Another solid offering from The Game Mechanics. A lot of good player options in this and the other two in the series. Highly recommended.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Pretty much everything.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Nothing springs to mind.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

I don't play Future right now, and I bought this product anyway. Why? Because there's a ton of great stuff in it for any Modern game.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Great talent trees and other resources for d20 Modern.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Doesn't have quite the polished and elegant of the Modern Player's Companion-- but then again, very few products do.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

I have to admit, I judge a D20 supplement by its "Crunchy bits", that is, the added feats, prestige classes and such. In this regard, Tomorrow's Foundation does not disappoint. While you won't find any new advanced or prestige classes, the new races, talent trees and feats make up for it. The class combination section, while not a "crunchy bit" will help players and game masters alike create new and interesting characters. I highly recommend this supplement to all D20 future players and gamemasters.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The "Bits" had just the right amount of "Crunchy".<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Would have liked to have seen some advanced or prestige classes. Some of the Alien races lack originality.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

The Game Mechanics continue their Player's Companion series with the Future Player's Companion: Tomorrow's Foundation. Tomorrow's Foundation is 44 pages long with a color cover and a mostly black & white interior. The authors are Gary Astleford, Neil Spicer, Rodney Thompson and JD Wiker. JD and Rodney were two of the designers behind D20 Future and so the credentials behind the book look impressive indeed.

Foundation is laid out primarily for printing, rather than onscreen viewing. The layout itself is up to The Game Mechanics' usual high standards. It is attractive, easy to read and obviously designed to minimize printer ink. There are about a dozen interior illustrations, all line art of uniformly good quality. There is a table of contents, but no index in this short PDF.

This first volume in the Future Player's Companion series focuses on character creation. You get new alien races and ten new 'subraces', the Sol Colonials. The subraces focus on characters born in particular areas of the solar system. For instance, Lunar Colonists get more resources from their proximty to earth, but suffer penalties when they are in normal gravities. Similar to the idea of the subraces are Environmental Packages, which are designed to be taken in place of a standard race.

You also get new talent trees, new talents for existing trees and new occupations. In addition to this, there is a chapter on new uses for existing skills and a heaping of new feats. The book closes out with a number of Class Combinations. Class Combinations are essentially recipes for creating a particular future archetype by taking a suggested combination of base classes in a particular order. For instance, the Cybertechie starts off with a couple of levels of Smart Hero, then takes a level of Dedicated Hero and so on. Along with the suggested combination of classes is information on suggested skills, feats and advanced classes. This information looks equally useful for players and for GMs to create NPCs.

Tomorrow's Foundation is a professional PDF from a company composed of professionals. The writing and design are top notch and the price is reasonable for the quality of information. If you are looking for additional resources to enrich your D20 Future campaign, this is definitely one series of supplements worth checking out.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The writing and design are top notch. This is a professional product from a professional company.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The Class Combinations take up twelve pages of Tomorrow's Foundation. If you don't care for the concept, you might be dissapointed at the amount of space devoted to them.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Overall an excellent product. I especially liked the environment packages (soultech was an idea I wish I had thought of) and the new talent trees. Useful for anyone using the D20 Future rules.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The only thing I didn't like were the future class combinations. While the concept -- providing players with standard sci-fi archetypes and suggestions on how to build them using existing classes -- was a good idea the execution felt a little dull. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

The Future Player's Companion is a must-buy for anyone who wants to run or to play in a d20 Future starfaring campaign. The third chapter alone warrants the full price of the book.

The greatest failing of the d20 Future rules (and, by extension, the d20 Modern rules) is, arguably, that the rules do not allow easy implementation of player character concepts from the very beginning of play.

The d20 Future starting occupations are ? for the most part ? very shallow and very narrow; simultaneously over-defining a player's concept, while giving him or her very little with which to build their intended character.

Take, for example, the Astronaut Trainee starting occupation in d20 Future. This starter occupation, with its emphasis on basic spaceflight skills and an array of college-level sciences, is very good if the d20 Future campaign is going to focus on modern-day space shuttle pilots.

If one is looking to create an ex- space navy deck officer, a hotshot volunteer starfighter pilot, or a gifted civilian freighter pilot, then Astronaut Trainee really isn't an appropriate starting occupation. The only other space-pilot friendly starter occupation in d20 Future is Transporter, and again, this occupation over-defines certain aspects of a character, while leaving other aspects unacknowledged.

Some would point to the Advanced Classes as the answer to character definition in d20 Future, but as The Future Player's Companion itself points out, Advanced Classes also "narrow down" and limit a character concept, in exchange for various gameplay benefits. The added problem is, of course, that Advanced Classes only become available later in the game.

Players always want to start off the game with some version of the character concept they bring to the table, and as I've been saying, d20 Future (and d20 Modern) are actually very bad at providing this.

The Future Player's Companion addresses the problem by introducing what it calls Class Combinations. Class Combos are essentially short guidelines, showing GMs and players how to construct certain kinds of archetypal SF characters using a pair of Basic Classes and a careful selection of feats and skills for customization.

For example, the book explains how to build a Freighter Captain character by alternating levels in Charismatic and Dedicated, and choosing Skills, Feats and Skill Trees (many of which are newly introduced in this book) to further define the exact sort of Freighter Captain the character is meant to be. Options are discussed ? including Advanced Class options for those who wish to go that route ? so that it's possible to build, say, both a Malcolm Reynolds style of Freighter Captain, and a Han Solo type Freighter Captain using the same Class Combo guidelines.

There are 17 different Class Combination archetypes covered in the Future Players Companion, including: Aide (Deanna Troi to C-3P0); Astrophysicist; Cybertechie (a cybernetics expert); Freighter Captain; Ground Pounder (the soldier/merc/marine Combo ? think Hicks from Aliens or a redshirt from Star Trek); Gunner (starship gunnery); Marshal (space lawman); Mechanic (Montgomery Scott to Kaylee Frye); Medic (Dr. Phlox to Simon Tam); Miner; Navigator; Net Jockey (cyberspace hacker and cracker) ; Pilot (Luke Skywalker to "Wash" Washburn); Pirate (more skull-and-crossbones true criminal than Han Solo here); Scavenger (a space salvager/looter); Warbot (for robot/android characters with combat programming) and finally, Xenobiologist for those starship science officers, or curious academics who just can't resist getting closer to those interesting fanged plants ?

There's a lot of other worthy material in the Future Player's Companion besides the Class Combinations chapter, and the new Feats, Skills and Talent Trees which make the Class Combos possible. I'm going to let other reviewers touch on those remaining details, though. As I've already said, I think the Class Combination guidelines are what makes this product indispensible, and that's what I'm interested in talking about today.

If you plan to run, or to play in, a spacefaring d20 Future campaign, buy this book. My recommendation can't be any plainer than that.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The Class Combinations concept corrects what I consider one of the basic flaws in the d20 Future (and d20 Modern) rules as printed.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The interior layout is clean and readable, but the graphic design of the cover seemed a little less ... polished ... than one might expect from a company of designers with WotC credits behind them. It's a fairly busy and muted cover design, not something that's necessarily going to call attention on the shelves. Not a criticism, as such, merely something which surprised me.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Great start to the Future Players Companion series. The information was excellent, well developed, balanced and innovative. At first I didn't like the inclusion of alien races, but after reading through them I found them to be imaginative and interesting enough that ideas immediately came to mind for their use in games and products. The section on character archetypes using basic classes, though the section I most could have done without, was interesting for its ideas on exploiting core rules to the maximum. The feats were the true highlight of the product, and the new talents truly bring home the Future flavor right from a hero's start. I am glad to have purchased this product, both as a player and publisher, and eagerly look forward to the next two installments in the series.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The new feats and talents are my absolute favorite, really capturing the essence of sci-fi gaming.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: There was nothing I didn't like. The parts I perhaps could have done without still turned out to be very useful if only for the ideas and concepts they highlighted.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Forgive a novice ? first review, and all.

Right off the bat, the cover art is idea-inspiring, and to be honest, I love it. May be considered ?cartoon-ish? by some, but hey ? I?ve got three small kids. Cartoons rock.

The basics: Counting the Cover Page and the OGL, its 44 pages. It?s pretty meaty, containing new uses for skills, feats, the class combos, and of course ? new alien races (including some human subraces, based on environment and other factors). It?s even bookmarked, and there's enough black-n-white artwork to keep one's attention!

Overall, I felt that it was a great addition to my Future games, and like the 2 Modern Players? Guides, it will become ?official? gaming material for my games.

If the remaining Future Players? Companions are going to be anything like the first, this series is going to be another big hit for The Game Mechanics, and I will play the next one as soon as it?s available.

However, the product didn't blow me away, which is why its 4 outta 5 on the rating scale.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Mostly everything - there is very little that I won't use in my own games, and as stated above, it is written so well, I'd consider it "official".<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Honestly, the only thing that gets me...I'm just not that fond of Class Combos. They may be useful for some people, but my group doesn't use them. That said, its not something that would ever stop me from purchasing a product (so long as it contained more than just class combos). <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

The Future Players Companion is an excellent follow on to the Game Mechanics Modern Players Companion. Due to the nature of the Game Mechanics and their experience with the creation of the D20 Modern system, for my group these products are considered canon. The Future Players Companion (FPC) Tomorrows Foundation is an excellent start. If provides a wealth of infomation for GMs and players alike, and I am looking forward to the full printed version when it becomes available.

Summary: I really like FPC tomorrows Foundation and I am looking forward to the next installment. It is a good sourcebook for anyone looking to play a D20 Future game, whether you are playing a game based around the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy or you are the newest hotshot pilot for the Federations premier warrior mecha, this is a great book.

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The Good: The FPC contains a ton of good information for every one. I provides 6 new races that are well balanced, and fit well into several of the sci-fi race molds. The alien warrior race, the friendly strong race, the friendly mysterious race, and the isolationist tech race are a few that they provide you with. All of the races come with stats, level adjustment, and an overall skill point table with the human bonus skills removed. Along with the races they add Human colonists races, which are basically how the Human race would evolve seperately should they colonize the different planets in our solar system, which provides a basis for minor changes in humans. There are also packages which I will address shortly. Following the races, they Game Mechanics provide additional talents for the base classes, each one adding two new talents, and a few expansions to the existing talent trees. I like how they developed new sci-fi related talents for all of the classes, that was a very nice touch. Along with the new talents they added new occupations, skill applications, and feats. All of these are well balanced, and good staples of the science fiction genre. I really like some of the skill uses, like 'false sensor reading,' which you are always hearing mentions in science fiction books and movies. Finally they includes some class combo suggestions to help you make your ideal character, like a pilot, or a ground pounder, but I have some additional comments. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Bad (well not really bad, but ...): With the races, I didn't really care for the enviornmental packages. These things really screamed Template to me, and they seemed like they would be more helpful to the GM than the players. Also, through out the book they talk about how sci-fi has unlimited possibility, but for the talents they seems to identify talents to a certain genre. I love how they added the talent to the strong hero that applies to mecha/powered armor, but how would the talent tree for a dedicated hero change in the world of Battletech? How would a strong character help in a world that is based heavily on starship travel and combat? I would loved to have seen talents developed for some of the genres for all of the character classes. Other then that, the one things I would have truly loved to have seen would have been them adding ordinary stats for their class combos. I know it is the Players Companion, not the DMs companion, but the ordinary NPCs could have been a good way to give some favor, show how a character like that would have turned out. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

If you own anything else by the Game Mechanics, you know what to expect. This is a highly-professional and polished company that does excellent work, and this release is no exception.

The PDF starts off the first chapter with a number of new alien races. These are uniformly good and balanced. In particular, I liked the Paranoid Liandrens. I could see all sorts of adventure seeds stemming from that description. Also in the races section is "Sol Colonials", which is a set of "subraces" that can be applied to humans who are descended from longtime residents of colonies on the other planets in the Solar System. This was one of the cooler ideas in the book in my estimation, and the subraces tended to be both flavorful and logical. It's possible to have a future game with nothing but humans and yet have them all be markedly different. Also in here were a number of "environment packages", which add a further level of detail to the game. I particularly liked the "soultech" package, representing people who have had nanites in their systems for so many generations thay cannot survive without them.

The next section deals with talent trees and provides both new talent trees and extended options for existing ones. This is a welcome addition, as they seem designed to compliment higher technology that PCs will be using (like Mecha, Starships, and Cybernetics) rather than being independant of them or made redundant by them.

The next section adds some new occupations, which cover things unique to science fiction settings, like the Netizen, who spends most of or even their entire life jacked into cyberspace, and the Terraformer, who spends his existance making planets habitable for his species.

The second chapter deals with skills and feats. Many of the new skill uses seem kind of like unpublished no-brainers; that is to say they should have been there a while ago. Examples include shaping charges with the demolitions skill and spacewalking with the Tumble skill.

The new feats are cool, and useful enough to warrant actually taking, but not so powerful as to be unbalancing. Some particularly useful ones are Black Marketeer, Stand Your Ground, and Nanoimmunity, but they're almost universally good. In particular, if you like feats that enhance your use of action points, you will find much to play with here. I did notice that there seems to be one bone of contention between WotC and The Game Mechanics here; in D20 Apocalypse, it is implied that 5 Mutation Points equals one feat, whereas here 3 MP = 1 Feat.

The third (and, until the next installment is released, final) chapter deals with 10-level progressions of the basic classes to make characters of various vocations. This is a nice way to make chacacters that are still heroic, but maybe not QUITE as heroic as the PC group is; for instance, this allows you to make grizzled old combat veterans who can take some punishment and are good with their weapons, but don't have any levels in the soldier class. It also allows for the creation of things like freighter captains, planetary marshalls, and cybersurgeons.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The class combinations system. I wish some other publishers would latch onto this; it's a valuable resource for making quick NPCs.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The differing point of view from the official line as to what a MP vs. a feat is worth. But really, this is just a tiny quibble.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>