Master at Arms: Cudgel Thug is a short 8 page d20 pdf and the eighth product in Blackdirge Publishing's Master at Arms series of products. This series aims to provide players and DMs with prestige classes for the core Fighter class, all focused on using a specific weapon and often relying on history to construct realistic classes. This particular instalment, the Cudgel Thug, focuses on the club as weapon of choice, and on the concept of the thug as a heavy nonlethal bruiser in your game. This product is compatible with the revised core rules.

The product comes as a single pdf file consisting of a front cover with some lovely art by Jesse Mohn, a page detailing the credits, five pages of content and finally the OGL declarations. As part of a series, this product contains a similar style and layout to other products in the series. Layout and overall look of the product is good, very good if you consider the fact that it is such a short pdf. Editing and writing is good as well, and the mechanics is solid across the whole product. Some useful bookmarks are missing, but that's not such a big deal considering the length of the product. Overall, another good presentation job from Blackdirge Publishing.

Master at Arms: Cudgel Thug focuses on the club as its weapon of choice. The club is frequently not a weapon wielded by many PCs, and this product aims to redress that imbalance by providing a more flavorful detailing of the historical use of the weapon, and a prestige class that gives the weapon a proper place in the game. The product starts by providing a brief historical overview of the club, and its development through the ages to more sophisticated and advanced weapons such as the mace, even touching on the boomerang as a version of a 'thrown club'. Next the author details the prestige class, the Cudgel Thug, and provides some useful design notes that give some insight into the nature and rationalisation behind the prestige class' abilities.

The cudgel thug itself is a club-wielding bruiser, a thug that specialises in striking hard and quick, combining aspects of the rogue and fighter classes to create a remorseless thug. A brief overview of the class is provided, followed by the details of this five level prestige class. The prestige class gains a number of known abilities, such as sneak attack, but also a number of new and unique abilities that play to the class' strengths. These include the ability to knock foes unconscious or render them helpless, the use of improvised weapons, and special abilities that make the class a master a dealing nonlethal damage. The class maintains good balance and has enough flavor to make it interesting. It plays well to the strengths of the club as a weapon, and succeeds at presenting a class for creating that uncompromising thug in your game. Both player characters and NPCs will find good use for this class.

The pdf next details a new NPC, Crawsmasher, complete with mechanical statistics and an interesting background. This is a CR 11 NPC based on the cudgel thug prestige class, and illustrates nicely the strengths and concepts behind the class. Lastly, the pdf presents two new club-like weapons, the rungu, a throwing club, and the more familiar shillelagh. Both are extensions of the club that will be useful additions to any game.

Master at Arms: Cudgel Thug is another good pdf in the Master at Arms series. It provides a flavorful approach to the club as a weapon, highlighting its usefulness and areas of use. The Cudgel Thug is a decent prestige class with some interesting abilities, and is well designed around the concept of a brutal and quick bruiser. I generally found all the information in this pdf very applicable to any d20 gaming world, and it has a high utility for both players and DMs. Overall, another good product from Blackdirge Publishing.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: High utility of the material, good balance, good design of the product and the prestige class, and some interesting material in the cudgel thug prestige class.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Nothing much. Generally a solid product.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Campaign Tools: Mystic Scrolls of Akaarti is a 19 page d20 fantasy pdf product and the first in a new line of products from Inspired Device. Each product in the new Campaign Tools line aims to provide alternative rules, campaign options and other rules material for use in the d20 game. This particular product features a compilation of spells inspired by the more famous spells in the core rules. This product contains a total of 40 spells for d20 fantasy, along with a new monster template and a new monster.

The product is well-presented in a single pdf file. There are a handful of less than useful bookmarks which makes one wonder why they were included, but otherwise it's a decent looking product and presented to a good standard. The product contains some wonderful art, is written well, and the editing is decent too. The layout is such that the pages are clearly 'left' or 'right' in the sense that it looks like the pdf was designed to be printed and read like a book. This can be somewhat detracting while reading a screen pdf, since the page text keeps jumping from left to right. A very minor niggle. Overall, though, Inspired Device are off to a good start presentation wise with their new line Campaign Tools line.

The product starts with a brief introduction and includes details on the legends of Akaarti, the magical city located on the demiplane of Aakerus. This is followed by the spell lists containing the spells contained in the pdf. The spells presented cover all the core classes, although naturally sorcerers, wizards, druids and clerics get the best representation. The range of spells is spread out pretty much evenly across all levels, although the higher level spells gain slightly more representation than the lower level spells below 5th level.

The spells in this product are inspired by the more popular spells in the core rules, in other words they are often very similar spells with different flavor, similar spells with added elements, or similar spells that just work slightly differently than those in the core rules. You have for example bone barrier, which is a different flavor to blade barrier, or vampiric ray which is a ray version of vampiric touch. Some of these are welcome changes, others add nice touches of flavor, but for the most part those familiar with the spells in the core rules will almost immediately pick up which spell the presented spell is derived from. Not all the spells are 'copies' of spells in the core rules, in fact many of them are very different although there are hints of familiar elements. Here amongst these spells there are a number of useful and interesting ones, and they're different enough to the core rules spells to be considered new spells in their own right. For the most part, if you've wondered if there was a spell similar to one in the core rules, but one that for example affected a different creature type (for example, Demolishing Weapon which is a construct version of Disrupting Weapon), then this product will contain some useful material for your game.

The appendix of the product contains two pieces of new material - a new monster, Valhalla's Savage, and a new template, the Scourge. The former can be summoned via one of the spells in the product, although it looks like the mechanical execution is not entirely accurate for the creature presented (it attempts to mix a 7th level barbarian with a construct and the end result is less than satisfying). The Scourge is an undead template that boosts the power of standard undead that can typically be created using spells like animate dead. Both are useful within the scope of the pdf and the scourge in particular is a nice idea for a more powerful lesser undead creature. Scourge zombies should be fun to play with in a game, although perhaps some of the abilities don't work mechanically well with these creatures, particular the spell resistance ability, because zombies typically have high hit die.

Overall, I quite liked this pdf. It had some useful changes to spells to make them just different enough to be useful in other ways. This is the kind of product that can easily be used to simulate spell research, where wizards learn subtle ways or new ways of changing existing spells into new and different ones. The spells were interesting without just being copies, and the presentation was well done. The mechanics of the new monster and the template could probably do with a few changes, and some useful bookmarks would've been nice. Overall though, a good start to the new line of products.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The spells presented are useful and interesting, and will give a fresh look and perspective on old favorites in the core rules. Good art and solid presentation. Good spell selection across class and level.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A few mechanical niggles, and the bookmarks could've been expanded a bit.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

The Wurst of Grimtooth's Traps is a mammoth 226 page d20 pdf featuring the devious, evil machinations and traps of the famous Grimtooth the Troll. Many gamers will be familiar with the pure genius of Grimtooth's traps and this product is a compilation for d20 of the best of those traps that your players will never forget. In the pages of this product you won't find simple traps or single trigger jobs, but rather cunning, devious and downright painful multiple trigger traps that only Grimtooth himself could conceive. This product is compatible with the revised d20 core rules.

The product comes as a single pdf file with a complete set of detailed bookmarks and a table of contents. General presentation is excellent, with good writing, evocative text, great illustrations of the various traps, and decent editing and layout. The lack of a printer friendly version of this product will hurt those wishing to print this product. The pdf introduces some new mechanics to explain traps, and this works well with the existing core rules and expands them nicely to create more complex traps. Overall, the trap mechanics is good. The product usefully also includes an index of traps by CR and alphabetical listing so you can find the trap you're looking for in the 200+ traps presented.

The Wurst of Grimtooth's Traps is a compilation of some of the best and most devious traps from Grimtooth the Troll. This product collects over two hundred traps from the classic books of Grimtooth's Traps and coverts them to d20. This product is divided into five sections - room traps, door traps, corridor traps, the Traps Bazaar and finally the trap-filled Dungeon of Doom. It contains not only numerous great traps, but also some humorous elements and illustrations about the creation of the book, and Grimtooth's own thoughts on traps and the d20 trap rules. DMs and players familiar with Grimtooth's earlier works will find many old favorites here.

Traps. Some people love them and other hate them, the latter mainly because the most cunning traps are not well supported by the rules framework. This product provides some of the most ingenious traps you'll ever see, all that slot in easily within the d20 rules framework and work well within it. There are traps for every situation here, and your players will never look at a trap the same again after experiencing some of the traps in this pdf. Traps cover CR ranges 1 to 10, with a heavy weighting of traps at the lower CRs and the higher CRs with fewer traps in the CR 6-9 ranges. Some of the traps for CR 10 are very expensive, and it seems very unlikely from a realism point of view that something that costs so much will be implemented. Magical traps of a similiar CR seem far easier, although not nearly as spectacularly effective.

The first three sections of the product cover traps in all their glory. The illustrations are effective in conveying the meaning of the traps, and the mechanics supports the concepts well. Here you'll find some delectable and evil traps - if Death by a 1000 Slices doesn't do it for you, then perhaps the Delvermatic Dicer and Malingerer Trap will. There are traps that will certainly make your players squeal, both in surprise and in the agonising pain that these traps can inflict. No more will players just look at a trap, find it and disable it. Here the disabling is an art form, the traps carefully crafted to make sure that even if you think you know how it works, it will still get you killed. This is simply a splendid collection of traps, a must have for every DM that wants to create something extraordinary in their dungeon.

The next two sections deal with the Traps Bazaar and the Dungeon of Doom. The former is a large bazaar that sells various trapped items, such as the Ring of Doom, and the Satan's Bow. Like the traps, there are some clever items in here that are very useful in a campaign game. Unlike cursed items, these items are trapped, and serve as a very clever way of delivering traps where PCs expect them the least. The last part of the pdf deals with the Dungeon of Doom, a massive complex and dungeon filled entirely with traps and nothing else. How useful this is in a campaign world and setting is debatable, but from the challenge point of view it might be interesting to run it. Certainly, if nothing else, it provides a huge number of additional traps that can be used even if they're not part of the Dungeon of Doom.

The Wurst of Grimtooth's Traps is a great product that brings to d20 the best and most devious traps of Grimtooth the Troll. This product contains scores of devious traps, evil machinations, and deadly encounters that are both very creative and fun to play. Players will be challenged by these traps, and DMs will have some fun and interesting new ideas to play with. This is probably the definitive book on d20 traps, and a must have for those wishing to resurrect traps in their games or give them the proper status that they deserve. I am sure Grimtooth would approve. Very good product.

D20 Mini Games: Casino is a 13 page d20 pdf product for both fantasy and modern gaming. This product features new rules for gambling in casino-like games, including familiar games like poker, blackjack and roulette.

The product comes as a single, full-colour product suitable for on-screen viewing and reading. The product contains a complete table of contents, although there are no bookmarks. A good full colour product cover by Jeff Ward is included, although there is no interior art to the product apart from layout bordering and other layout features. Editing and writing are generally good, although there are errors, one of the more pronounced ones being that they've attributed two copyrights to this product by not removing the copyright text for one of their older products, Secret Societies, from the copyright page. Mechanics is generally good, and the fact that they've listed a mechanics editor indicates that Silven Publishing aim to pay attention to the mechanical details of their products, which is good to see. Overall, a good presentation as is generally the standard of Silven Publishing's products.

This product details rules and mechanics for five casino-like gambling games - poker, craps, roulette, blackjack, and slot machines. Most people have probably played some of the games at some point in their lives, and so will be familiar with most of the rules. The product is not an in depth look at the various games, and does not explain any of the intricacies of games such as poker or blackjack. Rather the product aims to transfer these games into the d20 system in a simple fashion, and it accomplishes this by presenting both abstracted high-level rules for lengthy periods of play, and more detailed rules to catch the action on shorter time-scales. The latter are by no means as detailed as actual play, and many DMs might just want to roleplay an actual game of poker or blackjack rather than use these rules. Still, they're useful for games like roulette or slot machines which aren't readily available at the gaming table.

The abstracted rules essentially boil down to single die role mechanics against specific DCs depending on the game played. Certain games are harder to play or rely more on luck than others, and the DCs appear to reflect this. It's very difficult to capture the role of chance in each of these games in a single die role, and to address this the product introduces the concept of regression bonuses that make winning progressively more difficult the longer you play the game. Here, for example, blackjack is far more difficult to win at than slot machines. Whether this captures the odds accurately is left as an exercise to those more experienced in these forms of games.

The detailed rules, or at least not so abstract, involve two die roles instead of one, the first serving the purpose of giving you a bonus on the second, which is used to look up the result on a table provided in the product. The table confirms the win or loss and the margin of the win as well. Higher rolls give wins where you can double or treble you bet, while lower rolls involve losing everything bet in the game. The tables again are probably not accurate from a statistical point of view. The poker table, for example, indicates that there is a higher than fifty percent chance of getting two pairs or better in a hand, which seems high for standard poker. Nevertheless, the results give a more detailed overview of what actually happens in a game, and can be used even if you aren't familiar with the games. Perhaps a more detailed overview of each game would've been useful for those that really want to understand the games. A good example of the rules in action is also provided.

The latter part of the product deals with other aspects of using casino-like gambling games in your campaigns. These include the use of magic in casinos, the Profession (gambling) skill, new spells for gambling, new gambling related feats and other useful information on gambling and game-variants. This serves as a useful support for the rest of the product, although some of the feats could've used a little more clarity and tightening in the rules to avoid too much DM fiat.

D20 Mini Games - Casino is a decent product that presents new rules for gambling for use in fantasy or more contemporary settings. It's well presented, and the rules provided are well support by additional advice and useful information relating to running gambling in your campaigns. The rules themselves for the most part achieve what they must - allowing you to play d20 casino-like games. They're not particularly detailed, and perhaps here and there they could've been more statistically accurate, but if you want a quick and dirty way to play a game then this product contains what you want. If you want anything more detailed, then perhaps playing the game itself would be easier. Nevertheless, it's a decent product that provides some 'light' and suitable rules for handling gambling in d20 games.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Good presentation, useful information and advice on handling gambling in a campaign, and satisfactory ruleset that enables quick resolution of gambling games.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A few editing and writing errors, and perhaps the product could've included more information on how the games are meant to be played rather than just concentrating on the rules themselves. The mechanics don't always accurately portray the games involved, but they serve as a means to an end.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Arcane Outbreak is a 13 page d20 pdf product. This product is a standalone product presenting a number of new magical diseases, disease-related feats, and a new prestige class focused on diseases. The product is written by Neal Bailey.

Arcane Outbreak comes a single pdf file. Layout and general presentation are fairly straightforward for such a short pdf. There is no art within the product, and given its length one or possibly two pieces of art would've been welcome. Editing and writing is good, and the various disease concepts are well supported by new mechanics. The product contains no bookmarks, but is printer-friendly.

This product is all about magical diseases. At first look I was expecting another handful of diseases that were similar to those found in the core rules. I couldn't have been more wrong. These diseases are different, both in mechanics and the elaborate consequences of contracting any particular disease. While some of the standard mechanics are still present in terms of contracting diseases, the effect of being contagious and the scope of the diseases are all novel and very interesting. In these pages you have diseases that you've not likely seen before, such as diseases that infect people during healing, or diseases that act as gateways to other planes. The ten diseases are very well conceived and very interesting, and I thoroughly enjoyed each one of them.

Having said that, these diseases are probably more suitable to be used as plot hooks and adventure ideas than diseases that infect PCs. They certainly can be used as such, but PCs have so many means of ridding themselves of diseases that it makes more sense to use these great ideas to sculpt adventures. Having the PCs deal with an outbreak or the consequences of these diseases seems like a better idea than actually infecting one of them with it. Either way, there's a lot of good material here that can make for some fun and exciting gaming. These are probably some of the best diseases I've seen in a while for the d20 system. Full of flavor and very applicable to any game.

The second half of the pdf deals with ten new disease-related feats and a new prestige class. The feats build on the disease idea in clever ways, allowing you to willingly contract a particular disease to gain some benefit, or to enhance your own immunity to diseases. The prestige class, the Phage Touched, is a lovely prestige class that is full of flavor and a well executed prestige class based on the disease concept. This prestige class is applicable to both PCs and NPCs, which makes it doubly useful despite the disease background. Player characters will have fun playing this class, and the new mechanics are both interesting and well conceived. The Phage Touched gains a number of abilities, including infecting creatures, auras of disease and others, all culminating in the ability to turn yourself into a living plague. A neat idea and neatly executed.

Arcane Outbreak is a very good pdf. There's a lot of new, clever and useful material in here, and a lot of flavor to support the various magical diseases. DMs should have a lot of fun in using these in their campaign world, both as plot hooks and for infecting their players with. The feats and prestige class are all very good, although some of the feats are probably quite niche for campaigns where diseases are not that common. Overall, a very good pdf, and very good value for money.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Arcane Outbreak is a interesting and novel pdf presenting some truly exciting new ideas in terms of diseases. Presentation is solid, material is full of flavor and the utility of this product is high for any campaign world. If you've wanted to make diseases more than a passing nuisance, then this product does just that.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A couple of pieces of art would've been a nice addition and perhaps some of the disease are more suitable as plot hooks for infected NPCs rather than for infecting PCs.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Monster Encyclopaedia I: Ravagers of the Realms is a 258 page monster compendium for d20 Fantasy. This product is the first of two products in the Monster Encyclopaedia series, and features more than 200 new monsters to challenge and excite your players. The monsters in this product all utilize the 3.5e core rules.

This product comes as a single pdf file. Given that this product was originally released as a print product, the pdf version doesn't unfortunately contain any bookmarks. This is slightly hindering, although there is thankfully an alphabetical listing of all the creatures in the book to guide you through the many pages of monsters. Presentation for a monster book is good - each creature comes with its own artwork, although in many cases the artwork isn't great nor particularly high resolution and hence looks grainy on the screen. Still, there are some visually stunning pieces of art, and overall the artists have done a good job with this product. Editing and layout is good, although there are editing errors that have crept in, particularly in the monster mechanics and stat blocks. I guess this should hardly be surprising, given that pretty much all products out there contain some errors, but it's particularly noticeable in a product of such length. Overall, though, the presentation is decent, though probably not as stunning as the print product would've been.

As the name of the product suggests, this product is about monsters, and contains about 200 creatures big and small for DMs to throw at their players. The product provides numerous lists that aid in finding suitable monsters, including monsters by type and challenge rating. For the latter, challenge ratings range for CR 1/4 to CR 28, although by far the largest proportion of monsters are in the range below CR 10 with only about one quarter of the monsters being of higher challenge rating. There is a good distribution of creature types and subtypes throughout the product. In addition to this useful information, the product also contains useful advice on using monsters, and on how to create monster palettes or ecosystems within your campaign world. This includes selecting monsters by terrain and how to construct monster lairs based on habitat and monster intelligence. This is quite a useful piece of information and gives a campaign a more real world feel. Following this, the product dives into the monsters in alphabetical order.

There are a lot of monsters out there for the d20 system, and dozens of monsters books featuring monsters of all sorts. Publishers and monster creators have to work quite hard to create something that stands out and can be counted as memorable. The authors of Monster Encyclopaedia have all stated that this is their intent, although having read through the product they've only succeeded half-way. The monsters are generally interesting, particularly from a conceptual point of view and the descriptions, but they're often supported by rather uninteresting or bland mechanics and special abilities. To a large extent the special abilities are what define the creature and what it is, and sadly this product seems to have generated 'generic' creatures with 'generic' abilities rather than creatures that are truly interesting or special.

Now, that's no to say that there aren't some gems in this product. For the most part of you look at a certain creature type, the product contains a number of these creatures of different hit die with largely standard abilities and mechanical make-up. I liked a lot of the monsters in this book, too many to really mention here, but then there were others that just didn't contain anything special or interesting, either in mechanics or concept. It was like the product had taken a creature type, expanded it beyond that, and created more monsters that are extensions of what we know rather than new and novel creatures. It was a little like putting a standard undead creature through a software program that warps it to a different hit die and adds a few standard special abilities to it. Creatures are special because of their unique special abilities, and there was a bit of a lack of that in this product.

I'm a big fan of monster books, and it was really fun and enjoyable to read this product, but at the same time disappointing. Much more could've been done to take some unique concepts and great art to create something that would be truly memorable and lasting. I would certainly use a large proportion of monsters in this book, but I think many would be used for novelty in a game to give the players something they're not familiar with, rather than something that I was dying to use and just needed to find a way into a game. It's one thing to create an interesting concept, and entirely other thing to bring that concept to life with the supporting game mechanics.

Overall, though, I would say that I was fairly pleased with Monster Encyclopaedia I. You get a lot of monsters for your money, and it's good value too. The lack of bookmarks and the editing/mechanical errors are detracting, yes, but I think this product needed to take those great pieces of art and those interesting concepts and make them work. Most DMs will find something in this product - I mean, who wouldn't want 200 more monsters - but whether the players remember these monsters or they create memorable encounters is another matter. Overall, decent presentation, good selection of monsters and monster types, interesting concepts and some wonderful artwork, but also lacking in places by some really interesting executions of those concepts.

Tower of Jhedophar is a 36 page d20 fantasy adventure for 4 to 6 player characters of levels 13 to 15. The adventure takes place in the once great academy of magical learning, the Tower of Jhedophar, and here the PCs must navigate a vicious labyrinth filled with deadly foes in order to wrest the legendary Mandrake Staff from the Lich Jhedophar. This adventure carries the designation K7, although it is a standalone product that can be played through in two to four sessions. This adventure recommends a good balance of character classes, including a rogue, cleric, arcane spellcaster, and a number of frontline warriors.

The adventure comes as a single pdf file. Like all of Necromancer Games' products, this one has a high standard of presentation. Cover art is very good, as is the interior art, and the artists have generally done a splendid job on the product. The maps are also decent, although rather bland and do not provide adequate detail or even a legend/key. Writing and editing is generally excellent, as is the layout, although the bookmarks provided are probably a bit on the sparse side. The product includes a lengthy appendix that contains numerous new monsters, magical items and templates for the adventure. Overall, a solid product with some excellent artwork, although the adventure disappoints in other areas such as the maps.

The adventure takes place entirely within the Tower of Jhedophar, and as a result is a site-based, dungeon-crawl style adventure. A number of plot hooks are provided to take the PCs to Jhedophar's Tower, although once there the adventure quickly turns into an intensive combat-fest. The Lich Jhedophar, wielder of the Mandrake Staff, is a great evil, and for whatever purpose, the PCs are sent to destroy him, or at the very least remove the Mandrake Staff from him. During the course of the adventure the PCs will face both powerful foes and allies in the tower, and the choice of how the adventure ends is largely a case of the lesser of two evils, although stronger parties will just face the foes they find rather than parley with them. Naturally, from this perspective, parties that are good in alignment or have paladins will just have to fight their way through the adventure.

The adventure is fast paced and combat intensive, and most parties will barely have a moment's respite as they wade their way through the various levels of the tower. Encounters offer a decent mix of combat, roleplaying and puzzle solving, and a number of them have interesting flavor. The various levels of the tower, for example, are each themed according to the various schools of magic. That said, while the labyrinth portions are filled with traps and interesting monsters, the upper levels are largely roamed by a single type of creature which can lead to rather monotonous combat and adventure.

At times this adventure brought back that childhood feeling of 'You enter a room. There are 10 big monsters. They attack'. In that sense the adventure was disappointing, and apart from some encounters that offer interesting alternatives, many are just straightforward battles. Given that the majority of creatures in the tower are undead, one should probably not expect too many explanations for why creatures are there, or what they do to bide the time, or how they interact with each other.

Tower of Jhedophar is a decent site-based adventure that pits the PCs against challenging opponents and deadly combats. The adventure is mainly combat, although it does offer some roleplaying opportunity. On the whole, though, barring perhaps the few roleplaying moments and some interesting rooms, this is a rather monotonous adventure with little to offer. Even the options for expanding the adventure beyond the tower are fairly limited. Much more could also have been done to motivate the party to go to this tower, and to create a plot that is something different to 'enter tower, kill creatures'. Presentation is good, but generally while a fun and solid adventure, the adventure disappoints in other areas.

Blackdyrge's Templates: Armored Apparition is a short 9 page d20 fantasy pdf and the second product in Blackdirge Publishing's series Blackdyrge's Templates. Each product in the series presents a new template along with several sample monsters. This second instalment details the armored apparition, an incorporeal undead creature with the unique ability to animate and inhabit a suit of armor.

The product comes as a single pdf file. One of the neat things about the products from Blackdirge Publishing is their Campaign Construction System. This means that each page is marked and labelled with the details on the type of information on the page (for example, monster or template), the source of the material, the author and publisher and the name of the creature or magic item on the page. This makes it really easy and useful to construct a campaign notebook or binder, using the material from the products as and how you wish.

Blackdyrge's Templates: Armored Apparition comes with a complete set of bookmarks, some stunning art by Hunter McFalls, and a simple layout and design along the lines of the excellent Campaign Construction System. Editing and writing are very good (although the Campaign Construction System headings still call this Armored Apparition the Elder Fiend), as are the mechanics, and overall this is a very neat and tidy product.

The product starts by presenting a brief introduction to the armored apparition penned by the character Blackdyrge. This serves as a useful introduction to the template and its background, and sets the scene for the mechanics to follow. The armored apparition is an incorporeal creature that has the ability to inhabit a suit of armor, and wield weapons as if it were a corporeal creature. It retains most of its creature abilities, although loses most of the aspects of it being incorporeal. It gains the ability to manifest its incorporeal touch attacks through its armor or weapons, and also gains feats that allow it to wield weapons more efficiently, and naturally be proficiency in all those weapons and any armor it may wear. Instead of having the next suit of armor your characters encounter animate to fight them, it can be an armored apparition instead which should surprise the players nicely.

The product includes two samples monsters as examples of application of the template - the armored spectre and the armored dread wraith. Both come with full stat blocks and useful descriptive text and details on combat for each creature. Generally the template blends the ideas of animated construct and incorporeal undead to good effect, gaining some benefits of both types of creature. As constructs these creature are exceedingly difficult to kill, both because of the high armor class, but also because of some of the construct traits such as hardness they inherit. A good template, and something different to the usual animated set of armor.

Blackdyrge's Templates: Armored Apparition is a useful and good template that can blends the construct and incorporeal undead types to create a tough and deadly creature that's bound to surprise players and characters alike. Presentation is very good, although the repeated mention of Elder Fiend instead of Armored Apparition in the Campaign Construction System headings makes it less useful from that perspective. Overall, a good product from Blackdirge Publishing, and a neat template to use to spice up a few encounters in your game or surprise your players.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: A useful template and a solid presentation with excellent artwork. I like the Campaign Construction System (despite its failure in this instance), and the sample monsters mean some of the work in applying the template has already been done. Good blend of construct and undead types in the template.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Error in the headings on each page referring to the Elder Fiend and not the Armored Apparition. Otherwise nothing much. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Clash of History: Witch Trails is a short 12 page d20 historical pdf product and the fourth product in Vigilance Press' line of historical fantasy products. The products in the series aim to bring history into the fantasy world, and in the case of this particular product, the witch trials of medieval Europe and related history are discussed and detailed. Each product presents not only a brief history of the product topic, but also a class and associated game mechanics.

The product comes as a single pdf files and follows the same layout and structure as the other pdfs in the series. There is a nice front cover, some detailed bookmarks, fitting interior art, and a simple layout without any bordering. Editing and writing is good, although given the subject matter quite difficult to condense well within such a short amount of material. The mechanics for the most part is good, although in some instances there were cases of editing errors gone wrong (the white witch healing touch ability, for example, being referred to as lay on hands) and in one or two places the mechanics could've used a little more elaboration. There was also some older mechanics in the product - the black witch gains the thousand faces ability similar to that of druids, but it's based on the alter self spell rather than the more recent disguise self spell. Overall, though, a decent pdf, simple with no major problems.

The product starts with a brief introduction to the pdf before detailing the witch (or warlock) core class. The class is based on the sorcerer class, using the same spell mechanics and progressions. The novelty with the class lies in the various special abilities, and naturally the flavor of the class, where a witch relies on some tie to a physical entity for its magic and power. There are two paths that a character can follow with this class - the white witch focused on healing, and the black witch which is focused on curses and cursing. I like the idea of being able to take two paths for the class, and the class does a good job of following the information in the background of the witch trials to create a more realistic medieval class.

Next is a short prestige class, the inquisitor. This prestige class is essentially based upon the concept of finding witches and drawing the truth from them, so it relies on abilities like smite evil and the ability to determine the truth. It's quite a short prestige class, and not particularly well detailed, but it will make a useful addition to a campaign based on the ideas contained in this pdf. It's also reasonably easy to take the prestige class as a template and adapt to other uses or concepts.

The last half of the pdf covers in brief detail, though with an extensive timeline, the history of the witch trials in medieval Europe and to a lesser extent in other parts of the world. It makes for a very interesting read, although it can be a little sketchy in places. Then again, having to cover centuries of history in such a short space is quite a difficult job. Certain areas could've used more detail, such as perhaps more details on the trials themselves, and the logistics of keeping witches and putting them on trial, but for the most part it's a decent account of a broad period of history. There are several campaign ideas on the last page of the pdf that allow one to adapt the material to a fantasy world, and all are quite useful and interesting ideas.

Overall this is a decent pdf with some useful and interesting material. The classes are built well within the historical context, and I like the idea of the base class being able to progress along different paths. The history is interesting, but perhaps not detailed enough to highlight some of the methodology involved in the witch trials. The pdf is easy to adapt to similar themed scenarios if a DM wants to run a campaign based on these ideas. Worth a look if you're interested in some form of campaign where particular groups are persecuted, or if you're looking for a more historically accurate witch class.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Decent account of the history behind the witch trials, and the class and prestige class slot in well with the historical background provided. Some useful campaign ideas and material for those wishing to build a campaign or adventure on these ideas.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Here and there the classes seemed like they'd been constructed using abilities from other classes, and barring the novelty of taking the class along different paths, there's not a lot new in terms of special abilities for the class. To make full use of the material, some added detail on the witch trails, how witches were imprisoned or examples on how they trials were run would've been useful.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Wicked Fantasy Factory: Rumble in the Wizard's Tower is a 36 page d20 fantasy pdf adventure for characters of level 1 to 3. This adventure is the first product in a new series of adventures by Goodman Games produced in cooperation with Wicked Fantasy Factory. Each adventure in the series is for those that want their adventures to be 'things of legend' or just 'wicked sick' and each features new rules and a more bloody, yet cinematic, outlook on the fantasy adventure. This adventure sees the player characters assault the tower of a warlord bent on overthrowing the kingdom, and they must face not only the challenges of the warlord's minions, but also the remnants of the magical effects left over from the wizard who once lived in the tower.

This adventure comes as a single, extremely well-presented pdf file. The pdf contains a full set of bookmarks, a fantastic cover, and grim-and-gritty interior art, bordering and layout that suit the mood and flavor of the product. The maps are fantastic, detailed and clear, and are helpful to the DM in indicating relative positions of any enemies within a particular area. The covers and maps are arranged at the front of the pdf, with the main product body following on from that. Handouts and new monsters and magical items are included in the appendix. Editing, writing and mechanics are excellent, and where the adventure says it will provide more cinematic scenes and descriptions this is strongly supported by some quality writing and vivid detail. In general, a top quality presentation that suits the flavor and atmosphere of the product very well.

The adventure takes place almost entirely in Morrick Tower, although depending on which of the plot hooks are used, there can be some roleplaying in the city before that. Because this adventure is intended to be something of legend, there are some optional rules that one can use to make the adventure more 'bloody' or just more cinematic. These include rules for handling mooks or minor enemies, so-called finishing moves which allow you to finish off an enemy in spectacular fashion, and additional mechanics for making those final BBEGs that much more difficult. Admittedly these additions will not be for everyone, but in the spirit of the adventure and the style of the adventure, they can be a lot of fun. That said, this adventure can be run equally well without these options, and given the quality of the adventure, it will be as enjoyable and even equally spectacular.

By its basic nature this is a single location, dungeon crawl style adventure, but I think it offers more than enough other aspects to the adventure that make it much more than that. There is a really great story-line and background with some really interesting ideas, some very exciting encounters, challenges that almost require characters to think out of the box, and some description and detail that's excellent. Players and DMs will not be disappointed by this adventure, and those wishing for more cinematic encounters and spectacular battles will find this adventure right up their alley. The adventure is intended for 2nd level characters, although large parties of 1st level characters (6 to 8 characters) or 3rd level characters will also find this challenging. Scaling information is provided, but given the length of the adventure and the nature of the combat encounters, even large parties of 1st level characters will struggle unless they employ excellent tactics and think about their actions.

The combination of facing the warlord's minions and the remnants of the tower's magical effects mean that most character classes will get a chance to shine. Traps, puzzles, and combat all blend in well in this adventure, and there's good opportunity for roleplaying. At times, though, the adventure feels a bit scripted and could've used a bit more of a dynamic approach. It's what one could call a 'movie-style' approach to gaming in the sense that when you look at a film the scenes are often incredibly spectacular, but when you think about it you realise that there's a very detailed script behind it. Player characters might not notice it, but as a DM you can see the adventure being carefully scripted towards certain conclusions and certain outcomes. There's certainly nothing wrong with this approach as the results will be entirely fantastic and cinematic, but it can feel linear at times.

During the course of the adventure the characters will face a large number of interesting challenges. They will need to unravel the warlord's plot, contend with both the mundane and the fantastical, and deal with many eclectic challenges. The final encounter should be a thoroughly memorable affair. This adventure succeeds very well at stating its intent and then delivering exactly what it says it will. It may not be for everyone, but I think most players and DMs will be surprised by how good this adventure is despite perhaps not finding the adventure blurb to be to their liking. This is a great dungeon crawl and adventure, extra options used or not, and a fantastic start to a series that has lots of potential.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Rumble in the Wizard's Tower is an excellent and fun adventure that plays to the cinematic approach to gaming - dungeon crawling at its best. The descriptions and details are vivid and spring to life, the adventure is fast paced and exciting, the encounters challenging and require thinking out of the box, and the story and premise very entertaining. Even if you wouldn't normally go for this style of adventure, I think many will be surprised by what they find inside its pages. Excellent presentation, in particular the art and maps.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The adventure might not be for everyone, and it can feel very scripted and linear at times. Given the cinematic and large battles that abound, some large maps or battlemaps would've been really useful. This adventure can be very tough, although the difficulty is offset by the optional rules that the adventure incorporates. Those opting not to use them will probably need to ensure that their PCs are up to the task. The finishing moves mechanics could've used a little more polish.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

War of the Burning Sky: The Scouring of Gate Pass is a 65 page d20 fantasy adventure and the first adventure in EN Publishing's War of the Burning Sky adventure path. The War of the Burning Sky adventure path and campaign saga consists of twelve linked adventures that take characters from 1st to 20th level and embroil them in a war of epic proportions. The campaign saga includes both a Player's Guide and Gamemaster's Guide available for separate download, although it is strongly recommended that players do not read the Gamemaster's Guide as it contains a complete adventure overview and significant spoilers. This adventure, The Scouring of Gate Pass, is for 1st level characters, and finds the characters in Gate Pass just as the Ragesian Empire war machine and their mage-hunting inquisitors arrive on the outskirts of the city.

This product comes as a zip file contain a number of files for the adventure: a full color screen pdf version, a black and white print pdf version, a rich text file containing all adventure and combat statistics, and a separate map pdf file containing the adventure maps, although these are included in the actual adventure itself as well. The product comes with extensive bookmarks, allowing you to navigate to an encounter, map or section of the adventure.

Layout if fairly simple, with no real bordering to speak off, but the writing is good and evocative in places. Editing has generally been very well done, and the stat blocks themselves (located at the end of the product) for the most part look good as well. One or two errors have naturally crept in throughout the product, but for the most part it's of a high standard despite the relatively simple presentation. Artwork is numerous with some good pieces, although many are repeated throughout the product. Maps are very good and clear with good legends and attention to detail, and EN Publishing also offer 1-inch scale battlemaps for download from their War of the Burning Sky website for those using miniature products. In general, a good-looking product without any major hiccups in presentation.

The adventure finds the player characters in Gate Pass, just hours before the invasion of the Ragesian Empires start. Here the PCs meet up with a 'freedom fighter' of sorts that belongs to a group that aims to prevent the escalating war. The PCs become involved in retrieving and finding some vital information from spies, which, with the help of the freedom fighter Torrent, they must deliver to a nearby mage academy. During the course of the adventure, they must contend with the war raging around in the city, bounty hunters, negotiate their way around, fight deadly foes, and generally use every bit of cunning to make it out of Gate Pass alive during the hours of warfare in the city.

The adventure is one of the more creative and inventive I seen in creating a war-like atmosphere around the PCs, but also in sculpting the encounters of the adventure within this time of turmoil. The encounters will not only excite the players, but provide challenges that they will find fun to solve and work through. The encounters are by no means all combat related, and the PCs will find themselves negotiating with friend and foe alike in this adventure. There is certainly something for characters of every class, and most skills will also find some utility in this adventure. The only negative thing related to the encounters is that they are very difficult, particularly for a party of 1st level characters. Some DMs might be inclined to start the adventure off at 2nd level rather than first. The other problem with the difficulty of the encounters is that there is naturally an over-reliance on the higher level NPC, Torrent, as she guides them through the city. While the module writers have made every effort to reduce this, it is unavoidable, and PCs can feel like they're being strung along by the nose.

The adventure organisation and flow is good, but DMs are advised to make sure they have thoroughly read all encounter areas when playing them. The encounters are good in part because they're quite complex to run, and it can therefore be easy to make mistakes when running the adventure. The action throughout the adventure is fast paced as the PCs race against time to escape the city and head out on the path towards the wizard's school with the information they require. I think this adventure is clever in the way that it creates atmosphere and keeps things moving, although it would've been nicer if Torrent had not played such a large role in this adventure. Lazy PCs can easily just turn to Torrent for information rather than thinking their way through. On a related note, players characters should be reasonably well versed with Gate Pass and the Player's Guide, as this will make the adventure more fun as they consider the options open to them within Gate Pass.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable adventure and a cracking start to the War of the Burning Sky campaign saga. The adventure caters for all characters, contains lots of action, lots of intrigue and mystery, and blends these all very well to create an exciting and challenging whole. Barring the unfortunately over-reliance on Torrent, this adventure is of a very high quality, and most players and DMs can't go wrong by playing it. EN Publishing have done a grand job with this, and I hope the other adventures released and to be released are of the same or better standard. Having the constant tension of trying to arrange subtle spy/informant exchanges and diplomatic intricacies within the backdrop of flying dragons and war breaking out creates a very memorable adventure.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Quality and detailed encounters, exciting back-story and background to the campaign, creates good atmosphere during the course of the adventure, varied and caters for most characters and classes, and contains good balance between roleplaying, mystery, and combat. Very good adventure.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The over-reliance on Torrent can become an issue if DMs don't play the NPCs involvement carefully. This adventure's encounters are also brutally difficult for 1st level PCs.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Classes of NeoExodus: Covenant Purifier is a short 8 page d20 pdf and one of many similar products in the growing line of products supporting LPJ Design's NeoExodus campaign setting. The NeoExodus campaign setting is a fantasy punk setting for the d20 system and this product presents a single new prestige class for the setting, the Covenant Purifier, along with supporting material in the form of new feats and counters for the covenant purifier prestige class.

The product comes as a single pdf file complete with a good cover. The product follows an identical style and layout to all the other products in the Classes of NeoExodus series (and indeed all the products in the NeoExodus campaign setting line). There are no bookmarks, although the product is short enough to make navigation easy. Writing and layout is good, although there were a number of errors that crept in here and there. In one section an end of paragraph sentence never even completed. Mechanics is good as well, and the prestige class introduces a number of new ideas and concepts to the d20 rules. Some of these might raise an eyebrow in terms of their power, particularly at higher levels, but for the most part the class looks good from a mechanical point of view (barring the fact that the saving throw progression is incorrect). Overall, a good-looking product and very nicely done for a short pdf.

The Covenant Purifier is a servant of the Sanguine Covenant, a killer and assassin intent on purging the world of heretics and infidels. While it's never explicitly explained what the Sanguine Covenant is, it appears to be some sort of religious cult of fanatics devoted to making the world safe from everything that opposes them. The Covenant Purifier is the killing force of the Sanguine Covenant, those that attempt to purify the world. The prestige class is a ten level prestige class and is suitable to most rogues and warriors. Any character that wishes to bind itself to the Sanguine Covenant and become a stealthy and skilled killer will find an easy path into this prestige class. While similar in vein to the assassin core prestige class, this has a slightly different focus in the form of both the fanatic connection and the concept of quick and swift killing. The covenant purifier certainly makes for a more deadly character than the assassin does.

Mechanically the class introduces a number of new abilities, most powerful amongst them is the Deadly Blow ability. This blow allows the covenant purifier to force a massive damage saving throw more easily than would normally be allowed, and can be particularly deadly in the hands of a character that deals out a lot of damage, and frequently (for example, a high level rogue/covenant purifier with flanking and two-weapon fighting). Other abilities include devotions (minor spellcasting abilities), increase in sneak attack, stinging strike (useful against spellcasters as it forces them to make concentration checks in rounds after the damaging blow was struck), and special abilities like rogues. Overall it's an interesting execution and one that would be fun to play, although very focused and probably more suitable in the hands of NPCs. The last section of the pdf covers a few new feats useful for the covenant purifier, including feats that allow Power Attack with a light weapon, and standing up from prone without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Classes of NeoExodus: Covenant Purifier is s useful prestige class for both the NeoExodus setting and most settings in general. The Sanguine Covenant and the covenant purifiers will make an interesting organisation to any game, and it's a pity more details on the Sanguine Covenant were not included in this product. Presentation was very good, and the class stands well mechanically. Some new and interesting abilities are introduced that make the class interesting to play beyond the concept, although the Deadly Blow can become quite powerful in the hands of the right character build. Overall, a nice pdf with a good prestige class, good concepts, and good execution, but perhaps lacking in details.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Interesting prestige class with some a good concept and execution. Interesting new abilities for the class, and useful additional feats and counters as supporting material.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Lack of detail hurts the pdf overall and some more information would've gone a long way to making this product more useful, particularly outside of the NeoExodus campaign setting.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

BattlePacks Set 1: Human PCs is a 8 page pdf product from a new publisher, projectGame. This product is the first in the BattlePacks series of products, and each product in the series aims to provide high quality fantasy paper miniatures that are quick and easy to use. This product features human PCs, and in particular one combination of each class and gender for each of the core d20 fantasy classes. Future products from projectGame aim to do the same with each of the other standard d20 core races, starting with the next product which will detail elves.

The product comes as a single pdf file which includes detailed bookmarks, a smart-looking front cover featuring all the miniatures, and detailed instructions on how to assemble the miniatures in this product. The presentation is very good, and looks highly professional and presentable. The instruction provide details on how to assemble the miniatures and what you need to make these miniatures.

The miniatures are provided in two different forms - stand-up miniatures for a 1-inch grid, and counters on the same grid. The latter is a nice addition as gamers can decide whether they prefer to use counters or stand-up miniatures. In addition, each of the miniatures is provided in both full-color and black and white artwork. The latter allows those more creative to color in their own miniatures to create the colors they desire in the paper miniature.

As mentioned earlier, the product provides male and female humans for each of the 11 core d20 classes. In addition, there is a bonus male and female miniature which could probably slot into a number of different classes and roles. That makes a total of 24 miniatures in this product. The artwork in the miniatures is great, with some fantastic renditions of the various character classes.

I really appreciated the detail that had gone into the various figures, from the choices of weaponry to the various accessory items that the classes seemed to carry or wield. While the detail and artwork is impressive, the variety is perhaps not. Having the choice of only one male wizard, for example, might not suit the needs of many gamers. By expanding to include all the core classes, perhaps the variety in classes has been to the detriment of the variety within a class and race (though this is to a certain extent a problem with all miniature-type products).

Nevertheless, this is a lovely product for a first release, with some high quality artwork, excellent presentation, and some very useful miniatures to use, both as stand-up and counters. I was generally impressed with the product, and look forward to seeing what else projectGame releases in the future.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Excellent presentation and artwork, easy to assemble miniatures, and the counters add some extra utility to the product.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The lack of variety within a specific class and race can be bothersome for those looking for a specific look. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Bits of Magicka: Mystic Writings is a 83 page d20 pdf product and the latest product in Tabletop Adventures' Harried Game Master line of products. Each product in the series aims to reduce the preparation time of those busy DM, and Mystic Writing does this by presenting write-ups of a hundred mystical writing such as scrolls and tomes of magic. The magical writings are arranged according to value as treasure, and provide treasures for Encounter Levels 1 to 20. Each item comes with both a full mechanical write-up of its details, as well as flavorful descriptions and histories.

This product comes as a zip file containing both a screen version of the product and a Rich Text printer-friendly version. The product comes with extensive bookmarks and is also amazingly well indexed, allowing you to find anything quickly and easily by using the detailed index. Artwork is generally good and abundant throughout the product, and the layout and editing good, although there are a few errors here and there that have crept in. Mechanically the product delivers a solid selection of treasures, although perhaps at times slightly more powerful than one would expect at that level. This product is very much a blend of 'The Mother of All Encounter Tables' written by Tabletop Adventures (though published by Necromancer Games) and Tabletop Adventures' 'Bits of' series of products, and in that way slightly different to the traditional 'Bits of' product. Overall, Tabletop Adventures have done a splendid job with this product.

The product is about magical treasures, and in particular those that feature the written word like scrolls and other tomes of magic. Mystic Writings presents one hundred such items for your game, each detailed and flavorful. Each entry for a particular magical item contains a description of its appearance, its properties, its history and also includes the full mechanical details such as costings and caster levels. Magical writings are divided according to Encounter Level, and each EL contains roughly the same amount of magical items, although the lower levels contain slightly more items than the higher levels do. Unfortunately the items don't contain clear sections in the text that distinguish between where one EL ends and another starts, although the bookmarks do help in this regard. Perhaps providing a section or section header for each EL would've made it a little easier to find what you wanted.

The items themselves are very good and there's a variety of interesting and creative, often ingenious items to choose from. The product showcases the utility of the written word when it comes to magic, and inside the pages you'll find everything from scrolls, to cursed items to tomes of magic, to tapestries with magic and much more. Even those items that are purely scrolls are not necessarily just simple spell magical items, but often contain more elaborate magic that gives the item an interesting property. Naturally, as with other parts of the 'Bits of' series, the descriptions of the histories and appearance are top notch. Even if you don't want to use this item for their magical properties, you can certainly make use of the descriptions and histories, just inserting your own properties when you need to.

Following on from the very good magical writings in the product, there are two appendices - one containing a random item generation table, and another containing a number of new spells that are implemented in some of the writings. In addition, and certainly not least, the product also includes item cards for each of the magical items in this product. The items cards are distributed four to a page, and contain only the appearance and properties sections of the item in question. No mechanical details or histories are included, although the properties section naturally describes all the aspects of the items that are required. These are useful for a variety of purposes, and a welcome addition to the product.

This is another lovely product from Tabletop Adventures' that once again showcases their ability to provide interesting write-ups and bits of information for a variety of purposes. The product contains one hundred useful and well described items, sometimes very good in their detail and creativity. Here and there are a number of 'odder' entries (not in a good or bad way, just odd), such as providing scrolls with 9th level wizard spells to 9th or 10th level parties. I think in general it could be said that just because an item has low treasure value, doesn't necessarily mean it's appropriate for use by a lower level party. There are a very few such instances in the product where perhaps the EL should've been a little higher. Overall, though, a splendid product and very useful for any gaming environment.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Wonderful descriptions of appearance and history, strongly supported by creative and interesting properties to some of the items. A versatile selection of items incorporating the written word.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A few minor editing errors here and there, and perhaps one or two of the EL are not entirely appropriate to the level despite the treasure value listing it as such. Section headers would've been helpful to distinguish between different ELs.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Shadows of a Forsaken Past is a lengthy 297 page pdf product for the Arcanis, World of Shattered Empires, campaign setting. This product is intended to be played as part of the Living Arcanis campaign, although it can be played as a standalone adventure in Onara or if need be in another campaign world. Shadows of the Forsaken Past is a d20 adventure for characters of any level from 4th to 16th, and provides APL figures for Living Arcanis between 5 and 15, including a Glory Tier (APL 17) for those parties looking for a challenge. The adventure sees the Wall of the Gods, a mountain range used to seal the infernals from the rest of Onara, fallen and this has opened up the Sealed Lands to the rest of Onara once again. The PCs get a chance to journey into the bowels of the Sealed Lands and discover the hidden secrets of an ancient tomb.

This product comes as a zip file containing 14 files for the product. These files include the adventure, certifications for Living Arcanis, stat block files for each APL, and player handouts. Maps are not included in the product, although these are available for download from the Living Arcanis website. Given that the map files aren't that large, I'm not sure why they weren't included in the product. The large number of files is another slight annoyance with this product, but, like the maps, I suspect this has to do with the fact that this product was intended for Living Arcanis. For other non-Living Arcanis players, a single file would've been much more useful without all the superfluous details.

As a Living Arcanis product, the overall presentation is not great. There is no artwork, for example, the maps are decent but not great or particularly detailed or complete, and the organisation of the adventure and the general adventure flow leaves much to be desired, particularly if you're not playing this adventure through Living Arcanis. While this adventure can be played in Arcanis or another setting outside of Living Arcanis, it will require some work as there is a lot of Living Arcanis specific material in the product. I generally found the layout and organisation of the product disappointing and at times difficult to use, particularly because of the length of the adventure. Editing and writing is excellent as usual for Paradigm Concepts' products, but it's difficult to appreciate it within the disjointed organisation and layout of the adventure. It is in its essence a very large text file with a lacklustre layout. Overall, the presentation was not great.

The adventure itself is generally very good, although with the organisation and disjointed flow it has its ups and downs. The details of the ancient tomb, a demiplane, are fantastic, and that part of the adventure stands out as very good and highly enjoyable. PCs will have to play both the thinking game and be prepared for the unexpected. The adventure sees the PCs travel towards the Sealed Lands to find the ancient tomb and discover its secrets. This travelling takes them through several regions, each with their appropriate encounters. At times it looks like this travelling time has just been added to extend the length of the adventure, as one would imagine that for the most part, barring perhaps Living Arcanis, this travelling is really not required as all the wandering encounters serve little purpose within the overall plot (although they mostly do within the overall scope of Living Arcanis).

Within the pages of the adventure the PCs will find themselves facing border patrols, the servants of Ymandrake, the infernals of the Sealed Lands, the maze-like lands of the broken Wall of the Gods, the ancient tomb of Hilur, and finally a climatic battle as the PCs escape the sealed lands and the infernals tracking them. There is a lot of action and excitement within this adventure, and a lot of novel and interesting encounters that will make for thoroughly enjoyable gameplay. Arcanis is a very detailed and intriguing setting, and this adventure exploits a lot of the finer aspects of the setting. Towards this end the product uses a lot of material from other Arcanis products, although most of the material used is included in this product where required in the numerous appendices.

By far the longest and most enjoyable part of the adventure is the tomb of Hilur itself. There the PCs will face many tasks and challenges to uncover its secrets, and will probably find there a lot more than they would've expected. The balance of roleplaying and combat is excellent throughout the adventure, and there's a great deal of creativity in a lot of the encounters. This is certainly a must-play product for those fans of Arcanis and particularly for Living Arcanis players hoping for a lengthy home game. The tomb of Hilur is one of the more enjoyable locations I've seen, and while it may sound like a dungeon crawl, it's certainly not anything like one. PCs and players should have a splendid time with this part of the adventure, although I can imagine that other parts of the adventure can quickly become tedious or drawn out.

Shadows of a Forsaken Past is both a great adventure and also a poor one. Aspects of it are tantalizing, intriguing and very creative, while other parts looked like they've been stuck on with tape. The adventure is not as streamlined as it could be, particularly because single encounters have been used to 'fill' the weeks long of travelling for the PCs. Parts of the adventure will run like travel, encounter, travel, encounter, etc. While the logistics of this make sense in-game, it's something I can't imagine working very well at the table as it seems so disjointed. Encounters in the adventure also don't seem to flow very well from one to the other.

However, despite all this I was really pleased with the adventure. A DM can create a really exciting adventure for his players with this material, and sculpt it into something that can be thoroughly enjoyable. The tome of Hilur is great, and the detail of the Arcanis setting is utilized well and comes to life in the product. Presentation and organisation was disappointing, but if you can look past that, then there's a great adventure underneath.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Shadows of a Forsaken Past is a excellent adventure with an eclectic mix of encounters and great balance. It's innovative and creative in places, and combines the various elements of Arcanis well into one grand adventure that breathes the setting.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Disappointing presentation and organisation, including the lack of artwork, detail and number of maps, the layout and general look of the product. While a lot of this can be attributed to the fact that it was designed for Living Arcanis, I'd have expected a smoother product.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>