The answer is: it rocks. It even displaced my current grand amour, Buffy Unisystem, which I like almost as much as SteveD does.
The bad: the Feats are oddly chosen, poorly balanced (why would anyone take Combat Martial Arts rather than Brawl? Why is one so much worse than the other? Is there a Non-Combat Martial Arts Feat?) and rather hurried. Occasional typoes and inconsistencies also suggest a hurried run to print. The point-based class-based system sadly does not speed up character generation from original BESM, since the classes only really give guidelines of what to buy, rather than defining powers at each level to encourage multi-classing. For God's sake give us even a basic mecha construction system; d20 mecha ain't out yet, in case you hadn't noticed.
The good: the art is mostly new, appropriate, and very pretty, especially the character class portraits. Hint to WOtC: I'd have bought D&D 3.5 if there'd been more than 1% new art. I had no qualms handing over £20, rather than download the rules for free off faterpg.com. The d20 versions of the rules are fast, flexible, and atmpspheric. You can still do everything with BESM d20 you could with old BESM, but crunchier. The character generation rules are also still extremely flexible, better defined, and very fun. The inclusion of the gun and car modification rules from Hot Rods & Gun Bunnies is extremely welcome: I had a blast making the Batmobile off Personal Gear for my science ninja NPC.
The playtesting: The PCs were agents of CASCADE, a parahuman-employing non-governmental overtly noble superspy agency. Sent on a routine mission to stop a Russian military mecha shipment to the Vostov crime family in New York, they soon found themselves on the run from not one but three superspy alphabet agencies, and infitrating a high school on top of everything else. The PCs were made at 6th level, and were Earth Dimensional Defence Girl Hanako (an air-themed magical girl, the last survivor of an element-themed MG squad), Matsuru (ex-school kendo champion), and Jason Future (genetically enhanced pulp Man of Tomorrow, escaped from the evil superscience terrorists that made him). The characters were well-balanced, played easily, and did what they were supposed to do in concept: 3 out of 3 for any playtest. We found the character generation a little long but the gameplay easy and fluid (my players may disagree). Feats were very useful, and the poor work on them probably worked in the PCs' favour so far. We definitely intend to use these rules in this campaign again.
Overall, BESM d20 does not disappoint. It's slickly presented, beautiful to look at, and fast and smooth to play. Whether you want a wholehearted anime game (and you've lost your copy of HeartQuest) or you want a faster, cooler action-packed alternative to d20 Modern with options to spare and superpowers waiting in the wings, BESM d20 is the game of the month.
So go buy it, already.
In consulting DriveThruRPG we've come up with a number of products which we think might be related, but some might be inaccurate because the name, BESM d20, is so short. Nonetheless, take a look, as purchasing through the RPGnet Store helps to support RPGnet.
