Probably the best collection of new 3.5 spells from a third-party publisher that I've seen -- and believe me, I've seen a lot of them!

Sure, there are a few spells which seem too vulnerable to player-abuse, or which make you say, "What were the designers thinking?", but this can be said of any collection of spells, including the ones in the Dungeons and Dragons core rulebooks themselves. In recommending Eldritch Sorcery, I'm presuming that the buyer will review the spells he or she decides to add to their game, and that the DM will actually think beforehand about what using a given spell might mean.

What makes this all okay, in my opinion, is that Eldritch Sorcery contains a LOT of spells, so even if you have to discard a few in the name of home-game balance, you'll still have plenty of new spells left to put into play.

WHAT'S GOOD?

Particularly, this isn't an "uber" book -- meaning that, while there are some pretty powerful spell ideas herein, it's not just another "munchkin book" designed to give power-gamers orgasms.

What I especially like about Eldritch Sorcery is that it tends to fill in a lot of spell list "concept gaps" for me.

If you've every found yourself wondering, "Why isn't there a spell at this level which does X", you might very well find that spell here, in Eldritch Sorcery.

There are more than a few possible "D'oh!" headslap moments, where you could find yourself reading a spell description and thinking, "Well, of course that character class should have that kind of spell at this level!"

For example, druid characters get a lot of interesting low- and mid-level spells offered, which suddenly make the class a lot more versatile, well-rounded, interesting, and fun. I can honestly say that this book made me think about actually playing a druid character for the first time in decades of D&D gaming.

Also, there are a lot of new Evil and Necromantic spells here (as befits a Necromancer Games product, I suppose), which will allow DMs to have their evil villains hit the players with suitably nasty and spooky magic whic players haven't already seen a hundred times before.

A villain who can surprise the players, and make them sweat a bit, is always a better villain.

Most spell-using character classes in D&D get new spell options in Eldritch Sorcery. Prestige Classes like the Blackguard may only get a handful, comparitively, but that may be simply because the core classes get quite a lot. There are new clerical domains provided as well -- all of them are interesting, if slightly obvious. Only the new Necromantic domain truly wowed me with its game-potential.

WHAT'S NOT SO GOOD?

As I said in the introduction, Eldritch Sorcery has got a few spells among the many which seem unbalanced, or else just "wrong" somehow. That's to be expected, especially with a spell list this large. This all means that DMs will have to review each spell, and think about its impact, before allowing it in their games. Good DMs do this with third-party game products anyway, but it does work against the pipe-dream of an absolutely plug-and-play spell compendium.

WHY 5 STARS?

While not perfect in every last respect, Eldritch Sorcery makes an obvious and sincere effort to give over-worked DMs more options toward better, more fun, gameplay. Also, the sheer number of new spells in this book should mean that every buyer can get his or her money's worth in some way.

As I mentioned, I've seen a LOT of third-party D&D spellbooks over the years. This is definitely one of the best. Recommended.

Is there even a good reason to write reviews of Future Armada products any more? It seems that everyone, like me, just downloads them the moment they're released, sight unseen.

The Future Armada deckplans are simply excellent in all respects -- and in my opinion, Ryan Wolfe creates the best starship deckplans out there. Don't believe me? Download the free preview versions of the various PDFs from Wolfe's Ki Ryn Studios, and have a look for yourself.

Be sure to check out Wolfe's mega-project deckplans -- the fully-realized space station Argos III, and the deck-by-frickin'-deck capital ship, Invictus. If these don't impress you with their sheer scope and scale, call your doctor, as you may be dead.

Certain individual Future Armada designs may not meet with your personal needs or tastes, but there's no one out there doing work this good, this consistently.

The Gryphon is billed as a mercenary base-of-operations ship for a small strike team -- and it can certainly be used that way. As written, however, the starship works equally well as a six-crew "jack of all trades, master of none" vessel for space adventurers of any kind. In this, and in the fact that the ship can be piloted by only two people (one, in a pinch), the Gryphon shares a strong link with the famous Scout/Courier vessel from Classic Traveller. Six individual crew cabins make it a perfect home ship for any party of starfarers seeking their fortunes out in the void.

If you're at all interested, just buy it. If you're like most of us who know Ryan Wolfe's Future Armada series, you've probably bought The Gryphon already. 5 out of 5 stars

Certainly worth five dollars!

It's strange how we each have our own personal `price points'. I was interested in Spire of the Raven God from the moment it first listed on this site, but I just wasn't comfortable paying seven dollars for an adventure from a company I'd never heard of before.

I'm not sure exactly how the PDF version was altered to make it cheaper (I expected the interior to be completely black and white, but the art and maps remain full color). The new monster included -- called a Kameon-Woodstalker -- was apparently cut for space, but at five bucks, Spire of the Raven God suddenly stepped into "acceptable risk purchase" territory for me.

WHAT IS IT?

A largely wilderness adventure designed for 4-6 characters of 10-12th level. There's some tunnel-crawling, and some fortress-fighting as you seek to confront and defeat the Big Bad in its lair. This showdown with the Big Bad may well require characters beyond the 10-12th level range, if the adventure itself hasn't already bumped them into the 15-18 tier through play.

WHAT'S GOOD?

• The art by Joe Calkins and Butch Mapa is fabulous, and full color throughout.

• The maps are also full color, 5' gridded, and typically indicate the positions of enemies at the beginning of an encounter. This is all very good for those of you who rely heavily on miniatures in your D&D play.

• The writing by Rex Baker is crisp and clear, and the layout is easy on the eyeballs. Read-aloud text is clearly marked -- so clearly, in fact, that it practically reaches up off the page and smacks you in the eye! :-) If you can't spot the read-aloud text in THIS adventure, then you've accidentally fallen asleep without realizing it.

SO WHY NOT 5 STARS?

To get five stars from me, at least, and adventure has to have something in its plot, background, or storyline which makes me say "Wow!" or otherwise impresses me in some way.

Don't get me wrong, Spire of the Raven God is a solid adventure, professionally written by Rex Baker -- my problem is, it was pretty much a very well-constructed, very archetypal standard-style D&D adventure from start to finish. This is not a bad thing, but the publishers' innovation in other areas made me anticipate more.

Aside from the custom-modified Big Bad, and the MIA-from-this edition new monster, longtime D&D players will be facing a lot of the same kinds of challenges, and battling familiar foes that they have already faced in other adventures, perhaps with other characters.

Again, this is not necessarily a bad thing. It's all handled well here. Black Death Games, however, has shown with this first adventure that their production quality is already better than much of what one sees in third-party-produced D&D adventures. As such, they create a higher standard of expectation, whether they mean to, or not.

CONCLUSION

Spire of the Raven God is definitely worth a look if you want a solidly-made, impressively-illustrated, archetypal D&D adventure for levels 10-12. It hints at even greater promise for future adventures in Baker and Calkins' fantasy world of Hanan Pacha.

I'll be interested to see if the next module in the series, Lair of the Demon Princess (due this summer) pushes toward the kind of unique story content this adventure flirts with, but never completely embraces.

All in all, a very respectable 4 out of 5, with the clear promise of 5-star possibilities in the company's future.

It's not visually stunning, but 100 Ship Cargos delivers on its promises. 100 fantasy-historical ship cargos for $2 US. It's hard to beat a deal like that.

The one major flaw in this product is that there are no price list suggestions included whatsoever. Author Christopher Baldi makes a decent case that assigning prices to the cargos would defeat the "universal" nature of the gaming product, and he's right in that regard.

Still, some of these cargos are esoteric enough to the modern mind, that I would have no idea how to price them "on the fly" at the gaming table, which defeats much of this product's plug-and-play time-saving appeal.

Certainly the author, who's done all the research anyway, would be better equipped to suggest a value for a given cargo than I would -- suddenly scrambling around at the game table to put a price on a crate full of cannonballs, with anxious players all waiting on me.

While I undrstand the author's position, I guess I still wish each cargo carried some sort of abstract "Trade Value" number -- that the author had designated one cargo (Grain?) as the "baseline" cargo, and assigned it a "Trade Value" number of 1.0, and then ranked the other 199 cargos relative to its value. Sort of an "encoded barter system", if you will.

That way, I'd still get to set my own price on a cargo of grain at 48 florins and 12 guilders (or whatever), but I could tell at a glance that a cargo of cannonballs has a recommended "Trade Value" of 14.5 times whatever I deemed the grain cargo to be worth in my game.

Something like this would push 100 Ship Cargos from a four-star product to a five-star, in my opinion, because it would allow the product to help GMs out instantly at the game table, when they might need it most.

All suggestions aside, at only $2 US, 100 Ship Cargos is definitely worth your time, so long as you don't mind working up the price values yourself.

As mentioned above, this product isn't visually slick or glossy, but it's not ugly either -- primarily, it's black text on a white background, busily delivering the goods, as promised, both literally and figuratively.

If, after reading this, you still think 100 Ship Cargos is for you, then just buy it. For only $2 US, it's definitely a low-risk purchase.

Gary Gygax's last fantasy home ...

After the late E. Gary Gygax parted ways with TSR -- the company he helped found to sell Dungeons and Dragons -- he eventually found a new publisher in Troll Lord Games.

Gary, a firm believer in holding on to his favorite ideas, created Yggsburgh as a sort of City of Greyhawk 2.0, -- and his mad-mage alter-ego in the World of Greyhawk, Xagyg, suddenly transmogrified into a mad-mage named ... wait for it ... Zagyg! If you still don't get the joke, read both names backwards. I'll wait ... Castle Zagyg also appeared as a kind of Castle Greyhawk 2.0.

Right, so in the wake of the Gary's death, the Troll Lord Games folk -- who were not just his publishers, but friends of Gygax as well -- are working to get the Castle Zagyg: Yggsburgh hardback out there more widely for those who want to see it. For those who want just a preliminary peek at what Yggsburgh is like, however, this city-overview map is a great place to start.

It has a map scale, and general neighborhood labelling. Not much beyond that, but there are various "area close up" PDF maps of Yggsburgh already available for sale here on RPGNow, under the Castle Zagyg: Yggsburgh name.

If you want the full Yggsburgh experience, guided by Gary, you'll want to track down the hardback I mentioned above.

However, if you merely want a city to populate and detail your own way, what better starting point than a color map of the city from the mind of the Great Dungeon Master himself?

Brilliant!

"Level 8" only matters if you're fitting together all the levels of 0one's "Dungeon Under The Mountain" mega setting. What matters here is that if you've ever wanted a mapped-out underground city that you can populate and customize your way, this is the map to buy. For three bucks, it's hard to resist ...

I have a real problem with sourcebooks that provide little more than mountains of descriptive text, and this is one of those products.

Sure, there's a sparse overview map, and a few illustrations, but mostly this product is page after page of description and setting background. If you're a hardcore fan of all things Malhavoc, I expect you'll love it regardless. For the rest of us, not so much.

Technically, it provides what it promises, but in no real way does it take the burden off of the Game Master, who has to distill it all down into details which can be used readily and easily at the gaming table.

So, I flag my bias: I'm dead-sick of supplements which promise to flesh out an interesting area or setting for game use, and then proceed to bury you in text description -- leaving the actual hard and tedious work of player-scale mapping and practical setting implementation for game table use all on the GM's shoulders. Basically, I paid them for a travel guide textbook, and that's not what the ad copy implied.

Since Ruins of Intrigue technically does what it promises -- it does deliver a setting (and a setting which seems oddly reminiscent of RuneQuest's "Big Rubble" boxed set), albeit almost entirely in text -- I suppose I should, technically, give it a passing grade.

But you know what? I'm really tired of buying supplements which don't actually help to alleviate my GM workload, the way they imply they will.

So it's a 2 out of 5 -- Malhavoc, of all publishers, should know better than this.

And this time, the Barbatis get everything right, and deliver what the fans expect!

I was surprised and disappointed by the generic nature of the previous Ruined Town blueprint (The Dungeon of the 13 Undead) but Castle Falconflight ensures that all is now forgiven. If you're using the Ruined Town map series -- and I hope you are -- then Falconflight fits right into its setting. Even if you're not using the Ruined Town setting, who doesn't need a foreboding ruined keep somewhere in their fantasy rpg game?

At less than two bucls, you're never going to find better for cheaper. Stop reading this and go buy it already! ;-)

I'm forced to agree with the previous reviewer, Mark Shipley.

I'm a huge fan of 0one's bluprints, and I'm constantly amazed by the quality cartographer Mario Barbati provides, all for less than two dollars.

Italy's greatest rpg mapmaker also has an uncanny knack for predicting what kinds of maps gamers will need before the gamers even know themselves.

This time, however, I think Mr. Barbati's instincts failed him a little ...

As reviewer Shipley stated, the majority of this map is simply yet another underground dungeon. It's a good dungeon, to be sure, but once your players take their characters underground, they could be in any dungeon anywhere, in any fantasy world. The connection to the Ruined Town setting is very slim in this product, and essentially irrelevant.

To be fair, the product title and description makes it very clear that this IS a dungeon; I was just surprised that it was very much a standard dungeon complex, with so little connection to its interesting setting.

I guess that's the risk when you're as talented as Mr. Barbati, people expect more of you than they would from others.

Worth buying, if you know what you're getting, but sadly, I can't justify rating it beyond a 3 out of 5. Mr.Barbati himself has taught us to expect more from him.

A top-quality product with one significant flaw.

Temple Quarter: A City Quarters Sourcebook is well-made, with good art, layout, and maps -- the same as every other recent Game Mechanics game product I've seen. WotC game designer JD Wiker does the writing here, and his professional skill definitely shows through.

The biggest problem I had with the product? I didn't realize when I bought it that this "sourcebook" is more accurately a setting book. You're buying a specific Temple Quarter, with specific fantasy deities, that are all part of a specific fantasy city -- the city of Liberty. Even the major maps are pre-marked as "Liberty".

Certainly, an ambitious GM could tinker with the content to make it mesh more with his or her home campaign -- but this would be rather like genericizing Greyhawk, Ptolus, Waterdeep, Freeport, or Stormreach content. If you strip out these deities, and the temple story-elements which surround them, you're also stripping out a lot of the unique content that you paid money for ...

So, it's an excellent product, but the product title can be a bit misleading. This is not so much a general-use sourcebook for your fantasy cities; rather, it's a close-up view of the Temple Quarter of an existing fantasy city named Liberty.

All in all, a good product, provided you know in advance what you're actually buying.

If you're curious about Castles & Crusades, this free PDF download is absolutely the best place to start.

There's a "Castles & Crusades Condensed" PDF edition of the C&C rules available here on RPGNow, but that edition is fatally crippled by having key information cut out (e.g. classes such as the ranger; certain races) in the name of condensation. Add to this, that the Condensed Edition material is all based on the game's first printing, while the print-edition Player's Guide is about to go into its third printing as of March 15th, 2008, and you're basically paying money for an incomplete and an obsolete version of Castles & Crusades with the Condensed version.

These Quick Start Rules are even more drastically cut down from the print books, of course, but then they don't promise to be anything more than an introduction to the game. Plus, they're free. Free helps a lot.

For those wondering, "Okay, but what IS Castles & Crusades?" Simply put, it's an intentional retro-clone of 1e D&D using the d20/OGL rules at core.

Unlike games like OSRIC or Labyrinth Lord, however, C&C is more than just a straight clone of what's gone before. There are rules mechanics (most notably, C&C's so-called SIEGE target-number dice-mechanic) designed to mirror character skills and ability usage, and to allow for character customization (even within the same class), without ever complicating the straightforward action of "classic D&D" play.

As another RPGNow reviewer put it, if you're tired of "swimming through skills and feats" every time you want to make up a D&D character, you might want to give the Castles & Crusades Quick Start rules a look.

The designers at Troll Lord Games are quite explicit in their intentions that Castles & Crusades is a game focused on action and roleplay and imagination -- in the very best traditions of first-edition D&D. They make clear that this game is designed to be understood in fifteen minutes, and that you should be able to create a satisfying starting character in fifteen minutes more.

You won't require miniatures or battlemaps to play, either -- just some game dice, paper, and your imagination.

Where does Castles & Crusades fall short? Well, for all that it does a great job of introducing a clever all-in-one dice mechanic for handling skills, abilities, combat, traps, saves, and all the rest -- without ever bogging down the game flow in rules detail -- in other ways, C&C will seem awfully familiar to those who've actually played D&D prior to 2nd edition, or even 3rd.

Castles & Crusades is more than a straight retro-clone game like OSRIC, as I said -- it does streamline some of the clunkier, counter-intuitive bits of original/pre-3e D&D in admirable ways. The problem is, I found myself wishing they'd have made the system even a little more flexible and streamlined. For example, monster listings are almost verbatim the data-clutter you remember from classic D&D, and adventures are still tightly bound to a set number, and level-range, of player characters.

My other complaint, as above, is with the whole "Condensed Edition" rules idea. With the third paper printing of the core rules due within days of this writing, Troll Lord Games needs to make a command decision as to how they will treat their PDF rules editions from here on out.

They can either release the current, unabridged core rules X months after the print edition, as many companies do, and trust that everyone who would've automatically bought the game already has -- and that the PDF edition now becomes a "recruitment tool" to bring in new gamers who never would've otherwise bought Castles & Crusades ...

... or else they can do what companies like Mongoose Publishing do, and list the full PDF editions here for almost exactly the same price (and in some cases, more) than what one would pay for the actual print books at retail. Those like me, who prefer PDF, then get to make a choice of format, but Mongoose gets paid their full retail amount either way.

Things like the Condensed Edition stink of weaseldom -- the new buyer can't know specifically what they're not getting until after they've paid their money, and it's too late. Troll Lord Games needs to stop doing things halfway, and either commit to a proper PDF sales strategy for their core game rules, or else acknowledge that they don't really want to sell their core rules as a PDF at all. Step up or step back, but somebody needs to make the command decision here.

Happily, the only decision curious gamers need to make about the free Castles & Crusades Quick Start Rules download, is what sort of sandwich they want to eat while reading over the PDF for the first time. I would recommend egg salad, but I do know that's an acquired taste.

All in all, a 4 out of 5. The promised included "adventure" is so short as to be more properly a mere encounter. I do appreciate that it's a free product and all, but that bit of dodgy marketing hype kept me from loving the Quick Start Rules with my whole, nerdy heart.

Check it out!

A truly impressive science-fiction rpg which stands well apart from the pack, largely for the intentional and intelligent simplicity of its rules.

At a time when most SF games seem to be massive catalogues of rules, supplements, and niche-appeal setting detail, Thousand Suns takes a page from classic rpg design, and delivers a simple, smart, and aggressively streamlined all-in-one rules set designed to be transparent -- that is, to be easily understood and easily adapted to the specific needs of the gamemaster and the players.

I've tried repeatedly over the last couple of days to put together a review of reasonable length for Thousand Suns, explaining why I think it's such a worthy product -- particularly for time-pressured GMs and players who'd rather spend their few game hours together actually playing a good SF game, rather than wrangling over yet another endless set of game rules.

The problem is, all my earlier review drafts ended up being novel-length epics, talking about every single cool design decision in nerd-painful detail.

So, I'll try one last time to cut things short -- but if you've read my other reviews, you know I can promise nothing …

WHAT'S REALLY GOOD?

Thousand Suns has possibly the fastest, most painless SF character generation system I've ever seen. The way it handles skills as plug-and-play stackable "packages", based on player choices, particularly impressed me.

Most skill-based games become a huge time-sink during character (or NPC) generation, as newbie players painstakingly hand-pick every last skill point while asking repeatedly, "Is this a skill I'll need?". Not Thousand Suns.

Players make choices based on their character concept, and plug in skill packages based on their homeworld type, and which SF career archetype(s) their character history includes. Ten minutes or less, and a character's skills can be ready to play.

As I mentioned above, Thousand Suns is relentlessly streamlined and transparent throughout. If you don't like the idea of customizable plug-and-play skill packages -- or you don't want to be bothered with archetypal character classes -- you can treat it all like one big point-buy system.

It will take more time, but it's not hard to do, and the rules spell out how it all works very plainly. If you simply want to add new skill packages, or make the existing ones even more varied, you can do that too.

The character-generation system is indicative of the design ethic of the rest of the game: it's designed to cut every last inch of deadweight from the rules, while also putting full control over how the rules work into the hands of the players and the GM.

Instead of burying you in a rule for every game situation, Thousand Suns intentionally shows you exactly how it does what it does, so that you can make up your own additional rules, if and when you need them.

WHAT ELSE IS GOOD?

• Thousand Suns is actually issued under the WotC Open Game License (just like Mutants and Masterminds, et al), and even though it doesn't use d20 (it uses a pair of d12s, actually) the game does retain the one dice mechanic familiar to most gamers; namely: "Roll the dice, add the relevant plusses, subtract the relevant minuses, and see if you can hit the target number".

In other words, even if your gaming group is shy of anything that isn't branded d20, Thousand Suns shouldn't be a tough sell. The stripped-down rules, and the familiar central dice mechanic should keep them feeling safe.

• Psionic powers are optional, depending on the GMs campaign, but the example powers listed are divided into "power" and "super-powered" categories to make it easier for GMs to know at a glance what each power might bring to the setting.

• Equipment with no set "Progress Level" or "Tech Level" arbitrarily assigned. Obviously, certain tech will be more advanced than other tech, but it's your decision as Gamemaster as to where, and when, each piece of tech exists (or doesn't exist) in your campaign.

If you want slug-thrower weapons and FTL drives to co-exist, a la "Firefly", then that's your choice as GM. Thousand Suns provides the tech examples (adapted largely from the Future SRD), but it's left up to you to decide where, when, how, or if, any technology should appear in your game.

The tech-gadget build rules from d20 Future also make an appearance.

• No Wealth Checks! It's a currency-based game!

• No mapping or figures required for ground combat. Taking a cue from original Classic Traveller, all you need to know at the beginning of a firefight is the general range between opponents (Long, Medium, Short, or Point Blank), and from there it's all dice rolls and situational modifiers.

You certainly can play on a map or a grid easily enough, but you're not required to do so. It keeps the battles fast and fluid, and makes those sudden, unexpected outbreaks of violence players always seem to stumble into a lot easier to handle on the fly.

• Armor stops damage. You get hit for thirty points damage, and your armor has a value of 20? You take ten points damage. Gotta love the obvious.

• Starship combat is abstract, and ultra-simple, and it works.

No maps, counters, or miniatures are required (although you certainly can use them).

Starships have a basic set of statistics, very stripped down from the Future SRD: Offensive Modifier; Defensive Modifier; Hull, Move, Turn, Crew, Cost, Weapons, and Damage Control.. These stats fit on the printable "ship cards" provided with Thousand Suns -- but, honestly, the stats could just as easily be written on a 3x5 index card, or a piece of scrap paper.

The card also serves as the physical indicator of the starship on the tabletop, Two d12s of different colors are set on or beside the card to represent the Z axis -- up and down, respectively -- thus making the 2D space battlefield effectively 3D. Starship combat movement is measured in "spans", and once a starship moves more than 12 spans in any direction, it has successfully fled the battlefield.

Player character skills modify starship-combat related rolls, of course, and it all plays fast and smooth -- and very much like the ground-based game.

Several archetypal starship types are provided, from single-person fighters, all the way up to 160-person Strike Cruisers. All the example starship types and weapons are adapted and streamlined from the Future SRD.

• World creation is all about providing a setting for the gameplay.

Thousand Suns is probably the first space SF rpg I've seen in years that doesn't try to model star system creation. And you know what? That's perfectly fine with me.

There's a metric tonne of SF rpg material out there which will do the cosmological stuff for you, with varying degrees of scientific accuracy, if you want it.

Hell, NBOS software makes a great little program called AstroSynthesis available right here on RPGNow, which will crank out more astrophysical data at the click of a mouse than most GMs will ever use or need..

Thousand Suns leaves the stellar-scale details to you. As usual, the game hones in on what you need most to run the game; namely, an interesting, identifiable place to play

Worlds in Thousand Suns are categorized more in terms of function, than astrometrics. What type of world is it? Agricultural? A Colony? Commercial? Is it generally Terrestrial (Earth-like) or not? If not, then what? What's the predominant terrain? The climate? The atmosphere? The population? The society?

Thousand Suns answers the questions players will ask with broad descriptive categories, as opposed to raw scientific data. Worlds can be generated with a series of random chart rolls, and these do cross-modify to some extent, but even the rules make clear that some "impossible" results may occur. Most GMs will likely choose from each category whatever result best serves their adventure plans, and save the random rolls for characteristics which don't impact the gameplay.

ANYTHING ELSE?

• Oddly, robots don't figure very prominently. There are a couple of example NPC robot examples (a security and a combat robot), but players who want to play as robots are advised to make up an appropriately customized Species under the rules, and simply treat it as a machine life-form

• Hardcore gearheads, and fans of the eternally oxymoronic "hard SF" probably won't like Thousand Suns, for its dogged commitment to an uncluttered, generalist rules system, but make no mistake --this is not a "space fantasy" game, a la Star Wars (although you could fairly easily make it into something like that, if you so chose).

It is, as I insinuated way back at the beginning of this review, an rpg which harks back to a lost style of game design, where the rules are intended as a means to enable the desires and designs of the gamemaster and the players, not to dictate them.

Thousand Suns presumes you have your own ideas for how you want to play the game, and seeks to help you realize them, instead of saying, "No, you have to buy all the canon supplements we put out, and play it only our way".

• Where does Thousand Suns fail? Not very often, and not very severely, in my opinion.

The stock art cover is so generic -- especially when shrunk down to postage-stamp size on the RPGNow website -- that I almost passed it by until I recognized game designer James Maliszewski's name on the credits.

The PDF version uses a horizontal (landscape) 11x8.5 layout, effectively putting two pages on each PDF page. I can only imagine that this was done to keep the PDF page-count down -- thus keeping the selling price to an affordable $10 US.

The interior layout is black-and-white, and yet the pages all have a border graphic which could well eat up an extra ink printing in black-and-white might normally save. As of this writing, no "printer friendly" version of the PDF was available.

That said, the document fonts and layout look very good. Interior artist Dani Kaulakis is not the flashiest illustrator I've seen, but has a knack for isolating the defining mood, and key point of interest, in every scene portrayed.

All in all, I have to rate Thousand Suns a 5 out of 5 stars. It has its minor problems, but the strength of its intelligent, streamlined appproach to SF gaming far outweighs any flaws.

My hope is that people seeking a less rules-burdened SF rpg will take a serious look at Thousand Suns, realize just how good it truly is, and give it a try.

Thank you to anyone who actually spent their allotted lifespan with me, reading this far. We're like family now, kid. Now, go buy the book and make yer old man -- and yourself -- happy!

An absolute must-have, especially at such a low price! The Ruined Town is much more than the name suggests, it's a actually more of a small ruined city, with a keep, temples, a docks area, and more dungeon-friendly entry points than you can shake a sword at!

In many ways, The Ruined Town is very similar to designer Mario Barbuti's breakthrough product from 0one Games: The Great City. While slightly smaller in scale than The Great City (though, again, probably larger than one might expect from the product title), The Ruined Town is essentially a giant overview map, plus four additional maps which take a somewhat closer look at each of the four quadrants of the area.

Like the original Great City product, there are various landmarks labelled -- all of which labelling can be removed at the click of a button prior to printout for those GMs who want to make this location entirely their own -- but this is still an "overview" product. Be advised that there are no character-scale "adventure location" scale maps included here.

I expect that if this product proves popular (and I can't see any reason why it won't) Barbuti and company will release further products detailing features of the various quarters of the ruin -- much as they did with The Great City.

If you can't wait for official detail maps, there are already a number of 0one Blueprint products available right here on this site which would mesh seamlessly with this product, and serve perfectly as character-scale versions of some of the landmark locations of The Ruined Town.

Most gaming products try to sell me things I don't really need, and try to charge me too much in the process of doing it. Mario Barbuti and 0one Games, on the other hand, regularly provide me with beautiful, printable, fully customizable, rules-neutral maps of fantasy locations that I really need in my fantasy gaming -- to tell the stories to my friends that I really want to tell them.

And most of these absolutely useful products cost me a grand total of two bucks!

To put it another way -- when I was a wee gamer, back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth -- I got my hands on the Pavis and Big Rubble boxed sets for RuneQuest and I was absolutely blown away by the idea of adventuring in and among (as well as under) ancient ruins. Years later, I was fortunate enough to walk through the ancient roman ruins at Ephesus (now in modern Turkey, near Izmir) at dawn -- the city was empty except for myself and my companions, and you could almost feel the ancient ghosts passing in and out of the ruins of the Library, or down by the market district of the Harbor. The gamer part of my brain said to me, "Your players should feel some part of this thrill".

Since then, I've spent embarassing amounts of money trying to track down a good "fantasy ruined city" map, and I've never found one that truly offered what it promised, or what I needed Until now. Thank you, Mario Barbuti and 0one Games. Thanks much.

Short version? If you need an overview map of a small ruined fantasy city, buy this product. You can make it completely your own, and even if every tiny detail doesn't match your expectations, I doubt you'll find better out there, and certainly not for under two dollars US.

Trust me. I've looked.

A brilliant product. Top marks.

The secret you need to know about the True20 Freeport Companion is that it's the best sourcebook available if you want to run or to play in an iconic D&D-style fantasy campaign using the True20 rules.

The Freeport content? It's there to take or leave, as you choose -- but whether you plan to use the Freeport setting or not, this book will definitely help you to take the generalized toolkit that is the True20 rules, and to translate those rules into D&D-style fantasy adventures at your gaming table.

Up until now, we've only had the Reality Deviant's Blood Throne fantasy setting, and Ronin Arts' True20 Fantasy Paths as examples of how True20 might be used to create a more rules-light, freer-form version of d20 fantasy gaming.

Blood Throne is very well done, but it's a fantasy setting with a very particular tone and flavor to it; it's essentially "post-apocalyptic" fantasy. Ironically, the very creativity which helped "Blood Throne" to win its place in the True20 setting search, also makes the product less-than-useful as an example of iconic fantasy adventure-building using the True20 system.

True20 Fantasy Paths is also a worthy product, but it intentionally focuses on replicating existing D&D 3.5 classes as closely as possible in all respects. This is perfect for someone who simply wants to play ersatz D&D under the True20 rule set, but Fantasy Paths can follow the letter of the D&D rules more than it evokes their spirit.

With the True20 Freeport Companion, we're presented with concrete examples of how the True20 rules can be used to create a broad d20 fantasy setting with the lighter, less rigid True20 system.

All the playable adventure-fantasy classes you remember from the core True20 rulebook are here as True20 racial backgrounds: humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, half-elves, orcs and half-orcs. But wait -- as the TV commercials say -- there's more! How about goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds (Children of Meepo, Unite!), azhar (think demi-djinni), and everybody's favorite plane-touched, aasimar and tieflings.

Under True20's three main Heroic Roles (Adept, Expert, and Warrior) are a host of custom-built Paths, demonstrating how various heroic-fantasy archetypes can play out through True20.

Adept players can adopt the role of Cultist (this IS a Freeport book, after all); Dabblers (actually a formalized Expert/Adept multiclass in this setting -- skill users who do "a little magic on the side"); Magician (the wizard analogue); Mystic (the sorceror analogue); or Priest (the cleric analogue).

Expert players can play as an Assassin; a Fence (shady trader and deal-maker); a Grifter (charismatic con artist); a Mummer (a performer/acrobat/tricksy type); or the ever-popular Thief.

Warrior players have their choice of a Barbarian; a Duelist (the lightly-armored, often acrobatic, swordsman or -woman); a Musketeer (a literal musketeer -- one who uses alchemical black-powder pistols or muskets in combat); a Pirate (again, this IS Freeport, and Freeport was all about the pirates, even before Johnny Depp); a Soldier (fighter, but also a mercenary or a professional/city guard here); or a Templar (the paladin analogue).

Path progression charts are included for each Path listed above, detailing levels 1 through 20. As is standard for True20, no "experience point charts" are provided. Gamemasters must either provide their own XP charts for True20 (perhaps borrowing them from their d20 core books), or else, the players level up whenever the GM says they do…

… which is what actually happens anyway in standard d20, since by setting the monsters and challenges, a DM effectively determines in advance what the XP reward range for an adventure will be …

But I digress …

Also, please note that I used the word "analogue" advisedly in the lists above. True20 is similar to d20, but it's not identical, nor was it ever intended to be identical. One of the strengths of True20, in my opinion, is that the rules are simpler, cleaner, and more flexible than those of its d20 parent.

As such, while the character Paths above are familiar enough that d20 fantasy players crossing over to True20 shouldn't experience "rules system shock", any rules lawyer type who expects the Paths to be exactly like their D&D counterparts in every respect will be disappointed.

For those who want a True20 fantasy experience, however, there's so much to be had in the True20 Freeport Companion.

Minor skill changes are discussed, as befits the Freeport fantasy setting. New Feats and Powers (i.e. magic) are introduced. There are rules for Taint (corruption from the use of evil magic) and Madness. Expanded equipment lists are here, as well as an honest-to-Gygax price list and money system. No more nebulous "Wealth checks" kids -- get yer hands on some gold!

Poisons, tools and skill kits, transportation and services. As I said at the beginning, this PDF may say Freeport on the cover, but it does a LOT of the heavy lifting for a GM looking to start up any sort of D&D-style True20 fantasy adventure campaign. Take what you need and leave the rest.

There are short sections on handling ritual magic (seances, exorcisms, and the like, in keeping with the Freeport setting's dark underbelly). A tiny chart suggests cost modifiers for Supernatural armor, weapons, and charms, since the setting uses actual hard currency.

Nothing in the way of premade personal magical items are included here, as such, although there are a few Artifacts detailed. These are all, of course, very much Freeport-themed, and most have a nautical and/or piratical aspect to them.

There are around forty new monsters/creatures described, including one template. Again, many of these critters follow the seafaring/pirate theme which defines the Freeport setting, but a minority will still benefit a standard True20 fantasy-adventure campaign.

Chapter Seven of the book may be particularly useful to True20 fantasy GMs, as it lists examples of various Ordinary-class NPCs that players might encounter during their adventures: Assassins; Beggars; Commoners; Cultists; Lobstermen (i.e. divers); Longshoremen; Mercenaries; Merchants; Pirates; Priests; Sea Lord's Guard (elite city watch); The Syndicate; Thieves; Thugs; Watchmen (ordinary city watch) and Wizards -- they're all here. Most entries will have two listings; one at first or second level, with a second example set around level six or seven.

Again, even if you don't plan on running your True20 campaign in Freeport, this book takes a lot of the weight of game preparation off your shoulders.

The next section details most of the major NPCs of the Freeport setting under the True20 rules. While ambitious GMs could certainly "borrow" certain relevant characters for their own campaign settings, many of these NPCs are strongly tied to the Freeport setting, by definition.

Likewise, the included adventure "Fury In Freeport" is well-made, but it's specifically designed to introduce first-level True20 characters to the Freeport setting. While it's a useful example of how a decent first-level adventure for True20 fantasy can be constructed, separating the adventure from its setting would likely rob it of most of its power and flavor.

The PDF rounds out with a short general index.

So -- the one or two of you still reading this must be asking -- what ISN'T good about this PDF?

I have only three minor warnings.

First, if you ARE buying this product specifically because you want to play a True20 Freeport campaign, be aware that this is not an all-in-one Freeport sourcebook. There are no general maps of Freeport, no discussion of the overall setting in any detail. If you want to start up in Freeport, you will need the Freeport setting book from Green Ronin as well as this book. This book only covers how to play in the Freeport setting using True20 rules.

Second, if you're new to True20, you'll need more than just this book to start playing a True20 fantasy game. You'll need the True20 Adventure Roleplaying core rulebook, at the very least. The True20 Bestiary book will also prove pretty handy. Both are also available here at RPG Now.

Third, be warned that there's a pretty revolting piece of artwork in this book. In the section on Madness, there's a full-page picture of a woman ( who's dressed "sexy", which is even more dubious) clawing her own eyes out. She literally has an eyeball in one hand.

Now, I live on the same planet as Paris Hilton and the "Manhunt 2" video game -- I realize that this piece of artwork was likely approved precisely because it would offend some people, and perhaps start a controversy -- thus boosting sales. It can't be a coincidence that the very same artwork is used as background for the "Cults of Freeport" ad in the back of the PDF.

I didn't even want to mention it here, because there's always some moron who will go "Ooh! Eyeball!" and buy a copy just to see it -- thus validating the cynicism on some level.

But -- if you're squeamish -- you need to know to skip page twenty. And now you do.

Oh, and if Green Ronin does some Publisher's Reply defending the "artistic integrity" of the image, that sound you hear will be me ignoring any attempt to further the hype.

Beyond this, however, the True20 Freeport Companion is a solid product -- useful not only to Freeport fans, but to anyone who wants to run a True20 fantasy campaign.

Ryan Wolfe is the king of starship deckplans. No one else can touch what he does with his Future Armada series, and most PDF publishers are smart enough not to try to compete directly.

In Latin, the word "Invictus" means "unconquered", and the name of this current carrier-class capital ship couldn't be more apt. With each release, Wolfe gives the buyer more for their money: more flexibility of use; more options at the gaming table; more art; and more sheer content..

In an industry where it's not uncommon to see a five-page, mostly-text PDF sell for five dollars (or more), Ryan Wolfe not only gives his buyers a full-color, thirty-one page core document, but includes additional art, tile, and schematic documents as well. And the Invictus sells for under eight bucks!

This then, is what ultimately makes Ryan Wolfe the "unconquered king" (Invictus Rex) of starship deckplans -- if not science-fiction rpg PDF supplements in general: Wolfe always gives you more. More content, more options, every time, all the time.

Whether on the large scale (e.g. the Invictus tiles are designed to integrate easily with the tiles from Wolfe's last release, the Argos III, to give users even more options in designing their own capital vessels) or on the small-scale (e.g. while the Invictus is a warship, Wolfe makes a point of mentioning how this flagship might easily function as an exploration/diplomatic vessel during peacetime), Wolfe always seems to keep the needs of the end-user, and the realities of the gaming-table in mind.

The other thing which makes the Future Armada series remarkable is that designer Wolfe is always pushing his own boundaries. He could've just kept on cranking out awesome-looking player-character-party scale starships, and pocketed decent money doing "variations on a theme" forever. But no.

First, he does a small space station (Vanguard Station) -- something every SF rpg gamemaster needs. When the Vanguard proves welcome, he does a big space station -- and I mean a BIG one (Argos III). Making something the size of Argos III actually work at the game-table level took obvious effort, but Wolfe pulled it off masterfully.

And now, Invictus the unconquered, one of the "grail deckplans" for SF rpg fans -- a fully-detailed capital ship. I haven't seen a capital ship deckplan this welcome since the Azhanti High Lightning boxed set from GDW for Classic Traveller, and most of you reading this probably weren't even born when that one came out. Heck, I hadn't even kissed a girl yet, myself!

So, Ryan Wolfe and his beautiful Invictus get full marks and sincere thanks. Not only for a first-rate product at a bargain price, but for the spirit of creativity and experiment which drives the entire Future Armada line. What's next, Mr. Wolfe? A planetside starport? An alien starship? A derelict alien starship to explore? Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be as interesting, as useful, and as fun as everything you've brought us of late.

Meantime, we have the Invictus -- and what a beautiful starship she is!