This article originally appeared in d20 Weekly
d20 Mecha Compendium
Published by Dream Pod 9
Written by Marc A. Vezina, Alistair Gillies, and Christian Schaller
Illustrated by Ghislain Barbe, Bobbi Burquel, and John Wu
160-page b&w softcover; $24.95
For the d20 System, 2003 is the year of the mecha, the "mechanical designs" typified by the giant robots -- manned and unmanned -- of Japanese anime. Although touched upon by a few d20 System worlds, such as the steamjacks seen in the Iron Kingdoms setting published by Privateer Press, all this is set to change with a number of releases this year. These include Armageddon 2089, Mongoose Publishing's first RPG of their own design, plus two from Guardians of Order: d20 Mecha -- The d20 System Mecha Sourcebook and a d20 System version of their Centauri Knights setting book. Leading the way is the d20 Mecha Compendium, which is Dream Pod 9's supplement to the as-yet-unreleased d20 Mecha -- The d20 System Mecha Sourcebook.
Although the d20 Mecha Compendium contains over 70 designs and variants, ranging from battlesuits and giant robots to the occasional vehicle/hybrid, the book does not contain any design or combat rules for any of them. This is intentional, as the d20 Mecha Compendium is designed to be a supplement to the Guardians of Order sourcebook that will provide such rules. That said, the d20 Mecha Compendium does preempt d20 Mecha -- The d20 System Mecha Sourcebook, and does so in a number of clever ways. Instead, the d20 Mecha Compendium discusses both the genres that could work . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: April 9, 2003
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