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I was a fan of Leomund. I think a great deal of folks were. As well as several of the other fictional spell designing, item crafting powerhouses who's names graced so many items throughout an era of gaming. And yes, a great of those echoes of times gone by are still there, albeit under other names, but the connection to an individual is gone, and than somehow lessens the finished results. What an I yammering about? Something very cool...that's what.
Liz Smith takes on 30 Portable Rooms in this latest offering of the #30 series, but does it with more than just a collection of stats for some items. She gives us a name. Wyrist Spellweaver. A piece of fiction, sure, but aren't they all? The sheer fact that the PDF opens with a small piece of correspondence mentioning that the following is a collection of notes pertaining to one Wyrist Spellweaver, and his items of creation, and the reasoning behind why he created them in the first place took this PDF to a completely different level for me. Instantly I was far more interested in what these pages were going to contain, and how the mythos of this new NPC would evolve. See, that was, in the end, what we lost with the named spells, the mythos of those characters laid bare through their works. So, without even making it past the first paragraph I found myself impressed Liz, well done.
But, what of the rooms? What offerings are we presented with? Well, the Black Arrow is a classic example of the portable room done right, a stable complete with unseen servants and enchanted to allow speech with animals with the room, all presented as an old Horseshoe turned into a boot scrapper when deactivated. Or perhaps the Book of Books, a library, hidden with a book. Yeah, I know, so freaking obvious it astounds that this wasn't already done, but design of this nature is some of the best design out there, as it relies on its own simplicity.
We have a pair of boots that leave a fishing pond in their steps, a mug with a trapdoor to a hidden wine cellar, a thieves dart that spun just right will open a trapdoor to a training gym...in short, there are some seriously interesting takes on how one defines the idea of a portable room.
The best part here has to be the benefits of the rooms themselves. Each room gives a reason why one would want to get into it, be it a bonus against a roll or check, rest, food, etc. But not one of these benefits outweigh the value of the item to a game. By this I mean simply that any of these items could be introduced without doing enough unbalancing to do any true damage to a game, which is ideal of course.
Editing and format wise I caught nothing in regards to errors or bad layout, rather quite the opposite, this overall look and feel of this PDF is rather well put together. Design wise I am very impressed with Liz Smith's take on the portable room concept, and and can't help but recommend this PDF to anyone and everyone who missed out Leomund as much as I. A solid 5 star rating, and well worth the price of admission.
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OK...let's begin with the statement that I am not a fan of humor in my game material. I know, I know, how very grinch like of me, but there it is. That being said, a product that is in fact a humorous product is not quite the same, now is it? I knew the second I saw the cover that what I had in my hands was a tongue in cheek collection of creatures...something for those looking to inject some holiday humor into their gametop...what I was not expecting was the solid design behind the creatures.
Yeah, I said it, solidly designed critters. Now, granted, their are a few here that will probably only ever exist in a game meant for laughs, such as the Gingerbread Golem, Eggnog Pudding, or even the Aberrant Fruitcake...but their designs are still logical and solid enough to field them, with effectiveness. That spoke through, loud and clear.
Taking a step towards the undead side of things I have got to say the Dirge Caroler is hands down my favorite creature in this collection, and oddly invokes some nostalgia for classic Doctor Who in me...not sure if it was just the feel of the creature or if there was something similar in an episode, regardless they are a cool concept. Leading a "caroling choir" of well dressed zombies, the dirge carolers enchant and devour to their heart's content within communities, adding a serious level of creepy to those annoying folks wandering around singing.
And the Dreidel Swarm, now that is an interesting concept, and a well executed one at that. That is easily something I can see getting some mileage at a gametable, showing up perhaps in the lair of a demented toy-maker....hmmm, excuse me, need to make a few notes....
Point being, if you are looking for a cool little collection of holiday inspired creatures, you've found them, period. There's something in here for any play style, and then some.
Now, did I have issues with a few things? Yeah...the art is all over the place, some pieces being extremely cartoony, perhaps even childish...but for what this collection is, that oddly added to the charm of the product. Which brings me to my only true complaint in regards to design, and that is the Clockwork Nutcracker having no form of bite attack. It seems an almost given that there would be some special linked with that gaping maw of his.
All in all though, as I stated, the creatures here are a good collection of holiday inspired weirdness, ready to bring a few smiles to the table as you roll some dice with friends under the tree.
A 5 star rating for a rather unique collection of oddities.
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#30 Alchemical Gadgets, yet another addition to the #30 series from Rite publishing offers up an alternative to equipping a playgroup with a plethora of magical items that are typically costly, and usually limited in the scope of who can or can not use them. The alternative is to look to alchemy. Granted there are a few items here that are blatant re-skins, and perhaps a little to “modern” for some tastes when it comes to a fantasy setting (I'm looking at you Alchemical Fire Projector...yes, it's a flame thrower)...but there are some really good pieces in here. The Arcane Atomizer allows for the detection on magical auras by spraying a mist of fluid into the air which reacts via color change to present magical energies. The Firefly Box brings rave strobe lights to fantasy gaming...I kid you not, lol...a good solid explanation for how and why, but at the end of the day, it is what it is, lol. Ah well, I guess even medieval kids need to get their funk on occasionally.
The Forensic Lens gives us game mechanics for the classic multi-tree of lenses that Hollywood has done such a good job of portraying throughout most of my life as those glasses that all “sciency types” wear...you know the type I am referring to, the main lens with a plethora of flip up and fold down additional lenses...well, this would be a monogoggle variety of said eye-wear. Mainly designed for aiding in tracking and investigation alas, so its intended purpose is far more limited I think then these could have been.
Frog Gloves grant webbing to aid in swim checks and speed, and the Grounder Spike operates as a limited form of electrical protection. The Hopelight Globe (while reminding me of a glo-stick) is a fairly cool little device, and one I could easily see making available to my PCs. A globe filled with a charged liquid that is tossed to a point, whereupon the necessary chemical reactions take place within it causing the attached lenses to focus and emit a pale green light. Cool thing there is the light is more than just a means of being able to see, as it makes etheral creatures visible, and damages undead and aberations.
The Omnicaulker is yet another example of an alchemical item skirting the concepts of re-skinning modern ideas, without even trying to hide the fact. It's a caulk gun, pure and simple. You load it with different alchemical substances stored in cartridges that you can then squeeze out in a thin line for a variety of effects depending upon which substance you load....of the worst when it comes to following along with the idea of re-skinned modern items has got to be Superstick...yes, it's super-glue.
OK...Spell Poppers are indeed something we all know, and I imagine most of us have fond memories of playing with them as kids, and yet they are not a modern item, for they have been around for quite sometime. They are the little paper wrapped poppers that you throw at surfaces to get them to explode, totally harmless, but a great way to distract a spell chucker trying to cast, and something so simple in its usage here that it is sheer brilliance.
14 pages total, with 10 of those being the new alchemical items, the PDF is presented in the standard dual column format with embedded artwork. Following the classic Rite publishing usage of classic art this PDF does not disappoint, as there are some truly exceptional pieces of art included. Editing wise I did find a few stray mishaps, the occasional odd wording or dropped letter.
Whereas there are several items within this collection that to me felt like a blatant re-skin of modern tech, in the end that is what the alchemy line is, whether I like it or not. Personally, I am not a fan of the idea, but it is a rather large portion of what alchemy is, the precursor to science and tech. So, having cleared that up, that I am judging this purely on its design merits, and not personal opinions towards alchemy in general, I am going with a 4 star rating. There are a lot of well designed items here that would help any playgroup drastically, at a far easier rate of availability than magical means supply.
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We've all been there, those little squishy tasty scooby snacks known as low level characters...just waiting to be fed to a group of rats, or maybe if you're really lucky a pack of goblins....Woopee!! Yeah, not so much, right? Low level notoriously blows, because so little is written for it with the idea that the group can handle a real challenge, let alone is worthy of a story that goes beyond the most absolute basic concepts...after all, the good stuff is reserved for those characters that can do something with it. Well, Wolfgang says NO MORE!!
To the Edge of the World by Wolfgang Baur is (like every book in the Midgard series) a visual treat to look at. To say that Marc Radle was a good choice for graphic design for the Kobolds has got to be one of the biggest understatements one could imagine. Everything Radle touches ends up with a higher degree of professionalism and just all around sexiness. Sexiness? Yeah, I went there. I can not stress enough how much I have fallen in love with the look of the Midgard series of books, and am thrilled to see that the look is going to carry into the adventures as well as the sourcebooks, as this truly ties them all together as a cohesive set.
Now, I know, I know...you didn't come here to listen to me go on and on about how pretty it is, you want to know about the meat of it all, The adventure itself. And how in the world any adventure written for a beginning playgroup could possibly incorporate a cover that freaking cool, right? Well, let me break it to you buttercup....Oh, wait, almost forgot...PLAYERS BEGONE (wiggles the fingers, tosses the dust) ...Alright, almost forgot to cast that handy little incantation SPOILER ALERT...lol. Now, where were we?? Ah yes, the cover, and just what the heck is going on in this adventure....read on my friends, read on.
The PCs are going to find themselves hired to travel to meet with an undead queen, there to do the diplomacy dance and ingratiate themselves through gifts and flattery to try and gain access to a tomb with the intentions of retrieving an item for their employer. Following me so far? Cool. Because what you have here is essentially the hook to get your PCs moving. The man of means hiring them is going to hook them up with some handy dandy toys to help, things well beyond their means as PCs, but in the end they are acting as emissaries for their employer, which is a great way to put means within the grasp of a group without breaking the mechanics of what they themselves could afford to have access to.
Offered the usage of a ship with an experienced captain (a dragonkin by the name of Gullnipper, who has an excellent piece of art on a sidenote), the PCs should have no problems in reaching the island of Karn'lothra. To keep the journey interesting several side encounters are presented to be used or not, as the GM chooses. Upon arrival to the island (which is described with absolutely cool little features - the corpse of a titan washed up on the beach, a ring of large sculpted heads surrounding the islands coastline, the immense amount of tombs forming a veritable wall of mazeworks.) the PCs will have to jump through the diplomatic hoops and deal with the Bloodless Queen (lich-queen) in attempting to get permission to search for a specific tomb, and then enter said tomb to retrieve an item for their employer.
It should be noted that at this point, yes, the PCs are dealing with things that could easily kill them all, without trying. And that's exactly the point. A group that remembers their place in the larger scale of things, and talks instead of unsheathing their weapons stands a much better chance of getting through several areas of this adventure alive. Assuming they get to the tomb, and survive its defenses, they will find themselves in possession of both that which they came for, and an unexpected treat that should amuse any GM out there...an intelligent, talking spellbook. Yeah, a built in NPC who may or may not co-operate at its own discretion, without being so intrusive that it gets in the way of the storyline.
The book, in the attempt to facilitate escape from the Queen's minions, summons a Leviathan Island for the PCs to "board" and "set sail" on. The leviathan island is freaking huge people, and the map showing it off is a piece of artwork on its own, an actual island of stone and vegetative growth, complete with a group of mongrelmen who worship the freaking thing.
So, pretty cool so far, no? I mean, let's face it, that's some pretty epic stuff for a low level group to experience...but we're so not done yet. The Midgard setting presents us with a flat world, and this leviathan is intending to leave, and get back to the celestial sea by sailing to the edge and making the leap...and yes, the PCs are going along for the ride unless they choose to bail, with no ship or hope of survival. Amongst the stars the leviathan heads towards the Citadel of a Million Stars, wherein the PCs will find themselves embroiled within the court politics of the celestials in residence, with no real allies to rely upon.
A fantastically envisioned adventure that allows for the reality that it is OK for a low level group of PCs to encounter things beyond their combat scope, to be put into danger that will require them to do more than hack and slash to survive, and truly pushes the envelope of what a low level adventure is.
Presented in a dual column format with embedded artwork from Mark Bulahao and Marc Radle, cartography from Todd Gamble, Alyssa Faden and Peter Bradley, and of course that insanely cool cover piece from Pat Loboyko. Editing is top notch, with nothing really jumping out and grabbing me.
Whereas the adventure could be ported to another setting, the true weight of the design and the subtle beauty really shines through when it is left right where it was designed to be played, within the Midgard setting. Several references are made throughout the PDF to other Kobold Press publications, ranging from other Midgard titles to KQ issues, all of which one should have within their library (lol), or can be referenced from the D20PFSRD easily enough.
Wolfgang reminds us all why he's a force to be reckoned with in the industry with this adventure, and easily earned a 6 star rating from me, rounded down to a 5 for the purposes of this forum. A true treat, and well worth the price of admission folks!
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5 Mount Steed Spell Feats...yes, it's time again to look in on the Bullet Points series. Following the standard look and format for the Bullet Point series with the three page, three column layout, with of course the lead in page explaining what exactly the Bullet Point line is all about. Found three hiccups in the editing, which really surprised me given the usual level of quality behind SGG's products.
So, 5 feats....what does Owen have for us this time? Aethon allows for mounts to be included within abjuration spell targets (as long as the spells target a number of opponents rather than area effect, while Buraq allows for healing spells to include the mounts of those targeted. Augment Steed is easily one of the cooler feats in this collection, as it allows you to forgo summoning a mount to apply it's crunch to a mount you are already astride, as well as giving your mount some nice perks in regards to fatigue, hunger, etc. Heightened Steed Spell cranks up the effective level of the summon spell giving the summoned mount bonuses to its movement and AC. And last, not least, is my personal choice out of this collection, the Summon Steed feat. Summon Steed allows you to summon anything off of your summon lists that is already available to you outfitted and ready to go, as a willing steed...go ahead, let that sink in for a few minutes...think of how many things are on the summon lists, and how cool it would be to utilize some of them as steeds.
Final thoughts...the editing balanced against the design of the feats. Two of the feats are stellar in my opinion, with the other three being decent to cool, but not rising to the level of the other two. Settling at a three star rating for this one, a good product, just not entirely up to the standards Owen has led me to expect from him.
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The Village Backdrop series gives that most needed of thing for any campaign that is going to do any traveling, detailed locales. Those places your PCs are going to be traveling to and through. With a genre that loves to over detail and fluff the importance of every place out there, this was one of those PDFs that I found to be refreshing, as Village Backdrop: Apia presented this village as exactly what it is, a normal place.
Apia is a village founded upon the remains of a previous settlement, built within the shadow of a castle's ruins. Born from those who originally came to loot what was left of the castle and the surrounding ruins of the previous town, and the people who seem to always be there following adventurers, a community of tents slowly built into the standards one expects to see within a village (bars, taverns, general store). That probably would have been all there was to the history of this town if not for an encounter one evening that changed everything for this village and its people.
An ettercap known as M’yxtix encountered a local child, hurt and in need of aid. Rather than following her first instincts, the realization that the villagers would hunt her down if the child fell to more harm led her to the unthinkable, she offered aid and “rescued” the child. Teaching the villagers the healing properties of honey to aid in the child's burns she ingratiated herself to the townsfolk, and was welcomed into their lives. She currently lives within the ruins of the castle with her “pets”, several large spiders. The village, since that first meeting, has become a bee-keeper central, and has rebuilt their economy around honey and it's many uses, both in culinary applications as well as as a health aid. And yes, we get a step into the fantastical there, with an alchemical honey potion, and the Mellified Man (a mummification process that turns one's remains into an uber healing component in battling poisons or disease).
Lots of cool little details here, including a table for random village events including things like a town dance, baking contests and harvest season (tied to crab-apples), and wild animal attacks. Prices for everything offered up gear wise (honeyed foods, tavern drinks, the alchemical honey), detailed interesting NPCs, a small bit of intrigue and even a matter of secrecy involving theft going on within the village all add up to one very cool little spot on the road to stop off and get to know the locals.
Bookmarks, fully linked Table of Contents and a really nice old school feel map of the village all put the finishing touches on a product I was already looking at giving a solid 5 star rating to. Well worth the price of admission, and a prime example of how to design a cool community without over doing it.
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Dungeon Dressing: Fountains is the latest addition to the Dungeon Dressing line from Raging Swan. For those few out there who may be unfamiliar with this series the entire point and purpose of this excellent line is to make sure that you, the GM, never have to again find yourself facing your players with such thrilling descriptions as “There's a..um....fountain thingy...yeah, in the room. Its got water and stuff.” Come on, let's admit it, we've all shared a table at least once with that person. Always found myself trying to decide if I should reach across and smack them of simply feel bad for them, lol.
If you can roll a dice and look at a chart you can use the books in this series. It really is laid out and designed that easily, and that simplicity is one of the strong points behind the design, as the entire point of this series is to allow you to design insanely quickly, freeing you up to tackle other tasks.
So, what are we looking at here, what exactly is covered in a book discussing fountains? Ben Armitage does a descent job of covering enough of the details in answering that question that this book is about far more than just whatever peeing kid statue defaults to the center of the pool (sorry, I had to, lol)...no, he gives us random tables to handle a small list of shapes and sizes (local heroes, animals, trees, large stone chunks, gods, etc...you know, the typical statues), and the water pouring forth (be they clean or diseased, the quality of said water, or possible magical effects). All of that before we even get into the cool little details of what the PCs will experience when they encounter the fountain initially (The look and feel of the fountain before the game mechanics and such).
Now, up to now the tables, while cool and extremely useful, have not really handled what I consider the gravy points. They have been the required bits of knowledge in regards to designing a basic fountain. To demonstrate what I mean by this I rolled up a fountain from these initial tables, and present my creation below...
A statue depicting (a legendary hero) stands in the center of the pool on a raised column, with water flowing from his hands. The underground water source carries heavy metals to the fountain’s basin. Ingesting the water causes arsenic poisoning
Now, that's all well and good, and yes I left off the mechanics regarding the poison....but let's see what happens when I roll on the features and characteristics tables also, shall we?
A statue depicting (a legendary hero) stands in the center of the pool on a raised column, with water flowing from his hands. The underground water source carries heavy metals to the fountain’s basin. Ingesting the water causes arsenic poisoning. Inlaid on the inside of the fountain's basin is a mural depicting great scenes of glory. A wooden plank, held in place by a heavy rock, extends over the three feet deep fountain. Wet footprints lead from the water back up onto the plank.
Following along here? That's a grand total of 5 dice rolls. 1 for my initial fountain shape, 1 for the quality of water, 1 for the disease (since I rolled for tainted water), 1 characteristic and 1 feature...grand total time spent, 45 seconds...no really, I timed it, and I went slow, lol. Why do I make a point of doing this in every one of these reviews? Because I can not stress enough how useful and easy these products are.
Now, as has become a standard in this series, not only do we get the random charts of multiple design points that when combined make up a massive variety of fountains, we get a few traps. Three traps total, with a few spots of true coolness. Bonehold presents as a trap that might leave your PCs preparing to face a threat without understanding what they are facing initially, and these are the types of traps I like. A group of skeletons held in a ring around the fountains base under the water level by chains of stone await the PCs when they explore the fountain. The beauty of this trap is that the skeletons are not the threat, they are the last victims. The chains release the skeletons and attempt to grapple those who enter the water, pulling them in and holding them until they drown. And that's all just the initial round that anyone enters the water...on round two it gets more interesting as the second threat of the trap presents itself. But I'll let you read about that yourself.
Pairing this PDF with Dungeon Dressing: Pools would give you a massive amount of material to work with for designing some truly memorable pieces of detail as well as fantastically memorable encounter points. Tallying up my thoughts on this product...editing was fantastic, format was the classic two column approach. Two pieces of B&W artwork embedded within text flow, fully bookmarked and a linked Table of Contents (something I love to see) all add to the value here. Design wise what is presented here do allow for an immense amount of cool fountains, and there are several options within the lists for tainted waters, diseases and the inevitable slimes...but what I would have loved to have seen was more options for fountains that have nothing to do with water at all. Beer, wine, lava, blood, acid, flaming liquids...there are so many liquids that would have been cool to see added to this product that would have taken a good product to a stellar product in my mind. Am going with a 4 star rating, as the product is an excellent product, but the lack of inclusion of other liquids felt like an inclusion to me, and one of the three traps just didn't live up the bar set by the other two.
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Racial Ecologies Guide to Feyborn marks the latest addition to the line from Fat Goblin Games. Written and illustrated by Rick Hershey this PDF tackles those born with a touch of Fey to them. Be that because they are blood descended or merely blessed from birth, the feyborn are not quite the rest of us in regards to straight humanity, and it is these differences that make this such an interesting option for a PC race. The product does go on the default that human subtype is the only option presented, but I can't help but feel this subtype would be easily applied to several other races working off of the racial adjustment mechanics given for turning a human into a feyborn. Lots of racial trait options to make sure you will not feel pigeon-holed, which is always a plus in my opinion when presenting a new playable race, as more options always frees up players to explore and design. Along with the trait options comes a full set of favored class options as well, adding a further level of customization.
Rick does a great job here in remembering a lot of the little details that all add up to making a fleshed out race, a table for weight/heights and aging effects, a knowledge DC table for common knowledge regarding the race, the things like that. Eleven new feats offer up such gems as Fey Sense (Allowing for one to detect the presence and amount of fey within an area), Fey-Born Sorcery (giving a bonus to Enchantment spells) and Life's Blood (allowing for you to trade hps worth of damage for healing points for an ally).
New equipment introduces us to Dryad Pheromones, which do all those things those fake pheromone colognes always promised to do for us, lol. A very cool item, with a lot of useful potential. Follow this up with the Crescent Twilight, a fey weapon formed of two crescent blades laid side by side, and game mechanics to explain just what exactly what Fairy Duct is...hint, it's kind of gross in all reality, but makes perfect sense. An easy table gives all the pertinent data for including the weapon into your game easily.
Six magical items ranging from a Sprigganblood Cudgel (which can grow three times per day gaining a Reach ability) to Auberon's Blade ( a very nicely designed weapon, a flaming longsword that can be transformed into a whip, retaining damage from the sword while picking up attributes of a whip). Amongst these magical items I have to point towards the Gremlin Bell. In a world filled with conmen and snake oil salesmen peddling useless trinkets to the uneducated there are occasionally a few trinkets that actually do exactly what they claim to, and this happens to be one of those items. A simple bell on a string, nothing more, nothing less...but it reacts to and affects gremlins when they get within a certain proximity.
And, to close it all out, for those looking to get into the specifics of which fey their characters can trace back to as far as the racial details go we have a section detailing the heritage mechanics of being from a certain fey. Five options detailed, including the Bogeyborn, Dryadborn, Leprechaunborn, the unfortunate Miteborn, and the Nereidborn. Intended for those characters who are more attached to their fey heritage, each of the five racial packages replaces the default Feyborn racial kit, with a set of ability adjustments, traits and special abilities.
A random table with physical attributes (horns, skin tones, etc) close us out with an excellent way to quickly and easily generate a varied list of visuals for Feyborn characters.
Layout goes back and forth between a two and a three column format, with top notch editing. I found only one area of odd spacing, and to be honest I only mention it so that when others see it they won't be scratching their head wondering why I didn't. It certainly doesn't impede reading nor understanding, and is only odd in that it is a space between paragraphs on a page where no other paragraph breaks are spaced the same way.
Not mentioned as of yet, because quite frankly I am still trying to decide where I stand on it, is a sidebar regarding naming concepts. The sidebar as it stands is a useful tool, but within the text flavor of the Feyborn it is mentioned that their names are as varied as any human cultures, and that they are raised typically within these human lands. It seems to me that human parents would name their children according to their local racial customs and naming customs...that being said, in a fantasy setting, if a PC is looking for their Feyborn to have been born to parents who recognized them for what they were and want a name more fitting their heritage, the list is extremely handy. So...I guess, in the end I settle at the list is extremely useful for those looking to utilize it, which goes the route of providing options for those wanting them, which is something I tend to be a big fan of...hmmm, guess I figured out where I stand on the sidebar then, lol.
OK, so final tally. Artwork good, editing good, layout solid and design very appealing. An all around interesting racial option for a player race provided with a lot of options to make sure an entire table of players could choose this race to play and still manage some wildly different characters. A solid 5 star product, and well worth the price of admission! Well done!!
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Dungeon Dressing: Doors addresses that which all of us have put a few well placed shoulders and boots through over the years, and handles them with the perfect blending of logical application and devious design. For those not familiar with the Dungeon Dressing series this line seeks to help give a time harried GM the means to provide an immense amount of flavor and detail to their designs with as simple an action as rolling on a random chart. Formatting and editing appeared to be fantastic, I didn't see anything jump out in that regards, so well done there! We got two main charts this time out, one for features of the doors, the other for flavor. But before we get to those charts we have a full breakdown of the basics, types of doors, their AC, their hardness, all the good stuff one needs to know. The cool thing in here is we get mechanics for bead curtains...yes, I said bead curtains. Trust me, by the time you get to the traps in the back of the PDF you'll be thrilled you have game rules for a freaking bead curtain, and you just might be face palming for having never thought of this brilliant move yourself...I'll give you a hint, it involves poison, of the contact variety, covering the beads...
Reading through this we've got a massive amount of doors covered in this product, I think in all honesty the only true door type I didn't see represented was the pocket door (although there was something similar to be fair). So, as is my standard when I do a review on this series, I rolled a few dice (d100) to see just what type of door I could come up with on the fly, and I'll share with you here so that you can get an idea of how easy this series lets you design cool features. So, no further ado, my random door...
The door is decorated with gilded writing in an appropriate alphabet. It is rendered in immaculate cursive. A soft knocking, in a staccato rhythm, is coming from the door's other side.
Now, obviously before I'd read this to my PCs I would change the bit about an appropriate alphabet to a language that works for my setting, but that was 2 dice rolls. And one seriously cool story plot point...what's the wording on the door? A warning? Instructions? A warding spell keeping whatever is knocking behind the door? And just what is doing the knocking? All from 2 dice rolls. Starting to see why I love these books? Yes, any GM worth their salt can do this all day and night themselves, no doubt of that...but how many of us have the time? Products like this free us up to do what we most love, and that is game.
Now, as is a known fact of every paranoid PC who has ever opened one to many doors with reckless abandon, some of those portal covers are not without their own means of defense, I of course am referring to traps. Jeff Erwin excelled here in giving not only some cool options for traps (along with variants and the appropriate CR modifications for each), but he hooked us up with a very nice presentation of the standard poison needle trap. Why do I single this most basic of traps out for praise? Because along with the basic trap write up we are given a full table of CR adjustments for differing poisons, disable or perception DC variations, and attack bonuses to the needle itself. All arranged in an easy to read and use chart that turns the basic needle trap suddenly into a plethora of variants. This is the type of chart that you copy/paste into a GM screen folks, seriously. And to accompany this highly useful chart Jeff goes and gives us one for commonly used magical traps for doors as well, along with a minimum CL listing and CR ranking for each spell as used in a door trap.
Another solid addition to the Dungeon Dressing series, and well worth the price of admission folks, a solid 5 star rating not only deserved, but earned.
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Dwellers in Bone from Raging Swan press is the perfect example of a side trek, those glorious fillers that are not quite an actual adventure, but far more than a simple encounter. Following the 2 column approach for the layout editing appeared to be of high quality, and is decorated with a couple of stock B&W art pieces.
The story behind this side trek falls to this....ah, see, you thought I was just going to jump right into it without waiting to see if the players would stop reading first, didn't you? Come on, we all know by now they're going to read anyway, so if the players out there are looking to ruin their fun, that's their issue, for we must continue, lol. So, without further ado, let the spoilers commence...
The Severed Ear Clan of orcs had accomplished something more or less baffling to most other races, a note of civility. To demonstrate this I offer up the fact that they buried their dead in cairns. Most notably their dead from battles, but lets face it here, that's how most orcs die after all. It is the location of one of the cairns that will be at the center of this sidetrek. Years have passed and the Severed Ear Clan has long since been broken and scattered, and most of their cairns have been located and looted, all save one. And it to this cairn that a mated pair of drake have come to nest. The PCs will find themselves sent/led/or drawn to this site depending upon which of the provided hooks is used, where in they will meet the self appointed guardian of the last remaining cairn of this once proud clan, Grok Shattershield...or at least his extremely stubborn ghost. Grok and the drake's have hit a stalemate, as he keeps reforming after they kill him, and he is unable to affect them himself. Grok offers diplomacy, insisting the PCs aid in slaying the drakes. Of course he really doesn't offer anything up as a perk for doing it, since he is not going to agree to anything leaving the cairn, as he sees it all as property of his tribe, but as least working with the ghost will keep him from trying to possess any of the PCs and attacking with no thought of the damage being done to the body he's joy-riding in.
And what of these drakes? Mistaken for green dragons by the local townsfolk, which if played up enough before sending the PCs off to the cavern could make for some interesting issues once they get there and discover they have prepared incorrectly depending on what preventative steps they take.
An extensive cavern layout, with an entire section flooded, forcing this adventure into the mechanics of swimming and fighting underwater, against a foe that moves through water just as easily as through air. Two pages are included at the end of the PDF with the intention of being printed for each player at the table, so that everyone has handy notes at fingertip to remind them of penalties for swimming, movement, visibility, attack...etc.
Short, sweet and to the point. Just enough fluff to build the encounters up and give us a history to the cairn, as well as those little pieces here and there of description that one would expect from the series that keeps giving us the So What Is X Like Anyway?. Detailed carvings in the wall depicting previous orc glories, specific details to areas of scattered bones throughout the cairn (as opposed to “There are bones.” over and over again). A small handful of potential seeds and thoughts to take this somewhere beyond the scope of what is written here, and to further utilize the NPCs of the local Baron and his trusted servant who initially are used to hire the PCs to deal with the dragon threat.
The beauty of a product like this is that it can be taken straight as it is and run, entertain a group for an evening and be done, no questions asked, and everyone had a blast. It can also be developed with very little effort to be a full blown adventure of its own, having the PCs encounter the drakes on their own, before ever finding the cairn or the town, perhaps a history with the Severed Ear Clan itself. And, best of all, it is designed to be tucked into a campaign easily, which is always a major plus in a product of this nature.
Extensively bookmarked, which always pleases me to no end, and of course the Raging Swan checklist at the opening of the book. I had to bring up the checklist, as it got me wondering the last time I reviewed a book from this publisher, what are they going to do when that list outgrows the page? Personally, I can't until it does, as the Raging Swan imprint rarely lets me down when it comes to solid quality, and delivering exactly what they promise with each product. An easy 5 stars and well worth the price of admission. This is an excellent side quest, and more than enough of a unique challenge to keep a party entertained...I mean come on, how often do you find yourself underwater on a drake hunt?
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Threats From Beyond, the latest addition to the Mythic Menagerie series from Super Genius Games brings us 8 new threats for the outsider classification. Very good artwork for each creature is always a plus, although I really wish a few more of them had been done in color as opposed to grayscale. Formatting follows the 2 column layout, with a few editing glitches here and there (spell lists not lining up in one of the statblocks, an errant letter left behind from a deleted sentence, and the word bite not having its “e” in the special abilities for Black Dog).
First creature up is the Black Dog, a creature a great deal of us should be familiar with, and I have to say I like the treatment of it here. It's simple, straight forward and true to what the legends of this creature are at their core. And it certainly doesn't hurt that the art conveys the ferocity and overall odd darkness of this particular creature.
The Prismatic Couatl offers up a more chaotic variant to the stricter standard Couatl, and earns my knock for wishing to have seen a color piece of art. The art is fantastic, I just really would have loved to have seen this beast in its full glory. A very cool special ability in the shedding of scales to form a cloud that brings on confusion and glitterdust. The Prismatic Couatl also caused me a moment of confusion in that it covers a page and a half, but following the 2 column layout of reading it is not entirely apparent at first where the entry ends and the next begins. Once you realize how the layout handles this, it ceases to be a problem.
Next up is the Daemon Shax, visually answering that age old question of just what would the child of a goblin and a chimp look like? Lol. The Shax Daemon gets its jollies leading folks to ruin and death at their own hands, helped along by the wickedly cool Suicide gaze special ability that causes those who fail Will save after meeting its gaze to attempt to end their lives. Followed by the Demon, Karkinide, or Crab Demon. A monstrous crablike nightmare of four legs, two humanoid arms and a giant set of pincers, averaging around 7 feet in height, 5 foot in width...and continuing to grow as they age. Very efficient in combat when it comes to utilizing the numbers game against their foes, these demons stack bonuses with each other the more they can get involved in a conflict. Do not get yourself cornered by these things.
The Black Charger can best be described as what a centaur would have been if born in hell. Sadistic and aggressive, these creatures relish the opportunity to challenge new foes, and are at home on the battlefield. Hate Spirits offer up possibly the coolest origin story out of the collection, as they are formed when a powerful being of worship is destroyed while feeling hatred. The immense emotional survives the death of the being, forming into a Hate Spirit, who has an interesting attack form. Its claws and bite do no physical damage, but rather inflict a random curse (small random list supplied).
Hounds of Abaddon are one disturbing looking creature, with the body of a powerful dog roughly the size of a bear, missing its head. In place of a head floats a skeletal powerful jaw. They hunt like wolves, utilizing the pack mentality to formulate attacks upon stronger foes, or drawing out the fear and hopelessness in weaker targets.
We end with the Traveler...an odd creature that I am not sure is properly represented by the artwork depicting it. I can't lie here, I took one look at the artwork and thought tapeworm, instantly. After reading through its entry my thoughts changed, somewhat. The Traveler is a Huge outsider that is basically a long super thin ribbon shaped life form with tiny (in proportion to its main body) hands and eye stalks covering it. It has the capacity to do exactly what you are thinking from its name, travel. Between planes specifically, unerringly, and yes, it can take passengers, if they are willing to pay the cost.
So, wrapping up, some really cool designs, with the occasional editing mishap. Art for every creature, some better than others. Am thinking along the lines of a 4 star for this collection, as there were a few cool creatures here, but also a few not so thrilling (I'm looking at you Black Charger and Traveler)..add to that the occasional editing hiccup and yeah, I'm settling at 4 stars. If Outsiders are your cup of tea however, this just might be a 5 star for you folks, so pick it up and check it out.
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One of the really cool things about buying a Cloister piece of stock art is that he doesn't package these as the typical stock art. You not only get several options for hi res images for print, but a lower res for the web, and PDF's walking you through the creation of the finished piece of art, and his system free design ideas for how he saw the creature being used.
A very very cool package for the insanely low price this is going for. An artist to keep an eye on folks.
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Nicholas Cloister continues to show just how cool stock art can be with the latest additions to his stock line. More than worth the price of purchase, this is a line of stock art to keep an eye on for gamers and small publishers alike.
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A 30 page book, the Midgard Player's Guide to the Dragon Empire is a very attractive PDF, with an accent framed parchment style background to the pages, heraldry shield page decorations, both color and B&W artwork, a predominately two column layout and truly astounding editing work. Where as the TOC is not linked, the PDF comes with nested bookmarks that handle the issue just fine.
So, the Dragon Empire...Imagine for a second what would happen if the biggest and baddest dragons out there got tired of defending themselves constantly. If they got tired of having to put out their own efforts to keep their lands and hordes growing. What would happen if egos and personal ambition could be put aside long enough to realize an alliance, a council if you will, would be beneficial for far more reasons than not. From this the Mharoti Empire came into being, named for the dragon who brought the proposal to his fellow dragons within the lands that came to be ruled by the empire.
The really cool thing here in this concept is that we have a very familiar thing here, in that a ruling council governing a large body of people living in various social castes, but we are presented something very new and fresh at the same time. The idea of a society that is in fact designed to favor the scaled races, while allowing for the usage and growth of the various “hairy” species is really cool. We are given not only the social caste and who falls where, but the terminology in Draconic for each level. Coolest thing there in regards to the draconic language being incorporated? We get a common phrase straight from the lips of the Jambuka (Jackals – or to be less polite, us humans and our fellow hair growers). Now, the oddball thing here is that the office of power within the empire is given to a human, as the dragon lords recognized that they could never trust each other to rule the collective lands and amassed armies. Where as the position carries a great deal of power with it, in the end it is a puppet string away from the teeth of the Great Dragon Lords, and the Sultanate lives a life of constantly trying to balance the desires of her draconic masters.
A collection of new traits provided give plenty of options for characters who choose to be from the Dragon Empires as opposed to merely traveling there. Several of the traits however seem to be missing their prerequisites. By the wording, and the sheer names of some of the traits it is not hard to see what the prerequisites should be, but a GM will need to impose them to avoid those players looking for loopholes, as gaining traits benefiting from draconic heritage when one need not be of draconic descent could make it very easy for someone to gain an unfair advantage. As an example of what it is I am referring to I offer up the trait Quick and Cunning Kobold Child - Your quick wits and quicker reflexes are reflective of your kobold ancestry. Now, I'm not going to list the benefit here, but I will say that there is no requirement for you to be either kobold, or at least have an associated bloodline, even though the wording makes it pretty clear you're supposed to. Now, there are section heads detailing for some of the groupings of traits (Combat, Magical, etc.) to whom they are supposed to belong, but there are several points where no distinction has been made, and I find only one trait that specifically has a prerequisite. We are also given a full set of traits that are specifically linked to certain races, as explained in the section lead-in, and the names of each trait. To be clear my complaint in regards to missing prerequisites is for various traits before the racial traits section.
So, that out of the way, what are we getting out of this traits section? A lot. 43 traits in total, with my favorite out of them all being Draconic Trait. This trait allows ANYONE to take a trait meant only for dragons, drakes and dragonkin. It still has its limitations to keep one from going insane, but it does allow you to replace a racial trait with one from the kobold or dragonkin options. A very cool way to allow for the idea that those who live amongst and serve the reptilian races will, in time, pick things up.
24 new Feats make up the next section of the book, with a small sidebar recommending how to handle playing a Drake as a PC race. A great deal of the feats here help take a dragonkin or kobold a step further towards their ancestral big cousins, with feats covering flying, gliding, thicker hide, breath weapons and the such. But there are plenty of feats here for any and all races as well, and even feats to recognize the four elemental gods of the dragons of this region as well. A decent collection of feats, with prerequisites in place and a couple of small feat chains for those who love to link their feats for bigger and better effects.
The next section brings us the archetypes and prestige classes for the Dragon Empire, and the first offering impressed me to no end. Order of the Firedrake (Cavalier Archetype) is in fact a rider, be it dragon or drake, aimed at being that character on the battlefield inspiring and leading her allies into combat with a roar on her lips, and the blood of her enemies painting the ground beneath her. An impressive set of class abilities, my favorite being Dragon Strike (15th level she brings her allies with her on a charge attack, granting them an attack on their move as long as they reach a target...imagine the damage of such an attack folks). The Elemental Exarch (Druid Archetype) gives us a druid who doesn't worship nature, but rather the elements themselves, the underlying keys to nature. Gaining an elemental companion in much the same sense as an animal companion, although with several much cooler perks in regards to what one's companion can do for you, these druids can literally be fused with their elemental, gaining instant bonuses to ability scores depending upon the nature and size of the elemental.
There are 7 more archetypes covering the Magus, Dragonkin, Monk, Oracle, Rogue and Elementalist classes...and no, I didn't miscount, there are two for the Monk – Monk of the Fiery Mist and Monk of the Wind Palm. I could easily write another full page discussing these archetypes, but having nothing negative to say in regards to them, I am going to move on instead to the prestige class. Dragon Emir is a full 10 level prestige class that takes what the Order of the Firedrake started in whetting my appetite with a mounted concept and kicks it into high gear. The Dragon Emir are the elite, those few chosen to ride draconic mounts in to combat, leading the charge, rallying the troops and devastating the enemy. A very cool prestige class, even if it is limited to only the scaly races, lol.
Now what good would a book introducing us to a new lands and society be without a section on new magics, right? Thankfully the Kobolds agree, and they have graced us with 17 new spells to make you twirl your mustache while laughing evilly...mwahahaha...oh..ahem..sorry. So, spells, let's discuss my new favoritest spell for the week...Coin Swarm. Turn any pile of 1,000 coins into a freaking swarm of flying cutting whirling disks of metal, with all the bonuses of potential exotic metals (cold iron, silver, etc.)...I warn my players here and now, as I know a few of them read my reviews...every dragon from this day forward will know this spell....lol. Wyvern's Sting does one of two things, either it transforms the end of a character's tail into the whiplike stinger of a wyvern dealing Con damage, or for those PCs without tails it grows a full wyvern tail for the duration of the spell dealing the same damage as above.
Fiery Sandstorm brings into being a bludgeoning sandstorm enhanced with burning damage as well thanks to the flames licking through the sand. Extra perk? Natural flight impossible, and spell chuckers have to make concentration checks or fall back to manual labor while in the midst of the sandstorm.
A sampling of the exotic goods of these lands closes us out, and is truly the only place in the PDF where I feel let down. We open with a collection of monsters and animals that serve different purposes within these lands, and the list for the most part makes perfect sense and really helps sell the fact that a great deal of the Dragon Empires is in fact a desert nation ruled by draconic races. However, in the intro to these animals and their usages it is mentioned that zombies and yeti are amongst the creatures imported for usage, but they do not appear in the actual write ups, so we are not given a reason for them to be there. From the imported critters we move along to some of the more exotic wares one would find amongst the bazaars of these lands you might not find back home, like Aboleth Brain, or Basilisk Heart (both a delicacy amongst dragons), various weaponry for those with a draconic body frame, poisons that will overcome a dragon's natural resistance to sleep and paralysis...just over all cool exotic stuff...with no prices. And that is where we hit my disappointment with this book. This insanely cool chapter filled with really cool new gear, with no simple chart showing us weights, prices, etc...the basic information we need for gear to incorporate it properly. I can overlook the zombie and yeti being left out of the first part of this chapter, but teasing me with all of this cool gear, and then not giving me prices and basic info...ouch.
Four new magical rugs/carpets tie it all up as the last offerings in this PDF, with a magical trap in the form of a Carpet of Confusion, another in the Rug of Suffocation and Flying Carpet of Suffocation offering the more mobile version of the rug of the same name. The Teleportation Carpet allows for instant transport between two rugs sharing the same plane as long as one knows the correct activation word, unless of course these are set up as traps as well, causing any and all who step upon them to be whisked away...ah traps, wrapped up in cool magical items...gotta love it.
Which brings me to the final thoughts and rating. Overall, I loved this book. I did. My only real complaint is that the chapter handling gear feels like it is missing a very vital chart, detailing not only the gear, but the weaponry introduced there as well. The problem is I don't feel that is a small thing, as it leaves us without prices for any of it, let alone weights. Luckily, this is the type of thing that would take up enough of a page all on it's own it could easily be drawn up and released in the form of an enhancement to avoid having to update the PDF. Hopefully we'll see such a chart at some point.
Now, on to the positive stuff...everything else. No really, this PDF is solid, and introduces a really cool new locale for your Midgard campaign. Not playing in Midgard? Not an issue, a scaly race empire could easily make any campaign world it is dropped in a cooler place to play within. The art is very thematic and will have you thinking along the lines of Persia, Arabia and the vast deserts...well, except for the tribute piece to the classic arcade game Joust....lol, that piece alone needs to be put on T-shirts...just saying Wolfgang, put me down for one, lol.
OK, so, rating. I'm settling at a 4.5, with a rounded rating of 5 for the purposes of this forum, but I am going to clarify that the only reason I am not giving a true 5 is the lack of important information in regards to the new items and gear. And I do hope that something formal is made available to address this.
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As more and more offerings and options for paper miniatures become available it is nice to see the occasional oddball creature be remembered, as I don't think I have ever seen a dragon turtle in any other collection of paper minis out there, let alone a collection that provides one in multiple colors.
Included you will find the cover image reproduced in various sizes and red, blue or green for colorations, There is also a grayscale variety for the B&W crowd which could easily stand in as a black dragon turtle should you wish to use it in that manner. Each of the paper miniatures are the cover image, either resized or recolored though, so understand that this is not a collection of different images or poses.
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