I've picked this up as well as the first two maps and really like them, there's a lot of interesting potential there and I hope a setting guide follows after the map series is complete - though with the name prompts I (and any GM) could create our own cultures and history from this. My only critique is the font is sometimes hard to read when printed on ledge (11x17) paper, the largest I have available to me - but I wouldn't want it changed at this point in future maps. It's still readable, just not always at a quick glance.

In the name of transparency, I've only read through this module, I haven’t run it. That said, it looks like a solid Shadowdark adventure with multiple locations, opportunities for both combat and negotiation, and several puzzles (meant metaphorically) to solve. If your looking for a break from the dark, dank dungeons, this is worth a look.

Great addition to Shadowdark! Love all the additional race options!

Nice take on the classic eye beasts from that other game.

You had me at goats, but the scalability in terms of level is super useful too.

Nice coillection of original monsters all in one theme. Particularly like the Mana Mites and the Hypno-ooze

So there have only been a few times that I've played the Shadowdark rpg. However the overlap with Troll Lords Castles & Crusades is pretty obvious in the similarities of the rpg systems. So there's a certain amount of cross compitibility within these OSR rpg systems. Manavores -- A Shadowdark Supplement By James Mishler, & Jodi Moran-Mishler is the perfect way to take the magical bite of our favorite OSR glass cannons the wizard or magic user. These monsters are not your average monsters and horrors that are hunting and eating magic. Instead these are creatures that have evolved in a highly magick charged enviroment. This is a fact brought home in the introduction; " The materials presented in this booklet are an optional, providing additional monsters as challenges to and perhaps allies of player characters. All the creatures herein are manavores, which eat or absorb magical energy and convert it to other sorts of magical or non-magical effects. All originate in areas of high concentration of magical power, and so can readily be found in just about any dungeon or area of high native magical or extra-planar power."
Manavores is a well laid out and solid book that presents a really nice font, layout and basic graphic presentation that is easy on the eyes.

This makes Manavores -- A Shadowdark Supplement perfect for Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum 2nd Printing. Because of the magick rich enviroment that C&C campaigns present. And this is especially true of the Castles & Crusades Reforged books that will be coming out after the current Kickstarter.

The Manavores presented in the book are both wild and having been captive bred making them incredibly dangerous to PC wizards. Some of these Manavores could be used as pets or companions but keep them far away from party wizards. Within Aihrde the manavores would certainly fit in nicely as there are already some monsters that would certainly fit the manavore moniker. I could also see using the manavores within Greyhawk. Is the manavores supplement worth getting?! In a word yes there's a good range of magick eating creatures and monsters within to leave even the most cynical wizard shaking. Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Want more OSR goodness? Please subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

Detailed and colorful map history. However, this document could use some grid numbers to easily find the landmarks it details.

This is exactly what i was looking for - an expanded list of talents! I felt that the default list of talents was much too short, and my players will want some more non-numerical bonuses, so this is wonderful.

The Eldritch Eyes are gross and terrifying! Message to players - run from these things. Message to James - great job. I can tell a lot of work went in to taking some of the cool parts of the Beholder, boiling out the bloat, and coming up with something uniquely Shadowdark. Every GM needs these monsters in their Bestiary.

I don't often review things here but I will say that I found these optional rules to be delightful and they fit well within what I would call the core Shadowdark design philosophy. They're simple enough, they add a additional layer of optional character design to broaden classes and races that promote class/race replayability. This is also a product that adds some inspiration on how to do things at your own table if you chose to add an extra layer to character development or design. It's likely that a lot of players that are moving to Shadowdark will be coming from more complex systems and having these optional rules at your fingertips will smooth over that transition. I hope to see updates or another suppliment of Expanded Talents for new official Shadowdark classes as they're released! Great work!

I was disappointed with the Expanded Talents supplement for the Shadowdark RPG. While the concept of adding more talents to the game is intriguing, the execution fell short. The supplement relies too heavily on cross-referencing and convoluted language, which goes against the philosophy of Shadowdark to be simple and easy to reference. Instead of adding to the fun and uniqueness of each class, this supplement muddies the waters and makes the game more cumbersome to play. Overall, I found this supplement to be a frustrating addition to the game that detracted from the overall experience."

"This booklet contains all the information you need to create a centaur player character for Labyrinth Lord or Advanced Labyrinth Lord (and is easily adaptable to other OSR systems). Details include both a centaur race and a centaur racial class, as well as information on creating centaur bands and camps. 12 pages (6 pages of content)."

So lately over the last three weeks we've been looking into possibly going back to OSRIC as a possible alternative OSR retroclone rules set. And one of my players has expressed a more then a passing interest in using a Centaur PC. And that's when it struck me James Mishler Games sent me a copy of the Centaur Race by James & Jodie Moran Mishler. Centaurs have certain connotations within Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition games as Dragon magazine paints them in solid Sylvan & Fey terms. James Mishler keeps this set of expections; "Centaurs are a sylvan race of forest and meadow. They tend to be atavistic and live in primal harmony with nature, abiding with dryads, nymphs, satyrs, treants, and other woodland folk and creatures. They tend to eschew contact with non-sylvan, non-fairy races, preferring to live in woodland and meadows in the wilds. Generally, males are wandering warrior-hunters while females are gatherers and gardeners who tend to the young. Males are also known for being wild and violent, especially when confronted with anything from the outside world; they sometimes raid settlements, especially for wine, which they consume with much gusto" The Centaur racial type or PC class or race could easily be adapted into OSRIC with little issue allowing the race to become a part of are campaigns.

My beat up copy of OSRIC

The Centaur Race By James Mishler, & Jodi Moran-Mishler puts down the details into twelve pages. No more & no less except for the fact that we also get details on information on creating centaur bands and camps. These bands could be perfectly aligned for creating violent & far more dangerous NPC centaur raiders or brigands. These centaurs are often raiders who give into the more chaotic & violent tendencies of their Slyvan nature. The Centaur Race from James Mishler Games centers its subject matter and focuses itself on only on the PC essentials & little else. And this appeals to the player from the ground up. Thanks for reading our review! Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Want more OSR goodness?! Please subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

James Mishler Games produces some excellent supplements Fairies Fair and Foul Vol. 01 By James Mishler, & Jodi Moran-Mishler From Mishler Games is no exception. This product runs the gammit from fairies of sorta good strip to Fey born straight from the nightmares of peasants.

Fact is that Fairies Fair and Foul Vol. 01 By James Mishler, & Jodi Moran-Mishler From Mishler Games has a solid inclusion of monsters scattered among the Fey; "The fairies included herein are not necessarily based on myths and legends, taking merely inspiration from the name and possibly inspiration from myths and legends. Some are created from whole cloth, much as many of the names of fairies in the Denham Tracts most likely were.

Rest assured, they will challenge your players with new and interesting encounters!

This first volume includes seven new types of fairies:

The Alholde Fairy – A household fairy who only the rich and powerful can afford.

The Fairy Apparition – A creature literally born of fairy nightmares!

The Banshee Fairy – Wicked fairies all too… keen… on avenging themselves on all other life!

The Barguest Fairy – A greedy beast of a fairy who toys with his enemies like a cat does a mouse…

The Black Dog Fairy – Guardians at the crossroads between the Fairy and Mortal worlds.

The Black Bug Fairy – Mortals should be careful when they wish upon a star, as they never know who might be listening…

The Bloody Bones Fairy – These traitorous fairies have lost their heads… but a little setback like that would never stop them. Just don’t lose your head when you encounter them…

Seven new fairies – Mostly wicked and foul, in this run."

Each of these seven Fey has both a benefit & bane attached to them in Fairies Fair and Foul Vol. 01. These Fey have this dual side to them which makes them more then simple monsters & pushes them into the realm of NPC's. This makes them very useful for both old school & OSR games, take for example Lamentations of the Flame Princess where 'Fairies Fair and Foul Vol. 01' could be used for something completely different as an adventure pivot point. And for a game such as Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg Fairies Fair and Foul Vol. 01 could add in some very different elements when a Fey such as these is in control of a certain domains & areas. Some of these such as Fairy Apparition could become a real problem for a ruler or even a thieves guild as they make an area completely off limits to a gang of outlaws. Other Fey such as the banshee fairy could become a force of vengence against an entire royal line or even a wizard's family. For Castles & Crusades Fairies Fair and Foul Vol. 01 are perfect for the sort of adventure fodder that players would not be expecting. This is especially true of the Black Bug Fairy which could if used correctly could make a party of adventurer's lives a bit of a Hell with a small 'h'. This thing has all of the hallmarks of a min teir Fey encounter that is both horror and humorous applications. The Bloody Bones Fairy is another Fey that could become the focal point for an entire series of adventures encounters. These Fey have some very dangerous abilities that they can bring to play. Another Fey with numerous applications is the Barguest Fairy which could become the center point of a family curse adventure or other supernatural serial murder style adventures. A very dangerous Fey if used right. For the price Fairies Fair and Foul Vol. 01 brings great value to the table as fodder for both your OSR or old school campaigns. Thanks for reading our review. Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Want more OSR content? Please subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

So Shortcuts to Adventure #1: Shrine of the Slime God came across my email tonight from Mishler Games. And it's just in time for this weekend's Castles & Crusades game that I'm supposed to be running. And its

"The first Shortcut to Adventure is the Shrine of the Slime-God. Here horrible Chaotic and Evil priests and cultists come to worship the Demon-Prince of Slime. Here they store their treasures when they return home and hide in obscurity among their Lawful, Goodly neighbors… but they do not leave these treasures unguarded!"

"Designed for a party of 4th to 6th level adventurers, this adventure can easily be adjusted to higher or lower levels by altering the mix and number of monsters present."

Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler is a perfect small dungeon with a big adventure hook for levels four to sixth level adventurers. And this is really significant for the fact that despite the small page count. Shrine of the Slime God is a majorly deadly dungeon perfect for a weekend set up and play. Shrine of the Slime God a perfectly suited mini dungeon to drag & drop into your favorite urban campaign landscape. And this brings up the fact that because shrine is a mini dungeon that its perfect to drop into this weekend's Greyhawk Castles & Crusades game. Why?! Because the demon prince of slime is throw back to the Greyhawk city or Greyhawk ruins setting. There's just enough material within Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler to throw into an ongoing game and keep the players on their toes.

Shortcuts to Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler comes in at eight pages. And as an adventure it works quite perfectly for a Friday or Saturday evening OSR or old school games.The layout within this module is well done. The cartography of the Shortcuts to Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler is simple direct & does exactly what it says on the tin. For C&C this is an excellent little mini dungeon to introduce the slime prince of demons to your players. And here's where C&C's Tome of The Unclean comes in handy to really bring home a few more details about the demon prince of slime.

Shortcuts to Adventure #01: Shrine of the Slime God By James Mishler and Jodi Moran-Mishler is reasonably priced. Easily to add into existing campaigns & works very well to bring home the goodness of the demon prince of slime! Thanks for reading our review Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Want More OSR action?! Please subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/