Yesterday, I took a look at a Pathfinder bundle from Humble Bundle. It was definitely pretty solid in terms of value, but I’d question why anyone who doesn’t want to play D&D would go and play… well, D&D by another name. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of folk ready to disagree with me there but hey, fight me. Fight me. Fight me.
Sorry. Strange mood.
Pathfinder is fine, but there’s so much out there that’s just more interesting. Enter this 2D20 bundle from Modiphius! Modiphius have put out a number of games using their 2D20 system, and many of them can be found in here. As usual for Bundle of Holding, we’re looking a bundle consisting of two tiers. The first tier costs $14.95 and gets you the following:
So, let’s just immediately ignore the SRD. It annoys me when these bundles prominently feature free content, making it look like a value-add. I suppose it’s a convenience. I’ll give them that, but I do feel that I’m being somewhat charitable.
The rest of the tier is pretty solid, essentially giving you three 2D20 games for $5 each. As with the majority of 2D20 games, these are all licensed titles. Being a big fan of Corvus Belli’s Infinity miniatures game, the Infinity RPG is the most interesting of these titles for me. I really love the setting of the Human Sphere, and the book is such a beautifully produced tome that expands on this setting. I’ve been keeping an eye on the supplements for this game, and Modiphius has really been putting out consistently good content. I’m hoping that this game lives beyond the completion of the supplements pledged in the original Kickstarter, but given recent events with the Conan license, I’d be less than shocked if didn’t develop much further. Please prove me wrong, Modiphius!
Dishonored is also a good book with an interesting setting. In this case, it was developed through the fantastic series of video games. I actually have this PDF and it’s really cool. I love the artwork that builds on the established setting, and the use of comics throughout.
The next tier is priced on a threshold. At the time of writing, this means that the upper tier of this bundle (which also includes all items from the lower tier) costs $39.96. For this, you gain access to the following items:
In summary, this tier contains three supplements (one for each of the games from the first tier), three core games, and a starter set. The starter set is for Fallout, and contains a cut-down version of the core rules, along with an adventure and some pre-gen characters. It would have been nice to get the core book for Fallout, but with everything else in this bundle, I suppose it’s just nice that Fallout is in here at all.
All three of the core books are great. It feels really redundant to keep saying that. Modiphius make great, beautiful books. It’s this consistency that has earned them my love and would definitely see them find their way into my top publishers, were I to update my list of favourites. I’ve got the Achtung! Cthulhu books sitting next me just now, and they’re such gorgeous tomes.
Star Trek Adventures gets consistently good writeups, and I’m just sorry my own game of it fell through. I was looking forward to playing my Bajoran security officer. He fought in the occupation of Bajor… but it’s never been made entirely clear what side he fought for. A spoonhead collaborator? A resistance guerilla fighter? Who knows? Nobody still alive, that’s for sure!
In terms of value, I find that Bundles of Holding are always far more expensive per item than Humble Bundles. The thing is, they’re generally also better. They’re more curated. You like that word? ‘Curated’? That’s one of my sister’s words. I’m trying to be part of her world! So, yeah, this bundle is around twice the price of that last Humble Bundle, and it gets you less than half the number of items. And you know what, that’s fine. This is more interesting. You’re playing more, and getting less, but there’s still more value here. This is a fantastic bundle. Either tier is viable, but I’d be going for the second one.
You can click here to visit the bundle page at Bundle of Holding.
No Rerolls 
1 Comment