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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of the Village Backdrop-series is 13 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages of editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page advice on how to read statblocks for novice DMs, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 5 pages of content, so let's take a look!
Hosford is the second village located in the FREE Lonely Coast mini-campaign-setting by Raging Swan Press, which I'd wholeheartedly recommend you check out - I never regretted downloading that one.
Location-wise, Hosford lies between the village of Swallowfeld (also available) and the as-of-yet not covered town of Wolverton, the largest settlement of the lonely coast.
Hosford once sported a mine, but careless digging (or something less savory) saw the mine collapse and create a cove, which created a natural harbor for the now thriving fishing industry - not all is well in the little town, though, since recently a couple of villagers have gone missing without a trace. A sense of palpable fear has prompted the villagers to act and appoint a rogue (investigator) (with full stats) as reeve to get to the bottom of the weird disappearances - and while the pdf gives you the culprit (again, with full statblock), I won't spoil the reasons for the disappearances or the true culprit here - you'll have to get the book yourself in order to find that out.
Beyond these recent disappearances, we get a full settlement statblock, a list of notable folk and notable locations in the village, a selection of magic items for sale in town and, of course, village lore and 6 rumors. Beyond that, the pdf also provides multiple write-ups of the respective locales, 6 events to spring upon your PCs and information on local nomenclature, dressing-habits and the law.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's 2-clumn b/w-standard and the pdf comes in 2 versions, one optimized for print and one for screen-use. Both are extensively bookmarked. It should be noted that the beautiful b/w-map of the village can be downloaded as a web-enhancement sans the annoying map-key on Raging Swan Press' homepage, something I'd suggest you do.
This village backdrop has probably the most ingrained adventure cut out of any village backdrop I've seen so far - all the pieces are in place and it requires at best a moderately talented DM to craft a nice short investigation from the content provided herein - one that does not sport a traditional villain and where the distinction between what's right and wrong and the culprit's peculiar situation mean that the PCs will have, if you so choose, a moral dilemma at their hands. If you so choose, that is - the component can be downplayed easily or just dropped alltogether if you happen to have other plans.
All in all, Hosford is a great locale with a stunning, uncommon layout and map and some expert-writing to back it up - one of the best installments in the series so far and one well-deserving of a final verdict of 5 stars + seal of approval. Congratulations to author John Bennett!
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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Thank you very much for this review. I'm delighted you enjoyed this village so much! |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf is 23 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 16 pages of content, so let's take a look!
First: Read the foreword - after that, we're in for a table that features modifiers for available settlement lore by size, a d8-table to determine the category of rumour gleaned and a table of miscellaneous lore-modifiers when gathering information. After that, we kick off this pdf with 4 different rumormongers, i.e. short fluffy descriptions of the characters that include mannerisms, hooks etc., but not statblocks. Nice indeed!
The first table, ranging from -11 (possible via locations/modifiers) to 29, we get a massive list of rumors related to free booters and adventurers, including snakeoil salesmen and adventurer-parties and even half-fiendish pilgrims redeemed. (Though rumors describing a group as "fiendish-looking" is not one I'd use, preferring euphemisms...)
The next massive table, covering Events & Festivals from -11 to 29 is next and I LOVE it - "Every day is all souls night here, my friend." -That's one entry. Chilling! Awesome! Monthly town meetings, soothsayer traditions, days devoted to local saints, lotteries - this table is GLORIOUS.
The table on legends & lore, again covering this many entries, kicks off with a rather lam "This land is cursed"-rambling, but goes on to become much better, telling local stories of famous grand-fathers, apothecaries selling narcotics to an elite clientele or exciting us with the mystery of a missing bronze statue.
Of course, a massive table containing gossip on lords and ladies - new wings for mansions, scandalous behavior and secret tunnels as well as art competitions are all over the place - in a good way. Where the high and mighty get their table, so do the scum & lowlifes, providing rumors for the less prestigious and shady facets of life before we delve into yet another massive table on rumors, this time dealing with magic and wonders, mentioning a wide variety of items and spells, like an e.g. hidden universal solvent bottle, an option to complete the research of a mad wizard to create the new Troglodyte Stench-spell and there's also a nice little new cantrip.
The final table covers marauders and dangers - goblin armies as well as escaped convicts that had their gallows burst into flames should make for cool hooks - including an easteregg tying e.g. rumor to the Brethren of the Crimson Altar. Nice!
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's 2-column, printer-friendly 2-column-b/w-standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked and in two versions, one optimized for screen-use and one for print.
Eureka! Raging Swan has with this first offering a VERY HOT iron in the works - Landon Bellavia's collection of whispers and rumors not only brings inspiration galore and hooks in abundance, but can add depth and a sense of organic feeling to any campaign - these tables are varied, useful and a godsend of details for any DM. Useful and oh so nice, this series, if its first release is any indicator, has the potential to become one of my favorite ones yet - superbly useful, nice and all-out awesome, I'll happily rate this 5 stars + seal of approval and heartily recommend it to any DM seeking to add a little spice to his/her campaign.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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I'm delighted you enjoyed Whispers & Rumours. Rest assured there are more in the pipeline! |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of the Dungeon Dressing-series is 13 pages long, 1 page front cover,1 page advertisement, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword,1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 6 pages of content, so let us take a look, shall we?
As with many installments of the dungeon dressing-series, we kick this one off with an array of basic stats that provide us with hardness, AC, HP etc. of varying types of portcullises, covering this time around even adamantine, mithril, stone and similar exotic materials as well as the more common wooden versions. Oh, and necromancers will want to take a look at those made of bone. Further modification of these basic characteristics is possible via 5 conditions and 3 mechanisms,rope/chain pulleys, the winch and the weight-based mechanism to lower and raise them.
So far, so good, let’s look at the tables! Unless I miscounted, we get 46 entries on the first table and includes basic twinned portcullises, surrounding dressings in the shape of demonic maws and even being made of magnetic ore (which is twisted and a VERY cool idea) – there are also portcullises made from mildly poisonous tropical wood and some additionally secured with bolts. While some of the dressings are cosmetic, e.g. said bolts actually modify the portcullises rules and thus make them more versatile also on a mechanic side.
The second table of the pdf provides us with a full array of 100 different entries that cover being half open, dripping with ooze-like substances or being rusted into place. Again, the massive amount of entries here and there features entries that influence the respective rules.
The final two pages are devoted to 3 sample traps involving portcullises – from teh CR 4 basic falling portcullis to ones that also topple (whether by intention or neglect) as well as a deadly CR 15 portcullis that has the spirit of a banshee (!!) bound to it – with deadly consequences. It should be noted that we get these via multi-rounds effects, variants and an extremely handy sidebar that covers being attacked by a portcullis depending on size – can the hardy dfwarf survive being squashed by it?
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch as we’ve come to expect from RSP, I didn’t notice a single glitch. Layout adheres to RSP’s elegant 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked and in two versions, one optimized for screen use and one to be printed out.
Portcullises are one of the most underused features in any roleplaying-game fortress and dungeon – they are iconic and foreboding and provide some nasty tactical advantages when used properly. Hence, I was rather glad to see this particular installment of the line come out and what can I say – author Aaron Bailey delivers with a great installment that should have you all covered regarding teh defenses of your structures. One of the finest installments before RSP made it free – and even FOR FREE NOW??? An easy, no-brainer candidate for 5 stars + seal of approval – congrats to the author!
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of the Dungeon Dressing line is 13 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword,1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 6 pages of content, so let's take a look!
So...seriously? Doom Paintings? Painting generators seem like an endeavor that is futile from the very get-go, but author Mike Welham has time and again shown his talent for compelling supplements, so what exactly do we get?
Well, in case you didn't know - a doom painting is one that depicts the final judgment, end of days etc. - with a part depicting heaven and another depicting hell. Obviously, most settings don't feature trademark Christian iconography and this from the get-go, puts the supplement in a disadvantageous position. Why? Well, if you're like me and grew up in a country predominantly influenced by book religions, you'll probably won't see it immediately. Think about it, though: What Manga and Anime taught me, is that from an outsider's perspective, from the perspective of another belief, not only can the church's history dark spots be damn creepy, the whole Christian religion can feel rather disturbing and its iconography is rather inspiring when trying to craft portents and organizations.
The installment's first table contains 40 entries and each entry is rather lengthy, depicting one type of duality - from a Janus-like being, murals leading to either ice of fire and more complex entries: Take for example a hag shrouding a room with a blanket and subsequent people, with blankets over their heads, not realizing that the room is stuffed with corpses. Yeah. These paintings tend to also feature some rather nice, disturbing imagery here and there, though without becoming explicit. There is also a painting showing a hidden path through some kind of elemental purgatory (including a Perception DC) and several triptychs are also featured.
Now this would not be the dressing-series, were it not for an additional table, this one sporting a total of 64 entries of details to modify the paintings further - whether by scribbled warnings on the back, weird places where the paintings can be found or by composition: One of the paintings is made up out of tiles that are currently jumbled, whereas others feature hidden sheets of paper or are held aloft by clockwork butterflies (!!!). Of course, paintings with magic mouths and screams emanating from them also feature among these modifications, which come with several pieces of rules-information in the case of more complex entries. Take aforementioned clockwork butterflies - we actually get Ac, hardness and hp for them! Nice!
The final 2 pages of the installment are devoted to 5 new traps covering the grounds from Cr 2 to 13 and coming with Raging Swan Press' trademark trap-complexity, i.e. not simple one-round traps, but multiple rounds/effects and non disable device means of bypassing some. Take aforementioned elemental path - essentially, if you choose this painting and combine it with the elemental path trap, you get a whole dungeon room/mini puzzle - and that, my friends, is awesome. There is also a rather nasty painting of combined spell-like abilities that makes for a twisted variant of the painting-sucks-you-in-trope. Or take a painting of a beggar, which blesses the generous and punishes the stingy? Oh, and there's a VERY unpleasant hallway trap here as well - each, btw., tied to a specific doom painting, as befitting of this installment's topic.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting, as we've come to expect from Raging Swan Press, are stellar - I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's printer-friendly 2-column standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked and in two versions, one optimized for screen-use and one to be printed out. The piece of b/w-artwork featured is familiar to those who have checked out Shadowed Keep of the Borderlands and still is awesome.
I'm honestly impressed - author Mike Welham has managed to create what, by the first impression, could have easily turned out to be a massive failure. Instead, we get extremely inspiring dressings that evoke wonder and make a DM come up with rooms, puzzles and even whole plotlines, supplemented by nice traps and DCs here and there. From the easy to integrate entries to the interspersed entries of weirdness, this installment offer something to the down-to-earth gritty faction as well to aficionados of the weird, all in a superb example of the art of concise writing: How much has been crammed in these pages is impressive and has me clambering for more - I wouldn't mind a direct sequel. My final verdict will hence not surprise anyone - 5 stars plus seal of approval. get this - it's perhaps the best installment of the series so far.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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Thank you very much for this review. I'm absolutely delighted you enjoyed Dungeon Dressing: Doom Paintings as much as you did! |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
The latest installment in the Urban Dressing-series is 15 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 8 pages of content, so what do we get?
Being a kind of temple-generator, this installment kicks off with a list of general appearances and characteristics - a total of 100 entries spanning two pages cover humble stone buildings,rose-scented airs, a smell of mildew and similar basic characteristics to expand. The next table, though, is where it gets interesting - once again, with 100 entries, though this time, each entry is devoted to a domain and provides e.g. silken scarves associated with lust, banners of nations for glory, dead flowers for decay etc. as domain-appropriate-decorations - glorious and something that could use even further expansion by offering yet more dressings for the respective domains - two thumbs up for this table.
On the next page, we get 3 individual tables with 20 entries each: One for donations (good), one for tithing (neutral) and one for sacrifices. (Surprise: Evil!) Nice!
Table D, though, is imho even better, providing a short run-down of service components, fixtures and temple-areas as well as providing you a 20-entry table on celebrations/festivals that can happen, from birth to death to sacred festivities. Neat!
The last two pages are devoted strictly to a quick fluff-only clergy-in-a-hurry generator that works by first determining gender, then names via one of 20 d20 lists, races (common and uncommon) position (and a small box on titles) as well as 20 clothing, accessories, mannerisms and rumors about them. Again, if you use different nomenclatures for different races, this is completely useless in the name-department and takes up space I would have rather seen being devoted to more content for the temples.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked and in two versions, with one being optimized for the printer and one for screen-use.
I'm torn on this one - on the one hand, I absolutely LOVE the table that assigns features by domains, the sample sacrifices and the quick festival generator. On the other hand, I consider the clergy generator's names just as useless as those featured in the installment of Traders and Craftsmen - as soon as you use different nomenclatures for different races, these lose all usefulness. Finally, I think that the pdf could have benefited from different temple-base structures - essentially the respective temples contained herein lack distinct shapes like "tower", "cathedral", "fortified monastery" and remain relatively ill-defined in general shape. For me, this is a mayor issue that massively detracts from the overall appeal of the file.
What the pdf does right, is does gloriously right. What it doesn't do right...well, you get the idea. Depending on whether you want these features, this pdf could be a 5 stars-file for you or partially failing to live up to your expectation. So while, depending on what you're looking for, this might exactly be what you, I have to take this lack into account as well and in combination with the issues with the clergy-names consider a final verdict of 3 stars to be fair for this installment.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [3 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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I'm glad you liked some of the document and you can rest assured we've got the message about the random name generator. I'm pretty sure, Brian is planning something different for later instalments.
Thanks for the review! |
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This installment of the 100%-Crunch-line is 23 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page advice for reading statblocks for novice DMs, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 15 pages of content, so let's take a look!
The pdf kicks off with a nice table that allows you to get an impression of the statblcoks at one glance before we get a short run-down of the orc race (and the racial modifiers) before we get into the statblocks, kicking off with non-combatants like orc young, females etc., starting at CR 1/4 before providing basic combatants. Archers, berserkers (superstitious barbarians), blood priests, warriors, hurler barbarians etc.
Following RSP's tradition, we also get adepts and experts (torture-specialists) as well as progressions of the hurlers as well as polearm specialists, battle oracles and thankfully, also statblocks that utilize multiclassing: At CR 2, we for example get the barbarian (breaker)/ fighter (two-handed fighter) or thug rogue-builds. We even get a fighter (tactician) and battle scout/snipers as well as an orc wizard with the advanced template focused on blowing the opposition to smithereens.
At the highest CR in this book, we get 2 CR 7 orcs, one being a rogue (thug)/fighter/assassin and the other being the polearm master/thug.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf provides two versions - one optimized for screen-use and one optimized to be printed out. The pdfs come fully bookmarked for your convenience.
This installment of the 100%-Crunch-line is a solid, very "orcish" installment of the series, with many barbarian-builds (including rage-stats) and multiple archetypes that make for cool builds as well as an antipaladin. However, I consider some of the builds to be slightly less interesting than they could have been - the absence of a witch and sorceror are slightly baffling to me, when a wizard is included. Honestly, I would have expected one of them, as they feel more in line with what is "orcish" than the bookish wizard-class, but perhaps that's me. I should probably also mention that there's no druid-build in these pages, but due to the presence of the battle-oracle and the adept, I'm willing to let that one slip.
So is this worth the low asking price? Yes, ultimately it is - it is not a perfect collection of statblocks, missing imho two classes that would make for a very orcish feel, but the builds per se are interesting. While I would have enjoyed slightly less direct progressions, at this fair price point, I can still recommend this pdf - especially if you combine it with the stellar "Orcs of the Eternal Zenith"-TRIBES-supplement. My final verdict will hence be 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 for the purpose of this platform.
Endzeitgeist out.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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Thanks very much, Thilo. I enjoyed this review very much ;-) |
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Who ever said that your party of adventurers were the only folk out travelling the highways and byways of your campaign world?
Even worse, who thinks that everyone you meet is merely a 'wandering monster' for you to hammer seven bells out of and then take their stuff?
If you have a slightly more civilised approach to fellow travellers, this resource may be of use. Here, on three tables you may either roll percentage dice on or just select an entry that appeals, are a whole bunch of people who have reason to be treading the same paths as your party, and with whom they can interact if they so choose. Divided into peddlers, merchants and traders; bards, minstrels and troubadours; and finally mercenaries, sellswords and freebooters, each entry gives you a short paragraph about the individual or group in question - plenty and enough to fuel a conversation.
Depending on your needs and the style of the games you like to run, most could easily serve as recurring NPCs, be used to further one of your plots or even spawn a whole side-adventure (or more). Take as an example Elion Menel (roll 09-12 on the bards, minstrels & troubadors table) He (NG male elf aristocrat 1) is the fourth son of an elven noble who fancies himself a poet. Morose and dressed in black, he is looking to emotionally suffer in order to improve his art and he finds death incredibly romantic. Seeing adventurers as agents of death, he tries to follow them from a distance that he might draw inspiration from their brutal actions.
Now, you might like to portray poor Elion as a complete pest and really bug the party with his attentions. Or perhaps he can give them directions to a location where they can be assured of a good brawl (it being, of course, part of your adventure to lure them there). Or maybe some bandits, realising he's of noble stock, kidnap him and the party is asked to rescue him! Or... I'm sure you can come up with some other ideas.
Some of the entries give suggestions for how to use them - merchants who try to sell the party their wares, or have information that may be of use to them... even a couple of the mercenary encounters who actually are after each other over some dispute, both happy to air their grievances and ask for help in finding the other.
Heck, if you're not careful, the journey may end up being the adventure, instead of the way to get to it!
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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Blimey! You've certainly taken a stroll through this product, Megan! Thanks every much for taking us all on your journey! |
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A setting that needs a broader treatment.
I found this to be an elegant, well crafted little book. I'd love to see a more fleshed out Campaign Setting Book/World Guide. Nicely done and tantalizing.
I would easily purchase a a fully realized World Guide featuring the Lonely Coast.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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Thanks for the review, James, and the kind words. I'm delighted you enjoyed The Lonely Coast. I have been pondering writing another mini-setting as they are great fun to do. Looks like I'll have to get my thinking cap on! |
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This product harkens back to the days of 1st edition AD&D, where the Dungeon Master's Guide had appendices full of random tables providing details for the DM making up a dungeon on the fly.
Raging Swan has taken one particular feature, the portcullis, and provided the mechanics (in game features of the portcullis, variances for construction materials and the conditions they're in, as well as lifting mechanisms) along with two mechanical traps (the falling and toppling portcullises) and a nasty magical trap in the wailing portcullis (every evil necromancer on the block will want one for his inner sanctum).
And, of course, the flavor. The bulk of the pdf is a random table with a hundred different details that can be ascribed to a dungeon portcullis. These could leave PCs scratching their heads, or inspire a GM to produce an encounter to await them beyond the barrier. All in all, very good stuff.
If I have any complaints about the product at all, it would be the wish for a bit more art. If nothing else, there's a lot of white space on the title page that was begging for something to be placed in it. Even a simple portcullis design centered above the title would have been sufficient. Still, for the price tag, this can't be beat.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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Thanks very much, Jeff. I'm a bit of an Old School chap myself, so I'm glad you got that vibe from Dungeon Dressing: Portcullises. |
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It is a while since I squelched through a good swamp... probably only a few times since I finished studying botany and was seduced to settle at a computer instead. So, if you want your characters to have that genuine swamp experience and don't have too many of your own to draw upon, this product could be a godsend.
The stated aim here is not to get too bogged down (sorry!) in detailing the swamp. Let the players' imaginations do that for them, and provide little snippets that make it all come to life. To that end, the first table is 'Minor Events' and details an hundred different things that the characters might notice, or which might notice the characters. It might be midges and gnats, or a backpack strap breaking, a flight of birds or a plume of smoke in the distance... or the characters discovering that a few leeches have decided to dine on them! (Note, this is how you spell 'leeches' - a rare spelling error for this publisher has snuck in!).
The next table is 'Swamp Dressing' and deals with the sights, sounds and smells of wherever it is your characters find themselves. Again, there's an hundred options from a great mass of mushrooms growing in the shadow of a steep bank to shallow pools of particularly fetid, muddy water beside the trail. It's all about creating the right atmosphere.
Next come 12 random marsh encounters you can run. They range from EL 2 to EL 16, so it is probably better to pick an appropriate one than to get your D12 out. Each is a little more than just a monster to have a brawl with, there are a few sentences describing what is going on to make it an actual event rather than a combat to enliven the tedium.
Finally, a section on Marsh Features talks about some of the trials and tribulations of swamp travel and discusses rule mechanics that it is well to be aware of when running a game that involves movement through a marsh. These include movement and detection ranges, and a nice sidebar about quicksand.
If you have many swampy areas in your campaign world and a reason for your characters to want to go there, this is worth a read.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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Thanks very much for taking the time to review this, Megan. I much appreciate it. Glad you didn't get bogged down in the text. |
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This is a product that make me as a GM have dozens of cool ideas on how to integrate the contents of it into a cool encounter, adventure, and even sometimes a whole series of adventures.
I loved the different materials used to construct some portcullises, the mechanics behind if/when a portcullis falls on someone or some people, the traps involved in other portcullises and the ideas presented in how much visibility there is from behind one.
This is a no-brainer to me (especially as it is free!) as it will save me a ton of prep work, enhance my games, and encourage me to use a fairly standard bit of dungeon dressing in a much more creative fashion.
Well worth the $1.99 that this was priced at.
The only real drawback to me: it hurts my heart to print the solid black cover and last page but I needed to for the total effect. I would have knocked it down to a 4.5 or 4.75 but I discovered a alternate cover 3 pages in that is better for printing so a 5 is well deserved. Excellent design, well put together and something that every GM can use.
I believe I am going to be a Raging Swan fan now....
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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Thanks, Stephen! I'm absolutely delighted you enjoyed Dungeon Dressing: Portcullises. I'm particularly delighted also to welcome you into the Swan's lair... |
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The first instalments of the 100% Crunch series for the Pathfinder RPG focused on presenting statistics and combat details based on an individual template. This product, 100% Crunch - Goblins, takes another path, and instead offers statistics focused on a single creature type - goblins. And, I'm very pleased to say that it works very well. This product presents an eclectic and interesting group of goblin creatures, with excellent builds and lots of flavour built into each design through carefully crafted mechanics.
100% Crunch - Goblins presents nearly 50 goblins in a CR range from 1/4 to 5. The CR range is kept deliberately low, and I have to agree with the notion that CR 10 or higher goblins don't really need to feature in a game with enough higher level challenges. The goblins cover a wonderful range of classes and abilities, both NPC and PC classes, and each one is crafted with good attention to detail. Even when the classes are similar, the choice of weapons, armor or the use of class archetypes personifies each goblin uniquely. On this front, the product has done excellent well.
I think this product has been done splendidly. I've always been a fan of the Pathfinder goblin, and this product stays true to the concept and provides some wonderful combinations. Each goblin creature has its own 'title' from goblin scouts, to goblin shadow sorcerers, to the fearful goblin abomination. I love these little titles, as they're really useful when gaming. Instead of calling each goblin by a number, this nomenclature (if one could call it that) allow one to easily identify the different goblins on the battlefield.
If you're interesting in goblins and are looking for some excellent goblin builds, this product is well worth a look. I truly relished looking through each of the builds, and appreciating the care and attention that had gone into making each one different and true to the goblin concept. A great product, and one I would recommend.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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Thank you very much for this review. You absolutely made my night. |
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While not the last word possible on the subject, the six pages at the heart of this document provide ample to make a portcullis a more interesting part of the dungeon.
Its main lack is that the artwork while possessed of a certain charm does not add much to the information content. A diagram showing the various methods of raising and lowering a portcullis might give a better feel for the amount of space and support such a device needs.
That one understandable lack excepted this is a competent product produced in a workman like fashion. I especially appreciated the inclusion of the Attacking with a Portcullis table.
| Classement: | | [4 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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Thank you for the comments, Adam. the diagram idea is a great one. I wish I'd thought of it. |
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Aaron turns the simple portcullis - a glorified door sometimes used to crush people - into the centerpiece of any dungeon.
Presentation
Although the art asset in the introduction could surely be improved, that's just an art asset in the introduction. It doesn't interfere with the use of the product at all; I've found Raging Swan's formatting consistently easy to use and effective.
The Meat
This is the most boggling part: how many ways a portcullis become an object of beauty, fear or wonder - who tried to besiege it with a battering ram? A number of materials that a portcullis could be made of (including bone), the different ways one can be operated, states of dilapidation or excellence are all considered (and more), as well as two d100 charts of interesting descriptors and modifications to bring the dungeon to life. Then there's the three trap types (my favorite being the Toppling portcullis - squash the PCs!).
An all round wonderfully executed and clearly well thought out piece, Dungeon Dressing: Portcullises is bound to give any GM at least a few "oh, that's going to be fun" moments. Exactly what I'd expect from Raging Swan.
| Classement: | | [5 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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Thanks, Aaron! I much appreciate your time spent writing this review. I'm delighted you enjoyed DD: Portcullises so much! |
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I'll be honest, this was a surprisingly good product considering it's superficially a stupid idea. Who wants to bother with "Sourcebook: A Particular Kind of Door"? But the author clearly put enough thought into the use of a portcullis in one's game to give you a few guideposts to more than that. Only a few, unfortunately. The bulk of the real content (which is only half the page count) is composed of typical D&D random qualities tables and charts. To be fair, I'm not a big fan of that kind of stuff in the first place, so to someone more friendly to the format it shouldn't be remarkable. The most interesting aspects of the product are the hints here and there of how and why you should care to deliberately use a portcullis in your game, beyond its simple door-y nature. It can be a receptacle for strange enchantments and art, and it can be an avenue of attack.
The reason I'm reviewing this product at all is because of a little tantrum thrown by somebody completely unrelated to this product. While their weird accusations were laughable on their face, Creighton Broadhurst of Raging Swan Press took the time to show up in the midst of it, acted kindly, and then changed this product's price from $2 to free. Classy.
Pros:
• It might spark interesting ideas for new obstacles in your games, by transplanting what's in it or modifying it to fit things other than portcullises.
• Raging Swan Press' Mr. Broadhurst seems like a chill dude. By supporting this product you are supporting chill folk.
Cons:
• The PDF is listed as 10 pages on DTRPG, it contains 13 pages, and only 6 of its pages are really game material. There's a lot of white space.
• One of those pages is a product checklist. Antiquated and a little weird in itself, it might not be worth mentioning except it's one of the first of the many pages that pad out the PDF before you get to the real content. This is kind of ugly and raises an eyebrow.
• Considering how the formatting works out you're paying more than you might think per page of—oh wait no it's free nevermind.
| Classement: | | [3 sur 5 étoiles!] |
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R�ponse Editeur: |
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Thanks for the comments, Charles. I take you point about the product checklist and I'll ponder what else I could put on that page instead. |
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