Blood and Spooks is a great D20 Modern Supplement that accomplishes most of what it claims with style and panache. It has its weak points which should give the reader caution but also contains a number of pleasant surprises.

The Good

My first impression was "You've got to be kidding! What kind of campaign could you buiuld with this?" Well, a very similar film in the 80s spawned sequels, a cartoon series, comics and who knows what else. There is plenty here to base a campaign on in here, especially if you decide to blend it nicely with Blood and Brains. You could have a pretty good run with the right group of players. I intend to run just such a game and I expect that 'Blood and Spooks' will be more than useful.

Blood and Spooks has several strong points worth mentioning. The art by John Longenbaugh is superb, the layout is as strong as any RPGObjects has put out and the hyperlinked Table of Contents in the print version was a nice touch. Credit must also be given to the editor Amber Tresca who has doubtlessly helped produce a very clean, tightly organized and streamlined document. The writing is crisp and suitably witty with a workable series of fictional vingnettes added for inspiration. As usual, Michael Tresca's quirky sense of humour shines through.

The second and fourth chapters ('Ghost Hunting' and 'The Ghost Hunter's Field Guide') offer the best of the supplement with tons of story ideas, charts (mmmm random charts), equipment ('electron' packs!!!!) and general campaign hints. This is the best part of the whole PDF, and probably worth the price of admission. The section on ghosts is simply indispensible for this type of game and seamlessly put together.

The third chapter details psionics for the setting and likely requires a more thorough reading than this reviewer gave it. Some of the powers seems familiar, some of them seem brand new.

The Not So Good:

The first chapter, despite some very good work on skills, feats, backgrounds and new occupations suffers from the supplements biggest drawback. Some of the "new" advanced classes are not new at all. They are cosmetically altered versions of advanced classes that appear in the MSRD. They work well for the setting and it's nice to have them put together in one place. (Something that the WOTC d20 Modern rulebook does not do.) It's an excellent translation of the material, but to call them new classes is a bit of stretch in my opinion. If you're looking for cool new classes, then you may wish to look elsewhere. The classes here are good and some seem to have more originality than others. YMMV.

Overall:

Despite the significant problem noted above, I found 'Blood and Spooks' to be an entertaining and useful supplement. It borders on becoming viable stand-alone mini game. There is a great deal of potential here for expansion and many great sessions of gaming. It's not as funny as Blood and Brains, nor as original, but it is a far more professional and playable supplement than its cousin.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Sheer usefulness, wit and a great looking product.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Advanced classes are not as original as they could have been.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>