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BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
Publisher: DwD Studios
by Anthony R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/06/2013 19:21:05

Looking for a rules-light fantasy RPG but the flood of OSR games does not exactly blow up your skirt? You have come to the right place. BareBones Fantasy presents a straightforward percentile-based system with a clever 'class as your skill' mechanic and a flexible magic system. The slim volume (or PDF) contains everything you need under one cover; races, skills, magic, combat rules, bestiary, magic items, GM guidelines, random dungeon generation tables - it's all here.

To top it off, the package contains a short adventure, player aid, character sheets and more! Did I mention it also included prinnt friendly versions of everything? And that it was only $10? How can you go wrong?



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
BareBones Fantasy Role Playing Game
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Dungeon Crawl Classics #68: People of the Pit
Publisher: Goodman Games
by Anthony R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/31/2012 14:02:49

The Basics

The module is 32 pages if you include the front and back cover. I counted eight interior illustrations, one handout and three maps in the same 'artistic' style as the maps for the adventures in the core rulebook. The PDF is fully bookmarked.

Summary

The People of the Pit is designed for a party of 1st level characters. The adventure involves a pit, dark cultists and tentacles. I don't want to say more in a spoiler free review. The dungeon consists of more than 50 encounter areas spread out over four levels. The dungeon is a 'living' dungeon with a rationale (in fantasy RPG terms at least) provided for the contents and inhabitants of each room.

The dungeon does include a few traps and secret doors but not so many as to be annoying. There is also one puzzle that is designed to challenge player and not character skill (and looks like it should be fun). There are several clever touches in the module, including a unique method of traveling from level to level that could possibly allow the PCs to skip most of the dungeon and end up at the end encounter! (which could prove deadly)

The writing of the module seems solid to me and I was able to comprehend what was going on in each encounter area with the first read through. I haven't found any errata yet. The People of the Pit looks like it should be a blast and I can't wait to run it for a group. And where else can you go swimming in a pool of pit-beast poop?



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Dungeon Crawl Classics #68: People of the Pit
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First Edition Fantasy: Smuggler's Bane
Publisher: Ronin Arts
by Anthony R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/11/2006 00:00:00

Smuggler's Bane is a short OSRIC-compatible adventure designed for a party of 5th-7th level PCs. It was previously released by Politically Incorrect Games for the Iron Gauntlets rules system. The PDF is 18 pages in length, with about 12 pages devoted to the actual adventure.

The adventure is laid out in a slightly modified version of the two-column, full justified format that I have come to expect in 'old school' adventures. As a nice bonus, five paper miniatures, in both full color and black & white versions are included. The small map is ugly. It appears to have been created from images that were originally a good bit larger and the reduction has made the map muddy and dark.

The adventure itself is essentially a very short dungeon crawl. The plot hook has the characters heading to the seaside lair of some smugglers. When they reach the lair, however, they find it nearly deserted. What happens as they explore the lair forms the meat of the adventure and I won't spoil it here.

One thing that I don't like about the adventure is that the encounters don't have stat blocks for the monsters or even minimal information like hit points or even the number of monsters encountered. The number of monsters has to be gleaned from reading the text and I assume the GM is supposed to roll for hit points before running the adventure. I would much prefer this information to be available at a glance.

One complaint that I have about many 'old school' adventures is that there is way to much treasure. This is not a problem with Smuggler's Bane. There is only one magic item in the entire dungeon! Even the amount of non-magical treasure is pretty small.

I am disappointed with Smuggler's Bane. Even given the element of mystery, it is still a very generic dungeon crawl. I could find no clever bits or original touches that inspired me. The writing is decent, but that?s about it. I hope that future releases in the First Edition Fantasy series will be more inspiring.

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: It is decently written. The paper miniatures are nice.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: It is just another dungeon crawl.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
First Edition Fantasy: Smuggler's Bane
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Castles & Crusades Condensed
Publisher: Troll Lord Games
by Anthony R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/13/2006 00:00:00

A great introduction to the Castles & Crusades rules and an excellent value. The layout is SO much better than first edition books that it is not even funny. This is essentially the 'Basic D&D' version of C&C. You get player classes and races, combat rules, magic rules and spells, monsters and a sample adventure. Everything you need to start playing.

The only things missing for me were bookmarks, an index and some sample treasures and magic items. Other than that, it is a complete and neat little package. It's AD&D for the 21st century.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It is a low-cost and surprisingly complete introduction to Castles & Crusades.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: No bookmarks and no index. I really would have liked to have some sample treasure lists and magic items.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Castles & Crusades Condensed
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Campaign Planner
Publisher: Ronin Arts
by Anthony R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 02/14/2006 00:00:00

The Campaign Planner is 35 pages long with a color cover and black and white interior. Two versions of the PDF are included, one designed just for printing and a forms version that can by typed in before printing. There are a total of 32 forms included (unless you count a lined page titled ?Notes? as a form).

The Planner is designed to help the DM organize his campaign and keep various details easily at hand. Some forms are primarily designed for use when setting up the campaign and others are designed primarily for use during the campaign. For instance, the ?House Rules? form will probably be filled out before the campaign begins (but could obviously be added to during the campaign as needed), while the ?Rumors Fed to Players? form will most likely be used primarily during the campaign.

In my opinion, some forms are not especially useful to me. For instance, the ?Custom Random Encounter Table? is essentially a set of numbered lines. However, I will probably get good use out of others like the ?Major City ? Information and Map? and ?Kingdom/Country? forms. All in all, I found most of the forms useful and the few duds were easy to ignore. Of course, your mileage may vary.

I like the Campaign Planner because I am a lazy, disorganized DM and anything that I can get my hands on to make life easier and give my players the impression that I am a little more on the ball is welcome. The inclusion of the forms version will be especially nice for those that do a lot of pre-campaign planning. I do wish that there had been fewer forms that I considered throwaways, but others may find them useful, I suppose. In any cause, the Planner should be a useful tool for almost any campaign.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It is a useful organizational tool that should fit almost any d20 fantasy campaign.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A few forms were throwaways and little more useful than a sheet of lined paper.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Campaign Planner
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Mutants & Masterminds Archetype Archive 3
Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing
by Anthony R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 01/29/2006 00:00:00

Like the previous two archives, Archetype Archive 3 presents ten new archetypes for Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition. The format is identical to the previous archives. The art is as good or arguably a little better. The archetypes presented continue to focus on some of the major heroic archetypes found in comic books. You get Amphibian (Sub-Mariner, Aquaman), Archer (Hawkeye, Green Arrow), Living Flame (Human Torch), Ring Bearer (Green Lantern), etc. You even get a nod to the pulp era with the Dark Avenger, a Shadow clone.

I was happy to see a nice implementation of Alternate Powers with the Living Flame. However, I wish that the Archer had been fleshed completely, instead of just given example power feats. For the Gamemaster, the Revenant, an almost unkillable character, would make a nice villain for a group of heroes. Similarly, the Demon and Dark Avenger could also be used as villains with no or little modification.

If you are looking for extremely clever and/or unique character designs or characters that ?push the limits? of the Mutants & Masterminds game system, Archetype Archive 3 may disappoint you. The characters are all pretty straightforward and as I have mentioned earlier, the archetypes are all typical comic book fare. However, if you are a busy (or just lazy) Gamemaster like me, these archetype collections are a good value. I will gladly pay fifty cents a character for the convenience that the Archetype Archives provide. It cuts down on my prep time and lets me concentrate on things other than grinding out characters. They are also useful for one-shots and as NPC heroes. Check out the whole series and see for yourself.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Classic archetypes are a boon to the busy Gamemaster.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Characters are all pretty straightforward. I would like to see at least a few in future collections that 'push' the game system a bit.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Mutants & Masterminds Archetype Archive 3
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After Sunset: Vampires
Publisher: Brain Jar Press
by Anthony R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 01/18/2006 00:00:00

After Sunset: Vampires is a 20-page color PDF. It is fully bookmarked, but there is no table of contents. I think the minimalist cover image of a moonlit city is striking for a PDF from a small publisher and the sparse interior art is decent as well. Layout is quite acceptable, but it does have some pretty big, ink-sucking borders at the top and bottom of each page.

Vampires is a focused product. It contains rules for running vampires as a PC race in a D20 Modern campaign. You get the expected vampire species traits and a long list of optional weaknesses to ?personalize? your vampire PCs. For instance, the default species has an aversion to garlic, but you could easily substitute a need to slumber from sunrise to sunset, a requirement that they sleep in their own soil, etc. if one of those weaknesses better fits your campaign. To go with the vampire species, you get a new vampire hero base class and a selection of vampire occupations. In addition to the above, you also get new feats, equipment, information on becoming and spotting vampires. The PDF is rounded out with a selection of optional rules. I especially liked the suggestions for ?off camera hunting?. Someone did some actual thinking about a topic that is sure to come up quickly in a campaign filled with vampire PCs.

As I said earlier, After Sunset: Vampires is a focused product. And in this case, that is a good thing. All of the information presented is useful for running Vampires as a PC race. There is no fluff. The writing is good. The presentation is good. If you want PC vampires in your D20 Modern campaign, this is the place to look. I applaud Clockwork Golem Workshop for delivering a product that actually stands out from the crowd. I wouldn?t call it terribly innovative, but it delivers what it promises in a smooth package. And in the sea of mediocre d20 PDFs that I wade through on a regular basis, that?s really all that I could ask.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It is focused and well-written. It delivers what it promises - rules for running Vampires as a PC race in a D20 Modern campaign.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I don't like big, black borders. They suck the life out of my poor printer.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
After Sunset: Vampires
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Mutants & Masterminds Archetype Archive 1
Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing
by Anthony R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 01/13/2006 00:00:00

Archetype Archive 1 is a 14-page supplement for Mutants & Masterminds. It has a full color cover and interior. It is bookmarked and is designed for the Second Edition of the game. Layout is up to Green Ronin?s usual high standards and the art is good. Each archetype is accompanied by an illustration of the character it represents. The only illustration that I really didn?t like was the Wealthy Thrillseeker. Is that really supposed to be a drawing of a hoverboard?

Archetypes in Mutants & Masterminds are complete characters that a player or gamemaster can use with no further preparation. Of course, they can also be tweaked and customized as desired. You get ten new archetypes in Archive 1 to complement the thirteen in the core book. Each archetype is full statted out and includes a short descriptive paragraph. Point totals are broken down at the bottom of the page to facilitate tweaking.

One of the archetypes, the Fortunate Hero, also has a new power ? Probability Control. I thought this was neat because it is built around the concept of directly affecting a mechanic of the game system, namely die rolls. Probability Control allows a character to affect his (or another character?s with the appropriate extra) ?luck? by ensuring that the result of a particular die roll in a round will be no less than his rank in the power. With an extra, a character with this power can also ?jinx? another character by reducing one of their die rolls to one. I am sure that some clever player will do his best to wreck game balance with this power, but it still looks pretty cool.

It?s hard to do any real in-depth review of a product like this. Either you want and/or need some additional archetypes for your game or you don?t. The archetypes are all fairly ?generic?, but they are well thought out and encompass some common archetypes found in comics. The new power is just icing on the cake. If you need some new heroes or villains for your M&M campaign, then look no further. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It has more iconic archetypes. the new power, Probability Control, is interesting.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Some of the art is good, but not great. More advice on tweaking the archetypes would have been nice.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Mutants & Masterminds Archetype Archive 1
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zzz-C&C Dark Chateau Castle Zagyg
Publisher: Troll Lord Games
by Anthony R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 01/09/2006 00:00:00

Dark Chateau is a 41-page PDF adventure with a color cover and black & white interior. The module has no bookmarks or table of contents. Layout is simple with no borders or distracting backgrounds. The fonts are readable and I found few typos. The adventure is designed for Castles & Crusades, but could be usable with 3.5 Edition D&D or even good old fashioned AD&D with some conversion. It is best suited for a low-level party of 1st-3rd level characters. Dark Chateau is intended for Gary Gygax?s Castle Zagyg setting, but it could be ported to your homebrew world with little effort.

The adventure itself is a dungeon crawl through several floors of a (seemingly) abandoned mansion. In an effort to keep this review spoiler free, I won?t go into details, but there are plenty of surprises and mysteries for the players inside. Depending on how thorough they are, there should be enough to keep them occupied for at least a couple of play sessions. There is also plenty of setting flavor in the form of notes and other clues that should be interesting for players in a continuing Castle Zagyg campaign.

The author of Dark Chateau is Rob Kuntz. For the uninitiated, he is one of the grandfather?s of tabletop RPGs. He was actually co-DM of the original Greyhawk campaign. The adventure?s style is definitely reminiscent of old school modules. There are meticulous lists of room contents, some inside jokes and plenty of entertaining set pieces. Like many old modules, many of these set pieces are designed more to test the cleverness and skill of the players, rather than their characters. This is not a bad thing in my opinion, but it might be a little strange for those not familiar with this style. My only beef with the old-school nature of the adventure is that I do find Mr. Kuntz?s prose tends towards almost High Gygaxian in places and he throws around anachronistic words like manse and despoiled with some abandon.

My biggest complaint about Dark Chateau is the maps. They are ugly. It is my understanding that Troll Lord will be using a different cartographer for future products, but the maps in Chateau are muddy, dark and messy. My other (minor) complaint is that there is not much variation in the monsters. A few off-beat critters would have spiced things up. One other observation, and it is not exactly a complaint, is that Mr. Kuntz also takes an old school approach to explaining some of the Chateau?s features. He doesn?t exactly hand wave it and just say ?it?s magic?, but he definitely doesn?t use a hard and fast 3.5 D&D mechanistic approach either. Of course, C&C is much more ?rules lite? than 3.5 D&D and so this could be considered a feature and not a defect.

While the adventure is certainly usable in any setting, the amount of ?Zagyg flavor? should make Dark Chateau especially suited for a Castle Zagyg campaign. If you are looking for a monster-laden slaughter fest, you might be disappointed. But if you are looking for an adventure that has plenty of old school flavor and that is designed to test your players, as well as their characters, download Dark Chateau today. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: An adventure with old school flavor that should challenge players, as well as characters.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The maps are ugly.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
zzz-C&C Dark Chateau Castle Zagyg
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Shadowspawn's Guide to Sanctuary
Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing
by Anthony R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 12/18/2005 00:00:00

Shadowspawn?s Guide to Sanctuary is a big 257-page PDF with color cover and black & white interior. It has a table of contents, index and is fully bookmarked. The layout is up to Green Ronin?s usual high standards and the book is heavily (and excellently) illustrated. Like the Player?s Guide, it has the dark bands at the top and bottom of each page, but they have been lightened somewhat to cut down on printer ink suck. I tried to find out if there was an update available that omitted the bands, but I could not get that information at the time of this review.

The Guide is divided into eight chapters and in many ways is actually two books in one! By that I mean information is provided throughout the book for both the classic Rankan era and the current Irrune era. Both eras get roughly equivalent coverage and so fans of the old books should be as happy as fans of the new series.

The book kicks off with an overview of the history of Sanctuary, all the way through the time of troubles and into the new era. This was great for me because I am much more familiar with the old books than with the new. The next chapter provides an overview of life in Sanctuary with details on the various power groups, the justice system, rulers and industries, both legitimate and illegitimate. The next chapter covers the various districts and points of interest in those districts, including maps and descriptions for the infamous Vulgar Unicorn. Two-page maps are also included of Sanctuary in both the Rankan and Irrune eras. I really like the maps of Sanctuary. The tread the line between being functional and being nice to look at. The numbered keys are also easy to pick out, which is an issue with some maps.

Two chapters cover Sanctuary?s significant NPCs. Each NPC gets about half a page of coverage, which includes sections on description, personality and the obligatory stat block. You get details for all the characters you would expect, including Enas Yorl, Shadowspawn and One Thumb in the Rankan Era and Elisar, G?han the Wanderer and Lone in the Irrune era. About seventy-five NPCs are detailed in total between the two eras.

A chapter on adventuring in Sanctuary gives the GM some sample adventure ideas for both eras, including a table listing ?One Hundred Thieves? World Adventure Ideas?, which I thought was pretty neat. There is a smorgasbord of other information, including an optional action point system, Thieves? World diseases and more. The next chapter lists various ?common characters? for the GM to use. This is a GREAT idea. Churning out stat blocks for minor NPCs like guards, beggars, priests, etc. is a real chore in the d20 system and this chapter lists stat blocks for well over a dozen common NPC types. Thank you Green Ronin.

If the Thieves? World Player?s Manual didn?t provide you with enough options, a Player?s Expansion piles on additional cultures, backgrounds, feats and eight new prestige classes. There is also additional information about Ur-Words and tables of Ur-Words in their various scarcities.

Shadowspawn?s Guide to Sanctuary is a very nice companion to the Player?s Manual. With the two books, a GM has everything he needs to run a campaign in Sanctuary. I confess that with a book this big, I really want a physical copy of the book, rather than the PDF, but an electronic copy does make it easy to print out things like NPC stat blocks for use at the game table and it is also a nice searchable reference. If you are interested in gaming in the Thieves? World universe, this is an excellent resource.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It is an exellent companion to the Player's Manual. Stat blocks for common NPCs is a real time saver for GMs.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I would have liked to see some maps included for common locations like shops, houses, etc.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Shadowspawn's Guide to Sanctuary
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No Other Gods (An Adventure for Testament)
Publisher: Highmoon Press
by Anthony R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 12/15/2005 00:00:00

No Other Gods is an adventure for the Testament: Roleplaying in the Biblical Era RPG from Green Ronin Publishing. The PDF is 28 pages long with a color cover and black and white interior. It has a table of contents and is fully bookmarked. The layout is professional and is very similar to the layout of the Testament rulebook. Unfortunately (for me at least), this means that it also has Testament?s ?crumpled parchment? page backgrounds. I really don?t like busy backgrounds. I printed some sample pages on a laser printer and although they weren?t unreadable, and they are not as dark as the pages in Testament, they still make things a little tough on those of us with poor eyesight.

For the unwashed heathens out there (those of you that grew up with hippie Buddhist parents know who you are) the adventure?s title refers to God?s commandment to the children of Israel in Exodus 20:3 that ?Thou shalt have no other gods before me.?

The adventure is intended for a party of 1st level characters, but notes are included to scale it for parties up to 3rd level. The adventure is also intended for a party of heroic Israelites, but adventure hooks are provided for Egyptian, Babylonian and other nationalities as well. No Other Gods follows a pretty classic adventure format with background information, keyed encounters and even a very short dungeon crawl of sorts. The adventure itself is very short and really has only one major encounter. I wouldn?t think that it would take more than a couple of hours to play through unless the GM pads it with extra encounters or the players do a lot of exploring.

The adventures? writing is clear and the PDF has some nice additions like separate pages for each map and appendices with summarized stat blocks for all the NPCs and monsters encountered in the adventure. The adventure also introduces a new deity, a new magic item, two new spells and a new monster template. This, along with the map of the village of Bethbeer, gives it some reusability for the GM.

No Other Gods could provide a nice introductory adventure for a Testament campaign. It is short, straightforward and shouldn?t prove too difficult to tweak as desired. It should even be usable as a generic d20 adventure with few changes. I would have liked to see some suggestions for fleshing out the village of Bethbeer as a base for adventuring and those page backgrounds eliminated, but other than that, I am pleased. It?s nice to see support for a niche product like Testament and I look forward to see what Highmoon Media might come out with for it in the future

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Well-written introductory adventure for the Testament RPG.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Busy page backgrounds make things tough on those with poor eyesight.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
No Other Gods (An Adventure for Testament)
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for the review. We are all glad you enjoyed it, as it has truly been a labor of love to get this whole line off the ground. In regards to the backgrounds, we used them in order to tie up the products. We did go ahead and lighten considerably from what was used in the Testament main book, so it won't be a problem to brighten them a little more for all our future releases. We certainly have more Testament releases planned, so those interested can expect much more from Highmoon Media Productions.
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Template Troves, Volume III: Diseases, Parasites & Symbiotes
Publisher: Silverthorne Games
by Anthony R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 12/13/2005 00:00:00

Temple Troves ? Volume III: Diseases, Parasites and Symbiotes is a 44-page PDF that delivers twenty-one templates for new ? wait for it ? diseases, parasites and symbiotes. The PDF has a color cover and mostly black and white interior (the tables are tinted green).

Layout is quite professional and ink sucking borders are thoughtfully kept to a minimum. In addition to the nice layout, I was also impressed by the quality of the interior art. I was not familiar with Cara J. Mitten, but her line art here is really nice. I especially liked the picture of the plague zombie. The PDF is bookmarked and an appendix lists templates alphabetically, by level adjustment and by challenge rating. The sample monsters included that were created from the templates are also listed by challenge rating. Huzzahs to Silverthorne Games for this nice addition.

About a page and a half is devoted to each of the twenty-one templates included. In addition to the rules for creating a creature with the template, each template also has a section that describes any appearance changes to the creature after the template is applied, as well as a section that gives some details about the characters that are typically affected by the template. Five templates also have an entry for a new monster associated with that template. Approximately half of the templates have an associated illustration. The author, Gary Astleford?s writing is clear and concise and I came across no egregious typos during my review. I am no d20 expert, but I also did not find that any of the templates screamed ?broken? or seemed overly powerful to me either.

As the back cover of Temple Troves Volume III proclaims, templates are indeed a great addition to the d20 system. The author even thoughtfully includes stat blocks for two sample monsters created with each template, complete with flavor text. This is just one example of ?added value? that makes this PDF appealing to me. Another is the fact that the challenge ratings for the example monsters span a range from one to twelve, with the majority centered around the mid levels of four to six (where the majority of games presumably occur). This is just plain old thoughtful design and not something that I see in the average PDF.

I have few complaints with Temple Troves Volume III. I couldn?t find any rules for removing Parasites and Symbiotes from a host. Can they be removed with a simple Cure Disease? Also, I know I have seen rules somewhere for making d20 diseases a little ?tougher? and harder to cure. It would have been nice to see those rules repeated here (if they were OGC) or barring that, something similar. All in all though, Treasure Troves III is an outstanding product from a publisher that was relatively unknown to me. The $6.00 price tag makes it that much more appealing. If you want to add drama and danger to your encounters, as well as get some great ideas, make sure to pick this one up.

As a postscript, if you want to try before you buy, make sure you download the Demo PDF with the plague zombie template. It should add a little 28 Days Later flavor to your next D&D game.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The writing and interior art are both excellent. Sample monsters created with the templates, lists of templates by challenge rating, etc. add plenty of value to the product.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Very little. I would have liked to see some rules for making diseases harder to cure.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Template Troves, Volume III: Diseases, Parasites & Symbiotes
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Lesser Fantasy Treasures
Publisher: Dark Quest Games
by Anthony R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 12/12/2005 00:00:00

Lesser Fantasy Treasures: Volume 1 is a four page PDF (five if you count the cover) with a color cover and mostly black & white interior. The PDF is essentially a list of twenty treasures with associated descriptive paragraphs. Layout is decent and thankfully printer ink friendly. The cover is even included as a separate PDF for you to print out or not as you wish. Illustration is the usual mix of line art and clip art, and is not terrible.

Each treasure is described in a single paragraph and there are no game statistics included of any kind other than a value for the treasure listed in gold coins. The writing is ok, but I did note some grammatical errors and the writing came off a little stilted and awkwared in places. Here is an example:

A rather marvelous item to gaze upon, this elaborate looking sculpture is none the less a fist sized pig...

Lesser Fantasy Treasures is a very average PDF. It suffers too much from the 'me too' problem. The subject matter has been covered in other and (in my opinion) better products from other publishers. I would have liked it better if Top Fashion had tried to put a more unique stamp on it. How about a selection of sample treasure hoards for the d20 system arranged by Encounter Level? Even if they didn't want to go the d20 route, what about a list of treasures themed for a certain humanoid type or culture or whatever? The danger of a generic product is that sometimes generic = boring.

I can't really reccomend Lesser Fantasy Treasures unless you are just too lazy to write a couple of sentences for an item yourself. If Top Fashion can polish up the writing to match their clean layout and come up with some more original themes, I will certainly take a look at them again in the future.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The layout and art was decent.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A 'me too' product that has been done better by others.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Lesser Fantasy Treasures
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A Dozen Dungeon Hazards
Publisher: Ronin Arts
by Anthony R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 12/07/2005 00:00:00

A Dozen Dungeon Hazards is a 9-page (6 pages of content, 2 pages of adventure tiles and the obligatory OGL license page) black & white PDF that was written by Phillip Reed. It has no art, but it does have two of Skeletonkey Games? color E-Adventure Tiles for two of the hazards that are detailed in the text. The PDF is also bookmarked, which always nice, even for a short document like this one.

For the uninitiated, certain monsters like Green Slime and Yellow Mold that were classified as monsters in previous editions of D&D are now called ?hazards? in the D20 System. As the title cleverly implies, this PDF presents twelve new hazards, including fogs, fungi, molds, and slimes. Phil also throws in a new disease for the DM to play with and some clarified rules for destroying slimes.

The descriptions and game mechanics for the new hazards are clearly written and interesting to read. Several are fairly simple tweaks to existing hazards, but I also thought others, like the Arcane Slime, had innovative game effects. Also, most DMs are constantly on the look for new goodies and the generic nature of the hazards makes them an easy fit for most campaigns.

If you enjoy short, inexpensive PDFs, this is a nice one to pick up. Ronin Arts also has a follow-up release, A Dozen More Dungeon Hazards. I can?t find anything to really complain about with Dungeon Hazards. It?s inexpensive, well written and generic ? all bonuses in my opinion. Check it out for some new nasties. I just hope your spellcasters watch out for that Arcane Slime. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It's inexpensive, written well and generic.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Not a thing.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
A Dozen Dungeon Hazards
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Source Maps: Temples, Tombs and Catacombs
Publisher: ProFantasy Software
by Anthony R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 12/05/2005 00:00:00

Source Maps: Temples, Tombs and Catacombs (TTC) is a package of maps from Profantasy Software that details twenty-five individual locations. But this is not just another set of maps. The site maps in TTC are designed for use with Profantasy?s CC2 Pro map making software. The package adds a plethora of new symbols and templates for owners of that software and of course the maps in TTC can be edited and customized using CC2 Pro as well. If you own Perspectives Pro, you even get a set of new temple perspective symbols.

If you don?t own CC2 Pro, an installer is included for a viewer that can be used to navigate the included site maps. The viewer is pretty powerful and since the maps are vector drawn, they can be zoomed, layers hidden, etc. The viewer also includes a link to a series of hypertext documents that detail each of the sites. This material really adds value and might even justify the purchase price for those that don?t own CC2 Pro.

The hypertext documents provide a wealth of information. You get a complete adventure for each site, including stat blocks, background and adventure hooks. Three of the adventures are for the Action! System and the rest are OGL (for the D&D crowd). You also get several pages of historical information, as well as images for the real locations. Several of the locations, like the Dwarven Treasury are fictional and so of course there is no ?actual? historical information or images for them. Refreshingly, however, they are as detailed as the actual locations, like Stonehenge. There is even a complete OGL modern horror mini-campaign included that links five of the sites together and should take characters all they way to 12th level or higher. Finally, a resources page has links to websites that have interesting historical or mapmaking information.

Also of interest, especially for those that don?t own CC2 Pro, a 150-page PDF is included that contains all of the maps in the package. Each site has maps with a traditional overhead view, a ? perspective view and a larger-scale area view in most cases. The PDF has a table of contents, but it does unfortunately lack bookmarks.

My gripes with TTC are few. I wish the adventures and historical information had also been included as a PDF. It would have made them easier to print out for reference and play. Also, when I clicked the map links from the hypertext document, it opened a new instance of the map viewer each time, which was sort of irritating. Finally, I got a few errors with missing pages when I was clicking through the Help file.

Temples, Tombs and Catacombs is a value-packed package for owns of CC2 Pro. The added mapping tools, combined with the historical and game information for the various sites, makes the purchase price reasonable. If you are interested in detailed maps of real-world locations like the Acropolis, Macch Pichu and Stonehenge, you should still give it consideration. It?s not cheap, but it?s also not just another set of maps.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The historical information, images and adventures make the package an excellent value for owners of CC2 Pro. The focus on real-world locations is refreshing and adds value for those that don't just play fantasy.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I wish the hypertext documents had been included as a PDF, like the maps. It would have made for easier printing.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Source Maps: Temples, Tombs and Catacombs
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