3.5 out of 5
Unorthodox Modern Cheerleaders
By Troy Taylor
Published by TheLe Games
25 Pages. PDF only.
$4.00 (currently on special for $3.50 as of May 8th, 2005)
Note: I received a complimentary copy of this product at no expense.
The first in TheLe Games’ Unorthodox Modern line, U.M. Cheeleaders is a quirky book with a lot of good-natured humour. Unlike previous TheLe Games releases (such as the successful Unorthodox Bards and the recent 17 Magical Armors), this book is meant to be used with the d20 Modern system. It’s main focus, the ten-level Cheerleader advanced class, isn’t exactly how I would envision a cheerleader in the d20 Modern system. It is, however, an interesting and very playable class. As usual, TheLe offers far more than just a single class, with a plethora additional equipment, a monster, and new feats. Unorthodox Modern Cheerleaders might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is certainly worth the purchase price and offers something fun.
The Cheerleader advanced class contains, like all Unorthodox classes, notes about common appearances, allegiances, backgrounds, and other typical traits of the class. This makes the class feel more like an entry from a WotC core book (like the PHB), and makes it feel a little more plausible. The first thing I didn’t like about this section is the “On the Fast Track” section, which details the fastest route of character choices to begin taking Cheerleader levels. I think this section can be useful, but it should:
a) be listed after the class description. It’s current position (between the flavour notes on the Cheerleader and the Cheerleader class description) breaks the description up in a confusing manner.
b) not tell me that I am required to take three Fast Hero levels to earn the Cheerleader class. The class requirements for the Cheerleader class are actually designed to be accessible to any class by third level, and do not require any abilities exclusive to the Fast Hero.
Another problem I’ve touched on already is the fact that the class requirements don’t favour one class specifically. It is perfectly alright to design a class equally accessible to all classes, but the Cheerleader so obviously favours the Fast Hero. The Cheerleader class itself is pretty interesting. It combines elements of the Martial Artist advanced class (from core d20 Modern) with iconic cheerleading abilities like “Team Spirit”, “Pep Rally”, and “Pompom Surprise”. This vision of a Cheerleader is a bit too combat-oriented for my tastes; it definitely seems modeled after examples like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the movie version) and similar butt-kicking, pompom-wielding, short-skirt-wearing cheerleaders. The class does appear balanced, however, and would certainly fit into a d20 Modern adventuring party. The class also looks fun to play; who wouldn’t want to give your party a +1 morale boost to rolls and then join the fray with effective melee combat?
The next section, the Cheer Squad, covers five different character builds for the Cheerleader class. I didn’t find this section very useful, but others might. I did like how each different build covered a different “type” of Cheerleader: for example, the Smart Hero / Cheerleader is listed as “the Choreographer”.
The third section covered Adversaries to go along with the Cheerleader. This section is mainly flavour material, but it made for a fun read. It could also come in handy for GMs looking for plot seeds involving Cheerleader characters. There are 15 Adversary entries of varied length. Examples such as “The Heckler”, “The Hooligan”, and “The Stalker” are given, along with a recommended class combination for each. Despite this section’s lack of stats, I found it pretty useful.
FX Items are next. There are five items detailed, ranging from the mediocre (Letterman’s Sweater) to the amusing and fun (Stadium Cup of Beer Ever-filling) to the useful (Megaphone of Blasting). A couple of these will likely be campaign staples even in campaigns with little FX.
There is one monsters included, the Ball Hogg. Picture an anthropomorphic boar in a football jersey, and you have a pretty good idea of what this monster is like. The Ball Hogg looks like it might be especially fun in d20 Modern games that don’t take themselves too seriously (Ball Hoggs use basketballs and baseballs as thrown weapons and wield a baseball bat in melee). The only thing I don’t understand is why Ball Hoggs speak Goblin.
There is an NPC class build called the Stunt Specialist included at the end of the book. I don’t really like the book’s focus on class builds, rather than providing new options; I would like to think most players and GMs are able to effectively handle the options they already have without someone else telling them how to.
Two feats cap off the new material: Improved Acrobatic and Advanced Acrobatic. Despite the poor grammar in their names, these feats build off the Acrobatic feat in core Modern in an interesting way. Not only do they provide bonuses to Jump and Tumble, but they also lower the DCs for certain Jump and Tumble checks useful to acrobatic characters.
Unorthodox Modern Cheerleaders includes the Fast Hero class description in it’s appendix. This is probably unnecessary, as most readers either own the core d20 Modern book or use the Modern SRD. It is probably useful to readers of TheLe’s previous Unorthodox books, who may be entering Modern gaming for the first time.
The layout of U.M. Cheerleaders is pretty decent in the screen-optimized landscape PDF. There are a few text wrapping gaffes, but the arrangement of text columns and pictures flows nicely. Art in the book consists entirely of stock photographs, which suits the material.
On the whole, I give Unorthodox Modern Cheerleaders three and a half stars out of five (3.5 out of 5). It’s a fun read with a playable class. This series has a lot of potential, and I look forward to seeing what comes next in the Unorthodox Modern line.
How it earned the 3.5: being fun, being useful, providing more than just a single class.
What kept it from getting a 5: minor layout quibbles, too much focus on character builds.
