Iron Crypt of the Heretics is a sequel to the module the Blackguard?s Revenge. It is not necessary though to have that module or to even have run to get a lot of use and a lot of fun out of the Iron Crypt of the Heretics. This is another module I ran and so the review will reflect things that happened as we played through the module. The re view will also contain many spoilers so if you are going to be a player in the module or think that reading this might ruin your own fun or the fun of others; please do not read it. All you would need to know is the module is tricky, deadly, and there are some placed that the group could easily not get past.

Iron Crypt of the Heretics is number 12.5 in the dungeon crawl classic product line. It is written by Harley Stroh and the module is not all that big at only twenty four pages long. The book is well laid out with great art and maps. It like most of the modules in the series also has some very cool player handouts. The module does have pre generated characters in it and that is something I do not see all that often in the new modules. The PDF of the adventure is nicely book marked and has the same quality as the printed version.

The adventure is site based and very deadly. It is for character of eleventh through thirteenth level has a very old school feel to it. The players can just come across it as a place they discover, be lead here by the Paladins from the Dungeon Crawl Classic 12: Blackguard?s Revenge, or learn about it through rumor, story, or one of many other ways. There is great evil kept in the crypt and it quite possibly will have turned into something the players will not expect.

The players come to the place in winter. The first miner obstacle is a semi frozen river that comes out of the mountain the crypt is built into. Getting across for players of this level should be really easy but if they try to walk across they could be swimming in near freezing water. On the other side is the door to the crypt flanked by two large stone statues that everyone knows will come alive at some point. To the left is an old destroyed abbey that was really small maybe a room at the most. There they can find a dead body and a partially obscured in blood note that foreshadows something really bad is going on. There is a concealed door that leads to some treasure and a written hint. If the group can decipher it they will have a really easy time with one of the obstacles. If not they could easily never get by it. There will be more on that later.

The doors to the crypt are locked and someone picking the lock could get their hand stuck as the statues do of course come to life. It turned out to be a harder battle though the party did wonder with the door open they just didn?t go in the crypt where the statues could not follow. The first set of obstacles involves some statues and weapons. These do not come above but the weapons need to be removed and place in their proper spots on other statues. The statues can be recognized with a knowledge religion check and it would be a great time to have famous knights from the past be honored and part of the puzzle. Basically two statues of famous knights known to sue a certain type of weapon have to be found and the weapon placed in their hand. It is not quite that easy. First there is a bridge to a center platform that has to be navigated. Once at the center platform the PCs need to be able to move the bridge using gears to have the bridge connect to places they want to go. Of course a fly spell makes this really easy. There are also wights in the room that can drop down on the PCs but once again a fly spell could have the wights dropping 300ft to their doom and the PCs will have little to worry about there. The two statues the PCs need to find are beyond some deadly traps though not the worst the dungeon has to offer.

Once that potential log jam is gotten by the players have their second one to deal with. A Statue with a magic mouth asks them what they pray for. There are two archways exiting the room each with an answer and each of them wrong. They lead to even more deadly room traps. The right answer is in the concealed room of the abbey. If they found and deciphered that this will be really erasy and if not like my players they could try guessing for a very long time.

This takes them to the main complex of the crypt. There is a library with an animated spell book that lops spells at them, and some other books and carpets that will cause them all sorts of problems. There is a prison with on lone dead dude that can easily lead to further adventures but has little use in the module. There is a room of five skulls that looks more complex then it really is. The tough part of that room is there is a sixth skull behind a secret door elsewhere and if they don?t find that they can not unlock the actual crypt. The main area also seems to have been hit by an earth quake. There is a ravine leading out of the place the players can explore. On way takes them to gigantic ooze in an anti magic field that can really be super tough. But it is easily avoidable. The other ways has them fight some driders and leads them to the river. Now while the map does not actually connect this river with the river out front is seems to me one leads to the other. A smart party could then have just gone up the river and arrived using the back door and skipped many of the traps and heart ache. The driders have slaves that are digging into the actual crypt so if the group just finishes that and it is not hard to do so they can also by pass the skull room and never need to figure that out.

In the crypt are more Driders and a great black egg like thing of nothing. It is pure concentrated evil and it is growing with ever bit of violent act that goes on around it. There are books in the library that warn of such a thing being created with too much evil and also the idea the violence even for the sake of good only causes more violence. I found the ideas of those and a few other things in the library some of the best parts of the module. To destroy the Ebon Egg, as that is what the thing is called, one can be destroyed with a extra dimensional space or a warhammer of cancellation. There is an item of each in the module though the warhammer is not easy to find.

The module can leave the group scratching their head as to what this is especially if they do not take the time to read books. Even with the knowledge they might not put it all together. The river entrance seems like something that the module should have addressed. There are a few points that the party can easily be defeated though not through a TPK. I can see that being frustrating to some players. It is a harder module and not one that everyone will survive.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Elves have always been a staple of fantasy. It seems that elves are so popular that there has always been the need for multiple races of them. They have been the high intelligent race that seems to be on the way out a lot of time and guiding the younger races to their own prime. Obviously, that is a heavy influence for books like Lord of the Rings. So, it really doe not surprise me to see a book titled Elfclash.

Elfclash is a pdf by Khan?s Press. They have a couple of other titles out that I have not seen. Elfclash is a player?s guide. It references a DM?s guide but that does not seem to be out yet. It is two hundred and twenty two pages in length. The zip files is a bit under five megs and the pdf is a bit over five megs. It is nicely book marked. But the only version they have is in full color with borders on the top and bottom and some of the pages have background. So while that makes it look good on the screen it is not a good pdf to print out.

The art in the book is not good. I found my self cringing at the art. I am not an art person and I rarely do comment on it. I found the people to be ill proportioned and they just did not look good. On the flip side the book has a good layout. There are pages made up to be written text on parchment and this are easy to read and recognize for what they are.

Elfclash is a few things all in one. It covers a new setting, has new races, classes, skills, feats, and magic system. This is a world that focuses on the elves. There is one dominant race of them, and they are hunted races of them. Overall the setting gave me a feeling of Midnight, but not really in a good way. It has the same feelings of the one mostly dominate race and the other races either just getting along or trying to rebel. It is not as hopeless as Midnight can seem. Another thing that really clinched these two settings being similar are the races and classes are a bit more powerful then standard D&D ones. In Midnight they did this well but Elf clash?s classes and races really do not seem balanced with each other.

One thing they did that I am not a fan of is add skills that help in combat. These are not like tumble which helps movement in combat, these are like Archery which actually gives one even greater bonuses when welding a weapon. This gives a +1 bonus per 4 ranks unless one happens to be of the Arcane class. They get +1 bonus per skill rank. The archery skill also does not list DCs for anything. So, I?m left with wondering what use as a skill this actually has. There are a few skills like this.

They have some interesting feats. There are some that are better if one is a certain class. For instance there is a feat called Charismatic. This allows a player to choose two skills based on charisma to get a +2 bonus. Bards and Paladins though get to pick four skills to get the +2 bonus. Cross class skills also become class skills, but I?m not sure if that applies to everyone who takes the feat or just the Bard and Paladin. They do have some interesting feats like Lightning Reaction that allows one to roll three d20 instead of one for initiative. It has three feats as a prerequisite. There are a lot of creative feats here and the writers were not afraid to take chances.

The setting is well written and an enjoyment to read. However, the rules mechanics seem to be a problem that will not be easy to fix. There are references here to the DM?s Guide of Elfclash so I am uncertain how some of the things work exactly. There are numerous new types of equipment as well.

Elfclash has a lot to offer but it also has its fair share of problems. I think they have a good start to something with this but there are more then a few areas that I think will give DMs problems especially those that care about balance.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

The PDF industry has gone to smaller releases and tighter areas. They cover something very specific in a few pages and charge a buck or so for it. This is the trend and while I prefer books with a little more depth, I can understand why it is going this way. EN Publishing is one of the leaders in PDF publishing and their books are usually top notch. So, it did not surprise me to see them do a book focused tightly on a single weapon. Yet, instead of just giving us a few pages they go into great depth and offer up twenty pages all focused around a weapon that has no historical basis. I cannot wait to see what we get for a weapon that really exists.

EN Publishing is the RPG company associated with EN World. EN World of course is the place you are reading this review and of whom I am a Staff Reviewer for. I also happen to be friends with most of the people involved in the company. So, there may be a perception of bias there. That is up to the reader to determine bt looking at this and other reviews I have done of their books. Now that that is out the way?..

EN Arsenal Spiked Chain is a PDF. It is small under two megs as a PDF file and a zip file. The layout, art, and overall look of this book is excellent. The PDF has a great set of book marks, making flipping through the book and finding things a breeze. EN Publishing has always had great production values in their books.

The book focuses on the Spiked Chain and that worried me. The spiked chain has a reputation of being an abused weapon. It is flexible in its uses and for that reason a lot of players that take it do so for the power it gives them. While there is nothing wrong with that I feared that this book would only give the weapon more power and more options. And that is exactly what the book does.

The book starts with stating out the spiked chains of different sizes. Have a Storm Giant and need the stats for the spiked chain he carries? It is in the book. Have a sprite that welds a spiked chain and need stats for her? It is in here to. I will not be going into the reason why the sprite needs a spike. Different races prefer the spiked chain and some are even better then others in using it. The book does not give racial bonuses for some races, but does give the optional rule of having dwarves receive a penalty since they are shorter and do not have the leverage to use the weapon. The book also discusses the option of allowing the spiked chain to become a double weapon and loosing its ability to be a reach weapon when used that way.

The Spiked Chain is really a simple weapon to design. It is a length of chain with spikes designed to hurt people. So, why not have some variants of that idea? The book agrees with me and that is the next area. There is the balled chain, the bladed chain, and the Chain-axe. These three are easy to understand by their name. However others like the Chigiriki, the Chigiriki-Spear, and the Kurari Gama are not. These are oriental style weapons and while they are nicely described I think a picture of them would have been helpful to allow some people to grasp better what the weapons are. There are a total of nine variant Spiked Chains described here allowing for a nice distinction between characters that want to use this weapon. One side bar of particular interest is on the difficulties of stowing the weapons. It adds a nice small penalty and realism to characters using these large and cumbersome items.

One section that I was not e3xpecting but was very happy to see was on the craftsmanship of a Spiked Chain. It has three crafting options one to increase hit points, one to increase the hardness, and one to decrease the weight. I think this was a great section but could have been expanded on and even offer ways to make crafting the item faster and cheaper but giving it flaws.

Onto the section of the book I imagine most people will be buying it for: Fighting and Feats. This section has new feats and fighting options. For instance there are rules for making it a short grappling hook and for swing by the spiked Chain. The feats are of course combat oriented ones. There are feats for sundering, tripping, climbing, and welding the weapon in one hand. While the feats have obvious use for the Spiked the Chain they are defiantly not limited to just that weapon.

The class section starts out with something that is not often seen. That is the suggestion of combing core classes and existing prestige class to form a character that fits a particular archetype as they define it. Here they have a monk with a few levels of rogue and assassin. It maps it out from level one to twenty giving the class abilities and combined saves and base attack. There are two new prestige classes here: the Scorpion Warrior and the Raveller. The Scorpion Warrior gets some very good abilities like the ability to knockdown any opponent on a successful hit. And the final ability of the calls is basically a whirlwind attack of everyone with in reach of the character. While these abilities are strong the class is not easy to get into. It requires at least five feats with either another feat needed or ranks in knowledge religion, a skill few fighters want to take. The Raveller is a magic using spike chain fighter person. I will admit if I ever have a Spiked Chain welding opponent fireball my group, they will be shocked by that. The best part of this class is a pure fluff idea that I really like. They renamed spells in the PHB. Animate rope is animate chain, Prison of Chains is Imprison. It is a simple yet very effective way of getting more out of the player?s handbook. There are also spells, magical properties and items, and a new God.

Okay, the book was better then I thought it would be. It covered more ground and was very well put together. There are great and balanced options in here and even though it is rules heavy I found a lot of ideas that can easily be transported to the gaming table. Of course this means that the rest of the books have the bar raised for them, even if just a little.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Monster books are always an interesting read in games. They are filled with potential and obstacles for the players. Many times it seems monsters are constructed though to be killed and just placed in the path the PCs tread. The Monster Manuals and Tomb of Horrors have that type of feel to me. I seem to prefer the monster books that provide a bit more information and feel about the monster. Monsternimicon has always been good for this and Denizens of Avandu. Those type of books really allow the monsters and creatures to be easily used in their environment and be brought alive. It is a fine balance though. A monster book that has to much ecology information will read like a National Geographic. In a game the focus and details are for the players and it can be easy to go overboard with it and provide too much information and too many details that the players concern themselves with. This of course brings us to this review which involves a monster book oddly enough. The book is EN Critters 4: Along the Banks of the River Vaal and it is by EN Publishing.

EN Critters 4: Along the Banks of the River Vaal is the newest of the EN Critters books to come out. Each one gives a bunch of new creatures all from the same general area. EN Publishing publishes this book and they are one of the big boys in the PDF community. They have a knack for mostly high quality and useful PDFs that cover a wide range of topics. This PDDF is sixty four pages in length and has a lot of nice options as a PDF. It does not though have a good option for printing. The art is in color and the lay out also has color pieces in it. The pictures and background in the book will take a bit of ink to print out. There are also monster counters in the back of the book that can also consume a bit of ink. They are designed to be printed out. The book is book marked and should be relatively easy to use from a computer at the gaming table. The lay out of the book is generally good. There are no real problems with reading the text or following the stat blocks of the many creatures. The art though is not much to my liking. The pictures are in full color but the art in them just is not that good. The coloring is a bit bright and just does not look like real creatures at times. There is a map of the area the monsters are from and it too just does not look that good. The map is easy to read and to follow but the look of it just does not seem that good to me.

The book starts with a very nice description of the place the monsters are from. This is a very nice addition to any monster book. The description includes the monsters and gives them a place in the environment for them to be. It shows in some ways how the creatures interact and bring the place alive. The description talks of where creation creatures can be found and even if they are dangerous or if they might be approachable and helpful. The first few pages of the book is devoted to the description. This is at times more flavorful then actual settings and makes for a nice place. It seems to be easy to drop this into an existing setting as this section is not all that large and should easily fit with another river and be used for that description and place. I would have likes to seen a few more plot hooks in the description and possible some rumors or mysteries built into the setting. What is here is a nice start it just needs a little more to really become a very useful place for a role playing game to use. A little extra work by the writers usually provides the difference between a DM being able to easily use it for an extended campaign verse a simple adventure or two that hits the highlights of the place.

There are about two dozen new creatures presented here. There is a nice variety of things to be found around this river. Each creature has a picture of it that mostly matches the description the creature is given. The creatures here are better described and detailed then in the Monster Manual and other more commonly used monster books. That to me is a very big plus. The creature write ups in here are usually a page or two in length. The idea here seems to be to give each creature its due with length of description and detail. And it is not to fit as many creatures into the books as possible as many of the other books seem to try to do. Each monster has a nice ecology section for it. This is a nice section that really provides details on the creature and allows the DM to come up with new and creative ways to use the beasts instead of just having the players kill them. Each creature also has a very nice section on balance and notes from the author on play testing and just about the creature and its abilities. Each creature also has a knowledge DC and suggestions for what the player or character might know about them according to their roll. This is a very useful and great addition to any monster books as determining character knowledge on creatures is always a real pain in the butt at times. I would love to see web enhancement for books in print that detail this type of information or at the very least a cool fan project to cover these things. It would be very useful to many DMs and it is the type of thing that can survive editions.

This is a nice addition to anyone looking for a river and surrounding area that has a good collection of unique and new creatures. The thought put into this book is readily apparent and the effort to describe the ecology of the creatures as well as the whole area really makes the place a good small setting as well as a good set of monsters.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Monsters are always useful. Most of them time monsters are presented to be killed but thankfully books are coming out that make them more useful and versatile. The more information a DM has the more chances they have to be creative and use the monsters in different ways. I never can understand the opinion that there are enough monsters and monster books in publication. For me it is not having enough monsters, but having the right monsters. It does me no good to have ten monsters books but have none of them contain the monster or concept that I am looking for. So, the more monster books I get the better the chances of my finding the right creature for an adventure or campaign. I am also really enjoying the themes monsters books that deal with creatures in a certain location. Goodman Games, Expeditious Retreat, and now EN Publishing have monster books like this. It makes it easy for when I have the adventure set in a jungle that I can just grab one book and have lots of options.

EN Critters Ruins of the Pals Jungle is the first in a new line of books by the EN Publishing. Looking through the credits the books has different people working on all phases of the book then the company normally has. The book is forty three pages long. The layout is okay but the art for the most part I was not that happy with. The book is mostly black and white with some color so printing will be a little tough on ink jets. The book has no book marks so it will not be that easy to use from a computer. The production values across the board can use improvements.

The book presents monsters from a place called the Pale Jungle. However, information on the Pale Jungle is mostly missing. A few pages on this place and some adventure hooks and hints of sites would really have benefited and made the book a lot more useful. The more ways a book can be useful to a DM the better. There are quite a variety of monsters in here from aberration to new outsiders and oozes to undead. There are about three dozen new creatures here and one template. The challenge rating on the creatures also vary greatly from a third to twenty but with more creatures on the lower end then the higher.

The stat blocks are not perfect. I do not go through them and find errors as I just do not have the eye for it and I think a little off on the stats blocks is not that big of deal. However, If there are enough mistakes that I take notice then there is something wrong with the process of the stat blocks. Most of them I say were not a big deal but knowing there are this many errors in the book will make me trust it a little less. Another problem is the book references creatures not in the SRD and are basically off limits. As a player of the game this does not concern me. But I know it does bother some people and at the very least the publisher should be made aware and make the changes.

The book is not all bad. I know I have mostly mentioned the negatives first but there are some bright spots as well. The first being the creatures are creative. They are at times based on Mayan and other civilizations. This link to something real world makes them a little easier to use and design adventures around. There are also a number of good plant creatures and man eating plants are always good to startle the players with. The creatures also each have a section on notes and game balance. This is a great section that talks about the more mechanical and meta game issues of the creatures. It talks on how the creature came and if it is inspired or like other creatures that exist.

Overall the book is a disappointment. It really could have been done a lot better. More time needed to have been spent on the editing and lay out stages of the design. There are good ideas here but the DM may need to alter the stats if they are particular on that sort of thing. The book is not the best looking but again it is something that some people can look past. It hits on some parts and misses on others. I am sure it will be useful to some people out there.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>

Enchiridion of Mystic Music is one of the few products that covers a topic much better then any of the others. This pdf gives Bards that much needed extra something to allow them to really shine as the musical masters they are. This pdf is 80 pages long and filled with good ideas and new rules. While there is very little art in the book, the formatting of the pages is very readable and well done. It?s written in a nice two column approach and there are two versions of this file. One that is meant for printing and one that is not.

The first chapter is a short introduction to the new abilities. It talks a little about the range the sounds are able to go and listen checks to detect them.

Chapter two has about a dozen new musical feats in it. There are some to lengthen the duration or increase the amount of times that a Mystical Music can be done per day. Most of these feats are what one would expect and they cover most of the areas but there really does not seem to be any that really stand out.

The third chapter deals with classes and starts with the bard class we are all familiar with. After that it has six prestige classes for the bard. The Dark Minstrel was a witness to the evil that men do and has let that consumer her. While the class seems a little on the bland side in abilities the idea behind the class would make for a great character. Next is the Eldritch Caller, a bard who specializes in the outer planes and affecting the creatures from them. Another good class for the right character but the abilities of the class seems to be lacking in inspiration. The Elemental caller I found to be pretty much the same. However, the next three classes I found to be both great in ideas and in the actual write up. The Herald of Nature is a great way to bring the Druid and Bard together, although the class really breaks away from both in a good way. The Politico is an interesting version of the bard that is the master of the spoken word and influencing the people. And the Sonomancer is a study of the magic of sound. All three of these classes have very interesting abilities as well as being great ideas for the focus of a character.

Chapter four is the gem of the book. It described the Mystic Music abilities and really covers all the rules one needs for them. The abilities can do many things like alter memories to causing death, from creating undead to allowing friends to enter frenzy. There are so many good abilities here it?s really hard to just mention a few. There are 26 pages of them and most of them will really broaden the abilities of the Bard to allow him his glory.

The fifth chapter has magical musical compositions. These are scroll version of the Mystic Music abilities.

Lastly we have new monsters and new spells. There are some really good spells like the Drinking song and Hairbelly Rhyme. I like that many of the spells are designed for none combat use, something that is highly lacking in most d20 sourcebooks.

Over all this is a good book that really gives the bard class new options and many new directions that the core books failed to do. The Mystical Music abilities are the best part of this book and will give any bard character the perfect abilities they need. This is the best bard sourcebook on the market today.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Making a Name

It is rare to find an adventure that is not a dungeon crawl. Even ones that start out as an investigation usually have a dungeon crawl, even a small one, in them for the PCs to explore. But with many really good city books and city based campaigns there is a need for a purely city based adventure. Making a Name is such an adventure that takes place entirely within one city and has no dungeon crawl associated with it.

Making a Name is a PDF by Kenzer and Company. The module is written for Daniel S Donnelly. It is not a book marked PDF but it does have art and a good layout. It is designed to look like printed modules Kenzer has produced. The module is not long only being twenty three pages. It is well written and easy to read and follow. There are two player handouts that one will want to print out for the players to make use of.

Spoilers for the module will follow so please only read if you are planning on running the modules and not playing through it.

The adventure takes place in the city of Bet Rogala. It is in the setting of the Kingdoms of Kalamar but the adventure can be adapted to other cities and campaign settings. The adventure is for character that are first or second level. AS the name of the module indicates the character will make a name for themselves in the module or at least have the potential to do so. The players get hired by the House Wanifer to locate a missing servant. The mission seems simple enough and not the type most adventurers would relish in. But for a few starting out characters this is realistically just the type of jobs they should start with. And as one may suspect there is a little more going here then just a missing servant girl. There is a lot of good opportunities for role playing in the module and the hiring process is just the start of that. The module has a list of questions to ask the players as they are interviewed for the job. Then they are offered a small pay with the expectation of the players asking for more and then explaining why they are worth more.

The group then must follow the trail of the servant girl. She was out doing errands for her employers. This allows the group to explore the city as well as investigate and meet many of the key places in the city. The module does not do it but I find this is the perfect time to lay out the ground work of a campaign by having the players hear interesting rumors and learn abut NPCs they may meet with later in the game. The module does have plenty of NPCs and places for them to go. The city itself is not given a lot of detail in here and that may cause issues for someone who needs a city but does not have one prepared.

The adventure can be one of those rare ones that no combat takes place in. There is also different levels of success the players can achieve. And in the end when the servant girl reappears and if the players have not figured out what happened it can feel very anti climatic. A DM might want to be aware of that and things may need modified if the players are the type to really not enjoy that type of ending. They can spend a good session or two looking for the girl only to go back to the people that hired them and learn she showed up on her own without any aid from the players. Itt is not her though but a doppelganger in disguise as her. The players do have a mystery to solve but first they must realize there is a mystery. The module is very well set up to allow the players to discover things without force feeding them. It is a module that has a different kind of failure and the DM will need to be able to do something as a follow up in case the players do fail at solving this.

The module is set in Kingdoms of Kalamar but it is not so tied to it that other settings can not be used. I think it could be easy but take a little work on the DM?s part to use Eberron?s Sharn or Ptolus. With a little more work this adventure could even be used in the city of Sanctuary the Thieves World setting. Really any city setting can be used here though the DM may need to change a few things to fit the feel and the rules of the new setting he wants to use.

Making a Name is a nice different type of low level adventure. This is perfect for people that want something that is not a dungeon crawl but it is still interesting and fun. The group will have to role play and think their way through this as the module cannot be solved through brute force.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: A well done non dungeon crawl adventure<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: no book marks <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Simple Tricks and Nonsense

<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Very creative and useful options<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I would have liked to seen an idea for a low level campaign to take advantage of the new low level options. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Blood and Guts 2: Deep Blue Sea In the modern world the huge ships of the many nations? navies rule the seas and oceans. These mammoth vessels are the pinnacle of today?s technology with great offensive and defensive abilities. Expressing these in game terms can be tricky and challenging. This book takes some of the vehicles and presents them for the D20 Modern game.

Blood And Guts Modern Miliatry: Deep Blue Sea is a PDF written by Charles Rice and produced by RPGObjects. RPGObjects has a line of quality books for D20 Modern in their Blood and Guts line. This PDF is nineteen pages long and well laid out. It does use full color pictures of the actual vehicles that are defined in the book. The PDF is well book marked, organized, and simple to use.

This is one of those PDFs that I am not sure a lot of people are going to find a need for. But if one does find they do need stats for a Seawolf Class Submarine or a Ticonderoga Class Guided Missile Cruiser then this book will become very important.

The books starts with a brief history of navel battles and the use of ships in the military. It is not in in-depth section but it can serve as some good information to send on to the library or on line to research. However, the book only defines a few of the modern vehicles so reading about the Vandals attacking the city of Carthage there are no stats or anything about it. It just serves as a history and not as something to use in a game.

The stats on these ships actually seem a little less then what they should be. Some of the smaller boats have the same hit points as a mid level character. I can see how it all comes together and it makes me think that the failure lies more with d20 wanting to treat vehicles and people almost the same with hit points and defensive values. It just looks like some of the vehicles are a bit easier to destroy then I think they should be. The stats though are consistent with each other and other vehicles I have seen stated up.

Blood and Guts Modern Military Deep Blue Sea is a book that does cover vehicles I have not seen covered in a d20 book. The book gives one a good if brief history on naval warfare and that can be useful for someone that is not familiar with that part of history. The book does a nice job of explaining the history and the means of many of the naval vessels. I like the pictures of the ships and it really helps one understand exactly what they are looking at and trying to understand. I know not a lot of people will find a use for some of these type of vehicles and it being a smaller size PDF helps support that. It does a fine job of presenting pretty much what I expected in the PDF given its description.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Darklore is a land where the gods warred. The land has been altered, become a harsh environment. It is a time where many of the older civilizations of been destroyed and replaced by tyrants ruling petty city states. The world is still recovering even though it is over 500 years after the event of the god?s war. The land is filled with paranoia as people do not know how the war ended or what is happening around them. Darklore Campaign Primer is a new campaign setting by Malladin?s Gate Press. It is a dark world filled with mystery, adventure, and conflict.

The Darklore Campaign Primer is a pdf of eighty three pages in length. It is filled with the lands, the races, the history, and the classes of this world. It offers many new rules to fit the way the game is run to the feel of the setting. The pdf cost five dollars and is received in a zip file of almost 9 megs.

One of the first things I look at with pdfs are the bookmarks. They are an index that one clicks on a subject and the pdf goes right to that page. They make it easy to use if one needs to find something fast like when using pdfs at the gaming table. The Darklore Campaign Primer has an excellent set of bookmarks.

The art in the book is rather sparse and of average quality. There is a map of the described region done by Clayton Bunce. The map is clear and easy to use. It is a full page in size making the details easy to see. The layout of the book is well done in the standard two column format. The book is done in black and white and prints well.

The setting is fantasy based but has more in common with d20 modern. Classes are presented in this book and are written up like d20 modern classes. They are ten levels long, have a defense armor class bonus, and talent trees. Characters are able to multi class without restriction. There are also carrier classes that serve as short prestige or advanced classes. They are all three levels long and easy to get into. They serve to offer some good focus of a character concept though.

The book starts with a good, through overview of the world. It explains some things of the history and what the campaign world is like. It sets atmosphere a little with discussions on how bad things are for many of the peoples. It covers a little bit of history but stresses that many things are just not known.

The first chapter goes into the history, well known history, of the world. It goes over some major events and covers quite a bit. It does a good job of further setting up the atmosphere with its tone and descriptions.

The second chapter goes into detail on the different regions. It talks about the geography of the lands, the politics of the people, organizations that have power and influence there, and the languages the people communicate with. Each region has a close up map of it, though no more detail is given. There is a lot of depth to this section. The setting comes together here and the present is presented in a way to spark ideas and campaigns. There are many things hinted at that I hope to see expanded upon in future books. The ideas are solid and easy to use in this setting or to be used to influence ones own game setting.

The third chapter goes into the races. Each race for the Players? Handbook is redefined to reflect the influences and history of the world. Each race gets a bonus feat at first level as well as bonus skill points. There are no favored classes since everyone is allowed to multi class freely. Most races for a series of sub races that further define the character. Each race has some sort of attribute modification. Some of these are odd numbers which is seen as a problem by some gamers. Odd attribute modifiers can be used to gain a bonus and hide a penalty. Each race is also given a class skill, and if their class already has it they gain a +1 competence bonus very much like in d20 Modern. There is also a availability of each race presented as common, uncommon, or rare. To pick a race of uncommon or rare availability the character has to sacrifice one or two or their advantages. Advantages are a new game mechanic that is explained later in the book.

The fourth chapter goes into the basic classes. Like d20 Modern each is associated with a single attribute. The classes the books has are the Warrior (Strength), Thief (Dexterity), Outlander (Constitution), Scholar (Intelligence), Devout (Wisdom), and Destined (Charisma). Each class is ten levels in length and have many talent trees as options to them. The classes are very flexible and can be used to create a wide assortment of different concepts. With the free multi classing the flexibility is increased dramatically.

The fifth chapter deals with skills, feats, and equipment. There are a few new or redefined skills. The most important is the new fighting styles. Some of them have feat requirements but as one gains ranks in them they get certain bonuses when fighting. While the mechanical part is well done, I am more impressed with the descriptions and the feel the fighting styles have. They can add reinforce the tone of the setting and the particular groups that use them. The campaign world also has gun powder. Guns have two new mechanics with them. The first is penetration and it allows the weapon to ignore X points of armor or natural armor bonus to armor class. The second is misfire chance. If the character rolls bad enough he has a chance to inflict damage upon himself.

The sixth chapter has the carrier classes in them. These work like the advance classes of d20 modern except they are only three levels in length and very easy to get into. There are a dozen carrier classes presented here. Many are simple specializations like Archer or Scout. They offer unique abilities ands serve a great way to help define characters.

Overall this is a world filled with danger and intrigue. The setting is darker then most standard fantasy games, but the tone is well defined. I found myself getting some great ideas while reading this book. As a campaign primer it does a good job of covering all the bases and given plenty of information about the world. It would be easy to start a campaign with just this. But as I read I found myself wanting more detail as there are a few things that are hinted at and mysteries that are presented. The descriptions are well done and serve the setting well. The new rules I think will do a great job of showing the players how the game feels. I really like the classes as they are presented. This is the way to do fantasy in the model of d20 Modern. The carrier classes are a nice addition, simple to qualify for, and will enhance the characters greatly. The races are interesting and are not the cookie color variety that is seen in so many settings. The races are familiar enough to be used with comfort, but different enough to really stand out in someone?s mind. Too many times I see new races used, when the current ones can be altered a little to fill the same role. Darklore does a great job in showing how that can easily be done. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Another setting but this one is quite a bit different. It is not fantasy. I have done a fair share of reviews on fantasy settings and read plenty more. A change of pace is always good. No orcs and goblins invading, no magic or gods to fear; just good old technology and people exploring the world they live in. With d20 Modern and d20 Future both out there for setting to be built from I am hoping to see more of these modern and futuristic settings.

Dawning Star is a futuristic setting by Blue Devil Games. These guys have done a few really good PDS and this is really the first big release from them. Dawning Star is a two hundred and eight page PDF. It is black and white but very well laid out and with some great art. The product has high production values and is very professional in look. The book is well book marked and comes with a great index something not usually seen in PDFs. The cover of the book is a separate PDF and is a really cool full color cover.

Dawning Star is a futuristic setting. Basically in the late 22nd century a large object is seen coming toward the Earth and people have to evacuate. One of the great big evacuation ships encounters an alien space platform that transports it with all of its crew and all of its cryogenically sleeping passengers thousands of light years away. There they find an inhabitable planet and start a new life. The planet does have some native intelligent life forms as do seemingly some other planets in the system. There are spaceship wrecks of a few different racial designs and ruins of a civilization long ago. The new plant has many new and interesting things for the humans to explore as the set up their new lives.

The Dawning Star Campaign setting is filled with a variety of different play style. It can have a very western feel as there are boom towns being set up and places of lawless activity. The settlers are going out into the world and away from the safety of the established government. There are other small forms of government people have set up and in many places the law of the land whoever has the power. The game can also have a very strong pulp feel. The ruins are deep and hold great secrets and bits of technology for people to discover and find. They can travel to unexplored areas and be the first people to brave these new and dangerous places. The game can be set up to be even more dangerous. The atmosphere can be a little more hostile allowing for equipment to breathe it. The aliens can be more mysterious and unknown allowing for a dark campaign style of unknown beings with impossible to understand motives. Lastly, the setting can emphasis the space side and be more space opera. There are other planets in the solar system to explore. The DM can also have other space fairing aliens from other places in the galaxy show up and just use this as one planet of hundreds the players can visit. The setting was specifically designed to be versatile and they succeeded on that very well.

The book starts off with a nice timeline of events. It starts with the after effects of some nasty global events on Earth and the discovery of the great rock that eventually kills the planet. It details the discovery of the planet Eos where this campaign setting takes place and through the many years of setting up a community and scientific endeavors to make the plant livable. The time of the players the humans have been there for a while though most where still in cryogenic sleep during a lot of the early ears.

There are plenty new mechanics in this book designed for the campaign setting as well as for sci fi campaigns. There are nineteen new talent trees presented here with at least three new ones for each of the six basic classes. There are thirteen new occupations, plenty of new uses for skills, lots of new feats, species classes, advanced classes, and prestige classes. Species classes are like the racial classes Unearthed Arcana and other books for the fantasy game have in them. They are just levels in one?s own race and one gain abilities suitable for that race. There are lot of new and interesting character options in this book that can easily be adapted to other d20 sci fi campaigns.

The game has lots of great intrigues, mysteries, options, and plenty of great adventure potential. However, when the curtain was drawn back and the secrets revealed I just was not that happy with the way it goes. Pretty much all the secrets of who the aliens are, what their relationships are , and what happened to them are spelled out in the book. This is not always a bad thing but for me I was just not that impressed with it. I am not going to give it away here but I was just hoping for something different. Like a movie that has great build up and great characters, but the end just does not live up to the rest of it. That is how I felt with this book. But unlike a movie the end and reasons can easily be molded and changed to fit the DM?s vision and one is not locked into the way it is presented here. And obviously, I do think there are plenty of people who will like it as is. It is well thought out and creative, just not what I wanted to have happen.

Aside from the reveal that did not like the book is really well done. Plenty of adventure ideas from exploring ruins, to alien technology, to dealing with survival and humanity await players and DMs in this book. This I do believe e is he first setting for d20 Future. Anyone looking for something to use with d20 Future has got a good product right here for them.

<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

Death: Guardian at the Gate is a book all about a Death Goddess, her priest, and their priesthood. It is a 72-page pdf filled with rich detail. Gillian Pearce did all the art and it?s nice and seems to work for the book. The text is well organized, easy to read with fine margins and decent density. The Death Goddess herself is Neutral Good, so this is a different approach to a death god then is usually seen.

The first chapter deals with a new death goddess named Lady Pale. It is written as a story describing who she is and it really gives the reader great description into her and her personality. She would be really easy to use as an NPC in anyone?s game. I really like that they made her a mortal raised to godhood as I think that gives her a level of humanity that really flows off the words.

The second chapter goes into the priesthood. The priesthood is very well written and described giving all the details and more anyone could need. It talks about the faith, the clothes, the food, the structure, as well as many other subjects concerning it. The level of detail is rich, easy to use, and adaptable to any setting. It also lists two prestige classes the Lady Chosen and Shade Warden. The Lady Chosen are people chosen by the Pale Lady to further fight undead. It?s an interesting class, but I feel it?s on the strong side getting all the benefits of a cleric with many additional abilities. Shade Wardens cause death and further that end of the Pale Lady?s business. The class actually seems a little weak. In the description it says one only needs a single level of cleric with access to the Death domain, but under prerequisites one has to be able to cast Slay Living which one has to be a 9th level cleric to do. So, this class is not as wide open as they suggest.

Chapter three is about the mental attitudes of the priests. It discusses their views on art, music, drugs, education and a few other topics. Again, I really like the detail that is presented. It is well thought out and easy to use.

The fourth chapter deals even more with the priesthood as a whole. It has some prestige classes like the Harrowed. They are responsible for funeral rights. While the class is interesting it can be qualified for at first level and that seems really easy for a prestige class. There are many prestige classes here that are relatively easy to qualify for. The classes are well described but I feel that there isn?t enough given up or tough choices for them.

Objects of a magical nature are the subjects of the fifth chapter. Each is well presented and tells one a little about the object, its use, and its powers. It has jewelry and other items of a less conspicuous nature. Many of the items are able to made with the craft items feats. There are also lost relics detailed in the same level of detail towards the end of the chapter. The items all seem well thought out and nicely done.

The sixth chapter is on rituals, myths, and legends. Chapter seven gets into the spells, and then the last few chapters have a hymn, a nice little story, info on the great library, and a final revelation about death and life and everything.

The level of detail in this book is incredible. It takes a single goddess and fully defines her, her priests, the priesthood, everything. My biggest concern is the level of detail; I think there actually might be too much of it. Seventy-two pages is a lot for the working of one god. Unless the Pale Lady is going to be a major focus in a campaign I feel that many of the details will be wasted and become not important. The book is a good read and could serve to really flesh out PCs and NPCs alike. The death goddess is a unique take and offers many ideas of how to use her and her priests. If we get a full pantheon developed like this then I think it will be an amazing thing.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Death to Freeport takes us back to the first days of d20. It was released at the same time of the Player?s Handbook almost five years ago. Since then it has been quite popular and served as our first glimpse into the exciting city of Freeport. It has been out of print for some time. The adventure has now been re-released updated top 3.5 and is in PDF format for all to enjoy.

The PDF is forty pages with a full color front and a preview in the back for Creatures of Freeport. The layout looks like most of Green Ronin?s other releases and is very crisp with really good and exciting art. The PDF is well book marked and the book is easy to read and follow. The module was written by Chris Pramas.

The adventure is actually quite simple. The players arrive in Freeport and are hired to investigate the disappearance of a librarian of a local temple. The main NPCs are given rich histories and the book does a really good job of presenting the city of Freeport and most importantly getting the feel of the city across. Freeport is not a very nice place with pirates and press gangs freeing about. Only the oldest and richest section of the city seems to have a good security that keeps it safe. The city is briefly described enough to runn the module but leaving plenty of areas the DM may design on his own for other adventures or encounters in the famed city. The module comes with some great handouts and four pre generated characters.

The adventure starts with an investigation that leads to some interesting encounters in the city. The group has plenty of chances to role apply and it would be really easy to add things to this adventure from the other Freeport books for people that have them. There are not that many encounters and only the final one will really present a potential problem, but no more then any other final climatic fight though. The adventure ends with more questions and does a good job of leading the players looking for more. The plots discovered in this module are continued in other modules in the Freeport line.

The adventure is for low level characters and will serve as a first adventure to a campaign. The rules are well done but this module is more about being an introduction to the setting. Since the book was released so early in the d20 game it does a good job of presenting an interesting adventure without getting into the complicated rules. The adventure looks as good now as it did back then.

The Freeport line from Green Ronin has really been a popular line and it is nice to revisit the start of it all. The other modules in the series Terror in Freeport and Madness in Freeport continue the plots of this module and hopefully they all will be released as PDFs as well. Well, Terror of Freeport already has so hopefully Madness will soon follow.

<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>

If this book had a tag line, I?d suggest ?Putting the Role back in Role Playing?. Very simply this book is about role playing better. From the introduction to the final page before the Open Game License, this book offers advice and options to help role play and define a character. It has advice for the novice and the master, the player and the dungeon master. The advice is good, solid, and thorough

Dice and Dramatics is the first book by Ultramyth Design. The author, Ben Mowbray, shows a clear understanding of character design and how to get the most out of details. The pdf is 60 pages in length including the cover and OGL. The file comes as a zip file that is a bit over seven megs in size. After the file is unzipped the pdf is a little over eleven megs.

The pdf is laid out well. It is very easy to read from the computer screen and it is in typical dual columns. The border is a nice color fade that makes the pages look a bit aged. The art is light and does a nice job of breaking up the text. There are also a few tables and other means that make reading easy. The pdf is well book marked making it easy to find things quickly.

Dice and Dramatics starts with a nice introduction. It also has a neat section called ?Who should read this book.? This section not only tells who should be reading this book but why they should. The book is for both PCs and DM but for different reasons. I like this little section because it shows the author was thinking how the audience can use his book. After that is a small summary of each chapter, and then a list of gaming terms with their definitions. It?s another small section, but again shows the author is thinking about his audience. Not all gamers will know what all the terms are, so including them just makes sure all the readers are on the same page. The last thing in the intro section is a little note from the author to the reader. It tells a little what the book started out as and how it evolved.

The first chapter is about getting to know your character. It includes ideas for detailing the characters appearance and personality. It also has a brilliant idea of basing weight off the physical scores. So, a stronger character weighs more then a weak one for instance. It?s a simple detail that is nicely done. The chapter describes the personality of all the classes from the PHB. The closer the character is to being typical of the class the more useful these will be. One area that I?ve seen even veterans miss is including skills and feats into ones background and personality. The character had to learn these things somewhere and it?s good to think about that with the character. The chapter will be very useful for a novice but also there are a few things that veteran role players will think is a good idea in here. It is very thorough.

The second chapter details role playing in game. It starts with some simple things that really need to be stated. The first is the importance to know the rules. The second is a good list of gaming etiquette. It?s good to see a product that has some focus on how to game and how to get the most out of a session by listing some things that involve common courtesy. The chapter goes on to suggest portraits, altering ones? voice, thinking about motivation, and other options to enhance role playing. It also tackles the touchy issues of using diplomacy rolls and role playing in a simple way.

The third chapters deals with non human races and how to role play them. It includes all the races of the player?s handbook and some subraces. The book doesn?t define the sub races in game mechanics but does give advice for role playing them. The section gives good descriptions and has a nice tidpits of advice on how to role play the races. The chapter also covers some savage races like centaurs, minotaurs and kobolds. These races I feel the advice given will be more useful as people have a less defiant idea how to role play them. Finally, the chapter deals with templates as well. How does one portray a half celestial or half fiend? This section offers good advice on how to do just that.

The fourth chapter details new equipment and spells. It might seem rather odd that a book about role playing has a chapter like this, but the things described here are to further detail the character. Here one will find more mundane items to detail the equipment a character would have as well as magical items of a more practical nature. For instance there are ten different types of mundane hats. Each is briefly described insuring that if a character needs a hat, the right one can be found. Some of the magical items are a belt of dryness that keeps the wearer perfectly dry and the wig of style which can alter its color and design. Perhaps they are not the most powerful of items but the utility of them is what is important. The spells are the same way like Aura of Cleanliness and Buoyancy both which are simple and useful.

The last section is for the DM and how to role play as one. It covers the topics of using props and knowing your players. It has advice for role playing cohorts as well as commoners. It covers role playing the big bad guys as well. It has plenty of suggestions for creating and keeping atmosphere. The tips here I found to be useful and correct from my own experiences.

Dice and Dramatics is a rare product that takes an area of role playing that is inadequately covered and does a great job of covering it. I was constantly surprised by the level of detail and the thought put into this book. The author has a good idea of his audience. This book is written with fantasy D&D in mind, but the advice can be applied to any role playing game. Obviously, the section on role playing elves will be of little use in a Star Wars game, but the more abstract ideas can be applied to any character of any genre. This will be of more use to the novice then the experienced gamer. The chapter on races will be more useful if the campaign keeps the races as they are presented in the Player?s Handbook. However, even the veteran gamer who has changed most of the races will find good advice that is easily used on how to role play better and enjoy the game.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Over the past year there has been an unusual amount of books that cover the planes regions. At first there was only the Wizards? book Manual of the Planes. While it was meet with compliments and enjoyed by many, there was a void for planar ideas that did not fit. At first I was going to do a more comprehensive review that detailed many of the planes books, but with the review section set up to list reviews under specific books I have chosen to just do them all individually. Or so I hope.

DM?s Guide to the Planes is PDF by Ronin Arts. Unlike any of the other planar books it actually builds off of one of them, the Book of Planes by Mongoose. The Book of Planes is not needed to use and enjoy this PDF though. The DM?s Guide to the Demi Planes presents eight different demi planes. Unlike most of the other planes that are written about many of these are very finite in size showing what interesting ideas and exploration can be done in such places of limited space.

The PDF is seventy five pages. The art and layout are both very well done. The book is well book marked and comes in a zip file a little under ten megs in size.

The book has a simple idea in it that none of the others does. It includes the DC for a character to have some knowledge about the plane and makes great use of the skill Knowledge Planes. Unlike other plane books though, this one does not specifically list adventure ideas for using the demi planes. While some people will have no problems coming up with ideas to use the planes, others feel more comfortable with adventure seeds that are already provided.

The first demi plane is called the ageless chamber. It is a small room sized plane that floats around the Astral Plane. Time has no effect on anything inside the chamber. It is a small and simple idea for a demi plane but shows some of the odd and even unique properties a demi plane can possess. There are suggestions for where the gates into the plane exist and some hazards that people might not expect.

The Astral Ship is one of the few demi planes that is mobile. It is currently occupied by a collection of demons but there could be a lot of interesting creatures and non player characters that could be used here. It is actually a form of a demi plane that seems a little complicated and one might wonder why make a plane that is a ship when a magical ship might be easier. But still the idea is different and creative making it a nice encounter to surprise the players with.

The Blackguard?s Tomb is a demi plane with a rich history and some long term campaign potential. Basically it is the final resting place of a very powerful Blackguard and currently even his deity can not bring him back to life. I think it can serve as an interesting backdrop for the players to discover and then worry about.

The Bone Field is a demi plane that exists just above the negative energy plane and consists entirely of bones. IT is a haven for undead and has a bone mausoleum. One thing that does annoy me though is when books introduce things like the mausoleum and give absolutely no hint or possibilities of what are inside or really anything about it. As it is the only feature on the plane of bones and at least they could have something about it.

The Burning River is a really interesting idea. It is a river of fire and lava that goes around in a basic circular like shape. There are rocks and mountains to each side but the river is the prominent feature. There are as can be expected a great deal of fire oriented creatures and hazards through out. This one really just struck me as something different that could be used with ease.

The Chiming Clocks is a plane in decline that is slowly being destroyed. However it houses a artifact like clock that can destroy worlds. Celestials guard it but frankly I think they need to guard such a powerful item a little better. I think because of what it is and the fact it is always guarded would make this a tough plane to use.

The Clockwork Driven Lighthouse is an extremely powerful artifact for good and thus has its won demi plane. It is another interesting idea of a weapon that can destroy evil with ease but its singular use makes it a little difficult to use and this one also seems like it would be better just as an artifact and not so much as a plane.

The Great Corpse is an idea I have read before. It is the long dead body of a once great deity that is now a plane of its own. This seems like a great lead in to Requiem for a God by Malhavok Press.

The planes are creative but with some it does seem like they were made into planes because that is what the book is about when they might have been better presented as other things. There is a lot of creativity in the book though.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>