I purchased this item for my GM who is preparing an old school D&D campaign. It seemed like something he would like. After I've read through it, I decided that I liked the Actual Monk also.

This is a six page document describing a class which is exactly as the title suggests. The last page is legalese. An Actual Monk, inspired by Friar Tuck, is much more of a Cleric than a high kicking Monk. In fact, the Actual Monk serves many of the same functions as a Cleric. The Actual Monk casts spells from the cleric spell list, worships, and heals others. There are various details that separate an Actual Monk from a Cleric, but the main difference is stylistic. Whereas the Cleric is more concerned with spreading the religion to others, the monk's focus is more internal with vows.

The Actual Monk is the only class which may benefit from Vows and Devotions. These are extra penalties that the monk may choose to take, and in exchange receives bonuses unique to each penalty. For example, if an Actual Monk takes a Vow of Silence, he learns to cast spells silently even if the spell otherwise requires a verbal component. There are eight Vows and Devotions described on Page 5, and that is more than enough. It would be simple, however, to create more. Here are a couple that I will invent right now.

Vow of Evangelization: The Monk has devoted himself to spreading the converting the infidels to his own religion. He must attempt to convert to convert someone every day if possible. For each convert, the Monk gains an experience bonus equal to that if he were to have defeated the convert in battle.

Devotion of Work: The Monk has a work ethic which requires that he aids in supporting himself and his order financially instead of relying entirely on charity. This involves the monk spending several hours per day at some specific trade. A Monk gains an extra skill when practicing this devotion that corresponds to his trade. The classic example is winemaking.

See, that took me about five minutes.

This product is slight in other areas. There is very little artwork. The flavor text is less than one would expect -- which is either a good or bad thing depending on preference. The stats are thorough and seem to be very well balanced, although I haven't tried making a character yet.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: I like the class itself. This is an excellent alternative to the standard cleric for a game with more historical basis.

I love the Vow and Devotion system. I could see a Paladin and Actual Monk in service to the same deity taking the same vow together. Even though the Monk is the only character who gains the benefit, it adds much style to both characters. Also, the Vow and Devotion system is easily converted to religious characters in other games like a HackMaster Cleric, a Rifts Priest, or a Deadlands Preacher.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I definately got my dollar's worth, so there is little point in making complaints. I would like to have seen some clarification on the gender of the Actual Monk class. This document was written with the assumption that a Monk would always be male, but it isn't listed as a requirement. Furthermore, I don't see any reason why a nun couldn't be constructed using these same rules.

If Postmortem Studios decides to ever release an updated version, there are some other features I would like to see. An example NPC character, a specific order of Monks, pieces of equipment or spells unique to the Actual Monk, or an ever-popular Prestige Class class would bring the product in-line with products offered by other creators here at RPGNow.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

For some unexplained reason, the introduction to this book recommended that long reviews be posted to ENWorld.com. I purchased this product at RPGNow.com, and I would rather post my full review here. It isn't as if a reviewer is going to quoting pages of material for anyone else to copy for free. Nonetheless, I have fulfilled by the wishes of the Le. Unorthodox Bards is a clever collection of variant bards for D&D 3rd and 3.5 Edition campaigns. This book isn't as thorough nor as a varied as the old Complete Bard's Handbook for 2nd Edition, but this is a fun little ebook in its own right.
The artwork is surprisingly good. The interior illustrations are small but wonderful monochromatic portraits. There are a total of seven classes described in this tome, five of them being beginner classes and two being prestige classes. Flavor text is almost completely gone -- some readers will like that and others will not. All classes follow the theme of focusing on music and performance rather than the grifting aspects of the bards. The Soothsayer could use some more work, but the other classes seemed very well developed. The baubles and urus of power appear in other books like Synergy Artifacts, but they are particularly useful here because they match the bards' adaptability well. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: There are several good points. The artwork is small but impressive. The classes seem well balanced and mostly well developed. Baubles and urus offer much more freedom in the creation of magic items.
None of these new bard classes are by themselves compelling enough for me to roll a new character. I think they would be most useful to the gamemaster who wants to a different flavor of bard in every culture that is visited during a campaign.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Clarification on the requirements of these classes would have been much appreciated. Nothing is mentioned on the subject in the book's very short introduction, and individual class descriptions are confusing in this regard. Also, I found other editing errors that caused me a fair amount of confusion elsewhere in the text. My standard complaint with every OGL product I've read is that they focus too strongly on D&D 3.5. Over half of the gamers I know refuse to play this version, but writers of OGL products seem to be in denial of this fact. I'm not asking anyone to violate copyrights here, but I would like to see at least some suggestions or guidelines for use in other systems. Andrew Hind always does this in his articles for Knights of the Dinner Table Magazine. Some alternate free systems are available right here on RPGNow!<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

I'm not old enough to be an old school second edition player, but I can recognize a classic RPG supplement when I see it. The Complete Bard's Handbook is classic. All gaming books which focus on a single class should be this thorough. Inside are articles on roleplaying bards, rules for using first and second edition bards, a long list of instruments with illustrations, bard kits, musical jargon, and a handful of magic items. Fortunately, the first edition bards are only briefly covered as they are absolutely rediculous.

Most people will be interested in this ebook for the kits. Kits are subclasses for 2nd edition characters that represent specialization and cultural background. Each kit has unique extra abilities called benefits, extra restrictions, and a lot of flavor text. Most of the kits are designed for human bards, but a few like the Halfling Whistler are specifically demihuman bards. Hack-and-Slashers will like the Blade kit. Crazies will like the Jester kit. My personal favorites are the Charlatan and Gnomish Professor.

The artwork in Complete Bard's Handbook is mixed. Some pictures are overly simple, but most are large and impressive. The full color paintings are gorgeous.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The paintings are beautiful, the kits represent a good overview of bards from different societies, and the price is good.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: This product was obviously scanned. It's a good scan, but retyping would have been more appropriate. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

There are basically two ways to write a humorous RPG sourcebook. One way is to write playable material that is potentially funny and let other gamers use it. In doing so, other gamers create their own humor. Rifter Issue #9 1/2 is an example of this type. The second way is to let the material be unplayable but funny to read as if it were a parody of an RPG sourcebook. An example of the second type would be the adventure Little Sheep on the Borderlands which appeared in the back of Dork Tower. I'm not certain type The Book of Oafish Might was trying to be...

Most of the materials here were mildly amuzing but ridiculous enough to be unplayable. One article, however, was very useful. Jan Willem's Beastiary (Quite Contrary) was excellent. The beasts featured, although listed with stats for D&D 3, are perfect for a game of Changeling. They would also fit great into some of the BESM settings and certain HackMaster campaigns. I intend to use the Orcish Rugby Player, Office Gnome, and Forum Troll. The Skeleton Clown is ready for use right now, and Cara Mitten's picture of this ghastly fool is great. I hope that Ms. Willem develops these ideas into a full product.

Also included is an excert from Roland Wick's novella. The work is entitled _King Alfred and the Knights of the Tetrahedron. I enjoyed this as a short story, but I think it would be too much of a good thing as a novella. This King Arthur spoof tries way too hard to be funny by reaching for every possible joke. Some sentences have three or four jokes in them. That's just too intense for my taste. Ms. Wick should have focused on the good jokes more and let the bad jokes go.

As free products go, the Book of Oafish Might is a definate keeper. I would have been willing to pay for just Beastiary article.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It has an attractive cover page, although I'm not sure what is happening in it. Jan Willem's article is great, and it features a Troglodyte Rock Group! They're demi-human bards, but much more fun than the canon demi-human bards from AD&D kits. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Most of the material just wasn't funny and should have been left on the proverbial editting room floor.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

This product diserves to be an award winner. There is a wonderful varieties of monsters in this book. All of them are more creative than the average beasty seen in most canon monster books.

Besides being an excellent coloring book, this ebook fills a gap left by other monster collections. The Kid's Colouring Book of Critters is for whimsical games where imagination is more important than grit and angst.

The artwork is exceptional. I found it exciting and dynamic, although it crosses several different styles. Some pictures are beautiful black and white works by professional artists. Others are wonderful silly child-drawn portraits. All of its is good.

The critters themselves range from tiny and helpful and to huge and deadly. Although the book is designed for D&D, I can see most of these creatures being found in a Changleling campaign. My favorite creature, I think, is the World's Biggest Fish who Eats Paper. Several monsters followed a cat theme. The Kittyrar is a particularly useful critter for introducing new monsters into a low level campaign. All of the critters have full stats and descriptions.

There is even a nice surprise at the back of the book. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: In short, I liked the artwork, the carefully written statistics, and the variety. We should encourage these young creators by purchasing their very reasonably priced product.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: My standard complaint is that this product, like most, focuses solely on one gaming system when the material is well suited for others. Even that being said, I can't complain much on that point as this product is clearly labeled for D20.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

My expectations were fairly low for "E.N. Arsenal: Whips," but it surpised me. There is some good value here for such a cheap product. One reason it exceeded my expectations is that there is more good artwork here than I was expecting. After previously purchasing "Steam and Steel" which had only one graphic worth mentioned (used twice), I thought to expect the same from the whips book. There were numerous illustrations equal to those in some of the artbooks I've seen on RPGNow. Mostly, I was pleased with the diversity of the content in ...Whips. This ebook is short, but it contains a page of historical context -- which actually makes sense, a breakdown of varieties of -- which is very realistic and practicle, and four very diverse D20 prestige classes. To give those prestige classes a little more support, new whip related feats are given. Included are also examples of fantasy construction materials, magical whips, and even a whip swinging god in thrown in as a last treat.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: In the end, I think I liked the product because of the tone is informatitive rather than reformative. The book doesn't attempt to redefine a whip as something it is not. To point, I'll still never be dealing out as much damage as a comperable character with a broadsword. It does play to the style and strengths of the weapon with emphasis on tricks, range, and proper usage. Even the final feat listed, which could be argued as being munchkin, still doesn't do much damage and is nearly impossible to master but is impressive when used -- much like the whip itself. Overall, ...Whips is clearly the best e-book I've read from RPGNow at this time.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Even though the product is clearly advertised as a D20 supplement, I still think the the material is too strongly focused on D&D 3 or 3.5. Half of the players I know refuse to play these editions. Alternate stats in one or two alternate rules systems would have been much appreciated. Also, the work felt slightly incomplete without mention of whips in a cross-genre context with modern or sci-fi examples.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Excellent!

I purchased "Seaworks: SkullCove" to use for an demonstration of Evil Stevie's Pirate Game. The look is perfect, and the scale is not too far off from the Lego(tm) standard. Even though my players backed out on me, I'm glad I purchased ...SkullCove.

There are several reasons to like this set. The graphics are colorful, detailed, and varied. The models range from tiny treasure chests and barrels to a large volcano. These models were fun to assemble, the directions were clear (although I do have a few left over parts, and I don't know where they go). The forts are modular with different gates, buttresses, walls, and docks that can be used. They do, however, lack any real buildings to go behidn the walls except for some tribal huts. I recommend picking up a free copy (while its still free) of "The Vyllage House."

I used ...SkullCove with "Treasure Islands" by Skeleton Key Games and "The Vyllage House" from the Vyllage on the Cheep series by MicroTactix Games. The three blend very nicely.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: There is a lot of material here. I can't over emphasize that point. I could keep making minatures from months.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Although the models were easy to assemble in most cases, some of the tabs are too small to hold adequate amounts of glue. My practice of gluing some models to cardstock to strengthen them before cutting made this worse. Even using different types of glue from Superglue to Rubber Cement, they still wouldn't hold unless I increased the bonding surface area with clear tape -- and that just looks tacky. BTW, I found that Elmer's No Run Gel seems to work best out of any adhesive. The solution I eventually found was to cut out the tabs so they are larger than instructed. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>