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Dogs of Hades: Harpies
by Ingo T. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/07/2021 04:16:07

This looks like a fun little introductory adventure that should also be suitable for beginning players if player characters (cf. Dogs of Hades: Characters) are provided. The GM should probably have some experience — there is quite a bit left to improvise.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Dogs of Hades: Harpies
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Day in the Life: Gaming the Downtime
by Dillard R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/09/2021 16:23:03

BLUF: This product has not aged well. With several versions of Savage Worlds having come and gone and a movement toward rapid paced play with meaningful outcomes at each stage of play this product is showing it's age.

It gets three stars because it is a great idea. However it will get no higher for various reasons.

First, "why" the descriptions of the various activities leave a bit to be desired and need to be concise and at the very beginning of the description.

Second, "how" is cumbersome. Two potential actions a day each broken into 3 rounds. Draw cards based on edges/hinderances to start with possibly 8 cards (?) per round. Each card represents potential boons/banes to die rolls with each suit and card value having a particular effect. Each round is run in "round robin" with each player taking a turn. PCs earn tokens for adjusted rolls.

Final outcomes for each downtime activity is then compared to a chart reminiscent of the Dramatic Task system for each type of downtime activity.

Third, this isn't a dramatic task...you are just trying to see if you accomplished effective training. You are spending a great deal of time to do these tasks. The GM has to determine if the tasks are even possible in the given situation. If they are what skills to use, maybe one per each round in a task. Players then draw cards. The GM determines the backstory of how the cards effect the die rolls. Players thenmake rolls for the various rounds to get tokens (these rolls are affected by the drawn cards and their edges and hinderances); you may have further rolls penalized or inhanced based on your results. You alternate rolls with the other players. You alternate rolls using the GM tailored skill choices for each activity two more times until you get your total number of tokens. You then compare your total to a chart based on your activity to get your results. While in many ways satisfying this is a time intensive event for a group of PCs. If you have 4 PCs and you spend only 1 minute for each roll (with narrative by PC and GM and adudication of Cards that is a minimum) for one day of down time you are going to spend 24 minutes just for one day of rolls. That seems like a lot of time for groups that generally only have 4 hours to meet. If you have more than one day of downtime you lose a corresponding amount of time from your session.

The process needs to be streamlined. The idea is good; honestly necessary. However, it is just too cumbersome as is. An update should be made based on rules changes with SWADE.

EDIT: Additional comment. This really needs an example or two of play. The card draw system is not easy to understand and would benefit from examples.

Three out of five stars.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Day in the Life: Gaming the Downtime
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Shaintar: Legends Arise
by Dillard R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/09/2021 16:10:20

BLUF: Long in the tooth and unlikely to see a change for awhile. With the latest KS upset it is unlikely that Savage Mojo is going to be making changes to their products anytime soon.

The group at Savage Mojo had a successful KS until their partner pulled out at the last minute. You can go online and glean what you may. Effectively this means it will be sometime (uncertain at this point when) the various products will get updates.

The most obvious changes are to the various edges/hinderances to get the product in line with SWADE. However, the changes need to be made carefully. Present documents for conversion do not match SWADE. Charisma being chucked out by the newest version of Savage Worlds has made a hash of many of the edges to be sure. However, that means care needs to be made to be taken with ensuring that changes retain their balance. Charisma being taken out means that a flat bonus of +1 to both Persuasion and Performance needs to be made. That isn't happening with the conversion documents some races like the Eldakar are getting boosts to Persuasion but not to Performance. etc.

The original author of Shaintar (pronounced Shine-tar) proposed some radical changes to advancement that aren't being used by the subsequent editors. Namely instead of four advances for each rank he used 5. I liked it. Suzerain the overarching system uses "Pulse" instead of power points

New Character Sheets need to be made to reflect changes for SWADE (no Charisma) and increased Fatigue track.

I've covered the woes of a small publisher, but now to specifics for the setting book.

It is fine for use with SWD, but doesn't have a well written conversion document for SWADE. (A carefully edited and proofread conversion document is an absolute necessity).

Shaintar either needs to be part of Suzerain or not. Right now it seems like an afterthought when it comes to the Suzerain universe.

The biggest hurdle to overcome is adventures...Savage Tales, One-shots, Random Adventure Generators, and a plot point campaign. For a GM this is frustrating. Yes there are plot hooks for potential campaigns but these are singular blurbs/paragraphs outlining a story that GMs are forced to fill out themselves. This makes it difficult for GMs to create a story for the PCs to become part of because it is not obvious what part the players have in the setting. Each group seems to be destined to become a part of either the Grayson's Rangers, the Black Lanterns, or the Chosen of the Silver Unicorn. The big problem is that none of these organizations are really detailed in the book. Anthologies can be purchased for 25 USD that will help, but not much.

The book itself uses a parchment like layer (which can be turned off in the PDF). The art is primarily sepia toned line drawings that are quite good. However, not every entry in the bestiary gets a picture. There are full color pictures for each new chapter, but they aren't necessarily relate to the chapter (at least that I can tell). I got a hard bound book and have had it less that a month. The binding is glued and doesn't look particularly sturdy. I am noticing some pages beginning to pull apart. There also seems to be the beginnings of a gap starting between the cover and the binding. Finally the jacket is beginning to warp. It is dead winter here and it is pretty dry (we are a semi arid region anyway) and the warping hasn't happened with any of the other hard bound books I own.

There is no index and the Table of Contents isn't particulaly detailed. If you have a PDF you can at least use the find function.

Only 88 "new" denizens. These are often lower ranked followed by stat blocks for higher ranked. Goblins, Orcs, and even Ogres can be PCs! They have the outsider hinderance but that's awesome for SW settings. However, some of the denizens of the bestiary are corrupted versions...troglydtes, hobgoblins, and trolls. Each of these get pictures while the "normal" versions don't. Many of the PC races don't get pictures. The strengths of the denizens are also quite high. This seemed to be a consistent with SWD and SWEX, but critters in SWADE seem to be better balanced. (a minotaur is a summoned creature for a seasoned sorceror!).

Savage Mojo is a small group of dedicated gamers and publishers. They have had some bad luck lately. I would recommend the PDFs (knowing you will have to do a lot of work to integrate SWADE), but cannot recommend the print versions.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Shaintar: Legends Arise
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for the review, Dillard. A fair an balanced opinion (and yes, don't get me started on the woes of small publishers in 2020/21!). As for the quality of the printed product, that's where DriveThruRPG and Lightning Source come in. That's outside of our control, but the good news is that they're very proactive about replacing copies where the print or binding aren't good quality. I recommend getting in touch with the customer team at DriveThruRPG and letting them know that you've got a book with a problem. All the best, -MMK, Publisher, Savage Mojo
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Shaintar Character Pack
by Anders O. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/10/2019 19:08:34

A great spread of seasoned characters. All arcane backgrounds for heroes in Shaintar represented, with the exception of alchemist. A bit too many humans, but nothing that can't be change, when Savage Mojo releases race templates and other conversion and jumpstart materials.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Shaintar Character Pack
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Shaintar JumpStart
by Anders O. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/10/2019 19:04:41

A great place to start your journey in Shaintar and the Suzerain universe. You have a chance to explore one of the more isolated areas of Shaintar. While learning with your players, the new ways of Savage Worlds Adventure Edition. You get through dramatic tasks, quick encounters and regular combat. There is possibility of social conflict, depending on time and immersion of GM and players. And the end of the adventure, opens up for further exploration of Shaintar or other Suzerain Worlds, giving players and GM agency.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Shaintar JumpStart
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Caladon Falls: The Travelogue of Tavish Thorne
by Itai G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/03/2019 18:19:40

It's a very beautiful book, but I admit, I find it hard to use other people's settings. There's something always a bit to the side of what I actually need or want.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Caladon Falls: The Travelogue of Tavish Thorne
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Savage Suzerain (Savage Worlds)
by Reiner H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/08/2019 11:00:45

Not what i expected. The book actually hadn`t mutch information i could use. Sorry.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Savage Suzerain (Savage Worlds)
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Creator Reply:
Sorry to hear that it wasn't what you were looking for, Reiner. Hope you find what you needed.
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Shaintar: Legends Arise (Players Guide)
by Lee L. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/23/2018 21:33:12

Great book with lots of character options, almost too many at times! Would play in a game of this at anytime.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Shaintar: Legends Arise (Players Guide)
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Dungeonlands: Isle of the Frog God (Savage Worlds)
by Rodney O. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/23/2018 08:19:18

Really good, well fleshed out adventure that can be used in pretty much any fantaasy setting. Plenty of opportunities for the PCs to use a wide variety of skills as well as just combat, and a seriously cool big bad boss at the end. Excellent product considering it's free!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Dungeonlands: Isle of the Frog God (Savage Worlds)
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Shaintar: Legends Arise
by Franklin T. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/02/2017 17:59:32

Printed on the deluxe, extra thick and fine looking parchment paper, this setting book is perfect for anyone wanting to run a traditional high fantasy session. If you don't plan on using the aboslutely top notch races, rich lore, or fantastic and well balanced arcane backgrounds, I still highly recommend this book for the great edges and the arcane backgrounds, to take into consideration for other sessions, regardless of genre. The additional rules make the game fit the original tag line of Savage Worlds. Fast, Furious, and Fun.

Keep in mind that creating Shaintar characters may take 20-40 mins longer than normal characters, only because of the amount of detail and choice for character creation. It's worth it, this setting is perfect for sessions you want to run over a long period of time.

Only criticism is that the book could use additional pre-gen plots or campaigns. It'd be nice to get a few general quests to send novice adventurers on, with a small range of character alignment-adjusted concepts. Not everyone wants to play the hero, after all.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Shaintar: Legends Arise
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for your thoughts, F.T. - appreciated. If you're interested in some free-to-download adventures for Shaintar, we've got a bunch :-) Looks like they've disappeared from DriveThruRPG's pages (it happens sometimes) but I'll arrange for them to reappear asap. Just search for Savage Mojo as a publisher and click "Free" under price. -M- Miles M Kantir Publisher, Savage Mojo
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UPDATE: The adventures are back up and available, and they're free so you can grab them any time :-)
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Shaintar: Legends Unleashed (Players Guide)
by Franklin T. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/13/2017 00:14:18

An absolutely stunning book to have a premium copy of. The paper is thick and rigid, pages are large and easy to read, and the amount of detail is incredibly easy to appreciate as a gm. This is a vertible bucketload of content, usable not only for fantastic themed campaigns set in the world of Shaintar, but also fantastic for homebrew fantasy settings.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Shaintar: Legends Unleashed (Players Guide)
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Savage Suzerain (Savage Worlds)
by Patrick H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/27/2016 21:59:41

According to this book's introduction, it is brilliant. To my mind, not so much. A "universal setting" just isn't that revolutionary when you're using a universal system.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
Savage Suzerain (Savage Worlds)
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Suzerain (Pathfinder)
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 04/21/2016 07:57:36

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This massive book clocks in at 186 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 3 pages of SRD, 2 pages of advertisement and 1 page of back cover, leaving us with a massive 177 pages of content, so let's take a look!

Well, this book has two sections - one for players and one for GMs - it should be noted that the player's version, the Suzerain Continuum Guide, can be considered a massive teaser for this book - and it's FREE! So yeah, you can take a look at what this book offers by downloading that one.

But back to what this book offers, shall we? Suzerain, in a nut-shell, can be described as a kind of meta-campaign setting template; it denotes a massive collective of worlds and plains. Campaign settings are described as realms - so both Golarion and Athas could, potentially, exist within the confines of this meta-setting. Suzerain assumes that you use the hero point mechanics introduced in the APG...but goes one step further: For one, the maximum of 3 hero points is not in effect. Secondly, escaping death only takes one hero point and returns to play with starting hero points if their rank is high enough.

A given Suzerain character has a Telesma, a special kind of gem set in jewelry, weapons or the like - but more on Telesma later. Suzerain Sports 10 ranks in 6 categories that denote how much you're touched by "greatness" - even rank 2 classifies you as god-touched, while 10+ means you qualify as a demigod. Each rank provides its own benefits: Hero Points, bonus feats, ability score increases, save bonuses...and later even a pulse pool (equal to 1/4 character level + highest ability score modifier)...but again, more on that later. Rules for cohorts, new followers in a given realm and similar interactions are covered.

Upon reaching demigod rank, characters can "flex a nexus" - a nexus denotes an important historic anchor. You flex a nexus by paying 1 pulse and 1 hero point, 2 for a major flex - these allow for the modification of the setting; consider them narrative wild-cards: Whether you manage to find a fully functional hovertank in a post-apocalyptic desert or make a bridge disappear - the effects are basically massive narrative components that are deliberately loose in their wording...with one exception: They last about 5 minutes and generally can affect an area of about 150 ft. Creatures with a pulse pool can resist...that's it. Gods (and ONLY true gods) can use 3-point godlike flexes...which brings me to an important motif: The characters may become demigods here...but they sure are no deities...to quote to old Shadowrun/WoD-wisdom: There are always bigger fish in the tank...Character creation wise, 6+2d6 or 25-point-buy are recommended for this high fantasy romp.

Okay, so what do these Pulse-feat-tricks do? Well, once your PCs have reached demigod-hood...they'll have some impressive tricks at their disposal: Via the right pulse feat, you can e.g. mitigate critical hits down to regular hits or even force them to reroll the original attack (NOT the confirmation roll) or rearrange initiative order as you see fit immediately after initiative is rolled. 3/day SPs, reduced falling damage (plus means to stop nearly any fall), temporarily ignoring fear conditions (upgradeable to immunity while you have at least 1 pulse) or partially breaking through resistances. Choosing an attribute and using pulse as constantly consecutive means to retroactively add bonuses to the related check on a 1 pulse:+2-basis, extended number of targets for spells, using pulse as a +5 bonus to any d20 check (not even an action), causing a sickening pain-aura to form around you - the pulse-feats themselves are powerful, but well within the confines of what can be deemed as something a GM can handle - it should be noted that their general feeling is less that of hyper-specialization or escalation that mythic rules sport, instead focusing on a broader, more general means of usefulness. If you need a comparison: Mythic rules are more about playing guys like Hercules, where these seem to champion a playstyle that is more reminiscent of Dr.Who - you're basically better, stronger, more resilient and have reality-bending powers, but still retain a certain fragility...though it's hard to kill you. Really hard.

Interesting: Once the group has achieved an average of folk hero on the ranking system, their telesmae resonate and they receive their very own pocket dimension. Telesmae are basically semi-sentient, very powerful artifacts with a divine spirit - while it's impossible to lose them per se, they do have a catch - in the spirit world (the ethereal plane), they are easily distinguished; they act as beacons to gods and outsiders alike and mean that you'll have a lot potential issues on your hand...and finally, while not too smart, they do have a will of their own...which can also lead to troubles. Telesmae are considered to be CL 20 items with an aura of moderate abjuration, divination, illusion and have 30 ft senses. Starting at 11th level, they increase their Int by +1 per level, with Wis/Cha adhering to a 1/2-progression and 11th level + every 3 levels thereafter, they gain a telesma growth, basically an ability you choose from a set of different ones. Basic telesma personalities also grant a skill bonus - yeah, they are kind of like psycrystals. On a nitpicky side, the table of these personalities and the header have been integrated in a less than superb manner on the page - the text from the previous page continues under the table, while the table's header-section adheres to the same formatting as said previous page, which makes this page, at first glance, slightly confusing.

So that's the basics.

After that, a sample world is mentioned - Relic, in the year 298, where Egyptian-style sea elves rule the waves and huge Greco-Roman empires loom - think of it as a blending of classical antiquity with your basic fantasy tropes. Unique-crunch-wise, there are a couple of Planar feats - the base feat of these must be taken at first level, with further feats allowing the character to enhance his/her/its tricks; The feats closely reflect the politics of the setting, with prerequisites featuring "may not be an elf" or "may not be bestial" - Fury, as a feat-tree, is for example a means to play a quasi-lycanthropic shapechanger that starts the game with full claw and bite-attack array, while Living Rock reduces your speed by 5 ft., but grants DR 2/bludgeoning...and yes, these feats often have additional, Pulse-based effects that obviously come into play later. Considering that this is a sample and teaser, it's hard to judge whether these kind-of-racial feats end up as balanced in the context of the overall world -for a default high-fantasy world they sure as hell are potent.

The second part of this massive book would be the GM-section - so what do we get here? Well, we begin with a discussion of the spirit world, Suzerain's iteration of the ethereal plane and what is has to offer; how religion can shape the place and the pulse-touched CR+2 template that allows the GM to make creatures that can employ some of the PC-tricks. Native creatures of the ethereal plane, the spirits of feral glee and their variants, the spirits of feral empathy are featured alongside the Mael-born - at the end of the spirit world, the veil lies...and beyond it, terra incognita: Very little solid ground, all held aloft by pure pulse - here space and time become fluid and some gods have their realms in this weird place - and there are a lot: Whether Yggdrasil's realm, that of the archangels or Mount Olympus or the more strange realm of pure mages, where raw mathematics and genius reign supreme are concerned - the places depicted sound fantastical and sufficiently familiar and weird to be considered interesting.

The section discussing travels in time and space via portals and other means deserves special mention: Unlike many a bad movie or series-episode, it establishes a concise background that subscribes to the elastic history approach and explains its tenets and consequences in detail - while this section may be fluff-centric, ultimately, it is useful - more so than quite a few more rules-heavy takes on the concept I've seen.

Now one of the most pronounced goals of Suzerain is to make gameplay beyond 10th level more interesting, more fulfilling - thus, the discussion and advice regarding games at folk-hero rank (rank 6 - 7) cover a significant array of themes to ponder - whether to restrict yourself to one world, how to make multiple themes and campaign settings fluidly interact. Similarly, extensive pieces of advice for player/character types...and demigod games are provided: With themes like massive glory, end-times, alternate realities and similar high-concept ideas, the contemplations and themes change here once again. There also is the idea of the plot-point campaign - which is then exemplified via a massively detailed sample campaign in Relic - while each chapter sports just a couple of scenes, there is a lot of crunchy material herein: Nanobot pseudo-swarms, various NPCs (often with complex class arrangements), a new vehicle...and a suitably cataclysmic final fight.

Sure, it's basically a skeleton set-up...but if you're time-starved or if the creative juices have run dry, this is great. Similarly, for scavenging purposes, there is quite a bit to find here. Similarly, multiple encounter/adventure-sketches follow suit, providing a pretty wide and diverse accumulation of ideas to scavenge and peruse -and yes, several of them take place in different epochs of our very own world, while others assume diverse realms within the maelstrom - whether they want to pit themselves against the desolation engine or stave off an invasion of bipedal, evolved saurians and their titanosaur from an alternate earth. What if priests tried to manipulate the Olympian gods to bring about the end of the multi-verse? Or a quasi-sentient protocol infects and converts people? ...well, and of course, the obligatory throw-down between aforementioned arch-angels and dread forces of darkness - including multiple, fully statted high-level foes. Basically, the majority of this section of the book can be considered a sketch-book of stories, encounters and adversaries that make for a rather superb scavenging-ground, even when not playing Suzerain directly.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good - I noticed no significant accumulations of glitches. Layout adheres to a gorgeous two-column full-color standard. People with extensive collections of obscure 3.X-supplements may recognize some of the gorgeous full-color artworks herein, though I have seen the vast majority never before. The book is art-heavy and beautiful. The pdf is fully bookmarked with detailed, nested bookmarks. I can't comment on the virtues or lack thereof of the print edition.

Miles M. Kantir, Zach Wellhouse, Alan Bundock, Clyde Clark, Richard Mendenhall, Aaron Rosenberg, George "Loki" Williams, Pastor Allan Hoffmann, Richard Moore and Matt Medeiros have done an impressive job in this huge book. Suzerain endeavors to be basically a campaign-template for high-level gaming and themes - and it succeeds in several interesting regards: The decision to emphasize the narrative component without drifting off into the, pardon my French, competitive bullshitting of FATE, works surprisingly well in the Pathfinder-context. The demigod-rules are sufficiently different from mythic rules to fit a different playstyle and themes, which is a BIG plus in my book - I love mythic rules (provided I can use all those Legendary Games-supplements; I hate vanilla mythic with a fiery passion...)...and I can see myself growing to love these rules as well, perhaps even combining them for some particularly brutal foes.

Theme-wise, Suzerain is basically the planewalker's toolkit as opposed to mythic's superhero-flair. Toolkit...that's what describes this book best. There are crunchier books out there, sure - but the ideas and observations regarding often problematic themes, setting-switching etc. make this a handy tome to have. The crunchy statblocks and adventure/campaign-sketches also illustrate rather well how to utilize these rules....or rather, concepts. The true treasure herein lies in the concepts and yes, this book makes it significantly easier to come up with a justification for the jumping between worlds.

Suzerain is an intriguing book, that has two minor flaws, which I still feel obliged to mention: In the player-section in particular, a cleaner division between fluff and crunch would be appreciated - the size of the Pulse Pool, for example, is neither its own paragraph, nor bolded or the like - it's hidden in the flow of text, something you can observe regarding other components as well. The second component would pertain the fact that the numerous, rather awesome-sounding realms that Savage Mojo has hinted at in Palace of the Lich Queen (and/or already released for their Savage Worlds-rules-set) have not yet been converted to PFRPG; while I e.g. am truly intrigued in this fantasy take on Norse or Greek mythology, the antique/scifi-blend of Set Rising and similar settings, this book, by necessity, is a bit opaque regarding the respective places. Personally, I would have loved to see more on the Spirit World and the Maelstrom, the meta-world, if you will - perhaps with mechanical repercussions, unique hazards or planar traits.

As it stands on its own, Suzerain is a captivating, massive book somewhere between campaign template, DM-advice book and meta-setting - and it fulfills these roles rather well for the most part. Still, in the end, I found myself wishing for more material regarding the meta-realm, if you will - something you can chalk up to a) the excellent prose that made reading this book a rather pleasant experience and b) the amount of space devoted to the high-concept campaign/adventure/encounter-seeds. In the end, I consider Suzerain a worthwhile, high-quality book that will continue to grow in usefulness with the release of subsequent settings and books in the continuum; as a stand-alone book, for now I will settle on a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded down to 4 for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Suzerain (Pathfinder)
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Shaintar Guidebook: Galea
by Ruben R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/30/2016 02:42:38

This piece was a longtime coming considering the signifiance behind Galea for the world. The brillant history behind the kingdom packaged with decent edges this time around and knowledge around its traditions, pretiged knighthoods, and even details pertaining to magic. My only real cristism leaving out a 5 star rating is stating new gear tied behind the new edge. The Danataran Combat Whip was detailed in Legends Unleashed already, even if there now exists an edge that compliments it........ that just feels falsified for me personally. Otherwise one of the better Guidebooks that has come out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Shaintar Guidebook: Galea
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Dungeonlands: Consort of the Lich Queen (Pathfinder)
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 02/02/2016 03:18:09

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This optional side-quest module for the Dungeonlands-saga clocks in at 37 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1/2 page advertisement, 1 page RD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 31 1/2 pages of content, so let's take a look!

This module is basically a sidequest in the fight against the legendary Lich-Queen - but one that can have serious repercussions in Part III of the saga - hence, I'd advise the GM to use this module either during the trip through the Machine of the Lich Queen or as part of the journey towards her Palace in book III of the saga.

This being an adventure-review, the following review, unsurprisingly, features copious SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.

...

..

.

All right, still here? Only GMs around? Good! Once, even the fabled Lich-Queen Ayrawn was mortal and, as mortals are wont to do, she had a companion, a lover, a consort - an anchor, a chance for redemption, a man who would recoil from the darkened paths she embarked upon - this man was Horarion. When the angel Anat was sundered from the heavens and bound, the psyche of the lich-queen sundered Horarion's mansion on Paxcetel, sending it spiraling towards the eternal Maelstrom, leaving, in spite of his arcane prowess, but a single portal, a tenuous connection to the lich-queen's realm, a shining portal you can place at your leisure within the Dungeonlands-saga.

Thus, Horarion remained in his isolated mansion - a place where arcane magic has its own weight, potentially inducing fatigue in casters and thus adding a nasty additional difficulty - and no, there is no means of escaping Pacetel here either - though the mansion's challenges are pronounced indeed - when the stable master has a CR of 12 and a unique variant chimera has taken up roost in the stables, you're in for a treat...and yes, there also is the Shalguath, a unique spirit ox to be found here. Death lurks at every corner here - Horarion has, for example, invested a part of his soul into a tapestry within his sanctum - and yes, the PCs may actually be eaten by the RUG in this room. Killer rug...explain that to your deity once you stand before them in the after-life...funny...and lethal.

A storm of feral spirits locked away, a bathhouse containing a truly disturbing, unique aberration (including powers-granting waters) - lethal. Speaking of which - the empowered waste-disposal disintegrate trap is brutal indeed. The PCs can also do battle with spawning, supreme swordsmen and test their mettle against a unique taiga linnorm...And the vault of Horarion is no less lethal...and contains, among deadly adversaries, an unlikely item: A loom. This item is what makes the tapestry-versions of Horarion basically immortal and maintains the stasis of the islet - destroying the loom makes millennia catch up with the strange inhabitants of Horarion's refuge - which btw. also include odd bark mummies and peris...and the destruction also makes it possible to defeat the three tapestry-bound Horarions, with each destruction providing a new power for a hero, though the types of said powers and their wordings have minor glitches - it's e.g. "mind-affecting", not "mind-effecting" and proper EX, SU, SP-codification would have been in order. Destroying the final tapestry unleashed what has become of Horarion - an undead baneful Noumenon, accompanied by unique hazards, as the house itself creates stony arms, weird roof-beam elementals animated by his power - a brutal boss fight that ends either in death or by learning what Horarion knew, gaining perhaps the most potent weapon against the lich queen...for the destruction sends the PCs back to where their journey to Horarion's domain began. Still, it should be noted that the non-statblock elements, i.e. the hazards and precise presentation o the combat-relevant rules herein could have used a slightly tighter wording - as written, these components require some work from the GM.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting on a formal level are very good, though, on a rules-level, there are a tad bit more glitches to be found herein than in the revised editions of the machine and place installments. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf sports numerous artworks in color and b/w, all of which are neat. The biggest surprise for me was the cartography: Horarion's domain receives a beautiful, print-out-ready map that is player-friendly and thus offsets the largest point of criticism that plagued the dungeonlands saga - kudos for including that one! The pdf is a layered pdf that can easily be customized and also sports extensive bookmarks.

Miles M. Kantir, with rules by Allan Hoffman and George "Loki" Williams, has created a truly interesting sidetrek for the main adventures of the Dungeonlands saga that actually is worth playing - beyond the delightfully twisted and diverse combat-challenges herein, this little module offers some truly interesting ideas and brims with creativity. Moreover, this adds a further dimension to the epic struggle against the dread lich-queen, one that is fun to partake in - though this module also makes for a great stand-alone module; you could conceivably run this simply on its own without a hassle and just some cosmetic reskins - and some of the brutal battles, including the climactic boss fight, definitely would warrant that.

All in all, this is a great, fun sub-level of the epic journey through Ayrawn's dungeonlands and one I'd certainly suggest getting, in spite of minor rules-language hiccups here and there - while some components in this module may frankly be more precise, the good components still stand out - hence, my final verdict will clock in at 4.5 stars, rounded down to 4 for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Dungeonlands: Consort of the Lich Queen (Pathfinder)
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