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OK, heavy weapons are not the first things that spring to mind when you think of superheroes (most of them are more lethal than that with their powers!), however when the likes of Godzilla or a supervillain is on the rampage local law enforcement or the military are liable to reach for anything from machine guns to missiles and beyond to nuclear weapons and even planet busting bombs..
We start off with rules for targeting and effect before looking at some more specific weapons: machine guns, artillery, missiles, nuclear weapons and a wonderful catch-all, super-science weapons. For each weapon type there is a fair bit of specific detail to enable you to adjudicate and describe their effects when used.
A lot of this is quite over-the-top, verging on weapons of mass destruction, and may have no place in your game. In a way, it's not really what superheroes are all about. However, it is easy to imagine how panicked governments - particularly if they are unaware of the capabilities of any superheroes contemplating coming to their rescue - might reach for their arsenal of heavy weapons when under threat. Indeed, I can imagine a scenario in which the superheroes are as much engaged in pleading with local authorities not to use them as they are in dealing with the threat that caused their deployment. Certain superpowers also may be employed to nullify or curtail the effects of weapons used by terrified authorities too... hmm. There's more scope here than I thought when I first opened the product, always a good sign.
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In a delightful romp through political intrigue, this adventure proves that politics, Great City style, are not in the least bit boring! An ancient but lapsed custom of calling an open meeting called a tribunal to solve major issues facing the City has been revived to discuss the Sink - as 'experts' the characters (assuming that they have played through at least some of the earlier adventures in the series) are called as witnesses.
Of course, there's much more to it than that, and a heady mix of celebration, assassination and a good chase will keep the characters occupied in ways more fitting to an adventurer that participating in a political talking shop... yet for those who relish a good intrigue or debate, there is plenty of that too, clearly set out with the appropriate mechanics to abstract the process yet enable the characters to have an influence on the outcome if they so wish.
Old acquaintences and new are woven deftly into events, which will increase the feeling of being at the centre of affairs and beginning to wield some real influence over the course of events. Everything is laid out clearly for the GM, with information, maps, stat blocks and other game mechanics provided just where they are needed. It's quite amazing how much is packed into a few pages, and yet the adventure can - and indeed for best effect should - be played out in a single session. A fine addition to the saga of the Great City, and an excellent demonstration of how to weave politics into your plot whilst keeping it exciting.
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In this 'Blueprint' 0one Games's interpretation of the Nautilus, first described by Jules Verne and immortalised in several movies, is presented. Suitable for any steampunk or industrial fantasy game, it's a fine vessel with two main decks and a 'cockpit' deck and a delightful shape - as shown in the side elevation - that is subtly fish-like but complete with a nautilus shell of steel plates clapped on the side!
The cockpit is roomy, with a control room and cabins for senior officers. The main deck is where most of the crew live and work, the captain's quarters and guest rooms are here as well as workshops, a chart room and the like. The lower deck is where the engines and fuel stores are to be found. The Chief Engineer lives here too, there's also a dining room and the torpedoes... There is plenty of scope for some underwater adventure here, whether you choose to give the submarine to the party or to the bad guys they are trying to defeat.
The normal technological artistry is shown, 0one's command of PDF technology allowing various options to be accessed via the 'Control the Dungeon' button... although one might question the need for a compass direction in a vessel that moves around underwater!
As a bonus, you also get a poster map of the Nautilus which you can print out on several A4 sheets and stick together or take the single-page version to a printshop to have a proper poster made. This comes on a parchment-style background, like an old nautical chart, but you can turn that off to have the poster printed in brown/sepia on white instead. You also can choose if you want text displayed or have it plain.
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If you have ever thought that an airship would be a neat place to stage part of an adventure, now's your chance.
This product contains a selection of plans based around a 800ft monster airship, the sort that boded fair to become the transportation of the future in the 1920s... then the Hindenburg burned to a cinder and people switched to aircraft instead. This one, however, can fly on in your imagination and your games.
The plans start with an overview of the entire airship: side view, section, front and rear views. There are struts to enable access to the main body of the airship, primarily intended for inspections of the giant gasbags that provide the airship's lift. These can be seen in the side section view. Passengers never see these in the normal course of events but they can make for exciting chases and combats where it is vital to avoid even a single spark! Then there is more detail on the gondola, where passengers and crew travel. Equipped for 20 people - presumably both crew and passengers as I cannot see any crew quarters separate from the main sleeping chambers and common lounge area - there are limited bathroom facilities and space for pilot and navigator and a kitchen as well as the lounge already mentioned. There are side elevations, and logitudinal and transverse sections of the gondola as well as the more familiar plan view. Particularly wealthy adventurers might even own the airship, others may travel as passengers.
The options available include 'blueprint' or black and white line art, along with gids (hex or square, in feet or metric scale), whether or not you want to see the furniture, a settable north pointer (not much use, airships move!) and so on, controlled via 0one's standard 'Rule the Dungeon' feature. Everything is drawn in vector graphics so can be scaled up or down without image degradation.
An airship may be quite a specialised thing to have a plan for, but when your game calls for one - well, this is a nice one... although budding Indiana Joneses will have to supply their own aircraft, there isn't one here!
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This product is a magnificent resource for any GM who has struggled when devising the lists of loot available to characters, all the more because it is so well organised and focussed on just the soon-to-be-robbed property of Aberrations. Further types of monster are promised for further releases in this series.
Organised by average party level - a good way to ensure that the characters neither get too powerful too fast nor fail to be adequately rewarded for their efforts - suggestions are made for the different amounts of treasure available: incidental (less than standard), standard, double or triple. For each category you can then roll a d6 (or choose from the list) to find out precisely what is in that particular treasure: coins, gems and other items of value. Naturally, if you have a particular item you want to introduce to your game, you can either add it to what's there, or use it to replace an equivalent item in that cache if balance is particularly important for you.
It should be a real boon to anyone who is pressed for time or short on ideas for loot, and this promises to be a series worth collecting by any GM who enjoys creating their own adventures and encounters.
I just have one quibble. Treasure comes in HOARDS not HORDES! Get that right and I shall be tempted to make this a 5-star product, rather than a 4-star one.... and within 24 hours a corrected version was uploaded! Well done, & I am good to my word... have your 5 stars :)
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This is an interesting adventure for low-level characters, managing to involve them in political intrigue that's probably well above their pay grade whilst providing opportunities for a modicum of investigation and an appropriate level of combat. It's set within the Kobold Press campaign world, but could be relocated if you have a suitable town that has developed quite a high level of technology within its fantasy setting.
The introduction to events sweeps the characters into the action pretty much without the option, but ample reasons are provided for them to want to follow up rather than retire to the nearest tavern for a well-earned ale! From there investigation leads them further into the affair...
An interesting aspect of this adventure is the focus on the different races and their diverse attitudes, approaches and interests. At times this can get quite polarised, and more thoughtful characters will be challenged to see beyond stereotypes to view individuals as more than merely 'a kobold' or 'a dwarf' but as people with their own unique views and place within the world.
Various options are provided to aid you in bringing the adventure to a conclusion... and there are several options as to how what the characters do here can be built into further activities within your campaign. You may even wish to use this to start off a whole campaign with beginning characters, or slot it in quite early as you tie them into wider activities within the locale. Neat, and well presented with some delightful illustrations.
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Here is a magnificent Victorian-style house, standing in its own grounds, and presented in exquisite detail. It's up to you whether it is as creepy as the Addams Family home or warm and welcoming...
In this product, 0one Games have taken their customary mastery of PDF technology and used it to present a mapset that is easy to customise to your needs. Working at individual page level or via the 'Rule the Dungeon' feature to customise the entire mapset at one go, there are a lot of things that you can change. There is a choice of hex grid, square grid, metric grid or none at all. You can decide which way is North, and whether or not you want it to be shown. You can have furnished or bare rooms... and of course you can decide whether you want 'blueprints' (white lines on a blue background like a classic technical drawing) or black lines on white.
The house itself is three stories high, and has a driveway leading up to it as well as a quite extensive garden. As well as a view of each level, including extensive cellars and the rooftop, there is a plan view that shows the house in its grounds including an outbuilding (probably, in the terminology of the day, a 'motor-house') and a 'front view' (or 'elevation' in architect's parlance). There are also several pages you can use to make notes about the various locations within the house and grounds. US players will note the European nomenclature: we have a ground floor, first floor and second floor. It's not difficult to see what is what, though.
Overall, it's a delightful house and I'd be happy to live there... until, that is, you populate it with ghosts and other unspeakable things appropriate to a horror game!
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Do you have those annoying sort of players who seemingly have memorised every monster and so as soon as the first few words of description pass your lips they rattle off the name and known weaknesses of the critter before a single die is rolled?
(If not, you've never had me at your table, a side-effect of an eidetic memory & reading a LOT of RPG books means I have to be very careful not to be so annoying...)
A common tactic, especially if you do not have the time or inclination to make up hordes of original opponents for your characters, is the so-called 'reskinning' of monsters - changing enough of a standard monster so that he's mechanically the same but looks and feels like a wholly new critter. Even that can be quite taxing and requires a good understanding of the game mechanics underlying monster design.
So here, nicely ordered by CR, are a host of variant monsters all ready to line up against your characters. Each entry gives the name of the new variant with the original monster in brackets - you'll need to use this book in conjuction with the Bestiaries, because the core statistics are not given here. The rest of the entry covers what is different about the variant monster, but gives you both evocative descriptions to help you paint the scene for your players as well as apposite game mechanics, new abilities and so on.
A valuable resource if you like a bit of variety at your table!
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If you like zombies, you are going to love this one!
It's a fine pen & ink style sketch, coloured discretely in shades of red (on his check flannel shirt and also for flesh showing through a battered pale skin and blood around his mouth from the last meal) which proves remarkably effective and atmospheric.
This would make a fine cover for a zombie game or scenario, an image that grabs the imagination and draws you in to the core theme of ravaging hordes of zombies that have to be defeated at all costs.
Shame about the potty-mouth title, a few coy asterisks do not obscure obscenity. Fortunately the licence terms only require credit in the shape of the artist's name, should you use this picture in a commercial product, you do not need to give the image's title.
It's enough to make me write something zombie-related, just so I can use such a great picture!
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Publisher Reply: |
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The title is a reference to the Pigface album. I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that for wordplay. |
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Whilst like the preceding adventures in the Basic Paths series this one is aimed particularly at beginning players and GMs, this is both aimed at slightly more experienced (4th Level) characters and is set in the same township, with the intention that the characters are beginning to get to know, and hopefully care about, the locals.
The adventure opens with a scream, as a lone orc attacks the settlement of Gafolweed. A single orc is no trouble to a whole party of adventurers, but it soon becomes apparently that there are hordes of orcs out there all on the warpath, and the characters' help will soon be enlisted to deal with the problem. And we're off...
Background is vivid and engaging, be it the backstory to the adventure provided for the GM, the overview of Gafolweed, or the details of locations and individuals encountered along the way. Particularly of note are sidebars designed to highlight and explain features of the rules for novice GMs - even the most experienced will find snippets of mechanics that will enhance their game knowledge - for example, a clear description of the art of 'reskinning' a familiar monster to give it a wholly-new aspect without having to go to the trouble of designing one from the bottom up.
The adventure doesn't shy away from things that novices might find hard, like mass combat, but settles down to explain what needs to be done clearly and concisely. Worth studying in advance, but even a new GM should find it possible to run hordes of orcs and equally-numerous defending cavalry confidently.
As the adventure unfolds, there is plenty to do and a quite surprising route to discovering and combatting the evil that has come to roost in the neighbourhood. Everything is presented clearly, with discussion of the options available and catering for many of the things that players might do that could so easily catch an unprepared or new GM on the hop!
In classic style, this adventure moves smoothly from the initial set-up and a good brawl, through a journey along which information, resources and even allies can be gathered to wind up with a dungeon-delve and climactic showdown. There's a lot to see and do throughout, with interaction and investigation balanced well with combat. The dungeon is no mere backdrop to the climatic fight, either, just getting there provides a good challenge with plenty of the things all good dungeons have (traps, monsters, tricky bits...) even before you get to the final showdown.
Everything is laid out clearly and where you're going to need it, with some flavourful illustrations, delightful maps and battlemaps for the main brawls. There are even paper 'standee' miniatures for the main opposition. Overall a well-presented adventure that is a delight to run... and ought to be fun from the other side of the screen.
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'Quirky' can be overdone in role-playing, but used with thought and care it can enhance your game. Here's a collection of thoroughly developed and considered NPCs which just happen to be 'constructs' rather than flesh and bones people that you can use, a bit quirky perhaps but thought through in such a way that they make sense within the fantasy world for which they are intended.
Each group or individual comes with a lot of background material to set them in context. Not just appearance and backstory, there's plenty to help you set the scene when they are encountered as well as all you need - from likely reactions and conversational gambits to combat tactics - to play out that encounter if the characters decide to interact. And of course there are fully-developed stat blocks for everyone involved.
Most are perhaps best suited to an urban setting, but constructs can and do move around - or are placed - wherever they like (within whatever limitations they may have in terms of locomotion, energy supply, etc.) and so if your plot requires it, they can be located wherever you need them to be.
An interesting collection, and well worth having if constructs are to be found on your campaign world. Indeed if they are not common, this work could help you to introduce them as something rare and wonderful that will make for a memorable encounter.
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It can be quite difficult coming up with ship names sometimes, so if inspiration fails this might help. Wish it had been around when assorted characters of mine ended up on vessels such as the Hognose, the Keep Moving Forward or the Profitess...
Ok, so this consists of an hundred (mostly) plausible names for ships. Fantastical they may be, but just as much use for painting on the side of your starship as on a sailing vessel in your local fantasy world.
Mostly plausible? Well - #49 is 'A List Of Lees' (wonder where that came from?). # 93 (The Virtue's Last Reward) is plausible, but #66 'Advanced Dinghies and Deckhands' might raise a few eyebrows and #32 - A Legitimate Business Ship (No Piracy Going On Here (Seriously We Promise)) - sounds like every bunch of characters that ever set sail or headed for the stars!
There are some good gnome jokes as well. Hope any gnomes in the party are tolerant. What's that. Gnomes ARE a joke? Now then, play nice! This product is good for a laugh even if you decide not to use any of the names for your ships.
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Here's a neat little collection of fantasy mounts for your cavalier characters (or indeed anyone who is fed up walking), stemming, as the author points out, from the thought having arisen one day: Why should the only riding beasts available be horses or a camel if you're lucky.
A Cavalier is defined by his mounted status after all, and as this is a fantasy world, fantasy mounts are surely appropriate. So here we have the likes of salamanders, elk, eagles, hawks and spiders all presented rather bare bones (just the statistics you'll need to run them including the level-based advancements). The underlying concept is that these are animals that are bred and trained to be riding beasts, very likely by cavalier orders for their members, and so likely to be quite hard to obtain if you are not a cavalier of the correct order!
Inventive GMs - or even business-savvy PCs - might set up a business breeding and training a particular species as mounts, of course... indeed, I can feel an adventure idea coming on... but they are still likely to be hard to acquire and quite expensive.
Neat thoughts, ripe for expansion and incorporation into your campaign world.
(As an aside, I actually find the 'printer' version easier to read electronically than this one!)
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Here's a neat little collection of fantasy mounts for your cavalier characters (or indeed anyone who is fed up walking), stemming, as the author points out, from the thought having arisen one day: Why should the only riding beasts available be horses or a camel if you're lucky.
A Cavalier is defined by his mounted status after all, and as this is a fantasy world, fantasy mounts are surely appropriate. So here we have the likes of salamanders, elk, eagles, hawks and spiders all presented rather bare bones (just the statistics you'll need to run them including the level-based advancements). The underlying concept is that these are animals that are bred and trained to be riding beasts, very likely by cavalier orders for their members, and so likely to be quite hard to obtain if you are not a cavalier of the correct order!
Inventive GMs - or even business-savvy PCs - might set up a business breeding and training a particular species as mounts, of course... indeed, I can feel an adventure idea coming on... but they are still likely to be hard to acquire and quite expensive.
Neat thoughts, ripe for expansion and incorporation into your campaign world.
(As an aside, I prefer the layout of this version for reading electronically rather than the one marketed as the 'laptop/tablet' version!)
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What a refreshing change! Not, I hasten to add, a bloodthirsty and cannabalistic cult that produced this treasure; but the statement that "No true minister of the dark god’s teachings considers his own blood too sacred to spill" - it is good, if that's the appropriate word, to hear that the priests are as ready to mutilate themselves for their god as they are to spill other people's... there are far too many such that will sit back and expect others to do all the bleeding and dying for them!
Herein there are all the materials you need to create and run an entire nasty cult worshipping a deity called Kahyne, who demands blood - plenty of it - from followers and enemies alike, as well as a powerful artefact created by a devoted preacher of the cult. Acting as a +2 keen flaming burst spear, this sceptre lusts for blood to the extent that if its owner does not use it to spill the blood of an intelligent creature at least once a week they suffer mounting impairment to intelligence, wisdom and charisma until they either kill something or manage to get rid of the thing.
Perhaps your characters will have to face cultists led by a blood-crazed cleric wielding the sceptre, or they may find it lurking innocently in some treasure hoard and discover its dark secrets the hard way. A neat (and nasty) thing to have around, enjoy!
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![[PFRPG] Treasure Hoards - Volume 1 - Aberrations](images/3475/114495-thumb100.jpg)
![Rogue AIs: Construct Friends and Foes [PFRPG]](images/3827/114414-thumb100.jpg)
