I bought my first copy of Arrowflight in 2002, and it has remained my favoutite fantasy RPG system ever since. Over the years I have acquired all the various expansions for both editions of the system, and I was awaiting Realms of Death with some considerable expectation ...
The book is perfect bound with a good front cover and excellent internal artwork, although I did find the map a little hard to read (must be my eyes!). The artwork is in the same 'computer generated' style as Lands of Enchantment, and looks pretty nifty - and it certaily fits with the setting.
The setting for this sourcebook is of a fantasy 'Africa' - and this is all but unique in my experince! Whilst a few RP games have dabbled with non-European based fantasy settings (Maztica etc), very few (if any) have been based on an entirely African theme, and this makes both a welcome change of feel, pace and substance. Rich in 'history' and with oodles of additional rules, options, ideas & setting specific monsters & character options, Realms of Death is both a major addition to the Arrowflight setting and system and a good read in its own right.
In addition to the setting, more material is provided on the settings own 'Underworld' - both the Caverns of Chaos & the City of Truth get expanded material (including more Demonic and Angelic race stats), and (much more interstingly) a big expansion of the settings theology also provide a glimpse into some of the non-human/variant human religions and their gods realms.
I did spot a few typo's and formatting errors in the book, but these are very minor and will probably be missed at speedy read speed or at a cursory glance - and they do not detract from either the value of the book or its material.
The PDF contains the exact same material as the book - BUT I did find my copy of the PDF has an annoyng formatting error - some of the artwork appears to have had the images 'flipped over' vertically, resulting in some unsightly distortions that spoil them utterly. I've yet to decide if these faults are a result of the download, or they're systemic to the PDF itsefl. Whilst they do NOT affect the value of the material and rules one bit, they do mean that anyone printing their PDF will get a less than 100% version compared to the print copy.
The book rates the full 5 stars given below, the PDF gets 4.
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