Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-wayne-roberts-o5e.html

Going a little bit old-school and a little bit new-school tonight. Earlier in the year Wayne Robert released what he was calling O5E classes. His first batch includes the Warlock and Sorcerer for Old School Essentials.

Wayne Robert's O5E Warlock

PDF. 8 pages. 1 cover, 1 title, 2 blank, 1 back page. 3 pages of content. $1.50.

Presently this version does not have art. There was a version before this that did have art, but the author made the choice to remove it for now.

The class is done up in OSE style. There are obvious nods to the 5e Warlock, which is by design. The warlock does have spells and which spell list you use will depend on the warlock's pact. Four Patrons are detailed, The Archfiend, The Faerie Regent, The Whisperer, and the Primordial.

In truth a very serviceable class. Though some new, Warlock-only spells, would have been a nice add.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-in-nomine.html

The second game that many draw on for Lilith is the classic In Nomine. I spent a lot of time with this game in the very late 90s. Right around 1998 to 99 when I was looking for a new modern supernatural game to play. There was this one, World of Darkness, and the ultimate winner, WitchCraft. Though I used ideas from all three in my WitchCraft games then.

In Nomine Superiors: Lilith

PDF. 43 pages. Black & White art.

This document contain notes and stats for both the In Nomine RPG and GURPS: In Nomine. By extension, it could be used with any GURPS game. Despite the publication date (2005) I think this is all for GURPS 3rd Edition. But I could be wrong. Just checked, yes GURPS 3rd Edition.

This supplement features all the strengths of most good GURPS supplements. That is there is a ton of information here, some stats, and a lot of great fluff.

This one also gives us the history of Lilith and what she has done in her immortal life. In the In Nomine game she seems to be one of the few immortals that can move between the devils and angels with some relative ease.

While I have not touched In Nomine in over 20 years (much to my own disappointment) there is a lot of great material here and makes want to dig up my old copy (if I still have it). In any case, true to the nature of GURPS this booklet can be used just about anywhere. There is nothing here that could not say be combined with Revelations of the Dark Mother. Where there are contradictions...well only Lilith herself knows the truth and true to her nature there are likely to be thousands of contradictions.

While this might not have the art that RotDM has, it does have plenty of game material.

Lilith should be wonderfully complex in any game and this supplement helps with that.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-lilith.html

Continuing my mini-dive into Lilith in various games.

Lilith

This book is by RPG luminary Ken Hite. It is only nine pages but it presents some background on who Lilith is including her "Herstory" (look if you don't know who Lilith is and why "herstory" is FAR more appropriate than "history" then I can't help you.)

We get an overview of her time in Babylon. A bit on the Burney Relief (the cover takes its cue for that) and how they are working under the assumption that it is Lilith or Lilîtu. (Personally, I like the idea that it is Ereshkigal.)

After this there are sections on what Lilith is doing in various Pelgrane Press games like Trail of Cthulhu, Night's Black Agents, Esoterrorists, Mutant City Blues, and the Dying Earth RPG.

Wonderful concept.

The zip file comes with PDF, MOBI, and EPUB versions of the book for ease of reading.

There are very few historical characters you could do a product like this with, so I really admire this choice.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-rebirth-caine-and.html

Another Lilith to consider tonight. This time for a D6 game.

I had this desire a while back to give the D6 system a try. I was thinking of something to do with vampires, and likely include Dracula and Lilith. So I bought this back then. Sadly I never got out of the "wow this would be cool" phase.

Rebirth: Caine and Lilith

This supplement is for the Shadow Sprawl D6 RPG. It says it uses the Epic D6 system but if you are familiar with any D6 system then you can figure this one out.

It is set in a world like our own but ... you get the idea. Hey. No stones being cast by me, this is a world I come back to time and time again both to play and design games for. Right on down to the Morpheus font on the cover.

This supplement adds a number of new features to the game, in particular things from the history of vampires in this game. Since they are taking the "Cain route" here there are a few pre-historic weapons added.

We get backgrounds and stats for Caine and Lilith. Caine was made into a vampire by Lilith. Also we get some of Abel's line including a son and his wife. Also there are dryads here for reasons I am not entirely sure of.

There is a quick start for the game playing in this prehistoric time when Cain and Lilith still prowled the night. So a nice touch there.

Several points for some new ideas, but some other ideas have been done many times before. Still though, a fun read.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-lilith-demonqueen.html

You can't spend all the time researching witches like I have and not run into to Lilith. I have always been fascinated with the character, so much so that she is on the cover of two of my witch books; Eldritch Witchery and Daughters of Darkness. So yes. I am a fan.

I thought I would look into some products that feature Lilith in one form or another. Tonight I will start with a 5e version of her.

Lilith, Demonqueen of Vampires Boss Stats (5E)

PDF. 7 pages. 1 cover. 1 OGL. 5 pages of content.

This is pretty much what it says on the cover. We get some background on Lilith, altered to fit D&D.

Included are a CR 5 monster, Spawn of Lilith, and Lilith herself a CR 25 Medium Undead Fiend.

There are details about her lair and tactics. There are some adventure hooks added as well.

For just under $2 not a bad deal at all.

The OGL statement does not indicate how much of this document is Open or PI.

Not at all bad if you want/need a quick Boss-Level demon to fight.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-30-magic-tools.html

Going back to Pathfinder tonight with some (28) magical tools for all classes not just witches.
#30 Magic Tools (PFRPG)

PDF. 13 pages. $2.95. 1 cover page, 1 title page, 2 pages of ads, 1 page of OGL. 8 pages of content.

A collection of 28 tools for Pathfinder characters.

The tools are varied from a Brass fastener to a spoon to gloves.

Each one has an associated skill attached to it and what magical aura it gives off. It describes the item/tool, what it does, how it looks and there is even some lore attached to each item.

While built for Pathfinder, it could be used with any version of D&D really, with some tweaks. The Lore is good and the effects can be translated easily.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-witch-tools-stock.html

More stock art tonight and some very useful ones at that. I have used all of these in one form or another in my own work.

Witch items

From Queen. $2.99. JPG/PNG files.

This one is presented as a set of images on one JPG and one PNG file. The images are all featured on the cover. There is an included license.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-witch-tools-stock.html

More stock art tonight and some very useful ones at that. I have used all of these in one form or another in my own work.

Witchcraft Tool Set - Illustrations - Stock Art

From Nono. $5.00. PDF.

Instead of separate image files this one is presented as a pdf. Less useful when using the images, but easier to evaluate them all at once. This one has 42 images, including knives, candles, brooms, cups, crystals, herbs, and wands.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-witch-tools-stock.html

More stock art tonight and some very useful ones at that. I have used all of these in one form or another in my own work.

Publisher's Choice -Equipment: Witch Tools

From Fat Goblin Games. $3.83. ZIP file.

This collection includes six TIFF images of a cauldron, hat, a wand, a broom, book, and a shrunken head.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-publishers-choice.html

More stock art tonight and this one is a treat, some Baba Yaga.

Publisher's Choice - Colin C. Throm (Baba Yaga)

Another one I bought a while back but I have not had the chance to use this one yet.

Though looking at it now I think I have the perfect place for it.

I mean really, who wouldn't to have Baba Yaga in an adventure or book?

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/monstrous-mondays-monster-manual-v-35.html

We are getting to the end of the D&D 3.x Monster Manuals now. There are more 3.x monsters to be found; not just official D&D ones, but thousand through the d20 explosion. Today though I want to spend some time with the Monster Manual V.

Monster Manual V (3.5)

PDF. 223 pages. Full-color covers and interior art.

For this review, I am considering the PDF from DriveThruRPG and my hardcover I had a number of years ago.

Published in 2007 this was one of the last hardcovers published for the D&D 3.5 game prior to the announcement of the D&D 4e.

I picked this one up cheap at the local RPG auction and I think I sold it back at next year's auction. Not a ringing endorsement I know, but in mine (and this book's) defense I was reducing my 3.x collection to make room for more OSR books and the upcoming 4e. I am glad I picked up the PDF though.

There are just over 110 monsters in this book (ranging from CR 1/2 to 22), the least amount for any of the "Monster Manuals" for 3.x. There are 11 templates, and many companion and summonable creatures. There are even new feats and spells. So at least this late in the game there is (or was) new material that could be shared.

The monster entries are again limited to whole pages. To make up the space there are "Lore" entries on some monsters. Others even have a Sample Encounter, Typical Treasure and/or how the monster appears in various campaign worlds. I admit these do not feel like padding and instead feel like a value-added feature.

Alignments are also prefaced with "Always" or "Usually" in some cases, giving more variety to alignments.

Among my favorite creatures here are" the Arcadian Avenger, the various new demons, the unique Dragons of the Great Game, Frostwind Virago, the God-Blooded creatures, Kuo-toa (finally!), Mindflayers of Thoon, Skull Lord, Spawn of Juiblex, the unique vampires, and the Wild Hunt.

While I was expecting a lot of "also-rans" and some diminishing returns on monsters this one actually is pretty good. The details are greater for each monster entry, so this explains the low monster-to-page ratio here.

Still, you have to be playing D&D 3.5 to really get the most out of these monsters.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/monstrous-mondays-monster-manual-iv-35.html

I have been reviewing all the various Monster Manuals over this past year. My goal with the various Monster Manual reviews is to see if there is growth or even refinement of the monster entries.

This can easily be seen in the AD&D 1st Edition monster books as each, Monster Manual, Fiend Folio, and Monster Manual II, builds on the other adding refinements to the stat block. The same can be said for the 4th Edition books.

I would like to be able to say the same for the 3rd Edition books. Certainly, we saw improvements from MM1 to MM3, but those were largely due to the change in the rule system; that is 3 to 3.5.

I am particularly interested in these sorts of changes now that we are on the verge of One D&D from 5e. One sec, need to sip my Kool-Aid. Ok. Better now.

All is well and good, but what does that mean for the 3.5 Edition Monster Manual IV? Let us find out.

Monster Manual IV (3.5)

For this review, I am only going to consider the PDF from DriveThruRPG. I had owned this in hardcover largely due to the Blue Dragon on the cover (my oldest loves blue dragons) but it was auctioned off when I downsized my 3e collection.

PDF. 226 pages. Full-color cover and interior art.

This book does show some refinements and evolution. There are about 140 some odd monsters with a bit greater detail than previous ones. Often the monsters come with other details like a lair or use as characters.

Among the monsters here the ones I found most useful were the Avatars of Elemental Evil, the Balhannoth, some new demons, a few new drow types, some more lizard folk (I can't help it, I love those guys), some more orcs, the Spawns of Tiamat is rather fun too, and some new Tuan-ti.

There is not a lot of undead here, only 6 new monsters.

The biggest feature though is that all monsters are now on a "1 monster per page" layout, or span multiple whole pages like 2nd Ed and 4th Ed. This increases the value of the PDF in my mind and now I am not that sad I sold off my hard copy. Yes, today is the first time I have looked at this since then.

In many ways this book is superior to the Monster Manual III, layout just being one of them.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-fantasy-witch.html

This is another great one from Daniel Comerci.

Fantasy Witch Stock Art

I am sure I have used this one somewhere, but I can't recall where. It is a great piece. She could work well as a witch, warlock, shaman, druid or about anything really.

I remember seeing this one and grabbing it right away.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/monstrous-mondays-monster-manual-iii-35.html

Moving through the 3.x Monster Manuals this month. Getting to the third named Monster Manual for 3.x and the first time we get a "3" in our Monster Manual. Yes AD&D had three monster books and AD&D2 had...well a lot, I was curious to see if we were hitting a point of diminishing returns on our books yet.

But in any case, the cover is rather cool.

Monster Manual III (3.5)

For this review, I am considering the PDF version of this book from DriveThruRPG. I did have the hardcover of this book but I downsized my 3.x collection a few years back.

PDF. Color cover and interior art. 244 pages.

This book is the first monster supplement for the new "updated" 3.5 version of the D&D rules. Honestly, I used 3.0 and 3.5 interchangeably, so for me it was another monster book.

This one gives us roughly 170+ new monsters. We get some new demons, and more old favorites from the Yugoloths return (one of the reasons why I wanted this one). This book gives us the Warforged outside of their origin world of Eberron. There is a creature called a "Witchknife" that caught my attention as well as a "wood woad" but both of them disappointed me. I rather liked the new undead in the Bone Claw, Bone Drinker, Charnel Hounds, and Necronaut. The Eldritch Giant is also rather cool.

Some of these monsters I did not meet in this book first. Many I ended up getting in packages of mini from Wizards of the Coast before I even knew what they were. The Chraal and Blackscale Lizardfolk are two perfect examples. I thought the Chraal was a sort of demon at first. I did not play the minis game, so I rarely looked at the cards in detail.

For me, the monsters I liked made it worth the price to buy the book. But it was not enough to have me keep it when I downsized my 3.x collection.

The art is still all quite good and what I expect from WotC at this stage.

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/08/100-days-of-halloween-talented.html

Ok, this is a bit harder to give a fully objective review to because I have worked with nearly everyone involved on other projects. That being said I will be following my rules for this work.

Christina Stiles Presents: Talented Adventurers - The Witch: Marena Lenoire

PDF. $3.95. 24 pages. 1 cover page, 1 credits page, 1 about the author page, 3 pages for the OGL. 18 pages of content. Color cover and interior art.

This product does one thing and does it really, really well. It presents us a single witch, the titular Marena Lenoire, from 1st level to 20th level.

We are given a little bit of background on her and then detailed stat blocks for her 20 levels.

It is a great product for any Pathfinder DM/GM who needs a reoccurring NPC to aid the party. She is a Lawful Good witch (rare and nice to see) so she would not make a good "bad guy" for them.

Use in War of the Witch Queens

I mean, yeah, she really begs to be used. I have worked with everyone involved with her creation, so I owe them at least that much to have her show up in the campaign at some point. I see her in the exact role she was designed for; as something of a folk hero. She is not a witch that would seek out the title of Witch Queen but would accept it if her peers willed it and she could use it to help her people.

I just need to find a good spot for her.