First off, I buy all the Misfit Studios briefs for Savage Worlds. I generally like them a lot as they provide some cool ideas.
This product has some troubling problems, though.
First off, the Beast Wrangler has the Beast Bond edge, yet he is not a wild card, so he has no Bennies to give his pet. I believe this should be the Beast Master edge instead. Secondly, it mentions that the wrangler uses his pets to "keep foes at bay." So you think he would have a bow. Nope. Another reviewer mentioned the use of an obscure creature as the preferred companion for a Beast Wrangler. How about using some of that negative space on the first page for a brief write up of a rabid rat or something, so that you can run the creature right off the page? That would be very useful.
The wolf rider, a classic concept, mentions that each rider must steal their vargr cub. I see how the lack of Notice on the vargr could open up a possibility for a goblin to steal a cub, but I'm not buying that the vargr has no notice skill. But that's the only way a goblin could steal a cub, because the beasts are so much more deadly than the goblins themselves. A more minor issue is the contradictory statement that goblins breed the vargr for mounts. Which is it, steal or breed?
Other than the Beast Bond issue, these are pretty minor complaints. How often are you actually going to deal with how the goblins get their steeds? But even at the minor price of a buck-fifty, I'd like a tighter product. The special mushrooms are pretty cool, but most of this is not really anything that an experienced savage GM could not create in a few moments. And an inexperienced one is going to be scratching his head when he tries to use the first creature because of the edge error and the use of an obscure creature.
Like I mentioned, I enjoy this line of products, but when I went to use this one, I felt let down.
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