Game: Quick & Easy: SRD 3.5: Classes, Skills & Feats
Publisher: Big Finger Games
Series: d20
Reviewer: Wyrdmaster
Review Dated: 17th, July 2005
Reviewer’s Rating: 3/10 [ Not good enough ]
Total Score: 3
Average Score: 3.00
This one is for hardcore techophile d20 authors and few other people. Quick & Easy: SRD 3.5: Classes, Skills & Feats is a re-print of the SRD (System Reference Document) for d20 3.5 edition.
If you have the core Player’s Handbook then you already have these rules. If you have an internet connection you can read the SRD for free (and easily) at the The Hypertext d20 SRD website. This Quick and Easy PDF just looks at classes, skills and feats (hence the name) and costs $3.00. This PDF doesn’t print out very well at all. If you try you’ll find there are gaping holes in it.
The main selling point of the PDF is actually a marketing/techno gimmick. There are icons dotted throughout the PDF which, when you hover your mouse over, open up to reveal a SRD table (like bonus spells and ability modifiers). I admit, it looks cool but it doesn’t work very well. If you’re scanning through these 61 pages quickly then rather than stopping when you see a familiar shaped table you have to keep your eyes open for the little icon. What’s worse is that the Find function of Adobe Reader can’t find the text in these tables. Look for “can’t cast” as in “can’t cast spells tied to this ability” and you’ll come up blank with the function.
The result, sadly, is a PDF which isn’t as quick and as easy as it could be.
This is a nicely presented SRD but since you can’t really print it off the benefits of the clean presentation are limited awfully.
If you’re trying to run (or even play) a game and have your laptop handy then Quick and Easy does have some merit because you do have a copy of the rules handy. Sadly, you can’t squish the window into a discrete corner because it needs to be a suitable size for the magically appearing tables to work. If you need to scroll the screen to read the bottom of the table then the temptation is to move your mouse – which means your cursor moves off the icon and the table closes. Arhg. It’s a bit of a faff.
I don’t think anyone could question the quality and professional touch here. This PDF looks good. It’s bookmarked. It’s quick to load. The problem is the concept – it’s a bit shaky. Charging $3 for a shaky concept is a bit much too.
If you want an electronic copy of the SRD, don’t want the default one, only want skills, classes and feats, don’t mind having some holes in the find function but do want something that loads fast then you’re probably a technophile, obsessive (in the good way), d20 author (professional, semi-professional or fan). If this is you then you might be tempted by Quick & Easy: SRD 3.5: Classes, Skills & Feats. The rest of us will probably wait until Big Finger Games gives the product a way free as an incentive to buy other Big Finger Game PDFs.
