Technomancer, for those unfamiliar with the supplement, is set in an alternate universe where the first test of the atomic bomb in 1945 opened a space-time portal that resulted in the Southwestern United States being bathed in magical energies. After the "Trinity Event", magic actually worked, and so-called "Chimeras" (animal/human hybrids) began to be born from human parents. Subsequent human history has more or less stayed on a similar path as the real world, but with magic replacing or supplementing technology in many areas. That and Antartica is now owned by Communist Mutant Psychic Penguins, but we won't go there.
FNG is set in the turbulent world of the Vietnam War, as the US Army begins to experiment with integrating Chimeras into regular army units, and special forces such as the 13th NOG send the Vietcong fleeing with magery and "Z Companies" made of the Vietcong's own dead.
The Good: This is a GURPS supplement, so as to be expected it gives a balanced and comprehensive history of the Vietnam War, starting with the beginnings of Vietnamese independence in the post-WWII era, to the rise of Ho Chi Minh and his conflict with the French, and going through to America's involvement and subsequent victory. (Yes, "victory", it is an alternate universe, after all.) Aside from the historical overview, there are several character templates unique to the setting, including Army trained mages, sidebars on such subjects as the Montagnards, the unreliability of the M-16 rifle, and information on typical tactics and equipment of both the US and North Vietnamese armies. Not to mention wierder subjects such as the deployment of dragons and magic carpets.
A major section is devoted to the subject of firebases, and their typical setup and uses. One example is provided, Firebase 23, manned by the "101st Spellborne", along with several major NPCs. There's also a sample adventure set in the Firebase for starting PC's just arriving in Vietnam, which will be covered in the next section.
Overall FNG is good at showing just how confusing, hot, boring, and dangerous a war Vietnam was. The sense of realism, of the oppresive heat, of fellow soldiers who are either green or counting the days until they can get home, or worse the officers who are just there to "punch their ticket" is well done. And that, oddly enough, is also part of the problem.
The Bad: The major fault of FNG, espeically considering it's set in the Technomancer universe, is that it's just not wierd enough. Esentially, there's no real sense that Technomancer's major selling point, magic being openly practiced in the modern world, has much to do with FNG at all. Yes, there's mention of the dreaded Z Companies, and dragons carrying around cannons and flaming the enemy, but the way the supplement is presented, such things don't effect the PC's much.
For example, in the description of Firebases, much detail is given to the defensive works, and little atmospheric details such as how hot and humid it always is, and how human waste is gathered is fifty-gallon drums and then burned for sanitation. But nothing is made of how magic might change such things, like a tent with a Cool spell on it for portable air-conditioning, or wards like Missle Shield to block Vietcong artillery fire, or even a Sterilize spell on those fifty-gallon drums so they don't have to be burned every day. No mages are among the NPC's detailed, and the only chimera is a single fox-human.
The sample adventure is also problematical in that sense. The PC's, FNG's one and all, arrive at the firebase, go through a couple of short enemy encounters, and are accepted into the company. No examples of magery are shown, no zombie Vietcong, no wierd local monsters. Nothing. Esentially if you remove the one fox-chimera, the adventure could be dropped into a game of Advanced Recon without any changes.
Summary: FNG is a good supplement, if you're looking for rules and atmosphere for conventional Vietnam campaign. As a Technomancer supplement, it's somewhat lacking.
