Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product for the purpose of this review.

This is a 48-page, full-color PDF that adheres to the standard two-column layout. After taking out the front and back covers, the OGL, the copyright page, the table of contents, and a bit of fluff, we're left with about 42 pages of content.

This product opens with three pages on the history of shields, including how they were used by a number of different cultures across the world. That's more for fun than anything else, though.

Once we're through the flavor, the book gets straight into new rules for mundane shields, substituting the term "body shield" for "tower shield". I actually disagree with this decision - many things in Pathfinder are not historically accurate, nor are they meant to be, and it's best to try and avoid having multiple names for the same thing. That can get confusing. This is also a bit less real content than I was expecting, since it discusses shapes without mechanical benefits. That takes us through another two pages, until we finally get to new mechanical rules.

Here, we start with the different ways of wielding a shield. Strapped shields are hard to disarm, but require a standard action to use your shield hand for another purpose. Argive shields reduce this to a move action, and readying or dropping it can be done as a swift action during a regular move. Boss Grips essentially turn shields into quickdraw shields.

Following the section on grips, we get into a section on shields as weapons, detailing their damage, crit ranges, and so on. I noticed a couple of mistakes on the table that an editing pass really should have caught. That said, they're not providing separate weapons, per se - rather, the damage is based on what kind of shield it is. For example, a shield might do different amounts of damage based on whether it has spikes or a bladed edge. The options are generally cheap add-ons that can be added to most shields. The majority of these are straightforward, but they did include an option for integrating a firearm into a shield. Characters in low magic games may be interested in the Splash Pocket, which can do things like store vials of holy water for added effects against undead.

From here, we get to using shields defensively - unsurprisingly, they mostly just make your AC go up.

After all of that, we get to a series of new mundane shields, with a few choices in each category. For example, the Archer Buckler allows for the use of bows and crossbows without penalty, while the Ringed Round light shield specializes in disarming, sundering, and shield bashes. Additional defensive options are included a moment later, though I would've put those immediately following the offensive options. Options here include things like a lantern window (so you can keep your shield up and still have light) and a weapon sheath to provide easy access to certain kinds of equipment.

The next section is essentially a duplication of special materials that can be used to make shields, with a few notes on using multiple materials. (This isn't an even split, and mainly just affects the hardness and hit points for rims, and what happens when attacking for bosses - i.e. the middle of the shield.)

Magical shields are up next. The first part section is essentially a copy of the shield special abilities rules from Ultimate Equipment, which I suppose is good for having all the rules in one spot. Following this, we have a section on specific shields... many of which were also copied from Ultimate Equipment. Those that weren't tend to be in the text but not on the list at the start, and I'm not sure why this happened.

The book wraps up with a few cursed, intelligent, mythic, and artifact-grade shields for those who really want to make their defenses interesting, and it is nice to see those kinds of rules getting support in this series.

Despite its length, this book doesn't have as much substance as I thought it would when I first opened it. The early half of the book is pretty good, but most of the latter half is essentially just copied straight from other sources. Worse, I noticed a number of fairly basic formatting errors that should have been caught. One or two I can expect, but there were more than that, especially on the tables and with item headers. I would have liked to see more unique content and another editing pass before this was released. As it is, I can't really justify rating it higher than 3/5 - it's still a decent buy if you really want to use shields in your game - especially if you can get it at a discount - but it's not something I would recommend everyone pick up. Not until some tweaks are made to improve it, anyway.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product for the purpose of this review.

This is a 34-page, full color PDF with a few pieces of art sprinkled throughout - unsurprisingly, the art focuses on masks.

Rather than immediately jumping to rules content, though, this product takes the time to explain ceremonial masks and why people might want to wear them, including some real-world history about the societies that made use of them. Once we get to the actual rules content, it opens with a selection of mundane items, all of which grant a bonus to disguise checks. Some of these items are more advanced than others - including some explicitly technological items - and have effects ranging from immunity to inhaled toxins to being more disliked by other people. (Hey, some masks are punishments.)

Afterwards, we get into magical masks, and there's quite a variety of these. There are many minor and medium magical items here, as well as one major item. Several of these masks come in multiple varieties - such as the Burn Mask, which is intended for Kineticists and can reduce some of the nonlethal damage they take from using their class abilities. Other magical masks include effects like reducing the odds someone can land a critical hit on you with certain weapons, removing the risk of AoO's for certain combat maneuvers, providing additional uses of a Mesmerist's Trick, or offering the power to literally sniff out gold and gems. There are even cursed, intelligent, mythic, and artifact-level masks.

In other words, there's probably something in here that will be useful in any given game.

You'd think that would be the end of it, but no, we're only 2/3rds of the way through the PDF now. Following all of these items are a few class options, including the Outlaw archetype for the Gunslinger, rules for using the Vigilante as a Variant Multiclass, and suggestions on masked social encounters. The book even has a sample of how this can work, with a one-shot encounter for 5th-level characters at a masquerade ball.

All-in-all, I think this is a pretty good product for anyone who's interested in putting something on their character's face. Unfortunately, I do have to knock a few points off for some editing errors. For example, the Filter Mask says it uses rules based on "the official guide" released by Paizo. Now, being familiar with Paizo's releases, I understand that they're referring to the Technology Guide - but they should have used the actual name there instead of being vague this way, and I'm not sure why that happened. Somebody less familiar with Paizo's releases might not understand that reference.

My final score for the product is 4/5 - it's solid, and good for what it's intended to do, but I think it could still be improved by another editing pass.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product. Furthermore, I'm actually a contributor to this product, though I only had a hand in creating the faith of Amaura (and I was paid for that). As such, I won't be reviewing that part of this book, though I hope you enjoy it. Now, on to the main review!

This is a 28-page, full-color PDF with a decent amount of original artwork. Minus the front and back cover, the table of contents, and two pages for the OGL, we have 23 pages of actual material. Now, as the front page clearly indicates, this is part two of six in a series of adventures. So far, it's looking like a sort of light Adventure Path, which is good for those who want a series of adventures that cap fairly low (presumably level 6-7 - good if you play under the E6 rules, I might add). Players should start at 2nd level, and will reach 3rd level before the end of the adventure.

Speaking of adventures, we head right into that after the Table of Contents. This is easily the bulk of the PDF. After about half a page of adventure background to explain what the heroes are about to poke their heads into and what the basic plot of this adventure is, things get started. The publisher has helpfully included a suggestion on starting here without having played the previous part, so this CAN work as a standalone product, even if most people are probably going to play through all the parts.

For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I can't give too many details about the adventure itself, but it offers a number of interesting new rules in addition to character text and room descriptions. For example, a fight soon after the adventure begins offers a new weapon quality, "Slick", that can be used for weapons and certain objects containing liquids when they're thrown as improvised splash weapons. It's a fun way to liven up the scene in question, and GMs may want to encourage players to make use of it while they've got the chance. There's also a selection of events for that fight to liven it up - and here, GMs will need to pay attention. This is meant to be something the PCs can get through, but as with anything that has random events thrown in, it's possible for things to get harder than anticipated. You may want to roll out the events before the game and make sure you're happy with them, rather than rolling at the table.

The adventure continues from there, and after wrapping up the early scenes, the PCs get to encounter a new creature - with some interesting and amusingly thematic powers - on the way to the second part of the adventure. This is a fairly standard "ruin exploration" mission, complete with multiple floors and areas to explore. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were some truly creative ways of messing with the players here - suffice to say that monsters aren't the only challenges they're going to face.

The boss of this adventure is a fairly nasty foe, all things considered. However, a few pieces of treasure in this adventure are specifically intended to help the PCs face it, and it's probably a good idea to nudge them towards those if it looks like they're going to overlook them. All in all, it's a fairly satisfying adventure, with a little of almost everything thrown in to help different kinds of characters shine. In addition to whatever treasure they found and some payment from the town, PCs who meet the prerequisites also get a bonus story feat at the end, which is a nice touch.

The next two pages detail one of the deities of the setting - Amaura, the Mother of Life. This is the part I wrote, so I have no comment on the quality of the content - however, I can say that it was written following the basic structure contained in other books, and includes information on things like her church, the role of her priests, what adventurers who follow her are often like, and what her holidays are.

The last part of this book, Lamentations of the Fungus Men, deals with a tome of the same name that the players may come across. This is Lovecraftian as all heck (which is a running theme of these adventures, by the way), and as expected of eldritch books, failure to properly read it is a Bad Thing. This section also includes a new occult ritual included in said book (player characters should NOT perform it), two new spells (one that summons 1d2 entropic lemures, template helpfully provided, and one that's basically Protection from Chaotic and Summoned Creatures, a sort of mythos-equivalent of the old Protection From Evil), and two new creatures.

All in all, I feel like this book was put together well. Full-color products are always nice, and the original art is quite pleasant to look at. Unfortunately, I found a few spelling and grammar mistakes that probably would've been caught with some more proofreading (such as "adventurer's" instead of "adventurers" at the end of the Adventure Background section). I also noticed that I couldn't seem to select and highlight the text, which probably has something to do with the way it was made. This isn't a problem if you're printing out a copy or reading from your screen, but it does mean a bit more work for those who play online and like to copy/paste the text. (Note: This was tested on Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, and I don't know if it will be different with other PDF readers.)

Overall, I feel this product is a very solid 4/5. It's not the best low-level adventure I've ever read, but the creators clearly put a lot of effort into it - and at $3.99, it's available at a good price for the amount of content you'll be getting. If your group enjoys adventuring with a bit of Lovecraftian horror sprinkled in, this is definitely worth taking a look at.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book for the purpose of this review.

Okay, let's get the most important thing out of the way - when we think of a "Player's Guide", we usually think of a 10-ish page supplement with a few traits, maybe some extra rules, that sort of thing. This book, though? It is [i]over 400 pages[/i], divided into nine major sections to help detail the world of [i]Shadows over Vathak[/i]. (What immediately got my attention, though? The presence of some Old Ones. XD I do enjoy Lovecraftian entities, although I definitely like them Chaotic Neutral more than Chaotic Evil.) Aside from the length, this book is a full-color product, with lots of original artwork and the standard two-column formatting. At $20 (as of the time of writing), this may be more than player's want to buy individually... but I can already tell it's going to be a good investment for any group playing in this setting. Pool your money - it's worth it.

Now, let's take a look at the actual content. Unsurprisingly, it starts with an Introduction, covering what's going on with the world, the various lands, some politics, some history, and a quick guide for using the book. This stuff is important - games in settings like this one tend to do best when people understand the setting and make appropriate characters, rather than generic collections of stats that could fit into any world.

The main things to know are straightforward and simple - there are two major faiths (the One True God and the cults of the Old Ones), and this is not a happy world. Noble and righteous leaders are rare - far more are simply trying to take whatever they can, with an almost apocalyptic view of what's happening on their planet.

The notes on each land aren't exactly a Gazetteer, but they provide enough information to form a solid mental picture of what each territory is like. There's enough variety here to help support a wide variety of character concepts - always nice to see - and a timeline helps pull everything together. The full-color map at the end of the section isn't too shabby, either, although the digital version is a bit hard to read. I would've suggested making that sharper, myself.

The next section is simply titled "Heroes of Horror" - and here, they are very clear. Shadows over Vathak is fundamentally a horror setting, and they suggest a variety of ways to help create a unique character that's still yours while fitting into the tone of the game. This part of the book can be used for generating characters in other games as well - there are prompts to think about things like the circumstances of their birth, their family, and their social rank and education. All of these are things that help with creating a well-thought-out character, and I'm glad they were included. They even have a table for major childhood events.

Of course, one's background isn't solely flavorful - there are mechanical considerations for picking traits. This book has a number of new traits that characters can select, with a variety of very decent effects. Fat Goblin Games has done something interesting here with the addition of Occupations, which bundle two trait effects together to represent a character's training in life. For example, if you select the Artist occupation in lieu of your traits, you'd get a +2 trait bonus to a craft skill and a bonus on the money you earn when using Craft to make money. Occupations are definitely worth allowing as an alternate to traits. Just to cap things off, the guide has a couple of flavorful new Drawbacks as well.

From there, we go to Chapter 3, the Races of Vathak. This part of the book features an overview of the races - both the core races and those new to the setting. Some of the new races are technically human - to the point of having the human subtype - but have unique racial traits to help flesh them out. The options range from the nomadic (and violent) Bhriota to the tainted Cambion to the Witchwolves, descendants of lycanthropes who have inherited some of their features. As a GM, I would strongly encourage players to select from the book's races, rather than falling back on the default "Core" races of Pathfinder. Flavorful races are fun! And each race gets a very respectable writeup, including things like normal alignments, reasons for adventuring, religion, alternate racial traits, and favored class bonuses.

The fourth chapter focuses on Classes, and includes four entirely new ones as well as thematically appropriate options for many of Pathfinder's normal classes. The new options are:

The Disciple, a 3/4ths BAB, 6th-level divine caster who earns favor in the eyes of a Patron Saint and uses that to power their abilities The Fortune-Teller, a 1/2-BAB, 9th-level psychic caster who specializes in divination and gathering information The Reanimator, a 1/2-BAB, 6th-level "Injector" (i.e. Very Close To Alchemist) who's all about filling people with weird concoctions. Hello, Doctor West. Also, do ham it up as a mad scientist if you play one, all right? The Soldier, a Full-BAB alternate class for the Fighter that joins a Regiment to determine which abilities they get. This is the only class in the book I hesitate to recommend, but that's because I lean against anything that's basically pure combat in a game where non-combat challenges are a thing. They're stuck with 2+Int skill points per level, too. If people really want to be a combat-focused character for a game in this setting, though, you might as well point them to this.

Following all of these new classes are a bunch of new archetypes and other options - everything from cannibalistic arcanists to warrior channeling necrotic powers. Note that a fair few of these archetypes have racial restrictions, since they have particular focuses within this setting. Players interested in using these should check for that right off the bat.

After all of that, we finally reach Chapter Five: Skills and Feats. This part opens up with two important notes (on linguistics and firearms) before diving into a number of thematic new feats that characters can take. As a general rule, all of these were made with the Shadows over Vathak setting in mind, and some specifically support the new classes the book offers.

Chapter Six focuses on Equipment in the game, from the coins used to a variety of new weapons. Here, we have things like the Romni Dagger (which isn't disarmed very easily) or the Voltugrag, a punch sword with very decent damage and the ability to pierce or slice. These weapons certainly aren't required for use in the setting, but hey, they're thematic. Each weapon group has three or four options in it (enough to help support most concepts), and the weapons are followed by new armor and a full list of basic gear (from traveling kits to alchemical goods to vehicles).

Chapter 7 focuses on Firearms in the setting, and notably, they're quite common. What's included here is essentially an enhancement of the basic rules, and goes as far as new ways to customize guns when they're being made. A full list of common firearms is included in the book, complete with stat and a variety of ammunition.

Chapter 8 brings us to Religion in the setting, and notes that while outsiders exist, they're fairly rare. The main conflict of the setting takes place between the One True God (who is served by Patron Saints that lay people can follow, and who generally demands strict obedience - note the Lawful Neutral alignment) and the Old Ones - evil elemental spirits of the land.

The book wraps up with a chapter on Magic in Vathak, with a number of thematic new options (including some tarot-based stuff, since the Harrow deck is less appropriate here).

All in all, this is a SOLID book. I mean that in the most literal sense - again, despite the brevity of this review, the book is more than four hundred pages long. This has everything players need to play a game in the Shadows over Vathak setting, and if they enjoy horror-themed games, just reading through this is probably going to get them excited.

Now, obviously, this book is only relevant to anyone playing in this setting - but for those who are, it is clearly a must-have, and easily deserves a full score. I do have a few nitpicks, as mentioned above, but those aren't enough to affect the overall rating of the book.

Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of this product for the purpose of this review.

This is a six-page, full color supplement for Castle Falkenstein - although only three of the pages have actual content. On the other hand, it's a $1.95 product to begin with, so the price seems fair enough.

Functionally, this product is an alternate set of rules for Sorcerers, replacing the traditional four-suit playing card deck with a set of tarot cards (specifically, the Rider-Waite deck). The four suits of the tarot replace the normal playing cards, but the 22 major arcana are added to the deck and provide additional effects if drawn. Two rule options are provided here (keep drawing, or stop drawing), based on what you feel would be best for your game.

Each major arcana card has a specific effect. For example, the High Priestess can convert a random card into Swords (the equivalent of the Spades playing card suit, and associated with the Spiritual Magicks harmonic), while the Justice judges the intent of the spell and turns it on the caster if it's selfish or cruel. It's unpredictable, but it looks pretty fun, too - a little chaos is good for games. I'm not as familiar with the base system as I'd need to be in order to rate the power of this... but not every major arcana is a powerup, and the overall product seems solid. If you're playing a sorcerer and want some whimsy, consider picking this up.

Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of this product for the purpose of this review.

Castle Falkenstein: Curious Creatures is a 146-page, full-color supplement focused on various natural (and supernatural) animals. Now, as the name suggests, this is not a standalone product - it absolutely requires the base game in order to make much use of this, although a GM could hammer out something equivalent for their own games if they really wanted to.

Functionally, this book is a bestiary, offering suggestions for using (or playing as) the creatures contained within. As this is an animal-focused book, many of the creatures within tend to work well as either minions for a foe or significant encounters in their own right - unsurprisingly, the Jabberwocky is one of the latter. All together, there's about 70 creatures within, as well 24 characters and 10 Dramatic Characters. There are also some rules for creating new creatures, should you be interested in that.

Honestly, I'm not sure what else there is to say about this product. XD It looks solid to me. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the base rules of the system, so I can't give this a serious read-through to see if things are too strong or too weak as a whole. My advice is to consider what you know of the publisher. For what it's worth, they've made a lot of solid products in the past - so if you're looking to add some creatures to a Castle Falkenstein game, this is probably the product you're looking for.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product for the purpose of this review.

vs. Stranger Stuff is a new product in Fat Goblin Games' line of vsM games. This product draws inspiration from 80's kids-and-monsters films, like Beetlejuice and The Goonies. The central concept is that the players are 'kids' getting wrapped up in some kind of adventure. All kids are either strong or smart, and have one good and one bad trait. For example, a kid might be clumsy, but also take vitamins that boost their toughness. Character creation only takes a few minutes at most, and gameplay revolves around drawing cards from a deck to see if you're successful at something you're trying to do.

The gameplay here is fast and easy, and the book includes a couple of monsters as sample foes. However, this product is much shorter than vs. Ghosts - 14 pages to the other product's 64 - and it will require some prep time to actually have a game set up. The book includes a couple of prompts, but I wouldn't mind having a ready-to-play adventure in products like this, since most people probably won't play it more than a few times unless they really like it. Overall, I'd rate this about 4/5 - it's solid overall, but a playable adventure to help people who aren't good at creating adventures really would have helped.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of this product for the purpose of this review. I did not receive any of the physical versions.

All right, let's dive right into this, shall we? This product is Fat Goblin Games' worldbuilding set, most valuable for Game Masters and anyone else who wants to create their own place for adventures. As a secondary function, it's also good for novelists, scriptwriters, and other people who need to create a fictional land for any reason.

Now, this product contains several files. The first file I opened was the "Form Fill" version, which is basically a shorter version of the main content that can be edited on your computer. (You'll probably want to create a duplicate of the file first, of course.) This is essentially a 57-page notebook that you can fill out and reference as-needed, even going as far as to print it out and reference it at a table or give to your players so they can know more about the world. A do-it-yourself campaign setting book, as it were. The content covers everything from how many hours in a day to seasonal festivals, world history, deities, major geographical features, and more. Basically, it's all of the nitty-gritty details that help bring a world to life.

There's also a blank, non-fillable version if you want to print it out and then write details in.

The other main file is... big. It's an 840-page(!) tome, and so massive as a journal that it actually has its own table of contents. It's broken down into ten chapters. The first is an overview of the world, and is followed by eight blank copies of regions and kingdoms (comprising the huge bulk of the content) before wrapping up with a make-your-own-appendix section, allowing for things like custom maps and random encounter tables. I repeat - this is basically a blank campaign setting book, and you are totally expected to write things into it. The sheer bulk of this is why the non-PDF versions are so expensive - I have other RPG books of comparable size to the physical version of this, and seriously, it's probably going to shake any table you drop it on.

Did you think we were done? Nope! There's one more part to all of this file. In addition to all of the above, the digital version includes single sheets (which are fillable on the computer) for when you only want to discuss certain things. For example, maybe you want to print and bind a journal for your players but take out things like legendary items, adventures and plots, and random encounter tables. These help with that, and they're a very nice touch.

Now, clearly, this product isn't for everyone. Worldbuilding is one of the most challenging parts of creativity, and people have different preferences for how they do it. This is a version for people who like writing things down - or at least typing things into forms and printing it off. Now, I'm going to be frank with you - you probably shouldn't get any of the versions that don't include the PDFs. At the moment, it's a $2 difference (this may or may not change - I don't control the pricing!), and having extra copies of things you can print out is well worth the cost. Even if you don't think you'll need it, it's good as a backup.

For those who are looking to dip their toes into worldbuilding, the digital version of this is an outstanding value. You're getting literally over a thousand pages in PDF form, although in practice, you're probably going to focus on the form-fillable versions so you can write out your ideas, delete them, write them out again, edit them, and come back to totally change them again at a later point when you have a flash of inspiration. It's also a good way to make sure your ideas will actually fit if you ever decide to get the full tome and write them in.

Ultimately, I feel this product is very solid at what it sets out to do, and it's particularly good for GMs who want to pass out information to players or have a hefty sheaf of notes for themselves. It's not the method I personally use - I prefer Realm Works - but I recognize a useful product when I see it. If you want to have stuff printed at your table, this is a good way of doing it. I'm giving it 5 stars because I feel like it does exactly what it sets out to do, but this is fundamentally a creative aid - it does some of the work for you by separating things into sections and encouraging you to think about them, but ultimately, you'll have to invest the time in filling things out if you want to get the full value from this product. Of course, if you're like me and you enjoy worldbuilding, a lot of that time is going to be fun. Basically, it's what you make of it, and you should know that going in.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product for the purpose of this review.

vs. Ghosts is a full-color 64 page PDF - with 1 page each for a cover, the credits, the table of contents, a request for reader feedback (Give it if you get this product! It really does help them improve future releases!), and the back page, leaving about 59 pages of content. The product itself is based on the vsM Engine trademarked by Phillip Reed, and has been released under the Open Game License (although certain elements of material - art, characters, etc. remain Product Identity - so, basically, the usual).

In a nutshell, the idea behind vs. Ghosts is "Ghostbusters: The Roleplaying Game". This should not be a surprise to anyone, given the theme. XD If I had to guess, it's because of the redone version of the movie coming out - but as explained early on, the point of this product is to suit up and go confront ghosts anywhere they're going to show up. It recommends at least two players, plus a Ghostmaster, in order to properly run the game - plus paper, pencils, and a deck of cards.

After that little bit, we get into the section on the characters. We're asked to come up with a name, a bio (a few sentences will do, and this helps decide what you can do in the game), your attributes (Offense, Defense, Mental, Physical, and Investigation), your Gimmicks (both good and bad), your Health, and finally any Traits (basically, personality quirks and the like that won't have an effect on the game). The system is fairly straightforward, and characters are simply given an array of points for their attributes (no dice-rolling) and a list of options for the Gimmicks. Basically, it's pretty hard to break the character creation system, which may come as a relief to GMs who worry about power playing.

From there, the game moves on to explain the core mechanic of the game - your deck of playing cards. When players perform an action, they get to draw a number of cards matching their attribute score, comparing the highest card drawn to the number they're trying to beat. Being better in a given area specifically gives you more chances to overcome a problem, so it'll probably help if the party diversifies their focus. Face cards increase in number (from 11-14), with Aces normally high but dropping down to 1 for dealing damage (this is a good thing in the game).

vs. Ghosts suggests limiting challenges of their actions to things that could determine the success or failure of the game (i.e. can they actually jump between buildings to catch a fleeing ghost?), with anything less important assumed to succeed. Characters can work together (which provides an extra card drawn for each player assisting) or oppose each other (highest attribute wins). The game provides target values for each challenge - this is left to the Ghostmaster's discretion, but an Average challenge has a target value of 6, while a Very Hard challenge requires drawing a King. (Remember, players could draw six or more cards per-challenge, so their odds of success can actually be pretty good.)

Here, I should add a note - in most games, the technique of card counting (trying to figure out what's left in the deck and what the likelihood of drawing something is) happens to be illegal. However, it's specifically allowed here, and players are encouraged to try and keep track of the odds of their success. It's also possible to play this game with dice (a d12 and a d4), but it really will go better if you can use playing cards.

At this point, the game dives into the combat system, and it will be easy to learn if you've ever played an RPG before. Each turn, characters can move, attack, and do miscellaneous actions (talking, drawing weapons, etc.), taking place on six-foot squares or hexes. Melee attacks, unsurprisingly, are fairly easy to land, while ranged attacks use the higher of the target's defense or a number based on their distance. 24 feet is about the maximum for most normal ranged attacks, but the GM is permitted to double, triple, or even quadruple the effective range of a weapon when it would be sensible to do so (like using a sniper rifle).

Taking damage does affect a character's performance - at half their health, they take a penalty to all attributes, and at one hit point, they take another penalty. Zero HP means you're dead (or, optionally, unconscious). Characters can regain health by getting a full 10 hours of uninterrupted rest, and if a physician tends to them, drawing a Heart card heals an additional point.

Next, the game explains the equipment. Players can buy a maximum of four pieces of equipment each session. Some equipment is free and they can just take it, but other equipment has to be drawn for - if a player fails, they can't get any more fancy equipment at all, but they should have at least four pieces with a cost of 0. Equipement is mostly just for flavor and fluff, and includes things like clothing, living space, work space, and transportation. The most important equipment is probably your weapons - well, that and ghost-hunting gear, anyway. Drawing particularly well can lead to things like mystical tomes of knowledge or special weapons, but it's more likely their gear will be fairly mundane. (Don't neglect having stuff that can actually hurt ghosts, though... seriously, that's important.)

At this point, we're only about halfway through the PDF - fortunately, the rest is easier to summarize. After talking about the equipment, the game offers advice for the Ghostmaster on running games, rewarding players, creating important NPCs, and so on. A few examples are given to make this easier to understand. The game also explains how to create the ghosts that the players will be hunting (which is, of course, a little more challenging) - there's an entire separate section of the book, with a different art style and everything, dedicated to the ghosts and offering samples the GM can use in their first few games. Ghosts are divided into 7 divisions, which loosely correlate to their level of power and the threat they can pose, and have various spooky powers like possession, telekinesis, or coming back over and over again.

The game wraps up with about two and a half pages of adventure hooks that you can use to start planning out a game. You will need to do at least a little planning and preparation in order to make your game succeed, although experienced GMs will be able to wing a lot of what happens. Since the amount of preparation needed will vary by group, I have no universal advice here - although you may want to look into Realm Works if you enjoy adding a lot of detail.

Anyway, as this game was based on another system, it looks quite solid to me. Play seems like it will go fairly quickly once everyone knows the rules, and people are encouraged to have fun and work together in order to succeed. I did notice a few typos throughout the document (fortunately, nothing serious or confusing), but overall, I think this looks like a pretty good game for a family or group of friends that wants to go hunt ghosts. I'd give it a 4.5/5 overall, rounded upwards.

Disclaimer: I purchased this PDF as part of a Deal of the Day special, so while I did not pay the normal cover price, I did pay for it.

Now, Endzeitgeist has already done his usual outstanding job of examining the product, and most of the things he said I agree with. To put it into my own words, though...

As the name implies, this book is more than just a collection of traps. Now, don't get me wrong, having lots of traps is worthwhile in its own right, especially if your group is one where they'll actually go off now and then. I wouldn't advocate instant-death traps being a sure-fire thing, but come on, what's the fun of putting them in if they never actually get triggered? Trapsmith takes it a step further, though, by guiding you through the process of sensibly setting and using traps. In other words, you shouldn't just toss in a CR-appropriate trap and call it a day. Instead, think about which sorts of traps would be most sensible in a given way and build them up from there.

As a result, this book is useful for novices and veterans alike. Pages 21 and 22 are especially useful because they give a guideline for Perception and Disable Device DCs at each level, running from 'Easy' to 'Very Hard'. If you're not dealing with a min-maxing trap remover, these guidelines should be more than enough. Other useful parts of the book include advice on layering traps (why spring one when you can spring several?), making different kinds of traps more challenging, and even options for PCs who'd like to make some traps of their own. I'm particularly fond of the extra lock types that are harder for people to pick.

All in all, I think this is a great resource for gamemasters, and definitely worth picking up if you enjoy creating your own adventure locations. Overall, I'd rate this book about 4.5/5 overall, rounded up since I didn't feel there were any huge errors. I'm not sure it needed to have system neutral stuff on a few of the pages (this is a supplement for Pathfinder, after all, and it feels slightly out of place), but overall, I think this book is worth the price for the sort of GM who will actually use it.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product for the purpose of writing this review.

Also, I love me some creepy books. Seriously - I've got a huge soft spot for anything even vaguely Lovecraftian, and I've even thrown the occasional grimoire into my campaigns somewhere. This is an 8-page product, with six pages of content, a cover, and as always, the OGL. Inside are ten spellbooks (most useful for prepared arcane casters, obviously), each with a different selection of spells. They range from the cheap and simple (The Baseborn Baron) to the genuinely powerful (The Hypostatical Golden Fragments), and most of the books in question have preparation rituals that give some interesting bonuses. They also have physical descriptions for flavor, as well as brief histories that can be used to properly integrate them into the setting.

Note that most of the books are dangerous, and can cause sanity loss among characters - they're best used with those mechanics in play, and their examination periods mean characters will need to spend time studying their blasphemous contents in order to make use of them. All in all, I like it - these are easy enough to drop into any campaign setting, and they're just creepy enough to serve as plot hooks for your next adventure. I saw no meaningful errors and everything looks to be in order, so full marks overall.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product for the purpose of writing this review.

The Traveler’s Guide to Hell is a setting book for the Vathak campaign setting (a world produced by Fat Goblin Games). It can be adapted for use in other settings, but was not specifically made for them. However, many character options ARE system-neutral, and the rest can be adapted with minimal trouble - and let's face it, anyone using this book in the first place probably isn't going to be bothered by that sort of thing. XD

Now, this is a 58-page product, most of which is content. After a brief explanation of how this product integrates with the Shadows Over Vathak campaign, we get started with some prose, then an in-depth explanation of how this particular version of Hell fits into its local cosmology. In this case, Hell is not a separate plane, but is literally a place in the core of the planet, a sort of mini-planet in its own right. Details on reaching it are also provided, as well as a description of its geography, and the regions (not layers) of Hell.

The realms of this Hell are Cocior (Treachery), Belecor (Avarice), Koridai (Hubris), Gibrar (Gluttony), Ahjra (Violence), Neir (Despair), and Dis (Apostasy). Each has at least half a page (one column) of description, and this section is followed by the various features of Hell. So you've got your oceans of blood, devil-making Flesh Pits, and giant floating eyeballs that keep an eye on things. Creepy, and good plot material - I'm already coming up with ways of using these in games.

Next up is the hierarchy of Hell, including its rulers (Ashmedai, the lord, and his six Archdukes, all of whom get at least a full page of description) and major figures. Hell is noted as having a great many Knights of Hell, which are functionally demigod-level entities. Three Knights - Amon the Wrathful, Neberius the False, and Berith the Transmuter - are introduced in the book, and are suggested as candidates for a campaign's final battle.

Now, all of this is useful for GMs, but of minimal impact on players unless they're in a VERY Hell-centric game. The next chapter opens up player options a bit by providing the Tools of Hell. This includes materials like Black Iron (makes things denser, so bludgeoning weapons act a size larger, armor is better, etc.), several unique magic items (three relatively low-priced ones, and two very high-level ones, including a 24th CL shield), feats (cool runic scars, devilish familiars, etc.), and quite a few pages of Hellish spells. This is a pretty good way of adding some real flavor to a campaign, whether it's letting Wizards find some of these awful rituals, NPCs using them, or whatever would work for your setting. These are mostly system-neutral, too, so they can be used by pretty much anyone.

The fourth chapter of the book covers the Classes of Hell - although that's a bit of a misnomer. It's really more of a singular class (a prestige class, the Blood Knight), as well as ten archetypes and a Sorcerer bloodline. There are some interesting things here - for example, the Armiger is a Summoner that replaces their Eidolon with a powerful buff-granting banner (later several banners). That's probably the biggest change in the lot, although all of the options (from the Magus' Fiendlash, a Whip/Hellfire-using character, to the Tongue of Sin, an evil bard) are relatively interesting overall. There's a lot of flavor here, and I always enjoy seeing that in Archetypes.

The Blood Knight is a 10-level Prestige Class, requiring BAB +5, Power Attack, Toughness, Diehard or Ferocity, and 1st level Divine Spells. They gain +7 levels of spell progression, and have full BAB and Fortitude, and partial Reflex and Will. Its main class feature is Blood Strike, which costs HP per-attack but adds damage and Strength bonuses. Blood Knights eventually gain fast healing whenever they're below half health (although not enough to offset how much they might spend), as well as bonus health overall. This is a very risky class, and best used by people who know exactly what they're doing. XD

Overall, I like this product. The fluff is only applicable to some campaign worlds - namely those taking place in the Vathak Campaign Setting - but truthfully, most of the book consists of options that can be used in any game world. It's worth taking a look at if you're running an evil campaign, or want to create some memorably unique NPCs for your players to fight against. PCs will definitely want to get GM permission before asking to draw from this.

Layout is the standard two-column format for all but the prose, and the work has a number of full-color artworks in it. There's some minor nudity here (the art's mostly in a sort of classic Renaissance style - nothing grossly offensive, but nothing I'd give to a kid, either, and actually of much higher quality than I expected to see). This book isn't for everyone, but if your group is going to have a lot of dealings with Hell, it's worth looking through.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product for the purpose of writing this review.

Creating weapons and armor is... interesting. If you set aside the names of items and just look at the statistics, what you usually find is a collection of subtle adjustments showing a balance between factors like cost, weight, penalties, and actual defensive ability. It's true that some armors are generally considered the 'best' in their class because of a specific combination of factors, but what if there's nothing that quite matches what you want, or you're looking for something entirely new?

Enter this. In this 12-page supplement (8 pages of content, 4 pages of stuff like the cover and OGL), Fat Goblin Games offers a simple system for creating shields and armor. As with many other item design systems, this one uses a point-based system (with a reward for NOT using points, by the way - if you don't use all of them, you get to lower the cost by a set amount per point unused). Better armors have more points to work with.

After introducing the basic system for creating items (including weight, how many points are available for that type of item, and so on), the guide moves on to materials. Different materials offer different bonuses (or penalties, if they're a bad choice for a certain type of armor). The available materials are cloth, horn, iron, leather, steel, stone, and wood. It should be noted that this guide is largely about MUNDANE armor, not armor created from special materials that have bonus effects.

From there, the guide moves into qualities (separating between normal qualities and those exclusive to shields). The choices for qualities include things like extra design points (at a cost), adding accessories like gauntlets, or even making a set of camouflaged gear that provides bonuses to Stealth. It's a nice selection of options, and I appreciate the diversity available.

Following all of the qualities are a few sample items that show what somethign might look like by the time it's done.

I did notice one minor formatting issue - the break between pages 6 and 7 is a little awkward in layout, since the text on page 6 continues further down the page, with something else above it. I understood it easily enough, but it's not the most natural flow. It's not enough to stop me from liking the product, but it's definitely something to avoid in the future.

Overall, I think this is a very solid product. GMs can use this to make interesting gear as rewards for players, or people at the table can take the time to make and craft the sort of armor and shields they'd really like to use. It's not a must-buy for every table, but it's affordable, and I think it's well worth the price for any group that enjoys creativity and design. It's not too likely you'll be able to break the system, either - there are pretty hard caps on bonuses, and one way or another, you'll end up paying for everything you get. I'd like to rate it about 4.5 stars, but RPGNow doesn't support half-stars, so I'm rounding up to 5 because my only complaint is relatively minor and not worth a whole star drop.

Note As a Patreon backer helping to fund these supplements, I paid the full price for this product.

The Diviner's Handbook is the fourth release in the series of supplements for the Spheres of Power system, and this time, the focus is on a utility sphere - Divination. Unlike the three previous releases (for the Nature, Telekinesis, and Destruction spheres), this Sphere sees limited use in combat and isn't very fast (a normal Divination takes 10 minutes, or 1 minute with the Fast Divination trait - still functionally useless for combat, or even a 'quick check' of someone the PCs are dealing with, which is completely intentional).

However, this handbook might just have made Divination the most powerful one-talent dip in the entire Spheres of Power magic system, because now every single other Sphere has one or more alternate divinations. If you know Alteration, you can look for shapechangers. If you know Conjuration, you can check for outsiders and abberations. If you know Light, you can get a bonus to Perception checks.

This is probably Spheres' greatest strength - the development of powers makes sense. In Vancian casting, you can spend your entire career learning spells that have essentially no relation to one another. Here, the divination abilities you gain match what you've already trained in - so casters with a broader focus benefit more.

While the book isn't quite perfect (the Divine Dark alternate Divination and the See In Darkness Advanced Alternate Divination seem to do pretty much the same thing, and there's the occasional, slightly odd choice of wording, particulary for the Psychic Medium's Perceptive ability), I remain extremely pleased with this book. Divination may not sound interesting at first, but The Diviner's Handbook greatly expands a player's options and offers so much versatility that it's almost harder to not take Divination at some point in time. These releases remain outstanding, and I'm looking forward to the next release in this series.

Disclaimer: I am a Patreon backer for the campaign creating these supplements, and paid the full price for this product.

The Destroyer's Handbook is the third product in the line of supplements for the Spheres of Power system, but on a very fundamental level, this book is more important than the previous two. Most players want to have SOME way of dealing damage to their enemies, and damage is what the Destruction Sphere is all about. What makes this book so helpful is the sheer variety of ways you can hurt opponents - Spheres of Power has always been good at letting you build the kind of caster you want to play, and this is no exception.

Let's dig into the contents, shall we?

The book starts by offering seven archetypes specializing in destruction - six for Spherecasting classes, and one Gunslinger variant who uses wands instead. There's everything from a giant cannon to elemental shapeshifting, and I love the flavor of these archetypes.

The Basic Magic chapter, though, is where things really start to get interesting. The chapter starts by introducing Blast Type Groups, which are similarly-themed powers that can share bonuses (such as bonus damage, qualifying for the energy focus drawback, and so on). Adhesive Blast falls under both Acid and Plant (and can be flavored as either), but otherwise the categories are largely unique. After adding a few more blast shapes - including some ways to improve your action economy if you're willing to spend spell points - the book gets right into a TON of blast types.

The main theme here is "Variation". For example, Blistering Blast deals fire damage and causes a penalty on Fortitude saves (that other powers can take advantage of), while Searing Blast uses d8 instead of d6. The original Fire Blast (from the main book) has a chance of setting foes on fire. And remember, Players can combine effects for more interesting results by creating new spells in this system. There's... quite a lot of potential here. XD

The book also recognizes that it can't list every possible combination of elements and effects, so instead, it simply gives us a build-it-yourself tool. This is only usable with specific permission from the GM, but lets players flavor their attacks to basically anything imaginable and keep everything reasonably balanced. Powers that are explicitly more valuable (such as Force or Sonic damage) cost more, which helps to discourage excessive min-maxing.

After that is everything we've come to expect from a Sphere Handbook - Advanced Talents (actually slightly earlier in the book, but oh well), magic items, magic item properties (yay for adding enhancement bonuses to blasts!), feats, and even a couple of monsters.

Overall, this is a great addition to the lineup, and probably one of the most valuable Spheres supplements for anyone using them. (There are other spheres capable of offense, but this really is the system's main form of dealing damage, which automatically gives it a certain degree of priority.) Highly recommended overall.