Ultimate Games Designers Companion

The fourth Supplementary Rulebook, the Ultimate Games Designer's Companion has landed on my desk, and a real heavyweight it is too! This tome has been designed to be a reference and encyclopaedia of rules for the d20 System, allowing gamers to put together unique scenarios, campaigns, and even full blown RPGs together quickly and easily, utilising the plug and play nature of the d20 System to the full. This will be of great interest to players looking to take their characters beyond the main rules, Games Masters wanting to inject something really different into a campaign and Games Designers (fledgling and otherwise) who want mto have a crack at building a new d20 System RPG. All genres are covered, from fantasy, through modern, and on to science fiction. The Ultimate Games Designer's Companion has been designated 100% Open Game Content, allowing you to use whatever bits and pieces you wish! This book is jam-packed with new ideas and new rules, so I'll just give a summary of the various headings here; Chariots A complete system to introduce chariot racing and combat to RPGs. Chases Ever run into the situation where the players give chase to the enemy and you find they all have the same base speed? These rules will give you everything you need to resolve exciting chases, whether it is on foot, horseback or starfighter! Nautical Travel Full rules for taking to the ocean waves, getting lost and facing mutiny. Nautical Battles And then, of course, you have to fend off the pirates. . . Vehicles Whether you are looking to model horse-drawn carts, modern cars or immense star-faring battleships, these vehicle rules scale well between characters and craft, while avoiding endless complexity. A version of these rules was certainly good enough for the Babylon 5 RPG! Alchemical Elixirs A range of nonmagical but potent mixtures. Dwarven Craftsmanship Including rules for blacksmithing and stoneworking, this is for the times when masterwork just does not cut it. Poison Manufacture For both Games Masters and players interested in exploring darker tools, a complete system for creating poisons, magical and otherwise. New Skills Generating a new range of skills is one of the core tasks of developing a new d20 System RPG - this (large) chapter gives a range of new skills covering multiple genres, allowing you to literally bolt together a new skill list. New Uses for Old Skills And, of course, there are those times when players want to do something that is not completely covered by existing rules. This chapter gives plenty of options on how to handle such tasks, as well as provide new angles for game design. Trap Construction A comprehensive system that allows the creation of quick and dirty traps, to be used by players and Games Masters alike. Aerial Combat While fast-paced jet aircraft and space combat rules are best handled with the Vehicles chapter, these rules will allow players to take to the skies on airborne mounts. Called Shots Adapted from the Quintessential Fighter, Called Shots will allow players to aim for specific locations on an enemy without making any core changes to the d20 System. Cinematic Combat One of my favourite chapters - a guide to making combat a lot more exciting in your games, with rules for Critical Fumbles, Dramatic Pacing, Improvising Weapons and much, much more. Firefights Whether it is with blackpowder weaponry or fully automatic laser rifles, using ranged weapons beyond simple bows can often cause problems for games designers - several new rules for handling aiming actions, rapid firing weapons and stray shots are detailed here. Plug and play firearms for your new game! The Grim-n-Gritty Hit Point and Combat System Needs no introduction, I think! Jousting Got a proud fighter or paladin in the party? Bored with just making attack rolls during jousts? There is a plug and play system for you to use in tournaments right here! The Open Mass Combat System Again from the Quintessential Fighter, the Open Mass Combat Sy