you are getting tired of using gold as the campaign "carrot" and would like to make the thought of influence and the role of organization affiliation in your game much more tangible in the minds of the players.

That said, there is a pretty straightforward conversion if you prefer to use money instead of influence.

In addition to all the mechanical support for the world, the book naturally includes some pre-defined setting elements, including equipment, sample NPCs belonging to the organizations, and monsters. Most of the NPCs seem to use the d20 core system (vice d20 modern as the baseline.

Creatures include the alien Roa. The Roa originally came from another plane of existence and formed huge insect-like hivemind colonies in the ancient past of the Second World.

Conclusion

There were a lot of ideas in this book that I really appreciated. I think with wardens and warden powers, Steven Palmer Peterson has again shown his unique talent to twist the d20 System rules in unique and compelling ways. Even if you are not using the setting, I think that the Wardens would make a great substitute for tradition d20 style magic, especially in d20 Modern.

I also appreciated some of the variants and rules adaptations. If you have contemplated combining D&D and d20 Modern, you should really contemplate getting this book. It really takes a deep look at the systems and how to reconcile their differences. Further, if had problems with some of d20 Modern's rules conventions, some of the variants herein answer these questions. I particularly liked the background options and will probably be using them in preference to regional feats in the future.

The mechanics and ideas supporting the second world and the two world configuration are generally well done. Further, I appreciate the more "toolkit" approach as it makes the book far more useful than it would have been otherwise. However, this open-ended configuration might be best for fairly advanced GMs and may be less than suitable for newer GMs or those who feel a little lost when the product confronts them with options instead of facts and rules.

Some setting ideas I was not impressed with. Things like the Orca seem a little silly to me. Many of the setting ideas are good, but many of them are hard to get at. The writing style makes the setting a little hard to absorb. There is too much stream-of-consciousness writing and there are many places where some central ideas need to be expressed more clearly and concisely.

Grade: B

-Alan D. Kohler

 

[trancejeremy]

Second World Sourcebook is an interesting product. While it's a setting, it's also something of a toolkit. It's also kind of a bridge between regular d20 (D&D) and d20 Modern. The basic premise is that our Earth is the "First World", and then there is another, Second World that is essentially a fantasy version of Earth. Key to the premise is the interaction between the two worlds. They aren't completely separate planes, more like twins who were separated from birth.

It's a big book. 288 pages, softcover (though it has a plastic-ish cover), and sells for $29.95 (I bought mine for $25 from FRP Games). The first thing I noticed about the book is the weird font they use for the headers. Very annoying. The W looks like a V, and so I end up mentally reading it like I'm transylvanian or something. Vorld, Varden, Vorking, etc. Vorking annoying! They also use solid circles instead of Os. Grrr. Why the heck can't companies just use normal looking fonts? It's an RPG, not a freaking art book. Just had to vent. Other than that, it's a very practical looking and well laid out book. (Well, I also don't like the shaded boxes. They start off white at the top and gradually get greyer and greyer. Sort of neat looking, but I hate reading black type on a dark grey background.)

It's divided into 6 sections. (One of the nicer parts of the book is the sections are listed in the outer margin, making it very very easy to find them in the book)

The first section is entitled "Campaigns". There's an overview of the Second World setting, but the bulk of the information is on running campaigns where there are multiple worlds or realities. Honestly, the Second World setting doesn't do much for me. Seems like Rifts without the high tech and in the present. It also focuses on the North East part of North America, which honestly, is not the place I'd really want to set a game in.

More interesting are the rules sections. In many ways, it's an analysis of the differences between regular d20 and d20 modern, and how to get them to work together. Also mentioned are rules from various other d20 games, like how to fit in the VP/WP system, and various other alternatives to d20 basics. Like changing armor class to damage resistance.

There's also an excellent analysis of technology and how it fits into a campaign world. It's sort of handled like the game Civilization, complete with flow charts representing technology trees, how science (or the magic of science) progresses. Basically, each world might have different rules, how things operate. For instance, 1st World is our Earth, so it works according to the laws of physics. But the 2nd World doesn't work that way. Chemistry, for instance, doesn't work the same. Instead there is alchemy. This has various ramifications. It goes into this pretty well. While not an in depth manual on world building, it's pretty impressive.

The second section is on characters. Introduced is background options, which essentially modify a character by giving him or her 3 class skills, or maybe a feat, and other less tangible stuff.

Then comes new races for the Second World Setting. Honestly, most of them are, uh, odd. There's the Orca, essentially a land-whale humanoid. I know they have something like that in Star Wars (Gotal?), and in Sovereign Stone, Orks are descendants of Orca, but that's pretty damn weird. There's also the Raptors (who are essentially Shaquile O Neal sized saurians), a type of cat person, serpent people, and a couple others. Nothing really exciting.

The third section is pretty large, around 90 pages, and is on "Wardens". What's a Warden? Well, essentially they are prestige classes and are a special sort of magician or magic user. They're actually almost like super heros. Not in style, but how their powers seem to work. Or maybe a better example would be Keanu Reeves from the Matrix.

The fourth section is "Influence", and is also pretty big, around 80 pages. Basically, it's a way of tracking the PCs in a more social context, especially with regard to organizations and companies and such. After some rules, there are lots of organizations and such in the second world setting. Finally, there's several pages of 'favors', which the PCs can try to get from the various organizations and groups.

While this is very setting dependant, the rules are not, and you could probably port it pretty easy to a different world/campaign setting.

Chapter 5 is pretty short, and is on equipment. Not much new is added, but some options are, like a mechanic for penetration (apparently from Ken Hood's Firearms rules, though Weird Wars uses something similar).

Chapter 6 is also pretty short, and is on NPCs and Opponents of the Second World. This is mostly NPCs, there are only a handful of monsters.

To be blunt, the setting of the Second World just didn't do much for me. It's well done, but I have trouble buying it. There's just no suspension of belief for me. The Second World is certainly complex enough, especially with all the organizations, but it doesn't seem real.

I also have trouble with the concept of 'exiles', which is that people in the 1st World (our Earth) who see something weird from the Second World either forgetting about it, or disappearing into the Second World. I'm probably a bit biased. One of my other hobbies is the study of the paranormal. I've met and talked to many really odd people, many of them have seen strange things (or think they have). They haven't disappeared, which goes against this premise.

That said, it's well done, and well detailed. While the setting aspect of this book is not to my taste, it might appeal to you, especially if you like the idea of Wardens. (I believe there are free previews of one of them, so you can take a look).

It's certainly a unique product, in a good way. Part of the reason I like the d20 license and OGL so much is that we see things like this. A great big company wouldn't come up with something like this. While it's not ground breaking, exactly, I sure as heck don't own anything like it. And the non-setting part of first section is utterly brilliant. If it was bundled off as it's own product, every d20 fan should own it. B+

 

[Simon Collins]

This is not a playtest review.

The Second World Sourcebook is an unusual campaign setting from Second World Simulations that posits the existence of two connected worlds - a D&D style fantasy world and a d20 Modern-style near-future alternate Earth setting.

The Second World Sourcebook is a 288-page mono softcover book costing $29.95. Margins, font size and space usage are all decent. The art runs from average to good, though it is fairly sparse at times - there's a lot of text in the book. The writing style is fairly unique - at times it has the ambience of a Charles De Lint novel, before switching through an academic-style discourse on metaphysics to an informal chat about game mechanics and occasionally into raw creative flow. At times its annoying, sometimes confusing; mostly its damn impressive. Editing seems good.

Chapter 1: Campaign
This begins to explain a little about the relationship between the D&D-style Second World and the d20 Modern-style First World. It talks about how beings travel between the two, and a little about the why and the where of this too. It gives some history on the interaction of the two worlds, and their geography (mainly Canada and the US equivalents). Each city in the Second World has 'warden powers' - concepts that influence their atmosphere and physicality in strange ways. There is some discussion on mixing these concepts to create new, and interesting (or just plain weird) places. We're also introduced to the concept of Influence, reflecting people's connections and authority, and Wardens, prestige classes that can be tailored to suit the player's imaginations.

The remainder of the chapter looks at a detailed means of integrating the rules from d20 Modern and D&D, such that characters from both worlds can be played with a unifying system. Classes, defense bonuses, magic item bonuses, natural armour, action points, occupations, reputation, wealth and influence are all discussed. it then goes on to deal with combat rules, supernatural powers/magic, skills, and technology (with a useful tree showing likely technological advances following from a previous one - e.g. aerodynamics + combustion engine = powered aircraft. This rules integration section has implications well outside the Second World campaign setting, and will be of interest to any GM needing to bridge the gap between D&D and d20 Modern.

Chapter 2: Characters
This chapter begins with some background options - small game advantages gained from the character's pre-campaign personal history and background. They include various professions for First World characters and various regions for Second World characters. Next up are a variety of Second World races - raptors (dinosaur-like barbarians), orca (bipedal killer whales), Halcon (werejaguars), Hsuan (standard race imbued with a fey spirit), escidi (serpent folk), and ved qayat (metallic-looking humanoids). Some of these are designed to be NPC races, but there is discussion of playing them as PC races and some rules for adapting certain powerful races to make them playable at 1st level. The standard races are discussed in relation to the Second World - there can be a mix of race and ethnicity enabling players to play "Latino elves and black dwarves".

Deities are not as in-your-face as 'normal' campaign worlds - faith is practiced much the same as on Earth, and characters domains tend to be defined by their ideology or alignment, rather than by the deity they worship. The chapter ends with a few new feats (e.g. presence, which gives +1 to Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate & Perform), a new combined skill - Craft (Smithing) and 3 new spells (including Sustain Travel, which allows longer travel in the First World before being forced to return to the Second World).

Chapter 3: Wardens
This chapter details the concept of Wardens, which are much like Prestige Classes, except that the player has a variety of powers at each level to choose from, rather than defined powers (there is a 'tree of powers' diagram given for each warden). They bind these powers to Vedas (or chakras) - vital spiritual energy locations on the body, which requires sepnding XP and gold for a magical ritual. Thes powers act much like spell-like abilities, supernatural or extraordinary abilities (the book also adds a new special ability type - In herent Magic - which is a cross between supernatural and spell-like abilities). There is also a discussion of ricochets - botches on magic rolls that cause magical feedback (a little like the dangers of using magic in WW's Mage). The following Wardens are covered:
* Dream Warden - can access and interact with the Dreaming state, including influencing the dreams of others
* Feral Warden - wilderness-orientated with several animal-type powers such as 'scent of the wolf'
* Flesh Warden - focused on control over his own form with transformatory abilities
* Lightning Warden - power over storms and weather, as well as electricity for electronics
* Metal Warden - specialises in anything to do with metal such as armour, machines, and weapons
* Motion Warden - focuses on action and movement powers with improved attacks a speciality
* Shadow Warden - excellent at hiding and shadow-based powers as well as reflections
* Vector Warden - able to shift through space and time, as well as across planes

Chapter 4: Influence
"Influence is an abstract measure of a character's ability to control and gain favor with both organizations and individuals". Characters can gain influence points through their actions. They may spend them to influence individuals and organisations by making Influence checks (based on already existing social skills such as Bluff and Diplomacy) and there is an attached cost in terms of either Influence Points, Social Stress (which works a bit like damage and makes it harder to gain favours), or money. Gaining access to equipment, favours, or positions of power is discussed and examples given. In addition, the character needs to make some commitments to a position of power and game rules for this apsect are discussed. Various other benefits are also mentioned such as secrets, loot, and training. The chapter ends with some discussion of how individuals and organisations can interact to make the best of their disparate influence to achieve certain ends.

Organizations have a whole section to themselves. The section provides example organisations from Second World New York and each example shows how organisations interact with the Influence rules, and there is a short introductory paragrpah that discusses investing Influence points in organisations and the returns that accrue from this practice. The examples list things like what skill is required to gain Influence in the organisation, important character names with class designation, positions available within the organisation, and the favours that can be gained from joining. Examples include the Appalachian dwarves, the Catholic Church, the City Guard, a powerful trading conglomerate known as BlueCon. as well as criminal gangs, colleges, unions, military organisations, and many others. There is a sidebar covering running a street-urchin campaign, and another separate one regarding mind flayers in the second world.

The next section in this chapter gives a wide variety of favours that can be called in using influence points or their equivalent. Each 'Favor' has a relevant skill to call the favour, DC for that skill, use cost in influence points, stress, or both, how long it takes to gain the favour, how long the favour lasts, and the requirements to actually access the favour in the first place. Examples of favours include advanced item analysis, boycott, cell phone, hippogriff stables, psychic analysis, the Hellfire Club mirror, and Vatican Library access, amongst many others.

Chapter 5: Equipment
The section begins with a discussion availability of magic items, before going into more detail regarding the economics of the Second World, particularly in relation to the First World. Aspects such as agriculture and production are covered, shift gates (which allow bulk movement of goods between the first and second world), the First World market for magic items, and the magic material component market. A mixture of First and Second World equipment is covered, with full stats and either monetary or Influence Point cost depending on its availability. There are also some new materials included such as tensile mercury, martial steel, and black iron.

Chapter 6: Opponents
This chapter covers minor NPCs (such as a tough thug, or a dwarven scout), teams such as a Clims Gang Hit Team (with several different roles), and some Second World monsters including the insectoid outsiders Wadkin Roa and steel constructs of animal form.

The book ends with an index.

Conclusion:
This is a unique and thought-provoking work, with some really original and diverse ideas. The concept of wardens and Influence can easily be transported outside the setting, and I am almost certainly going to be introducing a version of the Influence system into my own campaign (which is not dual-world). For those who are looking to create or are already running a dual-world campaign, this product is highly recommended, particularly if you are wanting to mix worlds that would avail of d20 Modern and D&D rules respectively. Of course, if the dual-world concept interests you, there will be more provided for the Second World campaign setting itself, where its all done for you.

I have to say the Dual World concept is not one that really holds my attention for too long despite its popularity in speculative fiction, but I will definitely take away ideas from the Second World sourcebook nonetheless. Its a shame that the style of writing lacked clarity at times, and the organisation of information on the campaign setting itself could have been better. I felt it got caught halfway between a rulebook and a campaign setting - I liked many of the rules and thought there was a really fresh and exciting feel to some of the concepts, whereas the actual campaign setting itself failed to move me most of the time; the book didn't manage to fully capture the ambience hinted at in the first chapter. However, this has a relatively minimal effect on both the usefulness and overall impressiveness of the work.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack

Sizing Up the Target
The Second World Sourcebook from Second World Simulations is a hefty tome at 288 pages. It is written by Steven Palmer Petersen, with artwork contributed by Craig R. Brasco, Jeremy Dale, Jeff Doten, Dominic Hamer, Avi Katz, Philip Kearny, Owen Kuhn, and Socar Myles. This good-sized softcover retails for $29.95 and is designed to be compatible with both D20 MODERN and D&D.

First Blood
The Second World Sourcebook bills itself as “a complete guide to multi-genre role-playing in the d20 universe,” and I have to admit, it does come pretty close. Following a brief introduction to the Second World, the book dives right in to the mechanics of the system, giving GMs not only a wealth of new material to utilize, but also providing some very useful and well-thought notes on converting D20 MODERN to D&D and vice versa. Not only that, as a treat for D20 MODERN GMs, it also provides some new career options, expanding on those in the D20 MODERN Rulebook.

Of course, that isn’t why you bought the book. So, just what is the Second World? The simple answer is—an alternate reality. It’s a world very similar to our own, but where magic exists due to certain events that occurred in the past that didn’t occur in our own world. The long answer is just a wee bit more complex. To be honest, I’ve read through the introductory chapter at least 10 times and I’m still not certain I fully understand it.

In a nutshell, sometimes someone from the First World (that’s the one we inhabit) gets involved in something they shouldn’t. It’s usually an accident, like being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in any case, they know too much and present a risk to the veil. The First World doesn’t permit too much strangeness, see. You’ll find some, but things like dragons and fiery pits to Hell opening up get scarred over and covered up and no one is the wiser. But sometimes, someone does manage to retain this knowledge. That’s when the world decides to get rid of them.

These people don’t die, they just disappear. They notice something strange or out of the ordinary and when they go to investigate it, that’s it, they’re gone. Some resist it for a short time, but in the end, it’s futile. Sooner or later, everyone who knows too much gets shunted (also known as Exiling) into the Second World.

The Second World looks vaguely familiar. In fact, it resembles our own world in many ways. There are plants, and trees, and grass, and birds. And there are people, just like you and me. But this is where the similarities end. The histories of the two worlds are vastly different, and this has had a major effect on the way things work in the Second World. Dragons and ogres and trolls exist here. Montreal is a major population center, the very seat of power for the Empire. As you go further south, the land becomes wilder, more untamed, and the technology level diminishes. Did I mention that magic works here?

The Second World is infused with the power of a group of beings known as the Wardens. The Wardens and their powers are represented in the game by prestige classes, but it goes a lot deeper than that. The powers of the twelve wardens infuse the twelve Great Cities; each city embodying the power of a given Warden. The power than invests a city shapes the world around that city; even the dynamic principles upon which the world operates. For example, the city of Lightning, Tokyo, is a place of swords and science-fantasy, an odd combination of complex electronics, but no gunpowder or chemistry. By comparison, Berlin, the city of Steel, powers the early industrial technology of the European continent.

Getting to the Second World is easy, almost too easy. Getting back is a little more difficult and even if you do, you can’t expect to stay for long. There are ways to get back and means to extend your stay, but you’ll always return to the Second World once you’ve been there. The First World doesn’t want you anymore. This sets the stage for the crux of the Second World Sourcebook—role-playing across worlds.

As I noted earlier, the book provides a lot of options for adjusting (because no real ‘conversions’ are necessary) characters between D20 MODERN and D&D. Besides this, the Second World offers many new opportunities in the form of races, feats, and prestige classes. It also introduces the concept of Favors. Favors are offered by organizations or individuals to those with the right resources. And of course, there are some new monsters to pester your players and new equipment for them to use in their journeys.

Critical Hits
The Second World Sourcebook is a fine work, filled with plenty of great material. It offers expansion for several D20 MODERN concepts, making firearms a little more dangerous (and realistic), by adding modifiers for penetration value, for example. D20 MODERN players will also likely delight in the new career options that are offered herein (I know I can’t wait to play a soccer mom!).

The prestige classes in the Second World Sourcebook are uniquely original and compellingly interesting. The wardens connect to primal forces in the Second World, energies or principles that guide development and structure of the world as a whole. This grants them substantial personal power but, as with all things, that power comes at a price. Each warden class offers a host of different abilities, based on the binding of the warden.

I also want to applaud the amount of work that has gone into the book. Though the background material is scattered throughout the book, there is a lot of it, making the Second World a richly detailed place. Steven has even included a treatise on the way technology advances, but has provided plenty of alternate paths, so that it is possible to, for example, have thermodynamics, even though your world lacks an understanding of chemistry (by developing iron working and harnessing elemental fire).

Critical Misses
Though the book is a great work and provides a foundry of ideas, it does make for very difficult reading. As I said earlier, I’ve read through it about ten times and I’m still not quite sure I understand everything. There is a lot of background material here, but it is scattered throughout the book (though a good portion of it is lumped into one chapter) and just seems… disjointed somehow. Reading through the Campaign chapter raises as many questions as it answers, especially since the only portion of the Second World which is given any real detail (other than snippets of information) is the Northeast.

I understand that you can’t pack everything into a single work, of course, but I feel like there’s so much more that could have been at least touched on. The general impression I get is that, while I’m learning all kinds of things, I’m still missing a crucial key that ties the lesson together.

Coup de Grace
Overall, the Second World Sourcebook is a fine work describing a fascinating setting. There is a lot of potential to be found here and I hope that Second World Simulations carries through with their pledge to continue supporting the setting. The only real complaint I have is the difficulty in wading through the book to piece together a coherent picture of the campaign.

In a fantastic display of the meaning behind the OGL, every bit of text in the book, including character names, has been designated as Open Gaming Content. This means that anything except the artwork is open to use in your own works, whether game material or original fiction. This is a fine example of how the OGL works best; when people share their efforts for others to build on! D20 Compliance is good, though I did note that the Second World uses a standard wealth system instead of the D20 MODERN method of abstraction. This isn’t a bad thing, but in some places, wealth DCs are provided, while in others, they aren’t. I think some consistency would have been nice in this department.

The Second World Sourcebook provides a look into a very interesting and very original world that offers some exciting opportunities through it’s connection to our own. Of course, the setting is optional and a lot of what is given here could easily be dropped into an existing campaign with some effort (the wardens would make very interesting villains in a D20 MODERN campaign). If you are interested in a cross-worlds campaign with D&D, you’d do well to look at this investment.

To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.