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What you get.

A 128 page softbound rulebook with color cover, and black and white art inside. Most of the artwork is file photos from the Army, with some drawings that range from average to good.

The Game.

Afghanistan D20 is a RPG set in modern day Afghanistan. The book begins with a nice piece of fiction showing the human aspect of the recent war. 18 Pages are included covering background, and history starting around 3000BC to the rise of the Taliban, to recent events (certain specific events that occurred recently in the war are not mentioned such as the Ranger's jumping into Kandahar, but this most likely occurred due to the fluid situation and no fault of Holistic.). I personally thought the background chapter was quite well done, and includes a full page listing the bibliography including URLs if a GM needs more. Chapter 3 includes character classes. They include Scout, Solider, Officer, and Clergy. While each has its own special abilities. Some of there special abilities seemed a little strange. 'Enhance Abilities' for example is a 10th level Combat Medic skill, and allows you to give 'drugs' that add 1d4 to various abilities. I am a Navy Corpsman, and not aware of anything that will increase the ability of my men. If they mean steroids, they should have rules for steroids. In lieu of character races (elf, dwarf etc) they have Backgrounds such as "Urban" or "Upper Class" which serves the same function. There is an NPC class of 'Observer' that includes reporters, aid workers etc. The skills list is pretty well done. It includes 'Call for Support' and other military related skills. ‘Use Tech Device’ lets you set up gizmos in the field. Rules are included for computer hacking, and other modern stuff not included in 3e Players Handbook. Feats include the typicals such as '2 Gun Fighting' and 'Crack Shot' but also includes Social Feats such as 'Church Rank', and Hierophant (Religious officials recognize you as a worthy theologian and your views influence religious policy). This helps round out the system, and open the doors to having non-combat orientated campaign. Over 40 feats are included. Chapter 6 covers equipment. There are about 30 small arms, and quite a few missiles are here. Including the new OICW (Objective Individual Combat Weapon, the next generation of small arms currently underdevelopment). While each weapon has a short paragraph description that is more then adequate. Plenty of other goodies are included in this section such as Demolitions Kit, GPS, and radios. None of the equipment has an illustration. This I feel is a bit of a down side. Not everyone knows what the weapons and gear look like, and personally I feel it should have been included. More then once I have created a D D character with an image in my mind of what he looks like (An elven thief with a short sword, cloak, and a scar on my left check etc.) To me the visual image of your character is important. A drawing of a fully loaded Army Ranger with each item identified would have been nice. The equipment is also generic, for example they list Low-Light Goggles not PVNS-7s. This is fine, for most of the gear it would not really make a difference in a RPG setting. The weapon rules are pretty well done. Instead of tracking every single bullet bursts do extra damage. Quick and easy I like it. Rules are included for hitting several targets with a burst (it is done with the 'Steady Aim’ feat). The Suppressive Fire rules allow you to force the bad guy’s heads down. When bullets do hit the target must make a save (with the amount of damage done as the DC) or the wound will cause you to go into shock. Snipers, and Covert Agents are samples of Prestige classes. Terrorist Leader is covered with them in Chapter 8 as well. Vehicles are Chapter 9. They are kept fairly vague. This is because a modern American tank or attack helicopter is so damn powerful it can kill just about anything. Imagine if your D D group could bring a dragon with it everywhere it went. Combat vs. vehicles looks pretty easy (We did not try it in the game we played). Stats are included for most of the things you would run across. There is a sample adventure included in the game as well. On the surface it seems to be pretty straight forward, but there is potential to start off a cool campaign with it. Chapter 11 goes over all kinds of campaigns with suggestions on not only the 'War on Terror' but other possible missions such as Nation Building that goes beyond 'kill the Taliban'. The final chapter covers playing alternate campaigns in the region. I had never thought about a Fantasy/Modern military adventure. A dwarven Special Forces character might well enjoy cleaning out a cave complex :). One thing I would have liked was a bit of information on various units that have been deployed to the region. For example what is the layout of an Army Special Forces A-Team? How many guys are in a Ranger rifle platoon? I suspect this was left out for both space reasons, and playability. While no rules prevent your gaming group from having all 9 players being Snipers, (and if your group wants to do this they should be allowed) it would have been nice to have some guidelines to how it is done in the real world. A page of URLs directing players to this information would have been nice. Overall I was pretty impressed with the level of detail in this game. The right things were simplified for playability, and kept enough to give it a hard edge techno-thriller feel. Holistic has a good modern engine, and would like to see other games using it. I played this game at Origins this year and won a free copy. I was planning on buying it, and after owning it I would realize I would have been happy to pay the $20 cost. I plan on picking up any future supplements.

Holistic Designs can be found on the web at www.Holistic-design.com

Afgahnistan D20
Afgahnistan D20 Capsule Review by Ryan Peck on 17/07/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty) Get ready to go on patrol. Product: Afgahnistan D20 Author: Ken Lightner and Tom Ricks Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Holistic Design Line: Cost: $20.00 Page count: Year published: 2002 ISBN: 1-888906-89-8 SKU: 801 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Ryan Peck on 17/07/02 Genre tags: Modern day	What you get. A 128 page softbound rulebook with color cover, and black and white art inside. Most of the artwork is file photos from the Army, with some drawings that range from average to good. The Game. Afghanistan D20 is a RPG set in modern day Afghanistan. The book begins with a nice piece of fiction showing the human aspect of the recent war. 18 Pages are included covering background, and history starting around 3000BC to the rise of the Taliban, to recent events (certain specific events that occurred recently in the war are not mentioned such as the Ranger's jumping into Kandahar, but this most likely occurred due to the fluid situation and no fault of Holistic.). I personally thought the background chapter was quite well done, and includes a full page listing the bibliography including URLs if a GM needs more. Chapter 3 includes character classes. They include Scout, Solider, Officer, and Clergy. While each has its own special abilities. Some of there special abilities seemed a little strange. 'Enhance Abilities' for example is a 10th level Combat Medic skill, and allows you to give 'drugs' that add 1d4 to various abilities. I am a Navy Corpsman, and not aware of anything that will increase the ability of my men. If they mean steroids, they should have rules for steroids. In lieu of character races (elf, dwarf etc) they have Backgrounds such as "Urban" or "Upper Class" which serves the same function. There is an NPC class of 'Observer' that includes reporters, aid workers etc. The skills list is pretty well done. It includes 'Call for Support' and other military related skills. ‘Use Tech Device’ lets you set up gizmos in the field. Rules are included for computer hacking, and other modern stuff not included in 3e Players Handbook. Feats include the typicals such as '2 Gun Fighting' and 'Crack Shot' but also includes Social Feats such as 'Church Rank', and Hierophant (Religious officials recognize you as a worthy theologian and your views influence religious policy). This helps round out the system, and open the doors to having non-combat orientated campaign. Over 40 feats are included. Chapter 6 covers equipment. There are about 30 small arms, and quite a few missiles are here. Including the new OICW (Objective Individual Combat Weapon, the next generation of small arms currently underdevelopment). While each weapon has a short paragraph description that is more then adequate. Plenty of other goodies are included in this section such as Demolitions Kit, GPS, and radios. None of the equipment has an illustration. This I feel is a bit of a down side. Not everyone knows what the weapons and gear look like, and personally I feel it should have been included. More then once I have created a D D character with an image in my mind of what he looks like (An elven thief with a short sword, cloak, and a scar on my left check etc.) To me the visual image of your character is important. A drawing of a fully loaded Army Ranger with each item identified would have been nice. The equipment is also generic, for example they list Low-Light Goggles not PVNS-7s. This is fine, for most of the gear it would not really make a difference in a RPG setting. The weapon rules are pretty well done. Instead of tracking every single bullet bursts do extra damage. Quick and easy I like it. Rules are included for hitting several targets with a burst (it is done with the 'Steady Aim’ feat). The Suppressive Fire rules allow you to force the bad guy’s heads down. When bullets do hit the target must make a save (with the amount of damage done as the DC) or the wound will cause you to go into shock. Snipers, and Covert Agents are samples of Prestige classes. Terrorist Leader is covered with them in Chapter 8 as well. Vehicles are Chapter 9. They are kept fairly vague. This is because a modern American tank or attack helicopter is so damn powerful it can kill just about anything. Imagine if your D D group could bring a dragon with it everywhere it went. Combat vs. vehicles looks pretty easy (We did not try it in the game we played). Stats are included for most of the things you would run across. There is a sample adventure included in the game as well. On the surface it seems to be pretty straight forward, but there is potential to start off a cool campaign with it. Chapter 11 goes over all kinds of campaigns with suggestions on not only the 'War on Terror' but other possible missions such as Nation Building that goes beyond 'kill the Taliban'. The final chapter covers playing alternate campaigns in the region. I had never thought about a Fantasy/Modern military adventure. A dwarven Special Forces character might well enjoy cleaning out a cave complex :). One thing I would have liked was a bit of information on various units that have been deployed to the region. For example what is the layout of an Army Special Forces A-Team? How many guys are in a Ranger rifle platoon? I suspect this was left out for both space reasons, and playability. While no rules prevent your gaming group from having all 9 players being Snipers, (and if your group wants to do this they should be allowed) it would have been nice to have some guidelines to how it is done in the real world. A page of URLs directing players to this information would have been nice. Overall I was pretty impressed with the level of detail in this game. The right things were simplified for playability, and kept enough to give it a hard edge techno-thriller feel. Holistic has a good modern engine, and would like to see other games using it. I played this game at Origins this year and won a free copy. I was planning on buying it, and after owning it I would realize I would have been happy to pay the $20 cost. I plan on picking up any future supplements. Holistic Designs can be found on the web at www.Holistic-design.com

Afgahnistan D20