The Second World Sourcebook is an interesting product. While it's
a setting for d20, it's also something of a toolkit for d20. It's
also kind of a bridge between regular d20 (D&D) and d20
Modern. The basic premise is that our Earth is the "First
World", and then there is another, Second World that is
essentially a fantasy version of Earth. Key to the premise is the
interaction between the two worlds. They aren't completely
separate planes, more like twins who were separated from birth.
It's a big book. 288 pages, softcover (though it has a
plastic-ish cover), and sells for $29.95 (I bought mine for $25,
new from an online retailer).
The first thing I noticed about the book is the weird font they
use for the headers (which there are a lot of). Very annoying.
The W looks like a V, and so I end up mentally reading it like
I'm transylvanian or something. Vorld, Varden, Vorking, etc.
Vorking annoying! They also use solid circles instead of Os.
Grrr. Why the heck can't companies just use normal looking fonts?
It's an RPG, not a freaking art book. Just had to vent. Other
than that, it's a very practical looking and well laid out book.
(Well, I also don't like the shaded boxes. They start off white
at the top and gradually get greyer and greyer. Sort of neat
looking, but I hate reading black type on a dark grey
background.)
It's divided into 6 sections. (One of the nicer parts of the book
is the sections are listed in the outer margin, making it very
very easy to find them in the book)
The first section is entitled
"Campaigns". There's an overview of the Second World
setting, but the bulk of the information is on running campaigns
where there are multiple worlds or realities. Honestly, the
Second World setting doesn't do much for me. Seems like Rifts
without the high tech and in the present. It also focuses on the
North East part of North America, which honestly, is not the
place I'd really want to set a game in, if only because the
weather really sucks.
More interesting are the rules sections. In many ways, it's an
analysis of the differences between regular d20 and d20 modern,
and how to get them to work together. Also mentioned are rules
from various other d20 games, like how to fit in the VP/WP
system, and various other alternatives to d20 combat basics. Like
changing armor class to damage resistance. There's another type
of wound system. It discusses the massive damage threshold.
There's lots of little rules mentioned, along with their
implications.
There's also an excellent analysis of technology and how it fits
into a campaign world. It's sort of handled like the game
Civilization, complete with flow charts representing technology
trees, how science (or the magic of science) progresses.
Basically, each world might have different rules, how things
operate. For instance, 1st World is our Earth, so it works
according to the laws of physics. But the 2nd World doesn't work
that way. Chemistry, for instance, doesn't work the same. Instead
there is alchemy. This has various ramifications. It goes into
this pretty well. While not an in depth manual on world building,
it's pretty impressive.
The second section is on characters. Introduced
is background options, which essentially modify a character by
giving him or her 3 class skills, or maybe a feat, and other less
tangible stuff. This is apparently pretty much the same as d20
Modern's occupations, but a bit different. (I don't have d20
Modern, I've only peeded at the SRD for it)
Then comes new races for the Second World Setting. Honestly, most
of them are, uh, odd. There's the Orca, essentially a land-whale
humanoid. I know they have something like that in Star Wars
(Gotal?), and in Sovereign Stone, Orks are descendants of Orca,
but that's pretty damn weird. There's also the Raptors (who are
essentially Shaquile O Neal sized saurians), a type of cat
person, serpent people, and a couple others. Nothing really
exciting. While it's not exciting, what is interesting is that
some of the races have racial classes to let the tougher races be
playable, which essentially predates Wizard of the Coast's Savage
Species. (Though the original D&D had things like Elf and
Dwarf and Halfing classes, and that was expanded into monster
classes in the Creature Crucible series in the late 80s/early
90s)
The third section is pretty large, around 90
pages, and is on "Wardens". What's a Warden? Well,
essentially they are prestige classes and are a special sort of
magician or magic user. They're actually almost like super heros.
Not in style, but how their powers seem to work. Or maybe a
better example would be Keanu Reeves from the Matrix.
Though game mechanically, the powers are more like magic
items. You get so many 'slots', and you pick a power to fill it
and pay a price in experience points. I'm not sure I like this,
because not all powers are created equal, and having to spend xp
will make the character a lower level than the other PCs. Some of
the better powers are quite expensive.
The fourth section is "Influence", and
is also pretty big, around 80 pages. Basically, it's a way of
tracking the PCs in a more social context, especially with regard
to organizations and companies and such. After some rules, there
are lots of organizations and such in the second world setting.
Finally, there's several pages of 'favors', which the PCs can try
to get from the various organizations and groups.
While this is very setting dependant, the rules are not, and you
could probably port it pretty easy to a different world/campaign
setting.
The fifth section is pretty short, and is on
equipment. Not much new is added, but some options are, like a
mechanic for penetration (apparently from Ken Hood's Firearms
rules, though Weird Wars uses something similar). Essentially,
it's a simple way of making firearms much better against armor
than the d20 default method
The sixth and last section is also pretty short,
and is on NPCs and Opponents of the Second World. This is mostly
generic NPCs, there are only a handful of monsters.
Artistically, it's a bit sparse, but what artwork there is
pretty good (quality varies from artist to artist). I'm probably
a bit biased, because it includes a picture of my favorite car,
and is only the second print RPG product to do so (their previous
pdf only product, Bodies & Souls, also featured this picture,
as does the Q Manual for the old James Bond RPG. ). In most
aspects, this product will make Nobilis fans run away screaming
like sissies.
So, how good is this book? To be blunt, the setting of the
Second World just didn't do much for me. It's well done, but I
have trouble buying it. There's just no suspension of belief for
me. The Second World is certainly complex enough, especially with
all the organizations, but it doesn't seem real.
I also have trouble with the concept of 'exiles', which is that
people in the 1st World (our Earth) who see something weird from
the Second World either forgetting about it, or disappearing into
the Second World. I'm probably a bit biased. One of my other
hobbies is the study of the paranormal. I've met and talked to
many really odd people, many of them have seen strange things (or
think they have). They haven't disappeared, which goes against
this premise.
That said, it's well done, and well detailed, at least with
regards to it's social structure. (Physical details on the main
cities could have been better, and there could have been some illustrations of what the 2nd world looks like). While the setting aspect of this book is not to my taste, it might appeal to you, especially if you're from the Northeast. It's certainly a unique product, in a good way. Part of the reason I like the d20 license and OGL so much is that we see things like this. A great big company
wouldn't come up with something like this. While it's not ground
breaking, exactly, I sure as heck don't own anything like it. And
the non-setting part of first section is utterly brilliant. If it
was bundled off as it's own product, every d20 fan should own it.
B
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