Chaositech (Sword & Sorcery D20) [Paperback]

Monte Cook (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: White Wolf Publishing (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588460568
• ISBN-13: 978-1588460561
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,142,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The game designer
Monte Cook started working professionally in the game industry in 1988. In the employ of Iron Crown Enterprises, he worked with the Rolemaster and Champions games as an editor, developer, and designer. In 1994, Monte came to TSR, Inc., as a game designer and wrote for the Planescape and core D&D lines. When that company was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, he moved to the Seattle area and eventually became a senior game designer. At Wizards, he wrote the 3rd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide and served as codesigner of the new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game. In 2001, he left Wizards to start his own design studio, Malhavoc Press, with his wife Sue. Although in his career he has worked on over 100 game titles, some of his other credits include Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, The Book of Eldritch Might series, the d20 Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game, The Book of Vile Darkness, Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved, Ptolus, Monte Cook's World of Darkness, and Dungeonaday.com. He was a longtime author of the Dungeoncraft column in Dungeon Magazine. In recent years, Monte has been recognized many times by game fans in the ENnies Awards, the Pen & Paper fan awards, the Nigel D. Findley Memorial Award, the Origins Awards, and more.

The author
A graduate of the 1999 Clarion West writer's workshop, Monte has published two novels, The Glass Prison and Of Aged Angels. Also, he has published the short stories "Born in Secrets" (in the magazine Amazing Stories), "The Rose Window" (in the anthology Realms of Mystery), and "A Narrowed Gaze" (in the anthology Realms of the Arcane). His stories have appeared in the Malhavoc Press anthologies Children of the Rune and The Dragons' Return, and his comic book writing can be found in the Ptolus: City by the Spire series from DBPro/Marvel. His fantasy fiction series, "Saga of the Blade," appeared in Game Trade Magazine from 2005-2006.

The geek
In his spare time, Monte runs games, plays with his dog, watches DVDs, builds vast dioramas out of LEGO building bricks, paints miniatures, and reads a lot of comics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entropy Acceleration, November 10, 2004

By 

Michael T. Schell "fenrys" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chaositech (Sword & Sorcery D20) (Paperback)

Fantasy super tech, mutations and cyberwear all geared to the service of a group chaotic outsiders whose goal is entropy. This book has a lot of goodies for DMs although a lot of what is in here is very, very powerful the price for this power can be quite steep. Designed to slipped rather seamlessly into virtually any campaign this little tool box is a treasure trove of toys that can be used for great effect by any DM for a good old fashioned scare or used as "Things Man was not Meant to Know"

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent mechanics, excellent execution, September 11, 2006

By 

J. Roberts "RP madman" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chaositech (Sword & Sorcery D20) (Paperback)

First off, the art in this book is fantastic. Creepy at times, but when you're talking about nasty-looking gadgets made by powers whose very nature would tear your mind from its roots, that's to be expected. In the copy I have, the pictures suffer from some coloring issues (it's a bound printout of the free version of the supplement that came with my copy of Ptolus), but I've seen the original in stores and on my computer screen.

The chaositech is . . . well, staggering. The melee weapons along fostered a half-dozen ideas for memorable encounters with twisted foes, and it actually gets better from there. My favourite bits are the Malefic Haunting items, chaos creations that have ghosts stitched into their very fabric. It's reminiscent of the best parts of the old Wraith setting for Storyteller, but with rules that work well in a more dice-intensive system like d20.

Some have complained that the prices and abilities granted by chaositech items place them well outside the range of anything the party could every hope to have, but that's sort of missing the point. Chaositech will eventually make the PCs into drooling idiots or homicidal maniacs, and the book's replete with suggestions on how to show that to the party. Offering a PC great power, but at the price of their sanity and most likely their soul - DMs should LIVE for chances like that.

Another five stars for Monte Cook, who continues to prove himself one of the most unique game designers out there.