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Sneak Attack Press’s Golden Banner is a rare mystery adventure for 6th to 7th level characters. Golden Banner has a methodical, slow pace that a role playing party will thrive on.
The adventure revolves around an old relic recently recovered and now vied over by 2 factions. The mystery revolves around a mysterious faction. Unlike a lot of products, a good deal of time is actually spent on the mystery. There are spies and secrets to be uncovered.
Succeeds
The length of pages dedicated to the mystery portion is pretty meaty and gave my party some fun role playing moments. We loved that there was only 2 real combats in the game. A third, near optional combat feels thrown in towards the end to add some meat to the adventure, but if the adventure ended at the banquet I doubt any group would have a problem with it.
Fails
The layout is a bit wonky. With mystery adventures, it is best to layout all the clues and revelations ahead of time for the DM. Too often adventures are written as if the DM wants to solve the mystery along with the player, and this should never be the case. Also, there are a bit too many remnants from the 4th edition version of the PDF.
The Iron Word
The Golden Banner has just enough of a twinge in its design to make it feel more different than your standard short adventure. DMs will want to really embellish on the role playing parts and go with the party. Though there are only 2 actual combats, my PCs managed to bring out a couple more over the course of the adventure.
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Iron Nugget
I love that Super Genius has continues to play with time. #1 With a Bullet Point: 7 Time Thief/Time Warden Feats is Super Genius doing what few publishers do, continuing to support their previous content.
This splat book provides 7 feats to strengthen the Time Thief. I was very happy that sneak attack was finally added to the Time Thief ability list, making it a much stronger offensive tool. There are also feats that diversify the character, further broadening the class.
The Iron Word
The continued support of the time line of books is very impressive from a publisher dealing with a subject that is very difficult to master. There are two feats that don't feel all that strong holding the rest down. Still, a great supplement if you own either Time Thief or Time Warden.
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Iron Nugget
Succeeds at
Time Travel and any narrative medium is always a going to be a tricky subject. One of the ways I keep My Dming iron is by incorporating some element of time travel into any campaign. It is not easy. Which is why Time Thief by Super Genius is such a successful accomplishment.
Time Thief is a short class PDF that provides a variant roguish type class that bends time to her advantage. The design of the character is very template with Super Genius’s other genius class books. Though the flavor is heavy, the flavor is an illusion to the mechanics of the class. Simple things that belong to any class such such as a +1 here or a haste spell meld well are reflavored to be associated with stopping and bending time. Classes receive time talents, advanced time talents and then powerful aevum, each progressively a larger chunk of time the thief is stealing to perform their tasks. IN the end the character is very well balance.
Failed
Without additional help, I had to really on the feats too much to create offensive for my Time Thief. Some abilities appear to be slightly off balanced with others, but this is fixed with later supplement books.
The Iron Word
Because I feel the core rogue is so one dimensional, I enjoy roguish offshoots that feel like they have gotten it right. Super Genius does another superb job of including strong flavor with basic game design.
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Iron Nugget
Succeeds
Oh Machinesmith, you had me at steampunk. For some reason, publishers are not interested in making a boat load of money and practically ignore the many fans out there who want a touch of steampunk in their Pathfinder. To satisfy our cravings, LPJDeisgns presents the Machinesmith, a meaty 22-page class writeup of a magical alternative class that uses a fusion of technology and magic to produce magical effects.
Having built two iterations of the class, the Machinesmith can hang right in there with the wizards and sorcerers. It even can take spellbooks and prepare spells from it, which means that the class will not be isolated like so many magic alternative classes. The Machinesmith is not just sitting back and launching prototypes though. Much like the alchemist class, the machinesmith design allows users to delve into three types of Machinesmiths. One type will alow the player to sit back in a traditional spell slinging roll, the other two allow players to get into the thick of combat. My favorite is the Morbius weapon.
Machinesmith does not just present one class, it gives a lot of bells and whistles for the class. Feats, spells and archetypes help make the class a little easier to integrate into a variety of campaigns.
Fail
I wish the class was a little more tech and a lot less magical. The class comes off as a better written artificer than truly a mechanical genius from a flavor point of view, yet the abilities are clearly designed for a more tech described class. I also hated the prestige class included. It’s built only for the Machinesmith, which makes it useful as a prestige class. It should have been designed so current classes can get a piece of the tech tree.
The Iron Word
Machinesmith presents a great class for campaigns looking to institute a little more tech into their magical soup. It does not go all out with the tech, which will be a positive or a negative for some.
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Iron Nugget
For all of us DMs and Players who feel that Vancian system has outworn it’s welcome, or at least should share the spotlight, Novice Publisher Lee’s List produces a gem of a system in True Naming: A supplement of magic, language and power.
Succeeds
At its core, True Naming is a skill based magic system easily incorporated into the Pathfinder system. I have seen a few True Naming systems. I believe this is the first time I have seen it used as an entirely self contained magic system. The first part of the book discusses naming in various genres and why you would include it in a campaign. True Names can be as common or uncommon as the DM wishes.
From there, the writer does a complete job of laying down a foundation for Naming Magic. Players simply do not learn a True Name and gain instant power over a creature. Instead, the creature is first weakened and even then, must make a skill check. To weaken the creature, True Naming introduces its magic system. A series of magical words that players can put together to form spells. In truth, they are building their own spells out of specific words. This amount of flexibly is awesome for a DM who does not feel like looking up every single spell just to produce an Ice based Fireball.
Because the powerful True Naming magic can’t be effected until someone reaches a specific threshold, the lesser naming magic felt just underpowered enough. Whereas, the NPC was able to hold his own with the party until the enemy was weak enough to succumb to a True Naming spell. If someone who practices True Naming has discovered the True Name of his enemy, he can unleash devastating overpowered spells.
Fails
The layout work in the 20-page PDF is very tight and, combined with the poor font choice, makes for a difficult read at times. It also misses bookmarks, not necessary but would have been helpful if I just want to go to the class. This PDF is also not for every gamer. Essentially DMs want to take non-Vancian , build your own spell systems out of the hands of out of control power gamers.
The Iron Word
True Naming is a great skill magic system. The flavor of this book is phenomenal, making True Naming sound as rare and distant as it is suppose to. I like the idea of having a class that is strong, but gains an extra boost after the players quest for a secret that gives them an advantage over their enemy. Anyone looking for an alternative magic system should purchase True Naming.
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Iron Nugget
Succeeds
Advanced Encounters: Alternative Objectives, by Sneak Attack Press, is a meaty 40-page help guide to designing a true multilayer encounter. Any DM can throw some monsters in a cave and call it an encounter. Too often this is the default for DMs. If you ever want to achieve Iron DM status, you will want to hardily study Alternative Objectives.
Objectives begins with some great theorycraft- explaining to the reader 6 kinds of encounters that exceed the basic goals of kill everything encounters. Chapter 2 feels like a slight extension of Chapter 1, explaining how to deal with obstacles like skill challenges, non-fighting NPCs and difficulty. After all the theory is out of the way, examples are presented. The examples are well designed mini-adventures.
Fail
The examples could have been more generic.
Iron Word
Strong Buy - Advanced Encounters: Alternative Objectives is a great resource for the novice Dungeon Master who wants to up his game. The design information and examples will go along way in producing memorable encounters that are not just about hacking and slashing.
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Iron Nugget
Succeeds
The Emergency Character Collection, by Run Amok, is a smart accessory for any Dungeon Master. I hate making NPCs. Unless it’s an all important NPC or I am assisting a PC with badassing up their character, I prefer to pull stat blocks from existing sources. Still, too often, I find myself scouring the internet, looking for a great build. Collection helps feel that need, providing 12 characters of 1st, 3rd, 6th and 9th level. The great thing is that the writer doesn't just stop with throwing some character blocks in a book. He takes the time to explain other variants, build theories and slight alternatives. This little bit of extra information will boost this product to the top of your NPC pull list.
Collection does not just stick to the basic classes. You will find examples of the advanced classes like Gunslinger, Magus and Oracle.
Another great aspect to this product, along with the creative and descriptive writing, is the wealth chart included with each character. Even if I don’t use the NPC, having a ready to go set of items of particular areas for particular classes is great.
Fails
None that I can Find
Iron Word
Must Buy - This is one of the best NPC Collections to come along in a bit. It outshines anything that the big boys have produced. The character notes boost this book from a 4 star to a 5 star.
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Iron Nugget
Super Genius Presents: A Brace of Pistols adds a few more layers to Pathfinder’s gun rules. Whereas the 15 page PDF does not reinvent the system, it does add some nice new weapons, feats and items.
A Brace of Pistols gives the reader a good lesson on how exactly a pistol works. The fluff alone is worth the price. If you have any players in your campaign, and they want to use, I’d recommend it as much read. Too often players wanting to use guns think that they are the ones from the terminator movies or even a western. The PDF explains what Flintlock really is and how it works. From there several new guns are introduced that provide a cone effect. In addition, there are cool items that allow you to use guns for traps, bombs or simple concealment. A few feats and spells are scattered towards the back, though many feel similar to player enhancements I have seen elsewhere.
The Iron Word
A Brace of Pistols is a very different kind of supplement. It is best played as an information hammer for those unfamiliar with early age guns. The items are a great find the gunlover in your party, and the feats and spells are nice little additions to surprise put on an NPC and surprise your players.
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Many a fan forums are littered with poor iterations of Pathfinder Classes. Most are simple variations on the existing classes. A few are broken monstrosities that are the pipe dreams of a powergaming player. When looking at a new book of classes, I compare it to the fan fiction out there. I can certainly say that Advanced Class and NPC offers a new, yet balanced, take on the Pathfinder class.
The first go around, the art and layout are unimpressive. The hefty PDF is 50 pages long, but with only 4 classes. Those 50 pages, however, are well worth the price. The four classes feel like how all classes should be introduced. Each class gets a good many pages dedicated to new abilities and tactics. It would have been very easy for Wordcasting Entertainment to simply regurgitate something else that exists and point to Paizo’s current catalogue. However, they push for creativity with Advanced Class, giving 4 fresh feeling classes that are very exciting to play.
For the Player
My favorite class is the Hunter. Like the other classes, it isn’t just “one” set class. There are multiple ways you can take this class. It does not do the class justice to simply call it a spell less ranger. Instead, this feels like a reimagining of a true nature warrior. A player in my campaign built a bear wrestling trap laying smart talker and it’s very much different than my pistol firing game hunting NPC.
For the Dungeon Master
I love that there’s symmetry with each class. Organization leads to balance which leads to happy DMs. Each class is self contained, and allows the writers to balance abilities against one another as opposed to risking the use of existing material. Outside of the Hunter, there is also the Scoundrel, Combat Brute and Battle Commander. Each offers a variety of different play options within each class, and none are like you suspect them to be.
The Iron Word
Advanced Class and NPC is a really good supplement for picking some very unique classes. I love that the writers looked at 4 iconic classes, scrapped them and brought an entirely different concept for each to the table.
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The Zeitgeist campaign is a brave adventure in adventure writing.
With every entry, Zeitgeist tends to give the middle finger to traditional adventure design. Always on Time feels like the biggest screw you I have read so far. And it is a true feat in adventure writing.
Many editions of Dungeons and Dragons does the straight forward exploration and monster bashing better than any RPG. But things like mysteries, or espionage are difficult to pull off. After you have read hundreds of adventures, such as this reviewer, many start running into each other and become overtly predictable. Always on Times is very unpredictable. The 73-page PDF, with Enworld Publishing’s typical vivid and useful layout, is a spy mission for your PCs as they try to uncover the mysteries of a secret organization. This basic premise allows you to utilize this adventure in any situation where the PCs need to find out something secret. And this is an adventure you will want to figure out how to include in your campaign. Of course, if you are doing Zeitgeist this adventure is like the end of sweeps episode from a tv show.
Always on Times shuns combat glut adventures and instead provides of creative skill challenges and PC influencing Role playing encounters. When Combat happens it feels organic, as opposed to :: Robotic Voice:: only being included because the adventure needs to hit a certain amount of XP in order to be called an adventure.
Instead of who to defeat and what, Always on Time has the PCs fending off a creative group of train robbers, hiding their identity from dangerous men, tracking and finding mysterious meetings and escaping a dangerous, hostile content with few resources. If the PCs are fighting too much, it’s because they have horribly prepared, did a poor job role playing, or the dice hate them.
For the Players
This is an adventure, like most Zeitgeist adventures, built for players who like to roleplay and not roll dice endlessly. Plus, this is the first adventure where magic items start to play a bigger part. What player doesn’t like magic items.
For the Dungeon Master
It’s been said enough how easy Ryan, Nocks, the campaign manager, makes these adventures to run. Easy to follow layouts, tons of guides and crisp editing all make this adventure a breeze to use and plug in to any campaign. Always on Time is a true spy adventure. Its as close as you’ll get to Dungeons and Dragons in James Bond mode.
The Iron Word
Always on Time is a very different adventure. It does not hold any punches nor try to appease everyone. It is designed for players and dungeon masters who put roleplaying ahead of a meaningless series of fights. I highly suggest this to any group tired of the same old same old.
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The Zeitgeist campaign is a brave adventure in adventure writing.
With every entry, Zeitgeist tends to give the middle finger to traditional adventure design. Always on Time feels like the biggest screw you I have read so far. And it is a true feat in adventure writing.
Many editions of Dungeons and Dragons does the straight forward exploration and monster bashing better than any RPG. But things like mysteries, or espionage are difficult to pull off. After you have read hundreds of adventures, such as this reviewer, many start running into each other and become overtly predictable. Always on Times is very unpredictable. The 73-page PDF, with Enworld Publishing’s typical vivid and useful layout, is a spy mission for your PCs as they try to uncover the mysteries of a secret organization. This basic premise allows you to utilize this adventure in any situation where the PCs need to find out something secret. And this is an adventure you will want to figure out how to include in your campaign. Of course, if you are doing Zeitgeist this adventure is like the end of sweeps episode from a tv show.
Always on Times shuns combat glut adventures and instead provides of creative skill challenges and PC influencing Role playing encounters. When Combat happens it feels organic, as opposed to :: Robotic Voice:: only being included because the adventure needs to hit a certain amount of XP in order to be called an adventure.
Instead of who to defeat and what, Always on Time has the PCs fending off a creative group of train robbers, hiding their identity from dangerous men, tracking and finding mysterious meetings and escaping a dangerous, hostile content with few resources. If the PCs are fighting too much, it’s because they have horribly prepared, did a poor job role playing, or the dice hate them.
For the Players
This is an adventure, like most Zeitgeist adventures, built for players who like to roleplay and not roll dice endlessly. Plus, this is the first adventure where magic items start to play a bigger part. What player doesn’t like magic items.
For the Dungeon Master
It’s been said enough how easy Ryan, Nocks, the campaign manager, makes these adventures to run. Easy to follow layouts, tons of guides and crisp editing all make this adventure a breeze to use and plug in to any campaign. Always on Time is a true spy adventure. Its as close as you’ll get to Dungeons and Dragons in James Bond mode.
The Iron Word
Always on Time is a very different adventure. It does not hold any punches nor try to appease everyone. It is designed for players and dungeon masters who put roleplaying ahead of a meaningless series of fights. I highly suggest this to any group tired of the same old same old.
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Iron Nugget
If you are like me, one of the most tedious parts to game preparation is designing and statting NPCs. This can get especially difficult when attempting to do so on the fly in those hard to predict situations where the party decides to go right instead of left. Raging Swan Press saw a niche in the Paizo PDF realm and has filled it admirably with their Tribes series of PDFs. These PDFs do a lot more than provide a few measly stat blocks. Each book provides a detailed group of NPCs, fully statted, with mini backgrounds, mechanics and strong descriptions. More importantly, each includes lengthy adventure hooks. Turning the product from a simple collection of NPCs to a possible adventure generator for any situation. And, if you still do not realize you are getting your bang for the book, they include a plethora of web enhancements related to each book that include maps and other encounters.
Bugbears of the Frozen Tears is another strong entry by Raging Swan. I rarely use bugbears in my campaigns. They come off as a fairly boring creature- a poor man’s orc. My prejudice towards bugbears is part of the reason I liked this Tribes entry. It spices up your traditional bugbear tribe by providing a cold oriented bugbear tribe that feeds of the terrible tales told of them. The additional class features, feats, magic items and spells go a long way to adjusting bugbears into the ferocious cold predator tribe presented in the meaty 27 page PDF.
One of the best features of the PDF are the minor and major encounters, which do a strategic job of utilizing a fairly minor spell and turning it into a deadly distraction. The only downfall of this title are the few and brief hiccups with layout. A small price to pay for an a unique perspective of an overused creature.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thanks very much for the review. I'm delighted your enjoyed it! Could you give me an idea of the layout fails you mentioned so I can make sure to expunge them from future releases? Thanks very much! |
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Iron Nugget
If you are like me, one of the most tedious parts to game preparation is designing and statting NPCs. This can get especially difficult when attempting to do so on the fly in those hard to predict situations where the party decides to go right instead of left. Raging Swan Press saw a niche in the Paizo PDF realm and has filled it admirably with their Tribes series of PDFs. These PDFs do a lot more than provide a few measly stat blocks. Each book provides a detailed group of NPCs, fully statted, with mini backgrounds, mechanics and strong descriptions. More importantly, each includes lengthy adventure hooks. Turning the product from a simple collection of NPCs to a possible adventure generator for any situation. And, if you still do not realize you are getting your bang for the book, they include a plethora of web enhancements related to each book that include maps and other encounters.
Bandits of the Rampant Horror is one of favorite Tribes books. I have a soft spot for evil fey. Blame my wife obsession with the mystical figures of whimsical terror. Bandits starts of by introducing the band of Spriggans , an escaped bunch of refugees from the feyland. The writers really let their creativity loose with the fey flavor of the collection. Each of the NPCs groups, statted from CR 2 to CR 9, contain very dark fey motives. One of the things I enjoy most about these books is their knack for not sticking to one or two monster types. Though Bandits is Fey influenced, this PDF includes NPCs with undead and monster backgrounds.
As one of the more content packed Tribes books, Tribes will be a strong addition to your PDF collection.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thanks very much for the review. I'm delighted you enjoyed BotRH! |
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LPJDesign does not do anything by the books. When they set out to design a campaign world it is always something you have never seen before. Do not be mistaken, it is always fantasy. But the take is some mad man’s vision of fantasy. Whether it be a planet that has evolved in eternal darkness or a world where its adventurers take the skies, LPJDesign take the ideas of fantasy and turns them on top of their head. In NeoExodus: A House Divided Campaign Setting, the publishing house takes us back to one of their earlier settings, this time was a hundred more pages of detail and expansive new purpose.
NeoExodus started a few years ago as a 3.5 campaign setting, but did not have the detailed needed to sustain it for a long running campaign. In this revised Pathfinder edition, we finally get the detail needed to sustain the campaign for years to come.
With a detailed and richer history to begin the 190 page PDF, Neoexodus starts off on a great foot. The writing is immersive and draws you into the myths of the world. Neoexodus is a world that was once dominated by a vicious assortment of beings called the First Ones. They eventually disappeared from the world, but their reappearances sparks this new age of heroes. In the mean time, a volatile assortment of countries set the background for the politics of the world.
Among the many changes to the world is an introduction to a fantasy plane where magic is as common as a sneeze. Nine races set the tone for the world. There are plant people, magical golems, talking rats, tentacle monsters, felines and 4 other races that stretches your beliefs on what fantasy really means. These races interact like the lands claiming to be king in Game of Thrones. The writing on the politics of this world is very good and allows a DM to pick where he wants to begin a campaign. A mystery or political campaign is actually really viable in this world.
Equally as well written are the assortment of new feats, classes and spells, all of them centered around a world where magic is powerful, so the more uncommon the magic, the better results of catching your opponent off guard.
For the Player
LPJDesign does balance well. They hire very competent mechanical engineers to insure that you can take any of the material of their campaigns and use it in a normal campaign and it works just as find, so long as you can explain why you’re playing master splinter in Golorian you won’t have any problems transferring any of this information into your normal game world. IF you have this option, sneak in the Barbarian archetype: Fist of the Dragon. It’s an amazing version of the barbarian that gets its powers from one of the various dragons you choose.
For the Dungeon Master
The First Ones are some of the best written villains if you like dark fantasy. They are very dark, and border on that line between suitable and decrepit. I used them in my following campaign even after I finished my first NeoExodus campaign.
The Iron Word
This is a campaign setting for a group of players that just want a different type of fantasy. Neoexodus features strong elements of high-end magic and psionics and a touch of steampunk. This feels like what aliens play when they play Dungeons and Dragons.
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Decades ago graph paper and imagination were all you needed to get a game together. But as technology got better and immersion moved to the forefront of tabletop RPGs, battlemaps have become a near necessity at a good DM’s table. With cheap projectors and color printers, there’s no reason Dungeon Masters should be rolling out archaic graphic paper. Especially when Lord Zsezse Works is cranking out phenomenally colorful and detailed masterpieces for your PCs to battle in.
The level of detail and cartography in every map puts your players in the world. Their battlemaps are realistic, using rich and multilayered colors in every square. Also, Within every product, the designers go the extra mile of including several versions of the map. They have an online version, perfect for online games or projection based battlemaps, and a version that’s a little more print friendly. Both of these maps are provided with grid and without grids.
Battlemap: Crystal Cave is my favorite dungeon produced by the artists. It is one of the few maps that has depth, in that their are layers on top of layer. I expect cave maps to be fairly boring and mundane, but not here. There is so many rich features (chains attached to layers of the cave, snakes wrapping around the various caverns) that DMs can become inspired for new encounters just by thinking of the possibilities of each area. The great thing about this one is, that is also comes in isometric format. This comes out fairly amazing on a projector or computer screen.
For the Dungeon Master
II ran this map last month, purposely creating a spot in the adventure just so I can use it. My players couldn't even believe that I added this as an add-on to the adventure. The various layers of the adventure provided them a vast array of decisions they could use to explore the cavern.
The Iron Word
Battlemap: Crystal Cave is fantastical. It is a cave that can only exist in a magical world and perfect for the final dungeon of a magical adversary of the PCs.
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![[PFRPG] The Genius Guide to the Time Thief](images/97/82559-thumb100.jpg)
![True Naming: A supplement of magic, language, and power [PFRPG]](images/4843/107971-thumb100.png)
