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Shards of the Heart
Publisher: Tabletop Adventures, LLC
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/28/2007 06:34:06

Shards of the Heart

Coming up with NPCs is one of the least fun aspects of d20. And as the levels get higher the complexity of the characters increases. Each additional level adds more feats, skill points, and choices. When one adds to that the personality and background of the NPC it can really take a bit of time to to create them. That is where Shards of the Heart comes in. It is a collection of NPCs already defined and stated out.

Shards of the Heart is a new PDF by Tabletop Adventures. These guys seem determined to make the job of a DM easier. Their few products deal with time saving descriptions of places so the DM can spend time creating other things. This list book of NPCs is ninety three pages long, and the layout and art are both pretty good. The PDF has book marks but it would have been helpful if they also included classes and levels in the book marks. As they have it they just have the characters names. In addition to the PDF collection of all the stats and the backgrounds of the character one also gets actually character sheets of the NPCs that are ready to be printed it. This also makes the product ideal if one has the need for regenerated characters for a one shot adventure like most conventions have.

Shards of the Heart is a collection of about two dozen different NPCs. Each NPCs of course has a name and the class and levels. But they also have example narratives for introducing the character. These narratives are highly descriptive capturing both the look and personality of the character. Then the text gives a written description and full personality of the character. Lastly the character is given his/her motivation, background, and a few plot hooks. All of this is before one gets to the actually stats of the character. Each character has about two pages of this material and another page of just the stats. There is a large variety of characters but not ever possibility is presented. For instance there are no barbarian or dwarf characters. But there are plenty of human and half elves and bards and NPC classes. These characters are very good for role playing and are not created to be the most powerful at their levels. Some of the class combinations are not the best in terms of power but offer great and interesting characters. There are no characters with prestige classes. The levels of the characters vary quite a bit. There is a first level commoner and the highest level one is a ninth level sorcerer cleric.

Overall I am pleased with the characters in the book. They are designed more to help out with the fully fleshed out NPCs then the minor guards and servants the players will run into. The adventure hooks make them easy to use and give the DM plenty of great ideas to draw upon.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Shards of the Heart
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Mind Over Matter
Publisher: IDA
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/26/2007 17:20:04

Once psionics got placed into the system reference document I expected to see quite a few books use that material. There has not been as many as I imagined but a few have come out. These books expand or redo what has been done in new and different ways. Psionics has always been an area that not everyone likes and some people think they can even do it better. The real challenge for these books will be to try to get the people who really have yet to embrace psionics and have them use psionics in their games.

Mind Over Matter is a new PDF by Interactive Design Adventures. They have put out a few other PDFs mostly stand ups that are alternatives for minis. The PDF is under fifty pages and does come in a rather big zip file of over fifteen megs. The PDF comes in four different version a pair of landscape and a pair of portrait formats one of each designed for printing. The art in the book is okay and it is all black and white. The layout needs some work as things are widely spaced and a conservation of space would not be a bad idea. None of the books have any book marks and for a book like this book marks would be really useful.

Mind Over Matter is a supplement that seems to want to work for d20 modern as well as d20 fantasy. I feel a more solid focus would have been better. The classes use things from d20 modern like defense bonus and reputation and at the same time have twenty levels like in the fantasy game. The classes seem a little specific for classes like Psi Cop and Psionicite Elementalist. These would have been better served as prestige or advanced classes. The actual advanced classes like the Manipulator and Psionic Entertainer do serve well as advanced classes.

There are two new races the Anaki and Atlanteans. The Anaki are what people traditaionally call greys, the classic aliens with the big head and empty black eyes that have been visiting earth since the age of the dinosaurs. The Atlanteans are equally familiar being the close humans of that lost ancient city. While both races seem sound in mechanics I would have liked to seeea little more creativity in psionic races to be presented. These two are very familiar in concept to most people and lose their wonder as new races because of it.

The psionic system here is a feat and skill based one. Most traditional psionic powers are skills and then there are feats that can augment the use of the powers and allow for greater flexibility. I do like how the system works but feel that is is not as well done as other skill based psionic classes like the Pshychics Handbook by Green Ronim

Mind Over Matter is an attempt at doing psionics a little differently in the modern game. They have some nice ideas for both abilities and classes but I feel that there are some initial problems with the classes and races to not make this a worth while book. The psionic system itself is pretty good and that alone may make it worthwhile. The appearance of the book in general is another strike against it.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Mind Over Matter
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Metablades Expanded Edition
Publisher: Genjitsu Gaming
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/26/2007 14:20:15

Metablades

A little bit of magic or psionic power can go a long way. As most people have noticed within the game magic is the ultimate power in the game and psionics are not so bad either. They easily pass by the power of the fighters even those with the best equipment. There are always exceptions but this is not about those. Metablades is about adding a bit of power to those that pursue both the magic and physical skill.

Metablades is a PDF by Genjitsu Gaming. This is the expanded version of the book they released that includes psionic and epic rules. The book is sixty two pages in length and comes in both landscape and portrait formats. There is little art in the books and the layout has a lot of extra white spaces. The book is book marked and not hard to read.

The book starts with a discussion of all the base core classes and how they can be used to create that martial spell caster. It has some good advice for multi classing and goes beyond the bits that most everyone knows actually going into detail on what specifically spell wise makes the martial classes work the best. And while I am mostly referring to magic they also cover psionics as well. A side bar in this section is a good bit about ability and spell combinations. Like the use of blink and area effect spells since blink protects one from some of the damage. One idea that I really like is the use of grabble to pin a person and then placing an immovable rod on them trapping them.

Feats as we all know area familiar and common tool in many d20 products. Met Blades presents feats, but many of them are actually a bit more creative and different from the run of the mill feats that are seen in most books. For instance there is Flock of Blades that uses ones knowledge of mirror image to make simultaneous attacks that deal non lethal damage. There are also feats that are a bit more powerful then standard feats but they require an additional cost. Guardian Angel grants a bonus to AC and all saves, but also takes the place of a second level divine spell. There are some powerful feats like Psionic Spring Attack that allows the character to intermix a full move and a full round attack. Some of them are pure combat like Searing Shot which allows the caster to spend arcane spell slots to deal more damage with a missile attack. Along with the many feats there are Styles. These are like the martial art Styles presented in Oriental Adventure except even more detailed. There are different levels to each one so multiple powers can be gained by acquiring the many prerequisites to the different levels of abilities.

After feat prestige classes have also become very common. The ones here try to meld powers with martial ability to different degrees of success. The Affinitist is not one of the best here. The class requires a base attack bonus and some good combat feats, but gains the base attack bonus of a wizard which does not seem to jive with the intention of the class. The Fortress Mage is an interesting one allowing it the chance to cast a few defensive spells without expending a spell slot. The Mental Marksman is a psionic who continually gets better with the ranged weapons. For the most part while the prestige classes are nice and different there really was not any that really amazed me.

The book also provides a variety of new spells, psionic powers, and magical items and weapons. There is a section for epic levels of the classes here as well as new epic feats. That is a bonus since epic feats seem to be an area that very few products support. Lastly are some sample NPCs. The NPCs are pretty good and the stat blocks are complete yet do not take up much space. I tire of NPCs like in the Complete books that seem to take up a page or so by themselves.

Overall the book does a nice job of combining some classes and giving some cool options for people who do. The feats are the high light of the book but the other options are well done and can easily be used. The writers did a nice job on this using many areas of the game like psionics and epic rules to make their creations the best they can be.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Metablades Expanded Edition
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The 6th Seal
Publisher: Adamant Entertainment
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/09/2007 09:45:55

In most adventures it is all about the bad guy. The heroes have to defeat him and his goons. It is a rare adventure that moves away from that. It does not seem to matter the game or the genre. This is a short series of adventures and adventure ideas that all originate with the same event and it is a natural occurring one and not something caused by a master villain.

6th Seal is a PDF adventure by Adamant Entertainment. It is written by Mike Lafferty. The fifty four page PDF is written for the Mutants and Mastermind game. It is well book marked and has a good mix of black and white art. The Lay does include some cover in it and it is easy to read and follow. There are a few one page villains that are fully stated up and also easy to read and use.

The 6th Seal can be set in any good sized city the Heroes live and work in. The scenario really has the Earthquake devastate the whole nation. They did that to explain why outside aid is not coming in all that fast and why the Player Characters have so much to do and no one to really help them. The book though does have information if one just wants to have the Earthquake in the city and not the whole nation. The author describes this as a darker adventure with an Iron Age feel. The book is divided into five sections and each covers a different amount of time after the quake hits.

The first section deals with right after the earthquake hits. The sections are well organized and start out with a list of the action that is going to happen, a list of some mini challenges the DM can add in, and a list of the plot points that are going on. This is a great and simple way to know what is happening. In an adventure like this that can have a lot of different challenges this organization is very helpful. In this first section it is simple to imagine the chaos and the people that will need o be rescued. The adventure even has a montage to show what the PCs are doing without having to play through it all. They do have specific challenges like a tanker truck exploding and a baby in a burning building. But this is Mutants and Masterminds so just because the initial cause of the problem was natural does not me a villain will not be taken advantage of the situation. There is a villain called Brimstone a super powered arsonist that is going to finish burning everything down. He is a PL ten villain and should be a good challenge for player characters.

The second part of the first section comes a few days later and during a big aftershock. There is a sidebar in the first section about aftershocks as well. In this scenario the aftershock has knocked out the power to a meta human prison. There are specific circumstances the adventure uses of what is going on there but it also gives a DM with a solid campaign going to have villains in the past escape again and wreck havoc.

Section two deals with life after the quake. It almost makes the city feel a little like a post apocalyptic setting. There are gangs that have formed up and taken control of parts of the city. There are some good suggestions in the adventure but as DM I would once again want to also include past villains and other NPCs in this to show what they are doing and how they are taking advantage of the situation. Not everyone who is doing this is evil. There is a group of doctors forming a great free clinic and a church offering sanctuary to those in need. This section introduces a lot of new NPCs.

The Third section deals with UN aid finally coming into the city. Of course there are villains and a crowd of people that desperately need that iad. The Police are going to do their best but help from super heroes is going to be needed. One great aspect of this part is not just defeating the bad guys but also being aware that collateral damage is potentially really bad. So the PCs will hopefully be careful here and not destroy the aid or injury the people that need help.

There is a nice little adventure with stopping vampires from attacking a church. What I really like about this is it takes a villain the government is currently hunting and places her in a position to help the heroes. She is going to defend the church and kill the vampires and it will be up to the PCs to handle this difficult situation.

In a similar story to that one is the Police Headquarters under attack by several gangs working together. It is not all as it seems though. Some of these gangs are just really desperate. I like one encounter in which a gang leader tries to negotiate with the Heroes. He just wants some food for his people and for that he is willing to change sides. The adventures have a little depth to the many villains like this and I really like that in here.

After that the city is really getting back on its feet and the adventure has some plotlines and gangs that come out of it all. I think this might be the weakest section. A lot has gone on since the time of the quake and it can be difficult for a module to really predict the aftermath of it all.

The 6th Seal is a good collection of small adventures for Mutants and Masterminds. There is a wide variety of encounters and challenges all around the central theme of a devastating natural disaster. The book is not all that long but a good DM can really flesh out parts and easily have this be a central theme of their campaign for many months.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The 6th Seal
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Behind the Spells: Cone of Cold
Publisher: Fat Goblin Games
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 07/20/2007 00:00:00

Behind the Spells Cone of Cold

It?s been a little while since I reviewed on of this series. And hopefully with Bret Boyd starting his own PDF company that will mean that this series is not over with just yet. Behind the Spells is a series of PDFs that each tackles a single popular spell. It gives that spell a history on who and why it was created. And it gives a few neat little options that expand the use of the spell.

Behind the Spells: Cone of Cold is a PDF by Ronin Arts. Bret Boyd writes the whole series and his new company is Tricky Owlbear Publishing, Inc. I mention that in hopes people will soon find new PDFs in the series under that name. He has a new series of PDFs called Behind the Monsters that I am looking forward to reading. I wonder if we will eventual get Behind the Magic Item/artifact?

I should probably get back to the PDF review. The PDF is five pages long just enough for the topic on hand. There is no art but the PDFs are book marked. The book has a good lay out and is really easy to read and find things in.

The history of the spell is a little odd. It involves a Wrone Kida. Of the histories in the series I have read this one really screams write a module around it. It deals with a extra dimensional ooze like thing that escaped from a subterranean prison. It involves Trolls and a persistent enemy. It is a cool little story.

Spell secrets are little ways the original spell can be altered. The Cone of Cold spell has two of them. The first is really a very versatile. With a spell craft check or a certain material component the caster can alter the shape of the spell to either a ray or a spread. In the same spell secret the castor can also change the elemental part of the spell. This might be a little too good for just a spell secret. Usually being able to make one spell that can also do fire, acid, electricity, or even sonic damage requires a feat or two. I like the idea of making it a bit easier but personally I think this is a little too easy.

The other spell secret though is really cool and makes the spell a lot more fun to play with. It allows the castor to instead of have the normal effect have the spell effect either the ground, water, or the air. Basically it can freeze the ground, turn a lot of water to ice, or create an area of freezing cold air. Each has its own duration and effect.

There is one alternate spell called Frigid Enchantment. It allows the castor to give the frost enchantment to a number of weapons and then the user can make it go to icy burst for a few rounds when they choose. It seems like a good fifth level spell if one has enough weapons to be enchanted that will be used.

Behind the Spells Cone of Cold gives the reader a little of everything the series has to offer. It has a very cool and creative history that one can easily borrow ideas from. The spell secrets are useful but I do think the one is a bit too good. And the variant spell is defiantly useful under the right circumstances. This is another strong PDf in the series.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Behind the Spells: Cone of Cold
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Panty Explosion Classic
Publisher: Atarashi Games
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 07/19/2007 00:00:00

Panty Explosion

Panty Explosion is a game that I am not the intended target for. The game is about Japanese Psychic Schoolgirls. I understand that this is a genre within the anime, manga, and live action movies Japan has. I am mostly unfamiliar with all of that. I read list of items the author used as inspiration and I had not heard of let alone seen any of them. So, while I am new to the genre the role playing game aspect is something that I am very familiar with and I can easily say I like what I read here. Panty Explosion is a game for a very tight audience. It is not a game that can do other things; all of its focus is on this genre and it works. Panty Explosion is a relatively new RPG by Atarashi Games. It is written by Jake Richmond and Matt Schlotte. It comes in a small ninety six page book. The art is all very respectful and of realistic looking Japanese schoolgirls. I use the word respectful because the title can make people wonder otherwise. The book has a very cool lay out that makes it look like it was written in a school note book and there are the occasional little doodles and scribbles in there. The character sheet is provided in the back of the book and it is made to resemble a student?s Permanent School Record. They do a very good job with the art and look of everything to reinforce the school setting of the game. Panty Explosion is at its core a horror game. But it is really hard to tell that from just a casual reading and understanding. The players are playing Japanese schoolgirls that are trying to just survive school. And to make it worse there are demons that want them dead. Not all the characters will be psychic. It is a blessing and a curse and the book does a very good job of demonstrating that. On the surface the game may deal with the characters getting read for school and dealing with bullies or being the bully, popularity, after school jobs and activities; there is always the fear of strangers and demons. I think if I understood the genre a little better I would have a better grasp of how it all fits together. Panty Explosion has its own mechanics and character generation. This is a character driven game and everything really enforces that. One of the items with character creation is blood type. Apparently the Japanese place a lot more into blood type then I ever knew. Blood type does not dictate personality it does though help to define it. type is important as it defines personality and certain blood types are seen as better then others. And then each person has a trait based on their blood type. It is a bit more of a defining characteristic like people know they can rely on her, asks the right questions, devil?s advocate, or always thinks before she speaks. Then one selects the month the character was born in and this once again will help define the character?s personality. A trait based on the month will also be selected. I really like the defining of the character?s personality and focus on that during character generation. It really does a nice job of showing what the game sees as important. The closest the game has to stats is with the five elements. Each character basically fifteen points among the five elements of Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Void. Each point represents a die that will be rolled to accomplish tasks. Each element covers different types of actions. Each one is also strongly associated with certain personality traits. So someone with a strong Earth would possible be stubborn and confidant. They like to see things remain as they are. Each of the elements has traits with them as well and for one?s character the player picks the element they feel fits the character best and assigns one trait associated with the element. Each player will then also pick a trait associated with their family and one about their hobbies. Traits are important as they allow one to roll higher dice. If the character gets to roll d6?s, when they try to do something related to one of their traits they get to use d8?s. Each character has a best friend and rival. These are other player characters. One player can claim another character is her rival and that character can have the first one be her best friend. This is important later as the game is played. When a character succeeds in an action the player playing the best friend describes how the success happens. When a character fails it is her rival?s player that describes the failure. It is a very interesting mechanic that makes the players much more involved in the game. It can also be a challenge for people not used to basically doing some of the Superintendent?s job. The Superintendent is the DM of the game. At the beginning of each game each student selects an agenda that the character is trying to accomplish. These are important because the demon is reinforced by unresolved agendas. Once an agenda is succeeded the character acquires s a trait that reflects the completion of the agenda. There is a long list of sample agendas in the book and I think this will be really helpful for people not sure of what to do with their characters. It is a nice and simple way to give a focus of what the character will do and a goal for them to go towards. The last bit of importance for the characters is popularity. Before each game there is a secret vote to see which character is the most and least popular. Anyone with psychic powers can never be the most popular. This determines what dice one rolls to accomplish tasks. The most popular uses a d10, the least a d6, and every one else use d8?s. In a given sequence of events each character has a poll of dice depending on their elements. Once a character uses all her fire dice for instance she can not take actions that are governed by fire. This should help players get a little more creative and it also helps scenes come to an end. There is a lot of conflict but rarely is it going to be deadly. It can be dealing with tests, and bullies and other things people encounter in schools. I would have liked to see a sample adventure or something more to get an even better understanding on what happens in the game. There is a section that explains it and a good portion of the book is dedicated to the setting and the feel of the game. As a novice to the genre though I felt I needed a little bit more. The writing for the character generation is interesting and involves the reader. The setting writing reads a little too fact based. There is some colorful characters and the first half is fun to read. But then the tone changes as it goes into the Japanese culture and what their schools are like. At times it seemed like something one would hear on a news report. It is very informative but little else. Panty Explosion is a game that covers an area that no other game I have seen does. It has a very interesting and well done character generation system. I really enjoy the use of traits, the simple mechanics, and the way the game involves different people at the table. How the game runs and what a session looks like though is a little harder for me to grasp.

<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Panty Explosion Classic
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Requiem for a God
Publisher: Malhavoc Press
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 07/19/2007 00:00:00

Requiem for a God is an Event Book by Monte Cook, possible the most recognizable name in the d20 market. An Event Book is simply a single product that covers a campaign-changing event. The event covered here is the death of a god.

The book is soft bound and 64 pages in length for $12.95. It was originally released as a pdf. The layout seems sparse, as there is a lot of white space in the borders. The art is pretty good, but some of the pieces are reused from else where in the book. The full color cover is a nice piece by Kieran Yanner of some priests with a glowing box in the foreground.

The book takes on through the process starting with how the god or gods die to what happens to their followers. It has suggestions for how to handle things like what happens to the body, what happens on the site of the death, and how to involve the players in all of it. Overall, while I found many of the ideas interesting, I constantly felt that there needed to be more. There are good ideas, but nothing really awe-inspiring. Many of these ideas are very much common sense and I think a greater level of detail was needed.

There are rules for what happens to a cleric after his god dies including a variant that allows a cleric to keep at least some of their spell ability. There are rules for using the blood and body of the god as magical items that give temporary abilities. Then there are energy wells that are created where the deity dies. The first prestige class is the Disaffected. They are devious clerics of either a dead god, or of someone who has lost faith in their god. There is also the Harvester of Divinity that seek out dead gods to retrieve parts. There are a couple other prestige classes as well. They all seem well balanced and decent enough. There are also new feats that deal with the gods blood and the god?s body. There are also many new spells, some new magical items and artifacts, some monsters and templates. As with all of Monte?s stuff , balance should not be an issue with any of this.

Overall, I just found the book lacking. It?s a fine book, and does the job it sets out to do. I think it could have gone beyond that. Some of the pages I feel are wasted as they are filled with NPCs and organizations. These things just did not seem to fit that well.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Requiem for a God
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Wild Spellcraft
Publisher: EN Publishing
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 07/19/2007 00:00:00

Review of Wild Spellcraft

This is a nice little gem. It is filled with great ideas for use of wild magic. It includes a few different notions of using it so one can use it a little or a lot. It can be a large feature of the campaign world or just a unique spot that it happens in. It can apply to certain casters of any type and magical items.

Introduction: This is one of the better introductions I?ve read in a role-playing book. It tells one exactly what the book has in it chapter by chapter. The best feature is the 10 Ways to Scavenge This Book. A nice little feature and it is very well done.

Chapter One is Wild Spellcraft Template. This is what I consider the meat of the book. It shows one how to apply the wild Spellcraft to any spell caster. There are many options to make the tables of mishaps fit one what needs. There are also ways to make mishaps more common or less common.

Chapter Two is Wild Spellcraft in Your Game. This is the best chapter in the book because of the great ideas presented here. It gives many great suggestions on why wild spellcasters happen and how to have that in one?s world. It gives good advice for using this unpredictable type of magic in different genres as well. There are many ideas presented in this chapter, most of them can inspire campaigns.

Chapter Three is Wild Arcana. In this chapter are the rules for wild magical items and even a few examples of them. Having items that are not reliable is a great idea as the average gamer seems to take for granted his items will always work. Just introduce the concept of wild items and one?s players will be a little more careful and maybe a little paranoid. Next, the chapter goes into the concept of Chaos Fields. These are places that all magic becomes wild. The areas tend to be small, but one can have regions miles long. There are many options presented here allowing one to have Chaos Fields with varying degrees of power so one?s players will never know what to expect from these places.

Chapter Four is Masters of Wild Spellcraft. This is the chapter with a few feats (three), but the heart of this chapter is the two prestige classes. The feats are all interesting and would be fun for either a player or a Dungeon Master. Chaotic Disruption allows spells that one counters, to instead go become mishaps and go astray. Enwild Spell allows one to automatically have a spell he casts become a mishap in hopes of having a good outcome. The third feat is Reckless Spell and at the risk of a mishap one can turn a lower level spell into one that is one level higher. The two prestige classes are also interesting and would be a fun in most games. The first is Pandaemonicist. This is a person that who enjoys the mishaps and has abilities to help make them a little more beneficial, at least he hopes they can. The Sculptor of Chaos is for someone trying to control Chaos. Both classes do get a lot of abilities so I would suggest that both the player and dungeon master are familiar with the Wild Spellcraft rules before using either of them. However, the rewards from such classes are well worth the understanding of these rules. Next the chapter details three NPCs. They are very well detailed giving the back-story, the appearance, and role-playing notes. These NPCs are well done and should be fairly easy to fit in most campaigns.

Chapter Five is Wild Spells. There are over three-dozen new spells in this book. All of them are wild in nature. There are new spells for the Bard, Cleric, Druid and Wizard/Sorcerer.

Chapter Six is the Land Tomb of the Library of Yen-Ching. This is a sample adventure that is given to easily introduce the Wild Spellcraft rules in one?s games. There is advice for making the adventure for first through third level characters, fourth through ninth level characters, and tenth level and higher level characters.

Overall this is a very interesting book full of ideas to expand upon one?s game. Using this book will only add another level of complexity and interest to one?s game. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Wild Spellcraft
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Loot 4 Less, Vol. III
Publisher: IDA
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 07/19/2007 00:00:00

Loot 4 Less Volume 3

I think it is a bit rare of me to review three books all in the same series. But Loot 4 Less has been the type of fun and easy to use PDFs that I enjoy reviewing. The series features magical items that are creative and bargain priced at under twenty five hundred gold pieces. They are great for the lower level games that are the most common people play as well as perfect for people that prefer a low magic game but still want creative and fun magical items. Nothing in the series that I have seen would I call a problem. And there is plenty of pricing information that serve as great sidebars to understand how the costs of things are come up with when they differ from the DMG guidelines. Loot 4 Less Volume 3 is of course the third book in this series. They are all written by Owen K.C. Stephens and it even looks like some of the ideas in the books went into the Magical Item Compendium. The PDf is sixteen pages long and it is nicely book marked. The book has no art in it but does come in a PDF and RTF formats for easy printing. The PDF is all about the clothing. There are magical belt, boots, cloaks, and gloves in the book. There are plenty of side bars that do a great job of explaining some of the prices especially on odd things. For instance there are boots of human kind that gives a +3 bonus to four skills but only one skill may receive the bonus at a time. The DMG guidelines just do not cover that type of thing so the sidebar explains how they came up with the cost. While that is useful there are also some annoying errors. I used the boots of Humankind because in the description they are priced at 2,500gp and in the sidebar they are priced at 2,250gp. With magical items that are priced using non standard ways it is very important to get the prices right or at least to have them agree. One of the neat thins done here is to give cloaks and boots to the other races instead of just the iconic Cloak of Elvenkind and Boots of Elvenkind. Noner of the half races gets special equipment but all of the full races including orcs do. Many of the items are more utility items. There are the gloves of healing that can identify what kind of disease a person has. There is the swim belt that gives a person the ability to breather water and a swim speed for a short amount of time each day. There are the Bullhide boots that allows a person to push someone back a bit farther with a bulrush. The Girdle of Mule Strength increases a person?s carry capacity

. Loot 4 Less Volume 4 is another good source of magical items. There is a good variety and plenty of neat things to give PCs and NPCs alike. The editing could be a little better but it is otherwise a very fun and creative book of low cost and low powered magical items.
<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: great magical items<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: editing could be better<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Loot 4 Less, Vol. III
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Strange Places: The Sensate's Retreat
Publisher: Dog Soul Publishing
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 07/19/2007 00:00:00

The Sensate?s Retreat

Occasionally there is a book that comes out that is just so different I think to myself I have to use this. But even though it is very creative and thought provoking at the same time what makes it so interesting also makes it really tough to use. This is the kind of book that for the right players it will be a real treat. But at the same time I can see someone really not liking or being interested with it and just bored. I think this could be a fun challenge for a DM to run. Strange Places: the Sensate?s Retreat is a PDF by Dog Soul Publishing. The book is from the Strange Places series that is all completely done by Deborah Balsam. From what I have seen she is a very creative woman. I really like her books that are more like this. They have a bit of a surreal feel to them and they do not offer easy answers. The PDF is twenty six pages long and about half of that is just maps of the place. The PDF is book marked, in full color, and has a great look and lay out. Strange Places series is mostly stat free and can be used with any role playing. This one does give reference to a tenth level wizard, has a monster stat block, and refers to a monster from the monster manual. So while it is tied to the D&amp;D game it is very easy to set free and bring to something else. The whole time reading this I have been devising a way to use this in my Changeling the Dreaming game as a weird fey freehold. With the different sense that are being used I could see this as an alien laboratory on some planet in a science fiction game or some training hide out for a sensory oriented super hero in a supers game. There are some adult elements to the game but that could be removed and one could really have a fun place to have kids explore while playing Fariy?s Tale or Meddling Kids or another kid friendly RPG. Or one can really enhance the adult content even more and build on the horror these rooms can generate and create a very frightening place for a game like Dread of Call of Cthulhu. It is a very versatile book for someone willing to think outside the box. The idea behind the place is the PCs discover a secret hideout. The PDF places this in a desert but the where is not as important. Inside the PCs will first see a nice pool of water and four spice jars. It can get tricky here because picking up a spice jar will send that player character to one of the rooms thus dividing up the party. In some groups that will work in others it might be best to just have everyone get teleported together. Each room targets a different sense and it does go a bit beyond the five normal senses. The place is not necessarily deadly though it could be. There are two rooms with creatures that can kill one the PCs would have to anger to become dangerous and the other they would just have to be slow. There are many rooms and each of them can really bring out a descriptive DM. The first one might find is the room of scents. It has twenty three pots and urns filled with different things to smell though there are only twenty things listed. The room of touch is very neat in that one covers themselves in a large silk scarf and then feels unusually and not always pleasant sensations. It is a much better place then the Room of Pain though. The Room of Longing places the character into one of their own daydreams. This could be difficult to deal with as it requires a little work ahead of time to figure out what a character might be longing for. Then there is the room of taste. It is filled with all sorts of food and it makes me want to use Bits of a Banquet: Into the Desserts. The Room of Sights is the room I like the least. It is basically looking up into a fish bowl of rare water plants and two exotic water creatures. It is also the only room that allows one to see something of another room. The two water creatures are more important in the Room of Joy. The Room of Sight I think could really have had something else as a visually stimulation in it. The Room of Joy features the two water creatures the Nuur. In this they are both female but I would have them as a make and a female so everyone has the ability to get some Joy out of it. This room can be come very adult very fast. The Nuur are a well constructed water fey. Then we have the Room of Pain. This is a sadistic version of the Room of Touch. Nothing one experience here is permanent but I can only imagine how disturbing some of these are to feel. Lastly there is the room of instinct. The Instinct it seems to go for is run for your life as you will probably be hunted in here. There is a lot going on in this place. The maps are useful but I found that this type of place does not need maps as each room can almost exist on their own. It is an easy place to explore and to experience a wide range of different things. There is very little information on who built this place or why. Aside from what the rooms do there is little to hint at the motives behind everything. I like that as it makes it really easy to use in different genres like I spoke about earlier. This is one of those products that will be great for certain types of group who like to explore characters and how they react to different experiences. I like that potential and even though it is certainly not for everyone this is the type of book that really appeals to me.

<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Very creative and surreal<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Could use a little bit on other ways tthis can be used<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Strange Places: The Sensate's Retreat
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Clash of Arms: Cavalry
Publisher: Vigilance Press
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 07/19/2007 00:00:00

Clash of Arms Cavalry

Mounted combat was always a powerful force in the medieval days. But it has been one of those almost forgotten archetypes in the fantasy game as mounts are either to easily killed or just too big to delve into dungeons and crypts. Those problems are not easily solved and seem more campaign oriented then anything else. But writers do on occasion come out with a new class or new options that allows one to place a cavalry character. Clash of Arms Cavalry is a PDF by Charles Rice. He has his name on many different books and is slowly becoming well known I think. The publisher is Vigilance and the book is a PDF. The PDF is twelve pages long and has some good book marks. The book has some good clip art but the lay out could use some work. Some of the sections need a header to separate them as abilities from a couple of different sections seem to be visually on the same list. It can be a little confusing. The book presents a new base class called the Cavalryman. It is a character that rides a horse into battle. The class can pick abilities from the Heavy Cavalry, Horse Archer, and Light Cavalry options. One can specialize in one of these areas or take abilities from all three and be a bit more versatile. Many of the abilities are feats that can only be used on horseback but the character need not worry about gaining the requirements for them. The abilities are useful but some need to be better explained. The Heavy Cavalry has a Power Charge ability that works much like Power Attack. It does not say if the two can be used together or not. One could potentially really stack up damage if they can be used in conjunction. There is a terrifying Charge ability that works with a fear effect a saving throw whose DC is charisma based. With more riders the DC increases but the text seems to indicate that the charisma bonus is no longer part of that and that does not make as much sense. It could be written a bit clearer. Of course not all the new abilities are badly worded. The Light Cavalry has a cool Fog of War ability that allows it to confuse targets he flanks. Later in the book there are rules for different quality of horses and the cavalryman is able to tell the quality of horses he examines. The book then presents some cavalry equipment and a bit of historical ways cavalry were used. Then the horse qualities are presented. This is a nice way to have higher and lower quality steeds and not have every horse be the same. Some are good breeds with bonuses to strength and dexterity while others are in bad shape with penalties. The better the horse the more expensive it is as well. And the horse can have randomly rolled qualities that can also make them a bit better or a little worse. Clash of Arms Cavalry is a good book for someone looking for a Cavalry base class. It has a nice list of options and class abilities. One can make a better Cavalryman with the class then just a basic fighter but the class does not set itself apart from other cavalry classes that are out there.

<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Clash of Arms: Cavalry
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Bits of the Banquet: Into the Desserts
Publisher: Tabletop Adventures, LLC
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 07/18/2007 00:00:00

Bits of the Banquet Into the Desserts

I image there is a story behind this book. My guess is that it came up from a misspelling of Desert but whatever the reason I hope to one learn it. This is a book that every gamer needs!! Its free so what reason is there not to down load it? Bits of the Banquet: Into the Dessert is a PDF by Tabletop Adventurers. The seven page PDF is written by Marcella Ganow and she can write in a way that makes my mouth water. The PDF has clip art that is very much what one would expect in this book. It is all medieval style people eating and drinking. And as a free PDF it is under priced. Before I get to all the food goodness I really like that in the introduction they have included a web page address where one can find many of the recipes to the food that is described here. I have not looked at it yet but what a great surprise to describe some medieval style food to the players and then be able to present them with the real thing to eat and enjoy. And since this is all about desserts it would hopefully fill the sweet tooth that many gamers seem to enjoy. There are twenty desserts described here. Each is a few sentences in length and filled with words that enhance the senses especially that of smell. A few of them have a little note for the DM explaining what might be in the center or telling the DM that these treats happen to travel well. Nothing in the book is devious so there are no poisoned dishes in here or anything like that. But a sinister DM could of course easily add such elements. Here is a sample of one of them and possible my favorite of them all. I really like pears.

Four red-brown pears are glazed with a wine reduction sauce and soaked dried fruits. The exotic scents of cinnamon, cloves and sandalwood almost overpower the sweet scent arising from the warm pears. The reddish brown syrup darkens the skin of the pears and pools in the bottom of the dish. The sweet syrup has captured a small ant in one corner of the dish.

This is one of those products that when used well can really add another dimension to the game. It can be tough though to add some awesome details about some food and not have the players paranoid about it since most DMs only use this type of detail on something that is important to the campaign. I am a big fan of the Bits of series of PDFs that Tabletop Adventures has been producing. If they can do this well with just desserts I would like to see what they can do with a nice multiple course regal banquet. I would have to imagine that such a product would make almost anyone hungry for more. And like the book the puns are free.

<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: A fun and mouth watering book<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Didn't come with samples!! <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Bits of the Banquet: Into the Desserts
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Passages
Publisher: Blue Devil Games
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 07/18/2007 00:00:00

Passages

Role playing games are many times compared to stories. But it is the rare game that combines stories with a role playing game. Usually it is a licensed game that just tries to do one book or series of books. Passages might be the first role playing game that takes a whole bunch of stories from the classic Victorian era and places them into a role playing game. I love the tagline for the game. It is Passages: Adventures Penned by Literary Giants. Passages is a role playing game by Blue Devil Games. These are the people responsible for Dawning Star one of the better sci fi RPGs I have ever read. That set the bar pretty high fir this game. The RPG comes in a print and PDF formats. I have both and must say the print version is a lot easier to work with. They contain the same content but the PDF one has no book marks making it a little harder to use. The book is almost three hundred pages long and that can be a bit unwieldy with out the aid of book marks in a PDF. The artwork in this book is really top notch. Jennifer Rodgers does a fantastic job on the cover and her and Annelisa Ochoa have great work inside the book. The lay out is top notch and seeing that Phil Reed did that came as no surprise. The basic idea for the game is the setting of Victorian Earth. It is a time that many of the classic stories have been published like Alice in Wonderland and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The game?s catch is that these stories are not about fictional places and people. The writers of these stories traveled to them and possible experienced the stories for themselves. And the player characters will be able to do similar things and be able to travel to these fantastic places and get to experience what it is like to walk the Yellow Brick Road. The hook for the game is a great strength but can be the biggest weakness. The RPG has great information on the Victorian age and how characters are like and how the world is. But it does not have that much about the stories themselves the characters will be traveling to. While I am sure many people have read some of the classic novels from this era it could take a bit of research and reading to build an adventure patterned after one or more of them. It could be a lot of fun to experience the adventures of White Fang but I like many people haven?t read that book in fifteen years. What would be very useful is a page or two of almost cliffnote like text but geared towards running the stories as an RPG adventure or just having ways to use the setting and characters in different plot lines would be immensely useful. The game system is pretty simple. One just uses a d20 and adds to the die result. Combat is a skill and hit points are few. It is a simple and easy to learn system. It does look like it can be a little deadly with combat. Character advancement is also pretty easy though it does say it is intended to be a little bit slow. Characters start out pretty competent so character growth is no as important for the mechanics. Character creation is basically a point buy system. There are character arch types to choose from and there is an advantage and disadvantage system. There are some great advantages and some that will probably only be gained through character adventuring and advancement.

The book is a great resource for characters in the Victorian age and so if one is playing another game set in this time period like Chuthlu by Gaslight or Rippers for Savage World the information in this book can be very helpful. For instance it has two great sidebars that are the Qualities of a Gentleman and the Qualities of a Lady. The book also goes into many of the cultures available at the time and has a great basic time line that goes from 1837 to 1901.

Passages is a very creative role playing game. It will be great for lovers of Victorian age literature but can be appreciated by almost anyone. I do think it will take a little effort and research from the storyteller unless one happens to have a Lit degree. But it can use characters that most people are familiar with like Sherlock Holmes and Hawkeye and present a new little twist to them <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Great and creative way to bring the classics in literature to life<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: needs more info on the literature<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Passages
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High Psionics: Psicrystals Expanded
Publisher: Dreamscarred Press
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 07/18/2007 00:00:00

Psicrystals Expanded

It is usually the little things that can really help define character. The small class options are nice but even allowing some of them to be done in different ways can aid in this. In this PDF that is what they do with psi crystals. It is just a few more options to make them different so ever psion does not seem to have the exact same thing. High Psionics: Psi Crystals Expanded is one of the great PDF s on psionics Dreamscarred Press has come out with. These guys really know their psionics and their PDfs are quickly becoming the best support for psionic based characters and rules anywhere. This fourteen page PDF comes in an on screen and print version. It has a very nice lay out and it is well book marked. The book has very little art just the cover and a sigil like piece at the very end. There are a few new and interesting version of the psi crystal. The first one is called the Awakened Psicrystal. It is a bit smarter then the normal ones and has the ability to use a few minor psionic powers itself. There is a list of options on which powers the psi crystal has access to. It is a more powerful option but it also requires the psionic character to take two feats to grant the ability to his psi crystal.. Even then it might be a little too good as there are some good psionic powers a psi crystal would have access to. It is though a very interesting ability and could really make for some fun NPCs with this type of psi crystal. The implanted Psi crystal is pretty self explanatory. It also requires a feat to do and a bit of experience from the psion. Once implanted it is very much out of harm?s way. It gives the psion and nice initiative bonus and the alertness feat but it of course stuck in the psions body. This option can be combined with others presented in the book. The Cognizance Psi Crystal also requires a feat and a bit of experience points. But it has the cool abilities of being able to store some of the psions power points and can even be used to refill the psions power points at a later date. My favorite of the options is the Psicrysmal. It is a psi crystal infused with a bit of earth elemental to become a crystal spider or scorpion. It gets some nice abilities as the psion levels and while it may not have been intended it can make for some cool visuals for NPCs especially ones that are Drow who love the spiders (and scorpions for those using the Eberron setting). The last psi crystal option might turn out to be the most popular. It is the psi crystal weapon and allows a psion to use their own psionic abilities in conjunction with the weapon. It also requires a feat to use but looks to be well worth it. The book has new feats in it that are mostly the ones one needs to use these new and cool psi crystal forms. There is also a pair of new psionic monsters both related to psi crystals. This is a very well done book with great rules a great creativity.

<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Very well done with good rules and creativity.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
High Psionics: Psicrystals Expanded
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Ring of Thieves
Publisher: The Game Mechanics
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 07/01/2007 00:00:00

Ring of Thieves

Sometimes good luck just happens. I was doing a search for a Freeport module and somehow this module came up. It is not related to Freeport at all but was precisely what I was looking for. So, I bought the module and got a chance to run it. It went very well. I?m not one to just buy things site unseen especially PDFs. But this is a module stationed in Liberty, a great city setting Game Mechanics is slowly developing. They have two quarters of the city out (Thieves and Temple) and both are high quality products that I have been using. And the module is written by Rodney Thompson one of the brilliant minds behind the awesome Star Wars Saga RPG. This is a play test review based on the reading and the way it played out. I did alter a few things that I will make note of those. Ring of Thieves is a PDF adventure by Games Mechanci. It takes place in their city of Liberty but easily works in other city settings. I moved it to Sharn in the Eberron campaign setting. Even if one keeps it in Liberty the books for the city are not actually needed though they would add more detail to the adventure. All the places one needs is in the book and there are plenty of maps of the city and sections. The PDF has forty two pages. The description says it has book marks but the actual PDF does not. It is for characters of third level but there are some pretty tough potential encounters. For instance the characters have a chance to run into an eleventh level character that will want to kill them.

There will be spoilers of the module so if you may play in it do not read it and ruin the fun.

The adventure is a bit too linear. My players went with it so it did not cause us problems but I can see some groups just not like the feeling of being lead from clue to clue to clue. It is all city based. There are no dungeon crawls though there is section through sewers. But even that is really un complicated. It is not an adventure that needs a map and minis though it can benefit from them. There are also no monsters in the module. Okay, there is a chance of running into a shadow. But it?s in the sewers and one needs to roll a twenty and a twenty sided die to get that random encounter. I?ve done other city based adventures and they manage to find a way to slip in a few monsters as pets or just happen to be in that old abandoned building or whatever. I really like that ever encounter was an NPC and as a great added bonus it was a little difficult to know who the bad guys are. The adventure starts off with the group in the dock district and a guy finding them for work. I just had the PCs at their own place and have the people come to them. The module assumes the PCs are new in town and are looking for work. That did not work for me but it was a simple solution. The book expects the players to ask all sorts of questions and gives sample answers to the most common ones. Of course if your group is like mine they are happy with the low price they are being offered and haggling does not even seem to cross their mind at this point. And then they ask very few questions happy to help out. A more paranoid group should be asking more questions and the book is prepared for that. They are given few details at first. The guy and his thugs who hire them take them to the Blockhouse to talk to the local boss. It is basically a thieves guild and it seems a very important person has lost a magical ring and needs it back within a day or so. The race against time aspect can really be used to make the players rush a bit as what first seems like a simple ring recovery soon becomes a bit more then that. The ring was lost at the House of Orchids, a very high class brothel. My players had fun with it. The brothel is well detailed without too much detail. The group can enjoy the brothel or just use it gather some information and try to figure out where the ring is. The group does encounter some resistance and the will lead the group on the chase after a local thug. But the brothel is so well done that it can easily become a place of importance for the player characters in future adventures. And not just for the obvious reasons. This section is another good part that has lots of information if the players ask the right question and are willing to pay some gold. Nothing is free in the House of Orchids. From there the players are trying to track down who they believe has stolen the ring. This takes them to the docks again, to the mercenary quarter, and finally to a tavern/Inn called the Red Goose. There is plenty of potential for role playing in the encounters here and the players ask questions and learn a little bit about they guy they are tracking down. I also used this as an opportunity to allow the PCs to hear about things unrelated to the adventure. It is a nice place to just make the city seem like it is here for more then this one adventure. At the Red Goose is when things take a turn for the worse. There are two things going on at this place and both of them bad for the PCs. The PCs are going to be set up for the murder of the thug they are chasing. There are guards in disguise playing dice waiting for them to disturb the body in one of the rooms and then they will move in to arrest the group. If they get arrested adventure is basically over. The group should be able to eventually prove their innocence but by then the time frame the ring needed to be found in and the major events the PCs have no idea about yet should be successful. The other thing is the Red Goose has an assassin that works with the innkeeper. Anyone of wealth that stays there the innkeeper informs the assassin about and he kill them and robs them and they split the profits. The assassin is eleventh level and while he has very little magical equipment can still easily take out a third level party. Or they are going to gain a level in defeating him. The group doe not automatically run into him though. My group did and I made him just a tough sixth level character. It was still a tough battle. And then they found the dead thug and when the trap was sprung they choose to jump out the window. The group is now on the run. They have guards coming out of the inn after them and more guards coming up on horseback. They are obviously trapped and in need of a miracle. The module has a prostitute see the characters are in trouble and so see steals a pair of horses and wagon from some guy she knows on the street and offers to drive the players to safety for some gold coins. She is a very brave entrepreneur. I felt this just seemed a little too random so I had an NPC they group knew from an earlier adventure hear rumors of the sting operation and she knew the characters were being set up and showed up to help them. But we still got to do a great chase scene. There is great potential for a DM to really go all out and design some fun city streets and cool obstacles that the characters and NPCs will have to deal with. My own players were just equipped to stop horse bound riders so it was not a big production for us. They had some good abilities and good ideas so I did not want to just make it more difficult and punish them. Night is falling at on the city at this point and the PCs are wanted fugitives. They are hiding out in the prostitute?s place with her elven boyfriend. More information can be learned from them so the player characters can continue with their job. Hopefully, the player character will think that completing the job is the best way to clear their name. Before the players had a chance to question the NPC they decided their best source of information was going to be to go back to the Red Goose and talk to the inn keeper. I like that idea much better then just having the latest NPC they?ve run into have what the need. So, we had an additional scene of them sneaking through the city disguised and ambushing and questioning the inn keeper that had tried to have them killed and then arrested. I?m still unsure why they left the guy alive but they did. At this point the players are really not putting up with anything from the NPCs. They learn they need to go visit a lady and when they get there they are threatening the staff and barging into homes. It was really fun as this poor woman who is involved but does not have any idea of who the PCs are is reacting to them doing a home invasion around dawn.

Now they should have an idea of what is going on and they should have the ring. They sneak back to the Blockhouse and find out that a coup is planned in the thieves guild. There is a clever use of detect thoughts and a skull to signal what the PCs are telling the truth and lying about. And then the PCs are after the bad guys who are leading the guild leader to a trap and to be arrested by the local garrison. The player characters must navigate the sewers being lead by a raven familiar. And then they have to rescue the guild leader who does not realize he is in danger.

We had a lot of fun with the module. It did not take long for us to get through. We did it in one five hour session. There was not a lot of combat, some good role playing opportunities and the players got to think a bit. It had a good cast of NPCs that I thought were fun to portray. I did put my own little touches on the module and altered what I felt were some weak points. The module was very easy to do that with.

<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It is completely city based with no dungeon crawl or monsters<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A little too linear<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Ring of Thieves
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