Mind over Matter: Book 1 Scion and SoulKnife, is a supplement specifically for Dreamscarred Press’s “ Psionics Unleashed”. Both books are compatible with Pathfinder. The PDF sells for around $5 and is 20 pages, 4 being non content. This pdf is stocked full of some really great ideas and includes a lot of crunch for the Psion and Soulknife. First thing I noticed was that instead of Prestige Class they used the term “Archetype” and instead of gaining individual hit dice, base attack bonuses etc like Prestige Classes, they just gain abilities at certain levels. I do own the Psionics Unleashed and the core Pathfinder books and have never ran across the term. Which leads me to other question like “if you take a Archetype do you just add on the ability at the right level?” The pdf gives no explanation, assuming you know about it already. So unless I’m forgetting something..

Beyond that though the ideas are really great. Introduced here, for the Psion are the archetypes of Locus (being able to be in more than one place at a time) and Mindreaver(able to hide in the Psyches of the victim) For the Soulknife we get a somewhat forgettable “Attenuator” a sort of monk like guy and the Magpie, a thief-like character,that can steal things right out of the hands of people including weapons. In my opinion this archetype is somewhat over powering not so much on it’s own, but when combine with everything else. Even the gaining and losing of a skill relfects this when you gain slight of hand and lose swim.

The pdf also have a few new feats and even two new afflictions, Delirium and Psychalgia. All very good.

The pdf has a Mythic Class the Medium. Playing this one requires that you have another pdf called “Mythic Adventures”. Making the total books you need to use this pdf to at least three ( A core rules book, Psionics Unleashed and Mythic Adventures).

So overall my thoughts. For the price you get a lot of really great ideas with sound mechanics. Needing at least three other books to use it all not so good. And again, unless I’m forgetting the concepts of Archetypes from another book, there needs to be more explanation on what they are.

A must have if you want to play in the Greyhawk setting. BUT this scan SUCKS. Save yourself four bucks and download it somewhere free. THE DOWNLOAD SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS!

“Interludes: Brief Expeditions to Bluffside” is a module (do they still use that term anymore?) for use with the Castles and Crusades RPG. For second level characters, the module is more of a launching pad for The Bluffside Campaign Setting. It sells for a meager $5.00 and has a print option. Taking place in a small town outside of Bluffside called Kirkwood, Interludes serves as a Sandbox setting giving the Castle Keeper just enough to work with if they are not prepared with a plot line. Content wise, this module shines in the npc descriptions, giving you many different story lines that the Castle Keeper can run with. I also liked the idea of the prisoner pits. Presentation is a mixed bag here. Coming from a fine arts background I believe presentation is half the piece. The cover does nothing to make me want to even look in the pdf which is a shame since there was a lot of useful stuff in it. The interior art was sparse but decent and illustrated what was actually in the book, instead of being included because it might have looked cool. The new monster in the back was not illustrated which was a bummer. The type layout was clear and very readable. Also a plus in presentation are character handouts of letters and correspondents. Personally I believe that I will most certainly use many of the npc’s in the book if nothing else.
One thing that had me stumped was the new character class in the back. In my opinion it made me think that the person who wrote it up didn’t have a clear idea of the classes in the main rule book. The Sisters of Mercy should in my opinion, be a cleric denomination but certainly not it’s own class. In the end the class left me confused, thinking that it was put there as filler. In the end, I feel that it’s not a bad deal at Five Dollars. I do not think I would get the print version, but as a pdf it does great.

why is this $25.00 for the pdf when other games of it's time are less?

A Bad Trend

Right off the bat , I have to say the book is too short. This is becoming a bad trend for White Wolf. A while back they made the mistake of making the V20 Companion only 80 pages and now they have done so here with a book that is 87 pages. Now to be fair, the other books in this line , like Mage Noir are of similar page count, but two wrongs do not make a right. That book should have been longer too. So what happens is but making them so few pages, you are really not getting the product out that you want to, and the players need/ want. Case in point, The new Kiths. While fitting very well in the setting, they are neither very imaginative nor special. They are good kiths, but fall flat. The problem with all that is they are the only Kiths in the book . It would have been nice if EVERY seeming had a new kith. Oh by the way, saying something like “these kiths fell out of favor with the gentry later on” makes no sense. Why not just say “ in modern times these Kiths are rarely seen” or something to that manner. The same can be said with all of the crunch in the book(including the goblin contracts, Entitlements etc). And where the book shines, it again only shines a little. In the second part of the book are the settings and storylines to play at the table. Again WAY too short . Again , this product follows the footsteps of the V20 Companion Book . What’s there is nice, but not enough. This all confuses me. The price is right, but the page count is not . I would rather had paid 10, 12, 15 dollars for a larger book then getting the small one we received for $8.99 (15 for book) .

I REALLY like this book but there are problems with it. Many of the basics do not follow Pathfinder guides. For instance, Warlocks have dead levels. It's a shame that these things pop up because otherwise it's good book, but in the end not great as it could have been.