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DW: Metropolis Rho: Humanity In A Bottle
by Stanley L. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/25/2023 17:34:33

Not sure why the other reviewers gave 5 star reviews, but the story for Metropolis Rho has a lot of plot holes and railroading. While the premise of a degenerative society in a "cyperpunk" metropolis is nice, especially when the many of elements borrowed heavily from movies like Soylent Green (algae chips, food shortage, food riots, unemployed, the ultra wealthy, etc), Logan's Run (which similar with the movie where a citizen reach to a certain age, they'll be terminated but for Metropolis Rho, any signs of deformities or mutation defects are terminated at birth), and THX 1138 (where society are forced to take drugs to escape their depressive life).

The entire premise also introduces us with the metropolis suffering from shortage of resources. Food is the major issue with the city, and since the city couldn't make farms or gardens (there is a small pocket of it, but cater to the ultra wealthy and the criminals), the major source of food production is algae farming. But instead of using more sections of the river to cultivate algaes, the factory uses a small section to grow them and turn them into Algae Chips, where they are tasteless and bland.

The main plot have the main villain, Mayor Morrison (who looked like Benny from Fallout: New Vegas), discovering a cloning machine, and his idea of using the machine, was to clone himself and turning himself "immortal" so he can rule the city forever. His other plan was to hoard all the food and fuel in the city, so that when the inevitable comes and everything has ran out, the rest of the gangs and the civillians will have no choice but to rely on his "leadership. But the one thing that bothers me is that, rather than using the cloning machine to....let's say, clone animals like cows, he can monopolize the food industry to better control the population under his heel. Instead, he rather clone himself. And if the cloning machine doesn't work on animals, well, there's one thing that this module never mention is about cannibalism. If the city is running low on food shortages, but somehow, a degenerate city, didn't resort to cannibalism (Like what Soylent Green would introduce for food shortages or the comic like Transmetropolitan, where society introduced "long pigs", cloned humans to be consumed as a delicacy), Morrison could have simply cloned himself, repackage the meat and sell it to the masses. Isn't this what a degenerate city would do? I guess not.

The city also over rely on drugs to keep them happy and numb their depression, they even have a drug that simulates your taste buds so you can taste the wonderful artificial taste of cooked meals but it doesn't satiate your hunger. It's also a drug that you can get addicted to (though the fortitude save DC is only 10) but there is no overdose effect. Nor that it even have any game benefits, just merely a roleplay item. This is a wasted opputunity.

As the city rely a lot on drugs, but at the same time, the city is suffering from running low on resources, you would wonder to yourself, where do they even find the ingredients or chemicals to make these drugs? The city is run by gangs of criminals, and there's at least 2 dozens of them while half of them would at least sell drugs, since that their major profit. For a city that's running low on resources, but somehow, they can still sell drugs, makes no sense.

Another problem is that the city's vehicles still relies on gasoline, but since gasoline is running low and only sells them to the criminal gangs and to the Enforcers, majority of the population had to rely on cheaper alternative. You would think ethanol, methane, or something like an electric car. But no. The author introduces us "GrassGas". Yes. Gas made from lawn grass. But they're unrefined and tend to cause problems for vehicles, that your engines will sputter and die, causing you to have an accident. "GrassGas" is the most ridiculous fuel to be introduced in the game, especially for a "sci-fi" dystopian module like this.

The game also introduces several new firearms, and several gangs in the city also sells blackmarket firearms. Now, i can accept the idea of selling firearms, since the module highlight about the common gang wars or enforcers vs gangs, and whoever's dead, anyone can scavenge and salvage firearms from dead bodies. But a city that's running low on resources, somehow, bullets are plenty. Who's making the ammunition? How did they even make ammunition with the city's resources are dwindling? Never explained. What makes it more hilarious is that a lot of the gangs are also selling firearms, but there is no firearm industry, and the module explained that a lot of the firearms are scavenged, stolen or taken from dead rival gangs. Imagine that a gang's main profit is selling firearms, but you're also limited in stock since most firearms are scavenged or stolen and ammunition are "infinite". And why do i say that ammunition is "infinite"? Because in Metropolis Rho, not a single page mentions the cost of ammunition. But in the module, everyone's shooting their guns. So if there's no cost for ammunition, and everyone's using guns, what are the conclusion? Free ammo.

Nevermind that the city is running low on resources, but somehow items like bullets, drugs, guns, gasoline are still "plenty".

The adventure module plays like a police detective would, with some scenes play like how Soylent Green would with the food riot. But the author insists that this module is for 4 players (written in the handout) and one npc enforcer driver. Unfortunately, this npc enforcer driver, Sanderson, is psychotic. He'll cause more problems for the players, but deliberately instigating certain npcs in some of the scenarios. It makes you wonder why would any players will want to have a unstable npc to tag along with the players, because the author needed a "DMPC" to nudge the players in the "correct" path. Really poorly written. One of the examples is that, in the first scenario which is the drug raid, players will encounter a gangster named Frankie, which the players will kill because the "Mayor says so". After much time had passed, your party will visit the most elite high class club (that sells furnitures) where you will meet an NPC furniture singer name Veronica or "Ronnie". Ronnie is Frankie's lover, and is still angry that enforcers had killed him. She doesn't know it was the players that killed Frankie. But Sanderson, your npc enforcer driver, will blurt out saying dumb things about how the players killed Frankie, or how much Sanderson will boast about Frankie's death. This in turn, causes Ronnie to have a meltdown, by taking out a gun and start firing at the players, though would miss quite a few shots. Players can either kill Ronnie, or leave the club.

Another scenario which happens much more later on, is when the players head over to the university to meet Dr. Cole, and after learning what the players can from Dr. Cole, he'll plead to the players to not report about the University's illegal activity concerning about the university's facility is used as an underground hospital, to deliver babies that suffered from inbreeding mutations. Metropolis Rho has a law where any birth that resulted with the child having any kind of mutations and defects, will be subjected to euthanasia in the most "humane way". Whether or not if the players keep the secret is up to them, but the players' NPC enforcer driver, Sanderson, will definitely report this to the precinct's Captain Nelson. Players later on will find Sanderson missing from their peacemaker car, as the NPC will be reassigned to another squad and that the captain calls for a brutal raid to the university.

The main plot for this module is that players are given a case to investigate the murder case of a recluse wealthy old man (again, inspired by Soylent Green) and finds out that he has a lover by the name Therese. Therese does not belong in the Metropolis, instead, she's from the outside of the dome. I find problem to accept this part of the story, because we were told that the dome's barrier security defenses have automatic turrets and minefields to prevent anyone from invading into the dome. Somehow, the young child Therese, manages to slip through the barrier's defenses without incuring any injuries and "nearly died". Therese being the only person that had lived on the outside, is what Mayor Morrisson fears. You see, the population in the dome believed that, anything outside of the dome is a irradiated wasteland and that no one can survive out there, so to stay alive and be safe, everyone lives in the dome. Mayor Morrison's plans was to control the dome by hoarding whatever food and fuel is left, and turn himself "immortal". But with the introduction of Therese, it means that people can leave the dome and the mayor can't have that (despite the dwindling resources and that food shortages is the number one problem). So the mayor is trying to find Therese and shut her up forever. You as players, must find Therese, and learn this "terrible" secret, and stop Mayor Morrison from his plans.

The major theme for the enforcers is that they act like the Judges from 2000 AD, though without the "executioner" part, only retain the "Judge and Jury". People and gangs are suppose to fear them. But the enforcers are technically a "gang" of some sorts. They can take bribes, skim, steal, within certain limits. They take orders from the Mayor because that's their policy, loyal to only the Mayor (and the Mayor being the main villain of this module). You can get the idea how the Enforcers are from 2000 AD but you mix it in with Soylent Green. But the module encourages the players to be brutal, killing not only the gangsters, but even the unproductives and civillians. Because the module introduces the "PPP", the "Police Popularity Points". So killing a gangster is worth +1 (or +2, depending on the scenario), and killing an unproductive (the author's version of the unemployed) or civilians are worth +0.5 points each. And doing anything dramatic will also yield +1 to +5 points. Examples like, throwing Lambert out of the window (this is from the second scenario where the enforcers were ordered by the mayor to kill all the unproductives occupying a building "illegally" so in the future, he can rebuild it into an ethanol factory for vehicle fuel). Another scenario, you'll also given extra points if your players flirt Tess Dane, the "madam" of the elite club. The major problem with the introduction of "PPP" points because you need to rake up as much points as possible, to gain access to evidence that were conveniently taken from you by your other fellow NPC enforcers. For example, when your party investigate the murder case of Durante, there are three npc enforcers standing outside the deceased's apartment, waiting for your party's arrival. When players search inside the apartment looking for clues, one major clue is missing from the apartment which the players do not know about. And unless players confront the npc enforcers standing outside the apartment by interogating them and retrieving the stolen decantor alcohol, they'll miss the major clue but this doesn't need the PPP points...yet. Only when your players had retrieved the decantor and sent it to the precint to analyze the bottle for fingerprints, that's where you need at least 35 PPP points where the lab technicians will tell your players that the fingerprints revealed to belong to Mayor Morrison. If players do not have 35 PPP points, this information is "lost". So, in your players' best interest, is to slaughter as much of the "unproductives" as possible and do spectacular actions to rake as much points as possible in order to gain any kind of clues and insight to the murder case.

While the book offers a lof of information on how the people, gangs and enforcers' way of life are, unfortunately, the module wants your players, who plays as the Enforcers, are encouraged to seeking justice on the murder case while encouraging you to be ruthlessly (and comically brutal) against civilians, for no other reasons but to gain the PPP points.

A major problem with this module, is that certain scenarios forces players to be railroaded by the GM, especially when with scenarios involving chasing Morton, the underground mutant leader. The entire chase scenario is forced upon the players with multitude of obstacles, all are meant to hinder your players in one way or another. It doesn't matter if your players takes too long to deal with the obstacles or even succeeded in making good time, the point is to make your players "dramatically" slow down. Because in the end, Morton will escape, whether if you succeed or not. It's to the point where even reading the chase scenario becomes frustrating. And players will never get an upperhand out of this chase. The chase begins from the Sodom club, down under the Hive (an undercity) and then back to the surface, where in the finale of the chase, you're also forced to fight two mutant children with neural mutation abilities and in no way, you can't avoid the children but have to fight them to death. You're not allowed to even capture them, and by the fourth round, Morton will be in a van to escape. You will find such railroad a reoccuring theme.

There are also several scenarios that relies on the players to successfully make their spot checks to notice certain npc individuals, as they are the key suspects that needed to be interogated or to be chased down. But the author didn't take account on what happens if players do fail their spot check, because dice rolls are unpredictable. Take for instance, before the Morton chase scene in the Sodom club, players are to roll for a spot check DC 15, to first notice Morton, and another spot check to notice Derek, the Bloodsport star player (who is supplying weapons to the mutant underground). So if players failed the second spot check to notice Derek, then what happens if players couldn't figure out their next scenario which needs them to go to the Metropolis Colieseum to interrogate Derek? This isn't just a one time issue, as i said, there were several instances where players must rely on that one time spot check, and if they fail, that NPC dissappears and your only lead is gone.

I like the premise of the module, but the story itself is just filled with ridiculous backstory, railroading scenarios that's not even fun and even more unbelievable plot holes.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
DW: Metropolis Rho: Humanity In A Bottle
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Darwin's World: Against The Wastelords (W1)
by Stanley L. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/14/2023 22:25:14

Not sure why everyone else is giving this module a 4 or 5 out of 5 rating. The module's story is a nice little opening for low levels, but there are some encounters simply needed the players to react to them in order for the party to progress. If they couldn't, the players soft-locked themselves and couldn't progress any further. Most of the encounters are pretty straight forward, it might not be too railroady, since the scenarios did gave the players the options. But the writers didn't expand some of the options for their scenarios. So it's up to the GM to write extra to cover those missing bases up. While some are poorly written scenarios. Take for example, when the players entered the town called Ebb. After meeting the trademasters, the pit fight organizer will insult the players to get them to fight against a level 5 NPC but the players have to pay 100 corium to bet. This entire scenario is a set up to make the players lose their corium. There is no way a player can survive going up against a level 5 NPC, not when the player is only at level 1, or at best, level 2 by the time they reach to Ebb. And what happens if the players refuse to get egged on by the pit fight organizer? Well, nothing of course. They can just move on and the scenario is wasted. As GM, i have to change the scenario a little bit to entice the players to get involved with the pit fight by involving the market and the side bets (the side bets was mentioned in the module).

In the Haunted Canyons, the cliff dwellings has been set up with some primitive wind fan device that when the wind blew in, it'll spin the blades, making it look like from the outside, that the dwellings are "occupied". It's written there that it's "bait". Bait to what? The actual pit trap is away from the cliff dwellings. If the players go to investigate the cliff dwellings, they'll just find the primitive wind fan contraption. So what is the point of this?

NPC dialogues like Captain Ulz is written very inconsistent, when the first two times the players meet the NPC, he'll talk with broken grammar in his sentences. By the third time and onwards, the players meet the NPC, he'll talk normally. Why? No explaination whatsoever.

While some scenarios are nice, like the party meeting the Terminals and the option to persuade them that the party is peaceful and using diplomacy to convince the terminals to collect the scrap metal at the "scrap mine", but it's revealed to be a B-52 bomber. The biggest problems comes to two scenarios.

For example, the crashed B-52 bomber scenario, where players can climb into the cockpit to explore the interior. What the players didn't know, is that they have to fiddle the console screen to get it activated, and it'll show the player aid map of the whereabouts of the fallen AGM-86 warhead. But if the players missed the console, or that they couldn't figure out the player-aid map with the military lingo presented, and they couldn't progress to the next scenario in seeking the Cruise Missile Site area. And if the players decided to do a search check, they'll find the power pack that powers the screen which the players can disconnect the wires to collect the power pack. Without the power pack, you won't be able to activate the screen, unless you reconnect again, thus, players misses the screen of the map that will clue them about the cruise missile site. The writers also encourage the GM to not tell the players on what the screen map is about, and informs the GM to let the players figure it out themselves. While it's nice to have the players think and figure out the clues themselves, but i think, for most GMs having to deal with players, there's a chance that the player group won't be able to figure out the console screen map. So what then? The GM have to figure out a backup plan on this.

The follow up is also the same, where after dealing with the Wastelords and Sprocket, the NPC wastelord that surrendered, players can interogate the NPC, but what the module didn't expand on, is what to do with the NPC after the interogation. It just abruptly ends there. And the interogation questions are listed in the module, but the writers didn't include on what happens if the players asks questions like, who's the Wastelord's leader, where is their base, what's the number of their army, and what's their firepower, and so on. Then, the next scenario will have the players spotting the two mutant monks that were spying on them right after the wastelords and sprocket battle. The modules tells the GM that the two monks will fight to the death, and that's it. But what happens if players manage to subdue them? It wasn't expanded upon. And this leads to the followup scenario, where the players heading to the monastery. Once the players reaches to the monastery, the NPCs consists of the monks and nuns are good characters, and they'll fight to the death to defend the warhead. There's no option where you can persuade the npcs that the players are not raiders or a threat to them. Just that, the monks and nuns believes the warhead will be used and that the valley will be destroyed. So what the writers wants the players to do, is to slaughter these innocent good characters...just because.

Another problem is that the author seem to forget how the travel distance and the time it takes to arrive from one spot to another will take, or that ignoring that the player characters need sleep (unless the author completely neglected that part for a "realistic post apocalypse survival game"). For example, starting in the beginning, when players leave the Bazaar to travel to the nearest next stop, will be the Black Stump. The author wrote that it'll take more than a day to reach there, and automatically either skips or ignore that the player characters will be walking non-stop without sleep to reach to the Black Stump. This also happens when near the end of the module, where players will need to travel to Dry River to ambush the Wastelords, and it'll take traveling all night to arrive. Once players arrive, players are not given any kind of rest and the ambush combat will begin next. Nevermind that the player characters are already suffering from fatigue (-2 to strength and dexterity, plus they cannot charge or run), but they have to endure the combat too. And following the next scenario, right after Dry River, is having the players (and 4 footmen NPCs from Bazaar with 4 riders from Dry Fort) will have to travel by on foot to reach Big Rock as soon as possible, since the NPC specifically tells the players that they need to be there before the Wastelord raiders arrive. Again, the distance to travel over to that area, will take another all night, since it's the same distance length if you compare to the Bazaar and Dry River's journey length.

Overall, the GM has to make a lot of preparations before running this module. The writers assume that the players are just a walking hack-and-slash group, that they'll go through every encounter battling enemies without any kind of thinking. Until the actual thinking scenario comes up. Then the players are stuck.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Darwin's World: Against The Wastelords (W1)
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Darwin's World 2: Survivor's Handbook
by Stanley L. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/30/2023 08:11:05

While the book covers a lot of details, it still suffers from missing some tidbits of information, which mostly is from the equipment section. Like the cost of lead bullets for black powder firearms, darts for the dart pistol, crossbow bolts and arrows, or what's the amount of quantity when purchasing a firearm's ammunition, which forces you to refer to D20 Modern's firearm ammunition section to see the quantities. Even at the general equipment section, the portable stove that uses kerosene to light up, but there's no pricing for kerosene at all. In the Scav's Swag and the Against the Wastelord module, the camping lantern is available and price is included. But again, no kerosene to fuel it. Or a lantern wick.

Though the book did not highlight this, but in the Burning Lands novel, it was mentioned in the first several pages, that Powder Horn filled with black/gun powder for black powder firearms exist in this universe, but for the Survivor's Handbook, this isn't included.

Furthermore, since the book included weapons like black powder pistols and rifles, there's also no availability for black/gun powder as well. Or even have the skill to craft it.

Nor tools such as molding/reloading kits to make bullets and reloading ammunition equipment/tools, which are valuable for a harsh post apocalyptic world setting like Darwin's World. Skinning blades/tools are also not included, where the world also heavily relies on leather/fur hides, and in the Post Apocalyptic Dispatch's Skinners' Furs and Pelts, the character Skinner also buys animal hides/skins.

Most of the combat rules and movement rules will also need to rely heavily on D20 Modern rules as well. But if you don't own a D20 Modern, and you're not familiar with the system? Then, you better buy that too. Several mutations are very overpowered, even to the point that you can "buy" a mutation that lets you fly. Of course you have to balance them with 3 chosen defects. But a player can pick the least damaging defects, which is a flaw to this mechanic. But the good news is, the author did include the "random pool" where the GM will pick 7 mutations and 7 defects for the player to pick 3 mutations and 3 defects from your random pool. It helps to balance out the game.

I find that the cost for vehicle's fuel are just too cheap to fill 1 tank of gas, especially when it's the post apocalypse era and according to the lore, fuel is a lacking resource. And in the Twisted Earth, only the strong can afford such luxuries, such as the many raider factions with their battle cars.

Again, the book does cover a lot of details, and i still enjoyed it.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Darwin's World 2: Survivor's Handbook
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Darwin's World: Return To The Lost City (LC2)
by Stanley L. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/24/2023 09:06:50

I was kind of expecting there'll be interesting encounters for the sequel, but reading through it, it was a sloughfest of hack and slash from start to finish. In Part 1 of the module, there's at least some bits of roleplaying, but the sequel, you'll be fighting the mongoliants, alot. It wasn't a fun experience reading through all of that. Then, after passing the mongoliant's stadium and going over the other end of the city, was rather lack luster. Most of the ruin buildings are a wasted opputunity for encounters and exploration. They are huge towering domestic apartment buildings with many floors, but you only get one floor encounter, per building. The hospital is also very lacking, with it being a towering building, but you only explore the lobby area. Most of the origins for the buildings are for the GMs to know, so the players don't get much information out of it (unlike how New World Order and The Last God module are, you'll get quite a lot of info about the ancients and what happened in the Center), aside from fighting ridiculous amounts of enemies like dealing 30x Crawlers at the Cargo Barge, 100x Bats at the Ruined Power Station.

I do like the apartment encounter where the players would find Mona, the abandoned pleasure android, it was interesting compared to many of the hack and slash encounters for the sequel. But it was short-lived and not fully expanded into. But i really do not like the finale section where the players attempt to visit the Institute, only for the GM to be greeted with "The truth of the Institute is for you to make up". I was generally more invested to wanting to know why has the institute set up within the dome city and going so far to having the military sent in their war robots to protect it, where dozens or hundreds of protestors and rioters were killed outside of the compound. Imagine my dissapointment when i read the "ending".



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
Darwin's World: Return To The Lost City (LC2)
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Darwin's World: Death by Corium Light
by Stanley L. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/24/2023 08:49:51

I do enjoy reading this entire adventure module that includes different factions as agents to investigate Big Ben's Lil Vegas and his corium mines. The town is pretty detailed, with different shops overcharging the prices and enforce the "payment plan". The whole underground nuclear reactor was interesting as well. The ending, along with the possible outcomes for the other factions are also interesting. But the one thing irked me was that, at page 27, Jon's character stats aren't complete and were cut off for the most part, while Rider's stats were not even included, so when you turn to page 28, it just abruptly cuts to describing Jon's hatred for the Clean but never explained why. Or how Rider even get himself thrown into the mines. Rider is one of the main characters for Darwin's World: Burning Lands novel, but the ending for Death by Corium Light, never mentioned about what happened to Jon and Rider.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Darwin's World: Death by Corium Light
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Blood and Space 2: Galactic Edition
by Stephen Y. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/01/2022 08:02:30

Blood and Space 2:Galactic Edition, is a collection of 6 PDFs.

The 6 PDFs when used together, can be used to help the GM create a future theme for the D20 system, hopefully to their liking (and the players).

The High Flyers and Ground Pounders PDF gives the players a chance to have a career in the Space Navy, including ranks, promotions, etc. Players can obtain advanced classes, feats, etc.

The Cosmic Fury PDFmainly focuses on 'futurisitc martial arts'; and some players may laugh at this, but there can be situations where such skills may come in handy. It has various masteries, advanced classes; and of course feats.

Merchants, Pirates, and Smugglers: This PDF gives the players a chance to experience economic/finance situations to buy and sell vrious commodities (some legal, and others, not so legal). Why does this PDF make me think of a certain smuggler in a certain sci-fi film ;-) I'm sure some players would love to play that kind of character.

Starship Construction Manual: This PDF has a lower page count than the others. The players have the chance to 'create' their own starship using so-called 'invention points', Page 3. It can also give the players a chance to modify any starship they manage to 'obtain'. ;-)

Prometheus Rising: A campaign setting for the players to explore (and hopefully not rampage through like a group of power hungry pirates, grabbing every precious item(s), etc they can lay their hands on). The PDF also includes options for psychic powers/abilities. The GM and players might want to discuss wether they want such a thing in their game. Future history is also discussed, over centuries, in the PDF, that the GM can put the players into.

Space Monsters: This PDF gives details on a number of races, that the players can use as PCs. There are also other creatures that can be used as threats to the players. There are new diseases that the GM can throw at the players, or use as a challenge for them (find a cure, for example). New starships and NPCs are included in this campaign setting PDF. Worth a look.

The artwork is black & white, but OK. There is a purple-ish band on the top and bottom of each page. The piece of art on Prometheus Rising (p9), is also on p7 Cosmic Fury.

There is plenty of 'material' in these PDFs for a GM to create a d20 sci-fi setting for their players to hopefully enjoy.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Blood and Space 2: Galactic Edition
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Blood and Fists: Modern Martial Arts
by David C D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/08/2021 03:15:00

Blood and Fists was created for D20 Modern.

Blood and Fists: Fantasy styles is for D&D 3.5e.

I love both of them.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Blood and Fists: Modern Martial Arts
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Modern20
by Damien D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/04/2021 09:13:53

I was very excited about this - especially the hit location system for a D20 derived ruleset. I really like D20 as a system, but always thought it lacked the crunch of personal favourites like Twilight 2000 and 2300AD. Both of these had good hit location systems, so I was really looking forward to seeing what this would bring to D20.

Unfortunately, even an initial read of the hit location rules has revealed major ambiguities and/or errors with these rules. Layout is very poor in places with circular references leading nowhere. They are simply not useable for me in their current form, and I consider a poor investment of cash.

Example:

Firearms Skill This has a perk "Called Shot" that suggests that you can negate the penalty for targeting a specific area of the target's body, and refers to the Hit Location section for more details.

Yet the Hit Location section contains no details on how to target a specific location, only that the natural D20 value on the attack role is the actual location that is hit.

The Hit Location table does include an Attack Modifier, but there is no reference to this anywhere in the document - the phrase "attack modifier" is present exactly once - on that table.

And the values on the Hit Location table don't make sense: with -18 to hit someone in the head (almost as bad a penalty as your nth attack).

Its as hard to hit someone in the center-mass chest location as it is their calf (each at -12 modifier), and if you leave it to chance, its harder to hit the chest (10%) than the calf (15%). Meanwhile the damage done by shooting them in the calf is the same as shooting them in the chest. Yet a groin shot results in 50% more damage than the chest. 

How anyone is meant to get an Injury (an attack role 5+ greater than the required to hit DC) with a -18 attack modifier for a headshot is beyond me. There's no driver to attempt to do so when the probability of hitting the in head or neck for the x2 damage (10%) is far better than taking the -18 to hit (especially when your other successful shots will do something, rather than miss due to -18 attack).

Again, consider the inconsistency: attacking a prone target, where the head and arms are the most visible target and the rest of the body is concealed, is a +4 modifier to the attack. Yet -18 for a called shot to the head.

So not only are the signs of the modifiers inconsistent (+4 penalty to attack a prone, -18 penalty to attach the head), but the absolute value of the modifiers are way out of scale from each other.

As a bonus example of the poor quality control, the section of text refering to the hit location table being below, is itself actually below the table rather than above it.

The Grappling rules section mentions random or selection of hit location, but again has no details on the selection process.

The Unarmed skill allows for a Joint Lock perk to grapple attack against a specific hit location, but doesn't refer to any penalty for doing so (which is inconsistent with the Firearms skill Called Shot perk). Yet another perk of Unarmed skill (Precision Strike) does mention negating the penalty for targeting a specific area of the target's body - but there's nothing to cover whether or not this is mutually exclusive with Joint Lock (i.e. does a full round Joint Lock attack benefit from Precision Strike, or is every Joint Lock attack free from the penalities?)

Summary: What could have been a great alternative to modern D20 rules instead feels a let down with inconsistent and ambiguous rules and layout.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
Modern20
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Darwin's World: Cave of Life
by Gregory G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/04/2021 09:05:20

Enjoyed this adventure, muchly! Well written and fun to run.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Darwin's World: Cave of Life
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Burning Lands Comic #1
by Thundermark P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/30/2019 20:33:32

Free comic series, and worth every penny. I was unpleasantly surprised w/ the lack of quality of artwork and dialogue, as Darwin's World products are usually top-notch.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
Burning Lands Comic #1
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Darwin's World: Scav's Swag
by BRIAN M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/28/2019 18:53:33

I have mixed feelings about this product. On the one hand, it does provide a really good, really random set of loot tables. On the other hand, many of the items in this chart are woefully dated. This is because DW used the D20 Modern Equipment charts to develop its own equipment lists. The problem with that is that D20 Modern was written in the early 2000s, so the technology for many items is long obsolete - nobody carries PDAs anymore; they use smart phones, for example. What I have done is re-build the lists to update certain items, by re-creating it in Excel. It was tedious, but a little more useful, especially since I use my own made-up "sci-fi" weapons, for example. In general, the tables work well for the Post-Apocalyptic setting of Darwin's World, but the GM may have to make minor adjustments.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Darwin's World: Scav's Swag
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Skeleton Base (revised)
by BRIAN M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/28/2019 18:42:11

This is a well-detailed adventure good for introducing players to Darwin's World. Of particular usefulness is the different maps for players and GM. Also, the GM can just sit down and get going; he/she doesn't need to roll up loot or NPCs. This helps if time is limited or just to have a ready-made introductory adventure any time it's needed. Perhaps best of all; the GM can reuse this "old military base" later wih just minor tweaking (different building names, more complete fencing, different loot, humans instead of robots, etc.). I have reused this base many times with just small changes and the players were none the wiser.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Skeleton Base (revised)
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Burning Lands Comic #4
by Heather H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/29/2015 16:47:08

Enjoyed it. Enough that I'll be buying the novel. Disappointed that the graphic novel wasn't continued.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Burning Lands Comic #4
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Two Worlds Tabletop RPG
by Thomas E. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/28/2015 21:02:22

I've got both the hard copy included with the video game, as well as the PDF. It's a really cute Game that's OGL and all packed in one small booklet. It's really nice to have all the character options/rules/ and the monsters in one book. I wish there was more monsters though.

Over all pretty cool.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Two Worlds Tabletop RPG
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Darwin's World 2: Survivor's Handbook
by Jesse R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/21/2015 09:32:31

While the book is well written, is is missing a significant amount of material in the 2.5 edition. All of the referenced tables and appendixes are missing. Now, to run a Darwin's World 2 game the four core books are needed the D20 Modern book is required and an exhaustive search on the internet for these missing tables is required. Now, these tables are impossible to find complete online and they are NOT included in the DW2.5 version of the PDF's. Wit the inclusion of those charts & tables I would recommend this, but without those charts & tables I would NOT recommend this product as in increased the frustration on the GM and the players when attempting to prepare for a campaign.

Good material, but it appears the presentation/publication to PDF is/was lacking.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Darwin's World 2: Survivor's Handbook
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