The overall look of the product conforms to Spycraft trade dress: a black & white cover with green emphasis, and utilitarian artwork showing military figures in action poses or various machines of war. Readers familiar with other Spycraft titles know what they’re getting. As an aside, the book is compatible with AEG’s Stargate setting – and arguably a better fit for characters in that game.
Over half the book is descriptive material, first detailing examining the history and overall structure of the armed forces, along with the chain of command. Next is a short examination of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a table of ranks, and a size comparison of other nations relative to the US. There are several useful sidebars throughout the book that can be used to spice up a military-flavored campaign: a list of standard-issue weapons (no stats, however; they’re in the Modern Arms Guide), budgetary and new project information, a fairly long glossary, and - my favorite – a random chart for MRE contents!
Each of the four service branches receives specific treatment in its own chapter, along with the Coast Guard, included because it falls under the Navy’s control in times of war. These chapters contain a concise history of the service; a breakdown of its commands; information about unique roles, units and customs; and a description of the initial training process and facilities. The only rules-specific material is prerequisites for entering the service as enlisted personnel or a commissioned officer, and the particular specialties within (i.e. a Navy SEAL or USAF Astronaut). Each branch other than the Coast Guard has at least three options.
Something to note about these specialties: other than listing ability score and skill rank prerequisites, there are no rules pertaining to how a character gets one. I imagine these options are presented as a more intensified version of the Military Ops department of Spycraft character generation. In truth, I don’t consider this a disadvantage – it keeps the emphasis on the here and now while providing useful background detail. It is still unusual that a player may have to choose skills and ranks before picking an initial class, which is counter-indicative.
Of course, much of the material mentioned is available to enterprising gamers who have more time and less money. There’s plenty of this information available on line or in a decent reference library. However, the authors have done an excellent job condensing a great deal of data into a format useful for gamers. That goes a long way towards justifying paying for what can be considered expository material.
The last 40% of the book, with new rules material, is solid as well. Much of it is geared towards running a straight military campaign, such as rank and promotion, decorations, feats and five NPC classes to represent generic military personnel. There are some specialized rules for calling artillery support, carrier diplomacy, and the use of Marine guards at US embassies. It also includes some equipment bundles and a listing of over twenty US vehicles, with a good mix of land and air. This was about the only section where I thought things were lacking. The emphasis is on smaller, “personal” vehicles, so the short list of waterborne omits large vessels or submarines (though stats for generic ships do appear in the Soldier/Wheelman splatbook). The other glaring omission was the Osprey, which isn’t in S/W and probably deserves to be in this book (as a public service announcement, the web enhancement to d20 Modern has stats for it that can do in a pinch).
There are two rules sections I really liked. First, a new way to design a character’s military background – choose one branch of service and one specialty, which several services may offer. For example, a character with a background in armor can come from the Marines or Army, while a submarine crewman’s only logical background choice is the Navy. It’s a simple, elegant system that provides good background information many d20 games choose to ignore. Again, I don’t know if this material is officially meant to replace or supplement Spycraft chargen. What I can say is that should be the case.
The other nifty addition is a list of real training programs that PCs can purchase during the Gearing Up phase of serials. These include not only initial training like Marine boot camp or Army basic, but advanced courses like airborne school and helicopter assault training. They provide temporary bonuses to certain skills for the upcoming serial, provided the character “passes” a battery of skill checks or combat rolls. Like a little training montage before the action begins. This is not only faithful to the genre, but the germ of an alternative to normal leveling up process that many gamers dislike about the d20 system. At least that’s what excited me when looking at this section.
In conclusion, this book is vital for groups running any sort of d20 game with a modern military flavor – from campaigns with characters drawn from the services, to operational games like Holistic’s real-life titles. The Spycraft-specific rules will mesh well with any version of the SRD (that’s actually how I plan to use them). Folks seeking general information on the US armed forces will be well served too. Either way, I recommend it without any reservations.
