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Trade Routes: Expanded Caravan Rules Sourcebook (PFRPG) $2.29
Publisher: LPJ Design
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von Thilo G. [Verifizierter Käufer] Hinzugefügt am: 09/02/2011 07:31:24

This pdf is 17 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial & SRD, half a page advertisement, leaving 14 1/2 pages of content, so let's check out this expansion of Jade Regent's caravan rules.

If you're like me and only today got the first installment of Paizo's new AP, this pdf will be cutting edge and significantly expand the available material for your caravans, but what exactly do we get?

First, we get 13 new types of wagons and draft animals that range from wagons that add a bonus to resolve for crossing rivers to bordello wagons, snake-oil herbalists (with d8-mini-table ranging from healing several points of damage to being temporarily blinded/deafened) to mobile stages, nursery wagons, passenger carriages and reliquaries. On the draft animal side, we get the speedy, yet very hungry mule teams, the expensive steam-engine if you want some steam-punkish elements in your caravan and even skeletal horse teams that don't eat and can't carry riders.

Of course, that's not where the new material ends - caravans also can buy from a selection of 13 new equipment pieces that range from cargo balloons and sledges, driver's compasses, land sails and letters of passages, a special kind of allowance to trade poisons, drugs, etc, repeating crossbow turrets and even a super heavy ballista.

No general crunch-book would be complete without new feats and 19 new feats for caravans are provided - From cargo unit-expansion to better unrest resolution to more useful beasts (either fighting or offering friendly animal attractions), to desert nomad-caravans, finding a oasis whenever you need one to essential powers to slave traders and slave caravans for the morally corrupt, there are a lot of cool ideas.

The slave trade in particular could make for a great way to jumpstart a campaign and introduce the caravan mechanics- have the PCs start as slaves, work and then take control of the caravan and lead it to freedom - very iconic and cool.

And hey, thankfully feats to let you ride the sides of wagons and dig latrines to minimize danger by disease are also included. Next up is a rather informative piece of writing dealing with real-world logistics of running a caravan, offering some neat ideas like royal roads and the concepts of dry camps. Special mention should go to the 9 sample plot hooks: One of them e.g. has the idea of sheltering and escorting a fugitive dragon from his pursuers...

That's a lot of new material, but we'll also need some threats for the expanded caravan, now, don't we? 21 new threats to the caravan are presented over the next couple of pages. The dangers range from marauding teams of humanoids to hunting dragons, an encounter with a dim-witted giant's herd, bad winds that carry gluttony with them or seek to whisk the caravan to the astral plane to bad road conditions, tengu tinkerers and kobold cave-ins - enough to keep your caravan busy!

Finally, there are 5 sample caravans to drop into your campaign, though all are somewhat small suitable for low-level caravans and ready to expand - from the perfume guild's candor and pleasures to the royal mail, players are sure to find a caravan to join on these pages.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting were top-notch, I didn't notice any explicit glitches. Layout adheres to the two-column standard, is easily readable, and while it comes with red boxes, still belongs to the very printer-friendly category. The pdf has no bookmarks, which is a bit of a pity, as it would have improved the user-friendliness, but at this length I won't detract a star for this omission. Artwork is stock and fitting. The rules are concisely-presented and written and you get exactly what you signed up for - easy rules-options and more material for your caravans. While some of the options are exactly what you'd expect and closes some omissions from the original rules, several of the options are both cool and imaginative. The hooks and sample campaigns are nice bonuses and add even further dimensions to the book. I also like that the pdf is mature about handling themes like bordellos and slavery and includes them for their narrative potential. All in all, apart from the lack of bookmarks, I have nothing negative to say and like several of the new options presented herein and the very fair and low price serves to counteract this minor blemish. Thus, my final verdict will be 5 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.



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