Future Tech is a supplement for d20 Future, which in turn is a supplement for d20 Modern. In addition to this book, you’ll need Modern and Future in order to get maximum use from the text. The ideas are, however, presented in some rules-neutral formats for the most part. That means that you could use the base ideas for GURPS, d6 Space, Alternity or whatever you favorite sci-fi RPG happens to be.
Now let's look at the supplement’s text. I will start by saying that this is one of the first WOTC products I've seen with glaring editing errors. In less than ten minutes reading, I noticed a half dozen slip-ups in spelling, grammar, etc. Not a real biggie, but WOTC stuff I've used in the past has been meticulously clean in the text area. Not enough to throw me off buying the book, but noticeable. And here's the first of six chapters:
Personal Gear includes modifications to weapons, ammo, armor, general equipment, computers, and psitech equipment. Modifications can be beneficial, making them more expensive or difficult to obtain, or they can be flaws, which limit the effectiveness of the equipment in some way and usually making the item(s) cheaper to obtain. Star Frontiers and Alternity Star*Drive fans will find their old stand-bys make a comeback in weaponry and equipment.
Gyrojets, doze grenades, needler weapons, tangler grenades (many items have been renamed) even a light-dousing 'midnighter' grenade are highlighted. Basically, if you've seen an episode of Aeon Flux or a recent James Bond film, you get the general idea of the Q-type gadgets that are covered in this chapter. Not everything is innovative, but there are plenty enough ideas to equip players---and their adversaries----to keep adventures exciting. Your mission is to recover the such-and-such gizmo. We will provide you will the this-n-that weapon to help you in your task. Good luck. That sort of thing.
One particularly nice idea is the 'equipment package'. Realizing that WOTC has spread their junk over way too many splat books (oops, did I actually type that?), the authors decided it would be easier on players and GMs if some signature gear combinations were lumped together. After all, if you're a physician or a cop or a xenobiology buff, you probably carry a lot of stuff similar to other people with similar interests and background.
Starships covers some expanded spins on starships and space stations. I'm personally not big on making my own spaceship stuff from scratch, but this chapter outlines how you can do just that. In addition to that, it expands combat maneuvers and actions that crew can take as well as modifications to make a spaceship more unique and customized to your group's idea of what a starship should be and do. In addition to these rules, you get examples of spaceships, varying from tiny drones and escape pods to 'fortress ships' at the macro end of the scale. At the end of the chapter, you get a set of templates that can be applied to ships to make them more individualized or different than the standard ship designs presented in this supplement and in other supplements. I'm not much of a person to play with starships except as a background for the game. The part that I enjoyed most about this chapter was the artwork depicting all the different races' takes on fighters and other classes of ships. Seeing the difference between a Dralasite ship and a Fraal one, help separate and distinguish the races as individualized societies.
Systems chapter covers various types of communication, ID & security, marketing & advertising, health care, travel and even home conveniences. For comms you get descriptions of vidphones, hi-tech phones and even holographic phones. ID & security covers stuff that was passé when Traveler was first on the streets (retinal scans/DNA scans). Health care advances include freeze fields (hello again Star Frontiers fans) and the ability for medical teams to teleport (mediport) to victims instead of moving the injured to treatment---an original idea from my point of view. Star Trek fans will be happy to equip their PCs' homes with 'fabricators', which are able to produce various extremely simple compounds by rearranging molecular structures (food and phaser guns are too complex to assemble); there‘s also a version that can make some more complicated organic materials. Travel options for the future are pretty standard fare and include jump gates and teleport stations.
Mecha, strangely enough, covers giant stompy robot stuff. Like starships, I'm not a mecha fan so you may get more or less out of this chapter than I did. Anyway, you apparently get new combat rules, new mecha base models to use as boiler plate for designing your own stuff or to use 'as-is'. You also get a laundry list full of modifications and gear as well as five sample mechs to give you an idea of how to implement this genre into the d20 system. The last real exposure I had to mecha was Shogun Warriors back around 1980, so I can't tell you if this section will make your day or make you angry. Overall, it looks like it includes some neat little and not so little toys.
Robotics provides more expansion to robots in d20, increasing their playability as PCs. Advantages and drawbacks unique to robots are included as well as robot feats to individualize your creations. A number of accessories are covered including self-repair nanites and energy resistant coating for your paintjob. I think my favorite part of this chapter is the sample robots. Gun drones and squid-bots (my word----they call them Intruder Mk. VI's) are a couple of my preferred samples and will likely be making an appearance in a 'robots have taken over' type setting later on.
Combat is a short chapter. Its intent is to cover integration of mechas and starships into the game so that game play isn't slowed down as much. As you can guess, starship and mecha combat can get very fiddly, very fast if you are worrying about every little detail. This chapter makes some general suggestions on streamlining play if you like to use starships and mechs in your games. Again, since I don't tend to use these devices in my games, I can't really gauge how valuable these suggestions are.
Now we come to the bottom line: value. I like to compare supplements to Dungeon or Dragon magazines since they tend to provide the same types of articles (weapons, vehicles, adventure seeds, character classes, new feats, etc.). The material you get in this supplement costs $19.95. You could buy three Dragon magazines for $21.00. Overall, I think you get your money’s worth with the supplement. It’s not particularly inspiring stuff (especially if you’ve got your old Star Frontiers or Alternity stuff lying around) but you’re not getting junk either. For the lazy GM/player, the pre-made stuff like robots and starships can help you if you’re in a crunch for time and need something in a rush.
If you want material to fill out your campaign or to mine for adventure ideas for a future-based adventure, Future Tech can meet at least some of your needs. Rated 4 for the flashy layout, slick pages, and beautiful artwork and 3 for the material that meets the specs and, in places, surpasses them.
