When I?m playing a game set in the modern world, I want things to be as realistic as possible. Even if the PC?s are casting spells, and chasing monsters, it helps the feel of the game if there?s still some level of realism. I still want the world to be basically the same. There should still be a president. My character should be able to shop at Wal-Mart. History should be more or less the same, with a few supernatural quirks added in.

One thing that helps add that feeling of reality is when a product is based on a real world location. White Wolf figured this out early on with their ?Someplace by Night? line. Dog Soul Publishing has also figured this out, and made good use of the effect in their product Urban Legends ? Oak Island Money Pit.

If you?re a fan of real world conspiracies and unsolved mysteries, then you may be familiar with the Oak Island Money Pit already. If not, don?t worry. Author Steve Honeywell has done a very thorough job of covering the history and mystery of this Canadian urban legend. For those unfamiliar with the tales, here?s a synopsis in a nutshell. In 1795 a visitor to Oak Island, just off the shores of Nova Scotia found what he believed to be a buried treasure. Since then, numerous people have spent ridiculous amounts of time, energy and money trying to find what is buried on the site. Bizarre coincidences, rumors and problems have thus far kept anyone from finding anything of value, but they have found just enough cryptic clues to keep them trying up to the present day.

This book presents all the information a Gm would need to incorporate the Oak Island Money Pit into their d20 Modern game. Essentially a large, open-ended adventure, Honeywell has added enough twists and turns to allow the Gm to expand this into a mini-campaign. One very nice touch is the wide variety of possible treasure contained in the pit. Honeywell includes all the current modern theories about the pit?s contents, including Templar treasure, or the wealth of Sir Francis Bacon, but he has also added enough supernatural possibilities that would make Oak Island an interesting locale for a game featuring more supernatural fx elements.

Research is always a big part of any modern adventure, and Honeywell has made sure to include plenty of history and rumors, along with appropriate DC?s to find this data. Even better, if like me, you allow your players to access the library or internet if their PC?s access the same materials, you?re in luck. Honeywell has helpfully included an excellent bibliography of books and websites that could make great props and resources when running this campaign. When my players wanted their PC?s to research the island, it helped set the mood, as well as focus the investigation to allow them to scour the listed websites.

Adding that focus to the adventure was important, because this adventure is very loose and open ended. Three basic plot hooks and a timeline of events are all the GM has to work with for this adventure. Once you get your PC?s to Oak Island, the adventure really hangs on the PC?s willingness to root out clues and talk to the parties involved. This is not your average d20 Modern ?shoot-em-up?. This adventure is all about investigation, character interaction, and a big reveal at the end when we finally discover just what the GM has chosen to put at the bottom of the pit. It?s a refreshing change to find an adventure like this. These sorts of adventures are a real boon to the harried GM. It?s easy for a GM to pick a monster from a book, and give the team some reason to track it down. It?s a much bigger job to send your PC?s after a real mystery and plant the clues they will need to figure things out. In this respect, Urban Legends ? Oak Island Money Pit really shines.

Another added value included in this file is a 73 page PDF that includes the maps and floor plans that will be needed during the game. If you like to use miniatures, tokens or counters during your games, then these pre-tiled maps will be a big help. I have just two complaints with the maps. First, I would have preferred to not have them pre-tiled, so that I could print out only the sections I want. However, I recognize that everyone using this product may not have the same printing capabilities I have, so I understand the need to keep things accessible to everyone. Second, the maps are all clearly labeled by room, with full room names. I would have preferred to just have numbers that matched a room key, so I could keep certain rooms secret until the PC?s enter them. Again, this is a minor complaint, and the solution was easy enough. I just kept the map off the table, or covered any hidden areas with other books or papers until I was ready to reveal them.

This is a complex product that will deliver exactly as much as the GM puts into it. Again, this isn?t a simple adventure. It has a lot of depth to it. There are numerous NPC?s with a variety of motivations that the GM will need to be familiar with. You?re not going to be able to skim this book an hour before game time and then run it. I reviewed the adventure for nearly a week before I ran it, and I still felt that I could have used a better familiarity with it. That?s not a complaint. I appreciate the detail and scope of the project. But aspiring GM?s would be well advised to do their homework before running his adventure. <br><br><b>LIKED</b>: I love the concept of taking real world urban legends lke Oak Island and making them fantasy adventures. The extra large scale maps were a nice touch, and helpful for runnning miniature based combats. The fully detailed DC's for research, and information gathering were very helpful when running this adventure, and the bibliography was enormously helpful to to me as GM, and to my players as they took part.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I would have preferred to see the maps without written room titles or hidden details, and I would have rather tiled them myself.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

?Urban Legends ? Oak Island Money Pit? is a 97 page supplement with bonus 73 map booklet that has tiled maps of all the smaller maps in the product to be used for in-game play and use with miniatures. This product does not state what kind of product this is supposed to be but after reviewing it for sometime it is clear to me that this is an adventure sourcebook.

Within this product you will find an extremely detailed look at one of the mysterious places in Canada. It is well-researched and provides the Gamesmaster with tons of information on the community of Seaborough, the history of the Oak Island Treasure Hunt, a variant history of the last 50 years including references to characters and events important to this Oak Island, many specific research and gather information options, detailed GMPCs, information on important and unimportant locations around Oak Island and Seaborough, statistic blocks for all the GMPCs, conversation bits to make the GMPC interaction easier, three straightforward plot hooks and a basic timeline for the module.

This product is loaded with information to make running an adventure/treasure hunt easy. There are no scripted events in this product and much of it requires player initiative, player direction and GMPC interaction. As written, it feels as much more of a ?roleplaying? game than a ?role-playing one? with limited combat but extensive interaction. Of course, depending on what the treasure actually is there may be more opportunities for combat. The source book is written to includes 11 possible treasure ideas (including one option for Shadow Chasers and one for Urban Arcana) and variations exist in the text to indicate how the GMPCs, location and timeline is modified by the choice of treasure. About the only thing missing to complete the setting of this adventure is a section on adventuring in Canada (and those pesky firearm laws).

Production values were solid and editing is good (I only spotted a couple of typos). Some of the font choice made titles difficult to read on screen but they cleaned up well when I printed the documents and the art was appropriate and effective throughout. As a d20 modern product it does a good job of following the rules and presenting information in a similar fashion to the d20 modern core-book with a couple of exceptions. The first appears in the GMPC statistic blocks, in this product the GMPCs have listed Special Abilities and Special Qualities but in d20 Modern creatures and GMPCs only have special qualities. The GMPCs have their talents listed in the SQ section instead of a talent entry following the feats. Another discrepancy is that the GMPCs all have a Space/Reach entry instead of FS and Reach. Still, these are more nit-picky things than things that will cause problems with gameplay.

Although, the map that is an added as a bonus is a nice idea but falls a little flat for one reason. All the room numbers and room names have been left on the map. So when my players go to Thomas Forrester, one will look at the map and say, ?I?m going to check out what?s in the room with the secret door.? As its designed now, I don?t think it will be that useful, plus with a primary focus on npc interaction does a map and miniatures add anything.

Overall a very good resource for a treasure hunt or investigative campaign. <br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Extremely detailed background, locations, and GMPCs. Interaction focused over combat. Modification of treasure allow campaign to retain its original focus or style. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Cultural and legal differences ignored. It would have been nice to have a few scripted encounters to ease GM prep. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>