The "Eye of Xalath" is a 25 pages (+ stats and book of lore) adventure for Beasts & Barbarians by Umberto Pignatelli. It takes place in the decadent empire of Tricarnia (though it may be adapted to some other dark realms). The heroes wake up tied on a sacrificial altar, while the ceremony is being performed ! Yes, I know, starting in medias res is a staple of Sword & Sorcery, but some gamemasters may have to justify this situation in front of their players. If the latters did not fail their previous adventure, I suggest that the GM, as a "reward", include some precious items in the second part of this story. A beautiful Tricarnian princess is about to stab them with a magical dagger when, suddenly, minions of her brother and foe rush into the tower. Both the heroes and the princess have to flee on a giant bat in the direction of the Brokenchain Mountains, where their "air-beast" finally crashes into a giant maze, the "Xalath", populated by strange three-eyed humanoids who capture the princess. After this railroading (that's why I spoilt this part of the story :-) ), the adventure becomes interesting : will the heroes seek to save the princess, or only their own souls ? And what about the minions of her brother ? As usual, don't await any map in this book; Umberto uses once again his acclaimed "Abstract Navigation system". Since a short book of lore of the Xalath is given at the end of the PdF, any gamemaster might well lengthen the heroes' journey in the labyrinth, in case they enjoy its pitfalls, challenges and rewards. Therefore, the course of this adventure is very open-ended.

Along with the world of Xoth, this is the best Conan-inspired sword & sorcery setting around. It's not just Conan with the serial numbers filed off though: the world has its own familiar but fresh flavour that I really enjoy.

But the setting is not just fluff; there's lots of great mechanics in here to emulate the genre. The arcane backgrounds (Sorcery, Lotus Mastery, Enlightenment) are excellent additions, and the edges (like the brilliant Loincloth Hero for playing bare-chested barbarians, and Hand-and-a-Half for wielding bastard swords) are all very well-done. Then there's also a lot of thematic gear like scythed-wheel chariots, Amazon ships, etc.

Though not in this book, there's plenty of very good original sword & sorcery adventures available for this setting as well.

The art is generally very good as well. My only complaint would be that there's a few pieces, which I believe are backers' faces, which look a bit weird and out of place.

It's definetly in the right direction, and provides the minimum skinning to use the system for what it says. But I was a little dissapointed though, i was hoping for more detailed information towards the construction of the powers themselves. There are some sample powers, which is a start. So I will probably have to develope my own rules. Either way good job guys.

I have purchased this and a number of the settings for Adventurers! here on DriveThruRPG, and have enjoyed them to the extent that I also went to the trouble of finding and purchasing softcover editions of Adventurers! Core and Adventurers! Fantasy.

As an old grognard (Gm'd my first games in the mid-70s), I enjoy its nostalgic, rules-light approach; but as a contemporary gamer I appreciate that, while simple and streamlined, the system is classless and anything but simplistic; and am amazed and delighted at how flexible, scaleable, and eminently hackable the whole system manages to be.

Just a truly impressive achievement all around.

I have purchased a number of the settings for Adventurers! here on DriveThruRPG, and have enjoyed them to the extent that I also went to the trouble of finding and purchasing softcover editions of Adventurers! Core and Adventurers! Fantasy.

As an old grognard (Gm'd my first games in the mid-70s), I enjoy its nostalgic, rules-light approach; but as a contemporary gamer I appreciate that, while simple and streamlined, the system is anything but simplistic; and I am amazed and delighted at how flexible, scaleable, and eminently hackable the whole system manages to be.

I would gladly play and read Adventurers! The Dungeon over playing or reading Dungeon World any day of the week.

Just a truly impressive achievement all around.

Really helpful and creative book if you want to manage a mercenary group. The additional rules are really fast, fun and fourious!

On of the best savage world settings I´ve read so far. Full recommendation.

I really like most of the Beasts and Barbarians adventures but this one is really not my favourite. The backgroundstory is not explainend sufficiently, so that, as a gamemaster I don´t get a lot of plont point. Especially the reason for the existence of the McGuffin Crystal is poorly explained. I think with some editing this could be a much better story.

The adventure generator is awesome. Basically you draw some playing cards, and use their values and some very interpretive charts in the book to generate a random adventure. This book also has some really neat monsters. But my favorite thing is the adventure generator. You can draw some cards and make a crazy, exciting adventure in just 45 minutes to an hour that will take maybe 6 hours for your players to get through. Of course you can design it to be shorter than that, that's just one possibility. Actually in the book it explains how you can use it to make an entire campaign. I've seen other adventure generators that use dice rolls instead, which would be a waste in Savage Worlds. Honestly drawing the cards and interpreting them makes me feel a bit like I'm doing a tarot reading or something, it's great fun.

I love this damn game. The layout is good, the edges are cool and fit the setting. Anyways the new types of magic users are really cool and distinct. This game is super fun and has exactly the right Conan the Barbarian feel to it that I was hoping for.

The only downsides are that I feel like there's too many edges and they can be overwhelming for new players. Some of the hinderances are unnecessary too, but complaining about too many options is a dumb thing to complain about, I just feel like they could have trimmed them down a bit.

I'll be playing this game for a very long time.

While I wasn't enamored with the rules, Ifound the world tour much more intersting.

Just seems overly complex to me. Cards and dice, lots of different plusses and minuses for race, character class, situational modifiers et al.

A friend suggested I post some reviews of some underappreciated and under-rated material for GM's Day this year, so here's the Savage Worlds edition of Peacekeepers. Although it has some flaws (see below) it also has an interesting take on the "villains save the world" scenario that we have seen in other comic book RPGs for some time, including the Savage Worlds Necessary Evil campaign. As in those other campaigns, an existential threat arises from space, and former villains and heroes must put aside their differences to save the Earth.

However, Peacekeepers brings some unique elements to the table: the "lead" villain who put a crimp in the alien's attack plans is, unknowingly, a robot created by a mad scientist, who serves as her "science advisor". Her past isn't actually mysterious - it's just missing. Since one of the elements of a story of this kind is learning about the backgrounds and being paranoid about the true intentions of your comrades-in-arms, this information is extremely well-suited to this kind of scenario. Plus, I'm a sucker for any T.O. Morrow references I can work into my game.

The alien invasion is for a very good reason - a mysterious ane extremely powerful artifact which the aliens revere as a religious item. The aliens themselves are revered by a cult of collaborators here on Earth, a different type of quisling that we don't normally see. All in all, it's a unique setup. There's some attention to a supporting cast (the American President, the characters' "voice in the headset lady") which is extremely practical and ties in well to the concepts of the setting.

The flaws in Peacekeepers fall where it fails to embrace its identity. There's a superheroic adventure generator section which doesn't advance the core questions of the setting at all - it's just a regular superhero scenario maker. Fine for what it is, but not interesting in the context of Peacekeepers. Similarly, the scenarios offered don't really connect to the core conflict of the world at all. They're just regular superhero scenarios. I guess that's fine, but it raises questions about why we're doing these things when an existential threat still looms. The villains and heroes similarly don't really fit in. Finally, although the game raises ideas about what might happen in other parts of the world than the typical "Big American City" of superhero comics, there's very little detail given to them, which often lends itself to stereotypes. Better to use that space to detail how to research and come up with interesting and compelling scenarios on my own in those areas, if you can't fit all the details in.

Overall, Peacekeepers is worth checking out for the information about its core conflict, including many unique ideas you can use in your own superheroes-in-trouble campaign!

I'd give this game 5 stars if the formatting had been more carefully edited. Still, I'd like to point out that this little game is incredibly robust. I've found very few situations, or concepts, I couldn't replicate with Adventurers! And when I couldn't, it was really easy to come up with ways to handle them because the internal game logic is clear and simple.

Adventurers! is quick, intuitive, and a lot of fun. Give this game a try. You won't be sorry you did. And with the full version available for free, you have no excuse.

Thanks for a great game, GRamel!

Edgar

"Tropicana" is a hundred pages long RPG setting written by Mauro Longo and Giuseppe Rotondo for the Savage Worlds ruleset. This books describes the metropolis of San José and gives plenty of gamemastering material. San José is an independent city-state of Latin America, clustered on a peinisula at the foot of an extinct volcano, the rest of the territory being an impenetrable jungle. Once founded by the Conquistadores under the name of "Nueva Zamora" (lol !), this former pirate outpost managed in the last decades to turn itself into a global hub of offshore finance and entertainment. Imagine Miami mixed with Monaco, Havana and Singapore. So, this is the perfect setting for all kinds of adventures, whether you like James Bond, Indiana Jones or Miami Vice; and I'm quite sure you can adapt it to any other universe, even fantasy, with a little imagination.

Chapter I gives a lengthy insight into San José's history, criminal groups and major factions. I especially liked the description of "El Banco" and of the services it can provide. No map - even a basic one - is given; this seems to be a tradition among Italian authors working for Gramel :-) OK, a map is not always required but here, since this book is about a sprawling city, a mere plan laying out the locations of the various quarters is indispensable in my view for the GM (so, I had to peruse the book for drawing my own...). Chapter II starts with the description of interesting archetypes : I do regret that many of them are not found back in the "Bestiary" of Chapter VII, especially when I see the good list of new edges and hindrances, which allows to turn many tropes of TV action series into (N)PCs. Chapters III, IV and V are respectively for Gear, Agencies (which you can run) and GM Setting Rules : most of those game mechanics are rudimentary but efficient and perfect for this kind of setting. I think I see the positive influence of U.Pignatelli there ("Beasts & Barbarians"), as for instance in the "After the Adventure Events table". Chapter VI is the Game Master's Guide with tables for Agency Management, Secrets, as well as plenty of advice for running adventures in San José, described as a mix of "Action, Adventure and Mystery".

In conclusion, "Tropicana" is the best and most interesting setting I have ever seen for a modern city; only its minor flaws - which could have been prevented in my opinion - keep me from giving it five stars. But if you're looking for a city of sea, sun, pleasure and intrigues, don't hesitate !