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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2010356" data-attributes="member: 1129">Vigilance is a d20 book that brings the super hero system to the d20 system without avoiding the d20 system like others have. Broken into ten chapters, Vigilance covers almost every aspect of the super genre that you could be interested in.The basics in chapter one showcase the main differences between a Vigilance game and standard d20. Armor doesn't make you harder to hit, but absorbs damage. Skilled characters can use combat maneuvers to augment their fighting abilities. Defense is used to avoid damage instead of armor class. It's a good quick and dirty chapter that gives the reader a quick low-down on what's going to be different in a vigilance campaign.In addition, it provides a default timeline for the setting that goes up to the year 2000. Most of the material seems fairly standard with a little bit more violence thrown in than most comic settings use. At least it's a more accurate reflection of the d20 system and of modern awareness of how terrible those past events often were. Chapter Two focuses on Origins. These take the place of character races with each origin have different ability adjustments. One thing that stands out in particular is that each origin has multiple favored classes. This allows the characters to get the abilities they want through level advancement but does have it's own issues. For example, there are no rules on creating your own origin types. Minor complaint but if its going to be a complete system in and of itself, material that like is useful.Chapter Three is where things start to get interesting. The new character classes are listed but instead of providing a quick run down of what each class is, it goes straight into the material. Each class follows the Player's Handbook in layout with additions made for the genre. Ideas on what the class is, why they adventure, characteristics, alignment, background, origins and game rule information, are backed up by a table that shows each class from 1st to 20th level. Classes include: Acrobat, Brick, Detective, Energy Projector, Gadgeteer, Gangster, Psychic, and Vigilante. Some of these are almost like the origins in that they've broad, general purpose labels like Acrobat, Detective and Vigilante. Other classics, like Speedster, are missing from the core classes.Skills and feats, covered in Chapter Four and Five, are specific to the system and setting. For example, the combat maneuvers are all skills that provide different bonuses to the character and have their own requirements. This helps the GM keep the feel of the genre as many of the maneuvers are for group efforts. The feats follow a lot of the standards set by the players handbook. For example, Item Creation Feats still costs experience points to use. Other feats are specific to different types of power and almost act like advantages from GURPS or the Hero system.Now as for the powers, they're covered in Chapter Six. Powers are listed in alphabetical order with no master list to start them off, unlike say, the spell section in the Player's Handbook. Each power includes duration, area of effect, time to activate, range, and the specific use of the power. Some of the powers require skills to use more effectively. One of the twists though is that not all of the skills required to use the power is a class skill. Sure, you can have a character with a lot of different abilities, eventually, but that doesn't mean you'll be a master of all of them. Your power is also limited by your level by power points.There's a good range of powers. Everything to create someone like Wolverine with the Claws, Regeneration and the Enhanced Senses, to those who want to take to the sky with Flight and use Superhuman Strength to crush their enemies.Another different take on the genre is the use of Disadvantages. Here, you get experience points for having disadvantages which can increase you're starting level. It's an interesting contrast to other game systems where the power itself if often 'cheaper' as the character overall becomes more powerful through the benefit of experience points. Note, this isn't a one time deal either. If the character's disadvantage comes into play in the game, he'll gain more experience based on the severity of the disadvantage.Most of the mechanics seem sound but a few seem underpowered. For example, the Brick is a classic of the genre, a person who relies on strength to carry the day through. The Brick's highest ability is Never Say Die where he can continue to fight until he reaches -10 at which point he dies. Now that's not an impressive ability for a 20th level character, especially since there are so many feats and ideas out on the market that do things like let the character live to his Constitution in negatives or fight until his Con bonus plus -10, etc... In some ways, the book is too centralized so that if the GM does own or use a large collection of books, or just the reference works like AEG's Feats or Mongoose's Ultimate Feats book, the material here can be very underpowered.Chapter Eight, Vehicles and Equipment, is a brief look at some of the standard things that characters will use in the setting. The material is complete in and of itself, but not expansive by any means.Of more interest, are the Prestige Classes in Chapter Nine. Once again, no table or master listing, but instead, the book goes right into the material. It includes the following: Arch Nemesis, Arch Villain, Behemoth, Dragon Master, Fallen Angel, Mastermind, Mentor, Paragon, Powerhouse, Psi Lord, Shifter, and Speed Demon. This shows another thing that I personally didn't like. The material for players is right in there with the material for the GMs. Instead of having the villains and heroes separated, it's all together. In addition, the Speed Demon is a classic and there should be options to start play as one.For those who've never run a super hero campaign before, the material on Heroism and Villainy isn't up to the par that Silver Age Sentinels set in terms of role playing effectively, but it does provide a starting GM with several hooks and ideas. More useful perhaps is Chapter Eleven, Syndicate City due to the number of NPCs it presents. Need some examples of heroes and villains? You've got it.The art is better than some of the latest Hero books, but no match for Silver Age Sentinels or Mutants & Masterminds. Personally, I don't like the cover either, which is a shame since it's done by Storn Cook and I find his artwork, especially in the Hero products, top notch. I don't know if it's just that there's too much going on or that there's no 'center' to pull the piece together, but it's not the best example of the art that book boast. Price is fair for a book this size. I'm not a layout master or expert designer, but in my pursuit to know about layout to increase my knowledge of what's right and wrong with a book I'm reviewing, I've come across the following. “it is easier to read an extended amount of text when it is set in a serif typeface.” That's from the Non-Designer's Type Book. In other words, the layout in this book is in dire need of attention. The fonts used for the feats are so big that the type of feat it is often doesn't fit next to the feat in question. This adds to the pages. This also adds to the pages in terms of white space several times. For example, on page 80, because of the large font size, there's a big margin at the bottom of the book in contrast to the opposite page. Vigilance manages to capture some of the elements of the super hero genre quite well and it does so within the d20 system as opposed to working around it like Silver Age Sentinels or going OGL like Mutants & Masterminds does. This doesn't make it the best super hero game on the market, just makes it one of the few 'true' d20 super hero games on the market. A 2nd edition to reorganize and improve the layout would do wonders for this book. As it stands, if you're a fan of super heroes and want to use the d20 system, Vigilance is worth looking over.</blockquote>

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