Talents were and are one of the most interesting parts of the d20 Modern approach to classes. By using classes based off the attributes, characters could be customized to a high degree through mixing the base classes as you developed. Talents, by contrast, rewarded you for sticking with a class long enough to develop special effects in that class. 22 Talent Trees is exactly what it sounds like. The art is minimal (which tickles this reviewer's cold dead heart), but the talents themselves are solid, most having to do with expanded specialization rather than new effects. (The few exceptions to this are often less balanced than the others.)

For those doing medical dramas with d20 Modern, there's also an expanded Treat Injury system for transplants. Much like the Surgery feat itself, I never quite saw the point of that level of detail in a system that modeled injury with hit points. No harm no foul, though, if you used Surgery in your game, you are likely to enjoy this small bolt-on.

With a sub-$3 price, there's no reason to pass up 22 Talent Trees if, like me, you still enjoy d20 Modern for its potential for character customization.

Useful run-down on various sabotage devices and booby-traps of the period. d20 stats look reliable.

This is a decent product, until you look further. However, despite its relatively high quality, it suffers from a few problems.

There is no mention of how frequently the figurines that turn into the characters appear, nor how one would get one (other than a brief crafting blurb). They are apparently spontaneously created chess pieces that are enchanted. I know d20 doesn't really come with any settings attached like a certain parent game did, but how hard is it to write up some flavor to break the space between numbers up? They're basically hirelings but totally mechanical.

On the upside, it does have a good degree of unique content, and shows new spells, equipment, and feats on character pages for later explanation. The art, if cheesy (and the pawn does not look human, despite being stated to be, he's more of an elf in my opinion), is decent in quality, though it's not a selling point.

On the other hand, it's too dependent on other works by the author. I know it's part of a book, but then explain it. Using standard classes instead would be easy and not too damaging. The typesetting is of about average quality, and for a maker with 50+ products, they should've gotten that right by now. For some reason it made my eyes hurt a little, though that may not be its fault, since I've been traveling recently and a bit tired.

It's also short. 8 full pages of content, if you don't count the front cover [which has a little stuff, so it's a mite unfair], the advertisements for other products which it kinda sorta halfway requires, and the legalese, leave you wondering about the other stuff. Similar chess sets are mentioned, but not shown.

Good idea, good writing, bad presentation, bad prerequisites. It's still got useful stuff for any game, but it'd really shine in conjunction with the content it requires, or with it already modified (they say how to make alternatives, but why should a GM pay to make up his own content based off of someone else's?).

Also, just nitpicking, because I know that it's fairly common to do stuff like this, but some of the feats are unbalanced and arbitrary. Why need 52 hp for a feat? Why not a certain Constitution and level?

If you're too lazy to come up with your own stuff, or if you want a chess motif, go for it, otherwise it's just not worth it. Use a character generator (and there are many for 3.5) or make some yourself by hand if you have the time and effort.

Or, better yet, just play a game of chess. You get the chess motif, and you don't have to buy other stuff. And you don't have to do paperwork or interpret arbitrary numbers for it.

tl;dr: It's cheap, literally and figuratively. Buyer beware.

Reviewer's Note: I am snarky today, so if this is a little harsh, tough. I also like chess, even if I can't play it myself, so this has to compete a lot. No, I don't hate d20, I just prefer stuff that doesn't try to rip off other stuff that is perfectly enjoyable and add more stuff.

Strays from the actual historical aircraft, but has some interesting alternate history variants. Good addition to Leftkrieg or Luftwaffe 46 games.

Good addition to the Hell on Earth game. Bloodstone is planning to release additional supplements soon, and this should definitely help to flesh out the flavor of 1948 further. Can't wait!

Nice supplement. All of the supplements add to the overall usefullness of the Hell on Earth game. My campaign is European theater, so the 'Ninja' product will probably be the only supplement I don't eventually purchase. Contacted Bloodstone and they replied that they definitely plan on continuing to release supplements, which was good news!

I've purchased this and several of the 1948 supplements. By far the best WW2 sourcebook for D20 out there! Sticks to the basics of D20 and is consistent, unlike many of the others, which are either unbalanced or too pulpy for my tastes. If you want realism with an alternate timeline, I highly recommend this product.

Did you think that ravening monsters and evil wizards were the main threats against your character's life and well-being? Think again!

This book aims to give the DM a range of natural ways of making characters ill - the sorts of 'real world' dangers that threaten anyone, particularly in the average mediaeval-style setting of most D&D games. Each is provided with game information in the shape of Fortitude saves to avoid or minimise the effects, and a range of effects over and above mere attribute loss, designed to enhance role-playing and realism.

The first chapter looks at plant-based poisons. While many could be used by an evil herbalist or assassin, the emphasis is on accidental poisoning - eating the wrong mushroom or a dodgy piece of shellfish - rather than deliberate attempts to do away with someone. The effects are bad enough to make anyone want to think twice about what they are just about to eat. It's good to see the linkage between 'game effects' such as hit point and attribute loss and negative circumstance modifiers, and more descriptive effects such as suffering stomach cramps or extreme thirst. The tools are there for those who want to role-play the difficulties that their characters are in.

The second chapter gives the same treatment to diseases - how easy and under what conditions you might catch them, what the effects are and how (if) you'll get better. There are also some variants on the standard D&D rules for curing diseases by spell - so that those DMs who want to make use of diseases will not see them waved out of existence by a cleric's hand! These new rules are well-thought out and still give characters a good chance of survival without making it a certainty, or enabling them to bypass all the ill effects.

This is a book to be used with caution. It would be all too easy to just fill your world with poisonous plants and nasty illnesses, and end up with characters too feeble to wave a sword or cast a spell. But used with care, it can add an extra layer of realism to your game world.

Here is a collection of 50 arcane spells, of which 25 are brand-new and 25 come from past Bloodstone Press products, all fine-tuned for use with the 3.5 revision of D&D.

Most of the spells are suited for combat casting, with a wonderful range of really nasty things to do to your opposition. Fancy casting disembowel and literally watch his guts fall out? Blood, sweat and tears will leave him bleeding and tired out with blurred vision... just ready for your fighter cohorts to dive in to the attack. Or if you know someone who talks too much, try lockjaw, which will stop him spellcasting or even eating or drinking as he cannot move his jaws!

More subtle spellcasters might care to disguise themselves with masquerade, prior to casting contumancy and turning the enemy's henchmen into an argumentative and disobedient horde.

Overall, a good collection, especially for the combat-oriented spell-slinger, and interesting things to add to the NPCs' spellbooks for your players to find and experiment with for themselves. It's already giving me ideas for things to add to the next adventure in the game I run!

I really like the variants in this PDF. A great way to expand on a character and grow them into a more realistic style character. Easy to read and quick to implement in any fantasy campaign.

A very good reference of the types of weapons allowable for a stone age campaign or a campaign that throws your players back in time. It helps to know how each weapon should work and what your players will find.

Interesting idea that has a lot of potential. The RAT is a manned super tank somewhat like a World War II version of Bolo's or Ogres Pro Could easily be worked into any alternate history role playing or miniatures game Neutral Art work while detailed is somewhat bland Con Needs to be more fleshed out, but for the price not bad

interasting.. differnt... some of it i did not agree with but for the most part i was happy.

1948: General Patton is a d20 supplement for Bloodstone Press’s Modern d20 line of 1948 products, presenting an alternate history of a much longer and bloodier World War II. The zipped file is less than half-a-megabyte in size, containing a single twenty-two page PDF. As with all of the 1948 line, there is a fair amount of artwork here, much of which seems to be photoshopped actual illustrations. Green borders are along almost every page as well. There is no printer-friendly version of the product, but printing this one shouldn’t be too difficult.

1948: General Patton follows the history of the famous general. It follows his personal history quite closely (though I thought I saw at least one mistake, regarding the name of the soldier that Patton was accused of hitting) and seamlessly switches to a fictitious history where he’s still fighting as the campaign unfolds. Several adventure seeds are presented, as are the full stats for Patton himself, along with a new template that he has, and two of his magic items. Several sidebars also dot the product, including one about his famous “Patton Saber,” but unfortunately the sidebar ends in the middle of a sentence and doesn’t finish describing its game statistics.

This book is a good one, but not without its flaws. The heavy focus on Patton’s history is nice, particularly as it relates to the campaign’s historical fiction, but it would have been nice if the adventure seeds section was expanded. If someone buys an entire product dedicated to Patton, they’ll probably want to use him in their game, so ideas and guidelines for doing so should be more prominent. Likewise, the cut-off sidebar is a bit of a disappointment, considering that it’s covering some of the new crunch here. Altogether, this is an imperfect book that could still be useful for any game involving Patton.

Fun little product, but very light on content. Get it if you are a fan of Wizard of Oz, but that is about it. Would have liked to see more information on how to use her in various games (Fantasy, Modern or other).