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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting $24.99
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Justin L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/10/2021 01:24:41

A wonderful start into this tabletop world. I was a bit hesitant to play Pathfinder or 5e, but once I got my hands on this book and got absorbed in the lore I knew I could do something with it. The art is wonderful and the setting has a nice mythos to it with some good winks thrown in if you know the source material. When it comes to the layout, things are in a nice, neat manner and it's easy to reference what can be done by what type of character. The amount of feats is amazing and can spur build ideas completely on their own. For me it was money well spent and I look forward to what other releases are coming in this setting.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Elizabeth B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/31/2020 16:53:47

I was looking for a way to add ponies to dnd and I didn't like the ttrpg Hasbro had put out themselves so I got Ponyfinder to have the same feel as dnd.

The similarities to MLP are clear if you know what to look for and some of it was bound to happen since unicorns and pegasi are common in fiction already, but Ponyfinder makes all of it its own and adds many more pony types to the standard three.

Pro: The book has both pathfinder 1st ed and dnd 5e versions.

Con: It's easy to look at the wrong section even with the color coding.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Tim S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/18/2019 21:38:04

This is a great buy for 3rd party content as it includes rules for two different gaming systems all in one book!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for taking the time for the rating and review. Glad to hear you're having fun!
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Jacob K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/20/2018 23:52:06

I came to this book after a long time of seeing friends sing its praises, so I wanted to see what the fuss was about. For those of you who don't want to read the full review, the gist is that this is both a great setting and a great book of player options, whether or not you are already a fan of the series that inspired it. If you are, this facilitates all the pony adventures you could want.

The many racial choices presented are well balanced, with a couple of notable exceptions. Pegasi have the ability to fly from level 1, which can be an issue to some lower-powered groups. Similarly, the large-sized Anteans could unbalance things. The cursed Clockworks are notably underpowered, giving away much for little return, so new players should beware (and should probably pick the Steelhearts, presented later). The feats and traits sprinkled throughout range from unexciting to quite solid, and none that I spotted were immediate must-haves or system warping options. I will say that the organization of the book was sometimes hard to follow, as different options are often grouped by time periods in the setting history or set aside for other reasons. Everything you need is, in fact, there, it just isn't always where you expect it to be.

Other than these few notes, everything else is quite well thought-out. The Fingerless rule and battle harnesses let ponykind characters participate in standard adventures easily, the class archetypes each have unique niches that could see useful play, and a great many of the feats are quite serviceable to multiple potential character builds.

I will say, however, that the real gem of the book is the extensive Everglow setting, which has a multitude of awesome locations, characters, times, events, factions, and stories for your players to be a part of. The gods will look familiar to fans of the series, but are well-presented and have fleshed-out personalities and appearances. A couple, such as the CE goddess of revenge and Pyrrhic victories, are handled quite differently from other settings and will probably end up imported into my other games.

There are quite a few towns and notable locations listed, and many of these have abundant adventure hooks included. The timeline also details the rise and fall of the great empire, showing where pony heroes could be getting involved in service to (or despite) the Queen.

I will note one other thing. The author, David Silver, is notably responsive to legitimate questions and criticisms, and has told me that he is actively working on another revision to fix numerous small issues (sigh as layout, bolding, or fine-tuning class balance upwards to match what he now knows as a developer) that have been discovered since the book was first published. I greatly look forward to seeing this revision, but do still heartily recommend this for anyone who likes the game or the show.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Samuel C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/05/2017 13:20:06

Fun. Simple as that. I got what i came for a detailed book for both serious and silly play with heaps of flexibilty and lore.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 06/02/2016 04:37:16

An Endzeitgeist.com review

The campaign setting and freshman offering for Ponyfinder clocks in at 122 pages, 1 page front cover, 2 pages of editorial, 1 page ToC, 3 pages of SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 115 pages of content, so let's take a look!

Wait. before we do, I have to go on a brief tangent: I'm not the best guy to review Ponyfinder-material. I'm only doing this due to requests continuously piling up. The first couple of those, I pretty much asked my groups and both refused. (Yep, my kiddies want to play Red Sonja, not ponies...go figure...) I told David Silver of Silver Games the whole story and now I'm telling you. I'm not a brony or particularly enamored with ponies. I tried watching MLP and it neither elicited joy, nor a negative response. I get what people like it in, but it's not made for me. I learned some important facts from the author in that regard: While this does feature ponies, it is decisively NOT MLP.

Okay, I got that. Secondly, he was okay with me not going the usual in-depth playtesting route due to my parties' refusal. So here I am. The dark fantasy/horror-aficionado reviewing ponyfinder. It's what you, my patreons, wanted - and I'm not one to refuse you, at least not for long. Hence, I'll put on my reviewer's hat, put my own predilections aside and take you on a journey to the lands of Everglow and analyze the mechanics of Ponyfinder. Cue insert Robot Unicorn Attack, Blind Guardian's Battlefield Metal-edition in the background. Don't say I didn't warn you! ;P

Okay, the first thing we notice after a brief piece of introductory prose, would be the general ponykind racial traits. Ponykind are fey, medium-sized and gain +2 Con and Wis. They have a quadruped speed of 40 ft., 20 ft. when walking on two legs. They get low-light vision, +2 to saves vs. poison, spells and SPs and Endurance as a bonus feat. Being quadrupeds, they get +4 to CMD versus trips and +50% carrying capacity and they get a Unique Destiny bonus feat at first level. All in all, the total race is strong. So, how does the setting handle being fingerless - pretty smoothly. Components of spells, unarmed attacks, touch attacks, wielding items - all covered. Basically, as envisioned here, ponies don't really suffer from any penalties of require complex modifications - no barding restrictions, they still have hand and ring slots, etc. So if you're a fan of simulationalist approaches, that may potentially dissatisfy you, though it makes integration of ponies in a given context very easy. Pegasi and Unicorns are covered as pretty common alternate racial trait-packages, with pegasi gaining fly speed 30 ft at clumsy maneuverability - which can potentially cause issues in grim, low-magic settings that...wait. Sorry. Force of habit. We're talking about a magical setting where talking ponies that wield wands and weapons in their mouths garner a shrug at best. Ignore that. Kidding aside - you should be aware of many a module not taking flight into account until 5th-6th level. Still, generally no issue there and the formatting of the race is according to the specifications established in Pathfinder books - kudos!

Beyond these more common of alternate pony-breeds, we are introduced to chaos hunters, clockwork ponies (a template you can basically apply to other pony-subtypes), doppelgänger ponies, gem ponies that can deflect rays 1/day as via Deflect Arrow, leather wings, sea horses and zebras - If I'm skimming over these, then mainly since they represent relative smooth modifications of teh base chassis - and fluff-wise, the Tribes of Everglow-book (review coming very soon) covers them in more detail. After covering thus the base ponykind racial framework, we address the question of class options and ponykind's relation with classes next - beginning with two sorceror bloodlines: The unification bloodline is all about gaining some traits from ponykind subtypes -from canines to wings and horns, this one basically codifies an über-pony as a progression of the bloodline and features some player-agenda, which is always nice to see in the otherwise linear bloodlines - and yes, including multiple capstones.

The second one would be the vampiric bloodline that gain vampire-themed abilities - generally solid with the usual suspect like children of the night, gaseous form and similar options providing what you'd expect, theme-wise. Solid. The take of ponies on the respective classes and favored class options for the classic paizo-classes (Core + APG) are covered before we get racial archetypes: Aerial Warriors (barbarian) are about aerial mobility, artifact tender rogues can UMD items with charges to use two charges in activation instead, increasing the CL of the effect by +2. Slightly problematic at 10th level with this one - an option to use UMD to prevent the loss of charges when activating items. While the action required is a massive full-round, this can still be abused pretty badly and should be carefully contemplated - a more complex formula for the DC would have helped here...perhaps increasing the DC on consecutive uses per day? Elemental Savant druids get an elemental-themed domain and can call forth elementals. Okay, so far, so common. Know what has a rather awesome visual? The mobile cannon gunslinger. These quadrupeds can utilize guns on their back and may, at later levels, use Large two-handed firearms; at higher levels even two! Pretty damn cool...I can see ponies with friggin' huge guns strapped to their backs and sides wrecking havoc...Wait. Damn. Did I just write this?

Mystic Prancer bards basically are faces that can modify their fascinate effect to also include a pied piper of Hamelin-style effect. Natural Magi gain no armor proficiency, but may expend SPs with 3/day uses to refill their arcane pool and they get the options to perform melee attacks at range, though these cost arcane pool points. However, they pay for this flexibility by gaining a stunted armor proficiency progression. And this archetype would be well a place as any to remark upon one particular facet of this book: While, for the most part, the editing is more than solid on a rules-language level, there are quite a few instances where e.g. attributes are not capitalized and a couple of instances where the rules-language deviates from the established standard. Now, in favor of this book: The rules-language generally does work, even if it is not always particularly elegant - which is more than one could say about quite a few freshman offerings.

The Pony Scholar is an interesting wizard archetype at higher levels, when he can elect to become fatigued/exhausted/etc. instead of losing a prepared spell - the daily cap prevents bad abuse, though a caveat to prevent the ability use for characters immune to fatigue would have been appreciated. The scholar of the tribes wizard, finally, is all about the tribes and emulating them. Tribal thieves are alchemists that have mutagens that can feature tribal peculiarities (the mage hand spell isn't properly italicized here). Wardens of the Night paladins can make for an interesting exercise in illustrating what I mean by wonky wording: "When they channel to harm, it manifests in a bright glow of silvery moonlight as per daylight with a duration of 1 round per paladin level. It is effective against shapeshifters and aberrations, but only half damage to undead. Wardens may not channel to heal." It is pretty apparent how this ability works, but it does offer a couple of deviations from standardized wording. It can't be abused and isn't problematic, but the rules language aesthetes among you may cringe a bit. That being said, other than that, the archetype, as well as the witch doctor witch, are solid, though the latter does sport an instance of missing italicization.

The pdf also provides an array of eidolon evolutions, some of which are tribe-exclusive - they generally are solid, though having eidolons healed by heat can be pretty easily abused. Then again, 7th level prereq and tribe-exclusivity render that one still feasible. The pdf also sports a ton of racial feats that range from better Disguise for Doppelgänger-ponies to the Gunnery Squad teamwork feat that allows adjacent allies to reload your gun. Similarly, action-economy powered blindsense that can be upgraded via follow-up feats and the like is interesting. Gaining a gore attack is evocative, but specification on how it behaves regarding primary/secondary attacks and damage type would have been appreciated here. Half-constructs can net themselves light fortification (non-stackable caveat included!) and a couple of SPs that thematically fit are also included.

Takes a deep breath This, however, is NOT where the book stops - the goat-like cloven, quadruped fey, gain +2 to one ability score of their choice, 40 feet movement rate (20 feet on two legs), low-light vision, immunity to altitude sickness and retain Dex-mod while Climbing/Acrobatics-using on narrow/slippery surfaces. They get a 1d4 gore attack (see above - no primary/secondary/damage type included, though that can be looked up) and "Cloven get a bonus against poison equal to their hit dice." We know what's meant, but this still makes me cringe. Bonus-type? I assume racial. It's also "bonus to saves against..." sigh Anyways, they also get +2 to Perception and Appraise for certain checks and are, obviously, fingerless. Their racial feats allow them to eat basically anything, jump better, get better horns and FCOs are provided.

Flutterponies gain +2 Dex and Cha, -2 Str, are medium, have a base speed of 30 ft. (bipedal: 20 ft.), a fly speed of 30 ft (average maneuverability) and may reduce person themselves 1/day. They are treated as ponykind and can, at will, emit light from their antennae. They are, obviously, fingerless and quadruped. These strange ponies began as basically pony-shaped swarms of aggressive, vermin-like nuisances, but evolved to increase in size and intelligence and become more agreeable - but they still are considered to be somewhat alien. Conversely, their racial feats reflect the somewhat fey-ish theme. Their agility allows them, with the right feat, to 1/round use Fly via an immediate action as their AC, which, while it may be cheesed, is limited enough to not become problematic. Pretty impressive - there is a "share the same space"-teamwork-feat that actually works. I've seen a lot designers fail at these.

Griffons get +2 Str and Wis, -2 Cha, have a fly speed of 400 ft. (poor maneuverability), base speed 30 ft. (20 ft. bipedal), a 1d6 bite attack (again, yaddayadda primary/secondary...), low-light vision and...they may treat clouds, mist or fog as solid. This last ability, flavor-wise, is gold - though I wished it specified how exactly that interacts with e.g. stinking cloud, cloudkill, etc. - can these guys walk on these clouds? If so, are the affected by the negative effects of the spells or unharmed? Now before you start asking these questions yourself - there is a racial feat, Cloud Surfing, that addresses these questions and makes you capable of being pushed away by them, which is awesome...but the info should not be hidden in a feat, but part of the damn cool, evocative base ability. And yes, FCOs, once again, are provided for a couple of classes.

Phoenix Wolves get +2 Dex and Wis, -2 Int, have a base speed of 40 ft, 20 ft bipedal, geta 1d6 bite attack, fire resistance 5, increase CL of fire-descriptor spells, fire domain, fire bloodline, flame mystery...you get the idea. Phoenix wolves with Cha of 11+ also get some nice SPs and they get +2 to feints and against being feinted as well as low-light vision. Bred from hellhounds purged of evil, these creatures feast on ash, cinders and coal and make for interesting creatures. They can use racial feats to gain wings, increase their fire resistance, etc. and even get a 1/day breath weapon. Once again, favored class options included.

Purrsians would be the winged cats of Everglow and gain +2 Dex and Cha, -2 Wis, base speed 40 ft. (half bipedal), fly speed at 3o ft with clumsy maneuverability, a weak 1d3 bite, can retry not too horribly botched attempts to change a creature's attitude and +10 ft. when charging, running or withdrawing. They gain low-light vision as well. Nomadic and driven to amass wealth, they represent an interesting blending of tropes and can gain claw attacks, which can be upgraded to allow them to steal objects when hitting with both. The FCOs provided are solid. Nice for simulationalists - the option to replace costly components for spells sans level-increase, but via money -

Steelhearts would be half-construct fey that have a base speed of 30 ft, bipedal speed 20 ft, get +2 to saves vs. disease, mind-affecting effects, poison, fatigue and exhaustion, can't be resurrected and do not need to eat, breathe, sleep. They get electricity resistance 5 and low-light vision. These pony-shaped horses are pretty much an enigma - they guard their origins with zeal and hence, once a war with ponykind resulted...now, relations are a bit strained and part of the deal was that ponykind would refrain from trying to unearth their origins. Unique: A racial feat that lets you ground electricity, lessening the effect for all affected.

After the steelheart's favored class options, the sun cats are next: They gain +2 Str and Wis, -2 Int, base speed 40 ft., bipedal speed 20 ft, always treat Perception and Stealth as class skills, +10 ft when charging, withdrawing or running, a 1d3 bite, 2 1d4 claws (both lacking primary/secondary classification and damage types), scent and low-light vision. Proud, nomadic predators, sun cats can use racial feats to AoE-demoralizes that can also deal channel damage. Pretty OP: When you make a save, you can grant all allies within 30 ft a reroll....that one overshoots the target a bit for a relatively easy to get feat. Still, overall, an interesting race. To nitpick, one of the feats is based on a 75% of maximum hp threshold to work, which can be a bit clunky.

Beyond all of these races, which generally are well-balanced internally, a full-blown pantheon of gods is provided and the pdf sports extensive age, height and weight tables. As for balancing with other races, the relative easy means of acquiring flight does change the dynamics of low-level gameplay in particular, so that's something to look out for. Still, as a whole and within its own context, the races are generally well-balanced among themselves - slightly above PFRPG-core races, with an increased emphasis on mobility. The number of problematic options here is very small and overall, the chapter can be considered to be pretty impressive.

But perhaps you are not that interested in going full-blown Everglow? Fret not -the pdf provides stats for earth-bound ponykind animal companions and familiars. The pdf also suggests optional rules for more realistic deficiencies or more relaxed takes on fingerless characters - in case you're not like me and don't get an aneurysm trying to picture ponies using hooves for fine manipulation - mind you, I don't judge - it's certainly cool that the options are here! But this is a campaign setting and thus, after a brief history of Everglow, we get an in-depth background story of these lands...including notes of diverse factions with associated faction traits. And yes, they get trait type and bonuses right AND matter for the most part! While this iteration of the base setting of Ponyfinder assumes an age wherein the grand empire has fallen, there are some notes on alternate era ponies, including a Large alternative race, the anteans and ghost ponies. And yes, these do receive their own array of racial feats, though they do not gain any unique FCOs.

Wait, wait, wait - what? Iteration? Era? Well, yeah - and this is pretty intriguing: The campaign setting proceeds to grant us glimpses into the respective eras of the empire and Everglow, with faction advantages and liabilities, traits and alternate ponykind-versions and associated racial feats for the associated era. One result is that the GM has some control over tones and themes, can still blend the topics at hand...and the pdf, ultimately, thus already has a bare-bones set-up for an era-spanning type of campaign ingrained in its DNA.

But settings are more than just timelines and factions - they require locales and the book does not disappoint: This book sports basically a gazillion of well-crafted settlement entries with ample of intriguing hooks and cool ideas included. The one thing I was missing here would be the settlement statblocks - none are provided with only basic breakdown of the bare minimum of demographics provided. Apart from that, prose-wise, this chapter was a surprisingly well-crafted and easy to read section. Beyond these notes, the movers and shakers, famous and infamous among ponykind, from the cool rebel to the legendary scholar, are provided with detailed fluff-only write-ups - so no, the statblocks for these guys will have to wait for a later book. Still, once again, a significantly more nuanced array of characters than I expected, since some of the names and artworks do point a bit towards "this is the cliché-XYZ-guy"; instead, most have some component that sets them somewhat apart. The chapter also includes an array of adventure hooks and groupings to provide more subject matter for the GM to develop.

Beyond this massive chapter, the pdf also sports an assortment of items, mundane and magical for your perusal - crystalline slippers fit for a queen, enchanted spectacles and a small assortment of spells, including a stunning lightning wall, is nice, though e.g. non-italicized saves and the like can prove to be a bit galling for the rules-language sticklers like yours truly. Oh, and a spell to temporarily grant you hands? Covered. So if you really want ponies with hands - here is the tool for just that.

Beyond even more nice, properly codified traits, we arrive at the brief Everglow bestiary in the back of the book, where creatures illustrated in full color, from the CR 1/3 flutters to the CR 12 inevitable vanguard and a ghost variant await. These monsters are okay and generally pretty neat, though there are some minor hiccups here and there in the math and formatting.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are the weak spots of this pdf - while pretty impressive on a formal level, the rules-language does show that this book is the work of a then inexperienced company and sports some deviations from the default. On the plus-side, the pdf, most intriguingly, in spite of this, manages to work mostly sans ambiguities or issues. While there are some issues that extend into the rules, they are few and far in between - as a whole, this is an impressive freshman offering. Layout adheres to a two-column full-color standard with a solid background and generally nice artworks, though at the end of some racial entries and chapters, there are a couple of pages that are mostly blank and feature only a bit of text - not a big fan of those. I don't have the print-version of this one, but if the other Silver Games print copies are any indicator, print would be the way to go here. Why? Simple. Unfortunately, the pdf has no bookmarks, which is pretty annoying for a book of this density and size. Artworks range from superb to okay and are generally original pieces, which is nice. The cartography of the continent of Everglow is colorful and nice.

Stephen Ritterbush, David Silver and Anthony McKaskle's Ponyfinder...is much better than I expected it to be. In fact, while suffused with a spirit of cheerfulness, you won't find the level of saccharine "Friendship solves everything"-approach in this book: And that's a good thing, even if you are an MLP-fan. Why? Because, let's be honest - that simply does not make for that interesting fantasy gaming. That being said, this still is the antithesis of the grimdark setting - this is cheerful, positive high-fantasy. Surprisingly, the tight racial balancing is consistent throughout in its valuing of racial abilities. The basic premise of assumed flight as relatively widely available means that other narratives can be crafted and are supported. The presentation is surprisingly professional, in particular for a freshman offering...and. Wait.

Okay, imagine jaded, cynical grimdark-loving me sitting in front of the screen with a black metal corpse paint for maximum comedic effect, gnashing his teeth and blurting out...I actually kind of liked the setting. No, seriously. I am so not the target audience of this campaign setting and I still managed to take some cool ideas out of this pdf. At the same time, I should emphasize that this is not a hyper-detailed campaign setting - this should instead be considered to be basically the Ponyfinder core-rules, with a bunch of setting information...but if you're looking for in-depth information, that will have to wait for future books. Still, this setting is significantly better and more evocative than quite a few I have read. It's not for everyone and if you hate the very idea of ponies, you probably won't be convinced anyways. But if you're like me and indifferent to the concept, you'll probably find quite a few cool tricks in this book and be just as surprised by a well-crafted, unique setting with ample potential.

Rules-language purists may shudder sometimes while reading this, get annoyed by e.g. how natural weapons are treated, etc., but as a whole, significantly less often than one would expect from the baseline - the majority of content herein is solid.

How to rate this, then? Well, while there are a couple of rules/balance-hiccups and issues, they are pretty few and far in-between. While the rules-language is wobbly, it generally maintains an unambiguous functionality and, more importantly, establishes a solid balance baseline for the setting regarding the options it provides. This may not be perfect, but it is an impressive first book and well worth a final verdict of 3.5 stars, rounded up due to the freshman offering bonus. See you around next time, when I'll pick apart the Tribes of Everglow hardcover...

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/27/2016 10:18:05

I was never really a fan of "ponies," but I backed Ponyfinder for a couple of reasons originally 1) my late wife wanted to play ponies (as she was a fan of some tv show :D) and 2) I thought what a great way to get young girls to play (along with their parents, as I think it should be showed that it is an all inclusive hobby) at conventions. I run Ponyfinder at local conventions most of the time (unless I am just going for the day and then Im just in an out). I also have a regular game I play at home. This setting has gotten me to back my currently one and only Patreon, the one being run by David Silver. I continue to play this setting because not only am I having fun with it, but so are the players. We laugh and have a good time, like a game should be in my opinion. This is definately one of the better settings out there, even though I was reluctant at first, David Silver has totally drawn me into the world of Everglow.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Aaron B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/22/2016 20:34:06

Ponyfinder Campaign Setting by Dave Silver

Reviewed by Scott Holmes

Layout The layout made the pdf easy to read, no obvious errors I could find.

Art Full color artwork ranging from fair to good, overall it helped the feel of the product.

Playability This has the potential to be a great gateway to get younger players into Roleplaying. Pony themed races, traits, feats and archetypes were all well thought out and fun to read. There are optional rules for pony themed Companions and Familiars that may be usefull in any game. Fully pathfinder compatible, at over 120 pages in length a sizable tome.

Final Thoughts I thought the setting was well thought out, the campaign history and mythos was a very good read. As a gate to roleplaying this is a very good to to get younger players into roleplaying as a hobby. The look feel and rules balanced out very well to me.

4.5 out of 5 stars rounded up to 5 out of 5. A little something for everyone, overall nice job.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Rob B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/06/2016 07:40:07

I backed this when it was on kickstarter because it thought it could be really interesting. It doesn't hurt that I like MLP too. When the book finally came out, it was filled with imagination and great ideas. It sparked my interest in roleplaying again, and it got me interested in pathfinder.

The races are diverse and each of the races has a great backstory. There is good information to for making great characters. The lore behind the setting has lots of hooks to drive an adventure. There are notable characters to fill out the world and for your characters to intereact with.

If there was anything that could be better it would be the gods list, it is very short and could use more diversity.

It has been an excellent book and definitely worth the money.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Crystal M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/12/2015 11:24:19

My Little Ponies meets Pathfinder. What's not to love?



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Skjalg K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/26/2015 20:15:06

I bought this book expecting nothing much. I'm not a brony, or even particularly fond of the MLP tv-show. I thought I'd maybe find some small piece of material that I liked, and could use for something else.

Instead, what I found was an exellent campaign setting lovingly crafted by talented people.

Ponyfinder is good. Its surprisingly good. The world is alive and exciting, the rules are solid and mostly well balanced, and the whole book oozes style and wonder. This is a campaign setting unlike any other, and is quickly becoming one of my favourite 3rd party lines for the Pathfinder roleplaying game. If you are not a part of the My Little Pony fandom, don't be put off by the looks of this book. There is real depth and maturity to this setting. It's not a book for children (though children would no doubt love it), but for all fantasy fans who like wonder and magic in their roleplaying games. The world of Everglow is a magical place, and contains a certain childlike wonder seen through adult eyes. There is darkness there, monsters and villains and malevolent gods, but there is hope and light in equal measure. If you like fairy-tales and fantastical stories, then this book might be for you! Certainly take a look at it, and don't dismiss it simply because it's about talking ponies.

If you are like me, then Ponyfinder will resonate with you in a meaningful way. I am excited for this setting, and am eagerly awaiting new updates and publications for this wonderful world.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Rob T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/02/2015 19:25:44

Ya know, in full disclosure, I backed this as a joke. Really, I thought I'd get the pdf, show it to my usual group, we'd laugh about yet another easy cash in on a popular thing using the D&D system and that'd be that.

Here my group is finishing up our campaign of Ponyfinder and legitimately feeling it's one of our favorite third party campaign settings.

I think most any veteran gamer has had experiences with fan games. It's great that fans are so into a thing they want to pay homage to it, but really let's be honest, most are not good. Clunky shoehorning of a world that doesn't fit into the system, poorly written rules and guides, a focus on 'hey you like this character YOU CAN PLAY WITH THIS CHARACTER OMG' rather than anything else. It's not a good time either as a fan or as a gamer. Now I see this game, a 25 dollar campaign setting clearly inspired by the big MLP craze and I was bracing for yet another cringeworthy book.

What a treat it is, then, when it can take me from one of the most hostile audiences possible to a big fan.

The fact is this is a rare fan inspired campaign setting that takes time and care to respect both the setting and the system, and the product is an excellent blending. The world and races, while obviously based on the popular MLP foundation (including some nods to older generations, which is nice), is handled in a distinct way to make it feel like a product that can stand on it's own two legs. The inclusion of non-pony races makes the world feel more alive, and the world is broken up in such a why that, while it still has the 'cartoony' geography of things like 'this is the bad dark scary kingdom' and 'here's the not-Arabian desert style area', the places themselves feel organic and functional within the realm of D&D high fantasy.

There's thought given to how the assorted classes 'work' in this kind of setting, it doesn't take much work to go for the typical 'unicorns are magic-inclined' type stuff but they provide a reasonable explanation for all all the core Pathfinder classes came to be and function within this setting. There is the rather awkward bit of 'the horse cavalier rides a horse' but to be honest that can be side stepped well enough that it's hardly a determent, just kinda something to chuckle at the mental image of.

There's lots of breadcrumbs in this book to spark campaigns, not just within the pony filled setting, but in games that take place beyond the lands of Everglow, including settlements and the like within its borders where ponies and other such creatures are in the minority as the 'outside world' pushes in.

The best part is the game itself takes a very open tone. By that I mean, with very little rejiggering, this campaign setting can be light and and cheery for a younger crowd, or you can take a few different dangling hooks and add some more dark elements. Best of all it does this without the always just plain boring and awkward shoving in of 'grim dark' in a setting based on a kid's show. Oh yes how original what if all these happy characters actually were sad and died, brilliant. Thankfully this setting avoids that, and even at its darkest there's elements of whimsy and light behind it. It's a setting for all ages that neither coddles or panders to, and that's a rarity in this hobby. Our only real complaints in the campaign were issues we had with Pathfinder as a whole (not our favorite system) but really it feels unfair to blame the setting for those. Ponyfinder did nothing to make those existing problems WORSE, so I can't really knock points off for them not taking it upon themselves to 'fix' the core system.

In my group we're all grown people, but after a couple sessions a friend of mine with a little girl bought herself a copy and ran a few little one-shots for her and her friends who like MLP. She was happy to say that the kids loved what she ran, and hoped that in the future if they become interested in RPGs they'll be able to remember that experience to avoid the feeling of it not being 'for girls' and such. I think a setting that can both entertain adults and give a fun time to kids should be praised in this hobby, and that, at its core, is what this is.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Ian G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/15/2015 11:40:40

Full disclosure, though this game I've become friends with the good folks at Silver Games. With that out of the way, let's talk about the book itself, and I'll be talking primarily about the first run print copy that I have. The setting is quite unique, with a bevy of four-legged, quite refreshing after 15 years of the same Tolkien inspired worlds. For as different as Everglow is though, it is also a familiar place in many ways, it is a world of danger and ancient secrets, terrible deeds and glorious heroes. There is a focus on elemental forces, as the planes are "closer to the material plane" of the world, influencing the various racial subtypes and gives rise to races such as the phoenix wolves. The ponies of Everglow also has a nice selection of gods, all culturally acceptable in the pony empire, ranging from the warm and compassionate Sun Queen to The Unspoken lord of chaos, and the distant Author, of whom little is known. The new spells, feats, and items are interesting and cool, but not unbalancing. If there is one problem I've had with the book, it's a small number of typos, usually a sentence fragment being repeated, but the content itself is spot on in my view.

To sum up, Ponyfinder's Everglow campaign setting is a rich world of magic and mystery, if you're looking for something a little different to spark your wonder once more, buy this book.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Susan B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/15/2015 11:10:21

Not for the Pathfinder novice. I'm writing from the point of view of someone with a lot of interest in Pathfinder and other RPGs, but little experience. I've done a lot reading, but little playing from lack of company. I hoped Ponyfinder would catch my daughter's interest.

The book itself is very attractive and imaginative. My daughter, who reads the Pathfinder Bestiary books cover to cover, gives it a thumbs up. I'm sure that if you understand Pathfinder and see how things relate, it's great work.

Unfortunately, we weren't even able to get through character creation. I've got the Beginner book, Core Rulebook, and this book spread out on the table, the Beginner character sheet and the Ponyfinder character sheets, and I can't figure out what goes where, or how and where to look up the information I need. In short, I need a Pathfinder tutor to walk me through.

As a girl who was discouraged from the gaming table, I love the idea of RPGs that would encourage today's girls from joining in. Some dads have left reviews about playing with their daughters. I think that's great. Unless you have that guide, however, I don't think this is it. I'm sure there are licensing complications, and also that a more step-by-step introduction to Pathfinder wasn't intended to be within the scope of this book. So while my review may come across as critical, it's really just to share my experience with others at my level of experience.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hello there, Sorry to hear you had issues with making a character. Perhaps this may help: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability-scores/character-creation Pathfinder is, indeed, a dense game to get into without someone else around to give a helping hand, or hoof as the case may be. We also enjoy the Hero Lab program(not free). There\'s also PCGen(free) for making characters much more easily. We do hope you get past this first hurdle and get to having fun with Ponyfinder!
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Ponyfinder - Campaign Setting
Publisher: Silver Games LLC
by Chris F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/25/2015 22:10:40

You know how many Pseudo-Europe there are for Pathfinder? About 12,000 by my last count, three of four of which actually rock. It's great to see a company doing something different, which Silver Games does very adroitly with Ponyfinder. I love cartoon and comics based settings rather than endless iterations of Tolkien-esque fantasy, and Ponyfinder is nicely imaginative, has great art, which obviously attracted and involved a lot of talented fan-artists, and might help get young girls more interested in D20 based gaming. Awesome on all fronts, and thanks for doing something different, mechanically sound, and just off kilter enough to be truly fun. CHRIS



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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