This is a nice tool for adding a bit of color and flavor to the paladin, and this can be very good, as they can be seen as too flat by many. As any random table based generator table set you must think about the relationship of each part of the code as you build it. I am neutral on it overall because I feel most people forget to add the spark of human creativity that such tables need.

I found it a nice piece of background work. I think it is best as an idea book to add flavor to a campaign, or to add a few quick ideas for a few nights of play when a game master is short of ideas otherwise. It is not for the younger players without some modifications, but I am sure any GM can make them if they desire to do so.

I skim read this in a day, mostly reading it for the background and story. The rules as I looked at them are a good basic set of rules, and will require that the players and game master agree to expand upon them in play. it is much like the old style rules that I learned on in the early-mid 1980's. I feel that the background is fairly well done, with lots of room to expand for the game master, or for the game developers. I could wish that they had at least run the levels to ten, but six is a nice level. I feel that they could differentiated the skills of the races a bit better for the players if they where going back to the old school style game design, but I also see that most current players will never stand for that level of focus.

** Disclaimer I know the Publisher/ Author personally. This is for my honesty and integrity ** Disclaimer I am basing my review on both this sample and my reading of the hard cover book that I had bought. I find the sample well scanned. The sample is just a taste of the full book, and should wet your appetite for the book. I found that the setting was very well done and internally consistent, this is very important as you can get a well done setting that fails to be internally consistent. I read the full book before I got this sample so my look at the sample is colored by that, and I see the sample as lacking a few things but it tries to convey the feel and high points of the world. The parts that it shows are very much showing the color and flavor of the setting and world.

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.

It has some good points in using the normal deck of cards as its random generator, as most people have a set or can get a set easly. The fact that it is focused on the hozion system is not bad and you can take teh basics and use them to write your own adventure from them.

the art work is all very nice, many pieces are even better then I expeted.

This is the normal high quility work they do for their monthly magazine. the Iron Litch is a nice twist on the normal constructs that you see, as well as the litch itself.

I have read this PDF file book over the last few days and found that it is well layed out. I like that it is very free form in many ways, but I can see how many will try and Min-max their charaters with each game and "forget" their flaws when they are a problem to them, but will "remember" them when they would help them out. I did enjoy reading the background materal, and the few examples of creatures to get the "Imagination" going where all very amusing and also very relvent to both the setting and the real world in many ways. I may have missed it in my reading but little was said beyond the the "Basics" of the Lo-Bots to use them and a bit of how they might be an extra element of the human side of horror with in the whole setting. The materal is enought that you can run a few adventures with minamal research into the real England/ Great Britan before you have to do more then a quick check of names or such on the internet. There is an Index, but no table of contents with in the book. Also there are 2-3 blank pages am not sure if they are there for effect or by accadent, but I may have miss-counted the number of them. As the author states he is doing this as a free book/ game and I cant quible with that. I did not do a detailed read on his discriptions of insanities as I try many times to keep text book level discriptions from my game play on them.

Over all a good product.

The list of names is just a basic excel spread sheat in lay out. It has 4 coliums three of which are 3000 cells long and onne that has only a 1000 cells. If you know excell you can use this to generate lists of names for a campian. At the price it is not too bad, but could use a few pre set formulas to generate randome names at least from its list.

For the price it is a very nice set of lists and idea's on how to combine them to make inn and tavern names. They also point out that many in the time period historiclly could not read and the sign would be a symbolic form of the name so it could be reconized with out being read. They also suggest that sign's could have stayed the same and the taven or inn could have chaged names for any number of reasons, any of which could for GM lead to an adventure hook or back story to add to their campain.

This is a basic template to use to make your own random encounter charts for your use. The PDF is well laided out and clear to read. the example is easy to follow and shows how to use it as more then just a wandering monster table by adding a few details to some of the entries and making them more a part of your world. It also shows how to add depth to such a encounter chart.

Infamous Adversaries: Raxath'Viz, the Creeping Rot

This entry into the series of infamous adversaries has the usual good back ground that I have seen in their other products of this series. with very fully shown motives and back story to help fit the char. into just about any campain. The easy use of the stat blacks again is a plus in my mind. The big twist of the Raxath'Viz being a Kobold is amusing to me as it takes what is offen seen as a weak monster and makes it something much more a threat to most parties, and it tell you what he might have in the way of minions / disposable thugs to thow at the party as distractions. As usual in these books the unusual creatures are fully ststed out and put in the standard stat block format for ease of use.

The addition of the Hero Lab files for the charathers/monsters/ items/ the "god" he worships add to the usefulness of this product only if you happen to own the hero lab program. I do own the Hero lab and use it.

This entry into the series of infamous adversaries is nice and simple to follow in its layout. The Charather stats/spells/ gear and such are layed out just as in the "core" books for the Pathfinder system. That makes it easy to read and follow the stat block.

The best part of this was in my opinion was the way the background was set up so that it was campain netural and could be easly fit into just about any campain, I wil admit there are some concepts for campains that will not allow the use of this one as written. The backstory of how she was recruited and how the order/cult she belongs to operates would allow the creation of other charathers to support her or as spin off adventures. The lack of detail of the cult is both a strength and weakness in my book as it allows freedom on the part of a GM to create more details on teh cult as/ when needed. The notes on how the order gets funding shows its level of "normal" deceptivness and concealment from most eyes. The limited amout of art work looks very good to me. I am sure that it both keeps costs down, and by only using a single piece of art it helps afford better quality art to enhance the final look and feel of the product. I feel that the mirror immage art that was choosen helps convey the hidden nature of her threat as well as teh threat of her order/cult.

I enjoyed the way that this simple list of templates was layed out and set up to add to the game masters arsenel of quick ways to adjustments to standard creatures. A few seemed to be basicly very quick to use , and others where much more for pre-planned encounters. For example the Apex Creature is one that would be quick to apply to a creature and addjust it on the fly. One that would need a bit of planning to use would be the Bloodshackle creature and this book even has a note set out to say that it needs more background and pre planning then other types.