Into the Unknown marries 5e and B/X into a succinct and elegant ruleset. It's 5e stripped to the very core with some subtle but excellent changes resulting in a lean and mean system flensed of cruft. Much like B/X, the clear rules make an excellent template for a DM expand upon for genre and setting emulation. For example, the Rogue Schemes cover Thief, Drifter, Acrobat and Mountebank but it was simple for me to add Assassin because I could see how the author built the class features and generated my own with little effort.

It's not a spoiler to say Anthropophagi of Xambaala is inspired by Robert E. Howard's Man-Eaters of Zamboula. A player's experience won't be ruined by reading the original story and that goes for other North Wind titles inspired by classic tales of pulp fantasy and cosmic horror.

Anthropophagi of Xambaala uses the tried and true formula of civilized area + wilderness area + dungeon that dates all the way back to B2 Keep on the Borderlands. It’s a popular format and for good reason: a DM can get a lot of mileage out of it and 'Xambaala is no exception.

The maps are attractive and clear. With one exception, a DM can quickly and accurately represent the encounter areas on a mat with miniatures. At the time of writing, I have not had the opportunity to print any of these maps.

Xambaala proper is an interesting location that should attract players; on the DM side it's a nice hub for downtime and generating adventures. I am happy the author provided story hooks and adventure seeds but Xambaala could easily have used twice as many; this is my only disappointment and it's a minor one (in other words, I enjoyed the meal but the portion was too small). I dislike having to come up with story seeds and adventure hooks myself; that's a big part of what I'm paying for when I buy published RPG material.

A DM doesn't need to spin convoluted reasons or railroad players to find adventure in Xambaala. My biggest gripe with published RPG material is that the authors often make crazy assumptions about how players will act during play and the entire adventure falls apart if the players don't follow along. Thankfully, the author avoids this common pitfall. 

I love the bullet point summary for keyed locations. This gives me something to work with on the fly without having to digest paragraphs of text or memorize the entire scenario. Here's an example:

1. BAZAAR:
   • Chaotic, colourful, loud, malodourous, overwhelming
   • Animals, merchants, stalls, fortune tellers, dung collectors, guard patrols
   • Central fountain

This is awesome. Why this isn't an industry-wide standard for published adventures is beyond me.

Anthropophagi of Xambaala is an excellent supplement that offers a DM great value and requires little prep to be table-ready.

I ran Rats in the Walls for my group and it was a huge success! I normally cringe at the tired old trope of 1st level characters clearing rats out of a cellar but this was a pleasant surprise. The straighforward plot and succinct but evocative exposition allowed me to run this adventure with minimal prep; the adventure was a lot of fun for all involved.

This character sheet manages a good balance between appearance and function. My rating would go from 4 stars to 5 if it was form fillable with a matching font.

At the time of writing, the Black Gem is the best adventure I've read in 2017.

+Opening scene is amazing, one of the best I've seen +Can be dropped into most fantasy campaigns with little effort +Serves admirably as a one-shot adventure or first adventure in a campaign. +Only nine pages and easy to digest but provides entertainment for an evening or two of gaming. +Decent writing with little of the "filler" that's common to many RPG products +Challenging for new players and grognards alike, it rewards thinking outside the box and improvization. +The Black Gem is completely free.