Disclaimer: I received a review copy.

An excellent addendum to the Delectable Dragonfly Teahouse, this mini adventure does well to take advantage of the various intricate social ties of the teahouse's various personalities.

The adventure is well thought out, and is well out of bounds of the normal "kill something and take its loot" paradigm that is too common in adventure design. I had hoped that the reward for the adventure were more socially aligned as well.

I should add that I was especially happy with the write up of one of the NPCs, whom had a very interesting set of social abilities that really captured the essence of the character in a way that married the thematics to the mechanics perfectly. I may have said this about the 5th edition version, but it remains the same for the Pathfinder version. I am especially impressed that they were drawn from such disparate sources. Dire Rugrat knows both games like the back of their hands.

That having been said, the cues for this adventure are wonderfully thought out, and make accessing the teahouse an interesting prospect. There are likely more adventure hooks that could be drawn from this teahouse, and I would love to see even further adventures of this kind, given how much I enjoy the location.

I give this a 5 out of a 5. Please do more mini adventures like this.

P.S. I'm still pulling for a compilation.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy.

An excellent addendum to the Delectable Dragonfly Teahouse, this mini adventure does well to take advantage of the various intricate social ties of the teahouse's various personalities.

The adventure is well thought out, and is well out of bounds of the normal "kill something and take its loot" paradigm that is too common in adventure design. I had hoped that the reward for the adventure were more socially aligned as well.

I should add that I was especially happy with the write up of one of the NPCs, whom had a very interesting set of social abilities that really captured the essence of the character in a way that married the thematics to the mechanics perfectly.

That having been said, the cues for this adventure are wonderfully thought out, and make accessing the teahouse an interesting prospect. There are likely more adventure hooks that could be drawn from this teahouse, and I would love to see even further adventures of this kind, given how much I enjoy the location.

I give this a 5 out of a 5. Please do more mini adventures like this.

P.S. I'm still pulling for a compilation.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy. Also, I have replicated most of my review for the 5e version of this product, but I find that most of the same points apply, and have changed what I felt appropriate.

This product covers another establishment for use in your Pathfinder games, but is not a tavern. It is a tea house, and Dire Rugrat has done a wonderful job of contrasting it to their taverns, showing that they are amazingly adept at creating distinct locations, as they have in the past.

I am happy to say that the art is improving with each successive product, which makes me very happy. The portraits to an excelleny job of setting the tone and giving a thorough impressing of the characters. It makes mw want more portraits to get a better feel for the other characters. I look forward to seeing it get even better!

The rules are very well represented, and there is a good bevvy of new rules information that make this book interesting to dive into. Look to the appendix to see unique character options that help round out the equally unique NPCs in this book.

The teahouse itslef is very fleshed out and feels organic, as I've come to expect. The NPCs are all interconnected, and it is a pleasure to read through the book to discover the social web that has been woven. I don't ever feel like anything is extraneous or meant to fill space. I especially like Arradeth, and her portrait. Everything about her really sets the tone. Really, the way that the NPCs were presented as whole and intricate people was what made me so happy with this book.

As with any of Dire Rugrat product, I always enjoy how the entire story unfolds as I read through the whole book, setting up an excellent narrative that makes the entire book relevant and interesting. The teahouse has an amazing depth, and any number of city adventures can begin and end with the teahouse as an excellent set piece.

My only quiblle is that I wish for more ways that players could interact with this teahouse other than either being an all girl group, letting the focus fall on female characters, or the old "man in disguise" trick. There is a lot about this tea house that is compelling, and it would be neat to figure out more ways to put it to use. The fact that men are not allowed is interesting, and presents a unique obstacle, but simply requires a little more GM magic to make sure that the players enjoy everything that the teahouse has to offer to a group of adventurers.

I give this product a very well deserved 5 out of 5, and my royal seal.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy.

This product covers another establishment for use in your 5e fantasy games, but is not a tavern. It is a tea house, and Dire Rugrat has done a wonderful job of contrasting it to their taverns, showing that they are amazingly adept at creating distinct locations, as they have in the past.

I am happy to say that the art is improving with each successive product, which makes me very happy. The portraits to an excelleny job of setting the tone and giving a thorough impressing of the characters. It makes mw want more portraits to get a better feel for the other characters. I look forward to seeing it get even better!

The 5e rules are very well represented, and there is a lot for GMs to glean. The stat blocks include some cleverly designed NPC abilities that can easily be applied to other NPCs and monsters. There is an excellent attention to detail and the thematic design space for 5e NPCs.

The teahouse itslef is very fleshed out and feels organic, as I've come to expect. The NPCs are all interconnected, and it is a pleasure to read through the book to discover the social web that has been woven. I don't ever feel like anything is extraneous or meant to fill space. I especially like Arradeth, and her portrait. Everything about her really sets the tone. Really, the way that the NPCs were presented as whole and intricate people was what made me so happy with this book.

As with any of Dire Rugrat product, I always enjoy how the entire story unfolds as I read through the whole book, setting up an excellent narrative that makes the entire book relevant and interesting. The teahouse has an amazing depth, and any number of city adventures can begin and end with the teahouse as an excellent set piece.

My only quiblle is that I wish for more ways that players could interact with this teahouse other than either being an all girl group, letting the focus fall on female characters, or the old "man in disguise" trick. There is a lot about this tea house that is compelling, and it would be neat to figure out more ways to put it to use. The fact that men are not allowed is interesting, and presents a unique obstacle, but simply requires a little more GM magic to make sure that the players enjoy everything that the teahouse has to offer to a group of adventurers.

I give this product a very well deserved 5 out of 5, and my royal seal.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the Tangible Taverns-series clocks in at 22 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 17 pages of content, so let's take a look!

The 5e-version of Tuffy's Good Time Palace is, fluff-wise, pretty identical to the Pathfinder-version: I.e. Tuffy's is still a seedy dump of a bar with an eccentric, female, dwarven barkeep and a somewhat less-than-bright brute at the piano. Scantily-clad women dance here and shady groups, two to be precise, scuttle through the shadows, as a surprising amount of patrons seems to vanish behind a door behind the bar...the set-up of a seedy bar, complete with the chance to contract mild food poisoning has been translated very well into the 5e-rules-frame, with the notable exception of one Wisdom (perception) check that retained the, for 5e rather high DC 15 from its Pathfinder sister file.

The supplement does come with extensive rumors and events to facilitate roleplaying within the context of Tuffy's - each of the respective entries is rather detailed and can be considered a good and rather detailed hook. One of the main draws of the file, though, would be the depiction of the owner, her employees and the two shady groups of people frequenting the establishment.

Here, the change in systems is more pronounced and honestly, it is here that the pdf had its most significant challenge: The PFRPG-builds utilized several rather specific mechanics-combos and translating these in spirit to 5e would not be an easy task. Instead of restricting itself to the class features of the default classes featured in the PHB, the pdf instead opts to go the more interesting way, granting unique features to the respective NPCs.

Tuffy, for example, has several tricks that render her particularly lethal in the environments of her bar, with the big mastermind gaining a unique, charming presence as well as a damn cool BBEG-escape trick. As a whole, the builds provided in this pdf turned out to be pretty intriguing. The fact that the Dire Rugrat-team went one step beyond in these builds is something I really appreciate. Challenges of the NPCs range from 1/2 to 10.

The tavern does come with a serviceable map in b/w, but sand a print-out-sized version or one that is key-less/player-friendly.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no grievous glitches. Layout adheres to a printer-friendly, no-frills two-column b/w-standard. It's minimalist and functional - no significant complaints here. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience and cartography is nice, particularly in such a low-cost little book. The b/w-artworks are flavorful and nice.

Kelly and Ken Pawlik's 5e-version of Tuffy's, surprisingly, actually turned out to be more interesting to me than its PFRPG-iteration. The characters are pretty cool, though we don't get scaled statblocks for characters in this version. Beyond its colorful characters and nice flavor-text, the pdf des share the lack of a menu or prices with the PFRPG-version and, like it, there is no clear distinction between the introductory prose and the rules-relevant section - generally, the tavern could have used a bit more fleshing out, with the majority of the appeal here stemming from the cool potential of the NPCs and their local color.

Still, this is, ultimately, me complaining at a high level. My final verdict, ultimately, will clock in at 4 stars for this one as well - while it is slightly briefer than the PFRPG-version, it is slightly more creative in my book.

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the Tangible Taverns-series clocks in at 22 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 18 pages of content, so let's take a look!

There are taverns you enter and know immediately that you just have gone to the wrong side of town: Tuffy's is such a place. Paint peels from various surfaces, glass and food and other debris litter the floor, as scantily-clad women dance on some tables, while a female dwarf with cold blue eyes gazes directly at the PCs. Strangely, some people seem to come and go through a door behind the bar, while the various pickled foods you can purchase are anything but easily digestible. In fact, PCs eating here run a very real risk of contracting food poison, with all required rules provided by the pdf.

Following, to an extent, the formula of Raging Swan Press, the book also provides a whole page of rumors, but takes a more detailed approach befitting the tighter focus- a total of 12 such rumors are provided for your convenience and as ready to go read-aloud texts. Should the banter thus generated not suffice to draw your PCs into direct interaction with the locals, you won't be out of luck - a total of 10 events further can be utilized to jumpstart social interactions and the like, with the table once again spanning a whole page and going into very detailed territory.

The tavern itself is full mapped with a functional, solid map, though the pdf does not provide a key-less version or one blown up to page-size to act as a handout. Additionally, the map does not sport a scale for reference.

Beyond the tavern itself, the patrons obviously are important - and generally, two different groups, both with their own agendas, are provided in addition to Tuffy herself and her none-too-smart piano-player. The first such group would fall in the criminal territory, while the second consists of mercenaries - these combat relevant NPCs come with full-blown statblocks, which makes use of the ACG-material while also using archetypes.

The non-combatants like the dancers may have no statblocks, but they do come with ample of information regarding their goals and the like. The pdf also features several mugshots for the NPCs featured herein. Additionally, the pdf's appendix features several statblocks for rank and file members of the criminal organization as well as two statblock variants of characters introduced herein at +4 levels each - with the intention of potentially changing the power-structure of the organization in question. CR-wise, the NPCs range from CR 3 - 14, making the offering suitable for low- and mid level adventurers with strong stomachs.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no grievous glitches. Layout adheres to a printer-friendly, no-frills two-column b/w-standard. It's minimalist and functional - no significant complaints here. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience and cartography is nice, particularly in such a low-cost little book. The b/w-artworks are flavorful and nice.

Kelly and Ken Pawlik's excursion to Tuffy's is a successful one - while the components used herein may not be mind-bogglingly innovative, they don't have to be: The set-up and number of statblocks herein and the great local color and prose are certainly nice to read and the pdf can certainly offer more than one session of roleplaying - it may even become the favorite dive of particularly hardy PCs, with Tuffy and her folks being truly intriguing characters. That being said, I wouldn't be ole' endy if I had no complaints, right? Well, amid all the intrigue and the two groups in the book, the tavern itself could have used a bit refinement regarding the formatting of its look: The pdf begins with this well-written 4-paragraph-long introduction that sets the stage really well...and then goes straight into the rules to notice strange comings and goings. A more pronounced separation of flavor/quasi-read-aloud text and rules would have improved the reading flow here.

Secondly, and this may sound nitpicky: The tavern lacks a menu. While food is mentioned, no prices are provided. Nor any named breweries, special drinks available or the like. For a book on a tavern, that's somewhat jarring, at least to me. Don't be fooled, though - I am complaining at a surprisingly high level here, with the characters and amount of stats contained herein definitely making this a fair offering, though one focused perhaps a bit too much on the clientèle and less on the place itself.

In the end, Tuffy's is a more than solid, nice buy - and in case you're wondering: I've consciously refrained from going into the details regarding the groups and their members to avoid spoilers - so if you have any questions in that regard, don't hesitate to contact me.

Endzeitgeist out.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this product. Second Disclaimer: I will repeat many of my thoughts on this product in the other entries in this series, as most of my points apply.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this product, I can't help but think that it was too short. The mini adventure is excellent, and does well to highlight Dire Rugrat's other products. Having already gotten those products, this mini adventure was all the more enjoyable.

However, I can't help but feel that they should be somehow bundled with their sibling products (in this case Tuffy's Good Time Palace). Alternately, I think that I would have liked to see a string of adventures rather than a mini adventure, perhaps. Maybe a series of plot hooks that could bring the players closer to the tavern of choice, and that could easily be adaptable to other taverns or campaigns. I would eagerly pay for a sort of "Big Book of Taverns" that compiles this and other taverns and adventure hooks, both generic and specific.

But that's not to say that this mini adventure isn't good. It's everything that it should be, but it does make me want more, just as most Dire Rugrat products do. In that it did not fail.

Though my reviews for the other products were much the same, this mini adventure in particular does stand out in that it does a great job of presenting a robust combat encounter with many combatants, and does so in a way that was efficient (referring to the PRD rules in a way that makes the adventure short but thorough).

Additionally, I enjoyed the support for 5th edition, and having this ready to use for my 5e games will come in handy soon, I imagine. I love the way that this was presented, and am eager to test it out. having seen both the Pathfinder and 5th edition versions is impressive, if at least for my experience in converting for those systems, and my respect for Dire Rugrat at doing what many may think is easy conversion work. The fact that they could determine the difference between 5e and Pathfinder CR (a difference that many have difficutly with) is even more impressive.

5 out of 5 and my royal seal.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this product. Second Disclaimer: I will repeat many of my thoughts on this product in the other entries in this series, as most of my points apply.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this product, I can't help but think that it was too short. The mini adventure is excellent, and does well to highlight Dire Rugrat's other products. Having already gotten those products, this mini adventure was all the more enjoyable.

However, I can't help but feel that they should be somehow bundled with their sibling products (in this case Simon's Dinner Theater). Alternately, I think that I would have liked to see a string of adventures rather than a mini adventure, perhaps. Maybe a series of plot hooks that could bring the players closer to the tavern of choice, and that could easily be adaptable to other taverns or campaigns. I would eagerly pay for a sort of "Big Book of Taverns" that compiles this and other taverns and adventure hooks, both generic and specific.

But that's not to say that this mini adventure isn't good. It's everything that it should be, but it does make me want more, just as most Dire Rugrat products do. In that it did not fail.

Additionally, I enjoyed the support for 5th edition, and having this ready to use for my 5e games will come in handy soon, I imagine. I love the way that this was presented, and am eager to test it out. having seen both the Pathfinder and 5th edition versions is impressive, if at least for my experience in converting for those systems, and my respect for Dire Rugrat at doing what many may think is easy conversion work. I noticed that this adventure in particular was very cleverly converted.

5 out of 5.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this product. Second Disclaimer: I will repeat many of my thoughts on this product in the other entries in this series, as most of my points apply.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this product, I can't help but think that it was too short. The mini adventure is excellent, and does well to highlight Dire Rugrat's other products. Having already gotten those products, this mini adventure was all the more enjoyable.

However, I can't help but feel that they should be somehow bundled with their sibling products (in this case the Blackberry Bill's found in the Trio of Taverns product). Alternately, I think that I would have liked to see a string of adventures rather than a mini adventure, perhaps. Maybe a series of plot hooks that could bring the players closer to the tavern of choice, and that could easily be adaptable to other taverns or campaigns.

But that's not to say that this mini adventure isn't good. It's everything that it should be, but it does make me want more, just as most Dire Rugrat products do. In that it did not fail.

Additionally, I enjoyed the support for 5th edition, and having this ready to use for my 5e games will come in handy soon, I imagine. I love the way that this was presented, and am eager to test it out. having seen both the Pathfinder and 5th edition versions is impressive, if at least for my experience in converting for those systems, and my respect for Dire Rugrat at doing what many may think is easy conversion work.

5 out of 5.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this product. Second Disclaimer: I will repeat many of my thoughts on this product in the other entries in this series, as most of my points apply.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this product, I can't help but think that it was too short. The mini adventure is excellent, and does well to highlight Dire Rugrat's other products. Having already gotten those products, this mini adventure was all the more enjoyable.

However, I can't help but feel that they should be somehow bundled with their sibling products (in this case Simon's Dinner Theater). Alternately, I think that I would have liked to see a string of adventures rather than a mini adventure, perhaps. Maybe a series of plot hooks that could bring the players closer to the tavern of choice, and that could easily be adaptable to other taverns or campaigns. I would eagerly pay for a sort of "Big Book of Taverns" that compiles this and other taverns and adventure hooks, both generic and specific.

But that's not to say that this mini adventure isn't good. It's everything that it should be, but it does make me want more, just as most Dire Rugrat products do. In that it did not fail.

5 out of 5.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this product. Second Disclaimer: I will repeat many of my thoughts on this product in the other entries in this series, as most of my points apply.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this product, I can't help but think that it was too short. The mini adventure is excellent, and does well to highlight Dire Rugrat's other products. Having already gotten those products, this mini adventure was all the more enjoyable.

However, I can't help but feel that they should be somehow bundled with their sibling products (in this case Tuffy's Good Time Palace). Alternately, I think that I would have liked to see a string of adventures rather than a mini adventure, perhaps. Maybe a series of plot hooks that could bring the players closer to the tavern of choice, and that could easily be adaptable to other taverns or campaigns. I would eagerly pay for a sort of "Big Book of Taverns" that compiles this and other taverns and adventure hooks, both generic and specific.

But that's not to say that this mini adventure isn't good. It's everything that it should be, but it does make me want more, just as most Dire Rugrat products do. In that it did not fail.

Though my reviews for the other products were much the same, this mini adventure in particular does stand out in that it does a great job of presenting a robust combat encounter with many combatants, and does so in a way that was efficient (referring to the PRD rules in a way that makes the adventure short but thorough).

5 out of 5 and the royal seal.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this product. Second Disclaimer: I will repeat many of my thoughts on this product in the other entries in this series, as most of my points apply.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this product, I can't help but think that it was too short. The mini adventure is excellent, and does well to highlight Dire Rugrat's other products. Having already gotten those products, this mini adventure was all the more enjoyable.

However, I can't help but feel that they should be somehow bundled with their sibling products (in this case the Blackberry Bill's found in the Trio of Taverns product). Alternately, I think that I would have liked to see a string of adventures rather than a mini adventure, perhaps. Maybe a series of plot hooks that could bring the players closer to the tavern of choice, and that could easily be adaptable to other taverns or campaigns. I would love to see a compilation of sorts, or a big book of taverns that compiled both these products as well as including generic and specific plot hooks and mini adventures.

But that's not to say that this mini adventure isn't good. It's everything that it should be, but it does make me want more, just as most Dire Rugrat products do. In that it did not fail.

5 out of 5.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy.

Here is another conversion from Dire Rugrat, supporting the 5th edition D&D with an excellent and expanded location, as well as a veritable ecosystem of NPCs. I again refer you to my review of the Pathfinder version of this product for particulars about the non-rules based content, but the short version is that it is excellent.

As for the stat blocks, this book particularly impressed me for a number of reasons. First, it does provide a plethora of characters that can fit into any campaign, and good solid stat blocks for the busy DM. But what I am especially impressed with is how the stat blocks have become a unique presentation of the NPC, as well as of Dire Rugrat's knowledge of 5th edition. There are new NPC special abilities, as well as a few that were taken from thier "Humanoid Special Abilities" product

By making and employing such unique abilities for each NPC, Dire Rugrat showcases just how important it is to differentiate NPCs. The special abilities are what make a monster or NPC stand out, and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can become the master of encounter design. Dire Rugrat exemplifies that sort of mastery, and it makes me hope that they may consider releasing a book of NPCs in the near future, or at the very least that they continue producing excellent and varied content.

Note: I received a free review copy of this product.

Now, I have already done a review for the Bull and Bear tavern product for Pathfinder. However, I have since switched over to running and enjoying 5th edition D&D far more often, and have been happy to see that Dire Rugrat has decided to support 5th edition as well..

The brilliant part of it is that there are very little changes; the information is all there, and very handy for inserting a city based location into your city based campaign. But hte difference is that we get amazing statistics for NPC's, and for the relatively new 5th edition that makes a world of difference. The new edition is well supported, but still haev a rather heavy lack of material, particularly in the area of enemies and NPC statistics.

The statistics in this tavern in particular are for a few bar personalities, and on the surface their statistics serve only to populate the tavern, but as a designer I see the interent use in these statistics; as a potential stat block to be used elsewhere. The true genius of this utility is that they give you a trio of interesting characters that could really be used in a variety of situations. a rapacious elf pirate, an orc brawler that excels at dirty fighting, and a stolid human fighter. These statistics are well done, and can be transported to suit your needs. You don't see many NPCs represented across the CR spectrum, so this was a treat, and something you might consider.

If you have not already purchased this product's Pathfinder incarnation, or have waited for a more relevant 5th edition version for your game, then don't hesitate.

5 out of 5

Here is a short review for a short product, but no less amazing than the other Dire Rugrats offerings. For full disclosure, I actually purchased this book, given both the low price, and the precedented level of quality of the other products from this publisher.

Advantageous Abilities is the DM tool that you didn't know you needed but really do. If you have done any monster creation, whether for the community or your own campaign, you know that a monster is just numbers until you give it some cool abilities! If you own the Dungeon Master's Guide (and you should) then this book is an excellent source of additional abilities that you can use to append to your monsters. If you DON'T own the DMG, then you are even more obligated to pick up this low price 1 page product that will give you both resources and ideas for your custom monsters. Need to add an interesting combat ability to an NPC on the fly? This book has them, and they are well done!  Get it today!