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This is a very nice goblin image, provided in PNG format as both full colour and line art.
The licence for use is clear: that it may only be used in not-for-profit works and that the artist must be credited - and for once, it's stated clearly on the product page before you make a purchase, not in the download when it's a bit late to find out that the use you had in mind isn't permitted!
Anyway, he's a nice goblin, sensibly dressed in tunic and hose, with boots, a cowl and helmet and clutching a sword and shield. I used to have a PC goblin who looked pretty much like this in my mind's eye, maybe I should play him again!
The pre-coloured version gives him the traditional green skin, and the whole illustration is nicely-shaded - if you decide to use your own colourscheme on the lineart version, use it as an example.
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If you intend to mess up your timelines good and proper, so that either fantasy characters find themselves in the present day (either 'real world' or the future self of their own campaign setting brought forward in time) or a few modern people somehow end up with at least some of their kit in an alternate fantasy past, this might be of use to you. (And it does happen, I ran a modern game in which the characters ended up scampering around Conan the Barbarian's world, being transported from 20th century Miami... but that's another story!)
Anyway, what we have here is the sort of kit a modern SWAT-team trooper might have: two types of ballistic vest, ballistic armour, ceramic armour and a couple of riot shields. Who knows where they might turn up? And be quite puzzling to your average fantasy character, to whom armour means leather and metal, and it keeps swords and arrows away from your person, not bullets. Each item has been carefully considered from the standpoint of the Pathfinder ruleset, and statistics assigned. It might have benefited from a little more consideration as to what mediaeval weaponry will do to your 'bullet-proof vest' - most of us have a fair idea of how well it protects against firearms but less concept of what would happen if someone clobbered you with a bastard sword when wearing one.
That aside, get this if you are planning a cross-over, or indeed are using the Pathfinder ruleset in a modern setting.
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In the hordes of paper 'standee' miniatures now coming onto the market, the contemporary/near future genre has been rather neglected... until now. This product is worthy of consideration by anyone running contemporary, near future or cyberpunk games, and ties in well if you play the Hot Chicks RPG as many of the figures are drawn directly from some of the supplements.
The nice thing is that although quite a few of the female figures think a vest or sports bra is sufficient upper wear in combat situations, nothing here is overtly pornographic, so even if Hot Chicks puts you off as being a bit too 'adult' for your gaming table, these figures will be fine. Another nice thing is that each figure is referenced back to where the character they depict appears in a Hot Chicks book, so that if you are using them you can select appropriate miniatures. The few which don't have full game statistics in the books they appear in have them here, an added bonus if you are playing Hot Chicks.
If you need SWAT-team style troopers there are quite a few of these. There is also a nice doggie, Dougie, the Ghost-Sniffin’ Hound - the profile looks like a Doberman Pinscher, must go and look him up in The Last Ghost Hunt to see if he is a pinchie. Although most of the figures are armed to the teeth, there are some civilians there as well, a nice variety overall.
Good construction notes are included, although it seems quite straightforwards (sorry, out of printer paper so I haven't tried them yet!). A nice set in a genre not well covered.
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For those who want to introduce black-powder firearms into a fantasy world, this is a well-crafted set of notes covering the Shootist character class and general rules for the use of firearms under the Labyrinth Lord ruleset.
The Shootist is treated as the firearms equivalent of a master swordsman, a combatant who focusses on mastery of but a single weapon - in this case the rather tempramental black-powder pistol or rifle (?Rifle... I think they really mean musket, given both the rules and the illustrations).
The claim is made that few people will understand the workings or use of these unreliable devices, which have a base 1 in 20 chance of exploding every time you fire one. At times I'm not quite sure how much the author understands of the workings of these early weapons, at times the text appears to be talking about matchlocks and then a stray cap wanders in. Overall, though, the general flavour is there, although it would be worth taking a moment to survey the early history of firearms and select the point that you wish technology to have reached in your game.
The final illustration shows a 17th century musketeer and, although he's a bit later than the general run of 'mediaeval' style technology prevalent in fantasy worlds, it's probably about the right level if you want firearms to play any meaningful role in your world. To fire one of them, you have to load it with a ball, black powder and wadding, ram this lot home with a ramrod, put a little fine powder in the pan and then ignite that to fire off the main charge within the barrel. Oh, and do remember to take the ramrod out! It's most distracting to fire it across the battlefield, and far less accurate than a musketball. The rules mechanics presented will accommodate this quite well, although it is only the very well-trained musketeer who can reload in a single round especially when in the middle of combat.
Good flavour of early firearms use with perhaps the need for a little informed fine-tuning to make it perfect.
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This is a fascinating, beautifully-presented and well-described mining settlement on the very fringes of civilisation, so far away from the centre of affairs that those who mine here are left to their own devices... devices, sad to say, that include many corrupt practices and abuses.
The mining concession is in the hands of the Order of the Red Shadows of Herpa, a religious knightly order which oversees the mining of several valuable ores and the general operation of the settlement, defending their holdings against bandits and orc raids alike. The fertility of the land is poor so extra food must be bought in to feed the community, which as well as the knights includes craftsmen, professional miners and, sad to say, slave labour.
The entire operation is described clearly and in detail, which really brings it to life as a flourishing community. The GM is provided with a detailed map and notes on everything there and, as usual with Columbia Games product, these notes are besprinkled liberally with snippets of information that can inspire events if not whole adventures as you read through them.
The amount of detail is stupendous, everything from mine operations to details on just about everyone you might encounter if you visited the area. Should you dare: strangers are not welcome and viewed with hostility... and if you have useful skills you might find yourself joining the community without the option! The level of detail extends to outline floorplans of every building in the settlement which includes a thriving bawdy house - the miners and soldiers have few comforts, poor dears, so trade in ale and, ahem, other services is brisk.
Several discrete adventure hooks are provided, as well as the snippets you'll find throughout the descriptive text. The first is a way to get the party to the mine, the second involves the mine complex coming under attack, and the last offers an opportunity for the party to thwart or join an escape attempt - as even those not actually in bondage as slaves are rarely allowed to leave by the Order that controls the settlement, escape is a dream shared by many if rarely attempted.
All in all, it's a beautifully-developed settlement that oozes realism. You feel that it is lurking out there somewhere... and should you decide to visit, well, here is everything that you need.
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So now we have it, the TARDIS-equivalent for the Pathfinder RPG!
Take some small innocuous object, open or activate it and hey! You have a vast expanse, somewhere to hide or study or store stuff or shelter from bad weather.
All dressed up as an academic treatise that you might find in a local wizard's library, there is a wealth of different, unusual and exciting rooms to play with.
My husband says I have to acquire the Book of Books forthwith, as my RPG collection sneaks into every corner of the house! It's really neat, a book that when activated grants access to an otherspace cozy little library, complete with a comfortable chair and LOADS of books.
That's just one. There's the Bladed Quill, a brass pendant of a crossed dagger and feather, which gives access to another otherworld space, this time an armoury lined with empty weapon racks and armour stands. You can put all your spare gear in here, and provided you secure it neatly in the racks rather than leave it lying around, it will be there for you next time you activate the pendant.
And it goes on and on, a whole collection of different 'rooms' accessed from distinctive individual items. Whole adventures could be built around them, the simplest being finding the item in a treasure hoard or, well, anywhere, and finding out what it does. Or seeking out one you've read about...
(TARDIS, by the way, is the famous 'bigger on the inside than the outside' police box-cum-time/space machine Dr Who travels around in, the letters stand for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space... so there's a 31st portable room for you!)
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It had to happen.
We have groups of superheroes working as part of legitimate law enforcement or as vigilantes. We have groups of supervillians busy about their schemes for world domination... and so now we have a bunch operating as a private military company available for hire to, well, anyone who can pay their fee.
They are a fascinating bunch, these heroes-for-hire. There's plenty of background for the GM to take aboard and use to weave SixGun into the plot. Allies or enemies? That's up to you. You could even decide that they are your party of characters - they are well-developed enough to make fascinating pre-gens, and indeed the background suggests a campaign-full of plot ideas even as you read through it. Group dynamics, in particular, are detailed comprehensively and should prove entertaining in play.
There are several adventure ideas supplied, as well as complete individual backgrounds and character sheets for each member of the group as well as a comprehensive overview of the group itself and how it came to be. There are also some 'supporting cast' characters - a pilot, a cyber-doctor who runs their maintenance and even a potential client - each with their own plot hooks and tie-ins to SixGun themselves.
For those who like to lay it all out on the table there are paper 'standee' miniatures for all characters (and a neat stealth aircraft); and there's enough details about Private Miliary Companies to enable you to use them effectively in your game even if you haven't been tracking their rise in real life. Overall an excellent resource with loads of potential!
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This is a beautifully-rendered plan of an old gaol, a simple hexagonal walled courtyard with a grate over whatever horrors you decide are to be found below! The cover illustration and 360° view show a guard tower, barred openings and a walkway for warders to patrol, plus an open field around with a path leading up to the front gate.
The accompanying notes suggest that maybe the place was abandoned after some dread creature got loose in the dungeons beneath, the last guards to flee fastening the grate securely. Pity the convicts left trapped below... and pity those who to this day hear their shades wailing. Brave adventurers may be tasked with allowing the dead finally to rest in peace.
Or maybe it's still in use. I don't know about your players, but some of mine need locking up! This might be a suitable facility... or maybe some evil overlord uses it and the characters want to rescue someone.
Plenty of scope for what on the surface seems to be a simple old gaol. Enjoy...
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If you are passionate about creating and refining your personal unarmed combat style until even Shaolin monks want to take classes with you, this collection of ten 'style' feats will be of interest.
Most require you to have access to ki power, all assume that you have unarmed combat skills above and beyond brandshing your fists in a brawl (as opposed to proper pugilism: the 'sweet science' is a bit more than brawling if you ask any boxer...).
These additional styles are many and varied. There's a Basilisk Style that lets you use anatomical knowledge to enhance the effects of a Stunning Fist attack, whilst once you have mastered Basilisk Style, the Basilisk Blink feat grants you a supernatural gaze attack, and you can then build on it to add Basilisk Stare - a literal death look that overwhealms your opponent's nervous system causing him to drop dead! Talk about spectacular!
Another stack is based on Phoenix Style, a very mobile fighting style combining Elemental Fist strikes with acrobatics. Once you have the hang of that, you can learn Phoenix Feathers (which confers fire resistance as well as letting you use Elemental Fist more often) and then Phoenix Fire which increases your fire resistance and even grants access to personal healing.
If you want to be fast and unpredictable, look at Shifting Style Defence, where you can flip between any two styles and dodge into the bargain; or you may prefer Uncanny Style - even as you check for initiative you already are in your opening stance - and develop your speed further with Improved Uncanny Style. Finally, if you have really been working hard down the dojo, take Toughened By Training and gain 2 hit points for every style feat you've mastered!
One of the best bits of playing a 'martial artist' character is developing your fighting style into something distinctive and spectacular, and these feats, judiciously chosen, should aid you in the quest for perfection.
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Herein are eight feats, mainly directed at Alchemist characters although a few are more widely accessible. Depending on the style you wish your character to develop, you might find some of these to be of interest... whilst GMs may find them useful in tailoring NPCs to meet their needs.
To start with, anyone who likes messing around might be interested in the Alchemical Cocktail feat. You need the Brew Potion feat and six or more ranks in Craft (Alchemy) to take it, but once you do you are able to mix potions with alchemical items and quaff them to get the effects of both. It's not quite clear, but I think you can give your mixture to someone else... but quickly, once mixed they must be drunk within one round!
Another nice one is Scientific Curiousity, which can be taken by any character who wishes to have a natural aptitude for all things scientific, mechanical and alchemical and confers bonuses to a whole bunch of appropriate skills.
If you like traps, try Devious Trapsmith which allows the addition of alchemical elements to mechanical traps. Interestingly, the prerequisite is either Craft (Traps) or the ability to craft ranger traps wich opens out some unusual possibilities... there's no requirement to know any alchemy before you start down this route so a particularly devious ranger might learn how to handle some alchemical reagents just for trap-building purposes!
For the alchemists amongst you, there's Cerebral Surge (gaining psychic powers), Gruesome Transformation (for a really hideous mutagenic transformation), Mad Bomber (multiple delayed bombs), Mutagenic Alchemy (augmenting a mutagen with alchemical reagents) and Weird Science (which makes your creations very, very hard to identify).
Have fun, you mad scientist types...
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Herein are ten feats for witches, all based around whoever the witch has selected as her patron. Some are quite narrow in application, but all help develop a witch character into a distinctive if not unique individual rather than merely yet another witch. Power levels are a bit variable as well, which may disturb those who pay attention to game balance.
Some take 'traditional' things that witches are said to be able to do and codify them. For example, Pierce the Veil allows a witch with an ancestors, spirits, time or portents patron to both see and identify ethereal undead creatures; whilst Nightshade Brew enables the witch to create particularly potent poisons - yet as the prerequisites for this feat include the Brew Potion feat and six ranks of Craft (Alchemy) you might think she's pretty good at them already without using up another feat slot.
One delight is Forked Tongue, which not only empowers the witch to be very good at bluffing but also actually gives her a forked tongue... something that might draw unwelcome attention, particularly in a society that's wary of witches and their powers already! Consider developing disguise skills and keeping your mouth closed...
Patron's Promise is perhaps a bit too powerful as it confers advantages to both attack rolls and against disease. Wise Words, on the other hand, doesn't do much - it just reduces the spell resistance of someone on whom you're casting a healing spell.
Witch of the Wilds gives you some really sharp fingernails, claws really, to enhance your unarmed combat. Terrible Transformation is quite scary, if you cast a transmutation (polymorph) spell on someone and it is ended prematurely by countermagic or a save, there's a chance the poor victim may gain an insanity and end up not in their right mind even once they've been restored to the right body! Heart of Ice makes enemies you demoralise suffer further disadvantage...
There is no overlap of patrons here, whatever patron you have chosen there will be but one feat in this collection available to you. The effects may be quite cool, but I recommend thinking seriously about whether they benefit you sufficiently to be worth a feat slot. Interesting but perhaps a little limited.
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If you have a need for a good quality spaceship with detailed background and excellent plans (including battlemaps for miniature use), take a look at this. The Renegade class of starships, we are told, was designed as a multipurpose vessel capable of hauling cargo, moving passengers, exploration, reconnaissance, and light combat duty... just the sort of thing the average party of star-faring adventures would love to get their hands on, whatever ruleset you are using.
The background information is copious, written in a 'future history' style that brings the whole vessel alive within the context of the alternate reality your characters inhabit. There are detailed views from different angles, pictures of the ship in use (on orbit and landed), detailed deck plans with descriptive notes... and includes a dedicated kitchen, something often left out of starship designs but something that would delight one of my Traveller characters who doubles as chef and jump-drive technician! Even the couple of vehicles - a shuttle/life boat and a wheeled rover - are treated with the same level of detail, the same care and attention (and lots of pictures).
And that's just the main booklet you get in your download. There are two further books, one being a set of 'map pages' that can be printed, trimmed and used whenever you need a large scale map of the habitable portions of the ship - combat, especially if you use miniatures, springs to mind. The other has the same floorplan in one massive image - if you want to use a virtual tabletop program to show your players where they are, or have access to a commercial print facility it may be of use.
Just lovely. Just the sort of ship in which to travel the galaxy, getting into all kinds of adventure...
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If you have need of Highland (that is, kilted) soldiers from the late-19th-early-20th century, this is an excellent product to acquire.
The 'Devils in Skirts' are crisp and well-drawn, with a variety of poses suitable for any combat scene. It might be a miniatures skirmish, or perhaps a 'pulp' or Victorian-era adventure in which the military are involved.
PDF technology is used extensively. Of particular note is the use of layers to enable you to pick one of several tartans for your soldiers' kilts. The only downside is if you happen to know your tartans the designs bear no relation to the names given... and there is no 'Ancient Hunting Robertson' (I am a Robertson and that's the tartan my husband and I wear when dressed formally!).
Full instructions for printing and assembly are given, and overall it's a neat product with a novel contribution to your tabletop armies.
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This is a beautifully-detailed village that fair springs to life off the page. Set in the Lonely Coast campaign world produced by Raging Swan Press, it could equally well be placed in a suitable location in your own campaign world as it is fairly self-contained.
On the face of it, Bossin ought to be a nice place. It has potential for prosperity, with good natural resources both above and below ground, even if some of the lower areas are a bit prone to flooding. However, somewhere that sounds nice to live is probably not suited to adventure... so enter the local bane, a retired adventurer called Jacca Lander who sees easy pickings providing 'protection' for the inhabitants. He ran the previous reeve out of town and imported a few thugs to aid him in oppressing the locals: a situation ripe for the intervention of more right-minded adventurers to rectify.
There is a nice annotated sketch of the village with wide-ranging descriptive accompaniments - everything from the background situation to notes on interesting features, rumours to be picked up and a list of notable individuals to be met in the settlement. The population is predominantly human, with a handful of dwarves and halflings, a few half-elves and a single solitary half-orc - who combines being one of Lander's enforcers with a surprising good singing voice, with which he performs quite often in the village inn. It's these touches that raise the village above the ordinary and makes it come alive as you read,
Whether passing through or arriving on purpose, characters will find a living vibrant village that has a real sense of being there, going about its own business, whether they are there or not; a place that will enhance the alternate reality that you are trying to create... and a place in which there is adventure to be had, whether you want to interact with the locals or merely brawl with Jacca Lander and his thugs.
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This is a selection of atmospheric music which makes good 'background': it is unobtrusive enough that it does not intrude, yet creates an ambience suitable for the Deadlands Noir setting... easy listening, yet suggesting the kind of environment that you and your group is trying to create as you play.
I particularly enjoy 'specially written for the game' soundtracks because they do not distract the players when you put them on. It's often quite easy to find existing music that fits the mood and the game that you are planning but when you actually start to play, people get distracted by trying to identify music they've heard before or start to draw their own conclusions based on their past experiences or knowledge of the music. It can be good when planning and writing an adventure, though... but this original themed music is far superior when the dice come out!
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Log In 
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