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This is one of the most useful collections of generic rules you are likely to encounter on the effects of immersion into a hostile natural environment (in this case, lava). The rules succinctly cover partial and complete immersion, and implicitly consider whether the immersion was accidental or voluntary (and if the latter, whether the decision was made by the immersed Character or by some third party who pushed the Character into the lava).
True, there is some ambiguity in the phrasing of the rules themselves (something which can hardly be surprising when one tries to write rules that can be applied to almost any game system). But that’s where the diagrams, brilliant in their ability to synthesise the key points of the rules, come in.
If I could point out a minor flaw or three, they would constitute my only criticisms of an otherwise brilliant book.
1) The decision-making flowchart (the second diagram) seems to create an unintentional loop. I would have redirected the rightmost “No” branch to another, new rhombus, perhaps reading something like "Do you want/have to remain where you are?”. Obviously, a “Yes” arrow would lead back to the middle rhombus, thus completing the loop, but this would then be the Player’s choice rather than the GM’s. On the other hand, a “No” response would lead to the yellow square (which might require minor rewording to consider this new possibility).
2) I have some questions concerning the special section on Characters who are “Immune to Fire”. Specifically, I should like to know what happens if the Character is immune to FIRE but NOT to HEAT? Conversely, what happens if the Character is immune to HEAT but NOT to FIRE? And perhaps the most insidious dilemma: what happens if the Character is immune to BOTH heat AND fire, but CAN’T SWIM? I’m looking forward to a second edition of these rules, which will hopefully address these pressing questions in sufficient detail.
3) One obvious formatting error is the total lack of numbering for the various illustrations, which might result in some confusion for the hasty reader. But a more leisurely perusal of the section, along with numerous references to the rules themselves, will likely clear that up in no time.
On the other hand, an obvious bonus is the inclusion of a very complete index. This, along with the care with which the authors worded the Disclaimer, shows their dedication to furthering the cause of good, clean gaming. If they're ever in my neck of the desert, I will proudly stand them a beer.
All in all, and despite minor flaws, this is possibly the best compendium of rules on Lava, Magma, and Superheated Rock ever written. And not only is it not rules-dependent, which is a great plus, it is also more polyfacetic than the authors themselves seem to realize. In fact, I will confess I tried something truly far-fetched, and it worked: I was able to adapt these rules – with minimum tweaking, mind you – to miniature wargames, and they have proven to be a great success indeed. (That last point, by the way, is the reason why, despite the aforementioned minor flaws, this book deserves a full five-star rating.)
In short, I heartily recommend this book. It’s free, true, but don’t let that deter you: it’s easily worth twice the price.
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A very nice fantasy adaption of the Traveller system.
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A good product on building an Earth-like world with a focus on the fantasy. Great tips on where to place terrain and spread intelligent races.
The product needs a greater contrast between the grey background and the text in order to increase legibility. The orientation of the maps means you have to rotate the image when reading on a laptop but if you read it on a tablet, you will not have any issue. The map legends are clear to differentiate between the various terrain and ages.
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I found this to be well written in most area's as I read it. I feel that the combat damage looks to simple, but have not had time to even run any sample combats to try it out. I am sure that it was influanced by a cartoon on T.V. there is a nice assortment of creatures included to help a GM make their own adventures, the rukles are set up as simple as they can be to allow the GM to be creative as they wish to be. I like how flexable the system is as well as how easy it looks to be able to make charaters for.
When skills, "powers", and other things are rated by the same 4 level scale it makes a simple consistancy for a rough power level comparessan between the party and the chalange, that is not so cut and dried that it will be clear who will win.
I can see where some will find that it is set up to force a set of choices on a player by the "destiny" and "race" they pick to play, but I think that is part of the nature of this world. Think of it as the rule of fate and natural slection for this universe. each destiny has a set of skills with a group of extra levels and some extra points to make a charater into what you want to start.
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A Magical Medieval Society: City Guide is a must read for GM's and DM's alike. If you are a good GM you must spend a lot of time in research for your developing of games. This book highlights many factors that most don't think of when forming a working city for your gaming group. If you carefully think of each part that is covered you can answer many questions of your game. What are the major players and systems that run the city?, How is law handled? What can you expect to happen if you try to work your way to the top?
Thanks for the Info
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This was a wonderful read. A Magical Society: Guide to Mapping brings up many facets to a working RPG world. Not only the creation of the world but how it actually formed to begin with. I read the whole thing in one go and will use some of its hits and tips for future gaming fun.
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This book could be a jewel for those who like novels and long storytelling but not for those who are looking for role-playing, the book is really a novel with interactive elements but perhaps I misunderstood the nature of this product. When I started reading I saw the main character block and it is very similar to any found in a RPG adventure, so I was looking for my first roll, then I made my first decision and felt a big pleasure, I thought a lot to make it thinking that a bad decision would bring a nasty consequence but reading further I realized it was a linear story and whatever decision I took always I would be in the same line in no time.
I made the experiment twice, I made one decision and read the outlet, and then retried and I got the same result with only a little irrelevant happening or not happening to just get in the line again.
If you enjoy novels then this one will appeal you but I just got bored after reading 10 more pages and only making three or four irrelevant decisions, I just think I wasted my money since my interest was a RPG with more decisions and rolls and more character development not just a plain novel.
I will give it a 3 because still it might be a fun novel to those who look for that genre but not for me I was looking for a RPG and supposedly this is a place in which we look for that otherwise we look for the fiction section.
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As expected, it's a little generic... But as a look at how magic can be integrated into classic Western European Medieval cities it seem to be very well thought out. I haven't played in a game that uses that EXACT culture in years, but I'd think that, as a starting point, this would make a valuable beginning on adapting any existing culture to allow for magic.
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A well presented and concise guide to making magical maps with plenty of illustrations and an example. Well worth a read for anyone who's starting their own world, but doesn't know where the mountains should go.
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This well-conceived and well-executed supplement gives DMs a robust toolkit for incorporating plagues into fantasy role-playing campaigns. The crunchy parts are for D&D 4e, but the first three (of five) chapters are largely crunch-free and could be used by GMs running any system. Those first three chapters describe the onset, progress, and aftermath of a plague. Author Creighton Broadhurst has done a particularly good job in these chapters of balancing realism/verisimilitude with compelling and efficient gameplay. Chapters 4 and 5 present 4e-specific options for players and DMs, including magic items, rituals, disease stat blocks, skill challenges, monsters, and even a god of disease. The text seems to have been well-edited, with very few grammatical errors slipping through. The typography needs more polish; in particular, using Times New Roman for the body text and Georgia for the footnotes creates an unpleasant clash of serifs. Aside from these relatively minor aesthetic points, I wholeheartedly recommend this supplement.
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The 130+ superhero adventure seeds in this compilation come in two basic formats: short one-paragraph hooks and longer two-paragraph adventure starters. As you might expect, the quality varies, and there’s some degree of repetition (as in comics themselves). Usually this isn’t too bad; there’s always room in the comics, and in a superhero campaign, for the umpteenth alternate-earth story (it took DC Comics less than a year after the New 52 debut to introduce Earth-2) or Golden Age redux tale. However, pp. 7 and 15 contain identical (word for word) seeds, which is a little more annoying, and two different seeds exploit the “retirement home for Golden Age superheroes” trope.
Sadly, embarrassing grammatical, stylistic, and typographical errors and inconsistencies pepper the compilation. In some cases, these inconsistencies appear within just a few words of each other (as when “M-theory” appears once with a capital “M” and once with a lower case “m,” with only one word in between). In at least two instances, two seeds run together without an obvious break.
If you’re thinking of buying the compilation for a minor, you’ll want to know that several of the seeds (at least half a dozen or more) deal with “PG-13” situations (usually sexual improprieties).
Although the compilation is marked with the d20 logo and uses the d20 Open Game License (with all content marked as open, to ERP’s credit), there’s actually no system-specific material in the seeds, and you can get equally good use out of the compilation no matter what supers system you’re running.
Probably about 2/3 of the seeds appeal to me enough to consider developing them into fuller scenarios, which is a pretty good ratio for this type of product (which needs broad appeal rather than deep satisfaction of any one customer’s personal tastes). In my judgment, it’s worth your time and worth the price if you run any superhero games. You could probably even adapt some of the seeds for high-magic fantasy games.
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The Pozas collections are rather variable, and this one is poor. Five pieces. If you want a "common room" set up in a cave with a surprisingly large fire, or very black steps down into a catacomb with skulls, you might get value from the price. The library with torch is really hard to make sense of - I think that's a chair but it could be a giant hand! The garden and modern flat-roofed compound buildings are undetailed and not very interesting, but could serve as small spot pics.
Expeditious Retreat ought to provide decent previews of these products so customers can see what they'll be getting. In this case I gambled and lost.
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"One Shot" starts out as a generic RPG framework. What sets it apart is the fine tuning and GM advice for single-session games, especially the notion of being consistent just within the game session. This is very liberating because, as the author notes, a lot of effort in a typical RPG is put into creating a whole consistent game world that must support long campaign play. From that premise, the author presents a simple set of rules for character creation and conflict resolution.
The fact that characters may have distinct and arbitrary abilities makes me think that the system will work better with pre-generated characters. After all, freeform abilities mean the GM will have to discuss with each player to avoid inbalance and abuse, and such a lengthy process doesn't make sense for a one-shot game.
Conflict generation is a straightfoward d12 roll and there really is no need to get any more complicated as characters won't grow in power over a campaign etc. One thing I found missing is the use of Areas of Expertise. They seem to be descriptors that allow an automatic success for a character in certain circumstances but the text isn't really clear. In any case, the game will probably work just as well if they are not used.
All things considered, One Shot is an interesting read whether to use the proposed system or just the advice for one shots that may be applied to other games. As a game system, it is not for beginning GMs as there is a lot of planning and decisions to be made to flesh out an adventure.
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Down the Shadowvein is the follow up to AA#1: The Podmaster of the Sinister Shroom, and can be used to follow that adventure or on it's own. All the GM needs to supply is an underground river they can canoe down and a map leading to treasure down river. Its for character levels 3 to 5.
I really wish I could find my copy of PotSS, but it's packed in a box somewhere in storage. Ah well, onward to Down the Shadowvein.
The GM's map (and the Player's map too) is a hex map, inducing the river and adventure locations and passages. It's weird but cool that the underground map is similar to an above ground map, even though the party is going to be thinking "dungeon".
If it reminds me of any classic adventure, it's D1-2, when the party travelled through the underdark. There is much of that feel here, as the random encounters the party may interact with include merchant trains. Merchant trains underground, ya gotta love it. :)
The main encounter areas are mapped out like dungeons, so your players (and you) will be in comfortable surroundings at times. In truth, this plays out (almost) like a sandbox campaign underground, as the players have choices in the directions they will take.
Still, it is not the usual sort of adventure, and it may be awkward for some GMs to run it. It is underground, and most travel will probably be via river, but there are also numerous passages for the party to stumble through.
Depending on how thoroughly the party explores their sandbox, this could take two to the 4 hour sessions to complete. There really is a lot to explore in the two dozen pages in this adventure.
You also get 2 new magic items and 4 new monsters.
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Good for it's price, but only some of the seeds are any good (and a few are repeated twice).
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