Aquavita

This is a 115 page F20 supplement slash world book for the planet Aquavita that outlines everything a GM might want to know to set up a full fledged ground based campaign. Provide are a timeline of historical events, cultures and societies, and a section on planetary technology. There is even a sample adventure in addition to extensive equipment and vehicles lists.

As a world supplement this is amazingly detailed. There really is a lot of information here. As a stand-alone role-playing game, however, this is lacking. Despite the fact a separate document that's titled "F20 Condensed for Aquavita" is provided to make this work you really need the full F20 system core rules. Not that the document isn't useful, but it's a barebones OGL type document. And as most veteran gamers known to make D20 really work you need more than the barebones OGL documents.

Then again that's probably the point. This is a world book slash supplement for use with the F20 system, not a standalone game. Though it does provide just enough so that it can be played, even if the organization, or lack thereof, of the rules provided leaves something to be desired.

To learn more you can visit the official Aquavita home page here:

http://jalan.flyingmice.com/aquavita.html

I know what you are thinking: "Aquavita, isn't that a bottled water?"

Probably. But the Aquavita I am talking about is the role-playing game from Flying Mice LLC. A RPG that proudly proclaims on its cover that it is "Powered by the F20 System".

If you are thinking that the F20 system is the D20 system with the serial numbers filed off or some quickie hack of that same said system you'd be wrong. Relatively speaking.

Like D20 Aquavita requires you to actually already have the F20 core rulebook to make sense of any of this material. Which, truth be told, is really a world book for use with that rule system. I would have liked to of known that up front. Instead I had to read through the intro fluff background about the world which, truth be told, left me initially thinking this was some Starcluster related resource and while knowing about the planet's 25-hour day and 12.5 hors of sunlight balanced against 12.5 hours of darkness can be vastly entertaining to read this isn't a properly informative intro.

The intro should have told me, the reader, exactly what I was getting into. Namely that this is a F20 supplement, told me what rulebooks I need, where to get them, and all that other fun stuff.

It didn't. Which left me miffed.

Nevertheless I trudged on, hoping I'd eventually be told what the hidey hey this is... but instead encountered a historical time lime of the world, which goes on for page after laborious page, ad infinitim ad nauseum... and to be perfectly frank at this point I lost interest and stopped reading and moved on to other things to review.

By the time I came back to Aquavita I had all but forgotten the above, until I started reading, at which point all the frustration from my initial read through hit me upside the head like a two by four wielding by a rabid orc that's been shooting radiated steroids.

As a reviewer I don't ask for much. All I want is to be able to look, at a glance, at a product and know exactly what it is about so I, as a reviewer, can tell those who read my reviews how wonderful that product is. And Aquavita is a good product. But the fact it took me having to plod through the 115 pages of this document at random to discover that this is a world book intended for use with the F20 system, not Starcluster, really just made me want to cry.

That said I think this is a great supplement. It contains a plethora of world information. But I have to say, in all honesty, I really wish the document had integrated the rules provided into it and stated clearly what the intent, or rather the intended use, for this product was upfront. Not that I am lamenting or even complaining about the world background. It's a great read. It would just have been nice to be informed what this document was BEFORE I started reading everything and began taking notes under the misapprehension this was a Starcluster supplement.

My final analysis report card:

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