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Message: <blockquote data-quote="trancejeremy" data-source="post: 2010021" data-attributes="member: 924">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+</blockquote>

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