Which Mongoose OGL products should I get first?

[Michael Hopcroft]

I recenetly divested myself of most of ym WOTC products due to finances. But I;'m getting as little money at the start of the month and I'm wondering if I am going to want to buyto keep up with ym favorite OGL genre, which is GOO's BESM d20. Now I see the Monsgoose pocket Player and Gm handbooks and pocket modern handbook and they are starting to look very attractive. I;m beginning to wonder if I should become a Mongoose customer on a serious basis

I hope there's a community spirit here, because I enjoy companies that hae community spirit among their fans. Guardians of order is like that. Hero is like that. SJG tries to be but doesn;t quite manage it.

Anyway, i was wondering if someone could recomment books to me that would enable me to play multi-genre games, basic fantasy, or any of the various worlds that are available to play in that supposedly require the WOTC product line. Did I emtnion that WTOC is not neccesariyl my favorite company in terms of the way they rpice their books?

I also hope this line can survive on its own if WOTC does what everyone is saying ti will and release a no-open-content D&D 4.

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome, if you are going for the fantasy route I would suggest the pocket handbooks. They are basically what WOTC has produced without all of "the fluff". If you are into Cyberpunk type material OGL Cybernet might be your ticket. It is totally up to you. There are many helpful people on these forums and if you could maybe let us know what you like we could help you out. The entire OGL line is fantastic (but them again I might be biased) so I will let someone else follow up.

 

[Michael Hopcroft]

Welcome, if you are going for the fantasy route I would suggest the pocket handbooks. They are basically what WOTC has produced without all of "the fluff". If you are into Cyberpunk type material OGL Cybernet might be your ticket. It is totally up to you. There are many helpful people on these forums and if you could maybe let us know what you like we could help you out. The entire OGL line is fantastic (but them again I might be biased) so I will let someone else follow up.

Well, I;m into modern-day, multi-genre games with a touch of SF in them. I like mecha and starships. One of my favorite games is tri-tac's Incursion, in which ordinary people from the present are kidnapped by aliens but take over the ship -- they are forced to become heroes as they strggule to return to Earth.

I want to have the rules that are basic to most fo the d20 releases out there, like BESM d20. I want to be able to play fantasy wuithout being constribcted by some of the absurdities of WOTC's system, yet I want to be able to use certain WOTC material with my game. I like class-building and would build a class for every occasion if I could in both classic fantasy and modern settings. I;m fond of the "Blood and..." line from RPG Objects and want the basic rules that would enable me to use those systems. I want to be able to pick up any OGl or d20 book and use it, or at the very least mine it for ideas. I lvoe the ultimate handbook series that Mongoose produces and want to replace my copies of those when I have the money.

I want the basic toolkits I need to work in and publish any setting I desire.

I admit I;ve been somehwta spoiled by point-based systems. I want to have the rules that will enable me to use point-based systems based oin the d20 concepts, such as the aforementioned BESM d20 and d20 mecha. I want to be able to recreate any setting I wish, and be able to create the classes needed to recreate that setting. There are certain times when just reading about a class will give me a character idea. i want to play in worlds where high-level characters can exist without unbalancing the rest of the world, and where anyone can be felled by a lucky blow and there is always something bigger than you no matter how powerful you get. I want dragons that you don;t neccesarily WANT to slay.

I;d like to run games without the alignment system whenever possible, as I have alwasy found that artifical and simplistic. I want my characters to be as compelx and confusing in their attitudes and behaviors as real human beings are. I want my heroes to have flaws and my villains to have slight redeeming qualities, I don;t believe orcs should neccesarily be evil beasts just ebcause they were born orcs. I want all charatcres and NPCs, from paladins to drow, to be able to exhibit free will and make their pown moral choices based on their own values.

Sounds like a lot, dunnit?