|
|
|
 |
| Other comments left for this publisher: |
|
|
|
|
|
This is an interesting adventure for low-level characters, managing to involve them in political intrigue that's probably well above their pay grade whilst providing opportunities for a modicum of investigation and an appropriate level of combat. It's set within the Kobold Press campaign world, but could be relocated if you have a suitable town that has developed quite a high level of technology within its fantasy setting.
The introduction to events sweeps the characters into the action pretty much without the option, but ample reasons are provided for them to want to follow up rather than retire to the nearest tavern for a well-earned ale! From there investigation leads them further into the affair...
An interesting aspect of this adventure is the focus on the different races and their diverse attitudes, approaches and interests. At times this can get quite polarised, and more thoughtful characters will be challenged to see beyond stereotypes to view individuals as more than merely 'a kobold' or 'a dwarf' but as people with their own unique views and place within the world.
Various options are provided to aid you in bringing the adventure to a conclusion... and there are several options as to how what the characters do here can be built into further activities within your campaign. You may even wish to use this to start off a whole campaign with beginning characters, or slot it in quite early as you tie them into wider activities within the locale. Neat, and well presented with some delightful illustrations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
The Kobold Guide to Game Design is an excellent resource for any game designer or GM. It offers over 100 pages of essays by 11 industry-leading professionals such as Wolfgang Baur, Monte Cook, Chris Pramas, and others.
Topics cover a wide range of worldbuilding advice, from basic overviews like "what is worldbuilding?" to more in-depth analysis about different kinds of worldbuilding, how to build a "world bible," considerations when developing a pantheon of deities, mapmaking, and more.
As someone currently working on a new world, I found this book immensely helpful. It helped me think of my world in new ways and consider things I hadn't before. I came away with several pages of additional notes that I can now put to good use; I've considered the setting's geography, technology/magic level (and how the two interact), the nature of the gods, how guilds and secret societies interact, etc.
I can see this book as being a valuable reference -- something to come back to time and again as you continue to flesh out a setting. You may read it cover-to-cover like I did, but as you start to focus on one area of your new world you may find yourself coming back to individual essays for inspiration.
The book is simply laid out and logically designed. In general, each of the essays flows logically; "What is worldbuilding?" comes first to explain what the book means by the phrase, and the end of the book contains information about building on a world that is already part of a licensed property (this essay contains some really unique industry information about dealing with licensers). Three essays about religion are all grouped together, and everything else just seems to fit into place.
As a primarily text-based book, the layout is simple. There is little art, but the book doesn't really need any. The essays are really what count, and they all hit home in their own way.
Definitely check out this book if you're a game designer or GM who likes to build homebrew settings (or even build on existing settings). It's a top-notch book from start to finish.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
An Endzeitgeist.com review
The fourth in the series of Player's Guides for the Midgard Campaign Setting is 33 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD (though the page also contains one final magical weapon), 1 page advertisement, leaving us with 29 pages of content, so let's take a look!
As is the tradition by now with these Midgard Player Guides, we kick off this one by getting not only a beautiful full-color map of the area in question, but also by essentially short gazetteer-style write-ups of the respective regions - and here I'd love to interject something these guides thankfully do right: The short pieces of information beyond the basic write-ups of the regions, whether they be on characters or places, detail commonly known perceptions of the respective people/places, not the rumors one could glean from listening to the right people or spoiling any surprises on the side of the DM, which is EXACTLY what player's guides should do - so kudos for that. While this is called the "Player's Guide to the 7 Cities", actually more is covered than the territory of the Septime - the minotaur island-nation of Kyprion and the duchies of Illyria and Verrayne are part of the write-ups as well. Beyond these immaculately-written write-ups, we also, of course, get new crunch to customize characters and represent them better with regards to the region.
A total of 47 new traits await your character and are rather detailed in their geographic peculiarity - while there are traits that can be taken by everyone from the 7 Cities-region, there also are numerous traits that are exclusive to one of the cities or surrounding realms, adding further distinction and depth to the respective regions - thankfully without drifting into the overpowered or irrelevant-sections to which traits are prone to glide. Nice, though you probably won't find any mind-boggling concepts in this section - the traits offer customization and fluff, no less, no more.
Among the new feats herein, we get a slew of so-called heritage-feats, which represent a particular upbringing. As such, they may only be taken at first level and design-wise are interesting, since they may grant you access to supernatural and spell-like abilities. Whether it's a bonuses' dependency on moon phases, a link to master who may scry on you, limited underwater breathing, the aftereffects of being addicted to requiem (detecting undead 1/day) and the resulting potentially prophetic nightmares, increased darkvision or seeing the invisible - the feats do interesting things and offer options that tie in well with their design-goal, setting characters distinctly apart and offering even further means of customization upon character creation. Beyond these 10 heritage feats, we also get 6 new generally available feats, though these can't hold a torch to the former: Two feats provide relatively bland +2 bonuses, one increases caster level for a school you have a spell focus for and one feat halves your siege equipment reload and makes you more proficient with it. Two of the feats unfortunately, are imho rather overpowered: Shake it off lets you get rid of the dazed, nauseated, sickened and staggered conditions if you manage to save versus 20 (why not the DC of the attack that originally prompted it?) -not once but each turn! The second feat, Swordborn, not only grants you proficiency in a sword of your choosing, it also increases said sword's threat range by +1. Whether that stacks with improved critical or not is not specified by the feat, but the lack of any prerequisites it has means that it is vastly superior to any regular sword-based exotic weapon proficiency, which is imho broken - this needs either an exotic weapon caveat or some other kind of modification.
The next chapter provides us with new character options for septime character, starting with two archetypes for the druid base-class, the Bloodred Druid and the Nethusian Mer-Druid - both rather uncommon and interesting ideologies: The Bloodred Druids serve the Blood Hag, seeking to prevent another arcane escalation à la the Wasted West - at any costs and the Nethusian druids mixing aquatic powers with the ideological obligation to free the chained god - though that one solely based on fluff. The two archetypes are rock solid, as the Clockwork Warrior that is exclusively available to Gearforged characters. Speaking of exclusive archetypes - minotaurs may now elect to become horned lords, master of charging, bull rushing etc. and using gore attacks to destroy the pinker races. It should come as no surprise that the Septime Duelist, this book's take on a duelist-style archetype and then there is also the Triolian Corsair - yet another corsair-style fighter archetype, which, while solid, fails to seize the opportunity of providing naval combat bonuses - I don't get why all those pirate classes fails to make use/add new options to naval combat. The final archetype is the Battle Wizard, who may gain access to the new Battle School, which includes the power to make spell grenades - i.e. stones charged into grenade-like weapons by magic, as well as electrical storms that hurt especially those wielding metal armor or foolish enough to attack the Battle Wizard with a metal weapon. Creating gearforged siege engines that require no crew as well as mastery of siege weapons are two new arcane discoveries included in here.
Sorcerors are not forgotten either, coming with the Hagblooded, Merian and Minotaur bloodlines, all of which I'd consider both flavorful and valid additions to one's game. Cavaliers may chose from two new orders, the first one being Illyria's Order of the Flying Lancers, light cavalry-type, inspiring cavaliers that may, at the DM's approval, gain flying mounts. The Order of the Septime Lancers, founded by a former Mharoti general, is a particularly agile combatant who may use swap places and light steps as well as dismounting check-less as free actions, making them rather maneuverable in the heat of combat.
In the magic section, we get 12 new spells that include the option to conjure up a selection of unseen servant/torchbearers, spread contagion via tiny animal agents, blast foes to smithereens with a ballista made of force, enchant a weapon with the bane quality, level structures that could withstand earthquakes, detect draconic creatures, bolster yourself versus frightful presence, protect your mind versus mind reading (GOLD!), raise an undead army or invoke the swiftness of the Illyrian Ram. Water-based scrying and invisible passages through plaster and wood walls are also part of the new tricks.
The pdf closes with 11 new, universally rather cool magical items, including dimensional nets, linked tablets to secretly exchange information (à la the typewriter in Fringe) or the Aurochs bracers and Great Axes of said elite minotaurs.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any significant glitches in the guide. Layout adheres to a 2-column full color standard with gorgeous artworks in full color complementing an all out beautiful presentation that is further enhanced by the stellar piece of cartography. The pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks for your convenience.
Nice - author Adam W. Roy has definitely learned from the second Player's Guide's initial issues and overall, this offering in the line feels much more balanced and cleaner in design. the content is balanced, the writing superb, no SPOILERS to be found and spells and items that beg to have adventures crafted around them. So all well? Not exactly. Whereas the Heritage feats are awesome, the 6 regular ones universally fell flat. As did, at least for me, the corsair and duelist archetypes - these concepts have been done to death in a myriad of iterations and neither of the two are particularly inspiring to me - dex-based combatants are probably better served by using Dreadfox Games' Swordmaster. That being said, the rest of the archetypes is great and overall, my gripes remain minor issues in an otherwise well-crafted Player's Guide that deserves my final rating of 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
You can never have too many monsters! But it's a real treat when you get thoughtful well-designed ones that can really establish themselves as living (usually) creatures within your world rather than mere cannon-fodder to wheel out when it's time for a brawl.
Each of the twelve comes with a wealth of background detail about how they fit in to wherever it is you'll find them, as well as an illustration and full stat-block. All the entries lack is a pronunciation guide, a few are tongue-twisters.
Perhaps you would like a dragonleaf tree in your garden. I can see some puzzled mail carriers when they see a 'Beware of the tree' sign... just before an oculo swarm happens by. Maybe you'd like a salt golem for a butler, or a pet star drake. And there are several others, some capable of interaction, others mindless marauders with whom you'll have to do combat as soon as they come into view.
Just reading through the descriptions sets ideas into motion, how they might be woven into existing plots and locations or even spawning ideas for side-adventures or whole plotlines of their own. This is what monster books ought to be like!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
An Endzeitgeist.com review
This supplement is 50 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page intro/patrons, 1/2 a page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 44 1/2 pages of content, so let's take a look!
Humans have a desire for legends - they speak on some primal level to our own failings, to our dreams, hopes and aspirations and incite us to be the best we can. They daunt us with impossible tasks, offer symbolic and iconic obstacles, warn us away from the vortex of sins and destructive behaviors and touch us by speaking to the archetypical topics of our existence. In roleplaying games, however, this all too often translates into "Let's stat legendary creature/character XYZ so PCs can kill him/her/it." Not so in this book.
What we get here are legends and as such, they are not necessarily intended to be fought, nor do they have to be beings. Instead, they represent concepts, truisms, truths that resonate within the world of Midgard, supplemented by crunchy pieces of content where appropriate. Take the first legend, the one of Abderus, first wizard of the infamous House Stross, providing three of the spells that made him be known as the devil's commander as well as the lance of Khors, all packed with ideas to spark investigations into the history of the man and the places he left behind. Melathea Stross, the black sorceress, taught by both Baba Yaga and the Moonlit Court, while lost between worlds, remains an echoing force as well, her incantations (2, one to open gates and one to summon fragments of great old ones) and the Fey Waystones being testament to her arcane prowess.
Other legends are centered as much around personalities as around items of legend, like the legendary Khazzaki Khan Achaz, wearer of the horned crown. Or take the Azure kings - spawned in the coldest of climes, these blue-skinned barbarians have been changed by proximity to a near-deity-level haunt and now their progeny may, via 3 traits and 2 feats, exhibit the vast prowess of these beings, wielding oversized weaponry and fighting with a larger reach - especially awesome if the person in question can come into possession of the evil Menneskelig-død, a huge legendary axe carved from the ice of the haunted Riphean glacier...
If you're more inclined to subtle dealing, be wary of the Blackened Man - offering a life for a soul, pain for pain or mercy for madness, the mysterious figure offers your heart's desire, but forever marks you with the sign of the black sun, condemning the bartering individual, but also providing vengeance perhaps otherwise unrealizable.
When this book was announced, I sincerely hoped that we wouldn't get stats for Baba Yaga - and thankfully, we don't - instead we get the stats for Blood Mother Margase, the CR 26 blood druidess that vies for nothing less than godhood - the insane arcanists that wrought the cataclysm in the West have after all shown that the mortals need her guidance. Speaking of guidance, though of a more benevolent and less extreme manner - Calm-Tongue, a true scholar and gentleman, single-handedly not only spread language and enlightenment and a philosophy of non-violence, he also more or less single-handedly raised the gnoll race from savagery into a status where they may not be liked, but at least often are accepted, raising his kin to a more civilized form. Rules-wise, his teachings reflect an alternative, focused barbarian that replaces rage with a dex and wis-enhancing state of tranquility. Interesting!
In the 7 Cities, there is a bloodline, the bloodline of Jannik and his daughters still can call upon his spirit to help them when near Sperenza, gaining rather significant boosts in power by his vow to forever protect those of his blood. Enkada, whose name shall not be uttered , still guards his name, his shadow being drawn by investigation, covering the curious in poisonous strands and haunting them via his rather deadly shadow - coolest, though in his entry would be the incantation that draws attention if the name of the caster is uttered...
A legendary horse, the questing beast, the lord of doors who guards passages anywhere, the first storm that contains the last remnants of the first cultures of Midgard, the kobold that ruled empires, the fully statted founder of the Mharoti Empire, the lucky man who brings misfortune to all around him, the legendary songraven and his bardic disciples, Saint Vadim to a lich betrayed by her love and so much more, the legends herein cover a broad spectrum of topics. I'll stop spoilering now - if you want to know more about them, you'll have to get this book.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch - I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful full-color two-column standard and the original b/w-artworks, one for every legend, are a joy to behold. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.
These are legends and they resonate. They strike the right chords, the right topics, adding depth, primal concepts and wonder to a world already rich in all of these attributes, without being necessarily restricted to Midgard, though application to another setting admittedly would take some work. This book does not fall into the trap of over-crunching the topic at hand - legends don't need hard rules (though the ones provided herein help to mechanically represent their wonder), what they need is an essence and the writing universally captures this. While the rules are solid, it is the writing and the writing only that decides over weal or woe regarding this product and it succeeds with accolades: Providing hooks and ideas galore, enough to last for years, these legends are Kobold Press/open Design at their very best: Iconic, ancient, suffused with wonder and magic and helping so much more in bringing the sense of wonder to one's gaming round than the oomphteenth selection of feats, traits and spells. Don't get wrong, I have nothing against them and e.g. the traits and feats for the Azure Kings, the incantations and spells etc. all are welcome, but ultimately they should supplement the material, not be its essence.
We need more books like this, books with a heart that put the wonder, the amazement, the tragedy and triumphs in the center and provide the readers not only with great rules, but with ideas and concepts that resonate beyond the gaming table. Even if you don't use Midgard, I wager that scavenging the legends should enrich your game vastly, as it is my firm opinion that no one can read this book without drawing some kind of inspiration from it. A stellar offering and one of a kind of which we require more - I hope to one day see a sequel and other campaign setting should take heed here: this is how you add life and virility to your reader's imagination regarding your setting. My final verdict will unsurprisingly clock in at 5 stars + seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
It's not often that I make my players start at level one in a Pathfinder game. I have a couple of reasons:
First level characters never seem to have enough options.
They're so...smooshy. It takes nothing but some unlucky die rolls to take them out.
In other words, it's hard for first level characters to feel truly heroic. But, worse than than, they often feel ineffective!
When I got a copy of Midgard Adventures: The Raven's Call, though, I got pretty excited. Finally! A chance for first level PCs to feel a bit of agency in a dangerous and deadly world!
Most of the time, published adventures are not really my bag. I'm not a big fan of dungeon crawls, and I really hate being constrained by adventure modules that (in my experience) are pretty linear. When I create my own adventures, I try to keep them as open-ended as possible; you never know what kind of monkey wrench the players will throw in your plans, so having a less linear approach generally helps me come up with things on the fly.
That's why I was so surprised by The Raven's Call! It wasn't linear. In fact, it set up a fun sandbox for the players to adventure in and gave them multiple possible motivations to move things in the right direction.
Here's the premise of the module: A group of nasty raiders has taken over a town, displaced the townspeople (or imprisoned them in a barn), and begun consuming all the supplies. The players are motivated in some way (there are options in the book for creativity when it comes to said motivation), and it isn't a hard leap for the adventurers to want to right the wrong.
Saving a village from a bunch of raiders might seem like a daunting task, but Wolfgang Baur's design in the adventure really shines. With a bit of bravery, luck, and some well placed magical items, the PCs can be the heroes they were meant to be. With multiple ways to approach the adventure, there are many opportunities for characters with different skill sets to show off.
The various elements of the module are detailed enough to help the game master if the players get off the beaten path a little bit, but they're not so detailed that the information gets lost in a morass of text. It was also really easy to fill in small details with some of my own information, which helped set the stage for further adventures.
The art and included maps were both very well done. The sketch of a trollkin on the final page of the adventure really stood out to me. I have to admit there were a few times when I'd be scrolling to that page to get some information, and I would find my eyes drawn to the sketch rather than the info I needed. I don't think that's a bad thing, though.
Overall, I've never been disappointed by the art in any Kobold Press release, and this adventure module continues that great tradition.
What's the most rewarding thing about The Raven's Call? The fact that my PCs really felt like they had "won." The adventure was challenging enough that they felt a real sense of accomplishment when they rescued the village. At the end of the day, that kind of euphoria is part of the reason why we play RPGs.
Once again, Wolfgang Baur and Open Design have impressed me with what they bring to roleplaying games. If you are looking for a low-level adventure for your party, this is one I highly recommend!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
This was my intro to Pathfinder in preparation for a PF Society game later in the week. I found the intro to combat useful along with the circumstances to make a saving throw helpful.
I feel replayability is limited to only a few times once you have the story down it just becomes a combat throw exercise.
The solo includes two pregenerated characters at level 1 and 3 but the intro text doesn't introduce them or how to incorporate them or use them later. (Maybe I'm just too new to PF to figure that out).
For the price I highly recommend it as a learning tool or when you have an urge to throw some dice.
Do note this PDF is not gray scale printer friendly. The PDF has a background that does not print well with the font. If you must print it choose color output.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
I recently began running this adventure for my wife, who has never played an RPG before. I wasn't sure how the sandbox format would work -- would she be overwhelmed by the options? Quite the opposite! She's enjoyed the flexibility of being able to do whatever she imagines. Being an MMO player, she is particularly impressed with the non-linear flexibility of a tabletop RPG. She keeps asking if she's allowed to do certain things, and I keep saying YES (or at least she can attempt it). It's been great fun experiencing her flexing her creative muscles, as it were.
This adventure provides all of the important information that I need. There are several plot hooks to get the PCs started. It has names and descriptions of NPC. Even the minor characters are given names and a brief description. The villains have motivations, and react to what the PCs do. There is a table that explains where the various villains are at any given time. The illustrations and map are clear and helpful.
This is most definitely not a dungeon crawl or a hack and slash adventure. If the PCs go in, swords swinging, they will be overpowered. Fast. But if they apply their creativity and use the "tools" that Mr. Baur has provided, they'll prevail against enemies that you typically wouldn't pit starting PCs against.
I also wanted to mention that I've been running this adventure using 13th Age rules, rather than Pathfinder. I had to convert a few monsters, but otherwise, the conversion has been smooth, and I've been really pleased with the results.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Initially I was attracted to this product as I had the campaign setting Midgard and wanted more. I wanted monsters for a campaign I was setting up for a number of friends. I was not disappointed with Midgard Bestiary. There are 89 monsters,75% of which are instantly usable in my campaign. The monsters are well thought out and are easy to use in a campaign. The Bonepowder Ghoul is one such. It is a ghoul distilled to nothing but dry,whispering sand and teeth. See that pile of dust in the corner as the players walk by,materialise into a ghoul. Great fun. Another monster created with a good twist is the sandman,not to confused with the monster of the same name in the Pathfinder Bestiary. These sandman visit Midgard each night to sprinkle glittering dream sand over mortals. Again the possibilities are endless. Some monsters,in my opinion do not work,the shark goblin does not sit well with me as a monster but the concept of gilled goblins is a great idea. In summary a book with great ideas and well worth the cover price as it contains monsters you will actually use in a campaign.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
We always need more monsters. Over a 100 new monsters for Pathfinder. Lots of really interesting ones too. I loved the Shadow Fae, Ice Maiden and Red Hag and have hooks already for all of them. The new dragon types are also very interesting and I can't wait to use a Mithril Dragon or Baby Yaga's Horsemen. In fact there are two completely separate campaigns I want to use this book in, a Dragon based one and a Witch-centric one. Both need unique monsters that the players have never seen before, and there are a number of monsters here that are perfect for one or the other or both!
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
I own a few of the Midgard products, but this one really called to me. This Dragon Empire is very similar to the one I was crafting for my own game world, so this saves me some heavy lifting.
The 30 pages of this book is jam-packed. What did I like in this?
Well I love the castes. Dragons seem very arrogant and a caste system makes sense. I liked how the castes were set up as well. Lots of great role-playing potential in these. We get a bunch of new Traits and Feats.
Classes get a bit of an update as to be expected. There is a Cavalier archetype, the Order of the Firedrake (which is a PERFECT with my world's own White Drakes). The Druids have the Elemental Exarch. Fighters get Edjet Warriors, and the Magus has the Dragon Magus. We get a couple new monks, Monk of the Fiery Fist and Monk of the Wind Palm. There is also the Mystery of the Void, Greyscale and Void Elemeentalist for the Oracle, Rouge and Elementalists respectively. There is also the Dragon Emir prestige class which I am sure my son would love. The book end with new spells, exotic goods and magic items, including magic the magic carpet. Cool stuff. I am going to have to look for more books in this series.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
This was my first try at a Party of 1 and it was an overall pleasant experience. The writing is nice and the characters lively. You get a good sense of place if anything.
I expected to find a character sheet and rules in the front but there are no rules and the sheets are at the back. Why? Because you learn how to play as you go. If you are a veteran Pathfinder player, this might not be your cup of tea. If you want an introduction to basic PF mechanics, though, this is great, and you don't even need a GM to play it!
A little sour note though: some more in-depth mechanics are taken into account but not explained, so the teaching only goes so far. Maybe worse: I have found a few number mistakes in the character sheets. This does not break this game in any way, but hinders the use of the character in an actual tabletop game, too bad.
The last thing is that it is somewhat short overall and the ending (the one I reached at least) felt somewhat anti-climactic.
All I can hope is that the series keeps going with bigger and better chapters in the future.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
This module for the Midgard Campaign Setting is 23 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page advertisement, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 19 pages of content, so let’s check this out!
This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.
All right! Still here? This module is all about epic high fantasy – at 2nd level! Simez Rothgazzi, leader of the high order of geomancers, has a proposal for the PCs – They are to visit the island of Karn’lothra, domain of the dreaded lich-queen and secure her permission to open a tomb and secure the Book of Vael Turog. The journey per se will turn out to be as laced with dangers as you want to and several different “random” encounters are provided to help the DM add minor complications: Whether they learn the way to the lich queen’s undead paradise by her undead mermaids or by bargaining with a dragon, they are set for their destination and on their journey may barter with the leshy of a seaweed Sargasso, they may also meet a spark trying to possess them during a storm and have a skirmish with a small goblin warship.
Karn’lothra (which comes with a great map and detailed further in "Journey to the West") should make for a creepy place to visit, with the ominous harbor of last hope, its giant gold/white marble-flecked statues lining the coast and the relative proximity to Nethus’ maw. When evening falls, the ghost of the ankeshelian Mad Prince Deland escorts the characters to the court of the queen, provided they don’t annoy him overtly. There, the audience should be creepy as well and full of tension, since a) an audience requires the adventurers to relinquish their weapons and wands and b) they are hopelessly outclassed anyway. On a particularly vicious botch in diplomacy, the queen may actually take a liking to one of the players – with final consequences for the poor sod.
After securing her permission (or doing it stealthily behind her back), the PCs are off to visit the tomb of the minotaur prince Qoraz, where not only traps, but also red-mist emitting braziers, vampiric mists and a couple of shadows await the PCs – hopefully, they’ve conserved the scroll of protection from undead they got from Simez – or they can try to gain control over and use the lesser sphere of annihilation to waste the undead… The thing is, that the queen, true to the evil of undeath, has sent minions to off the Pcs and claim the book for herself. The book, however, also might be their best chance, for the thing is intelligent and can provide not only a potent protection, but also a summoning ritual that should make the breackneck flight from the island interesting.
When the summoned leviathan island (again, more details in Journeys) makes its appearance, the PCs should be all about going for it, for the mobile island is moving. Braving reefclaws, the adventurers are now stranded again, lavishly with a map detailing Leviathan Island . Only said island is heading towards the end of the world and is inhabited by mongrelmen intent on subduing the PCs and feeding them godsflesh to add them to their ranks. Whether they sit out the time or manage to find godsflesh and commune with the leviathan, they should soon notice that the huge being is actually headed towards the end of the world – whether for spawning, death or rebirth, they probably won’t be able to tell.
A sense of foreboding and imminent doom should be now suffuse them – until the leviathan plunges into the starlit sea, from the very edge of the world. Starbearer-scouts will inform the players that the leviathan is on its way to the star citadel, compelled by the ancient eldritch magics that summoned it – though this by no standard means that the PCs are out of danger – an array of weird creatures ranging from oculus swarms to vargouilles wait in the wings to challenge the brave explorers. The star-shaped citadel awaits them and it is here, they may plead their case before the court of a million stars and its king and queen, for the rulers intend to kill the leviathan, stranding the Pcs in this strange realm beyond the world. In order to seize control of the ancient beasts, the PCs will have to negotiate with Abdiel (an NPC-cheat sheet is btw. provided), the current master of the bridle- unbeknownst to them, though, he wants to control the creature himself and with his ally, a traitorous starbearer, tries to poison and subdue the PCs. The finale, whether it will be trial by combat, varying degrees of success for the villain or the PCs triumphing, should be definitely memorable and result, in the case of victorious PCs, an interesting choice: Do they set the leviathan free or do they steer it back to the western sea? What about the strange egg in the alchemist’s tower?
And by the way, I haven’t even touched on the short sample NPC-list of inhabitants of the strange citadel, not have I yet touched upon the 10 sample events to spice up what is going on in this wondrous place.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn’t notice any glitches. Layout adheres to a gorgeous two-column full-color standard and the copious original interior artworks are of the same quality as the mind-boggling front cover – this is a premium product in every meaning of the word regarding presentation. The pdf comes fully bookmarked as well, but without a printer-friendly version. Then again – why rob this gorgeous piece of its colors? Also, it's printed version is BEAUTIFUL. Full-color, gorgeous, awesome.
There is a good reason Wolfgang Baur is the legend he is and this pdf shows VERY well how his formidable reputation came to be. Doing adventures that evoke a sense of grandness, of epicness and at the same time trailblaze ahead and provide iconic locales is hard. Doing so at low levels is even harder, especially if you want to keep the players from doing stupid things that could get them killed – like challenging a certain queen, trying to find ways to control a certain beast etc. This module takes an experienced DM with a good mojo to run properly, but OH BOY. If you manage to pull this off, then your players will be talking about it for years to come! The iconic scenes and locales in this module are enough to weave at the very least 3 whole modules from the content and the fact that this much AWESOMENESS fits in these scarce few pages is mind-blowing. And it manages to do it without feeling misplaced in the level-range. This is high-fantasy at its very best and if I had to nitpick one thing, then it would be that the module by design requires almost to be set in Midgard or a similar flat world, since it is so steeped in the world’s contexts. That being said, this still perhaps one of the best low-level modules out there and deserves to be added to your library – especially at the ridiculously low cost. My final verdict? Easy 5 stars + seal of approval. This would be a 6-star-candidate, if that was possible.
Endzeitgeist out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Disclaimer: I'm a contributing author to Christina Stiles' current kickstarter "Bite Me! The Gaming Guide to Lycanthropes" and was a patron of this project, though not a contributing one. If you haven't checked out her kickstarter, I urge you to do so. My verdict of this book was not in any way influenced by me contributing to "Bite Me!".
This supplement/adventure anthology is 139 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page introduction/kickstarter-backer-list, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement and 1 page back cover, leaving us 132 pages of content, so let's take a look!
This being a combined campaign supplement and adventure anthology, we delve first into a kind of hub for the explorations the PCs are sure to embark upon when utilizing the content from these pages: Barsella, the City at the end of the world in the Midgard setting is the last true fleck of civilization before the Western Ocean and as such an interesting place indeed - a combination of colonial outpost, trading town and frontier-city, Barsella's write-up includes potential for adventure galore - whether it's via the plethora of options available for explorations into the unknown or within the town - after all, Nethus, the chained god of the sea is still very much present in this place, as are the seafaring minotaurs and other thoroughly interesting components like gambling dens and brothels with interesting entertainers awaiting. And in the bedrock of the town, the tides have carved out the infamous wash, a set of smuggling tunnels and undercity that provides for an opportunity to crawl and explore other illicit affairs PCs may seek to undertake. An iconic interesting city-panorama, but not the focus of this product - for the true ambition of this supplement is to capture the spirit of frontiers, of trailblazing and wonder at strange locales in the spirit of mankind's epics like the Iliad or the Gilgamesh-myth.
As such, the following chapters detail new islands to be found and the very first one already blows me out of the water (pardon the pun): The Island of the Morphoi is weird in uncountable ways. Fully mapped in b/w (like all islands in here), this place is the base of Mnemosyne, wife of the lost god of the seas - She also happens to be the goddess of time, history and memory who suffers from an inscrutable memory-loss that drives to obsessive brinks of madness, her weird morphoi-servants and twisted lamia scouring the world for knowledge to finally fill the void ripped into her otherwise omniscient and perfect recollections. The island is also plagued by temporal rifts, unstable areas of temporal flux (including massive tables to determine weird effects on the fly) and provides 3 domains and 2 subdomains as well as potential for adventures galore.
Meshong-Lir and its atoll of savage islands also makes for a truly intriguing setting that transcends traditional backdrops - the prison/remains of a Great Old One from the Far Beyond, these islands are now haunted by Heralds of Darkness and the ghosts of Elysian Titans. Worse, the arcane bonds that hold the creature enslaved are tied to thresholds and doors and every foray into the depths of Meshong-Lir brings the dread entity closer to freedom - if the intrepid explorers manage to survive the maddening taint of the forbidden knowledge engraved in the reality-warped ruins of an empire long since passed, they may yet gain knowledge both twisted and powerful - at least if they manage to surpass the other alienists, mad cultists and things-that-should-not-be. Have I mentioned that in order to live to tell the tale, the PCs also have to brave the fact that the island rises from the waves (including tsunamis) and sinks back below the waves: And yes, rules for all of that are included in the write-up.
There are also write-ups of so-called lesser islands, which, while slightly less detailed, are also lengthy - starting at Aroa, which is the home-base of the Rimegaurd that seek to rediscover the lost technology of the crab-like K'karoan and atolls, some with spatial rifts, also feature in this section, also the crab-like humanoid K'kin. The Burning Shores with its magmins and azers and archmage's sanctum is also interesting in that it features hazards beyond regular fiery hazards - also including deadly gasses impacting local environment. The Leviathan, a living island inhabited by mongrelman, gliding through the waves (And featured in the module "To the Edge of the World") is littered with eldritch remnants ready for the picking and intriguing locales/rules to enable PCs the diving leviathan.
Terminus island is interesting especially in the context of Midgard, for the world is flat and this ancient place, with its gigantic guardians and legendary fruit is located indeed at the very edge of the flat world. Finally, there's Karn'lothra, where the last remnant of a proud race now lords as an undead empress over her realm. It is also here that a vampire philosopher has blended mind-boggling philosopher that essentially made reality reject him, rendering him quite literally beyond the grasp of even the gods.
The book also features a bestiary, where intelligent Coral Oozes (CR 6), Dragon Eels (CR 13), Lamia Mnemosynian Matriarchs (CR 12) as well as 3 Morphoi-variants, the disturbing Obanje (CR 5), Sons of Talos (CR 11 ancient siege-style golems) and CR 6 Totem-Pole Golems. The Prismwings, magical birds, are also nice, though their entry lacks the CR-value.
We also get 4 new magical items, from the modular boon-necklaces of the seas, to a cephalopod's staff, an enchanted mokomokai (a shrunken head) and one of the tears of Mnemosyne.
After that, we're off to the new modules featured herein and hence, from here on out, the SPOILERS reign. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.
Still here? All right! Adventure number 1, "Awash in the Wash" is an uncommon module for low level characters, as it starts the adventuring career of the PCs with an unpleasant surprise for the PCs: They wake up after having been drugged/press-ganged/etc. - in the notorious Wash, Barsella's undercity. The PCs are the latest contestants in the infamous maze of the minotaurs of the city - and a famous geomancer is betting on their unlikely survival - why unlikely? Well, first of all, the maze is studded with traps and spectator-interference (also great for the DM to help/hinder PCs if required) is a constant addition to the place's challenge: The aim is to collect 8 special rings and place them upon a specific statue - while avoiding an insane fiendish minotaur stalking the corridors, hunting for the PCs as well as the complex traps/obstacles littering the maze's regular rooms. Thankfully, the minotaur (who is far beyond PC capabilities to beat) is slow and can be outrun - but not for ever...
Maze residents and multiple rooms with deadly traps make the challenge of the place more pronounced, though I do have some minor gripes with an otherwise great module: The fully detailed maps come without a player-friendly, key-less version and the text refers multiple times to letters and e.g. squares with traps that are not featured on the respective maps. This is one issue. The other one being how running the maze is handled: Essentially, the curving sections and make-up of the place make using traditional mapping hard for the PCs to do, suggesting instead handwaving all in favor of perception/survival-skill-checks - which is fine, though the insinuation that old-school handling of maze-running would bore most groups rubs me the wrong way - especially with a sub-maze of the maze that HAS to be mapped to properly run through is taken into account. A slightly more streamlined set of navigation-rules and help with keeping up dramatic tension with the minotaur-chaser as well as resolving aforementioned map-issues would have been imho nice and made a good module an excellent one.
The second adventure contained (by Dawson Kriska) in this anthology features an unpleasant assault on the docks of Barsella by a strike-force of Sahuagin - unfortunately being infected by a strange curse/disease named skinny-bones, one that defies curing. With the plague endangering Barsella (and quite possibly the PCs, since they've probably been infected in the combat), they have to cooperate with a famous captain and his druidic wife (see Pirates of the Western Ocean) and break through the naval blockade. Seeking the counsel of the archmage Allister Dorn, they arrive at his tower on the burning shores, where unfortunately the archmage is nowhere to be found. Having anticipated the PC's dire need, he has prepared a collection of documents and diagrams that allows for the research of the disease - handling Deus-Ex-Machina-style just about all pieces of information out to the PCs via rather simple arrays of skill-checks, revealing the originator of the plague as an unfettered eidolon incited by aforementioned vampire philosopher. Stepping from the arch-mage's study, the PCs find themselves stranded on the island of Malkay, where all the lost sooner or later wind up and where the eidolon masquerades as a type of savior/angel. The creature runs from the PCs, thinking them trapped on the desolate island, though they are promptly rescued by their NPC-allies - the journal harrow left behind leading them promptly towards Karn'lothra, the island of undead again where they get a chance to stop the mad eidolon's plans and gather the ingredients to end the plague. All in all, a solid adventure, though I really didn't like how the module treats the arch-mage-in-absentia and his notes as a kind of Captain Exposition - alternate means for the PCs to unravel the mystery of the disease would have been nice and feel more organic - as written, the dramaturgy is somewhat askew and suffers from the "Elminster-helps"-syndrome, i.e. the high-level-NPC helps, but can't be bothered to do the job her/himself. It's this that made me turn my back on the Forgotten Realms and I sincerely hope that future Kobold Press-adventures will refrain from creating too many of these plot-device NPCs - Midgard as a setting doesn't need them to work.
Brian W. Suskind provides with a murder mystery in the most traditional way - the PCs are hired by Lord Arvid Olhouser through his aide Delgrade Agador to guard the expedition of his household to the fabled Leviathan-island. Unfortunately, soon after the arrival, the beast dives and thus, the PCs will have to make a frantic sprint to the fabled bubble-tower that contains air and allows people to survive the dives of the living island. Squeezing through the shutting Iris-doors, a group of precious few survivors is stranded in an isolated, claustrophobic locale - the classic set-up for a murder mystery. And said murder doesn't happen too late - Lord Arvid Olhouser is murdered and the people locked in have motives galore: His wife, Lady Olhouser considers him a bumbling idiot and has an affair with his aide Delgrade. His spoilt son Hagen is a thoroughly unpleasant, cruel racist. Bertram Bodkin and his recently betrothed wife Alyce suffer from Bertram's gambling addiction and accumulated debt which the lord declined to help with. Professor Myra Dolynn once had an affair with the lord, local veteran Lucas Cabral has an attachment to the unpleasant local mongrelman populace and Fynn, the 12-year old son of one of the Olhouser's ship's fist mates just had to see his father perish in the dive of the Leviathan. The mongrelmen hiding in the fleshy tunnels of the leviathan are essentially set up as culprits and the PC's short excursion proves an exercise in the slaughter of innocent creatures - unless Lucas Cabral stops them in time. Worse for the PCs - after initial investigations, the deceased rises as a wight accusing them as killers, undermining their believability. Worse, Hakon, the scion of the house is the second victim and lady Margrat is next on the killer's list - who actually acts smart, utilizing dust of illusions to throw the PCs off their guard and sow discord. The cast of dramatis personae allows for a vast array of motivations and the situation is actually more complex than one would believe: Alyce is actually quite a powerful sorceress and bastard-daughter of the late Lord Olhouser, but not the culprit for his murder: Lady Margrat and Hagen killed the lord and Alyce, bereft of her revenge, seeks to end them for it. At the climax of the investigation, she sabotages the tower's mechanics and has the tower flood while the leviathan surfaces, making for a truly memorable climax. All in all a great murder mystery with multiple tables that makes running the complex motivations more easy for the DM. A minor gripe would be that one read-aloud-text mentions "The NPCs", a slip in narrative level DMs should be aware of.
The next module, by Ted Reed, is hands down imho the best in the whole anthology, ranking as a pinnacle of awesomeness that lives up to the best of Open Design/Kobold Press modules out there: The basic plot is the following: The PCs are in the savage islands and have their ship sunk by the rise of Meshong-Lir, after rescuing a dashing old salt rake. Surviving the tsunami wave will be hard - to be captured/separated and beset by the dread pygmies and totem pole golems, the PCs will have to steal rafts to reach Meschong-Lir, for a legendary treasure awaits - the fabled ship Last Vagabond was dragged down by a statue jutting from the dread island and now could be claimed - for it requires a living being to serve as captain, though it is manned by a crew of ghosts. Unbeknownst to the PCs, their new ally is actually a servant of the trapped Great Old One of Meshong-Lir who is partly responsible for the ship's current predicament. The PCs will have to scale the mile-high cliffs, negotiate with the ghost of a titan and impress the ghostly crew enough to become captains and owners of the legendary vessel as well as unmask the wolf in sheep's clothing (no, not the monster) in their midst. And, they of course will have to drive the ship out of the maelstrom of the sinking Meshong-Lir! (and yes, it uses the vehicle-rules from UC -AMEN!) This module is so great it had me salivate, its locales standing out and its execution, especially how the captain is portrayed ranking among the finest I've seen in this type of scenario, the climax being sufficiently epic as well. Two thumbs up for this extremely well-crafted module that works even better thanks to the trouble-shooting interjected here and there.
The final module of the anthology centers on a character that is somewhat of a local landmark in Barsella, the Brine Pauper. The PCs are hired by Barsellan nobility to investigate the fate of the village of Kammae's Landing, more commonly known as Hell's Hole. On their ship is the weird, semi-coherent oracle and if the PCs manage to deal with the difficult anchoring, exploring the haunted remains of the coastal town should prove interesting indeed - for the brine pauper deposited a tear of mnemosyne somewhere in the haunted island, one that might contain vital memories. Unfortunately for the PCs, the Brine Pauper was not here alone - the last survivor of his group, they battled a witch that also perished and now roams the island as a witchfire on the hunt for the madman. Worse, the undead has taken control of a coven of hags and their allies and a disgruntled sea hag may prove to be a vital warning or deadly detriment. Guarded by dread Kech summoners and deep inside the island lies an ancient Ankeshelian prison that contains a dreaded nightwave of Nethus and the seal if breaking - only in the pauper's memories lies the key to finding the hidden vril lock to reseal the dark terror, but only if the PCs can get it before the witchfire. Reaching the nightwave's prison, the PCs will have to face a fraction of its power and solve an easy, nevertheless interesting riddle to escape. On their way home, though, a powerful Mnemosynian Lamia Matriarch tries to take their memories, which might bode disaster for the future...
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, though not perfect: I noticed e.g. flavor-texts with "NPCs" being mentioned and the first module's maps lacking some information from the text is also unpleasant. Layout adheres to a 2-column standard and is beautiful indeed - in the pdf in full-color, in the print in b/w. Artworks is a mix of full-color and b/w and ranges from good to serviceable. The cartography of the islands is completely in b/ and beautiful indeed - but I have one mayor gripe: Why don't we get player-friendly maps? Seriously, a project of this size/scope should have key-less maps of its locales. What good is the STELLAR map of the cliff-side of Meshong-Lir to me when I can't show it to my players since one of the ledges spells out what kind of creature is waiting there and how to get on the ship? Or another island, that features the name of the threats to be found as well as the location of a certain prison? I can live with Barsella's map being keyed (though I'd prefer a key-less version there as well to hand out to my players), but in adventures, it's a no-go for me by now. The maps of the modules are great, but I can't use them. The pdf is extensively bookmarked for your convenience.
"Journey to the West" is the latest in a series of sourcebooks/anthologies by Open Design/Kobold press and lead designer Christina Stiles has succeeded with accolades in her endeavor of bringing us a supplement that brings the weird, the thrill of exploring, back to the game, with islands both wondrous and terrifying. The campaign-setting information, the island-write-ups, they provide information galore to run whole campaigns, clocking in as some of the most legendary locales I've seen in a supplement in quite a while, breathing their owns myths. I also applaud the decision to not contribute overtly to the feat/trait/spell-bloat and, unlike the otherwise excellent "Streets of Zobeck", focusing on the topic at hand. Mind you, my criticism is at the highest level, but still: The adventures in this module left me partially disappointed at the very highest level of quality possible. They still stand out and are great experiences, but with the notable exception of Ted Reed's contribution, they all suffer here and there from minor issues that keep them from rising to the insane brilliance of e.g. the offerings in "Tales of the Old Margreve": The labyrinth-module suffers from its maps and slightly incongruent take on navigating the maze, the plague -adventure from the captain-exposition-flaw, the murder-mystery from e.g. mentioning a magical aura, but not the nature of it and the final one from feeling cut down - the desolate village would have made for a great place to build up tension via a continuing assault of haunts and instead makes the exploration a rather short stop in the module, with the same holding true for the prison. At first, this didn't stand out to me that much, but Ted Reed's module, with its perfect pacing and detail, its extremely iconic challenges and its vivid primary antagonist makes these minor flaws that wouldn't stand out in other publications much more than they should. Though this module's map suffers most in all the modules of this book from not coming with a player-friendly version.
I get that page-count is an issue, but honestly - I wish this book had been split (even further) - one book for all the setting-information and one for the expanded adventures, to allow them slightly more page-count to shine. As written, they are still great modules, but ones with minor blemishes.
But is that enough to rate this book down? I've been wrestling with myself for quite some time and have to conclude: Yes. Yes, it is. By now, player-friendly maps are a staple in most publications and at least for me, not getting any, especially if the cartography is this good, is kind of a big deal.
Don't get me wrong - I still maintain this is a great book that belongs into the library of any Pathfinder-DM, but I still can't give it my full 5 stars + seal of approval, instead opting for a final verdict of 4.5 stars plus seal of approval, rounded won to 4 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
The Raven’s Call is no ordinary adventure. Set in Midgard it has fantasy elements all its own, but fits into any Pathfinder world. The premise of rescuing an entire town from a band of kobolds and trollkin seems a bit steep for a 1st level adventure. But Wolfgang Bauer pulls it off with some great designing. What makes this sandbox adventure great is the unpredictable ways players will come up with to solve the crisis. There are several interesting encounters allowing for different character skills to shine (always great to see in a published adventure). Enough details are given to allow a GM to respond to unexpected player actions while not bogging things down in a lot of text. The layout is well organized for ease in running a Pathfinder game. Sometimes a stat block will run over onto another page (a personal peeve of mine), but generally finding information when you need it is not a problem. Useful side bars give great tips for running the adventure.
The art is first rate. Wolfgang Baur well chose cover artist Aaron Miller and interior artist Michael Perry to showcase this introductory piece. I like the maps and they would make great handouts to players. As a GM I appreciate this flexibility. Art should not be merely for the GM to enjoy.
While designed as an introduction to Midgard, it is also an engaging stand-alone for a band of new characters. New players as well as veteran RPGamers will appreciate The Raven’s Call.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 0 items |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Log In 
