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To be honest, I rarely think about the cartographer of the maps I use in my games. Partially because the publishers rarely promote the individual cartographer, instead relying more so on branding their name.
However, Jonathan Roberts, is one of those artists that should get billing above the publisher’s name. Roberts is the artist of the Fantastic Maps series, a series of maps that have rejuvenated the 2-d map PDF market.
Ever since 0ones stopped publishing realistic battlemaps, the market has been skim on quality detail maps. Roberts Fantastic Maps were introduced in early 2009, and despite the inexpensive price, are some of the most intricately detailed maps to be released in some time.
Because of the similar high quality of each of the map products, this review will cover the entire series released so far.
The Fantastic Maps series is reminiscent of well made fantasy anime. With thick layers of color displayed in a somewhat whimsical quality. The pixels jump off the page, looking sometimes like hills and layers are actually there. Each PDF contains a color and black and white version of the map, and the map broken down into separate pieces that can be reassembled later on. The full scale of each map is roughly 20’ by 30’. As of this review, there have been six maps released so far, each as diverse as the previous:
The Glass Balcony is a map of a shear balcony overlooking a body of water with islands dancing around it. The refreshing blues used to create the water make this an ideal map for an interesting aqua encounter.
The Lone Island in the Sky has a massive tree holding up a patch of grassing land. However, it seems to work better as an open tree trunk that descends into a pit of unknown. The smoky texture that surrounds the tree is distracting, however, the crisp lines in the bark add to the character of the map.
The Leafless Wood is one of those maps that should be a staple in your map collection. Used for wilderness encounters, it’s a lot darker than the Glass Balcony and has a more serious tone. It is a very versatile map. You can use it for a track through a forest, or use it for river encounters.
The Mire of Lost souls is another possible staple for parties that travel through swamp lands a lot. Roberts tends to do water very well, as yet another version of water shows a series of murky greens and thick oil like blues. This map can feel quite dull when compared to the others.
Getting away from the generic maps, Black Sky Butte presents a massive alter that raises 100s of feat into the air. The surface of the alter is nicely done with cryptic writing and stars about, though it is uneven in places. The most permissive thing about this map is the impression of height.
The latest Map is the Ice temple and my favorite. A dragon frozen in ice over a large chasm embanked by snow. The layers of whites and blues to distinguish snow and ice bring out all the detail in this map.
For the Digital DM
Each map contains a black and white and a color version, which makes it slightly more difficult than other products when mass extracting the images. The large image included in the PDF is not scale, so you will have to place each individual piece. It would be nice if a high resolution single map was included.
For the Standard DM
Rich colors don’t come cheap and if you want to catch the detail you’re going to be pouring some extra funds into ink.
The Iron Word
For less than a buck, you can not beat adding one of these maps to any order you make. I am not going to tell Mr. Roberts that we are in a recession nor that his maps are of equal quality to high end-map products at only a fraction of the cost. Instead, I recommend purchasing these great steals and giving your player an engrossing game play experience.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Jonathan Roberts and Myself just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to do an indepth review of each and every map pack.
Steve Russell
Rite Publishing. |
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To be honest, I rarely think about the cartographer of the maps I use in my games. Partially because the publishers rarely promote the individual cartographer, instead relying more so on branding their name.
However, Jonathan Roberts, is one of those artists that should get billing above the publisher’s name. Roberts is the artist of the Fantastic Maps series, a series of maps that have rejuvenated the 2-d map PDF market.
Ever since 0ones stopped publishing realistic battlemaps, the market has been skim on quality detail maps. Roberts Fantastic Maps were introduced in early 2009, and despite the inexpensive price, are some of the most intricately detailed maps to be released in some time.
Because of the similar high quality of each of the map products, this review will cover the entire series released so far.
The Fantastic Maps series is reminiscent of well made fantasy anime. With thick layers of color displayed in a somewhat whimsical quality. The pixels jump off the page, looking sometimes like hills and layers are actually there. Each PDF contains a color and black and white version of the map, and the map broken down into separate pieces that can be reassembled later on. The full scale of each map is roughly 20’ by 30’. As of this review, there have been six maps released so far, each as diverse as the previous:
The Glass Balcony is a map of a shear balcony overlooking a body of water with islands dancing around it. The refreshing blues used to create the water make this an ideal map for an interesting aqua encounter.
The Lone Island in the Sky has a massive tree holding up a patch of grassing land. However, it seems to work better as an open tree trunk that descends into a pit of unknown. The smoky texture that surrounds the tree is distracting, however, the crisp lines in the bark add to the character of the map.
The Leafless Wood is one of those maps that should be a staple in your map collection. Used for wilderness encounters, it’s a lot darker than the Glass Balcony and has a more serious tone. It is a very versatile map. You can use it for a track through a forest, or use it for river encounters.
The Mire of Lost souls is another possible staple for parties that travel through swamp lands a lot. Roberts tends to do water very well, as yet another version of water shows a series of murky greens and thick oil like blues. This map can feel quite dull when compared to the others.
Getting away from the generic maps, Black Sky Butte presents a massive alter that raises 100s of feat into the air. The surface of the alter is nicely done with cryptic writing and stars about, though it is uneven in places. The most permissive thing about this map is the impression of height.
The latest Map is the Ice temple and my favorite. A dragon frozen in ice over a large chasm embanked by snow. The layers of whites and blues to distinguish snow and ice bring out all the detail in this map.
For the Digital DM
Each map contains a black and white and a color version, which makes it slightly more difficult than other products when mass extracting the images. The large image included in the PDF is not scale, so you will have to place each individual piece. It would be nice if a high resolution single map was included.
For the Standard DM
Rich colors don’t come cheap and if you want to catch the detail you’re going to be pouring some extra funds into ink.
The Iron Word
For less than a buck, you can not beat adding one of these maps to any order you make. I am not going to tell Mr. Roberts that we are in a recession nor that his maps are of equal quality to high end-map products at only a fraction of the cost. Instead, I recommend purchasing these great steals and giving your player an engrossing game play experience.
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To be honest, I rarely think about the cartographer of the maps I use in my games. Partially because the publishers rarely promote the individual cartographer, instead relying more so on branding their name.
However, Jonathan Roberts, is one of those artists that should get billing above the publisher’s name. Roberts is the artist of the Fantastic Maps series, a series of maps that have rejuvenated the 2-d map PDF market.
Ever since 0ones stopped publishing realistic battlemaps, the market has been skim on quality detail maps. Roberts Fantastic Maps were introduced in early 2009, and despite the inexpensive price, are some of the most intricately detailed maps to be released in some time.
Because of the similar high quality of each of the map products, this review will cover the entire series released so far.
The Fantastic Maps series is reminiscent of well made fantasy anime. With thick layers of color displayed in a somewhat whimsical quality. The pixels jump off the page, looking sometimes like hills and layers are actually there. Each PDF contains a color and black and white version of the map, and the map broken down into separate pieces that can be reassembled later on. The full scale of each map is roughly 20’ by 30’. As of this review, there have been six maps released so far, each as diverse as the previous:
The Glass Balcony is a map of a shear balcony overlooking a body of water with islands dancing around it. The refreshing blues used to create the water make this an ideal map for an interesting aqua encounter.
The Lone Island in the Sky has a massive tree holding up a patch of grassing land. However, it seems to work better as an open tree trunk that descends into a pit of unknown. The smoky texture that surrounds the tree is distracting, however, the crisp lines in the bark add to the character of the map.
The Leafless Wood is one of those maps that should be a staple in your map collection. Used for wilderness encounters, it’s a lot darker than the Glass Balcony and has a more serious tone. It is a very versatile map. You can use it for a track through a forest, or use it for river encounters.
The Mire of Lost souls is another possible staple for parties that travel through swamp lands a lot. Roberts tends to do water very well, as yet another version of water shows a series of murky greens and thick oil like blues. This map can feel quite dull when compared to the others.
Getting away from the generic maps, Black Sky Butte presents a massive alter that raises 100s of feat into the air. The surface of the alter is nicely done with cryptic writing and stars about, though it is uneven in places. The most permissive thing about this map is the impression of height.
The latest Map is the Ice temple and my favorite. A dragon frozen in ice over a large chasm embanked by snow. The layers of whites and blues to distinguish snow and ice bring out all the detail in this map.
For the Digital DM
Each map contains a black and white and a color version, which makes it slightly more difficult than other products when mass extracting the images. The large image included in the PDF is not scale, so you will have to place each individual piece. It would be nice if a high resolution single map was included.
For the Standard DM
Rich colors don’t come cheap and if you want to catch the detail you’re going to be pouring some extra funds into ink.
The Iron Word
For less than a buck, you can not beat adding one of these maps to any order you make. I am not going to tell Mr. Roberts that we are in a recession nor that his maps are of equal quality to high end-map products at only a fraction of the cost. Instead, I recommend purchasing these great steals and giving your player an engrossing game play experience.
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To be honest, I rarely think about the cartographer of the maps I use in my games. Partially because the publishers rarely promote the individual cartographer, instead relying more so on branding their name.
However, Jonathan Roberts, is one of those artists that should get billing above the publisher’s name. Roberts is the artist of the Fantastic Maps series, a series of maps that have rejuvenated the 2-d map PDF market.
Ever since 0ones stopped publishing realistic battlemaps, the market has been skim on quality detail maps. Roberts Fantastic Maps were introduced in early 2009, and despite the inexpensive price, are some of the most intricately detailed maps to be released in some time.
Because of the similar high quality of each of the map products, this review will cover the entire series released so far.
The Fantastic Maps series is reminiscent of well made fantasy anime. With thick layers of color displayed in a somewhat whimsical quality. The pixels jump off the page, looking sometimes like hills and layers are actually there. Each PDF contains a color and black and white version of the map, and the map broken down into separate pieces that can be reassembled later on. The full scale of each map is roughly 20’ by 30’. As of this review, there have been six maps released so far, each as diverse as the previous:
The Glass Balcony is a map of a shear balcony overlooking a body of water with islands dancing around it. The refreshing blues used to create the water make this an ideal map for an interesting aqua encounter.
The Lone Island in the Sky has a massive tree holding up a patch of grassing land. However, it seems to work better as an open tree trunk that descends into a pit of unknown. The smoky texture that surrounds the tree is distracting, however, the crisp lines in the bark add to the character of the map.
The Leafless Wood is one of those maps that should be a staple in your map collection. Used for wilderness encounters, it’s a lot darker than the Glass Balcony and has a more serious tone. It is a very versatile map. You can use it for a track through a forest, or use it for river encounters.
The Mire of Lost souls is another possible staple for parties that travel through swamp lands a lot. Roberts tends to do water very well, as yet another version of water shows a series of murky greens and thick oil like blues. This map can feel quite dull when compared to the others.
Getting away from the generic maps, Black Sky Butte presents a massive alter that raises 100s of feat into the air. The surface of the alter is nicely done with cryptic writing and stars about, though it is uneven in places. The most permissive thing about this map is the impression of height.
The latest Map is the Ice temple and my favorite. A dragon frozen in ice over a large chasm embanked by snow. The layers of whites and blues to distinguish snow and ice bring out all the detail in this map.
For the Digital DM
Each map contains a black and white and a color version, which makes it slightly more difficult than other products when mass extracting the images. The large image included in the PDF is not scale, so you will have to place each individual piece. It would be nice if a high resolution single map was included.
For the Standard DM
Rich colors don’t come cheap and if you want to catch the detail you’re going to be pouring some extra funds into ink.
The Iron Word
For less than a buck, you can not beat adding one of these maps to any order you make. I am not going to tell Mr. Roberts that we are in a recession nor that his maps are of equal quality to high end-map products at only a fraction of the cost. Instead, I recommend purchasing these great steals and giving your player an engrossing game play experience.
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To be honest, I rarely think about the cartographer of the maps I use in my games. Partially because the publishers rarely promote the individual cartographer, instead relying more so on branding their name.
However, Jonathan Roberts, is one of those artists that should get billing above the publisher’s name. Roberts is the artist of the Fantastic Maps series, a series of maps that have rejuvenated the 2-d map PDF market.
Ever since 0ones stopped publishing realistic battlemaps, the market has been skim on quality detail maps. Roberts Fantastic Maps were introduced in early 2009, and despite the inexpensive price, are some of the most intricately detailed maps to be released in some time.
Because of the similar high quality of each of the map products, this review will cover the entire series released so far.
The Fantastic Maps series is reminiscent of well made fantasy anime. With thick layers of color displayed in a somewhat whimsical quality. The pixels jump off the page, looking sometimes like hills and layers are actually there. Each PDF contains a color and black and white version of the map, and the map broken down into separate pieces that can be reassembled later on. The full scale of each map is roughly 20’ by 30’. As of this review, there have been six maps released so far, each as diverse as the previous:
The Glass Balcony is a map of a shear balcony overlooking a body of water with islands dancing around it. The refreshing blues used to create the water make this an ideal map for an interesting aqua encounter.
The Lone Island in the Sky has a massive tree holding up a patch of grassing land. However, it seems to work better as an open tree trunk that descends into a pit of unknown. The smoky texture that surrounds the tree is distracting, however, the crisp lines in the bark add to the character of the map.
The Leafless Wood is one of those maps that should be a staple in your map collection. Used for wilderness encounters, it’s a lot darker than the Glass Balcony and has a more serious tone. It is a very versatile map. You can use it for a track through a forest, or use it for river encounters.
The Mire of Lost souls is another possible staple for parties that travel through swamp lands a lot. Roberts tends to do water very well, as yet another version of water shows a series of murky greens and thick oil like blues. This map can feel quite dull when compared to the others.
Getting away from the generic maps, Black Sky Butte presents a massive alter that raises 100s of feat into the air. The surface of the alter is nicely done with cryptic writing and stars about, though it is uneven in places. The most permissive thing about this map is the impression of height.
The latest Map is the Ice temple and my favorite. A dragon frozen in ice over a large chasm embanked by snow. The layers of whites and blues to distinguish snow and ice bring out all the detail in this map.
For the Digital DM
Each map contains a black and white and a color version, which makes it slightly more difficult than other products when mass extracting the images. The large image included in the PDF is not scale, so you will have to place each individual piece. It would be nice if a high resolution single map was included.
For the Standard DM
Rich colors don’t come cheap and if you want to catch the detail you’re going to be pouring some extra funds into ink.
The Iron Word
For less than a buck, you can not beat adding one of these maps to any order you make. I am not going to tell Mr. Roberts that we are in a recession nor that his maps are of equal quality to high end-map products at only a fraction of the cost. Instead, I recommend purchasing these great steals and giving your player an engrossing game play experience.
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To be honest, I rarely think about the cartographer of the maps I use in my games. Partially because the publishers rarely promote the individual cartographer, instead relying more so on branding their name.
However, Jonathan Roberts, is one of those artists that should get billing above the publisher’s name. Roberts is the artist of the Fantastic Maps series, a series of maps that have rejuvenated the 2-d map PDF market.
Ever since 0ones stopped publishing realistic battlemaps, the market has been skim on quality detail maps. Roberts Fantastic Maps were introduced in early 2009, and despite the inexpensive price, are some of the most intricately detailed maps to be released in some time.
Because of the similar high quality of each of the map products, this review will cover the entire series released so far.
The Fantastic Maps series is reminiscent of well made fantasy anime. With thick layers of color displayed in a somewhat whimsical quality. The pixels jump off the page, looking sometimes like hills and layers are actually there. Each PDF contains a color and black and white version of the map, and the map broken down into separate pieces that can be reassembled later on. The full scale of each map is roughly 20’ by 30’. As of this review, there have been six maps released so far, each as diverse as the previous:
The Glass Balcony is a map of a shear balcony overlooking a body of water with islands dancing around it. The refreshing blues used to create the water make this an ideal map for an interesting aqua encounter.
The Lone Island in the Sky has a massive tree holding up a patch of grassing land. However, it seems to work better as an open tree trunk that descends into a pit of unknown. The smoky texture that surrounds the tree is distracting, however, the crisp lines in the bark add to the character of the map.
The Leafless Wood is one of those maps that should be a staple in your map collection. Used for wilderness encounters, it’s a lot darker than the Glass Balcony and has a more serious tone. It is a very versatile map. You can use it for a track through a forest, or use it for river encounters.
The Mire of Lost souls is another possible staple for parties that travel through swamp lands a lot. Roberts tends to do water very well, as yet another version of water shows a series of murky greens and thick oil like blues. This map can feel quite dull when compared to the others.
Getting away from the generic maps, Black Sky Butte presents a massive alter that raises 100s of feat into the air. The surface of the alter is nicely done with cryptic writing and stars about, though it is uneven in places. The most permissive thing about this map is the impression of height.
The latest Map is the Ice temple and my favorite. A dragon frozen in ice over a large chasm embanked by snow. The layers of whites and blues to distinguish snow and ice bring out all the detail in this map.
For the Digital DM
Each map contains a black and white and a color version, which makes it slightly more difficult than other products when mass extracting the images. The large image included in the PDF is not scale, so you will have to place each individual piece. It would be nice if a high resolution single map was included.
For the Standard DM
Rich colors don’t come cheap and if you want to catch the detail you’re going to be pouring some extra funds into ink.
The Iron Word
For less than a buck, you can not beat adding one of these maps to any order you make. I am not going to tell Mr. Roberts that we are in a recession nor that his maps are of equal quality to high end-map products at only a fraction of the cost. Instead, I recommend purchasing these great steals and giving your player an engrossing game play experience.
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It is 2009, and people are still using graph paper and magic markers to draw their maps, most of the time in game. Where most of us have passed the days where every new combat involved a 20 minute DM draw the map break, there are many still trapped in the dark ages.
It is not too late to jump on the bandwagon, and so long as publishers like Fat Dragon Games puts out fantastic art packages like their Copper Dragon: Basic Dungeons series, the more archaic those rolls of graph paper will appear.
Deviating from the usual one product per review format, this review covers both Copper Dragon: Basic Dungeons 1 and Copper Dragon Basic Dungeons 2. Both products contain a series of gorgeous tiles to be used with battlemaps in a dungeon. Both weight in around the 40-page mark.
With battlemap products, there are two kinds: the smaller products that display a lot of detail and often a stronger level of cartography and the larger products with many maps but far less details. With the Copper Dragon series, Fat Dragon provides a hybrid product; one that uses big, bold colors that feel quite realistic and yet devoid of any detail so they can be used anywhere. The art style feels very traditional fantasy, however, the grays of the walls and the browns of the floor are so deep, your players will feel like they are traversing through a game. The result is a series of battlemaps that can be cut and fit together to build any dungeon you wish.
There are roughly nearly 40 pages of maps in each product, each product presenting 24 map tiles. Dungeon 1 features more basic designs, squares, straight hallways. Dungeon 2 is slightly more advances, offering curbs and several different room configurations. There are no graphs, but thick lines mark off squares to provide a clean distinction between squares without taking away from the maps.
For the Digital DM
If you are a digital dm like myself, this product is a great source to either extract or save images to be used with mapping programs like maptools. The pages have little “fat” so when using a mass image extraction program it is easier to distinguish the images you want.
For the Regular DM
Buy a projector. Seriously, if you’re still printing and cutting, you’ll find this product uses a fair amount of yellow and magenta. However, total ink loss is no more than any typical product.
The Iron Word
The Copper Dragon series is a must buy for anyone using tile maps. There are no basic maps with the caliber artwork in these products. There is an elegance to how plain they are. The lack of any additional objects on the floors brings out the true dungeon feel of the battle maps.
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It is 2009, and people are still using graph paper and magic markers to draw their maps, most of the time in game. Where most of us have passed the days where every new combat involved a 20 minute DM draw the map break, there are many still trapped in the dark ages.
It is not too late to jump on the bandwagon, and so long as publishers like Fat Dragon Games puts out fantastic art packages like their Copper Dragon: Basic Dungeons series, the more archaic those rolls of graph paper will appear.
Deviating from the usual one product per review format, this review covers both Copper Dragon: Basic Dungeons 1 and Copper Dragon Basic Dungeons 2. Both products contain a series of gorgeous tiles to be used with battlemaps in a dungeon. Both weight in around the 40-page mark.
With battlemap products, there are two kinds: the smaller products that display a lot of detail and often a stronger level of cartography and the larger products with many maps but far less details. With the Copper Dragon series, Fat Dragon provides a hybrid product; one that uses big, bold colors that feel quite realistic and yet devoid of any detail so they can be used anywhere. The art style feels very traditional fantasy, however, the grays of the walls and the browns of the floor are so deep, your players will feel like they are traversing through a game. The result is a series of battlemaps that can be cut and fit together to build any dungeon you wish.
There are roughly nearly 40 pages of maps in each product, each product presenting 24 map tiles. Dungeon 1 features more basic designs, squares, straight hallways. Dungeon 2 is slightly more advances, offering curbs and several different room configurations. There are no graphs, but thick lines mark off squares to provide a clean distinction between squares without taking away from the maps.
For the Digital DM
If you are a digital dm like myself, this product is a great source to either extract or save images to be used with mapping programs like maptools. The pages have little “fat” so when using a mass image extraction program it is easier to distinguish the images you want.
For the Regular DM
Buy a projector. Seriously, if you’re still printing and cutting, you’ll find this product uses a fair amount of yellow and magenta. However, total ink loss is no more than any typical product.
The Iron Word
The Copper Dragon series is a must buy for anyone using tile maps. There are no basic maps with the caliber artwork in these products. There is an elegance to how plain they are. The lack of any additional objects on the floors brings out the true dungeon feel of the battle maps.
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I was so hoping that the 3.5 monsters 1 was a fluke; A quickly rushed product sent to the market before anyone had signed off on it, a risky decisions that did not pay off, a product that was already paid for and was too expensive to recreate.
However, it appears that the horrific layout, poor creature design and deficiency of artwork for each creature are signatures of this series as 3.5 NPCs & Monsters II recreates the same problems and adds new ones.
Someone must have neglected to tell the folks over at Black Death Publishing that there was not much added expense for producing extra pages of product for a PDF. Attempting to save a buck is the only reason for the cramped and squished layout in Monsters II . The 8 page product (6 pages are actual product) should be at least 22 pages. Each of the 11 monster entries are crammed into two or three paragraphs, compressed into the old 3.5 format. It is a great format for adventures, but a poor way to display creatures to a dungeon master that must quickly identify and read them. This is by far the worst layout I have seen in any product. I am pretty sure that a well trained monkey with a crayon and a beginner’s manual to Adobe Pagemaker 7.0 could do a better job.
As for the lack of art for their creatures, there is no reason for that type of negligence. Half of the creatures have some sort of artwork. Of those, the style of the art is very inconsistent and feels rushed and unedited. Black and White pencil drawings are thrown into the same lot with digital painted art.
It is a sad presentation for material that is not too bad. Reading through each entry in Monsters II, they seem like a lot of fun. Most are different takes on creatures you have seen elswhere such as undead medium goblins and a more dangerous form of zombie.
For the Dungeon Master
If you are looking for a couple of undead and twisted creatures, try the Nightwalker and the Varghul. They are two of the only creatures in the book that felt original. That is not to say that other parts of the product did not feel original, but they are based on creatures that have floated around the fantasy realm for decades.
The Iron Word
I have read some impressive adventures from Black Death Publishing, some of them suffering from layout issues as well. However, 3.5 NPCs & Monsters II feels like a kindergarteners foray into Indesign compared to the layout mistakes in their previous books. It is both difficult to read and difficult to use simultaneously. Outside of the couple of decent monsters in the book, many feel as if they were used elsewhere (and in some cases were) and changed for the sake of padding the book.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Hi Nate,
I much appreciate the constructive comments in this review. You raised some very good points that caused me to immediately look at the product with 'fresh eyes'. They are useful for upgrading (which I have already done) the product to meet higher expectations (for a $2.00 supplement). I also appreciate the positive comments on our publications in general. I do need to explain some things though:
1) I myself do all of the writing, editing and layout using Open Office 2.4, including the conversion to PDF format. I am in the process of learning this as I go along. I do not have, nor can afford, expensive software that would allow for much better layouts. Our best layouts were for two early works that Joe Calkins did for me. Joe is a true professional in artistry and design.
2) You may have been adding humor to your analysis with some of your comments. However, I believe they were beneath the standards of staff reviewers. The wise cracks were offensive to me and the result has been sales that were going very well completely stopped. I hope that is just temporary.
3) I provided full previews, people saw them and were buying the products. The supplements cost only $2.00 - $2.25. It seems as if you expect the low cost product to be as good as the usual $12 - $30 supplements. My niche in the market is producing useful works for those who want to spend $7.00 and under. Not everyone can afford to download 20 - 50 pages then print all of that out, adding more expense by using printer cartridges.
4) My Iron Bottom line is that they cost $2, they are easy to download and inexpensive to print and each one allows for cut and paste copying. Until I learn to do layouts well, your expectations on non-essentials like having a WoTC appearance are way too high!
To end on a good note, I do appreciate constructive comments like Peter did for the first supplement. I bear no ill will toward you in any way.
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Most adventures are designed a certain way.
That is, with the PCs eventually steaming into an unknown dungeon and laying waste to anything before their swords. Rarely do adventures veer from this formula, instead, they lull players into a boring dungeon routine.
This formula is the main reason why most adventures, even the best ones, need to be tweaked somewhere to introduce moral decisions and story telling. Green Ronin sought to change the format with its Bleeding Edge series, and, with the final adventure Escape from Ceranir, they diplay the proof that different is always better.
Ceranir is a 32-page adventure that traps the pcs in an expansive academy where a great tragedy has taken place. As the PCs travel five different levels of the building, they unravel one of the best included mysteries in D&D adventures. To say that the PDF is well written is like calling Gary Gygax a decent game designer. The authors have a strong understanding of adventure writing and developed a product that feels very non-linear. They know that players do not move along a straight line. Throughout the book, there are break out boxes to provide help for likable and unlikeable decisions by the players. But that is not the best thing the writers did in the book.
Their best feat, was making an adventure that requires fairly little combat for a smart group. Rarely does a module commend the player who wants to go about the adventure head first. Most modules feel like the author is screaming at the reader to hurry and get the players into combat. Not so true with Ceranir. Instead, the writers make combat optional for just about every combat outside of the last one. In some cases, not finding produces helpful allies and items.
For the Dungeon Master
The traps and puzzles of Ceranir are impressive. Normally the one thing I do to every adventure is replace the traps with traps that require more than just a simple role. With Ceranir, I found myself leaving all the traps in. They are either well placed simple traps or well designed complex traps.
The Iron Word
Escape from Cerenir is reason enough to buy the past issues of Bleeding Edge. It is a diversion from traditional adventure writing. One that provides an engrossing story, savory mystery and challenging traps and puzzles. Even the combat encounters are thought out well, utilizing a lot of terrain situations. If you are looking for a not so combat-only oriented adventure, work your way through the Bleeding Edge series to Escape from Cerenir.
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The Legacy of Doku is an old story that is being told by a friend of yours. A story you have heard before but you have to endure in detail once again because your friend swears they are providing you something new and insightful. Instead it is just a retread done slightly more boring than the first time you heard it.
Escaping the authors naivety that the Victorian setting and vampires are nothing new, there is an decent chase adventure inside The Legacy of Doku its just bogged down from trying to introduce a new campaign world while simultaneously tell a basic story. The short adventure, 52-pages, is set in a Victorian setting. The first chapter is a yarn explaining what a Victorian setting is and what vampires are in a 3.5 setting. The plot focuses on the party attending a ball and being wrapped into the story of chasing down two humans endowed with vampire powers.
The book includes Bookmarks but contains a very busy layout with various types and sizes of typeface. You will find yourself listening for the train with the horrible amount of railroading that takes place. The author expects you to start your campaign at 8th to 10th level with this adventure, an odd level to start any campaign. The author then expects the PCs to have an open enough background where each of them may have some vampire ancestry. The PCs must then hold their belief and chase down a pair of individuals on a weak plot hook. All throughout, you are introduced to uneven charts and unrelated tables to introduce into your game and reinforce the Victorian setting. This is another poor layout decision as it would have been far easier to relay the information by placing it in an Appendix. The saving grace of this adventure is the decently populated dungeon in Doku’s Keep. The writing is crisp, the descriptions vivid and the encounters are very atmospheric. It is an obvious strength of the writer.
For the Dungeon Master
The keep is pretty good if you are searching for an undead stronghold in your campaign. Until the end it is written pretty generically, allowing you to lift it and place it in a better adventure. Also of note is the remarkable job done on the handouts, battlemaps and NPC stat blocks. All of which could be slightly altered and put into a better adventure.
The Iron DM
The Legacy of Doku has just enough stuff to be lifted to make it a safe purchase. The writer obviously is caught up too much in his own setting to focus on the elements that move the adventure along. However, the keep and extra material are well worth the price.
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Making an exciting political adventure requires a writer who can carefully weave layers of plot while not neglecting the combat and challenges a PC expects. These layers of plot must be sparse enough so never to railroad the PCs and just dense enough to insure that a proper direction is always visible. The Road to Revolution: Puncture the Blackened Vein, is a text-book example of maintaining an exciting adventure sandwiched with delicious layers of intrigue and mystery. Though it sometimes exceeds its ceiling of plot digestion, Blackened Vein always maintains a solid structure to engage the players.
Road to Revolution is a six-part urban adventure series based on the Great City, the home campaign world of t 0Ones Publishing Company. Puncture of the Blackened Vein is the fourth installment and revolves around a grand plot by a secretly wicked church to convert the Temple Ward of the city to their deity. To do so, they plan a devastating catastrophe topped off by a miraculous event to catapult their church into limelight. While they manipulate another deity’s followers they themselves are being manipulated as well by an even darker god. The players are injected into the thick of this plot after being sent to find an accountant. The adventure takes them to the streets of the Great City, to a grand parade and into the underground sewers as they pursue this lead.
This adventure felt the least campaign specific of the series, making it far easier to take out of the Great City and into your home campaign. The constant DM sidebars prove to be quite helpful in facilitating the adventure and remembering the various factions and how they play a part in the adventure. Blackened Vein weighs in at 70 pages and is written for a balanced party of 8th to 10th level. Most of this is the adventure with the last dozen pages dedicated to explaining the gods of the Great City.
For the Dungeon Master
This is a well plotted adventure. Often times, mystery and political intrigue can come at a party like a hammer to a nail with little finesse. Blackened Vein starts off small and gradually ups the ante of the adventure, never loosing the players.
The Iron Word
Road to Revolution: Puncture of the Blackened Vein has a fairly complicated plot and is not for PCs who lack the concentration of paying attention to plot threads. That is not to say that players can get lost, but there is the chance of players missing a small clue here and there. The adventure runs very easily and the writers have loaded some very simple boxes to keep the DM on point. This is one of those adventures that the PCs will feel like they truly accomplished something when it is completed.
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Raise your hand if your players are more likely to remember the NPC with a an overzealous personality and a lisp more so than the NPC with the two epic feat progressions of two weapon fighting you designed him with.
If you are wiggling your fingers in the air, then your players are not of the hack and slash variety and would enjoy meeting the colorful characters in Generic Universe Publishing’s Tavern Denizens: Book I The Dives.
Tavern Denizens uses an original system called Sparks to allow that allow their products to be used in any system. Sparks uses a series of simple, generic terms for Physical, physical, combat and magic traits so that dungeon masters can easily determine a Sparks character’s abilities compared to a statted one in their game. It alleviates the writers from concentrating on skills and making perfect builds and instead allows them to focus on unique personalities where their skills obviously shine.
There are 29 unique NPCs to filter your campaign world. Many of them are quirky and add a neat new friend or interesting new foe for pcs. These NPCs are all random people to be found in any inn or tavern the PCs come across.
For the DM
This book is great for those random occurrences where players encounter people whom are important to the situation but were not important enough to the campaign to remember them ahead of time. My favorite NPC was Jack the Braggart. A person with an habitual lying problem with important information is a fun way to antagonize your players.
The Iron Word
The Sparks system allows for easy insertion into any campaign book, though some of the NPCs would have benefited from additional skills. Still, Tavern Denizens: Book I The Dives gives the busy DM over two dozen NPCs with enough uniqueness to make them distinguishable enough in an eventful campaign world.
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A few days before the release of Green Ronin’s Warriors and Warlocks, the subject of lite RPG systems came up, and one of us mentioned how great it would be if Mutants and Masterminds had a D&D version. I think the actual comment was that Green Ronin could do a better job of D&D than the current IP owners.
And so here we are.
Warriors and Warlocks is an impressive system generated from the Mutants and Masterminds system. Its still fun comic book style gameplay but set in fantasy settings with abilities and magic we are used to seeing in traditional role playing games. Sword and sorcery comic book lovers will feel like they have been implanted in their favorite comic books while traditional RPG lovers will find the system to be fairly light and quick, with speedy, savage combats and a focus on story and development.
Unlike the 10 power level you will find in a M&M game, Warriors and Warlocks lowers the level to 6 for heroic campaigns. Though Gamemasters are welcome to raise the power level depending on the epicness of the campaign. There are no classes or races, your power level assigns you a particular amount of power points you can spend on feats and powers. There is just enough player management crunch without the additional player progression memorization of heavier systems. You are also given a particular amount of skills and ability points. Powers relate to magic and racial prowess while feats deal more with fighting aspects. The book does institute templates to handle race and profession (class). These are not free, they must be deducted from the players current pool of points. There are the traditional elven and dwarf races, but Warriors and Warlocks steps out of traditional fantasy bounds and includes cat and reptile racial templates as well. For those who want to quickly dive in and play, 10 archetypes (ready made characters) are included.
The last two chapters of the book introduce information for the game master. A strong list of converted “fantasy” monsters are included to easily insert into a campaign. Magical items are also introduced, reinforcing the system’s emphasis on low-magic campaigns. Beyond the simple stat bumps that heavier RPGers are use to, the magic items in Warriors and Warlocks instead perform super abilities that make them special and valuable.
For the Gamemaster
In the last couple chapters, the amount of inspiring fluff given to the gamemaster is dense. The book includes series frameworks, nearly two dozen detailed campaign hooks that help you start a campaign. The book also includes 3 fantasy settings including Green Ronin’s popular Freeport. This is the first RPG I have read that includes detailed mass combat rules. The good thing is you can take these rules and easily apply them to any other system that uses d20.
For the Player
You have the power to make any type of character you wish in the game with few restrictions. The classless system allows a great amount of variety.
The Iron Word
As with Mutants and Masterminds, the greatest flaw is its amount of options it gives you during character creation. With the wrong player it can lead to a lot of powergaming and munchkinning, though far less than in the Mutants and Masterminds game because of the decrease in the superpowers. The system is incredibly easy to run, relying on a few rolls to deal with combat by using the same system as in M&M. If you are looking for a fun, lite RPG with a little more meat than True 20, Warriors and Warlocks is worth a try.
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Misfits & Menaces: Archenemies proves that there are no original ideas anymore, just uncreative uses o them here and there.
Archenemies is a collection of supervillians for your Mutants and Masterminds 2nd edition campaign. The villains in Archenemies are connected by a loose thread; that is they are all major level villains that will take a well oiled team to take down. Each of the nine villains consists of a stat block, description, brief bio and adventure hooks. They are all quite powerful if not very generic. Most of the villains presented have been seen many times over in superhero supplements. Because you only have a limited number of powers in the superhero universe, it is expected that you will run into super powered villains who resemble others.
Where Archenemies stumbles is that each villain lacks a power section, and each of their adventure hooks sounds like they were spit out of the generic comic book idea machine. One-third of the villains are pulled from fantasy and horror folklore. Also weighing the book down is the lack of explanation of the powers of each villain. Instead they depend on the game master to inspect in detail the stat blocks, instead of including a brief power section. With some of the villains you do not gain a clear understanding of their power until you read the adventure hook. The book attempts to separated itself from others by including a threat level with each villain. In concept it is a great idea, but trying to remember the Greek alphabet order became more of a distraction during preparation. A simple system that involved alphabets, numbers or colors would have been so much better.
For the Gamemaster
Hiroshimas is the brightest spot of the villains. A well crafted nuclear supervillians bitter about a 70 year old war. Also the entire write-up of Autocrat, the cold war engineer turned terrorist has an adult theme that feels fresh.
The Iron Word
Archenemies is a decent set of supervillians, we have just seen them in other places before. Bypassing the duds, a skilled game master can pull out enough material to produce some fun, world dooming game sessions.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Without addressing the subjective aspects of Nathan's review, a factual correction is needed: this work contains ten villains (plus several minion entries), not nine. |
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