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This is a mapset of a charming rustic tavern, the sort you might find on a woodland trail. You can never have too many interesting taverns for your characters to drop in to, have an ale or three, pick up the local rumours, get hired or have a brawl... so add this one to the collection.
It's a large sprawling single-roomed establishment. The only person to sleep here is Mine Host, the tavern-keeper himself (his bedroom is tucked away behind the bar), it's a place for drinking and socialising not for stopping the night. There is plenty of flavour-full detail in the interior, tables and chairs and all manner of items strewn around (keep a handy list of how much damage everyday items do, in case a brawl breaks out and someone starts improvising!).
The maps come in hex grid, square grid and plain multi-page versions as well as a vast JPEG image for those using virtual tabletops or who have access to a poster-size commercial print facility. Everything is crisp with good detail, a realistic addition to the 'Good Ale Guide' for your campaign world!
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Opening with one of the best reworkings of 'Your group of adventurers is sitting in an inn one evening when someone approaches you with a job" that I have read in a long time, this is a charming little adventure that manages to play up the comedic side of fantasy without falling into the trap of outright silliness or merely playing things for laughs.
It's all based around a gnome village that has developed a specialism in mundane clockwork devices... only they have recently encountered some difficulties in their production, difficulties of the sort a party of adventurers are best suited to resolving. Needless to say, the stated problem is not the only one, and the party will find plenty to keep them busy. There are several factions and individuals jockeying for control and economic dominence of the area; the characters will have to pick their way through carefully, deciding who to support and how to accomplish their goals - guile will be required as well as competence in combat. With battles a-plenty (at least two, maybe more) and places to investigate and a wide range of unusual and interesting people to talk to, nobody should find this adventure boring.
The clockwork inventions - several of which are described in detail at the end as well as being incorporated within the adventure - have a certain charm, creative and redolent of craftsmanship and a sheer delight in making intriguing things... if you like elaborate mechanical clocks with little parades of figures, you'll enjoy these inventions too.
A gentle charming beguiling adventure, I shall be looking out for Mr Myler's work in the future!
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Publisher Reply: |
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Megan,
Thank you for the glowing review! I didn't notice the 'Reply to Review' button until just now as I trawl the website eager to see my second publication (Magical Armaments Compendium Volume I) reach 100 downloads (although admittedly, it is free), so please forgive my lack of punctuality. I really appreciate your enthusiastic critique and hope you do keep an eye out for my other work. The struggle to find another illustrator for the next book (The Mysterious Peaks of Baranthar) is holding things up, but we're shooting for a release by the end of the month.
Thank you again for the kind words!
Sincerely,
Mike Myler |
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This is an intriguing adventure involving the watery depths, a beautiful sea queen pleading for release... and much that is not what it seems to be at a first glance. Plenty to tax the brains, as well as the sword-arms, of your adventurers.
It all begins with dreams brought on by possession of an artefact - which makes it easy to embroil any party by placing said artefact in the next treasure hoard they discover, or amongst the possessions of the next individual they loot or rob. Provided they are in a coastal town, finding out a little more, just enough to set their feet on the path to this adventure, should not be too difficult... and the adventure is afoot!
To rescue the beautiful captive, they need to infiltrate a sorcerer's lair... by third level, this ought to be within their capabilities provided they are careful and use their skills and resources wisely. It is a weird place, the former residence of someone fascinated by the sea and redolent of the strangeness that is to be found beneath the waves. Being able to swim, at the least, will be an advantage against some of the foes encountered... and of course, this is but a stepping-stone to finding out what next must be done to effect the rescue.
Boat rides and even more exotic places. strange curses and more await the intrepid adventurers in an epic sweep of events that should serve to remind the players that their characters are in a truly magical world quite unlike the real one - and yet, within itself, consistent and real enough to care about as well as stare at in wonder. Plenty of challenge awaits under and around the sea in this memorable adventure which will give those who survive and succeed a feeling of accomplishment.
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The product, Solace Games's first for the Legend RPG, is a collection of fascinating ideas and resources that will come in useful when including woodland adventures or indeed elves in your campaign.
First up are some general rules for use in forests. Things like line of sight, survival in a forest environment, perception, stealth and tracking are covered, with separate notes distingusihing between lightly and heavily wooded areas - as anyone who's spent much time in the woods can attest, how dense a woodland is can influence things like how far you can see and how well you can track.
We then meet - in considerable detail - three sub-types of elf. These are grass elves, savage elves and tree elves. The tree elves are the commonly-held ideal of rather wild and reclusive beings who live deep in woodland, whilst the grass elves prefer open plains and lightly-wooded areas, moving into deeper forests only when threatened... and being said to burrow underground rather than live up a tree! Savage elves are actually as civilised as anyone else, although more inclined to be militant and given to such heresies as chopping down trees to build their homes! Each of the three elf types is described in sufficient detail, including game mechanics, to run one as a player-character or to make a tribe of that type a major influence in your game world with potent NPCs easy to design.
Next is a section on equipment, armour and weapons, providing some interesting items made and used by elves. Watch out for elven bows: sought-after by many archers whatever their heritage! There are also some spells and then extensive details of new cults and factions popular amongst elves. Perhaps you will be seranaded by a member of the Grass Singers, counted amongst the most cultured and peaceful members of the community. Or you may run foul of the Nature's Wardens, tree elves who enforce firm environmental standards, or meet the sorcerous tree elves of the Order of the Tree who believe that magic and forests are inextricably intertwined... and there are several other groups as well.
All in all, if elves and their traditions are to play a role in your game, this is worth a look to gain new insight and ideas into what elves do and believe.
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Based around three tables - one for dungeon areas, one for caverns and one of wandering monsters - this is a handy resource for any GM who likes interesting yet balanced encounters. The monsters provided fall into three main categories, which are 'standard' by-the-book, modified or unique. The standard ones come straight from one of the core Pathfinder RPG Bestiaries. The modified ones use the advanced, giant or young templates applied to a standard monster. These templates are provided for your convenience here, so you may apply them elsewhere if desired. Finally, unique monsters have been specifically developed for this product, and come with complete statblock and extensive notes.
It is simple to use. Decide if you are in a constructed dungeon or a cavern, or if you want a wandering monster to happen by, and then check the appropriate table. If you are in a hurry or like randomicity, roll a d12; or if you have more time, sit back and read through them all and decide on what is going to work best for you... and then probably end up resorting to your trusty d12 as they're all appealing and interesting and will enhance your game with a memorable encounter!
Even the standard book monsters make for interesting encounters, more than merely a monster to bash. Take, for example, dungeon encounter # 5. It consists of two goblins and a giant spider. Then we read "Two goblins are locked in battle with a giant spider, although their tactics have been somewhat ineffectual so far. They are screaming curses at it and trying to reach their fallen companion." This brings the whole scene to life, there's something going on completely independent of this bunch of adventurers (your characters) wandering through the dungeon, a clear sense that this event is happening irrespective of whether they are here or not!
The whole product is filled with these gems. Most could spawn at least a side-adventure of their own, many could develop into much more. If you run 'crawl' adventures, you will need a constant stream of events to take place down there and this will help you deliver consistently interesting encounters.
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If you run espionage games, these are well-nigh essential bits of tradecraft... and if you run any kind of game in which radio has been invented, a numbers station message or two can add an air of mystery or intrigue to whatever might be going on. It might even have something to do with your plot - or it may be a complete red herring.
So, if you didn't crouch over your shortwave radio during the 1970s (which is when I found them on the airwaves) what is a numbers station anyway?
The short answer (at least officially) is that nobody knows. Or at least, not that they'll own up to. The most common interpretation is that they carry coded messages which could only be interpreted by the intended recipient, hunched over his radio with a one-time pad at the time he expected his controllers back home (wherever that was) would be transmitting his instructions.
So, how to use them? It could be something that your characters intercept. Or they find that an otherwise innocent-looking fellow has a shortwave radio and a one-time pad hidden away, so perhaps they'll be able to find out what he is being told to do. Or maybe they are the ones awaiting orders... you'll have to work out a way for them to decode whichever message is for them in that case.
Have fun. Meanwhile I shall have to explain to my family why I'm listening to a numbers station!
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Given that most parties of adventurers fall foul of the Watch at least once during their careers, this is a very useful set of miniatures for the GM to have to hand!
The rather startled looking fellow on the cover looks almost as if he's been discovered in his skivvies, but on closer examination it is a breastplate rather than a vest that he is wearing. His helmet is better shaded and coloured to depict metal, that's all.
The rest is a goodly array of different figures all in plausible poses. There's a fairly haughty looking Captain, a human Sergeant and a number of Watchmen of various races, including several dwarves and a couple of female guards as well. Obviously an enlighted equal opportunities city as regards Watch recruitment!
Nice crisp figures, uniform colouration - and at least the white breastplates mean that you can add city colours or badges if you want to. A useful set.
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To start with, a throne is not some trivial piece of furniture to be sat upon or pushed aside as needs be. A throne is significant, it's important, and so it ought to look that way.
As usual with the Dungeon Dressing line, this product revolves around a series of tables which you can use to define all aspects of whatever it is the product deals with. If you are in a hurry or plain like randomicity, roll some bones; if you have more time or want to create a coherent whole, read through and decide which features you want to use.
We begin by a rules review: that sitting on (or getting up from) a throne constitutes a move action if you are in a combat situation - and that if you are reclining on it Middle-Eastern style, it could take even longer. As they are usually on a dais you get advantage of higher ground, and they tend to be quite solid so make good cover. As well as talking about throne construction, there is also a discussion of traps. This may seem perverse, but if you happen to be fussy about who gets to sit on yours it might be worth adding one along with a means to disable it when you are about to sit down yourself. Defensive measures may be appropriate if you have reason to distrust your courtiers as well.
Then comes a table of 'unusual features' that you can use to enhance your throne's description. Maybe the back of the throne has an intricate map of the land in which it is found, or it might have four metal rings on the sides of it so that poles may be slid into it and the monarch carried around. Or it's flatpack, a pile of component parts that will need assembly before anyone else can sit there!
The next table suggests more details, this time things that can be found around the throne or that have happened to it, while the final table and associated notes has a more detailed look at traps and other defences.
Spend some time with this and have a throne worth remembering...
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This can be approached on so many levels... from a tongue-in-cheek poke at reality tv to a serious role-playing game in which a reality tv show happens to be the backdrop against which stories are told and plotlines played out. What's here is a simple - perhaps even simplistic - set of rules for making it all happen.
Those looking for a serious game set in the context of reality tv might prefer to use elements from another role-playing game to provide the rule mechanics, at least those of character generation and conflict resolution. The system for determining the popularity of your fictional reality tv show, however, is excellent - hang on to it whatever you decide to use for core mechanics.
Many people like to be snooty about reality tv... and then you find that if there's one on an area of interest, you end up watching it anyway - my particular vice is MasterChef, if you must know. But there's a lot of fun to be had for the gamer in the concept whether you are going to play THIS game for laughs or take it a little more seriously.
From the role-playing point of view, there is actually quite a lot of mileage to be had from reality tv as a concept - or at least, as something which might happen during a rather more serious game. For example, I used a 'So You Think You Could Be A Spy' reality tv show in a Spycraft game, with real spies (or at least, characters who were spies) asked to compete in a series of challenges which ended up being a front for a certain foreign power actually trying to recruit spies from amongst the natives of the characters' own country! (Just to make it even stranger, the outline was written on the train home from the auditions for a reality tv show called SpyMaster which I'd entered on a whim!)
Jolly good fun for a one-off joke game, but food for more serious thought as well.
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If you delight in playing a dhampir (or want to make NPC ones more interesting) you will find some useful odds and ends here. They are all rooted in tradition, the various legends that are told about vampires and their ilk, and fit well if you have a 'traditional' approach to such beings in your game.
We start off with three feats: Blood Stalker, Deathsight and Unholy Toughness. These grant the ability to track a creature whose blood you have drunk, see undead and withstand more damage than usual... all abilities which have been recorded in legend about vampires.
Next the character traits. Four are presented: Desecrated Birth, Horrific Sire, Left for Dead and Morbid Curiosity. Being born under the auspices of evil apparently gives you greater resistance to spells tagged as 'good' so make the most of it. Your sire may not have technically been horrific, but if you choose this trait you are able to access appropriate abilities of whatever race he did come from as if you were one of them. Left for Dead is rather fun - if as a youngster they thought something wasn't quite right and abandoned you, you may have been raised by creatures of the night (wolves or bats for example) and so have a special relationship with them - again something common in vampire tales. Morbid Curiousity allows you to study an opponent and work out where to apply that coup-de-grace you're itching to give him.
We also have three racial traits. Bloodhunter lets you track creatures who are bleeding or have suffered constitution damage. Again like the stories, Climber makes you very good at, well, climbing; and Shadowless means what it says: you do not cast a shadow.
Finally there's a racial archetype, the Pale Rider, who is a gunslinger with sort of Hellrider aspects and - if you play a game that allows gunslingers - could be rather fun to play.
Well rooted in tradition concepts, this is a useful addition to the options open to dhampirs.
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Wherever White Moon Cove is, I think I want to visit it! This is a beautifully-detailed large fishing village with plenty going on, the sort of bustling yet quite sleepy place that sounds so real that it must be somewhere... mustn't it?
There is an overview of the settlement, a standard town statblock, and lists of notable inhabitants and locations; then village lore and rumours. This is followed by a map of the place - a little small, but it is available as a standalone art product from Raging Swan Press as well (look for Village Map: Fishing Village) if you need a larger one or perhaps want to annotate it further.
Next the notable locations get a lot more detail, and this is replete with those wonderful little snippets that both bring the place to life and provide resources for interactions, encounters and even whole adventures if you wish to let them spawn! There are also notes linking White Moon Cove to an adventure, The Sunken Pyramid - but even if you don't intend running it, there is plenty reason to include this village in your campaign world and plotlines.
And there's more... notes on law and order, and a table of events that might happen. All stuff that can sweep your characters into the life of the place. Overall, this is well worth adding to your files however you intend to use it.
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This is one of those maps that as soon as you look at it you start figuring out what's going on there!
Let's see: 2 small 'dormitory' rooms, a larger chamber with a single bed, a colonnaded hallway, a room with a tiled(?) floor and another room with a corridor leading off. Oh, and a flight of stairs as an entryway.
What could it be? I'm thinking 'living quarters' in maybe a temple or monastery, with the senior member of the community having the large single-bedded room and some more junior ones in the dormitories. It could equally as well be a secular lordling's quarters or those of a military commander. The stairs may lead outside, whilst the passageway leads off to more public areas of whatever facility this is a part of... and then comes the fun of fleshing out whoever lives there and why our brave adventurers have reason to visit their private quarters.
I like maps like this, that start spawning adventure ideas rather than merely being the best fit amongst published offerings for whatever location you have in mind. It's all beautifully-drawn too, managing to be both clear and attractive. Nice work!
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Going by this introductory material, Foreven Sector is going to be a place I shall enjoy visiting!
The product begins with an introduction in which author Donavan Lambertus starts by explaining in some detail how the name 'Bastards' of Foreven came about - ship nose art developing into some pirates which led to a mixed group of mercenaries... If you delight in peeps under the hood, seeing how game developers' minds work, there is a fair bit to fascinate you here. The really fascinating bit is how every effort has been made to make Foreven Sector as compatible as possible with the Official Traveller Universe (OTU), particularly places like the Spinward Marches which it abuts on to, but also in terms of the history and culture of the region... and yet making it its own self: you won't be confused for one moment as to where you are!
That done, we have a section on Standards and Assumptions, laying out the basics under which the setting has been developed. Mongoose core rules, of course, but also details of how Jump operates, stealth in space, the use of fighters and battleriders in space combat and so on. It's always good to be sure of your basic assumptions, but rare to have them laid out so explicitly: both a useful and a refreshing approach.
Next some flavour text introduces a section in which we learn the history of Foreven Sector going right back to speculation about the Ancients and then pre-Imperium exploration by Zhodani and Darrians, and early incursions by both the young Imperium and the Zhodani with the inevitable butting of heads upon occasion. Whilst at the moment there is peace between them, it is somewhat tenuous and it is highly possible that this is where the situation will boil over to open warfare should it come to that.
This is followed by a look at the major polities here, interspersed with more flavour text, all of which makes fascinating reading. Despire continued incursions by Imperial and Zhodani forces, most of Foreven is occupied by smaller but rising powers, and this is where we find out about them. Some are but single worlds with ambition, others have taken at least the first steps towards realising that ambition. We also learn of other pivotal groups - megacorporations, criminal gangs including pirate bands, and groups of mercenaries.
Now we get down to serious appetitie-whetting with a sample world: Akadi. It's a largish water world which orbits a red dwarf (binary system actually, paired with a white dwarf) with a thin atmosphere and a distressing attaction for comets and asteroids: their impacts not only do damage but tend to generate tsunamis as well. Complete with maps and pages of detail, this world is all ready for an extended stay or to play a major part in your adventures in some other way. Biosphere, settlements, government, culture, products, system data, a timeline and more are provided to put everything you need to know at your fingertips.
There is also a sample vehicle, a TL10 Veridion Class ATV. This is a popular planetary surface workhorse for transportation and exploration, or of course as a combat vehicle. Notes, statistics and extensive drawings of all three versions are provided. This is followed by a 'TAS Documentary' extended piece of flavour text, a sample starship (again with considerable detail) and a sample adventure. This, Last Flight of the Junyo, is designed not only to be an enjoyable adventure but also to serve as an introduction to the Foreven Sector as a whole. Here in space is the abandoned lifeless hulk of an Iridonnian diplomatic ship, the characters' task is to investigate and find out what happened to it. (Iridonia is one of those small but burgeoning polities mentioned earlier.)
Finally, there's an entire sample subsector, complete with 2- or 3-line entries about each system.
If this doesn't make you want to explore... well, you're not cut out for space exploration! A fine beginning and I am already looking forwards to the next book.
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This is a charming hand-drawn map of a largish fishing village, centred around its harbour. There are several jetties and a wooden dock, and one substantial pier. Away from the harbour proper the shoreline is quiet rocky, soon rising to cliffs. There are a few small islands in the bay, none appear to be inhabited.
Inland, the village has a really big market square - perhaps it serves as the major fish market for a considerable hinterland - and boasts numerous homes and other buildings of various sizes. One clifftop has a structure that could serve as a lighthouse... or a wizard's tower, overlooking the sea.
The map comes in two versions: one plain and one with a few numbers beside some of the locations depicted, all ready for you to add your own legend (map key). You also may wish to source and include a compass rose (to indicate which way is North), and to work out the scale for the map if distances are to be of importance.
It is very clear and well-drawn, and if you need a fishing village but are quite happy fleshing it out for yourself but lack the skill to draw one, this should serve you well.
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Something spooky, technological perhaps, to play in the background during those creepy moments as deserted buildings or spacecraft are investigated...
... or something to play when writing such adventures, get those creative juices flowing!
I like custom background music, if I use it at all, because you don't distract your players by having them trying to identify a half-remembered track.
The tempo varies, slowing towards the end. Is it that you have found something... or is it that everyone's dead already?
Enjoyable.
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