Medieval Villagers Set is the 48th set of paper miniatures from Arion Games' successful line of paper miniatures. This set is the seventh product in the Medieval Miniatures line, along with other sets such as Vikings Set, Robin Hood Set, Saxons Set and Crusaders Set. This product is one of the more extensive miniatures products from Arion Games, featuring more miniatures than their usual products. The focus of Medieval Villagers Set is on providing high quality miniatures to create typical common folk and villagers for your gaming sessions.

The product comes as a single pdf file of 9 pages, 8 of which are devoted to the miniatures themselves. No folding instructions are included, but a complete set of folding instructions is available from Arion Games' website. If you're familiar with Arion Games' products, you'll no doubt already have a copy on your computer. Miniatures come in two different varieties which can be assembled as flat, A-frame or triagonal miniatures. The former uses images with only two sides, while the triagonal miniatures contain three views of the miniature for a more realistic look. All the miniatures are rendered in very high quality, and are easy to use, fold, and assemble.

Unlike Arion Games' other products, this product contains nearly 3 times more miniatures than their usual fare. Inside the pages of this product are a total of 51 miniatures, enough to populate a medieval village quite easily without, in some instances, having to duplicate figures. The figures are typical for medieval settings, and can be used for a wide variety of purposes, including fantasy roleplaying games or wargaming. This set fits particularly well with Arion Games' Villagers Set from the Fantasy Line of products, and has been designed to compliment that, although more medieval than fantasy.

This set contains the following large variety of different miniatures: male villagers or peasants, female villagers or peasants, girls, boys, yeomen, innkeeper, smith, serving girl, beggar, beadle, woodward, hunter, fortune teller, reeve, leper, wisewoman, plague victim, priest, steward, goatherd, miller, wheelwright, cow, ox, cow and plough, carthorse, cart, and a gallows tree complete with a hanging corpse. As can be seen the product offers a huge variety of figures, most which are excellently rendered and will make a fine addition to any paper miniature collection or gaming session.

The figures offer good variety, good style, and good use of different figures so that no two figures really look alike. Clothing and accessories (farm implements, etc.) are also abundant in the figures, making for a more realistic miniature. On the slightly negative side, most of the figures actually wear clothing that makes them look quite affluent. There are no tattered or dirty dresses, no rags or anything that one would expect from a muddy medieval village. The female peasants in particular suffer from this, and from the fact that most of them could probably double for nuns. These negatives notwithstanding, this product offers some really great value and some excellent figures for use in your game!<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Excellent variety of figures and high quality rendering. Very good value for money, and it looks like a lot of effort has been put into getting a set of realistic and different figures.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Some miniatures, the female villagers in particular, could've done with a more 'peasanty' feel. The clothing looks upmarket and expensive, rather than the typical peasant clothing one would expect. Headdress also seems to be the norm, as many of the females look like nuns.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Forged in Magic: Revised and Expanded is a 176 page d20 pdf product for any fantasy campaign setting, although focused around Arcanis, World of Shattered Empires. This product, as the name suggests, is the revised (to 3.5e) and expanded version of the original Forged in Magic product released several years ago. It includes a lot of new material, now detailing more than 500 magical and psionic items. Forged in Magic is a product about magical items, allowing players and DMs alike to wield weapons of wonder and legend in their campaign setting.

This product comes as a zip file containing both a screen and printer-friendly version of Forged in Magic, the latter having the borders removed, but maintaining all the covers and interior art. Artwork is very good, and while there are average items in place, there are a number of exceptional ones as well, and the artists have done a good job of enhancing the product. Writing and editing is generally good as well, although the layout and organisation leaves a little to be desired.

The product isn't very well organised, and some chapter and section designations and a table of contents would've made the pdf a lot easier to use. Bookmarks have been included for navigation, but better section headings or separations would've made the pdf look more polished. Some items appear out of place as well, such as epic items under the weapons of war section, rather than perhaps under the armor or weapons sections. Consistent use of font size for headings is also lacking. As a product about magical items, mechanics generally seems good and pricing for the items fair and appropriate.

The product starts with a brief overview of the expanded edition, which includes many new items and additional material. It then proceeds to provide some brief advice on making legendary weapons, by using, for example, proper histories or descriptions for important items, or having their powers grow with character level. No mechanics is given, but the advice is still useful, albeit somewhat obvious, nonetheless. Following the brief introduction, the product dives into the magical items, essentially one huge chapter detailing all the magical items types of the core rules and more.

The following magical items are listed: armors, shields, armor attachments (tabards, pins, etc.), melee weapons, ranged weapons, fetishes, psicrowns, potions, rings, rods, staffs, universal psionic items, wondrous items, weapons of war (tools of warcraft, creatures of warcraft, epic weapons and armor), epic rings, rods, staffs, potions, and garments; cursed items, special materials, and lastly items for animals (barding and the like). It's a vast and extensive list of items, containing a lot that is interesting and new and an equal amount of average stuff.

In general I was very pleased with this product. There's a lot of material and a lot of interesting magical items. Some were a little mundane, particular in the weapon and armor departments, where weapons, for example, just granted a feat, or armor just gave the use of a spell a certain number of times per day. Hardly exceptional material, but nevertheless still useful. The additional types of magical items, such as armor attachments and barding items go a long way to increase the usefulness of this product and expand the game in different directions. The epic material is also a very welcome addition to the product, including a number of minor and major artifacts.

One cannot really go wrong with the product. It offers excellent value for money in providing a huge number of new gaming material for a very good price. One had to expect a few more mundane items in there, and can't hope that everything will be innovative or creative. An enjoyable product, with plenty of usefulness in any gaming setting, and perhaps for some the opportunity to adopt some of the finer aspects of Arcanis through the use of the magical items. A very good product.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Forged in Magic provides a huge amount of magical items and treasure for any d20 setting. The material is extremely useful, has some creative and innovative parts, and provides heaps of additional material and new types of magical items. Good value for money, and very useful.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The organisation could've been done a lot better with clearer chapter designations and perhaps by moving some of the material around. One minute your finishing one section and another just starts out of the blue at the bottom of the page.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

The Theocracy of Canceri: Nation of the Damned is a 146 page d20 pdf product for the Arcanis: World of Shattered Empires setting. This product forms part of Paradigm Concepts' series of Empire Books, each detailing a different region of Onara, the world of the Arcanis setting. Canceri is the topic of this product in the series, a nation of despicable evil and untold horror. As such, this product is for more mature readers based on the nature of the content in the pdf. The Theocracy of Canceri contains material that is approved for Living Arcanis.

The product comes as a zip file containing two version of The Theocracy of Canceri - a screen version and a printer-friendly version. The latter removes the bordering, but largely leaves the remainder of the pdf intact, including the interior art. As far as I'm concerned that's fine - I want my printed version to still look good and that means including at least a little bit of the enhancing art. And, the art is good, in places very good, though naturally a little depraved in some instances. This is a splendidly presented product, as good as most of the products that Paradigm Concepts released. Writing, editing, mechanics, layout, etc. - they're all top notch and high quality. While there are naturally one or two overlooked problems, they're easily lost in the quality of the product.

The product itself is divided into ten chapters. It mentions an appendix, but there is in fact no such thing in the product. It starts by providing a brief introduction to the product, and even provides a handy product overview in the introductory text. Table of contents and bookmarks are included for easy navigation. There is a good balance of crunch and fluff here, with a lot of attention to detail, something which I always appreciate. Arcanis has got to be one of the most detailed worlds and settings available on the market today, and in my opinion one of the best as well. It's a shame the same cannot be said for one of the few things that were sub-par on this pdf - the map. The entire product contains one black and white map, which isn't even the size of a full page. The font used is not the best in terms of legibility, and maps is one area where this product could've been dramatically improved, by, for example, including color or larger scale maps, city maps, etc.

The first three chapters of the product deal mainly with the fluff aspects of the pdf. The product goes into delightful and vivid detail on aspects such as history, society and geography. The detail is plentiful, the atmosphere compelling, and the writing lucid and clear. Paradigm Concepts and Arcanis have done a splendid job of bringing Canceri to life, and presenting a nation in a campaign world in more detail than most other campaign settings can only dream of. The history is riveting and detailed, the society offering a lot of information that will enhance any roleplaying experience, and the geography presents its fair share of cursed, ancient and downright evil places. A compelling read.

Chapter four onwards up to chapter ten contains the new crunch material, although fully detailed with enough fluff to get a good idea of concepts, execution and nature of any particular mechanical element. As a nation of undead, devil, and all things sinister, chapter four deals with dark-kin (tainted by devil blood), dark-kin PCs and undead, including undead characters (with a very useful generic undead template). Chapter five looks at classes, including new Holy Champion base classes, epic level rules for all these classes, and a delightfully wicked selection of prestige classes that scream to be used in Arcanis or any other setting. Arcanis' detail and history allows the setting to include a lot of new material and make it work at the same time. There are very few settings out there that can say the same thing.

Chapter six presents a whole slew of new feats, a depraved selection of wicked feats for the truly evil. One of the strengths of this product is that it leaves no stone unturned when it comes to the taboo, and it handles that well, particularly mechanically. Drugs, poison, slavery, undead, etc. are all covered in extensive detail with good rules support. Most of these topics are covered extensively in chapter seven, that deals with all things that can be bought in Canceri. Once again, these chapters come up on top with regard to content and execution. There are very few flaws within this excellent product.

The last three chapters deal with monsters, magic and NPC statistics. A fantastic selection of new and vile spells is included as well as a innovative selection of evil creatures to throw at your PCs. The last chapters presents some very useful details on typical NPCs in Canceri, as well as details on the more important NPCs on the nation.

One could barely ask for anything more in terms of content. Paradigm Concepts have delivered a compelling product with excellent content, and no stone left unturned. The material slots in very nicely with the rest of Arcanis, and can easily be incorporated into other campaign settings. If it's dark fantasy you're looking for, then a few adventures in Canceri will be an enjoyable, but horrific, experience. Top notch product.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The Theocracy of Canceri is a fantastic product of high quality and splendid detail. It provides high quality content, both mechanics and descriptive detail, and presents a definitive guide to the nation of Canceri. This products offers splendid opportunities for gaming, and for exploring things rarely touched upon by other products. Excellent all round.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The maps or rather map included in the product is poor. I'd have appreciated more and higher quality maps than the one poor attempt made on half a page in the middle of the product.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

More Mighty Than Steel is a short 4 page d20 pdf detailing a number of magical items and minor artifacts related to writing, quills, ink and paper. It's a standalone product from Skortched Urf' Studios, and is aimed at making life a little easier for those characters, mostly wizards, that require a lot of scribing, but there are a number of items equally suitable to other classes.

The product comes as a single document, and at 4 pages there's really no need for a printer-friendly version or even bookmarks. A cover is included, and a large-text OGL at the back, meaning that of the 4 pages only about 1.5 are actual content. Given the price of nearly $2, that sounds a bit on the expensive side. Writing and editing is acceptable, with the occasional odd sentence, and the mechanics could've used a little bit of firming up. Sinned's Tattoo Ink, for example, could probably have used a sentence indicating that only one tattoo may be active at any given time or at least had a duration on how long the magical tattoo lasts (presently indefinitely). Overall, though, for a short pdf it looks pretty decent.

This product contains a total of 9 new magical items - 6 wondrous items and three minor artifacts. Price ranges vary from 700 gp to 18000 gp, with most below the 5000 gp mark. In the pdf is the Quill of Pain, which can be used to write a symbol of pain, the Ink of Summoning, for summoning the creature's name or type written using the ink, and Sinned's Tattoo Ink, used to infuse a tattoo with magic. They're all useful, perhaps just too few given the price of the pdf. The magical artifacts are a bit on the silly side, as they're mirrored after the game 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'. You get, for example, the Paper of Stone Binding that can disintegrate objects wrapped in it, and only be destroyed by the Knife of Paper Cutting. Interesting, but perhaps not so useful.

Overall I think there are one or two good ideas in this pdf, but nothing to really write home about. Decent presentation, some interesting ideas, but perhaps lacking in anything that stands out and screams that it needs to be used. That said, DMs might want to provide players with the cheaper items as it makes a small difference to the monotony of the cheap items in the core rules. A few titbits could've used a little bit of extra clarification text, and perhaps more could've been included to get more bang for your buck. Decent job overall.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Some interesting ideas and good presentation.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Some of the magical items could've used more explanatory text, and perhaps a few more could've been included to increase the products value for money.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>

Unusual Core Classes: The Spellweaver is a 55 page d20 pdf product detailing a new core class, the Spellweaver, and a new magical system to support it. The Spellweaver manipulates the weave, the fine strands of energy that connect living and non-living things together in a infinite mesh of arcane energy. The magical system presented in this pdf allows it to be used as both part of the standard d20 magic system, but also as a separate magical system.

This pdf comes as a single, fully-bookmarked pdf file. A very useful printer friendly version of the product is included, which minimizes the use of ink when printing the pdf, particularly given its dark blue borders. The presentation, artwork and layout is good, although one has to question some of the organisation. The Spellweaver core class would've been better placed before the feats presented in the product, thereby allowing the reader to familiarise themselves with the class before delving into the feats that expand it. Writing and editing is good, and overall this product presents an interesting, useful, and altogether different magic system and core class for your d20 game.

The Spellweaver is a new base class the manipulates the weave. Details on the weave are provided, although perhaps more could be said about it. The Spellweaver can bind the strands of energy together to cast magical spellweaves, using the weave a limited number of time per day. Unlike the normal spellcasting system, the spellweaver is free to use any level of spell when spellweaving, although the consequences of failed weaving can be severe. Weaving is based on an opposed Spellweaving check against the DC of the spellweave. A successful check means the spellweave is cast, while a failed check can have a number of different consequences, depending on how badly the spellweave has failed.

Each spellweave has an associated spellweave DC which is the score to beat when weaving the spell. Full guidelines are provided for calculating these spellweave DCs, although the pdf very handily provides the base weaving DC for each spell in the d20 core rules. Spellweave base DCs are adjusted by the level of the spellweaver, meaning that it's a lot more difficult, but not impossible, to cast higher levels spells even if you're only a lower level spellweaver.

Some of the base DCs seem a little odd. For example, magic missile has a base weaving DC of 13, meaning a 1st level spellweaver can cast it by succeeding at a DC 16 Spellweaving check. Blink, on the other hand, normally a 3rd level spell, has a spellweaving DC of 6, modified to 15 for a 1st level caster. Displacement is even easier, with a spellweave DC of 14 for a 1st level spellweaver This indicates that under the standard system, a blink spell is easier to cast than the typical magic missile spell. While this is not a major flaw in the system, it's something to be considered when using this system in the same world as the standard magical system.

In addition to all the material detailing the spellweaver and the spellweaving magical system, and large variety of supplemental material is included. This includes feats, prestige classes, new spellweaving races, new domains, and a number of new creatures. All this material ties in nicely with the core concept and the spellweaving system, making this a complete and solid pdf to use in any game.

Overall this is an interesting system, and certainly something I'd be tempted to try out and implement in game. It's very similar to the magical system presented by the Sovereign Stone campaign setting, although with a number of differences that set them apart. The material is good, although there is some doubt about the ease with which certain spells of higher level can be cast by lower level spellweavers. A good pdf, with useful material, and excellent support in feats and prestige classes for the core class and the concept of spellweaving.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Unusual Core Classes: The Spellweaver is a good pdf presenting a useful core class and magical system. Very good support material is provided, and it's a well-rounded product with plenty of use in game.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The weave could've used perhaps a little more detailing as to its nature, and there was some doubt in my mind about the spellweave DCs that had been set. The base class would probably have been better suited placed before the feats in the product.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

None so Vile: Disciples of Darkness III: Tortured Savant is a 17 page pdf product. This product is the third product in the Disciples of Darkness series, a series that is part of the None so Vile line of products. Each product in the Disciples of Darkness series presents a devotee to a dark and evil deity. In this instance, the Tortured Savant prestige class is a servant of Ixeth, a minor deity of pain, and as such a master inflictor of pain and agony. Due to the horror/grotesque nature of the material, it's largely intended for more mature audiences.

The product comes a single pdf file. There are no bookmarks, nor a printer-friendly version of the product, but that's about as far as the negatives go on the presentation front. The product looks very good and professional, with good art, good layout and good writing and editing. The fiction parts of the text are vivid and imaginative, drawing you quickly into a world of pain and suffering. Overall, a good presentation with some imaginative writing and detailing of the tortured savant prestige class.

This product extensively details a new prestige class, the tortured savant. The tortured savant is a master of pain and agony, inflicting it both on his enemies and foes, as well as himself. Over the course of the ten levels of the prestige class, the tortured savant's spellcasting improves, as well as his ability to inflict pain on those around him using a number of supernatural abilities. The Backlash ability, for example, allows the tortured savant to share the pain of a wound inflicted on him with the creature that has inflicted the wound. Like other prestige classes in the series, this is probably one more suitable to NPCs than PC characters.

The prestige class provides plenty of background details and information on how to run, create and use a tortured savant. It offers good opportunities for creating memorable encounters, and matches the other products in the series quite well. Together the Disciples of Darkness can form quite an interesting campaign idea, with the four deities involved used in some world-shattering event. An example NPC is given as well to show how the tortured savant fits together into a complete entity, and a full and rich background for this NPC is detailed, which makes for an enjoyable (well, not entirely given the subject matter but from an RPG perspective!) read.

Full details of the deity Ixeth are included, as well as a new domain for clerics, Agony, which includes a few new and interesting spells that are also presented in the pdf. This provides a solid ending to a good product that's bound to creep your players out, and provide for some challenging and atmospheric encounters if played right. The material is extensive and useful, and the tortured savant can fill a number of different roles in a campaign, whether a long term villain or an one off beast plaguing a small village. This is a good pdf that's worth a look, and I'm looking forward to seeing the last product in the series, and further products in the None so Vile line.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: This is a good pdf with good flavor and very detailed description of an interesting prestige class. The tortured savant should make for a vile villain, and certainly provide the PCs with a memorable encounter. Good presentation, good material.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The pdf contains no bookmarks, but that's about it really.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Classic Fantasy Adventures: Medusa's Hunger is a new product from a new publishing company, Goblinoid Games. This product is a 12 page pdf adventure for the OSRIC (Oldschool System Reference and Index Compilation) system, a gaming system that is quickly gaining popularity judging by the number of products released for it. The OSRIC system SRD is freely available for download. This particular adventure, Medusa's Hunger, is the first in the Deadly Encounters series of adventures, each designated with the abbreviation 'DE'. This adventure is suitable for 4-6 characters of levels 5-7.

Players and gamers from the early 80s generation of fantasy gamers will immediately recognise the look and feel of this 'oldschool' adventure. The product comes as a single pdf file with a monochrome cover. The product contains no bookmarks, but is quite short so they shouldn't be missed. Scattered art is contained in the pages of the product, some good, others average. Writing and editing is generally good, and the organisation and look of the adventure is very much akin to oldschool products from the early days of fantasy gaming. A single map is included with the product, very bare and essentially just a black and wide network of tunnels with numbers and without a legend or cavern chamber details.

The adventure itself is pretty straightforward and involves a plot by a mated pair of medusa running a sinister scheme. The characters are hooked into providing aid to track down a lost merchant wagon, and get involved in a plot that could cost them their lives. The adventure is structured quite linearly as the party get involved in joining the quest, to moving to the location-based dungeon, and then discovering the true nature of their adventure. Traps, deadly encounters in the swamps, and dungeon crawling all form part of this adventure, which should keep the players on their toes if they are not wary, and create a small amount of suspense in the process.

There's a decent mix of roleplaying and combat in the adventure, although the majority falls towards the latter. The adventure should be easy to insert into any campaign world, as the details are loose and flexible. Players of the OSRIC system will enjoy this product and its simplicity, and probably take them back to the days of so-called 'oldschool gaming'. The product includes a number of new write-ups for the various monsters of the product, so you get a little extra for your money. This adventure will make for an enjoyable side-trek - it's by no means a long product, and should be able to be played through in a short amount of time.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Classic Fantasy Adventures: Medusa's Hunger is an enjoyable and short adventure for the OSRIC System. There are no real frills with this adventure, just straightforward fun. It's a decent little adventure, with some elements of gaming that most will enjoy.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Nothing particularly out of the ordinary in this adventure. There's not a lot of meat to it, and its simplicity is as much an advantage as a disadvantage. Maps could've been improved, and bookmarks included.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Targum Magazine Issue 1 is a 35 page d20 pdf magazine aimed at providing material for Testament: Roleplaying the in Biblical Era, a Mythic Vistas product from Green Ronin. The material is also equally suitable to other Ancient World campaign settings. The aim of the Targum Magazine is also to provide support material for Green Ronin's Mythic Vistas line of products, including Eternal Rome, Trojan War and Hamunaptra. While this first issue focuses only on Testament, further issues of this magazine will be supporting other Ancient World products.

The product comes as a single bookmarked pdf file. Like most magazines, it has a combination of editorial, articles and advertisements. Presentation and overall look of the product is great, with some wonderful art and overall top-notch job. The articles inside add to the high quality with some good writing, well-referenced works and interesting themes and concepts. For a magazine, this is a very good support product for Green Ronin's Testament and other Mythic Vistas products. A great effort for an inaugural magazine.

There are four main articles to this magazine: Ostraca: Lost Books, The Caravan, The Hekau Adept, and the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The first two are largely flavor offerings, while the latter two are heavy on additional mechanics, overall thereby providing a good balance of different material for most gamers. In addition to the articles, there are also a number of paper miniatures from Arion Games, a company well known for its high quality paper miniatures.

Ostraca: Lost Books is a brief article detailing how DMs can use the lost books of the Bible in their games. These are specifically the books that are mentioned in the Bible, but for which no copies actually exist. The article is interesting and provides some valuable advice. One thing that I'd have appreciated a more detailed look into, while not specifically lost books, would be the Biblical Apocrypha. Using these would be largely as valuable as using lost books, although in a different context. Perhaps future articles could deal with this myriad of books.

The Caravan offers a look at the inns of the time and provides a detailed overview and floorplans for a typical waystation. Again, a very useful article, with good and explanatory detail. The Hekau Adept, my favorite article, deals with Egyptian Sorcerers, and provides full mechanics for the base class, including a new spellcasting system. This is ritualistic use of written magic, and an intriguing and usable way to make a different sorcerer, in any game era, with some modifications to the flavor. A well-presented class and good mechanics.

The last articles deals with the Twelve Tribes of Israel. This takes a detailed look at the twelve tribes, including their history and background. PCs or other NPCs can belong to a specific tribe, and that provides them with certain characteristics such as benefits and access to certain feats (a whole slew of which are listed). This is an interesting article, and I'm looking forward to seeing Part II in a later issue of Targum.

Overall I think this is a very good offering from Highmoon Media Productions. With Targum expanding into the other Mythic Vistas products in later issues, I can certainly see this as a high quality magazine of note for those campaign worlds. Interesting articles, well-researched work, good balance of crunch and flavor, and lots of readable articles.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Targum Magazine is a good-looking and professional product offering a wealth of new material and interesting articles. It maintains readability, a good balance between mechanics and flavor, and provides the reader with numerous options for their campaign world.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Nothing much - one or two articles could've touched on additional details, but they're fine as they are.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Dungeon Crawl Classics #33: Belly of the Great Beast is a 68 page d20 pdf adventure, and the 33rd product in Goodman Games' very successful line of adventure products, Dungeon Crawl Classics. Each adventure aims to be a good, solid dungeon crawl, and Belly of the Great Beast does not disappoint. This adventure is for epic level characters, and one of the very few epic adventures out there, and in particular playable epic adventures. Belly of the Great Beast is suitable for 4-6 characters of levels 21-24. Pregenerated characters (at level 23) have been provided should DMs wish to run this with minimal effort in creating higher level characters.

Belly of the Great Beast comes as a single, full-bookmarked pdf file. The level of presentation in Goodman Games' products is high, and the product looks polished and professional. Artwork is good, not spectacular, but it's plentiful enough to enhance the feel and look of the product. The writing and editing is good as well, with clean maps, clear encounter descriptions, and enough detail to get most things working. Naturally as an epic adventure the statistics blocks will come under fire, though a casual look shows that Goodman Games opted to keep the statistics blocks simple, with easy class combinations and standard and few magic items, so the stats looks good. There are a few errors, as can be expected, but then again at this level of play errors are bound to creep in at some stage. Still, overall, I think they did an acceptable enough job of the statistics.

Given that this is an epic adventure, the characters are naturally expected to do something that can be considered epic or at least of global proportions. Belly of the Great Beast takes the adventure into space, journeying to the legendary Great Beast to disrupt the nefarious plans of a cult aiming to destroy not only their world, but the entire cosmos. This adventure combines heavy combat with interesting locations and space-faring to make a truly daring adventure that characters will not likely forget or have encountered before. While the focus isn't entirely on the space travel, but more on the various complexes occupied by the antagonists, there is a definitive space theme to some of the encounters and the creatures encountered.

The adventure starts by providing all the standard requirements for an adventure - background, synopsis, scaling information, adventure hooks, tables of encounters with brief descriptions and CRs, and other useful background information. From there it's straight into the adventure, and a meeting with the sinister other-worldly space-faring antagonists. The adventure is essentially divided into two parts - the first where they encounter the antagonists and learn what they're up to, and the second where they travel to the Great Beast in an attempt to disrupt their plans. Both parts of the adventure are location-based dungeon crawls, with some tough encounters and interesting combat challenges.

This is a long adventure with close to 70 encounter areas which will tax even the most hardy epic level characters. There is no immediate time-frame, so the characters should have ample time to recover if they can, and launch fresh attacks when they're rested. There are a lot of tough encounters, some ELs in the low 30s range, while most encounters are probably at an encounter level above the average level of the party. This should provide for challenging combats, though hopefully not too lengthy affairs since there's a lot of combat to be had, and one can easily get bogged down in the battle.

As an adventure this provides an interesting premise and location (the living body of the Great Beast), and some challenging encounters and scenarios. There's not much in the way of mystery or puzzle solving, and in that sense it's relatively straightforward. As an epic adventure it does well too - there's no limitation on the abilities of the characters, so they should be free to do as they please and act in whatever manner they require. There are, of course, some well-known problem areas of epic play, such as the blasphemy spell and high HD creatures, but most high level players should be aware of the dangers of high level play and powerful spells such as that.

The adventure provides a good mix of encounters - demons, dragons, devils, high level NPCs, constructs, undead and the like. The range is good and challenging, and the adventure even provides a number of new monsters - the sacrificial and avatar guardians. It is a combat heavy adventure, but epic characters should be able to find ways of avoiding or nullifying most threats. Overall, this is a good dungeon crawl even for an epic adventure. It doesn't necessarily highlight the full scope of epic play in general, but it provides a compelling plot nonetheless that should be something different and certainly something entertaining.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: A good solid dungeon crawl adventure, and one of the few enjoyable epic adventures in the market. Interesting premise, challenging encounters, and an unique location for the adventure.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The adventure won't give epic characters the ability to showcase all their abilities, being mainly combat focused. A little diversity in the nature of the encounters could've been added to spice things up a bit from the combat heavy encounters.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Vikings Set is the 45th product in Arion Games' now vast series of paper miniature products. This set forms part of the Medieval Miniatures series, among other sets such as Crusaders Set and Saracens Set, and is useful for any historical or fantasy roleplaying game. Each miniatures set contains a number of paper miniatures that can be cut out and folded into a variety of different forms and configurations. Vikings Set concentrates on Vikings, and the era in history around the time of the Viking plundering and settlement throughout Europe and Russia.

Vikings Set comes as a 5 page pdf file. Instructions on how to use the product and fold the miniatures are not included but available in a separate file to download from Arion Games' website. There are a total of 19 miniatures in this product, each rendered very well at a good resolution for high quality printing. The miniatures can be folded in three different ways - A-frame, flat or triagonal (pseudo-3D). The A-frame and flat representations are folded using the same miniature images, while the triagonal miniatures contain three faces or sides rather than two for flat or A-frame.

The nineteen paper miniatures within this pdf include the following: five Vikings (mostly with shields, but different combinations of weapons such as sword, dagger and axe), Viking chieftain (a more elderly Viking, but not really as intimidating as one would imagine - kind of fills the wizened elder role rather than savage Viking chief), Viking berserker (wielding two axes, but no armor - war paint might have been appropriate), two Viking women, Viking godar (chieftain-priest with some crows in the miniature - would make a good warrior-mage with a familiar), Viking sailor, Viking shipwright, Viking skald, valkyrie (looks a bit contrived - too much posing and not enough battle-hardened warrior), Viking whaler, two Jotnar (Norse giants - these are larger miniatures), Fenrir wolf, and a Viking longboat (there is no triagonal miniature for this).

I was once again impressed by the rendering quality of the images, and this set has a decent variety of figures. The valkerie and Viking chieftain are a bit weak, and while the rendering is good, there's not a lot of the rugged Viking plunderer in the images themselves. They look clean - somehow I'd hoped to see something more vicious in the images, or at least more intimidating. I think there's a little Viking flavor missing in the execution, but they're still decent figures, and they'll do well in a wide variety of different situations and games.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Good rendering and image quality, combined with a nice variety of figures, and a good balance of common folk to battle warriors.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Some weak figures such as the valkerie and the Viking chieftain, and perhaps lacking in a more intimidating Viking flavor overall.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Viking Waves is a product from publishing company AstroNavis and NeoNavis. Their products are all board games, and each product provides all that is required to play the game, including counters, board, player boards, instructions and the like. Viking Waves is a board game that takes place in the time of the Norwegian and Danish Vikings, and it's a game for two players (or even solitary, if you're so inclined).

The product comes as a single zip file containing multiple pdfs for use in playing the game. Each pdf contains an individual element of the game, such as the counters or maps. Presentation of the product is generally good, and the counters, board and other aspects of the game look nice. The rules are pretty straightforward and clear, explaining how the game is played, and even throwing in a number of different variants. From a gameplay point of view there are a lot of different options to play the game, and the instruction booklet is good at guiding you through these. There is also a utility player's board which helps you keep track of the various aspects of the game, something that streamlines the gameplay of Viking Waves. Some game maps are provided as the game board, where players can conduct raids or place settlements as they pass through the various eras of Viking domination and activity.

The game itself is divided into three phases, each representing an era of Viking activity in history. Gameplay in each phase is largely different, reflecting the historical accounts, so, for example, in phase 1 gameplay, the game is largely restricted to raids, while for phase 3 the gameplay involves armies that roam the conquered lands and the creation of settlements. Players take turns in each phase to perform various actions, and each phase only has a limited number of turns before the historical 'era' or phase expires. Players can conduct raids, gaining loot or being vanquished by the defence of the land, or they can battle armies against conquered lands, and later create settlements. The players track their wealth or loot throughout the game, the winner of any given phase being the player that gains the most loot.

The premise and historical background behind the game sets the scene for an interesting gameplay, but the gameplay itself is not that exciting. For one, players don't compete directly and there's only a limited amount of strategy to the game. Large parts of the game are based on luck, and the choice of which area to raid and which counter is placed on it. If you're lucky with the dice (six-sided dice are required) and there's a lot of loot on the area you chose to raid, then you get more wealth and have a better chance of winning. Winning is by and large a function of luck more than skill or strategy, although there are hints of such.

The lack of competition also takes away something from the game. It boils down to two players chancing their luck against each other and seeing who wins. There is scope for limited combat later on the game or through the options, but generally there's not a lot to the game apart from historical accuracy. The game has something going for it in its historical aspects and number of gaming options, even the nice counters used for the game, but in the old end the lack of real strategy, much excitement, and the reliance on luck and chance without hints of player versus player completion make this rather uncompelling. A well presented game, for sure, but not one that will maintain a lot of interest over time.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Clear instruction, good-looking counters, historical reference and correctness, and variety in game options are all good in Viking Waves.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Lack of strategy, reliance on luck, and lack of player versus player competition takes away some of the key elements that make board games fun to play with multiple players. While two players can play it, since there's not interaction between the two, it's as easy to play with one players as with two.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>

Loot 4 Less II: Rods, Staffs and Wands is a 16 page d20 pdf product and the second in IDAs Loot 4 Less series featuring magical items that can be obtained for less than 2500 gp. Each item not only comes in at a low cost, but is also at least a multi-use or permanent item, meaning you get more value for your gold piece. This second in the series features rods, staffs, and wands and Owen K. Stephens does a grand job of both providing something new and something interesting, and definitely something that enhances the game.

This product comes as a no-frills single file without any bookmarks or other forms of navigation. The product is devoid of any art as well, or anything else other than densely-packed text and a number of sidebars. Writing is clear and concise, and the editing is very good as well. Where the pdf shines is in the understanding of underlying mechanics and the exposition of the rules and their implementation. The product does a great job of providing concise rules, explanatory text, and wonderful new items. This is a rules-heavy product, so perhaps many won't be interested in that take on matters and instead just grab the items, but the rules provide so much more in terms of value in this product. It's a good blend of new magical items and new rules to support them, with a clear understanding of value and pricing structures.

There are very few products out there that cater for low cost magical items, so Loot 4 Less is a very nice series to see. The standard cheap magical items such as the Cloak of Resistance become all too common as the only really option early in the game as a magical item for many low level characters. Loot 4 Less, and other products such as Silverthorne Games' Minor Magicks, fill what I'd consider a much wanted and needed niche in the magical item department, particularly with regard to permanent magical items. Loot 4 Less fills exactly that niche, by providing low cost, permanent magic items for those classes where the flashy +1 greatsword is not so flashy to them.

Loot 4 Less starts by introducing new rods. Since rods can be used by all character classes, this provides a welcome number of new rods that are inexpensive. Examples include the Bolt Throwing Rod which acts like a crossbow, and Rod of Weight, which can change its weight one command. Lots of useful utility rods, and most not combat orientated.

Staffs are detailed next and a number of new rules are presented to handle staffs, in addition to some low cost staffs using the standard d20 ruleset for staff creation. Staffs are treated as permanent items that allow a spellcaster wielding a staff to know more spells, whether he is a sorcerer or a wizard, and the rules cater equally well for both types of spellcasters, prepared or spontaneous; arcane or divine. Examples of these staffs include the Staff of Energies, which gives a number of low-level spells known related to energy, and the Staff of Movement, which allows casters to use low-level movement related spells. The entire implementation is neat and allows you to create a plethora of new items since it doesn't only provide items, but also the creation rules for said items.

Lastly, the pdf deals with wands. Like staffs, wands are also treated as permanent items that affect spellcasting, in this case by boosting spells in small ways such as a single element of a spell (area or duration, for example) or the save DC against a specific school of magic or even just a single spell, the latter useful for sorcerers with signature spells. Again this enhances the utility of magic and wands at low levels, and can have an impact on the future direction a character may take.

Loot 4 Less is more than just a small pdf with a lot of new magical items. By providing rules it opens up whole areas of items that can be created and covers specifically the low cost market which is sparse in terms of interesting and unique magical items. It succeeds at providing an interesting new look at magical items, that many players and DMs will find refreshing when taking a look through that next treasure haul. As the pdf advertisement says, this may be lower cost, but definitely not lower quality. A great little pdf and excellent value for money. This will make a splendid addition to any gamer's computer folders.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Loot 4 Less II: Rods, Staffs and Wands is a splendid little pdf with lots of useful information on crafting and creating new magical items at lower cost. It provides a rules-solid look at new material, offers variations on the normal theme, and provides high utility and plenty of options. Very useful as well for low-magic settings, and offers variety for the magical gear of low-level adventurers.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The lack of artwork and general presentation could've been improved, but I think this pdf is best judged by its content.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Bleeding Edge #2: Beyond the Towers is a 32 page d20 pdf adventure and the second in Green Ronin's Bleeding Edge line of adventures. The first, Mansion of Shadows, pitted the adventurers against the evils of the Staufen family, while this adventure takes them beyond the mountains to the swamps and further to the ruins of lost civilizations. The Bleeding Edge series of adventures is designed to challenge the modern player, by providing an intricate, story-driven, drop-and-play adventure for all players. While Beyond the Towers can be played as an individual scenario, it can also be played as a follow-on to the Mansion of Shadows, although without any overriding plot. This adventure is suitable for 4-8 characters of levels 2-4.

Beyond the Towers comes as a single, fully-bookmarked pdf file. The layout and general look is extremely professional and polished. Some of the artwork, most notable the overland maps and one or two of the smaller maps are of poorer quality (e.g. one has a typo 'Lonley' instead of 'Lonely'), but generally the artwork and map work is of a high standard. Green Ronin and author W. Jason Peck have put together a good piece of writing with a high standard of editing and stat blocks. This pdf, as is the norm for the Bleeding Edge line utilizes material from other sources, including such products as Advanced Bestiary, Advanced Race Codex: Gnomes, Hungry Little Monsters from Sean K. Reynolds Games and One Thousand Faces from Citizen Games. Stat blocks and new monsters are all presented in the lengthy appendix.

The adventure takes place in the swamplands beyond the peaks of the mountains, the Towers. Here the adventurers get the opportunity to explore the swamps and aid a renowned scholar and 'archaeologist' in uncovering the mysteries of the hidden civilizations of the swamps. All is naturally not as it seems and the PCs get involved with numerous sinister elements in the swamps and surroundings as they aid the professor in his quest. Bandits, swamp monsters, ancient ruins and other horrors all form part of this adventure, essentially a location-based dungeon crawl with a few bits of intrigue thrown in.

Organisation of the adventure is good - summary, background, scaling adventure, plot hooks and other details are all providing to give an overview and set the scene. The adventure makes good use of sidebars to provide optional or additional information. The premise of scholarly archaeologist is one that is interesting to explore, and offers up plenty of interesting possibilities for further adventures, mysteries, etc. Lots of roleplaying opportunity is also available as the characters wander around the Lonely Shore and have to deal with the various NPCs scattered through the area, some naturally with more sinister agendas.

The main part of this adventure as mentioned before is a dungeon crawl. What makes it slightly more interesting than your typical dungeon crawl is the presence of various NPCs and other figures and their role in the adventure. Perhaps a bit more could've been made of this, and certainly DMs should be able to spice it up to increase the thrill of the dungeon and the danger of the antagonists and their allies. By heart, though, it's still a dungeon crawl, but fortunately a well-thoughout one, though not necessarily an original one. Traps. Check. Buried monsters. Check. Things coming alive. Check. A lot of standard fare with some creativity or different takes on common themes for this kind of archaeological dungeon crawl.

There's a lot of interplay to be had if the DM is prepared to go beyond the scope of the adventure. Dangerous bandits, traitorous NPCs and rival scholars can all play important aspects in the adventure, allowing PCs to investigate and unravel the mysteries as they wander the swamps or challenge the ziggurat. Beyond the Towers is not necessarily the most unique adventure out there, but it contains good roleplaying, fast action, interesting interaction and encounters and many possibilities. A standard recipe with a dash of originality, polished in a well-rounded presentation.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Beyond the Towers is a good, location-based adventure with an interesting premise and good roleplaying possibilities. It's an entertaining and challenging dungeon crawl with some added encounters to spice it up and add some hints of mystery and intrigue. Another solid effort from Green Ronin.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Some of the maps were quite poor and could've been given further attention. I would've appreciated more focus on the interplay and intrigue surrounding the dungeon crawl rather than the dungeon crawl itself.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

OGL: The Arcane Duelist is a short 7 page pdf detailing a new base class for fantasy d20 games, the Arcane Duelist. This products forms part of Mob United Media's Frontline series of core classes, where each class uses the full base attack bonus progression and is strong enough to enter melee combat and stand beside other warriors and fighters. The Arcane Duelist blends magic and skill with weapons to create a formidable opponent capable of dual-wielding magic and weapon.

This product comes as a single pdf file. As a short product there are no bookmarks or a table of contents. There is some interior art, and a good cover has been included with the product. The file is quite large for such a short pdf, coming in at close to 9MB and for some reason this is telling when reading the pdf on my machine (P4, 1GB RAM). This is presumably due to the large background image taking time to load before the text appears, and it's quite frustrating that it happens on every page. Writing and editing is generally good, although the mechanics could do with some improvement. For one, the product contains a number of references to 3e rules, rather than 3.5e rules, and in places could've used a clearer or more complete description for a particular mechanic. Nevertheless, for a short pdf it looks good and presentable.

The arcane duelist is a master of blade and magic. He wields both with equal proficiency, and is a respected member of society. The pdf provides enough detail to get a flavor of the class, although the concept is nothing new. In this instance the arcane duelist appears to fill the standard fighter/wizard role, with a focus on the fighter, and the implementation rather than its background is the original aspect of the class. In essence this is more of a fighter orientated eldritch knight, but lacking perhaps in the versatility in balance between the two classes that the eldritch knight prestige class provides.

The arcane duelist's key feature is to blend wands and swords in combat, and as such an arcane duelist gains the ability to use wands and strike with a weapon in the same round. Another key feature is the ability to parry spells with his weapon and the ability to counterspell other magic. Other than these three primary abilities, the class is rather bare, simply increasing in BAB while gaining a very limited spell selection (up to 5th level spells at 20th level, but the spell list contains about 30 spells in total through all levels).

The concept of a magic wielding warrior is not a new one, but I think Mob United Media has found some interesting implementations for this in the arcane duelist. I think more could've been done to make the class less empty, and perhaps adding more flavor. Mechanics could've been strengthened a bit by being clearer. For example, at 18th level the arcane duelist gains an ability called Enchant Weapon (which should be Enhance Weapon, you can't enchant a weapon) that gives any weapon the arcane duelist wields a +1 enhancement bonus. While the implication and intent is that it only applies while the weapon is wielded, and is not permanent, a little extra wording would've put the mechanic on a firmer footing as to the situation the enhancement bonus is valid. It's also a rather weak ability to gain at 18th level. How much good is an +1 enhancement bonus at that level in any case? Still, the product has some merit, and the arcane duelist can be used in situations where a more fighter orientated magic wielding class is required.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: OGL: The Arcane Duelist is a warrior-orientated look at the fighter/wizard archetype. It provides some interesting blending of magic and weaponplay, and should fill some niches where other classes fail to do the same.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The class is perhaps a bit empty in that it offers very little other than the spellcasting and BAB progressions, and in the former case is extremely limited. The mechanics could've used a bit more firming up, or correction in the case of 3e material such as the Pick Pocket skill.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Ten Ideas with a Twist is the first product in new pdf series from Eridanus Books. Each product in this series brings together 10 new ideas or plots with an added twist. This first product contains ten pages of fantasy ideas, one per page, and each can be used to inspire further adventures or new avenues of excitement. The ideas are system independent, meaning that they can be used for any fantasy RPG, or even adjusted for other RPG games such as Modern or Future games.

The pdf has a very simple layout and design consisting of one page exploring each of the ten ideas. There is no art, no bookmarks, no background, no border - in fact, there's only pure text within this document. Other than the title, company logo, and the mantra 'We get the ideas and twist them till they scream' there are no frills with this pdf. While short pdfs in general do not necessarily require more attention on the presentation font, I felt this could've had a little more added to it. Writing and editing is not the best, mainly because it appears that the writer is not a native English speaker. One would expect at least the use of a spell-checker though. Disappointing on the presentation front.

This product is about ideas for adventures, plots or even locations. Ten such ideas are presented, each entry containing an initial premise, followed by an exposition of the premise, a twist, and further follow-up ideas or plot hooks. Most of the ideas are interesting to read, although in most instances not as 'twisty' as the mantra of the series entails them to be. In most cases the twists are just standard fare or expositions of the plot, really - an explanation as to the true nature of the event, rather than an unexpected twist per se. In that sense these are really just detailed plot hooks or adventure summaries. Only one idea, the Enemy Within, stood out as something interesting - the others were average, with some seen-before ideas accentuated with occasional originality.

That's not to say that this product isn't useful - I think ideas are always something that anybody can use, and one person's bad idea might be another person's good idea. The product has merit and utility, with some spark here and there. The ideas, if played through, will probably be fun and enjoyable. The presentation lets the product down a bit, as does some of the writing and spelling, but generally there's something useful in it even if the ideas don't scream out as much as they could.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Some decent ideas that spark the imagination, particularly the Enemy Within, and overall useful as a starting point for generating further ideas and intriguing possibilities.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Presentation could've used more work, and some of the ideas are rehashes of familiar concepts and could've used more 'twist' rather than just exposition of the initial plot hooks.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>