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Random Woodland Encounters $3.99
Average Rating:4.2 / 5
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Random Woodland Encounters
Publisher: Raging Swan Press
by Thilo G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/21/2011 06:09:03

This pdf is 23 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page blank inside front cover, 2 pages introduction/editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page information for novice DMs on how to read the statblocks, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement and 1 page back cover, leaving 14 pages of content for 8 not-so random encounters, so let's check them out, shall we?

Random encounters are rather less random in my game than usual - I try to prepare a set of encounters prior to springing them upon my players in order to keep the encounters from being a boring slugfest sans environmental complications. This is where Raging Swan's new series comes in - we get fully detailed encounters, complete with read-aloud text, environmental modifiers and statblocks for those instances when you can't be bothered to put one together yourself. The encounters all come with information on how to scale them up and down.

The first encounter (EL 7) has the PCs ambushed by a group of bandits (complete with tumbled trees in front and behind them) and comes with two NPCs in addition to the generic bandit statblock provided. Both named bandits come with background, mannerisms and distinguishing features - neat! It's also nice to see bandits that want to just toll the road (with a reasonable fare) that can be reasoned with instead of just dumb kill-all foes.

The second encounter is a social encounter (EL 2) and has the PCs happen upon the remains of a wagon and a gravely injured family that has fallen prey to some of the dangers lurking in the forest - the PCs can help them overcome this ordeal, show kindness, try to alleviate the suffering over the loss of cherished family members and might even gain an apprentice over the course of the encounter. I really liked this non-combat encounter and it comes with 2 sample statblocks.

Combat galore awaits the PCs when they encounter the next one, a strike-squad of stealthy kobolds and gnolls with a twist (EL 5) - one of the gnolls has a pugwampi, a dog-faced fey staring out of its backpack and said creature has a rater unpleasant aura of ill-fortune, making this encounter potentially dangerous and hilarious. 3 statblocks are provided, one for the gnolls, one for the kobolds and one for the pugwampi.

The fourth encounter is rather straight-forward and has the PCs square off against the goblins of the Blood Moon, which, however, come with a whopping 5 different statblocks, ensuring that the encounter does not devolve into a mook slugfest. 4 compositions of the encounter, ranging from EL 1 to 4 are provided.

The next encounter (EL 4)was my favorite one of the bunch - a dilapidated hovel, overgrown by nettles might provide shelter for the PCs if they manage to hack their way through the dense vegetation. Inside, though, they find the remains of a struggle and might finally find the thing that now lairs in the hovel. It's interesting how creepy the encounter manages to be in the limited amount of space available. It comes with one statblock.

The next 2 encounters unfortunately don't live up to the standard of the other ones, providing onyl two hunting teams - an EL 9 battle against a troll and its young and a EL 6 fight against an ogress and her wolves. While not bad per se, they only take up one page and feel rather generic and bland when compared to the others.

The final encounter, shattered bridge (CR 6) can be seen for free in Rite Publishing's free Pathways e-zine #8, so if you're torn on whether you like the premise of the pdf, there's your free teaser.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. The b/w-two-column layout is elegant and the b/w-artworks are nice for the low price and serve to enhance the overall feeling of the encounters. Not all is perfect, though: While the social encounter, human bandits, gnoll ambush and the creepy hovel really caught my fancy, I didn't care particularly much for the hunting squads or the goblins - they feel like generic statblocks that spring from ambush to attack the PCs, not drag and drop complex encounters. There is nothing per se wrong with the latter, but they stand out due to the quality of the other encounters and thus their relative blandness is even more apparent. That being said, this pdf is cheap for the amount of quality content provided and is still a good purchase, especially for being the first of the new line. If authors Creighton Broadhurst and Julian Neale manage to cut these rather bland encounters and get in more in the vein of the bandits, social encounter etc., we're up for a ride in the future! For this installment, my final verdict will be 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Random Woodland Encounters
Publisher: Raging Swan Press
by Dark M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/20/2011 14:07:44

Random Woodland Encounters by Raging Swan Press

This product is 23 pages long. It starts with a credits, cover, and ToC. (5 pages)

Woodland Encounters (15 pages) There is 19 encounters in this section. Each one talks about the location they are out, full stat blocks, tactics of the creatures, advice to scale the encounter and sometimes information for roleplaying or dealing the encounter other than combat. 1/4 Kobold Raider (kobold warrior 1) 1/3 Laina, Satu and Viljo Masterson (human expert 1) 1/3 Blood Moon Raider (goblin warrior 1) 1/3 Blood Moon Scout (goblin expert 1) 1/2 Bandit (human male warrior 2) 1/2 Blood Moon Battledancer (goblin warrior 1/expert 1) 1/2 Blood Moon Elite Scout (goblin expert 2) 1/2 Pugwampi minion (fey) 1/2 Sampo Masterson (male human expert 2) 1 Blood Moon Adept (goblin adept 3) 1 Gnoll (gnoll) 1 Wolf (animal) 2 Garilax (male ghoul barbarian 1) 2 Kanavin Ruaenspar (female half‐elf fighter 3) 4 Elmeri Laukkanen (male human fighter 5) 4 Jarla, Ogre Huntress (female ogre ranger 1) 4 Young Troll (troll) 5 Troll (troll) 6 Valentin Pennanen(male human ghost wizard [conjurer 5])

It ends with a OGL, ads and back cover. (3 page)

Closing thoughts. There is black and white and is fair. Editing and layout where pretty good. The encounters run from pretty simple to fairly interesting with some nice plot hooks. It is a handy book to have at hand when your PC's are off trekking throw the woods and you suddenly find you need a handy encounter to liven things up cause the PC's went off in a unexpected direction. This is a solid pickup. So what's my rating? For the price I am going to give it a 4 star if you like having handy encounters on hand. Simple yet effective product.

Trust me, I'm a Succubus.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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