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Lust is one of those aspects of the Pathfinder RPG that tend to get glossed over. It can’t be helped – in a game whose mechanics reward killing things and taking there stuff, it’s hard for the game rules to incentivize the PCs’ desire to have sex. The next best thing is to make enemies that are physically attractive and have lust-themed powers – the ubiquitous succubus comes to mind. Still, such creatures are comparatively few in number.
The fourth book in Open Design’s Monsters of Sin series, Monsters of Sin: Lust expands the roster of lust-based monsters, albeit only slightly.
The book gets most of the technical aspects of a PDF RPG supplement right. It has no bookmarks, which it really should, but copy-and-paste is enabled. There’s no printer-friendly version, or for that matter any sort of format for other types or easy-reading (e.g. tablets, Macs, etc.), but again its brevity helps to make that be less of an issue.
The artwork, it must be said, is of a high quality. Cory Trego-Erdner’s cover of the succubi stripping a hapless young man is vivid both in terms of its quality and of how expressly it connotes what’s happening. Likewise, Aaron Riley’s black and white interior artwork quite literally paints a start contrast, showcasing the monsters with striking depth.
Eleven pages long, with seven devoted to the eponymous monsters, Monsters of Lust contains a grand total of five monsters. The first isn’t really a monster per se, but rather is the lust slave template. Even calling this a template is hard, as it adds only a single new ability (annoyingly lacking in an ability tag – presumably it’s extraordinary) which has the lust slave creature gaining a bonus if the object of their adoration is in sight, but is confused if not. I personally thought that a confusion effect was the wrong mechanic to use here, but should have been some sort of penalty from their depression at being separated from their beloved. Ah well.
The first fully-fledged monster is the inbred orc, which needs no real introduction as to where these particular variants come from. Racial information is given for these hillbilly orcs, which are perhaps not surprisingly different from their normal counterparts – chief among them being two tables of mutations – one fortunate and one unfortunate. An NPC stat block helps to round things out.
Personally, I thought that this particular monster was good, but would have worked better as a template. Orcs aren’t the only humanoid creature that seems lacking in civilization enough to start inbreeding and suffer the effects thereof. It’s not too hard to take inspiration from this monster and use it as a baseline for varying other creatures in a similar manner, but this would have been easier as a template.
The lovelorn, a CR 11 creature, is a sort of ghost that died after being betrayed by a cruel lover or was simply so unlucky in love that they died heartbroken. Interestingly, there are shades of the banshee here, as they have a moan-based attack (though nowhere near as deadly, thank goodness!), and it’s likewise fitting that they deal Charisma damage. The lovelorn falls into a narrow gap of being different enough from similar incorporeal undead as to be distinct unto itself, but not so unique that your players will easily figure out what to do about it – there’s a lot of fun to be had here by a cruel GM.
For me though, the most interesting monster in the book was hands-down the truffle. A weak (CR 3) fey creature, the truffle looks like a small naked human child…making it clearly obvious that it has no sexual characteristics whatsoever. Not malevolent, truffles understand nothing about sex or gender identity, and so are intensely curious about creatures that have these characteristics when they meet them. This can quickly become awkward and even dangerous, however, when they start exercising their natural abilities to forcibly manipulate other people’s bodies, making people take their clothes off and demonstrate their sexuality to sate the truffle’s curiosity. Normally I frown on monsters with no original powers, but the role-playing potential – demonstrated excellently in the monster’s write-up – is incredibly strong here. This is a monster that should only be used with groups that can handle mature subjects in the game, but it’s likely to be quite worthwhile to do so.
The final creature in the book is the embodiment of lust itself. I wasn’t sure what to expect here, and was somewhat surprised by the creature’s description – that of a ten-foot tall creature with a vaguely feminine figure, but it entirely translucent, like a statue made out of glass. Of course, just being around the embodiment is exceptionally dangerous, as its Challenge Rating of 21 demonstrates. Just being around it can make you its lust slave, stripping naked as you approach it, and making you willing to do whatever it asks. I do wish there’d been more about the embodiment as an individual – it says that it has its thralls do its bidding, but there’s little explanation about just what that is. Presumably this creature has no particular agenda or goals beyond corrupting mortals into the sin of lust, but even this simple desire isn’t made entirely clear.
A few sidebars are peppered throughout the book. One talks about using sex in your campaign, but can basically be summarized as “don’t make people uncomfortable” – it’s the ubiquitous disclaimer that’s part and parcel of talking about sex in your game. Likewise, the issue of lust in the Midgard campaign is one paragraph about the lust and death goddess Marena, and two about how one man seduced several merchant’s daughters as a means of starting a war, allowing him to pick up power in the aftermath. Interesting to be sure, but so brief as to be little more than anecdotal.
My overall impression of the book is that while it’s probably stronger as part of the entire series (and certainly will be in the inevitable compilation volume), on its own it feels like it’s just starting to ramp things up when it suddenly comes to an end. The five monsters – really four and a very brief template – don’t seem like enough for the theme of the book. This isn’t to say that they’re not well-done, because they are; they’re simply not showcasing everything that could be done here. From the truffle showing us the unexpected ways that monsters can be developed around this theme to the embodiment of lust’s needing further expansion on what it wants to do to the inbred orc needing to be a full-fledged template, there’s more that could have been done here.
It’s primarily due to the book not living up to its potential that I’m giving it less than full marks. What’s here is worth four stars, but what’s not here would have been the fifth. Having said that, this book provides some fun new creatures for your game, dealing directly with the idea of lust without becoming tawdry. Pick up Monsters of Lust, and add a few new ways to scare your PCs with sex.
| Wertung: | | [4 von 5 Sternen!] |
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This pdf is 111 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving a total of 106 pages of content, so let’s take a look!
Disclaimer: I was a patron of this project, but didn’t contribute due to time-concerns.
All right cutter, I see you’re rather clueless about them’s roads, so here’s the chant:
The pdf kicks off with a rather interesting treatise on the nature of planes, making the outer planes essentially a foundation spawned from the soul essence of beings, entwined with an ever-swelling tide of interlapping ideas that continuously touch, change and expand each other, giving birth to countless, even infinite multitudes of ideas – to the point where infinity itself is just another idea betwixt an uncountable legion of concepts and their ever-soaring inhabitants, seeking for meaning – be it gods, outsiders or mortals. If one were to say so, even the phenomenon of quantum entanglements could be explained in the magical context of a planar game and fit within the themes that determine one’s after life – for as like draws to like, proximity destinies and karmic resonance are not just abstract concepts here and while numbers are present in many mystic traditions, it is in the planes that they exhibit their full potential and significance, just like abstractions and allegories may actually become truth and quite literal in the planar realms of countless possibilities. Even better, outsiders, those strange beings (and strange they should be due to their very nature) in service to a cause or concept, are also given a rather brilliant introduction, returning the concept of distinct foreignness that soften escapes DMs to these beings – immortal souls, player in the grandest game, these beings are different from mortals, even if they once were ones themselves.
In a total of 10 sample entries, we get a selection of outsider personalities, ideologies and character traits (not mechanical ones, mind you) that serve as a stellar gateway for any DM (or a brilliant primer for those characters with Knowledge(Religion) or (The Planes)) to outsider psychology (lacking a better term): From immortal chessmasters to cynics and elementals and whisperers, these write-ups immediately spell out evident truths and serve in a way that has largely been absent from many products – in just a paltry 2.5 pages, this pdf returns the “out-“to outsider: They are not us, they do not belong to us mortals. Granted, Paizo also does a great job regarding their outsiders, but seeing such an inspiring introduction to basic concepts is nevertheless awesome. And that was, as mentioned the introduction.
In chapter 2, we are introduced to the variant cosmology that serves as the default for the highly anticipated Midgard campaign setting, but with the general design-goal of remaining modular to the extreme and easy to plug and play into just about every kind of cosmology – from Planescape to the Great Beyond. Central concepts of the cosmology presented in these pages is a sense of an end to a cycle –just as once the primal gods were vanquished and banished from the worlds and planes, so is the fate of the new gods already woven, spinning towards Ragnarök in the ever-changing eternal game that fate and chance may play – or not. Generally, the addition of fortune and destiny to the cosmic forces at play as a dominant construct and concept feel like a very smart move indeed. The two dominant struggles in the planes Psycohmachia, the feud between good and evil for mortal souls as well as the eternal fractal dance of law and chaos are concepts introduced in lovingly unique detail and care. Of course, conceptual planes those touching upon the prime material plane are also a part of this chapter, as is an extensive discussion of how alignment traits of respective planar locations, be they overlaps or planes in their own right. The conceptual planes deserve special mention: From overlaps like mercy street, the lane of disguised celestials, to a city in which everything is mad of glyphs, both inhabitants and everything beyond to the palace where all things lost and broken go – these locations ooze imagination and creative sparks and may, very well, spark their own multiverses, campaigns and concepts, as befitting of the uncounted possibilities inherent in the planes. Better yet, the planes adhering to the order of elemental indwellings also are featured and come with a rather staggering array of sample locations – from 999 Luftballoons, inhabited by intelligent wasps to the forests of valor, where burning, fire-clad celestials stoke the fires of courage in mortal souls.
Even better – from the elflands, home to inscrutable beings like the Ljósalfar and similar mysterious fey to the loom – the planar fabric that connects the grand tapestry to the far beyond at the edge of conception – both planar frontier, edge of infinity, liaison to unimaginable things and distortions to the 7 heavens of the cardinal virtues to the eleven hells as well as the shadow realms, home to the courts of enigmatic shadow fey and other things strange and unimaginable, the compelling cosmology of Midgard is concise, expertly presented, stellar in imaginative quality and missing in no virtue to be expected from such a sourcebook. Add to that the Underworld, a dark prison of Carcerian dimensions in which liches and yama-kings decide on reincarnation all sorts of bleakness and desolate things abound and suffuse that with the staggering amount of sample locations, each of which could spring-board one, if not a vast array of campaigns, and we’re in for one of the coolest cosmologies I’ve read since taking in the original conception of the great wheel and all the derivative systems that spawned from it. Suffice to say, I consider this cosmology on par with, depending on your tastes perhaps even better, than Paizo’s and their version of the great wheel and Golarion’s tradition-infused, yet fresh take on the old tropes has been so far my favorite one since the inception of Planescape in second edition. And yes, that does include just about all 3pps and books like “Beyond countless Doorways” for 3.X.
Oh, but that’s not all! There also is a chapter that begins, quite titillating with: “Between”. After the grand overview, we thus delve into the samples for the strange places that can be found beyond the boundaries of mortal perception and the first location we’re introduced thusly is quite literally “Between” - the place where all those teleportation mishaps and plane shifting accidents alongside all the lost things, broken and abandoned, end up to form a plane coalesced and defined by a sense of not-belonging, by a sense of unbelonging and hybridity and the malevolent intellect of the intangible form that acts as master, creator and abductor – the Limnus. It should be noted that not only are the mechanical repercussions of such a plane are covered, but that magical peculiarities, denizens and adventure seeds are a part of this and all the entries that follow. Second is the Casino – another place between extremes, this place could be seen as the nexus between fate and chance, between law and chaos and is thus also headed dual thrones of law and chaos, this is the place where kingdoms and yes, even worlds and souls can be won, where fortunes are squandered and gained and where pachinko and signal noise games await alongside the options to gamble with the best the planes have to offer – but remember the ultimate truism of gambling – in the end, the house always wins…
After a trip to the dangerously joyful casino, we delve into the depths beyond and visit a particular corner of hell: Evermaw, where all things starve and thirst and Mordiggian the Hunger God rules beneath jaundiced clouds and even the mighty Ever River is but a mere trickle: Here, Mordiggian’s spawn, the ghouls and vampires rule and it is here the erstwhile lieutenant of Orcus has retreated for now, content with his living ghoul servitors and plotting towards inscrutable goals, the grand city (though grand may be a misleading moniker) “Beyond Vultures” offering multiple hooks and a disturbing peculiarity: The lottery. Worse than in Panem, the lottery brands each person with a 4-digit number once it has interacted and bought something from a resident – subsequently, each day means that the number may be drawn. If it is, the city demands a toll that is to be paid in flesh…
Now, if you’re looking to buy something truly out of the ordinary, there’s no place but one –marketplace. Literally THE marketplace among the vast planes, it is here that just about anything conceivable can be bought and sold – from hope to classics like Angel’s Tears or even the broken hearts of demons, this city can probably best be described as the planar consequence of mercantilism beyond moral boundaries, somewhat akin to a bigger brother to Katapesh and all who have visited that town in Golarion can probably depict how an escalation of this concept may look like. Better yet, the creatures provided as sample denizens include far-out characters like a suave mimic-master spy/sheriff that serve to add a plethora of style to a given rendition of this trade-hub among trade-hubs.
Now, the Plane of Spears is something different altogether – remember that concept of Valhalla, fighting only to be renewed and fight again? The Plane of Spears is essentially that, minus the feasting and anything resembling a respite from a battle neverending. Now, If you think that the place remains in static conflict, you’d be wrong, though – the battles fought and lost, the places conquered and sacked actually change the plane towards some inscrutable destination in the eternal game between destiny and fate. Beyond the bloodshed and the violence, though, glory, riches and prowess beckon and worst (or best) of all: Newcomers may easily be doomed by dying to remain here – for all eternity to wage wars and challenge the armies of gods, demons and things beyond mortal ken.
Particularly interesting in its implementation of the concept of the fractal dance would the be the domain of Rusty Gears – set in Rava’s realm, the perfectly grinding gears and clockwork-realms work in perfect precision, inevitable roam – but where’s law, there’s also chaos – fields of rusts, towns constructed on moving gears and vast junkyards of broken cogs await those eager to find fate’s destination for them or an opportunity to jam a wrench into at least a part of the grand machine. Since it’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Mechanus and its mechanical inhabitants, you can imagine my delight when reading this particular section. And finally, there’s the Well spring of Life and Radiance: Here, Potential, essences and minds spring forth is blazing glory and sefirots to enlightenment await – if you brave their dangers, these literal and metaphysical paths enable you to gain a unique power (temporarily or permanently) and gain access to certain planes. Beware, though: For many have found truths that burnt them and destroyed them. I love this plane for its clever links to mysticism and metaphorical concepts as well as the dominant idea of radiance as something amoral and generally considered “good” that can nevertheless destroy the imperfect mortal as any kind of similarly pure cosmic revelation, thus somewhat further diluting the bland diametric oppositions that make gaming often so predictable.
Of course, there also are some major new pieces of crunch here for your perusal, starting with 3 new races: From Devas, born of the stuff of raw creation by echoes of personalities in the plane of radiance, these beings can come with wings, multiple arms or even bestial or elemental essences. They also are the only race that could lead to some abuse – I am not and probably will never be comfortable with playable races that (can) have more than 2 arms and not off some kind of inherent drawback. The Maxims and Warptouched are two sides of the same coin – the one touched by law, the other by chaos, with fitting racial abilities for both – I didn’t have anything to complain about either. Unless I’ve miscounted, we also get 45 new feats, which is slightly more than I would have wanted, seeing the potential for feat-inflation. However, even in this section can we find some rather interesting ones – from a feat that makes you immune to the modification of memory (think about it – no one but you remembers: What a great plot-device!) to the new concept of patronage feats that require you to be in service of a concept, god, deity etc. and clearly marks you, but also provides some nifty benefit, the section can be called well-made indeed. More than 40 new traits also draw on the new planes and planar concepts expounded in the beginning and some of them actually are fun: You could e.g. take “Lucky number”. Roll 1d20 at the campaign’s beginning – that’s your lucky number and every time you roll it on a skill-check or atk-roll, you gain a bonus of 1. Neat idea!
Now, it’s no secret that I LOVE the concept of Incantations (and if you haven’t bought the Zombie Sky Books yet, go do so now…) and thus, I was rather happy to see 2 new incantations herein – one to stand on the dead man’s bridge and bargain yourself into the underworld (but not necessarily out…) and oneto pass from the prime material to the elflands (or the shadowplane, depending on cosmology, I guess), but only by utilizing a site of tragedy and death. I LOVE these and I honestly would love for a whole book (100+ pages) of incantations of a similar quality. And then there are the 18 new spells and oh boy, they are…AWESOME. Again. Yeah, I know, broken record… But seriously – with the spell “Slipstream”, you can tag on to other creature’s teleports and come out close to their destinations. And then there’s “Defensive Paradox”, which is a stellar spell to negate devastating attacks, but which may change you forever and replace you with an alternate version, essentially allowing you to change afflicted character’s personality, Dr.Who-style. Alternately, you could use your magically enhanced sense of combat geometry to make truly devastating ricochets and similar supra-genius attacks. Hell yes!
Chapter 5 then deals with advice on gamemastering the infinite planes and if you expect tried and boring truisms, you’ll be disappointed: Instead you get poignant, sound advice on how to do it as well as ANOTHER selection of awesome locations – gateways to the planes, from the feyroads to the 9 Stairways, the house of infinite doors and the ever river to the road of gateways, we get a neat selection of traveling ways beyond boring spells that should satisfy all tastes. Better yet, planar settlements and settlement-modifiers (including disadvantages), sample fully stated planar settlements, again, with excellent fluff (and statblocks) are fully detailed. However, in the planar economies-section, the book once again amps up the coolness: From buying and selling (or loaning) your body, the purchase of destiny, names, youth and voices and similar esoteric goods are covered. And there are rules for the archetypical sword, the flesh of fate-eaters and remnant pearls, remains of squashed planes – all artifacts, mind you.
The final chapter details the bestiary and kicks off with new templates: From the Animus, to the fallen/risen templates to the servants of death (Ankou, CR 1) and the radiant creatures to those called neverborn, I enjoyed the templates. The first new creature is the Algorith, an angel of force, pure math, universal physics and impeccable guards against things that none should know or witness. Fidele Angels are more benevolent: Born from a love so pure it transcends death, they retain their memory to guard their mortal lovers. Perhaps against the threats like the Cambium, which seek to steal the mortal creatures humors – a great call-back to this pseudo-medical concept, which imho should see more support in the game. Also rather disturbing, the fate-eaters may unhinge certain abilities and devour not only a mortal, but also his/her/its abilities, skills and feats. The idiot-savants of chaos, the headless hundun are creatures of creation and might seem almost chthonic, though they remain a general brainless benevolence. We also are introduced to clockwork dogs, rust drakes and eyeball-like observers, to finally the spinning hags, which could essentially be pictured as lesser versions of the Norns with some cool additional abilities. All the creatures herein come with a multitude of signature abilities and the b/w-artworks are fitting, where provided.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn’t notice any significant glitches while skimming through the pages of this pdf – great to see that the somewhat major editing glitches that plagued some ODs have been purged from these pages. Layout adheres to a 2-column standard and is mostly black and white, accentuated with an elegant gold that should provide a great synthesis between good looks and printer-friendliness – kudos to layout-artist Marc Radle. The artworks contained herein are b/w, adhere to a rather nice style and can be considered top-quality as well. The pdf is also excessively bookmarked.
All right, I’ll say it straight away: When Dan Voyce, lead designer of Northlands announced he would head the planar sourcebook for Midgard, I knew that this would rock in the end. Little did I know how much not only Dan, but also the patrons understood the peculiarities that make the planes different from the prime. In no way did this book ever amount to the rehash of a prime material concept, instead providing not only a strikingly original cosmology, but also featuring a splendid array of locations and creative ideas that can enhance your game, even f you already use other cosmologies: The ease of plug-and-playing any component of this book is beyond belief and in fact, in my opinion, the crowning achievement: While the content herein could stand alone as a cosmology, whether Planescape or the Great Beyond are used – all components retain their usablility without losing their conceptual identity, thus making this book, at least in my opinion, vastly superior to all 3.X-plane-books. And yes, that does include the otherwise awesome “Beyond Countless Doorways”. I’ve been waiting for such a book since Planescape and the only other planar resource I could mention that somewhat is similar in quality, though different in focus, would be Paizo’s. Yes. It’s that good – and it’s also intelligent. I only touched upon all the awesome concepts herein, briefly even and delivered only a fraction of potential interpretations. This book can enrich any campaign and even if you don’t want to go planar (yet), I guarantee that the content in this book and its ideas can influence any campaign in some kind of positive way. And even the crunch (of which I’m not as big a fan – I can’t see those boring traits anymore…) has its stellar quality, from the cool patronage feats to the excellent spells and incantations, we’re in for fun galore. My final verdict, if my rather lengthy tirade of joy and praise has been no indicator, will be 5 stars seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [5 von 5 Sternen!] |
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This web-enhancement to "Dark Roads and Golden Hells" is 25 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC/introduction, 1 page SRD, leaving 21 pages of content, so let's check this out!
This pdf kicks off with a controversial domain - Mora, The Children's Table has, according to the introduction, actually made a patron quit his patronage of the project. Born from the remains of a celestial mother figure that devoured instead of nurture. Thus, today the island is haunted by memoriasma, a deadly mist that might catch you in a perpetual nightmare and the inhabitants are not better - parasitic vampyric dryads, boogeyman and all things abominable that may haunt childhoods and be considered darkest possible representations of the worst fears. Mora is a dark and twisted place, somewhere between fairy tale and hell, twisted and tainted, vile even, but is it tasteless or particularly explicit? Not in my opinion. Personally I loved this twisted realm and don't get what's particularly offending about it, but I guess for some people, the theme of the realm might hit a bit close to home. Mora is definitely not a place that should be introduced into a campaign featuring kids, but for mature or adolescent players and GMs, a vast wealth of twisted imagery can be found here.
After that, we are get the fluffy story to supplement Rusty Gears, the tale of Arachne and Charun and after that we get a selection of planar hazards, traps and afflictions: From Alephs, chaotic motes of planar conjunctions to non-euclidian angles to flowers that can hasten you, but age you and may enable you to relive memories, we are in for quite some awesome hazards. Better yet, the Ever River also gets its hazards, from Phlegethon to Styx and Lethe, Gjoll and Acheron, the write-ups rock.
6 new planar diseases and 7 planar drugs and poisons (including Angel's Tears and Lethean Ale) are also part of the deal, as is something utterly awesome: 7 different kinds of planar effects - from xaosiana, an insanity inflicted by prolonged contact with chaotic planes to temporal distortions between planes - stellar!
We also get an infinite pit trap, stats for the food of the dead, the fractal shield ability and the impossible weapon quality to 12 new excellent magic items, this section of the pdf once again can adhere to the highest standards - from the egg of the world to faerie food, the items are not only cool, they evoke a sense of wonder.
The pdf also provides a bestiary that kicks off with two different templates: The imaginary friends (CR 2)of those damned on Mora and the She-template for the dark female masters of the land (CR 2) are included and then there are new monsters: The CR 12 legendary Arachne, who is on a never-ending quest to replace Ariadne as the weaver of fate gets her stats, as does the narrator of the books, Cicerone the Upfallen, a fallen deva bard (CR 19) as well as the beautiful, deadly angel of revenge, Lady Liliam the Black Avenger (CR 14) complete the additional information contained herein for the stellar "Dark Roads and Golden Hells".
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to the same beautiful 2-column standard of "Dark Roads & Golden Hells". The pdf has no bookmarks, which is a pity, but comes with quite an impressive array of beautiful original b/w-artworks I didn't expect to find here - Kudos!
Let me come right out and say it: If you only slightly enjoyed "Dark Roads and Golden Hells", you definitely need this. If you're looking for a smörgåsbord of planar options to add to your campaign and don't plan to use DR&GH, you may still want to check this out. Why? Because it's probably the highest quality content you'll find for such a low price. This pdf is a stellar example of writing, of crunch-design and fluff-writing and is completely on par with the main book, which ranks imho among the best planar sourcebooks ever penned. My final verdict will thus, of course, be a full 5 stars endzeitgeist seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [5 von 5 Sternen!] |
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Nice and short (83 entries) gamebook intended for those who are totally unfamiliar not only with RPGs but with gamebooks too.
There is no 'where should I go?' options (the only one - use road or go straight through the wood) - as for me this is good. You do should keep track of time but not in this irritating manner with counting hours (at best) and minutes - and this is good, all is very simple but working and interesting.
The only flaw is there are too many entries with the only possible option - of couse not so many than in typical CYOA gamebook, but too many for FF gamebook.
What else? There are codewords (only two but the adventure itself is a short one) and combined with time-tracking they make this game really cool. There is no 'hidden passages' (you know 'you find silver ring 74' - and when you are asked about silver ring you should add '+74' to the number of your current entry and continue reading from this).
| Wertung: | | [4 von 5 Sternen!] |
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This pdf is 10 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page advertisement/SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving a total of 6 pages of content, so let's take a look!
As has become a tradition in the series by now, the pdf kicks off with a short introduction and a simple template (this one clocking in at CR+1) for the respective sin before going into the details regarding the new monsters.
-Bottomless Pit (CR 5): A disgusting somewhat pig-like aberration of fat masses, this ugly creature comes with a swallowing ability that hastes it and a sectioned stomach that can contain multiple humanoids .
-Gnarljak (CR 6): An animated bear-trap-construct, this thing attacks anyone coming close, even its creators and are quite deadly - if it trips someone, the things chomps down hazard with multiple additional attacks. It also comes with 3 variants, from CR 0 to CR 2 and all information necessary to create the things yourself - and it's a brilliant take on one of the concepts of gluttony - mindless, unnecessary and futile consumption that doesn't nourish (a soul), but rather consumes for any kind of consumption's sake.
-Trap Bush (CR 10): These bushes have goodberries and punish gluttonous - anyone who tries to pick too many of the berries are subjected to a fight with a porcupine-like, rather lethal thorn-dart flinging plant. Another winner indeed.
-Embodiment of Gluttony ( CR 18): A fleshy, unintelligent ooze that gobbles everything mindlessly up, growing larger and larger, this embodiment destroys food, potions etc., regenerates, staggers foes with its acid and comes with a dual aura. A terrifying blob-being with unique, cool signature abilities.
The pdf closes with the embodiment of sin- monster type and a side-bar on gluttony in the upcoming Midgard Campaign setting.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to a full-color two-column standard and the disturbing b/w-artworks are top tier quality. The pdf has no bookmarks, but doesn't necessarily need one at this length. I'll make my ramble short - the thematic focus is tight, the signature abilities rock hard and we even get variations on one critter. What's more to want for? I have nothing to complain about apart from that I would have loved for the Bottomless Pit to have one more unique ability. Thus, my final verdict will be 5 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [5 von 5 Sternen!] |
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This mini-bestiary is 10 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD/advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving a total of 6 pages of content, so let's take a look!
Second in the series on sin-themed monsters, this pdf kicks off with a short introduction as well as the envious creature CR+2 simple template. After that, we're off to the monsters:
-Bone Swarm: A CR11 undead swarm, this conglomerate of undead parts can not only deal painful distraction damage, it is essentially a mode-creature that can lose its swarm-traits when grappling a foe and instead move them at up to their speed - nice when paired with environmental hazards and generally a cool creature, though not one I'd get a particularly strong envy-themed vibe from.
-Emerald Eye: This CR 2 crystal is essentially a psicrystal of an envious nature and utilizes the Dreamscarred Press rules, but comes with all necessary information to run it even if you don't feature psionics in your campaign. Trying to inspire jealousy in others, these twisted crystals can even mimic ioun stones and make for cunning foes indeed. Great to see some psionic love from Open Design.
-Echo Doppelganger: CR 14 brutish doppelgangers that can adapt to a specific fighting style, copying not only appearance, but also feats, proficiencies and even spells, making its mimicry almost flawless. Cool creature, though I think that the lack of sophistication on part of the Echo Doppelganger detracts slightly from its appeal.
-Embodiment of Envy: This CR 19 incorporeal immortal wisp of envious thoughts is the most brilliant adaption of the concept conceivable - lacking everything, even a body, this thing seeks to possess any that cross its path and combined with the power to create an aura that compels those subjected to it to attack it with their most formidable array of powers and attacks, this being is a rather deadly, cool predator and makes for the best of the creatures, at least in my opinion. The pdf closes with the embodiment of sin monster subtype as well as a sidebar on envy in the upcoming highly anticipated Midgard Campaign setting..
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the original pieces of b/w-artwork rank among the best I've seen in any monster manual. The pdf has no bookmarks, which is a minor bummer, but on the other hand, the length is not such as to warrant a downgrade in the final score.
After reading the first installment on Avarice, I knew that I would be enjoying this series and while the second had some technical difficulties (hence the late review), the content is top-notch indeed - the new creatures are all well-designed, have at least 2 signature abilities each and come with some awesome mechanical innovations and choices and especially the embodiment of envy is simply stunning. However, I also maintain that unlike the first pdf, most of the creatures herein have a rather tenuous connection to the deadly sin they're supposed to be aligned with. While "envious" abilities are there, e.g. in the doppelganger's case they feel rather like a survival strategy, not a malevolent intent on the powers/abilities/social status/identity of the person they're replacing - the writing of the fluff could have done a better job of aligning theme and crunch of the book. Since that's rather important for me and since the creatures herein, at least to me, felt slightly less iconic (Yet another undead conglomerate of bones? Yes, the crunch is awesome, but the critter-concept per se? Boring.) than in the predecessor, I'll rate this slightly lower, at 4.5 stars, rounded down to 4.
Endzeitgeist out.
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Another solid issue from Kobold Quarterly. I would say that the look at 13th Age and the Escalation Die is top notch and worth a look all by itself.
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This mini-bestiary is 10 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving a total of 6 pages content, so let's take a look what Ryan A. Costello has created here!
After a short discussion on the nature of 7 deadly sins, we delve right into a CR+0 simple template to create avaricious creature that can once per day heal themselves via the consumption of valuables.
The first creature, at CR 12, is the hoard golem - born from the greed of dragons, this massive construct can not only steal items by becoming a whirlwind, it also detracts gazes from other threat - with potentially fatal consequences.
The CR 1 Map Mimic is another ingenious creature that can not only mislead adventurers and make for a great story-creature, it is also potentially very deadly if it can get in your face - one of the coolest CR 1 beasties out there.
Midasites, CR 4, locust-headed fey, can permanently turn their victims to gold via a touch. At CR 4 I'm not even I am particularly comfortable with a save-or-die ability, even with a HD_restriction per day imposed on the creatures.
The final creature is a joy to behold: The rodent-faced, facet-eyed, adamant-scythe wielding, 12-stories high CR 20 embodiment of avarice is simply awesome: Each of its eyes can spawn swarms of spidery rat things to steal, has an internal vault, its own outsider subtype and an aura that can potentially disable all opponents close. I love the thing - it is joyfully, beautifully corrupt and disturbing.
The pdf closes with a mini-section on avarice in the Midgard campaign setting.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are good, I didn't notice any significant glitches. The layout done by Marc Radle is in full-color, beautiful and adheres to a two-column standard. The pdf has no bookmarks and I hope that if/when there'll be a compilation, we'll get bookmarks. The creatures all come with awesome b/w-artworks by Aaron J. Riley - kudos to this talented artist's vision of these beasts. This is one of the best mini-bestiaries I've seen for any game and would immediately go for 5 stars endzeitgeist seal of approval, were it not for SGG's Ravagers of Time - while the bang-for-buck-ratio of both publications is mostly equivalent and the artworks in this supplement are stellar and slightly superior to some in SGG's offering, the latter has more supplemental material. And then there's the midasites one-trick pony ability and its rather unpleasant consequence at this low level. Thus, while this is still an excellent pdf, I'll settle for a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded still up to 5 stars.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Wertung: | | [5 von 5 Sternen!] |
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Originally posted at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/07/13/tabletop-review-kobold-
quarterly-22/
I’ve always loved RPG magazines. I rarely played D&D but I had a subscription to both Dungeon and Dragon for almost their entire run. I pick up The Unspeakable Oath whenever it actually comes out and I even enjoy flipping through the odd White Dwarf even though I’ve never played Warhammer. As a journalist and a gamer, I guess I just like articles on gaming. However, I often forget to pick up Kobold Quarterly. This is for three reasons. The first is that as it is quarterly, it often slips my mind. The second is that I don’t play Pathfinder (and I only know two people that do), so many of the articles aren’t of use to me even though I would probably enjoy reading them. The third is think I’m still burned from the fact that when Open Design makes a bad product, it is almost terrible beyond words. The Red Eye of Azathoth was one of the worst adventures for Call of Cthulhu I’ve ever had the misfortune of reading for example. It was so god awful that I actually swore off Open Design products for some time. It was THAT bad. However, I picked up Kobold Quarterly #21 in the spring to read and I found it to be fun for what it was, so here I am with my second issue of KQ in a row (It’s been a long time since that happened). Is Kobold Quarterly #22 worth picking up? Let’s find out.
The first two things you will notice about Kobold Quarterly #22 are unfortunately negative ones. They are the sticker price and the insane amount of ads in the magazine. Nine bucks for an eighty-four page magazine is a bit pricey, but six dollars for the PDF form is almost borderline insane, especially when you compare what else you can get for that amount of money off of sites like RPGNow.com or DriveThruRPG. The second issue I had with the magazine is the sheer plethora of ads. Out of eighty-four pages, which includes the cover, a whopping TWENTY-SEVEN pages are ads. That’s nearly a full third of the magazine. I could understand the cover price if this was ad free because there are a lot of writers (some with very big names) to pay, but that many ads plus the cover price? That’s just unacceptable to me.
Thankfully the content of the magazine is pretty decent. It’s almost all Pathfinder, but that’s not by choice. In fact the first piece of content in the magazine (found after three full pages of ads and the table of contents) is an editorial about how non-Pathfinder articles are drying up and that they’d like to have more. At least they’re addressing the spread issue. After all, the old White Wolf Magazine covered more than V:TM and Open Design is trying to which is something I greatly respect. Now let’s do a quick look at the articles.
Barbatos: Gatekeeper of Golarion’s Hells. This was a great first article to start off with and I especially liked the artwork, even though Barbatos looks like a cross between Cthulhu and a D&D Druid. It’s a fun look at one of the most powerful sources of evil in the Pathfinder universe. My only complaint is Barbatos is listed as Lawful Evil but the description of him is clearly Chaotic Evil. I did like that the article ended with some new monsters and an avatar of Barbatos for players to encounter. 1 for 1.
Dragonkin: The Wheroti Empire’s Legions. This is an article for 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons and gives players an option to replace the Dragonborn race with something somewhat similar, but with new racial powers, abilities and utilities. I know the magazine is hurting for D&D 4e articles, but I don’t see the point with replacing one race with something that’s 95% the same. The only time that has ever worked was Kenders for Halflings in Dragonlance. Decidely unimpressed here. 1 for 2.
Monsters of Morphoi: A Sneak Peak at Journeys to the West. If you read my tabletop reviews, than you probably know I review a lot of Castles & Crusades products. As such, I’m happy to see an article devoted to the system. This article converts a bit of Journeys to the West, a Kickstarter funded Pathfinder project to the C&C system. I’m not sure how smart or useful it is that they are doing articles converting the book to C&C before it’s actually out, but you do get four monsters to surprise your C&C players with. So checks and balances. There are no plans to do the whole JttW sourcebook with Castles & Crusades mechanics, so the article ends up feeling a bit nonsensical and useless. I appreciate that they did a C&C article, but it should be one fans of that system can probably get more use out of. 1 for 3.
Blood Brothers. This article is about a new Rogue archetype by the same name. It’s meant to be an homage to the tandem thieving duos of classic fantasy stories. Unfortunately they only really have one to go off of: Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. They try to use Gimli and Legolas as an example but I’m pretty sure one would be a warrior and the other a ranger – not two rogues. There are some interesting abilities to be gained from this quasi-class, but it just seems like it would be too much work to make it function properly in a game. What if one character loses a level (or more!) to energy drain? What if a player can’t make it to that week’s session and thus the other Blood Brother can’t use any of his abilities? What if one dies and can’t be resurrected? The whole concept sounds like a neat idea, but if it doesn’t actually work on paper, it’s definitely not going to work in practice. 1 for 4.
Game Theories: The GM’s Influence on Character. Monte Cook’s little essay is by far the best thing in this issue. There are two points that Monte is trying to make here and I agree with both of them. A character raised to 5th level from scratch is always more interesting and has a better backstory than one who starts at 5th level. The second point is that the best characters are co-raised by the player and GM. The character who works his way up from Level One gets story hooks, encounters, and life changing events from both the GM and player. Together, the two (and the other members of their gaming group) create a memorable character. This is an article well worth reading. It’s not worth the cover price by itself, but it’s a damn good read. 2 for 5.
The Escalation Die. This is basically a preview for the new system, The 13th Age. It’s a streamlined d20 system (according to the article). Instead of previewing the world or system as a whole, the writer of the article, Rob Heinsoo, instead gives you a specific mechanic and shows you how to apply it to other games. I thought that was a very clever way to introduce the concept of “the escalation die,” but the whole concept either falls apart completely or adds a whole new level of combat depending what game you are playing or how your friends engage in combat. Basically, you start the escalation die at 0 on the first round. The next round the die is at 1, the third round, the die is at 2 and so on. The die basically gives players a bonus to attack rolls based on what number is show, up to a maximum of 6. The idea behind this is that it mimics movies or books where the heroes start out getting hammered but come from behind to win. The problem is that most gamers will find this idea novel AT FIRST, but then quick grow sick of it. Not every battle should be an uphill struggle with a bonus for intestinal fortitude. Some battles need to be a cakewalk while others need to be nigh unwinnable and force the characters to retreat. Perhaps the concept will work better in The 13th Age but the whole concept just sounded stupid and gimmicky to me. Half the fun of combat in an RPG is that things are random and brutal to both sides. Look at first edition D&D and AD&D – the two games that have spawned a legion of OSR homages. I was further pessimistic about the concept with how Rob tried to shoehorn it into Pathfinder and other systems. It just left me cold. About the only system where it seems liked it might actually work was Fung Shui. Overall, it was an interesting article, but if anything, it convinced me NOT to pick up 13th Age, which is probably the opposite effect Rob was looking for. 2 for 6.
Elven Archer Magic. This is pretty cut and dry. It’s some new spells for the Elven Archer class in Pathfinder, which debuted in issue #20. I’m not sure why they needed an Elven Archer class to begin with, but the article itself provides some nice spells. There are twenty spells in all, from 1st to 4th level. It’s nicely done, it complements the class and it also provides info for druids, clerics, and rangers to use some of these as well. 3 for 7.
Howling Party: Total Party Kill or Total Buzz Kill?. This is my second favorite article in the issue. It talks about what to do when you do indeed have a Total Party Kill (everyone dies) situation along with the pros and cons of fudging your die rolls to keep PCs alive. I completely agree with the author that fudging dice rolls should be exceedingly rare as RPGs are as much about luck and the rolls you get as anything else. Otherwise it’d be a diceless game. My personal choice is not to fudge the roll but to on rare occasions fudge the result. For example, I once had a person new to Call of Cthulhu try to walk down a rickety old staircase in the dark with two loaded and primed sawed off shotguns. He botched his roll as badly as you could in the game and fell down the stairs. I gave him a luck roll to see if his guns went off and he failed that too. The resulting damage would have killed him and then some, but as it was his first CoC game and two characters were doctors with a high med score, I dropped him to 0 hit points and had him lose an arm. The player learned a valuable lesson about how different CoC is from hack and slash fantasy games and the character went on to live through several more adventures before retiring. The article gives you over a dozen things to do in a TPK situation, and all of them are excellent. Definitely worth reading. 4 for 8.
Weapons For a New Age: Three Black Powder Variants. This is basically a set of three guns (Arquebus, Musket, and Pistol) for the Dragon Age. You also get three new talents and two new magical items. It’s a cute little hodgepodge of things and although I don’t really play Age games all that much (I’d rather play Dragon Age the video game than Dragon Age the tabletop game), adding black powder to the fame adds a new level to combat. 5 for 9.
Kobold Diplomacy: What’s Right For the Game. This is an interview with Jason Bulmahn, Lead Designer for Pathfinder. It’s a little rambly and there isn’t here that we haven’t heard before. The interview basically ends up being a discussion on the history of Pathfinder. It reads more like a commercial than an interview and since the VAST majority of KQ readers are Pathfinder players, it’s a bit like preaching to the choir. Pass. 5 for 10.
From the Mines. This is a letter column for the magazine. These are always a joy and I’m glad to see KQ still prints mail. I’m especially impressed they printed the letter that takes them to task for the editing/typographical and spelling errors that the magazine has had for a while. I’m even more impressed that in answering the letter the staff admitted the magazine has had a few issues in terms of quality and that they will try to address it. 6 for 11.
Ask the Kobold. This is basically the old “Sage Advice” column from Dragon, albeit much shorter. This issue they look at what happens when a Druid and their companion animal split up. Not a real issue that will occur for many players, but it’s nice to highlight a very big rule gaffe like this. 7 for 12.
Hold ‘Em For Questioning. This is an odd little article that I enjoyed quite a bit. It looks at how different alignments engaging in questions captives as well as how said captives respond or deal with such a situation. It also contains seven d20 tables to use to see how NPC captives react when PCs put them in this situation. Tables probably aren’t needed as a good GM would roleplay through this instead of randomize, but still a fun article. 8 for 13.
Dwarven Magical Rings. The title says it all. This article contains fifteen new magical rings, all of which are made by Dwarves, to use in a Pathfinder campaign. I’m not sure why they included an emphasis on the rings being made by dwarves in the title, as they are all fairly generic and nowhere in the crafting requirements does it say they have to be made by dwarves. I can’t really say any of the rings interested me and I can’t see too many of them being used. Forgettable and generic. 8 for 14.
The Scaled Steamhall. The four pages of this article are devoted to a spa/bathhouse that offers some magical and powerful treatments for characters. I love that an old school grid based map was included, but the location, premise and the ability to purchase things like dragon mounts was way too over the top for me. This entire location feels like it was written for a Monty Haul campaign and I hate those. 8 for 15.
Book Reviews. Yuck. Not only could these two pages be put to better use, but the reviews are between three and five paragraphs long. That’s not a review – that’s a quick summation and of no benefit to readers or the product in question. Worse yet, if you are going to review novels for a magazine about role playing games, stick to novels about RPG settings. The reviews were little more than fanboy fapping rather than a critical analysis of the book and all of them had errors that shouldn’t have made it past even a young inexperienced editor. Ugh. 8 for 16.
A Pathfinder Society Guide to Varisia. This is a nice in-depth guide to a region playable in a Pathfinder game. There’s a ton of detail and nicely illustrated map to boot. I’d have liked it to be a little more in-depth, but there’s only so much you can do with three pages. 9 for 17.
The Void of Veles. This is a one page article at the tail end of the magazine talking about the Midgard setting. It’s very random and all over the place and as such, it’s hard to follow what the point of it is. It feels like Kobold Quarterly just had an extra page to will and so they threw a bit of rambling together and used it to close out the magazine. 9 for 18.
…and there we go. Only about the half the articles in this issue of Kobold Quarterly are worth your time. There are a few superb pieces in issue #22, but for the most part, unless you have a subscription or a free copy of the magazine, I’d pass. The quality of content just isn’t there, especially when you look at both the cover price and the fact a third of the magazine is ads. KQ could do better and definitely has in the past, but the team behind it seems to be stuck in a holding pattern of mediocrity. Thumbs in the middle here.
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Whether or not you believe, you'll have heard of the concept of sin... going your own way, indulging in your own desires, rather than paying attention to the wishes of your deity. This is the first in a series of resources focussing on the so-called 'seven deadly sins' and providing ample material for GMs to lead characters astray...
Avarice - the desire to accumulate wealth and resources far beyond what you actually need - is a sin that probably besets most fantasy adventurers every so often. Here are presented three monsters whose theme is based around avarice, a template to enable you to bring out the worst in any monster or NPC and a creature that is the pure embodiment of avarice itself - fitting climax to an adventure based around this sin.
First up, the 'Avaricious Creature' template. These poor beasties are corrupted to such a level that they literally eat valuable items. Next come three monsters: the hoard golem, the map mimic, and the midasite. Each in some way typifies avarice - displaying it or goading those characters unfortunate enough to meet them into becoming avaricious themselves.
The hoard golem is, like all golems, a mindless construct, one made out of precious items. Said to have been the invention of a dragon so paranoid about his hoard that he found a way to make his hoard guard itself (rather than hire or enslave guards who might be tempted to help themselves!), they take the form of a shambling heap of treasure that can bedazzle characters with the sheer wealth involved, and conduct a whirlwind attack during which they purloin any valuable items that their target carries.
The map mimic is actually an infant mimic, appearing as a treasure map which shows the way not to loot but to its parent mimic! If it does not lead folks astray and into danger, it has a nasty attack of its own - it attempts to adhere to its victim's face, blinding and eventually suffocating them.
As for the midasite, it is a small insect-like creature whose touch can turn flesh to gold, a bit like a flesh to stone spell only with gold rather than stone as the result. It's a small fey, and wears gold armour itself. Some sneaky art collectors have been known to attempt to capture or befriend a midasite, and then have it create them gold statues on demand!
Finally, the Embodiment of Avarice is a CR20 colossal outsider. Impressive at first glance, it has rat-like features and a dirty furry hide wrapped in fine silks and adamantine full plate armour. Its malign influence can cause the unwary to pull out a valuable item and admire it, ignoring peril, whilst having the capacity to steal precious things and store them in its stomach. When an area contains enough avaricious people - or one who is spectacularly so - it turns up to steal their stuff...
Ending with a few notes on where to find avarice in Midgard, if you use that setting, this book provides some interesting ways to deal with those characters who want to gather far more wealth than they could possibly need, or to build adventures around the theme of avarice. Something to make characters think about what they are doing, and what their true motives are, perhaps... certainly with the potential to be entertaining.
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Certainly one of the more interesting books for the new Pathfinder witch class. You will need the Advanced Player's Guide to get the most of of this book obviously.
We start off with a brief overview/analysis of the witch class. Not bad really, but nothing we can get from the APG.
On to the meat of the book, the 30 new feats.
They are a mixed bag, but for the most part they add a lot flavor to the witch. There are some familiar affecting feats which is nice, and commentary/sidebars on a few.
There are also 3 sample witch builds that you can use to make your own.
All this is a good product and worth the price.
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This pdf is 109 pages long, 1 page front cover, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving 103 pages of content, so let's check this out!
If you're like me, the new Open Design is a must and an integral and compulsory drain on my campaign budget and thus, I grew to be more than a fan of the stellar community-driven projects that came out of Open design ever since I stumbled upon it. Thus, this bestiary was essentially a no-brainer I HAD to get. After reading Adam Daigle's (now of Paizo fame, but known to just about everyone, I gather) introduction and thanks, we jump right into the content with two creatures from "Tales of the Old Margreve" - the disturbing Ala and the woodland Alseids greet me once again from the pages, before we get the first critter that should set a precedent for the imaginative potential herein: The CR 14 Andrenjinyi, direct descendants of the Rainbow Serpent, make for deadly combatants that feature the ability to travel via rainbows. Even cooler, they can swallow foes, baleful polymorph them and regurgitate them after wards. And then, we get one of my favorite entries herein: Baba Yaga's 3 horsemen Bright Day, Red Sun and Black Night come with a sample statblock as well as one of the best templates I've seen in quite a while - have I mentioned their abilities to age you or be banished via just the right spells?
Less epic, but still interesting is the Bagiennik, a strange race of aberration that can heal via their oily secretions and make for unpredictable allies/foes. Fans of Nick Logue's writing and the stellar OD "Blood of the Gorgon" in particular may rejoice at the conversion of the Blood Hag to PFRPG and the disturbing new artwork provided. Among my personal favorites, the Oculo Swarm is a tangle of acid-squirting, eye-extracting things, while the evil sandmen seek to close your PC's eyes ...forever. The Urochar, also known as strangling watcher, is perhaps one of the most disturbing aberrations I've seen in quite a while and at CR 17 is definitely no pushover.
The CR 11 Bone Collective was one of my favorite critters in "Empire of Ghouls" and the subsequent partial reprint in the "Imperial Gazetteer" - for those not in the know: Imagine a humanoid undead that is actually an almost indestructible swarm of bones with a hive-mind. The leaping Bone Crabs are another old acquaintance I enjoyed seeing here.
The CR 2 Broodiken is supremely creepy: Looking like a small babe of the species with a fanged, old face these constructs have to be birthed by their creators. Disturbing indeed! The sonic-blasting Bukavac can be considered a neat alternative for the Destrachan, while the anthropomorphic Burrowlings, who resemble prairie dogs might prove to be interesting allies with a superior grasp on certain teamwork abilities. The beasts of burden of the drakhul-empire and many an underdark civilization are also part of the deal with the Carrion Beetles and the potentially lethal Cavelight Moss also makes a beautiful, but deadly appearance. With the Darakhul and their empire being a part of the canon, we also get stats for these high ghouls, imperial ghouls, iron ghouls and the legendary bonepowder ghouls - one of the creatures that I personally consider awesome. The allied Deathcap myconids also feature in this book
The spellslot siphoning Chelicerae-spider-creatures and the iconic children of the briar (the latter also known from TotOM) provide more earthly foes, while the devilish chorts make for deadly deal-makers at a CR of 15 and their CR 17 Orobas brethren offer infernal advice. Ink Devils, servants to Titivillus, the scribe of hell, also get their revision and the gilded devils in service to Mammon (which you might also recall from a specific KQ/OD...) also see a return. . Part of one of the ODs I have missed (probably Steam & Brass or new, I'm not sure), is the disturbing Automata Devil, which is essentially a hellish clockwork taskmaster.
Very in touch with the folk-background and sense of ancient traditions, the Cikavak is a magical bird that can be called via a ritual detailed in its entry. A bane of the fey, the plant-construct Feyward Tree makes for a truly unique change to the plant+fey-trope with its flaying leaves, while the firebird can be considered to a mortal version of the phoenix. Northlands patrons will recall the Thursir Giants and Valkyries. Goblin sharks and the dust goblins also feature herein, as do the Lich hounds which just may rip your guts out!.
But honestly: What do you think when hearing Zobeck? Bingo, Clockworks! And thus clockwork beetles and swarms, haunts, huntsmen and myrmidons feature just as prominently in these pages. The castoff failures of the gearforged, the Fellforged, also get their own entry, as do the weaving, mechanical spiders of the honorable order of weavers. If you're going for a more fey-like approach, the Death butterfly Swarm might make for some iconic and disturbing encounters - remember the Fringe-episode "Dreamscape"? Yeah, well these are worse. You can't even run from these things and once they have you, they may hold you while cutting you to shreds! No less disturbing, possibly even more so, is the Derro Fetal Savant, a prematurely born, mad fetus in an enchanted cage that can exchange souls with potential host bodies. I think this one was part of "Halls of the Mountain King" and it's great to see this particularly disturbing bugger be converted to PFRPG. More on the cute, but deadly side is the dire weasel and the dogmole. While the latter is so ugly it's cute again, the derro-created mutation of the Dogmole Juggernaut will send many an adventurer fleeing for their life.
And then there's one of the coolest critters I've seen in quite a while: The Doppelrat resorts to arcane mitosis when stressed out and for 4 rounds when stressed, the number of live doppelrats quadruple up to a maximum of 20 per doppelrat. This critter is pure, iconic GENIUS. If you can't see the vast multitude of cool ways to freak out players, create seeds etc. with this and create truly disturbing scenarios (Mouse-King of Zobeck, looking at you!), I don't know which critter can do so.
Fans of dragons and drakes also get their due with the cave (I think that one was also Empire of Ghouls) and mithral dragons and the coral (See Sunken Empires) and the massively powerful CR 15 star drakes, which are to my knowledge, new. Disturbing and rather smart, the Dragonleaf tree are plant-sentinels loyal to their draconic masters. Oh. And the artwork rocks hard!
On the disturbing side, the eel hound, a deep one's best friend, is included in the book and drowned maidens also feature herein. Will-o'-wisp-like witchlights and sparks are also here to thwart your PCs - e.g. by possessing them!
Golemcrafters also get 3 new creatures, each of which brimming with iconicity - Salt-, Eye-, and Steam golems. All of them featuring more than one signature abilities - great! The disturbing Horakh is a dread version of a cave cricket - the beasts suck the eyes out of their opponents and implant eggs into their victims. Boreas' Ice maidens, half-merfolk and the Isonade from "Sunken Empires" can be considered among the cooler and more iconic beings from OD-projects.
The Kot Bayun, a magical cat that can cure conditions via their tales and put foes to sleep is another prime example for a creature that can work as an iconic adversary or ally. Devious house-spirits, the horned, crone-like Kikimoras and the Lorelei make for smart fey, while the Leshy, Sap Demon, Suturefly and Zmey (many-headed dragon, btw.) from TotOM complete a selection of stellar creatures with ties to nature. The Shadow Fey also get their write-up here, as does the vulture-like Gypsosphinx.
The hunting Stuhac, a powerful leaper, has the ability to telekinetically hamstring his foes and some neat vermin are included in the book, as are the wharflings - fur-less, ratlike, swarming creatures. My personal favorite little creature at low CRs, btw., would be the Treacle: A shapeshifting, charming ooze that takes on the appearance of e.g. kittens or infants, only to drain your blood while you're charmed by the cute little bugger.
The pdf also provides lists of monsters by type, by CR, by terrain, by monster-roles, almost two pages of reskinned monsters and closes with 2 pages of encounter tables.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch - I didn't notice any obvious glitches. Layout adheres t a 2 column full-color standard and the pdf is BEAUTIFUL. The artwork provided show that they belong to different projects with some being b/w while others are full color, but overall they have in common their top-tier quality. The pdf comes with extensive bookmarks. I can't comment on the print version yet, though I've ordered it - as soon as I get my hands on it, I'll let you know. Adam Daigle + Monsters. If that does not make you twitch with anticipatory glee, the you probably haven't read one of his books. Even better, many of the creatures from the no longer available Open Design projects that were 3.5 have now finally been updated to the PFRPG system and what an update - signature abilities abound and in fact not ONE of the creatures herein feels like filler. Not one. From the expertly done conversions (by Adam Daigle, Chris Harris, Michael Kortes, James McKenzie, Rob manning, Ben McFarland, Carlos Ovalle, Jan Rodewald, Adam Roy, Christina Stiles, James Thomas and Mike Welham) to the great and smooth graphic design by Marc Radle and the neat artworks, this bestiary feel like a true premium work.
While I endeavored to tell you about some of the creatures herein, I quickly started to realize that I liked all of them. And no, I haven't mentioned every creature herein, I have e.g. not mentioned the leech vomiting putrid haunt... Well, now I have.
If I have to criticize anything about this pdf, it would be the format: While I applaud the update of as of yet unconverted beasts to PFRPG from ODs that have been unavailable to the general public, I would have loved for ALL of the creatures to be updated - the "Mother of Gorgons" for example, is absent from this book. The monsters reprinted from the Imperial Gazetteer, Sunken Empires, Northlands, TotOM and other sources that already are PFRPG also feel rather unnecessary - after all, these books can still be bought, are up to the current rules and are rather affordable. If the aim was to collect all monsters in one book, I would have understood the reprints, but there are quite a bunch of beasts missing, including the iconic Ljósálfar and the Nightgarms, just to name two. While I guess they can still be included in the second Midgard Bestiary, I would have loved either all of the creatures to feature or at least have e.g. all creatures from e.g. the closed ODs to feature herein.
One can't have everything, I guess, but complaining about this should give you an inkling of how good this bestiary is - I lack any reasons to complain apart from the recycling of PFRPG-monsters from other OD-books and seeing the amount of unavailable 3.5 project-creatures and original monsters herein, even that is not enough to tarnish the bestiary. Being a stellar monster-book, my final verdict will be 5 stars, but I'll omit my seal because with all the OD-books I already have, I would have preferred more original monsters or a complete collection.
Endzeitgeist out.
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This pdf is 15 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving 12 pages of content, so let's check this one out!
For those of you not in the know: In KQ #11, Marc Radle created an alternate version (meaning no multiclassing with the regular ranger-class) of the ranger-class that fits closer with irl mythology: The spell-less ranger replaces spells with a selection of neat ranger talents - a great approach that has been expanded in this pdf, but let me give you the run-down:
The spell-less ranger gets full BAB, d10, 6+Int skills per level, good fort- and ref-saves, up to 5 favored terrains, up to 4 favored terrains and additionally stealth attack (which is a terrain/favored enemy-based, weaker variant of sneak attack), combat styles, 4 special uses of the healing-skill when in favored terrain (including treating deadly wounds, poisons and diseases) and so-called ranger talents: A total of 25 are provided and run the whole gamut from additional animal companions, bonus feats, less fall damage, scent, the ability to negate concealment via hawk's eyes, trackless stride and improved swimming and climbing capabilities. High-level rangers also can look forward to quarry, improved quarry, hide in plain sight etc.
The result of the changes made to the class are evident - looking at the ranger talents it becomes rather clear that a regular fighter won't outshine a guerilla-style archer ranger, for example, defining the niche of the class more closely. 18 new feats help the ranger by providing further customization options that range from the rather simple "Additional favored terrain" to very interesting feats: "Coordinated Attack" gives your companion access to all your teamwork feats. Another interesting one would be "Defensive Shot", which FINALLY gives you the chance to use ranged weapon in melee with a penalty. A godsend for campaigns without divine magic (or groups without primary healers) is "Improved Nature's Healing", which significantly improves the amount of Hp you may heal by using that ability. Add to that the increased damage output via "Deadly Accuracy" and its improved version (which let you reroll 1s and 2s of ranged attack-damage-rolls) and we have a great class to simulate e.g. the deadly elven guerilla fighter. All in all, I considered the feats to be well-crafted and none of them to be overpowered or utterly boring. (I'd btw. suggest to add SGG's Knacks from their Ranger-book to the list of available ranger talents!)
This is not where the pdf stops, though: We also get two new archetypes for the ranger: The Dual-style ranger gets only one favorite enemy, but two combat styles. The companion-bound ranger is rather complex and can select from a druid's companion-list, enhance his companion, gain aforementioned coordinated companion etc., but at the cost of his favored terrain, camouflage etc.
The pdf also includes info on the 5 styles introduced in the APG and does something EXTREMELY useful: It provides us with a favored-enemy/terrain-char-sheet to add to your regular char-sheet - useful, well-constructed, awesome! Even better, we get yet another extra sheet for animal companions that could also be used for familiars etc. and makes for one of the most clearly arranged ones I've seen so far. Kudos for this great bonus!
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to an easy-to-read, relatively printer-friendly 2-column standard. The pdf has a beautiful front cover, but no bookmarks, which is a bummer in this day and age. Due to being relatively short, I'm willing to let that one slip, though. The spell-less ranger is popular for a reason - Marc Radle has crafted an excellent alternate class and with the new expanded material herein, there are even more reasons to go spell-less than before. This alternate class is awesome, well-designed and the additional content lacks any feats, crunch, etc. I'd consider badly designed or unbalanced. In fact, I absolutely love this take on the ranger, as it makes the class feel more unique and less than a fighter/druid-hybrid. After SGG's stellar "Ranger's Options: Knacks of Nature", this is the second book in a short space that easily can be considered to be a stellar pick for any fans of the concept of the ranger, but not its core-execution. Even for the adherents of spellcasting this pdf is well worth the pick for the archetypes/feats and if you can spare the bucks, combine its talents with SGG's knacks (by e.g. adding the talents as knacks or vice versa) - I guarantee you won't find the result unbalancing. When all's said and done, a great start for the new line, Marc Radle did an awesome job and I look forward to seeing more! My final verdict? 5 stars + Endzeitgeist seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist out.
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As someone whose main role-playing outlet is DMing D&D 4e, I found Kobold Quarterly 21 to be a bit thin on good material. As someone whose day job is on a university’s religion faculty, I was fascinated by the varied treatments of divine magic in this issue and the varied ways of translating ideas about divine magic and faith into game mechanics.
Although “Daughters of Lilith: Ecology of the Succubus” is marked as a 4e article, it’s mostly free of game mechanics—and thus equally appropriate for any fantasy RPG that includes succubi—until the very end. Zeb Cook’s article on mystery religions is completely systemless, and very useful. Tim and Eileen Connors’ article on “Clerical Conflicts” employs a lot of Pathfinder crunch, but has a lot of story elements too that could easily be ported over to 4e or other systems. Steve Winter’s column asks “Why No Monotheism?” is pretty short, and actually spends more time answering the titular question than providing any hints for GMs wishing to run monotheistic settings (the advice occupies basically the final column of the two-page article). I enjoyed the interview with Bill Slavicsek. The “Scriveners of Allain” article, though 4e in mechanics, didn’t light my fire; the Pathfinder article presenting the witch louse was much more engaging (though somewhat disgusting).
Kobold Quarterly is always a mixed bag, unless you play several different game systems or are willing to put in the extra work to convert other crunch to your favorite system. If you’re strictly looking for material for just one system, I’d say this issue is worthwhile for Pathfinder, less so for 4e. If you’re up for mining articles written for a different system than the one you usually play or run, KQ 21 is a worthy entry in the series.
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(The following review is jointly written for Roleplayers Chronicle and Adventures & Shopping)
Alosar' ticks many boxes for what should make a really good solo adventure but I found myself very reluctant to replay the adventure to see where else the situations led. Technically it has a high replayability factor, in practice I found it a bit of a drag. The solo games I grew up with were the Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, Sorcery! GrailQuest and Lone Wolf, which all used RPG styled systems. Most of the CYOA books which I saw at the time didn't have dice systems, and had objectives like "Find all 25 different endings" which seemed less of a victory somehow. Alosar is third in a series of separately published texts which (I believe) started as an article-mini-game in Kobold Quarterly. That article partly inferred or revisited the solo adventure from 1983 "Red Box" D&D. The solo game in the red box may have seemed very innovative to CYOA players, but to Fighting Fantasy readers it was lacking in description, story and the epic-ness found in a proper "quest". It was a dungeon with a few rooms, a few monsters, a handful of acquisitions. As an introduction to the D&D xp slow-climb of low level play it was perfect. D&D and Pathfinder are balanced towards group play, so perhaps introductory solos are in fact rigged so that group-play will always appear to be more exciting. I mention all this because when I buy or am leant a solitaire adventure I like to know its exact context in relation to other products. In typing this I have yet to fully explore the Pathfinder Beginner Box and perhaps there's a solo game in there too, much like in the D&D Basic game of my youth. In some ways solo texts are brave move for publishers whose meat and potatoes is often scenarios, new monsters, power lists and new classes.
Although not implicitly stated, Alosar is almost certainly a game for new players who wish to learn the core rules. The inclusion of the character sheets is for group campaign play, and not as a record sheet for the text itself (which I at first assumed it was). Alosar, as with the two titles prior to this is absolutely perfect for a Dungeon Master to give to a new player before a game, as a taster and familiariser with both a character and basic rules. In fact, I'm pretty sure that their aren't many Pathfinder Druid solos out there. I feel I have to say this in case you're a Pathfinder player wanting a new challenge on a rainy afternoon when friends are away - unless of course you enjoy the nostalgia of being led through the rules with someone else's character (which many of us do). I don't mind introductory solos, it's just that I feel that the solo medium needs championing for experienced play. Just for a moment I thought Open Design were going to challenge this concept. No, it's definitely a low level introductory solo. But hey, at least we know that the Party of One products can be played by anyone from newbie players to the jaded long-beards.
The reason why I mention gamebooks, is that for myself, the more exciting games were the ones where the reader was able to relate to the character as a detailed persona, like in the Lone Wolf. By contrast, in Fighting Fantasy and Tunnels & Trolls solos, the protagonist is an invisible persona where the reader fills in the gaps and stats. In the latter, descriptions of the hero's weapons are absent because the character might be of any class and armed accordingly. Naturally with games where different types of characters have a different skillset, it's very important to tailor the limited number of choices to that character. Party of One BB3 totally succeeds in placing the reader firmly in the shoes of forest-alert trainee-druid Alosar, whose sickle and select spells smack down the foes which have entered into his locale. Alosar is not yet a wandering adventurer, stumbling into random unknown caves (no doubt that will be his future). He is defending his territory, the living woods, from (literal) alien invaders. Therefore, the writing style flows very well - the reader is both "you" and "Alonsar", and is kept immersed in the situation in hand. I like this a lot. Unfortunately, the notion that (before getting involved in real danger) Alonsar the Druid has to perform a set of tasks or trials for his teacher feels a little hackneyed. In a larger text this would be appropriate, but we only have a handful of sections (65) with which to complete the game. Which brings me to a minor problem I have with the ending ...
"You have completed this adventure. If you would like to try for a different outcome, return to 1 and begin again."
There is a reason for this, because although the adventure is fairly linear, there are a couple of "minor reveals" which mean that as a reader you are rewarded with a somehow richer experience of the adventure. I'm just a fan of survival really, and that statement smacks of the CYOA books where the meta-game of beating the book by seeking out all of the routes is actually a goal. If this text is an introductory text to campaign play then a "one-time through" experience is all that should be allowed unless the character is a time travelling quantum physics specialist. This might be up to the DM of the campaign to decide. Again, I have to stress that I believe this product is ideal for a DM to give to a learning player before a game, and that it is not ideal as a one-off game for a player without a group.
I would like to see more of the Party of One texts produced and then bundled together as a reduced pack for group players to collectively build a party with a back story prior to their noble alliance as a party of adventurers (starting at 2nd or 3rd level – which is perfect!).
I printed the text out. When mentioning this to the editor of RC, the response was "Why the heck are you printing that?" I guess his foresight was better than mine...
Open Design produce some lush easy-on-the-eye products - Kobold Quarterly excels in this way. The Party of One products wouldn't look out of place in a glossy full colour rulebook or a coffee table magazine for that matter. There's a marbled background image and the choices of fonts are aesthetically balanced, the text is well ordered, in easy to read double columns. Easy to read, that is - if it was a magazine...
Experience has taught me that paper copies are the best way to play solos with dice and a pencil, either at a table or in bed. If I want a solo-fantasy RPG experience on a PC I'd probably play an actual PC game. There are practical reasons for printing some PDFs out. One is that when combat occurs in a solo, a separate sheet of paper is useful for scribbling HPs on, equipment found etc -if you don't have a character sheet. I mistook the two sheets at the back of the text as being working character sheets, but they are not up to the task and are intended for the character's life beyond the game text. So I printed the PDF and my partner's inkjet really struggled. The marbled background does the document no favours when in comes to low budget printing - it certainly gets worse when any of the colours are running low. An alternative printer-friendly copy of the text, or information about how to turn off the background would have been very handy in this case.
Viewing the PDF on a tablet is a fair compromise and my old school ways are slowly accepting that an iPads are less invasive at the gaming table than a laptop or tower. Playing the text on an iPad had it's own problems as the two column text made navigating through the different numbered sections even more chaotic - zoom in, out - flip forward and back a few pages - scan up, down ... what was the passage number again?
A message to all publishers: If you're selling a solo game PDF or ebook with numbered sections - please include hotlinks.
It's bad enough that some publishers don't connect a Table of Contents to the actual contents in purchasable documents. We are living in what could be a glorious new age for interactive texts. Hyperlinking is what the web and simplest of PDFs do best.
In summary, the PDF is beautiful to look at - but unprintable and unreadable on paper, but it is also lacking in the basics in terms of on screen navigation.
On the positive side, if you're collecting the Party of One publications then this product is a genuine must have. If you're DM teaching players, or a player wishing to learn some basics, this will be nice investment. If you play a lot of solo games you may find Alosar' disappointing.
It's refreshing to play a druid and some of the encounters are quite original, but overall I see this text as a pre-game tool and not standing up well on it's own as a gaming experience in it's own right.
Overall: 3-4 stars out of 5
-Billiam B.
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