Before reading my review, you should probably know that I've been collaborating with the great guys at Purple Duck Games on several projects and that I received a free copy of this product (If I remember correctly). However, I have nothing invested in this product and feel that I can speak freely.

The Encounter Pages products have always been some of my favorite. They are extremely useful for the GM, has lots of inspiring ideas and even better, plenty of monsters and other goodies. Most of the time, these products even has some cool material for the players, and this product is no different.

So what do you get? Well, first of all, you get five encounters centered around such creatures as the grigs, hydrodaemons and my favorite, the junk elemental. Some of these encounters are a little too whacky for me, like the 'The Haunted Organ', but then there are the really cool ones like the 'Lurkers in the Pool' and 'When Good Loot Goes Bad'. The latter is a small looting encounter based around a junkyard where the PCs are looking for a wand for a mage. This encounter actually feels like it could spark other adventures, and while it is centered around a junk elemental, the author also introduces a greed dragon which could pose a second problem/threat for the PCs.

The encounters are short and easy to use. They also come with stats for the important monster (in the encounter itself), but you'll find the rest of the critters in the back, fully statted and ready to use. This is pretty cool and make for an awesome product in itself. But not only that, you also get 2 feats (nothing special, though), a legendary weapon (blade of aristocrats, which is pretty cool), 9 new spells, 2 magical items and the best thing in this product... a new Wizard school, the City Magic school. I didn't find any balancing issues with any of these and the monsters you already know, from Tricky Owlbear's Forgotten Foes.

Overall, this is an awesome product, packed with cool encounters, but also packed with new options for the players. I would have bought this product for the player options alone.

A festhall... it doesn't sound like much, but an Intimate Shape Festhall sounds mysterious and, if you ask me, promising. So what is it? Well, certainly something out of the ordinary, something that brings a new game to the table. It reminded me of a Fafhrd and Grey Mouser story where our two heroes also encountered a living house. The author of this location may have been inspired of Leiber.

Honestly, this pdf is a little rough around the edges. It could really benefit from another round of editing, it seemed rushed. It had a lot of little mistakes that really bothered me as I read it, mistakes that would be so easy to change.

I really do like the basic idea here, but the pdf just doesn't offer a lot of information. What you get is a short introduction to the place by some unknown narrator, a few short adventure hooks, two NPCs (with a lot of unnecessary information, like all the bard abilities), a gargantuan mimic and a couple of monstrous feats.

What I really wanted to know was how to use the Intimate Shape Festhall... ideas on implementing it in a city. I mean, how would a city react if they learned that a gargantuan mimic lived amongst them? What purpose does it serve? How will it interact with the PCs?

Lastly, I want to mention the maps. These are amateurish, which is fine when you look at the price, but I would rather have been without them, since I guess the festhall can and does change shape... all the time.

I'll give this pdf 2.5 stars, rounded down for the purpose of this format. Promising with a really good idea, but rough and lacking a lot of simple information that make it truly useful.

Before reading my review, you should probably know that I've been collaborating with the great guys at Purple Duck Games on several projects and that I received a free copy of this product. However, I have nothing invested in this product and feel that I can speak freely.

I love new classes, and the idea of a mix between a mage and a rogue sounds really good, but does the Rook work?

The Rook has spells (up to 6th level) and gains talents much like the rogue, but what really sets the class apart from the sorcerer and rogue is something called schisms. These are unique philosophies that enables the Rook to walk different paths. Some of these seem a little weak and single-minded, like the Necrotist schisms (which seems heavily focused on hit points), but also includes a schism like the Schade, which brings something entirely new to the gametable... the Silhouette. This is just that, a silhouette of the Rook that he can control and use in battle, but it just has a much different feel than the shadow of the shadowdancer. These seem pretty useful outside combat as well and would make great spies for the PCs. The Rook has a choice between 4 schisms. I can only hope that the purple ducks will make new schisms available in the future.

The pdf also includes a really nice section for making spells available to the Rook, from other 3pp sources, which is pretty cool. This section is written in a very useful way that certainly makes the GMs life easier, but also makes the Rook more useful to the players.

Overall, you get a lot of content for your money (a base class, a 1st level NPC, favored class options, 2 rook feats, 2 magic items and 10 new spells) and the Rook seems pretty balanced. I found only a couple of powers that seemed either too powerful (like the Schade's Shadow Siphon talent) or too weak (like the Schade's Soul Shift power at 20th level). Unfortunately, the Schade is also my absolute favorite among the schisms. I hope to find some use for this class in upcoming campaigns... and who knows, maybe I am wrong on those few balancing issues.

I think this product deserves 3.5 stars, but since that isn't possible here, I am going to round up, seeing as the low price makes this a steal.

Infamous adversaries... this pdf is aptly named. It introduces an NPC (or more like an antagonist, really) called Cytheria the Blasphemer. She is evil and understandable so, she was taken as a child and tortured until she herself broke and killed her torturer.

What you get for your money... a nicely written archenemy for your PCs, complete with a detailed history, motives, tactics etc. You also get stats for both Cytheria, but also for her fiendish servant. However, even at this low cost, I would have loved to see something new brought to the table, like a new magic item, feat etc.

The pdf has an ok layout, but nothing impressive. It is quite useful, even though I have no use for all those hyperlinks. Overall, worth buying if you are a GM looking for a nasty villain to challenge your players.

I was curious about this product as we are currently playing an epic sword and sorcery campaign, but while the simple changes that this pdf proposes may work for some, it wouldn't work for me.

The pdf basically proposes that each player takes two classes at each level and use the best BAB, saves, hp etc. Furthermore, the PCs get all the class skills and class abilities. It also allows the player to take two wizard levels instead of, say, a barbarian and bard level. So now the spells per day and spells known stack.

This may certainly work for some, but absolutely not for me. I was hoping for something a bit more simple and elegant. Also, the rules for the GM seems like a lot of work to implement, a couple of simple templates would have been much better and easier to read.

Lastly, the layout is messy and was clearly not first on the publishers mind. I don't mind a simple layout, but a simple white layout had been much better and pleasing to the eye.

However, at $1, I can easily forgive the layout. This is not very useful for me, but may be for some.

Another must-have for Ptolus fans, lots of great maps that will make your DM'ing a little easier.

Ed Bourelle delivers a series of stunning maps once again!

I bought this small pdf hoping to get a few interesting magical torches, but more on that later.

This product gives you an overview of torches, their use and how they are perceived by some races. It's all written from the perspective of a bard (if I remember correctly) which is a pretty nice idea. However, the pdf doesn't do a very good job at keeping the narrator and the mechanics separate (which they, in fact, say they wont) I think they should have separated these two.

There are some interesting viewpoints here, but not enough to make it truly useful. Now on to the magical torches. This section of the pdf disappointed me a little. There are a few and then there are some powders to be used with torches. The spells I could have done without, and instead I would have liked to see more magical torches.

A little expensive if you look at what you get for your money, but overall, not a bad product.

I'm sure I wont use any of this material ever, but it does look interesting and it's always nice to see what Monte Cook comes up with.

And why wont I use this material... well, it seem a little too complicated at least in its complete form. I will probably use a few of the rules, however, like the new hit points system. We'll see.

Very useful! I have gotten a lot of use out of these.

An interesting read, although I certainly don't agree with everything.

What can I say... the Forge knows what they are doing! I will definitely use a few of these illustrations in upcoming projects.

A must-have for any fans of Ptolus! It really sets the mood for the players and they really feel like they know the city, which they do, of course. A great idea to make a player's guide to a setting, saves the GM a lot of work!

A great little city for use with any system. It has everything that a city of this size needs, and a few cool maps. Only problem I may with this are the names, which seem a little too generic (and cliche) for my liking.

A very useful tool and not just for those playing 4e, however, maybe a little pricy for what you get.

This is a community project well worth the read, and as far as free products go, not at all bad. Lots of good people contributed to the making of this pdf and they did it because they love the game!

It's just a shame that another issue wont following it.