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This is a short PDF presenting a brand new monk class. Unlike the David Carridine-inspired kung-fu wanderer in the Player's Handbook, this class is based on the western ascetic commonly associated with Christian monastic orders. In the intro, the author makes a fairly good case for adding a class like this to the D&D game. Clerics, the author points out, are focused on a wide range of abilities beyond divine magic. There is room, then, for a focused divine caster with a set of abilities more befitting a religious scholar.
The monk class is a weaker fighter than the cleric, with fewer hit points and only one good save. I was disappointed to note that his skill list and skill points are identical to the cleric's, making the monk no more scholarly or learned than clerics. Throw in Turn Undead, access to cleric domains, and the ability to spontaneously cast healing spells, and I'm starting to wonder the point in playing a monk at all.
Eventually, the monk gains access to a unique ... [read full review]
Rating:  [2 of 5 Stars!] |
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With this product, EN Publishing kicks off a grand adventure path: twelve modules designed to carry a party of first level heroes into the heart of an escalating war between powerful nations. When the dust settles, the PCs will have reached 20th level and become instrumental in the outcome of a dangerous conflict.
Like all great adventures, this one begins in a tavern. The PCs are charged with a simple task: escort a cleric out of harm's way while an invading army of mage-hunting inquisitors lays siege to the city. Things, of course, get more complicated once the action gets going. By the time the adventure concludes, the seeds have been sown for the greater campaign to come, hinting at the intrigue and danger building in the background.
Throughout most of the adventure, the PCs are in a city that is under attack by an invading army. The adventure includes plenty of tools to help the DM make this fact very clear to the players. In some cases, the war adds an additional level of d ... [read full review]
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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This PDF focuses on witches from a historical viewpoint. Included are two new classes; one core and one prestige. The PDF is short at only around a dozen pages. There is a single piece of internal artwork, a medieval period piece that fits the theme of the book well.
After a brief introduction, the book presents a new core class: the witch. Witches are spontaneous arcane spellcasters who use the same spell progression as sorcerers. For some reason, the author chose not to include the sorcerer spells per day chart, instead referring the reader to the Player's Handbook. I would have preferred its inclusion here, if only for ease of use. Space constraints are not really an issue in an electronic product, so why not save me from having to cross reference my PH every time I want to make a witch? A minor quibble, I know, but a quibble nonetheless.
The class itself is a bit disappointing. Witches are very similar to sorcerers up until 5th level. At that point, their alignment determines ... [read full review]
Rating: [2 of 5 Stars!] |
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This is a scan of an actual historic map showing a central portion of the United States circa the 18th century. The map itself is very detailed and has a nice, hand-drawn quality to it. The sepia color scheme lends an antique feeling to the product, adding to the visual effect. Map labellings appear to be written in French.
While this product is literally a map, I don't think it is very useful for the kinds of things one generally needs a map for in a roleplaying game. You couldn't, for example, use it as the overland map for a campaign. There is no key, no real scale that I can find, and everything is written in a language I don't speak. Clearly, a lot of work would need to be done to turn this into a tool with a lot of utility.
As a visual aid or source of inspiration, however, I think that this product does well. Imagine a group of players in a historical RPG set in the United States around the time of the Louisiana purchase. The PCs decide to purchase a map of the area from a ... [read full review]
Rating:  [3 of 5 Stars!] |
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On page ten of Octavirate Presents: Lethal Lexicon Volume 1 there is an illustration that, I think, nicely summarizes this product. The picture depicts a cartoonish adventurer attacking what appears to be a beholder. Honey drips from the beholder-like creature's mouth while a swarm of angry bees zero in on the unlucky adventurer's nose. I can imagine this scene playing out at the gaming table. The cruel GM smiles as the PC buries his pole-arm in the "beholder." With a sickening feeling, the player realizes that the monster he's attacking isn't a monster at all, but a very elaborate beehive shaped like one of D&D's most famous monsters. As the poor hero is stung again and again, the GM lets slip the creature's name. It is, in fact, a bee-holder.
The player groans, but it is a groan of death.
There is something of a tradition, especially among the old-guard designers who pioneered the early RPG games, of not always taking the game too seriously. What better way to kee ... [read full review]
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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The premise of Marsh of the Wild Things reads something like a deliberate experiment in monster ecology. The author mixes an exceptionally intelligent behir, a superstitious tribe of troglodytes, some ghasts, shocker lizards, and a band of merrow. The resulting blend is an interesting exploration adventure filled with a wide variety of creatures, all living within the confines of a single swampy setting.
One of the constant challenges of adventure design is the trick of building a cohesive and usable plot while still giving the PCs some measure of control. Wild Things does well in this regard. There is very little railroading involved. Basically, the PCs must cross a dangerous area in order to rescue a group of innocent villagers. Along the way, the party encounters many of the marsh's monstrous denizens. What the PCs do with those encounters is ultimately up to them. Once the basic quest is complete and the villagers are rescued, the players then have the option of delving deeper ... [read full review]
Rating:  [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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If you aren't familiar with OSRIC, it is essentially first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons stripped down to the bare rules and released as open content. The idea is provide a means for publishers to release brand new content for the original AD&D game. The core rules are free so, if this sort of thing interests you, go hunt down a copy and download it.
OSRIC Unearthed is a collection of rules additions for the OSRIC core rules. It is written in the spirit of 1st Edition's Unearthed Arcana and contains everything from new classes and weapons to spells and martial arts. The book uses art and layout clearly suggestive of the AD&D books of the 70s, a style which adds a definite feel of nostalgia to the product.
The PDF begins with a selection of new classes. These range from typical fantasy fare such as the knight, bard, and barbarian to new classes such as the brawler and the noble. Overall, I thought that the classes were well designed. The barbarian's berserk abili ... [read full review]
Rating: [3 of 5 Stars!] |
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Divinity is a roleplaying game in which players take on the role of a god or similar divine being. Game play focuses on the interaction between the gods, their mortal followers, and other divine entities. Characters interact with their world in a number of predefined ways, depending on their personality and focus. A stealthy or tricky character, for example, might be good at using subterfuge, while a particularly benevolent divinity would likely have skill in empathy and etiquette. Task resolution is diceless, with players succeeding or failing at a given attempt based mainly on their power level. Players also have the option to bid "will points" to achieve more difficult tasks or overcome rival characters.
Divinity is a "rules light" game that stresses story over hard mechanics. In most cases, the rules exist primarily to encourage the players to stay in character and behave within the confines of the genre. Characters who use power beyond their normal abilitie ... [read full review]
Rating: [2 of 5 Stars!] |
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This product details Felric's Redoubt, a city in The Echoes of Heaven campaign setting from Final Redoubt Press. The download also includes the adventure The Festering Earth, part two of a ten-part series taking the characters from 1st to 20th level while they face the dangers of a world-threatening plot. You can read my review of the setting here on RPGNow.
The Last Free City continues the innovations started in the original product. One of the best is the way the book denotes adventure hooks. The designers are very clear regarding which of the various plot threads will be developed in future supplements and which are free and clear for the DM to explore without fear of contradicting later published sources. I also really like the included maps, which were all created using Campaign Cartographer. The raw CC files are in the download, giving a little added utility to those DMs who own that program.
The Last Free City opens with a detailed history of the city itself. Felric's Redo ... [read full review]
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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For those who don't know, OSRIC is an open-content version of the First Edition Advance Dungeons & Dragons rules. Its an effort to give publishers the ability to produce new products for the old game system, and one that has found a small but enthusiastic place in the modern gaming community.
The Forgotten Island is a module originally written in 1991 and ran at a convention called U-Con. This is an updated and revised version. The adventure spans some seventy pages and is divided into three parts. The art is pretty good throughout. There are a number of handouts and visual aids. Some of the art is really good. The illustration on page 44 of part three is a particularly cool piece of black and white art. The layout, on the other hand, is a bit amateurish. It looks a lot like something created in the pre-desktop publishing era of the 1970s. While this is consistent with the first edition products that inspired it, the module's presentation could have used some freshening up.
... [read full review]
Rating: [3 of 5 Stars!] |
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This is one of those handy little products that I'm glad someone else took the time to design. Essentially, this is a PDF of character record sheets that can by typed on directly and then printed for use at the gaming table. Those who own a full version of acrobat can save changes for later use. The main sheet is a fairly standard d20 character sheet. There is room for the usual stuff: stats, skills, saves, combat, etc.
In addition, there are sheets for tracking spells and spellbooks. You can either customize your spell list by typing known spells directly on to the blank sheet, or you can use any of the premade sheets that already list the standard spells for each character class. Where appropriate, these sheets contain room for class specific notes, such as a favored enemy section for rangers or a turning chart for paladins. As a bonus, there is a sheet listing the summon monster tables from the PH.
I've always been a bit anal-retentive when it comes to character sheets. I like ... [read full review]
Rating: [3 of 5 Stars!] |
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If there is one thing I can't get too much of, it is NPCs for my Mutants & Masterminds games. From on-the-fly enemies to inspiration for heroes and supporting cast, books such as this are a great resource for any M&M GM. Each character in the Algernon Files 2.0 features an illustration, name, background, stats, public information, and other necessary bits for using these villains and vigilantes in your home campaign.
Besides the characters themselves, the Algernon Files describes the default comic-book setting in which they live and adventure. In many cases, this information is incorporated into the background details of the NPCs themselves. Most of it is generic enough that it can easily fit into your own homebrew, or you can change it (or ignore it) if you so choose.
There are also lots of goodies worth stealing. My favorite is a fully fleshed-out headquarters. Its history and purpose are linked to the setting, but it could easily fit into any typical superhero world. ... [read full review]
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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I admit that I was initially drawn to this product because of my past experience with the PDQ system. I've seen PDQ used in a game about ninja who deliver fast-food, and I've seen it used for a tongue-in-cheek fantasy adventure setting. It comes as no surprise then, that PDQ works so well in a game inspired by Fairy Tales.
In PDQ, every character is defined by a series of descriptive stats such as Brawling, Swordplay, and Cunning. As long as it can be described by a descriptive adjective, it can be a stat in this game. Dice are used to determine the success or failure of various actions, with a number being added or subtracted depending on the character's skill level. PDQ is versatile and easy to use, and it really shines in the story-driven environment of the Zorcerer of Zo.
The brunt of the book is devoted to describing the game's fairytale setting. The Zantabulous Zorcerer of Zo is a clever mishmash of fairytale archetypes. Rather than labor in the intensive details like a typ ... [read full review]
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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One of the first things about Hoards that caught my eyes was the presentation. With the exception of the cover, the book is in black and white. The internal art is fairly sparse, and all of the pages are bordered by a simple drawing of jewels and coins. While this sounds fairly muted and basic, it actually comes together to create a very nice package. The look of Hoards is very understated, and it works very well.
This product is a collection of treasures that can be easily added to any hoard. The usual suspects are all represented here: coins, gems, art objects, etc. In addition, the authors have included random treasure charts and updated the charts from the DMG to include all the selections from Hoards.
Each treasure is described in detail, complete with relevant statistics such as weight and value. Even the most mundane of valuables, such as the coins, are made interesting in this book. The Wolf's Piece, for example, is a silver coin minted to commemorate the end of a royal c ... [read full review]
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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The perfect character sheet is the holy grail of the RPG universe. There are literally hundreds of d20 character sheets now available on the Internet and elsewhere, all aiming to fill a different gamer need. The aptly titled D20 Fantasy Character Sheets presents a collection of character records virtually identical to the one found in the D&D Player's Handbook. The important difference, however, is that these sheets come with a preselected race. The racial abilities, stat modifiers, size modifiers, etc are all included right on the sheet. This is a rather simple yet remarkably useful change. Unless you're the type that memorizes racial stat blocks, you probably benefit from noting things like dwarven stonecutting on your character sheet. Having these already listed saves a little time and ensures that important racial stuff isn't forgotten during play. This idea seems so obvious, in fact, that I wonder why Wizards doesn't adapt it on their official sheets.
I really like the way ... [read full review]
Rating: [3 of 5 Stars!] |
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