While D&D is very often somewhat jokingly described as being able to play as Gandalf and Conan and go on adventures together, there's a large grain of truth to it. The stories, the movies, the fairy tales that we grew up watching and reading directly impact what we want and expect to see and do when we sit down to play. So often though the stories that are told in children's books are ignored in favor of of more "adult" tales.

Which is silly. There are amazing stories that can be told from children's literature. Sometimes what you need is a little bit of fairy dust, and a guide to help you find the way.

Neverland: The Impossible Island is one such guide.

It would be easy to do a copy/paste of Peter Pan, slap some stats on a few key things, and call it a day. The author does so much more than that. Taking the original source material, and looking at it through not only a lens of what would be fun to play, but also tweaking and updating the source material to better fit modern sensibilities.

Yes, that means there aren't racist native american caricatures to be found here.

Instead, you get several interesting factions of island inhabitants, descriptions of various locations, and of course stats for important characters, including Pan, Hook, Smee, and the Croc. Interestingly no stats for Wendy or Lilly... But they do get a write up.

One of the things I most enjoy about Neverland are the figments. The creatures of the island aren't natural, and are created from the bits and pieces of the inhabitant's imaginations. There's a fun and infinitely expandable chart for creating simple figments, but as they're literally creatures of the imagination, there's no limit to what you can come up with.

If you've ever been interested in adding a bit of fairy dust to your game, it's worth the suggested price of admission (though it's PWYW) to pick up Neverland: The Impossible Island.

When I downloaded the PDF, I was expecting a fairly short book detailing how to run a witch in basic dungeons and dragons. What I got was a 120 page campaign book detailing how to adjust a typical fantasy world to incorporate the witch character class.

The Witch character class is a blend of magic-user and cleric with a number of additional elements that make it something that stands out in its own way. On top of the basic class features, Witches pick traditions (like wizard specialties or clerics’ deities) which focus their development through the levels, and can also choose to be a part of a coven.

There are 6 traditions available to the witch character:

Aquarians - readers of the celestial bodies Classical - pretty much the usual stereotypes Family - mother to daughter type witches Faerie - witches that consort with various fay beings Maleficia - those that deal with demons, devils and otherworldly beings Eclectic - those without a tradition and are picking it up as they go

Spells are of course a large aspect of witchcraft, and the 54 pages devoted to the topic are extensive. Everything from cantrips (0-level spells) to 8th level spells and rituals are covered, as well as a small section on witch spellcraft theory.

Covens give the witch access to a small group of NPCs who can assist with training, provide safety, information, backup, and additional help with ritual castings. This section of the book also goes over the various items traditional to witches, and their uses in-game.

Moving beyond the PC witch, there are also 21 new monsters offered, and numerous witch specific magic items and artifacts.

Overall I'm really impressed. I haven't yet read every word (I skipped a lot of the spells)but I can see just how much flavor adding the Witch class to a campaign will bring. If you have any interest in any of the stuff above, it's well worth your time (and money) to go and pick up a copy for yourself.

While I have only picked up a couple of issues of Toys for the Sandbox, I have always been pleased by the quality of the content. This newest issue entitled “The Pirate Island” is a larger 10 pages and introduces a new setting for DMs to play with. You’ll be shocked to know that the new setting is a pirate island, and this island has lots going on, and you can do all sorts of things with it. Want to have a pirate war? How about a struggle for control of the island? Want to work for the forces of law and try to take down the pirates? Or maybe you want to bust a captured pirate captain out of jail so he can again take command of his ship? It's all here...

So what do you get in 10 pages? 1 island setting, complete with historical background & description of the island itself 6 plots with 3 twists each 4 fully fleshed out NPCs 3 new magic items 1 rumor chart 1 random encounters chart 1 full page, full color island map

Well worth the price!