Mongoose's take on a modern d20 Horror game. Would be decent except for the bizzare decision to remove two very important d20 damage rules, which basically renders the game unplayable as written. If you have another form of d20 (especially Call of Cthulhu d20), then this makes a decent, if overpriced, sourcebook.
Post originally by Ezekiel Black at 2004-06-11 06:49:13
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So let me get this straight: The only thing that's "New" in this book is the crafting of monsters, the faith rules (gambling with gawd), and the 4 character classes? Everything else was reprinted from d20 Modern, d20 CoC, or Ravenloft (Fear/Horror/Madness saves)? No offense, but then it's not worth $40.
They dropped out massive damage threshold? What, where they trying to make a B-Rated Horror Movie game? If that was the case, why did the book have a hopeless horror/cthulian feel?
Post originally by Buzz at 2004-06-11 08:49:44
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<i>It's not perfect, since the vast majority of people are simply shoved into a category called "Ordinary People". But at least they are accounted for, unlike d20 Modern itself.</i>
d20M accounts for them fine. Re-read the section in d20M on "ordinaires."
Post originally by Ghost2020 at 2004-06-11 09:50:12
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Mongoose has put out a PDF full of errata and missed items. I believe the healing and non-lethal combat are in there, along with damage threshold rules.
They were omitted by accident, not on purpose.
The FAQ document from the Free Material/OGL Horror section should help.
Post originally by committed hero at 2004-06-11 11:28:06
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The Horror saves are different from Ravenloft, although they obviously share similarities. And OGL Horror contains information about running games that is complementary to the material appearing in CoC (I don't recall as much info in Ravenloft, although that book and CoC concern themselves with narrower slices of what "horror" can encompass, while this one tries to get the whole picture). But yes, great swathes of this book are available for free in the SRD. And without them the book could have been just as good for a lesser price. That was probably a conscious decision, to avoid d20 vs. OGL restrictions.
Post originally by Dan at 2004-06-11 13:32:21
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Mongoose seems to do this a lot. Which is too bad, because they have some awesome licenses and ideas, that just don't come through in the finished product.
Post originally by Jeremy at 2004-06-11 15:50:45
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I only have the SRD, not the d20 Modern book, but that says just use one of the 6 Hero Types, only drop the special abilities.
Which is basically a kludge, IMHO. And confusing. Because you have some NPCs that are "Strong Heroes" or whatever heros, in their stat listing, but in reality, they actually aren't.
Post originally by Buzz at 2004-06-11 16:04:20
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RTM.
Ordinaires don't get max HP at 1st level, don't get Action Points, don't get any class features, and cannot take Advanced classes. Ordinaires are listed as, e.g., "Strong Ordinary" in a stat block. An NPC that has the word "Hero" in their class listing is not an ordinaire (or else is the victim of shoddy editing).
I don't find this a kludge, and I don't find it confusing.
Post originally by Jeremy at 2004-06-11 17:33:39
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From d20 Modern is the skills, feats, equipment, professions and such, which are about half the book. (Some are tweaked a bit)
New are the 4 character types, the organization rules, some of the monsters, the spells. And how to run a horror game and sample campaigns ideas.
The magic system and psychic rules are just heavily inspired by CoC d20, not directly taken from them.
I don't know the motivation for dropping the Massive Damage rules - that other guy now says it was simply an editing mistake, but I find it hard to believe something that major was dropped.
But no, it's probably not worth $40. You can generally get it for $30 new from most places (I got it for that price twice!), and used for around $20. I would say it's probably worth $20.
All of the OGL books reprint a lot of stuff from the SRD. Only OGL Ancients is mostly original, probably 85% new. OGL Cyberpunk is probably even less original material, maybe 30% - just the chapters on Cyberware, Drugs, and Hacking.
Post originally by Bob Runnicles at 2004-06-11 19:56:48
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"Though now that I think of it, it could be a reference to the actress that plays Buffy: The Vampire Slayer - she always looked to me like she has a mustache, at least sometimes."
Huh? Are we talking about the VERY sexy and highly desirable Sarah Michelle Gellar here? Them's fightin' words in this neck of the woods, mister! I'll see you in the parking lot!
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