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Darwin's World 2: Survivor's Handbook
Publisher: RPG Objects
by Jeff A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/14/2005 00:00:00

An excellent post-apocalyptic game setting, providing rich history and character generation.

I felt the items and weapons sections were seriously under-populated, however. And the firearms suffer from the same problems as other d20 modern firearms, poor damage ans critical hit thresholds as compared to archaic weapons. Why would a high-powered rifle or an energy weapon have a lower crit range than a crossbow or a sword??<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Good artwork and layout. Very in-depth history and infrastructure.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Not enough items. Underpowered weapons for a cinematic setting. Illogical weapon damage and crit ranges (air rifle does almost as much damage as a gauss pistol??)<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Darwin's World 2: Survivor's Handbook
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ScreenMonkey v1.5
Publisher: NBOS Software
by Jeff A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/14/2005 00:00:00

Screen Monkey fills an important niche in the gaming community. While the application is generic in its approach it does a good job for most gaming applications. However, there is so much more this program COULD be. Users have an extensive wishlist, of which many items overlap. It would be nice to see these commonly requested items be added. The problem appears to be that the author is one person who maintains several popular programs, and not all the programs get equal time.

Some of the common wishlist items:

Ability to type text on the map. The masking function needs a polygon (circle, square/rectangle) mode in addition to freehand. GM needs the ablity to add PCs along with NPCs. GM needs the ability to edit all PC and NPC info on the fly, not just select bits. GM needs the ability to setup different GM "persona" for different games they run (example: GM might be running a Red Dwarf game one night, and a D&D game the next. instead of having to edit the preferences each time, selecting a game/persona would add flexibility.) Coordinate grid numbering instead of in-grid numbering.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: No user application to download, users only need a browser. The host application works well.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Grid numbering is too restrictive and often unreadable for the end user. Maps need scalability, not just for the grid, but for the map itself, such as the ability to zoom in and out. No ability to type text on the map. The masking function needs a polygon (circle, square/rectangle) mode in addition to freehand. GM needs the ablity to add PCs along with NPCs. GM needs the ability to edit all PC and NPC info on the fly, not just select bits. GM needs the ability to setup different GM "persona" for different games they run (example: GM might be running a Red Dwarf game one night, and a D&D game the next. instead of having to edit the preferences each time, selecting a game/persona would add flexibility.)<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
ScreenMonkey v1.5
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Fractal Mapper 7.0
Publisher: NBOS Software
by Jeff A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/14/2005 00:00:00

Fractal Mapper has some growing to do. While one may be able to make good and functional maps with it, the amount of work it takes to do so is often not worth the effort. I own other mapping products that offer many more options and are easier to use. I mainly bought FM for it's "integration" with Screen Monkey. This integration also needs some work to make it a real integration.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Smooth interface, not too cluttered. Scenario Builder is a nice touch. Good support.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Cannot make simple turning corridors. Adding symbols to a map is convoluted. Grif numbering is too restrictive, and often unreadable for exported maps. There is more...<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Fractal Mapper 7.0
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Darwin's World (1st Edition)
Publisher: RPG Objects
by Jeff A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/13/2003 00:00:00

Overall I like the setting and the layout of the product. I have some problems with content and game mechanics. Specifically:

Firearms: DW 1 was made using the d20 system, but not d20 Modern, therefore the authors pretty much had to make their own stats for modern firearms. I do not feel they put enough effort into this area. Most of the attributes of the firearms are extremely unrealistic, or outright strange. Such as a 150' range increment for a handgun or Submachine gun. Such weapons lose a great deal of accuracy after 20 feet, much less 150. Firearms also have only a standard critical hit threshold, of 20. It seems to me that a firearm should have at least the same critical threshold as a crossbow. I also find it odd that an air rifle does almost as much damage as a Gauss Pistol. So much for future technology.

One argument from the authors on this subject was that they didn't want to make firearms too deadly, and to focus on gameplay rather than weapons. I can understand that, but I don't understand why one would go to the trouble of making several levels of firearms only to not do them properly. It also doesn't make sense to have an extremely high range increment for something that was not supposed to be as deadly as the real thing.

There is also very little provision for automatic weapons fire. In a 6 second round, a character can fire 2 bullets from an SMG. If they have certain feats and under certain conditions they can fire one or two additional rounds. There is no provision for emptying a clip at a group of opponents, or for firing a burst. These types of limitations hardly make it worthwhile for a character to purchase such weapons.

Vehicles: Some of the vehicle combat rules do not make a great deal of sense to me. Example: If one vehicle rams another, the ramming vehicle's forward motion is stopped upon a successful ram. Why? If a small car rams a big car, certainly. But a larger vehicle ramming a smaller one will only slow slightly, if at all. Certainly a semi-truck won't slow a whit if it rams a motorcycle, or anything less than half its own mass. There should be a provision to allow for vehicle mass.

There are no specific vehicle-mounted weapons. One would expect wider variations in vehicle-mounted weapons other than standard weapons attached to a vehicle, much like such weapons today are different from man-portable weapons.

Apart from these inconsistencies, I do like the game very much, and give it the highest rating.

Jeff Alberts Infinite Realities



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Darwin's World (1st Edition)
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