This article originally appeared in d20 Weekly
Arsenal
Published by Perpetrated Press
Written by Erik Kjerland
Edited by Skadi Haugen
Art by Eric Kohler, Ruben de Vela, Juha Harju, Drew Johnson, Austin Stewart
$19.95, 128 pages, black and white
As the d20 System branches out in new directions, with books like Traveller d20 and d20 Modern, it's going to see -- and need -- more support material, some of it fairly weird. It's hard to pin down where Perpetrated Press wants you to use Arsenal, but chances are you're going to find a use.
The book is about magical technology and its effects on a game world. There are piles of weapons listed, all using some form of enchantment to power or improve them. Chillers freeze your enemies, shockers electrocute them, and paralyzers make them seize up. Few facets of a character sheet are immune to damage: your stats can be lowered, your experience levels lost . . . even your alignment makes you vulnerable to some weapons and impervious to others. Most damage is a derivation of spell effects; some weapons use arcane magic and others divine, but there are also psionically powered items that tear into the mind or level the playing field against psis.
There are countless pages of charts . . . unsatisfying to those who ache for text, but regrettably necessary. Many weapons have various forms, and stats vary from the pistol version to the rifle to the auto cannon. Judicious use of some keys or codes would have cut some of that space back; all versions of the waster weapon use the negative energy type and . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: November 27, 2002
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