JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Trigun is the anime about Vash the Stampede, the $60,000,000,000 Man who can't seem to stop disaster from following in his wake. It's a 26 episode series that I've managed to somehow avoid. Guardians of Order does a series called Ultimate Fan Guide. These are guides to different anime series, usually consisting of one to three guides, depending on the length of the anime. These are full color and slick guides that are in perfect bound paperbacks with BESM stats.
This Trigun d20 book, is a 192 page hardcover, mostly full color and slick paper, that runs at $39.95. Very similar, if not exactly similar, to the two Ultimate Fan Guides for Trigun that utilize BESM. In essence, it's a simple book to describe. Are you a fan of the Trigun series? If you are, this is an essential volume for you. If you're not and are strictly a d20 player, this book probably won't be up your alley. You see the d20 material is more or less just the inhabitants of the Trigun setting given BESM d20 stats.
To quote the book, “Trigun follows the misadventures of Vash the Stampede, also known as “The Humanoid Typhoon.” The series is named dafter the three different types of guns Vesh uses. He has a standard revolver, a cybernetic gun, and what is in essence, the Main Gun from Macross, but here it's called the Angel Arm. The book puts it in a similar vein to Cowboy Bebop (much lighter in many cases though), and Outlaw Star.
The coverage that it provides the anime is impressive. The action takes place on a desert world with a very wild west feel. There is a discrepancy in the technology with some people using cybernetics and other high powered customized weapons while others use simple six shooters. Each episode is broken down, often in three pages with lots of full color images taken right from the episode. It allows you to see Vash and his comrades, Milly, Meryl and Wolfwood, as they explore their desert planet and develop their relationships. It breaks up the summaries with full page illustrations and little snippets of setting information.
There are pages for firearms, cybernetics, Kuroneko-sama (the Lord/Lady Black Cat), and other common sights of the Trigun setting. This includes information about the cities and landmarks of the setting, black and white line drawings of all the major characters, and common knowledge about the world.
The bad thing for d20 fans is that there is no real information on how you'd run your own game in the setting. While it gives you a starting point level, the main characters it details like Vash and Wolfwood, are epic. Take Vash, he's an 18th level Adventurer, 15th level Gun Bunny. Wolfwood, a much less powerful character, is still a 9th level Adventurer and 6th level Gun Bunny.
What about game style maps? While there are some full color maps, these are overviews of the cities and don't provide any detail. No maps that d20 players would find useful. There are no details on what common fauna and flora would be like. There are no details on what standard thugs would be.
I didn't think that Centauri Knights was very deep but it added to the BESM d20 system in many ways. Trigun d20 does not. It's a great book for anime fans and if you're an d20 anime fan, this is a great book for you. For me? I'm hoping that the Slayer's D20 book is more of a RPG and less of a Ultimate Fan Guide update.
For those who want more information about Trigun, the book recommends [a]http://www.anipike.com/[/a] and [a]http://www.umich.edu/~anim/info.html[/a].
This Trigun d20 book, is a 192 page hardcover, mostly full color and slick paper, that runs at $39.95. Very similar, if not exactly similar, to the two Ultimate Fan Guides for Trigun that utilize BESM. In essence, it's a simple book to describe. Are you a fan of the Trigun series? If you are, this is an essential volume for you. If you're not and are strictly a d20 player, this book probably won't be up your alley. You see the d20 material is more or less just the inhabitants of the Trigun setting given BESM d20 stats.
To quote the book, “Trigun follows the misadventures of Vash the Stampede, also known as “The Humanoid Typhoon.” The series is named dafter the three different types of guns Vesh uses. He has a standard revolver, a cybernetic gun, and what is in essence, the Main Gun from Macross, but here it's called the Angel Arm. The book puts it in a similar vein to Cowboy Bebop (much lighter in many cases though), and Outlaw Star.
The coverage that it provides the anime is impressive. The action takes place on a desert world with a very wild west feel. There is a discrepancy in the technology with some people using cybernetics and other high powered customized weapons while others use simple six shooters. Each episode is broken down, often in three pages with lots of full color images taken right from the episode. It allows you to see Vash and his comrades, Milly, Meryl and Wolfwood, as they explore their desert planet and develop their relationships. It breaks up the summaries with full page illustrations and little snippets of setting information.
There are pages for firearms, cybernetics, Kuroneko-sama (the Lord/Lady Black Cat), and other common sights of the Trigun setting. This includes information about the cities and landmarks of the setting, black and white line drawings of all the major characters, and common knowledge about the world.
The bad thing for d20 fans is that there is no real information on how you'd run your own game in the setting. While it gives you a starting point level, the main characters it details like Vash and Wolfwood, are epic. Take Vash, he's an 18th level Adventurer, 15th level Gun Bunny. Wolfwood, a much less powerful character, is still a 9th level Adventurer and 6th level Gun Bunny.
What about game style maps? While there are some full color maps, these are overviews of the cities and don't provide any detail. No maps that d20 players would find useful. There are no details on what common fauna and flora would be like. There are no details on what standard thugs would be.
I didn't think that Centauri Knights was very deep but it added to the BESM d20 system in many ways. Trigun d20 does not. It's a great book for anime fans and if you're an d20 anime fan, this is a great book for you. For me? I'm hoping that the Slayer's D20 book is more of a RPG and less of a Ultimate Fan Guide update.
For those who want more information about Trigun, the book recommends [a]http://www.anipike.com/[/a] and [a]http://www.umich.edu/~anim/info.html[/a].
