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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of the GM's Options-line is 20 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 17 pages of content, so let's take a look!
Much like the first installment of the series, we get statblocks in this pdf, in 3 different level-ranges -as 1st level, as 5th- and level 10-incarnations. Much like in the first installment, we also get advice for each character to integrate them into the upcoming Porphyra-campaign setting by Purple Duck Games as well as sample boons his respective incarnations may provide to PCs if they befriend him.
The first character would be Connaghyn Halfhand (so nicknamed due to having lost some fingers in a fight with goblins). No animal companion stats accompany Connaghyn and mechanically, he isn't that interesting, but the druid is rather interesting fluff-wise, at least.
Corra Greenthumb, a halfling urban druid is next up and makes for an interesting, benevolent ally with one ear at the heart of a given city's gossip as well as a competent herbalist. The Half-elf Sherdan Silverblade, a mobile fighter and moderately capable fast-talker that is particularly good at dirty fighting makes for a nice contrast with the next character: Dotha Hearthstone, a female unbreakable fighter who is essentially a woman who has vowed to never marry or produce children as a kind of dwarven battle nun - nice.
Brother Nadir is a half-elf Martial Artist Monk who is all about record-keeping and may also provide access t his monastery's library and finally, we get Kokachin, a halfling Ki Mystic Monk depicted on the cover. She is also mechanically perhaps the most interesting of the characters. It should be noted that each character has the traits used in the creation listed as well for your convenience.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are good, though not perfect - we have minor glitches like e.g. a header of a trait that is purple when it should be simply black and bold - nothing too serious, though. Layout adheres to PDG's 2-column standard and each character comes with a b/w-mugshot, though you'll know them all from old e.g. Raging Swan publications. The cover is nice and the pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks.
This collection of stats and characters is better than its immediate precursor - the characters feel more unique, utilizing some archetypes and coming with more interesting fluffy backgrounds that make one actually want to use some of these characters. That being said, the pdf's crunch still feels not particularly exciting, with the respective builds being very linear and not particularly complex. In the end, if you want some straight builds, you can't go wrong here, but if you want some statblocks that are a bit more complex, then this is not the pdf to deliver.
Over all, this pdf is a nice collection of characters/stats, but simply is nothing out of the ordinary - no PrCs, no complex builds etc. - instead we get rather vanilla builds. Nothing wrong there, but also not enough to make me truly recommend this.
My final verdict would hence clock in at 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 for the purpose of this platform. If you want some vanilla stats, take a look!
Endzeitgeist out.
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 10 pages long, 1 page editorial, ~4/5 of a page SRD, leaving us with 8 1/5 pages of content, so let us take a look at the new options for humans!
This pdf kicks off with two new variants of the basic human racial traits, with the first one being Adopted Humans, who get +2 to an attribute their adopted parent race doesn't get the bonus to, count as both humans and their adopted race, get weapon familiarity with weapons of the adopting race, a bonus feat and an extra skill pint per level. Solid and useful if you want to go beyond background traits to customize an adopted human, but nothing too special. More distinct would be the Wild Child, who gets +2 to a physical attribute score, +2 to Wis and -2 to Int, count as humans, gte +2 to AC in their home terrain, climb or swim speed 30 ft., low light vision, scent and need to learn speaking languages. Both come with starting age, height and weight tables. If you can't see the problem by no - the Wild Child is a good idea, but utterly, completely op. A non-standard movement speed, on par with regular movement, scent and low light vision for the ridiculous payoff of needing to spend some skill points in languages? Come on! Designer Ryan Costello Jr. can and has done better than this not even remotely balanced design-failure.
Next up are 13 new feats for humans - and they are unfortunately of a varying degree of quality. Take "afficionado": Get +1 to all knowledge skills that are class skills for you. Would ANYONE spend a feat for this exceedingly LAME benefits? "Always Prepared" also falls into this category - as a reaction to sundering/disarming, you may make a 5-foot step, draw a weapon and make an AoO. While the AoO looks nice in theory, this feat has two feats prerequisites and its use is predicated on you having your weapon sundered or disarmed, something that usually doesn't happen all that often. Rather specific in its benefits for the investment of a feat. If the wild child is not yet broken enough for you, you may get a bite attack at 1d6+1/2 str. "Hide in crowds" and "crowd assassin" are two interesting ideas - they allow you to hide in plain sight when there are more humans than your HD around and even make sniping attacks from crowds and vanish back into them - these are actually good concepts with a worthwhile execution.
Determined Student increases the maximum ranks in class skills to your level +1, which is ok, I guess. "Flexible Training" is something usually houseruled in most campaigns I know, as it allows you to retrain feats that are not required as prerequisites, one per even level. Not really sold on this - while design-wise solid, I maintain that houseruling this depending on your player's foresight/experience might be the more prudent thing to do. There also is a feat that cuts your required sleep down to 4 hours - a feat I guess I have irl and generally a nice idea. Adopted humans may take a feat to better pass for their adopted parent race. "Passing Interest" is also interesting - it nets you 2 ranks of skills you can reassign via 1 hour of study on a daily basis. Great idea, though I wished it would scale with levels - as written, it's incredibly useful at low levels and later loses almost all relevance. Another feat nets you the benefits of versatile weapon training as a swift action - the basic feat allowing you to use a move action to get +1 to atk, +2 to damage or +1 shield bonus AC for one turn. Solid, since it trades action economy for increased flexibility. Finally, there's a feat that nets you +2 to diplomacy and allows you to increase the initial attitude by up to 3 steps.
After that, we are introduced to new flaws (introduced in the rather neat Player's Options: Flaws - which I encourage you to check out!) and the pdf features all necessary pieces of information to introduce flaws into your campaign - a total of 8 new flaws are presented and they are universally neat and offer some nice options. Two thumbs up for this part of the pdf!
The final section of the pdf provides the new simple weapons branding iron & pitchfork, stats for appel pie, lift shoes and a make-up kit - again, a nice section.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to 4WFG's printer-friendly b/w 2-column-standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked. The pdf has no artworks but doesn't need any at this length and the front cover is a separate jpg.-file.
Humans are hard to write for, as they are the default race and usually what one sees as the norm against which we judge the other fantasy races - even more so in the context of a rules-supplement such as this that has the additional handicap of not being able to make rules based on campaign-specific cultural peculiarities. That being said, the pdf has me rather neat ideas in its pages, though it is far from perfect - the wild child is every definition of the word "broken" and the vast majority of feats is very specific or simply underwhelming. The crowd-related feats are interesting, yes, and I like the design rationale for the Versatile Training Feats, but most of the other feats did not seem like valid choices to me. The flaws and equipment, then again, are cool and well-written and provide some nice options for the race of humans. Whether that's enough to carry the product, though, largely depends on whether you like the concept of flaws or not. If you do, then this pdf has something to offer you and might offer some nice options. If you don't, then this loses quite some of its appeal.
However, this is no pdf that can blindly be introduced to your table and also features some components that are simply not balanced with existing options. Since the price is low and this pdf still has something to offer, I'll settle for a final verdict of 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
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An intriguing superhero from the Golden Age, Ghost Boy epitomises teen angst long before it was a fashionable concept. He's insecure and feels out-of-place whether he's with his school-mates or with other superheroes or hanging out with the ghosts that his powers allow him to see and interact with.
This would be an interesting character for a strong role-player to play, to explore the way in which Ghost Boy develops as he discoveres how to use his abilities to be a valuable member of a group of superheroes rather than the weedy and barely-tolerated 'cute mascot' that he feels himself to be... or perhaps one of your characters would like to mentor him and help him discover his true place in the world.
Alternatively, he could be run as a villain, working on the edge of the supernatural and helping ghosts to wreak vengeance on the living...
A neat and interesting look at a character who is not all power and strength and useful in a brawl, a more subtle yet still potent ally or enemy.
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This pdf is 21 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 18 pages of content, so let's take a look!
The first supplement to come out of Purple Duck Games' acquisition of 4 Winds Fantasy Games, this pdf features several NPCs, all ready to be dropped into your campaign and also comes with short paragraphs on how to insert the characters into the world of Porphyra, Purple Duck games' default setting. Drustan, Son of Cymbel would be the first in the cadre of NPCs and comes with both a background story as well as information on traits selected and 3 incarnations - one at barbarian level 1, one at level 5 and one at level 10. Each of the NPCs herein comes in versions for these three levels, providing a certain variety regarding statblocks.
What's also rather nice is that the boon-mechanic sees some use and each of the entries is headed with a boon PCs may get from friendly contact with Drustan. More interesting than Drustan, at least for me, would be the second barbarian, Fala Ravenshair, who hails from a desert-dwelling tribe: Her talent for divination via her prized deck adds an uncommon component to what you'd expect from a barbarian. The dwarven bard Aonghas Silverstrings, hailing from a rich family, is also and interesting character and a nice contradiction to the cliché of the quickly angered dwarf, though personally, I would have loved to see him utilize at least one masterpiece in his highest-level iteration. As written, he is very much vanilla apart from magical talent as a trait, rules-wise.
Amira Dashunt, is a half-elven, charming woman that grew up in a desert-town and the head-turning freespirit of a woman should make for an interesting acquaintance for the PCs, perhaps even a romantic interest. The elven priest Solon Redbranch with his solemn belief in law and his calligraphy-skills is another interesting diversion from tried and true stereotypes. Willow Briarberry is a halfling cleric of a church that doubled as a thieves' guild and as such may, beyond her cleric prowess, grant access to the local underworld.
The pdf alos features a line on languages and how they work in context, assigning (fully optional, mind you) e.g. a dialect of Alko to Drustan's people.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, I didn't notice any all too jarring mistakes. Layout adheres to a no-frills two-column b/w standard and with the lack of borders and its purple highlights is closer to PDG's tradition than to 4WFG's, in case you wonder. The pdf is fully and extensively bookmarked and the stock-b/w-artworks you'll probably already know from a variety of Raging Swan Press-products, though at this price-point, I don't hold that against the pdf.
This is a humble collection of NPCs, two for every class the product advertizes, one male and one female. There are no gnomes or half-orcs or weird races in here. None of the characters multiclasses or uses some gimmicky options - no subdomains, no masterpieces, no exalted domains, no new rage powers. These characters are the very definition of vanilla. And yeah, presentation and usability is up to the standards, the characters fitting the roles assigned to them - the thing is: I've seen each of these character-types done before. Often. My point just is that we'd need uncommon options for pregenerated characters more than options that are almost exclusively core. There is nothing wrong with any of these characters and if a DM needs some characters to fill generic-slot xyz, that's where these shine. But did these statblocks make me want to include them as characters? Honestly...No.
None of these really stuck with me or elicited any form of excitement from me. Granted, that's not necessarily their job. But it would have been nice nevertheless to see some options used, an archetype here and there etc. to set them further apart. As written, this pdf left me with an overwhelming sense of adequateness - the characters are good, the formal criteria professional. But for me, there was no spark. Hence, I'll settle on a final verdict of 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
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Well, if the first character (included when you order the Subscription) is anything to go by this is going to be a series well worth collecting! Here are my notes on this first entry in the subscription:
Quite an intriguing character - possibly best used as an NPC although a strong role-player could have fun with the character - Danni Cipher comes from a far-distant future.
Danni is a temporal archaeologist, delving into past times by manipulating the time-stream to visit them rather than digging holes. Somewhere along the line to that far future that Danni comes from, everything went really, terribly awry and the timeline got... snapped. The past literally disassociated from the future. Things are unravelling, and Danni's goal is to find the RIGHT past and link it to the future from whence the archaeologist came.
The character is well-detailed and described, mostly in a rather breathless and engaging first person. This leads me to an intriguing point: nowhere is Danni's gender identified! The reason apparently is that it can change when navigating the timestream, or to fit in with the situations encountered... but maybe perhaps it really is that in the far future it actually does not matter at all which gender you are! (Being one of those odd people who don't have much of a gender identity, I can identify with this approach to a character... in fact until I found the side-bar explaining this I hadn't really noticed the lack of a stated gender, especially with the first person approach not giving room for gender-appropriate pronouns...).
Full statistics are also given. Danni is possibly a little underpowered as most PCs might go, another reason for using this character as an NPC, but the quirky flavour makes up for that and good role-playing of someone from a really advanced technology may well overcome this.
Now Danni believes that some evil mastermind messed up the timelines to cause the disconnect. Up to you whether or not that is true, or indeed just what Danni is doing when encountered by the players... I'm contemplating them finding Danni just arrived and trying to figure out this new primitive era, a bit lost and confused. A nicely-developed and unusual character, and if the rest of the series maintains this high standard you will end up with a worthwile collection of characters to add to your game!
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Quite an intriguing character - possibly best used as an NPC although a strong role-player could have fun with the character - Danni Cipher comes from a far-distant future.
Danni is a temporal archaeologist, delving into past times by manipulating the time-stream to visit them rather than digging holes. Somewhere along the line to that far future that Danni comes from, everything went really, terribly awry and the timeline got... snapped. The past literally disassociated from the future. Things are unravelling, and Danni's goal is to find the RIGHT past and link it to the future from whence the archaeologist came.
The character is well-detailed and described, mostly in a rather breathless and engaging first person. This leads me to an intriguing point: nowhere is Danni's gender identified! The reason apparently is that it can change when navigating the timestream, or to fit in with the situations encountered... but maybe perhaps it really is that in the far future it actually does not matter at all which gender you are! (Being one of those odd people who don't have much of a gender identity, I can identify with this approach to a character... in fact until I found the side-bar explaining this I hadn't really noticed the lack of a stated gender, especially with the first person approach not giving room for gender-appropriate pronouns...).
Full statistics are also given. Danni is possibly a little underpowered as most PCs might go, another reason for using this character as an NPC, but the quirky flavour makes up for that and good role-playing of someone from a really advanced technology may well overcome this.
Now Danni believes that some evil mastermind messed up the timelines to cause the disconnect. Up to you whether or not that is true, or indeed just what Danni is doing when encountered by the players... I'm contemplating them finding Danni just arrived and trying to figure out this new primitive era, a bit lost and confused. A nicely-developed and unusual character!
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NPCs provide the lifeblood of any game, but good ones can be time-consuming to produce... so this is a very useful product for the GM who likes properly-developed NPCs but has only the time to create the most important personalities for his game. This work, the first in a series, looks at (you guessed it!) barbarians, bards and clerics; with two members of each class presented at several levels - another useful feature, as you can select the most appropriate level for your game or even have them 'grow' alongside the player-characters should you decide that they'll be recurring people in the alternate reality you are creating.
Each one is fully detailed not just as regards the stat block but also with a background. This is a neat mix of fairly generic with plenty of detail, so that they appear 'fully-fleshed' yet are quite easy to slot in to your own campaign world. Additional notes are supplied for those using or intending to use Porphyra, the 'house world' in development by 4 Winds' partner company Purple Duck Games, but leaving those out does not detract from the character as a whole.
The characters have their own quirks and personalities, and stand ready with very little work to be dropped straight into your game. It's up to you to decide if they are enemies, allies or 'just around' - or of course you can use them as quick replacements for deceased PCs, hand them to new players or use them in a one-off game rather than spend time in character generation. Mechanically sound and interesting folk in their own right, this series will be worth collecting and will come in useful for any GM.
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This pdf is 13 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 10 pages of content, so let’s check out these new options for the dwarves!
The pdf kicks off with new variant dwarven races, the first of which would be the Half-Dwarf, who gains +2 to any attribute, 30 ft movement (and is hindered by encumbrance), darkvision 30 ft., count as dwarves and humans, gain dwarven weapon familiarity, +2 to saves vs. spells, spell-like abilities and poisons, +2 to CMD vs. trip and bull rush, +2 to craft related to stone and metal, +2 to tracking vs. giants and +1 to atk vs them, +2 to climb and acrobatics on narrow ledges as well as acclimatization to high altitudes and a bonus feat.
Stone Dwarves gain +2 to Str, Con and Wis, -2 to Dex and Cha, count as dwarves, gain dwarven weapon familiarity, 60 ft. darkvision, +6 vs. bull rush and trip attempts, stonecunning, can take 5-foot steps in difficult terrain due to rubble/stones and can create difficult terrain in a 10 ft. radius centered on them. They also gain fast healing 2 (up level x2 max hp) when hit by acid. The concept of this race is essentially a more extreme dwarf and thus, the race’s significant benefits are offset with characteristic weaknesses: Stone Dwarves only get a movement rate of 15 ft. (which would spell certain death in my campaign, but perhaps my players are forced to run more often than usual from collapsing structures, eldritch tentacles from the dark beyond or chase down foes…) as well as a fear of being immersed in water and a crippling penalty to swim-checks. While not too awesome or suitable for any campaign, as NPCs or for certain types of campaign, this should be interesting, amping up all clichés about dwarves up to eleven. Both variant races thankfully come with full age, height and weight tables.
After these two, we are introduced to a variety of new feats with the [Dwarf]-descriptor, available exclusively to dwarves and thankfully also collated in an overview-table. A multitude of these feats grant you +2 bonuses to skills that scale up to +4 at higher levels, granting you e.g. a powerful baritone, enhancing your singing. There also is a feat that grants you +4 to CMD vs. disarm-attempts and one (exclusively available if you have no access to the rage-class feature), that allows you to enter a fearsome dwarven rage (like the rage spell) for Cha-mod +1/4 levels round per day. This duration can be expanded by casting rage on you, but expends another one of the cha-mod times per day you can enter the rage. Interesting feat! Also rather cool, certain dwarves may now remain conscious when dropped to 0 HP or below with will-saves – a neat idea that won’t see any use in my campaign – since I houseruled it to work for all races! Suffice to say, I like this feat! The influence of “The Hobbit” can be seen in another feat that allows you to call a giant eagle. There also in a feat that grants you bonuses vs. ancestral foes that drove you from your homeland, a feat that adds +2 (+4 at higher levels) to unarmed damage and a feat that reflects your affinity for trekking through difficult terrain. The Dwarven Beard-feat grants you a +1 circumstance bonus when dealing with dwarves that feels a bit weak for taking up a whole feat – especially if your campaign is like mine and being doused in fire may scorch your hair off…
The cool option for flaws (introduced in 4WFG’s Player’s Options: Flaws) are expanded in this book as well: You may take them at 1st level for 3 skill points or a bonus feat. The flaws can be bought off by specific actions and in my opinion, provide great opportunities for roeplaying and character development. From Gold Fever, compulsive hoarding to overweight, prejudices, sinking like a stone to being beardless, these flaws all rock and provide cool character angles. Two thumbs up for them!
The pdf also introduces the warbrand and dwarven warscythe-weapons as well as two new types of dwarven maille and other mundane items that range from the obligatory ale to hard-tack and dwarven green-cheese as well as fake beards for dwarven females (controversy starting in 3…2…1…)to finally dwarven stone drums, these items are also rather neat.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, I didn’t notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to 4WFG’s 2-column standard and the pdf comes with stock-art and is fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks, which is a definite plus. I’ll come right out and say it: I’m not a big fan of either variant races: The Half-dwarf feels to me like the dwarven equivalent of the half-elf and I like my fantasy races distinct – dwarves should in my mind not be able to produce offspring with other races, it detracts from their social isolationalism and their distinct culture. That’s a personal preference, though and will not fracture into my final verdict.
Now, the stone dwarves are interesting in that they are EXTREMELY good at being tanks – stone dwarf armiger is probably a terrible nightmare for any DM. The massively powerful race is balanced with some crippling weaknesses, though said weaknesses may impede the character massively in day-to-day adventuring. If your campaign is like mine and more on the low-level end of magic, then this race might be unbalancing or very problematic for the player, much like centaur PCs and similar weird races. DMs should definitely beware and think about their modules when including a stone dwarf so that unpleasant frustrations and opportunities to shine are balanced – more so than with any other race I’ve read in the last couple of months.
Now, the feats, I’m loathe to say it, smell of LAZY design. Come on. There are so many “+2 to skill(-group) x, +4 if condition y is met”-feats herein, it’s sad. And no one wants or needs those. The minor-skill-bonus-feats were boring and lazy design in 3.X and they still are today. There are 2 okay feats herein (the Dwarven Fury and Eagle-calling), but overall, they are weak and bland.
It is here, I was thinking that the pdf didn’t have anything to offer for my campaign and this is when I started to read the flaws – they rock. (Pardon the pun!) If you’re playing with the option for flaws, these iconic options should put a smile on your face. The mundane new items herein are also really cool and flavorful. However, how to rate this? Honestly, for me personally, this pdf didn’t have too much to offer, mostly due to neither variant race working for me – they might work for you, though, and thus I won’t hold that versus the pdf. What I do hold against it, though, is the bland, boring, bad selection of feats – the book on Halflings showed that this can be done better. The Flaws and mundane items somewhat offset this weakness, though I would have liked to see more of both and if you don’t use flaws, these might be of less use to you – though reskinning them as curses should be easy.
To cut a long ramble short – personally, I didn’t like this book, but as a reviewer, I can see appeal for certain demographics and realize that some of my glitches are based on my personal preferences. Thus, I’ll settle for a final verdict of 3.5 stars, but still round down to 3 stars for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
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I think this is a neat addition and will probably allow my players to use it in my future games. The options for elemental breeds are very interesting. I was disappointed in the lack of fluff and the fact that the tiefling options only included the female devils and demons. I would have liked to have seen an Ice Devil or Chain Devil option. Some of the less 'sexy' devils that would give interesting options for roleplay and flavor.
Definitely worth the purchase but not all that it could have been.
Thanks for the cool new options!
~Kevin
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thank you for the review! |
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Ways to help provide color to your halfling. (I do find the cover amusing - a lock that a halfling has to kneel to get to must be about 10 inches off the ground :))
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thanks for your review! (and it's supposed to be a very large chest she's trying to open. :) ) |
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This pdf is 6 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, leaving 4 pages for a total of 100 different "random acts" of horror, so let's check them out!
As with all of the system-neutral random acts, this one provides short, crunch-less descriptions for diverse acts that can be expanded upon by the DM to provide for adventure hooks or fluff. To give you examples of what to expect, here are some examples, taken 1:1 from the pdf:
a)A ghostly figure passes through the closed door and keeps coming toward the PCs. Its wailing gets louder as it closes in on them.
b) The PCs have just entered a building when the door slams shut behind them and can’t be opened.
c) A beautiful woman with fiery red hair attempts to coax one of the party into the cemetery. “It’s somewhere the city watch never goes and the perfect place to not be disturbed,” she smiles sweetly. Five thieves’ guildsmen in dark clothes hide among the tombstones.
I'm a huge sucker for horror-supplements. I love them. Can you feel the dread? The chill? Yeah, me neither. And no, these were not a worst-of, but rather a cross-section of what you'll find herein.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to 4WFG's 2-column, printer-friendly b/w-standard and the pdf actually has bookmarks, which is nice. The introduction to this pdf acknowledges that this pdf is even more generic than other pdfs of the line since horrific creatures may vary from system to system.
While that's understandable, it's also the reason this pdf fails so extremely hard at evoking even the tiniest shred of dread. A plowed field from which zombies rise? Come on - I didn't even consider that to be creepy when I was a child. A man kissing a woman on the neck, blood flowing down her neck? In these days of ours, the sexualization of vampires, be it via this Twilight-crap (pardon all fangirls and boys, if any) or "bloody" vampires, has led to such an imagery being many things, but definitely not creepy. Wailing ghostly figures? Empty villages? Devilish creatures trying to pass off as humans in a town? All been there done that, which wouldn't be bad, would the format of this line not utterly contradict one of the fundamental laws of horror - details. Any good horror stories is completely, utterly dependant on details, imagery, cohesiveness and the building up of suspension - there's a reason jump-scares wear off so fast and true horror, one that elicits fright, stems from a psychological, slow manipulation and a hinting at the uncanny. Think of all the good horror-modules out there for multiple systems- the details are what makes them remarkable.
The problem thus faced by this particular book is twofold - its very format prohibits it from being creepy and its multi-system approach makes it generic to boot. Without a specific implied rule-set or world, the creepy elements remain only the blandest of cardboard cut-outs like "shadows", "someone hunched over a corpse, flesh in his mouth" etc. Add to that that we don't really get acts per se - rather, we get "The pungent smell of rot greets the PCs as they enter a catacomb". Foreshadowing? Okay. Setting suspension? If you're lenient and your players easily spooked, perhaps. But this is one point. Notice something? This is no act - it's a description. A black cat crossing their path, hissing and then dying would be an act, but actually, acts are few and far in between and, due to the setting-neutral approach (fantasy, CoC, Vampire, whatever) remain clichéd.
All of them.
I've seen each and every hook herein executed, multiple times and just about every time better due to more space, more setting the stage etc. I honestly am not sure how to rate this - as a book on acts (jump-scares perhaps) it fails as it consists mostly of hooks. As a generic DM-inspiration for horror adventures/fluff, it can't hold a candle to Eureka's horrorsection (which is also setting-neutral, but much more imaginative) and retreads all the tired old clichéd without breathing life into them. A possible reference against which I could judge this pdf would then be "Your whispering Homunculus"'s system-neutral, creepy lists - the use about as many words and suffer from similar limitations - and mop the floor with this pdf. However I twist and turn it, my only constant observation is that this book tries to cater to all audiences and ends up failing to cater to any of them. I can find nothing positive to say about this installment but that its production values (as with all 4WFG-books I've read)are top-notch. That's it. It's the worst of the line, it's not even remotely creepy, fails in each and every category I could endeavor to judge it and does not even make for a valid inspiration for the most novice of horror-DMs. Buy any 4 Wind Fantasy Gaming book - they all have something to offer and several are excellent. Hell, the other lists in the series are much better. My final verdict for this train-wreck will be 1 star.
Endzeitgeist out.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Sorry you didn't like this one, End. I appreciate you taking the time to review it, though, and I always respect your thoughtful points of view. |
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/07/11/tabletop-review-random-
acts-of-horror/
Last year I reviewed an amusing little book called Random Acts of… Violence. It was an amusing, helpful, and easy to use book that offered a hundred random “acts” that a DM could use in a role playing game. A DM could simply pick one of the acts, or roll a percentile to get one at random. The idea was great, and it was obvious that we would see some more Random Acts in the future.
Random Acts of… Horror is the latest in this series. Instead of almost slapstick levels of physical comedy, Horror brings about a macabre change to the format. There are plenty of surprise zombie attacks, ghostly figures, and things that go bump in the night.
One thing I noticed immediately, mostly because the preface told me about it, was that things were often a bit more vague that usual. Shadowy figures surround sleeping PCs, but what’s revealed when the lights go on is pretty much up to the DM. The book goes with “horrors beyond all imagining”. It could be a group of demons getting ready to feast on your soul, or something like a troupe of goblins getting ready to put on a striptease. Clearly, the level of flexibility offers up all kinds of… possibilities.
Something interesting to note is that many of these acts allow you to test the alignments of characters. For example, “While visiting a small town, the PCs notice many devilish creatures trying to pass for townspeople.” A good player may go to investigate, while an evil character may gleefully join in on the shenanigans. Depending on the type of campaign your running, such a simple sentence could have some pretty neat ramifications.
Using the book is simple. There are a hundred different acts in the book. Each one has an associated number. If you want something random, merely roll percentile dice (2d10), and go from there. If you’re looking for an idea to jump start your campaign, you can simply pick one you like. With a hundred different options, the book can certainly come in handy. I don’t have too much experience running campaigns of my own, but I do know how difficult it can be coming up with ideas. This book can offer up useful starting points.
There are no stats given for anything in the book. That means its compatible with just about everything out there. It also means that users will likely have to do a bit of work after they’ve chosen an act. After all, if a hungry werewolf is going to attack the party, it’s going to need some stats. Still, I think the flexibility and utility makes up for the leg work.
At two dollars, this book is a fairly safe buy. It many only contain a list, but it’s a pretty good list. If you like, you can also purchase four books in the series as a bundle for six dollars. That’s a pretty sweet deal if you don’t already own one of them. If you’re looking for something to spice up your campaign, this is certainly worth a look
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thank you very much for the detailed review! |
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the Book of Divine Magic adds more material to your cleric, druid and paladin classes (and Rangers). There is a list of gods and their domains. Plenty of new spells. Rules for temples and divine animal companions (like familiars) and new magic items and relics. Avery densely packed 94 pages.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thank you for the review! |
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Another great book from 4-Winds Fantasy Gaming. This one focuses on the Arcane Spellcaster in Pathfinder. While the book predates the APG Witch, a lot of these new spells and ideas can be used with the witch. Of course they are all also fine to use as they are. In particular I liked all the new Sorcerer bloodlines and colleges of Wizardry. I like the idea of my wizard doing post-graduate work in magic.
There are new familiars, spells and magic items. So it is worth it just for these.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thank you very much for the review! |
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Described as a source book for Base and Prestige Classes. This book features a new Witch class. This witch has "Circle" magic and gets spells based on Wisdom as do the witches in the 3.0 book I did years ago. This witch is a nice alternative to the Pathfinder Witch. If you were to use both I would call this one a "Witch" and the APG one a "Warlock". In addition to the witch we get the Anti-Paladin, elemental wizards, gladiators, samurai and the Voyager. NPC classes include the Courtesan, Captain and Sycophant. Truthfully I only found the Courtesan useful. Prestige classes include the Child of Bast, Crypt Stalker and the Envenomed. Personally I would have liked the PrCs to be a little more related to the base classes.
There is though plenty of magic items and spells. There are also plenty of new witch-related feats.
Since I bought it for the witch alone, I am actually pretty satisfied with what I got.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thank you for your review! |
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