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So What's That Shiny Thing Like, Anyway? $3.99
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So What's That Shiny Thing Like, Anyway?
Publisher: Raging Swan Press
by Aaron H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/26/2012 21:00:50

The following review was originally posted at Roleplayers Chronicle and can be read in its entirety at http://roleplayerschronicle.com/?p=19570.

In this continuation of the ongoing Raging Swan Press series of ‘So What’ supplements, author Richard Green provides a collection of ready references for GMs to utilize for inspiration–this time making what might ordinarily be mundane gems and goods a more interesting and flavorful find. Whether put on the spot unexpectedly or pondered up during prep, So What’s That Shiny Thing, Anyway? sets out to add spice to a session’s sweet rewards–so let’s take a look and see how this twist on mundane treasures measures up!

OVERALL

So What’s That Shiny Thing, Anyway? further expands upon the growing collection of GM tools in Raging Swan’s repertoire, serving to facilitate evocative and flavorful finds at a glance to spice up a given game’s loot. The content can be utilized quickly and easily and covers a wide variety of cool flavor–while also offering up additional descriptive details, hooks and complications along for the ride.

RATINGS

Publication Quality: 10 out of 10 Raging Swan Press’ two-column standard is shown here crisply and cleanly, continuing to boast a nice professional presentation. Eight pieces of black and white artwork are found herein of a nice quality and flavor the material well. Layout and spacing are handled consistently–and given that much of the product is presented in reference tables, that these are found to be neatly formatted is apt. I did not find any editing glitches–everything appears ship-shape! The PDF is thoroughly bookmarked and broken down to individual tables underneath each category of goods, making it a fine electronic reference as well.

Mechanics: 10 out of 10 Given the nature of this product, the main meat to make or break it is in the tables themselves–and those presented do not disappoint. While the title denotes all things shiny, there are more goodies included than just gems and coins–and the full gamut breaks down to coins, gems, jewellery, books & scrolls, art objects and miscellaneous objects. Each of these categories is presented within multiple tables with individual entries providing their cash value and a distinct description for flavor. The range of value spans as little as a few copper pieces and as grand as twenty-thousand gold–which needless to say, ought to satisfy mundane finds at all levels of play.

Beyond the tables themselves–which are quite thoroughly chock full of evocative details–two sections of goods include additional layers to further tailor these findings. The coins include a table for what is printed on their reverse side, while the gems section provides reference tables both for appraising and identifying their value and for assessing the magical properties of gemstones (an especially neat table.) A few of the entries include minor mechanical effects, such as a bowl with mushrooms which provide a fortitude bonus versus disease for an hour if eaten–a nice extra inclusion among the mix.

Finally, at the tail end of the product is the Hooks & Complications section, which is really quite neat; here a table provides ‘looks and hooks’ (quite catchy) for gemstones, such as being marked by a wizard’s sigil or being the missing eye from a statue of a demon; while another table denotes ‘previous owners’ for the goods found herein, boasting a nice collection of potentially quirky or precarious encounters to be had should said owners cross paths with a party of adventurers. From start to finish, all of the tables presented include plenty of detailed information about the entries.

Value Add: 10 out of 10 I make no secret that I am a fan of supplements which provide a GM tools with which to spice up their adventures–and one which helps bring more memorable finds among mundane treasures certainly satisfies this calling. So What’s That Shiny Thing, Anyway? goes a long way in regard to providing plenty of alternatives to simply waving a hand and announcing the discovery of fifty gold of this and seventy gold of that–which in and of itself suits nicely for mechanical purposes.

Beyond just flavor, however, is another underlying element: these descriptions could just as well serve as inspiration for adding additional hooks to a given story and its characters–and that is really where the ‘shiny’ begin to shine. Many of the entries provide enough of a curiosity that they have the potential to spark a given player’s interest–and an attentive GM could certainly feed off of these piqued regards to further flesh out a particular find into something more meaningful. It’s these little perks that I feel help supplements, such as this, bring lasting value to the table.

Overall: 10 out of 10



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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So What's That Shiny Thing Like, Anyway?
Publisher: Raging Swan Press
by Thilo G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/29/2012 06:39:21

This pdf is 21 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving 14 pages of tables, but what kind of table exactly?

Essentially, this pdf includes a lot of tables to customize your treasure and add interesting bits of fluff to your campaign that may very well spark adventures in and of themselves. It first starts with a d20-table of backsides of coins, something I have used to an interesting effect in my own campaign, so I encourage you to check this out! A table of 20 forms of strange, inhuman or simply different forms of currency is also presented, ranging from paper notes to ox-hide-shaped copper ingots. VERY cool!

We also get 4 tables of gems of different values, so you'll never have to say "You find gems worth 220 GP" ever again - saying instead: "You find a Moss Agate, a Tiger Eye, a Chrysoberyl, a Chrysoparase and a Sardonyx." The gems come with descriptions, appraise-checks and entries on transparency as well as a fluffy side-box on supposedly magic effects of said gems for enchantment purposes. What about Jewelry? Once again, a plethora of tables, 5 to be specific and, just as with the gems, organized by value, are presented and come with rather interesting forms and shapes, including combs and cloak-clasps.

Not only glittering stuff is valuable, though, and that's why we also get 3 tables of books and scrolls (including titles and short summaries) and 4 tables of uncommon art objects including Dire tigerskin rugs (Dinner for One with giants, anyone?) and even candlesticks made of mithral!

And then there are the 5 tables of miscellaneous objects - If you've read my review of SGG's Genius Guide to What's in my Pocket, you can imagine the weirdness that suffuses some of these entries - in contrast to SGG's book, though, these actually have a value assigned - Take for example the "Orc's Foot Cheese", sought after many a gourmand or a decadent basilisk hide belt with a monstrous buckle!

This installment of the series goes above and beyond, though, and also provides hooks and complications: A table with 20 entries to modify gems, 20 different entries centering on previous owners, 20 secret messages contained somewhere within the item and finally 20 kinds of complications, from apparent agelessness of an antique relic to being a kind of champion's belt for a tribe of orcs!

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to a 2-column standard and the pdf is fully bookmarked and features a version optimized for use with e-readers. I'll make this short in case my jubilatory tones have not made this abundantly clear - this pdf is awesome. The treasure herein enriches and customizes the adventuring experience of just about any group and the care and cool ideas that have flown into the compilation is stellar. The amount of items and loot herein and their unique properties make it possible to craft one or more truly unique dragon's hoards from these items and the added tables, the complications etc., make for a stellar icing on the cake. Were I to utter any kind of criticism, then it would be that the gems are rather mundane and including some new ones would have been awesome. I would have loved to see more currencies as well, but that is nagging on the top-most level. This is hands-down my favorite installment of the "So what's.."-series and I encourage every DM who is tired of handing out boring mundane rewards to check this out. While not as far-out as SGG's file, they complement each other nicely and I hope for a lot of successors to this stellar pdf. My final verdict will be 5 stars + the Endzeitgeist seal of approval - author Richard Green has done an awesome job.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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