Possessors Children of the Outer Gods

<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: great art and creative<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I wanted more details on the creatures<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Chilling. These creatures, if real, could really send a chill down your spine (among other things - if you buy the document, you'll understand). These creatures can be used easily into any game. I played these with some friends in a space/future campaign - I did not tell them that I had the book at all, or that the planet they were on had these creatures on it, or that these creatures even existed until one attacked. Since there was a part about how these things using the element of surprise sometimes, I presented the book when one of these things latched on to a player in the campaign. The players took a quick read of the text, and were shocked to see what they had just encountered - and that really added a real twist to the game being played. This document is definately a must have for any future/space campaign. I can also see this being used in any fantasy or modern style game, however I haven't played them in those games yet. To the author - I'd like to see more products like this, whether be an offshoot/cousin race to the prosessors, or some other race written in the same quality/style. <br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Extremely well detailed and organized yet does not get boring or overwhelming. Lots of easy to use statistics and abilities. Lots of artwork, and very well done.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I regret that I didn't buy this thing sooner. :-)<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

A short product designed to fill a certain niche, and it does it well. Beautiful artwork, very generous rights to use the concept, and a delightfully creepy idea in general. <br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Freedom of use and outstanding quality.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Nothing.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Fairly well done, with some spooky atmospherics. However, I was left strangely unfulfilled. I had the nagging idea that I could come up with something just as good or better conceptually in the course of an afternoon of game planning. All that I would lack would be the artistic renderings of the creatures. Still, if you're looking for a quick alternate version of the non-OGL Illithids, I suppose you could do worse.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Art was spooky, seemed well done.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Not terribly inspired. Didn't send me into Lovecraftian goose bumps.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Interesting, although pretty short. The "adventure hooks" for these creatures needed to be significantly fleshed out. Nevertheless it does what it set out to do and performs as advertised.

Since several monsters disappeared from the SRD (beholders and mind flayers being the msot missed) that left a void in many gamer's hearts.

Luckily Ronin Arts has decided to fill at least part of that void with Possessors and look at something very similar to mind flayers!

The writing is clear and explains the possibilities of intrusion into your campaign of these nasties as well as a few too many details of what the dangerous buggers want. The art is Shy's usually beautiful work and the whole package is excellently put together.

Go buy this!

this was a really cool PDF... I really like how Phil and Chris present almost everything as OGC. again Phil provides bizarre things to enhance any D20 game

Great to see someone dedicating their time to come up with an OGC replacement for the Mind Flayer. The Possessors do a good job of filling the same niche, without actualy being derivative of that race.

I found the text layout to be a little strange, as it placed the racial abilities all over the document. It did print nicely on my printer, but uses a lot of ink.

The images and artwork walk a disturbing line between horror and eroticism. Personally I could have done with less imagery, and more descriptions, or perhaps a text-only version. In my opinion this is NOT suitable for use by minors, unless you feel they are already capable of handling horrific images and motifs.

Having said that, the description of how this work came about makes it sensible for them to have the images they have. The race has a definite cthulhu feel about it, and the imagery they have chosen helps depict this aspect of the race.

They weren't kidding when they claim graphics-heavy. If you use a dial-up connection, get yourself a good book while this one is downloading (thank god for broadband!)

However, its worth every minute of the download. This is some seriously creepy stuff and a fine addition to any DM who has players that've memorized every freakin' monster in the MM and he needs to shake them up a little... OK... a LOT.

Whoa! Great stuff! I would recommend this product to anyone.

A great supplement. Perhaps a little light on information but the craetures in question are a terrifying addition to a campaign if hadled properly, unfortunately I can also see that they could be quite comical if handled poorly. I only wish that all creature additions where up to this standard

Now, let me tell you something. I've always had a problem with Mind Flayers in my game. They just don't make sense to me as a race. Cool concept, but completly unworkable from a real sense. Plus, as cool as they are, everyone knows about them and their horrof factor is thus greatly reduced. With just a little new spin, Studio Ronin has added a new race to the game with all the same gruesome and hair rasing abilities without any of the cliche. The art alone in this product makes it one of my more prized posessions, that the creatures in it are both completely playable and horrific is just icing on the proverbial cake.

Before I comment on the game content, I want to say right up front that the artwork by Christopher Shy is absolutely amazing because it is the first thing that really grabs your attention with this product (and inspired me to purchase it after Philip shared it on En World).

In part, this product is billed as an Open Game Content (OGC) replacement for a very popular d20 monster that is not OGC. While there are certainly similarities in form and campaign function, I think that statement sells the Possessor a little short - it is in fact an interesting and unique monster in its own right. In addition to the usual monster stats, Special Attacks and Special Qualities you would expect from a d20 monster, there is also a detailed discussion of the physiology and possible origins of the Possessor, as well as some equipment unique to this species and notes on their organization and suggested variations. You certainly get more with this product than you do with the non-OGC monster out of the MM box. And you certainly can't beat the price!

While this product is listed in the d20 Fantasy Creatures section, I intend to introduce Possessors in my d20 Modern horror campaign.

Excellent work, Phil and Chris!

Joe Bardales Chilling Tales Horror Roleplaying http://chillingtales.tripod.com

Is three dollars too much to pay for a good idea?

In one sense, the monster presented in this short PDF is redundant and uncreative. An artifact of d20 licensing and WOTCs typically overprotective stance towards claimed "property" rights in ideas. A certain monster was deemed "closed" and many enthusiastic D20 and OGL supporters wanted a substitute.

This is a substitute, but much more.

First the PDF has great production values. The full color illustrations of the possessor are quite disturbing and well executed.

Second the monster is similar enough to its inspiration to be a good substitute, yet different enough in some very creative ways, ways that add to the Posessor's value as a horrific monster. A monster this creative that wasn't a substitute for anything in particular would not fill the important GM need for challenges that suprise the players who have "seen it all" and know what to expect.

The best use of this monster is oddly, one that complements the substituted monster and where the GM develops a relationship between the two. Are the two rival races? Related? Sybiotic? Adult and spawn? One a fiendish manipulation of the other?

I also appreciated attention to detail provided by the cultural artifacts of the Posessors.

I hope D20 publishers start making extensive use of this monster, which is entirely Open Content except for the specific illustrations.

When Wizards of the Coast revised the resource document for their wildly popular d20 System in February 2003, they removed several creatures that had been DUNGEONS & DRAGONS standards for decades. Among these deleted monsters were the mind flayers, a grotesque species of brain-consuming aberrations with a humanoid form and a tentacled, octopus-like head. Mind flayers ? or illithids, as they were sometimes called ? were the ultimate ?puppet master? baddies, using their powerful psionics to spread their implacable evil in many published adventures, and many more home-brewed campaigns. Their removal from the d20 System Resource Document left a hole in the roll call of evil, and POSSESSORS: CHILDREN OF THE OUTER GODS is one of the first attempts to fill that hole.

A release from Spider Bite Games and the prolific duo of writer Philip J. Reed and artist Christopher Shy, POSSESSORS is a short (17 pages) PDF detailing a new, and decidedly bizarre, monster whose array of abilities will be quite familiar to fans of mind flayers. The possessors of the title are alien creatures with a taste for living tissue, floating aberrations that look like octopi, but are far more than that. POSSESSORS gives a complete accounting of the possessors? abilities, which include a variety of physical and magical/psionic attacks, and details the process by which the creatures feed on a victim: once a possessor gets a grip, it engulfs the head and begins to drain every bit of soft tissue from the helpless victim?s body. And as if this were not grotesque enough, the possessor also gains control over the victim?s form while the feeding takes place, riding the unfortunate soul until the feeding process has rendered the body utterly useless, a drained husk.

The creatures are repulsive, and Christopher Shy?s artwork lends an extra air of creepiness to the description. From the cover image of a naked woman with her head engulfed by a possessor, to several other such depictions on the following pages, Shy?s sense of the monstrous is well served by the subject, and vice versa. As is usual with Spider Bite Games?s releases, POSSESSORS is also a model of solid graphic design, with full color on every page. Only a few typos keep the product from being perfect on technical grounds, and it would have been nice to see a black-and-white version included here, as with other PDFs from Spider Bite Games.

For all its good points, however, POSSESSORS is essentially an extended entry for a MONSTER MANUAL-type collection. Reed does an excellent job detailing the possessors, even providing suggestions for variations on the ?standard? creature, listing a few bits of equipment/treasure specific to the species, and suggesting a deep, evocative origin for the monsters, but it?s still not quite enough. Including a short adventure, or even a series of adventure hooks, might have provided the extra beefiness this release needs to seem complete, particularly since the possessors themselves are so bizarre that most ordinary D&D games would have a difficult time incorporating them.