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Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (Compleat Second Edition)
Publisher: North Wind Adventures
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 02/26/2019 13:53:43

This is the newest version of the AS&SH game and there are few notable differences between it and the first edition, but it is still the same fun game from Jeffrey Talanian and the sorcerers over at North Wind Adventures.

I will be reviewing both the PDF and the physical copy. I purchased these via the Kickstarter a while back so no review was expected or asked for.

Where to begin with this massive tome? Well, let's talk about the book itself. The book is massive at 622 pages. The covers are full color and the interior art is a combination of mostly black & white with some new full-color pages; most to designate larger sections of the book.

Some of the art and text is held over from the First Edition, but since this book is designed as a replacement that's fine with me really. It is more than that too.

AS&SH2e is a complete game. Everything you need except for dice is here. There are player's sections and a game master section. I will work through them all.

Volume I: Swordsmen & Sorcerers covers character creation. We have the same basic material we see in all games, what is an RPG, how to play, dice, how to generate stats and so on. I gloss over it here because I know my readers know all of this but to a newcomer to the game these sections are written with a lot of clarity. I do think that most people coming to this game will be coming from other RPGs, but this is still good material. The bulk of this volume (over 120 pages) is devoted to classes. We still have our Basic Four; Fighter, Magician, Cleric, and Theif. Each also gets a number of subclasses. Fighters get Barbarian, Berserker, Cataphract, Paladin, Ranger, and Warlock with the addition of a new to this edition Huntsman. The Magician has Illusionist, Necromancer, Pyromancer, and Witch. with the new to this edition Cyromancer (a new favorite of mine). The Cleric has the Druid, Monk, Priest, and Shaman and the new Runegraver. Finally, the Thief has the Assassin, Bard, Legerdemainist, Scout and the new Purloiner. Each subclass is very much like it's parent classes with some changes. The classes look pretty well balanced. The new classes also feel right with the Cryomancer, Huntsman, and Runegraver falling into the "why didn't think of these in 1st ed, they are so obvious!" category.

Each class has a "Fighting Ability" and a "Magic Ability" which relates to attacks. So yes, even magicians can get a little better in combat as they go up in level. It's a great little shorthand and works great. So a 4th level Fighter has a fighting ability of 4. A 4th level magician still only has a fighting ability of 1 and a cleric 3 and thief 3. Subclasses can and do vary.

AC is descending (like old school games), BUT with the Fighting Ability stat it could be converted to an ascending AC easily.

Races are dealt with next. They include Amazons, Atlanteans, Esquimaux, Hyperboreans, Ixians, Kelts, Kimmerians, Lemurians, Picts, and Vikings along with the catch-all "Common" race of man. No elves or dwarves here. Alignment is a simpler affair of Lawful Good, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Good, Chaotic Evil and Neutral.

There are background skills and weapon skills. Also listed are some gods and plenty of equipment.

Volume II: Sorcery deals with all the spells of the various spellcasting classes. At a little over 80 pages, there are a lot of spells here. Even more impressive when you consider that the highest level spell is only Sixth level.

Volume III: Adventure & Combat covers the next 60 or so pages of what is essentially the Player's section. It deals with combat in all its forms. So combat, mass combat, saves and conditions. Siege combat, strongholds, waterborne adventures, and combat. A great collection really of some of the "Best of" ideas I have seen in many games, but it all works really nice here. It has been expanded on from the 1st edition.

Now there are some differences here between AS&SH and say "Normal" or "Standard" D&D. There are things like group intitative, the Fighting Ability figures more in than actually level and others. Please be sure to read this section carefully when running your first game.

Volume IV: Bestiary kicks off what is the Referee's section. Now it is no secret I love monster books so for the next 130 pages we get all sorts of monsters. The format is most similar to Basic or Labyrinth Lord, and it is full of the usual suspects with some Lovecraftian Horrors, and even remnants of alien and bygone ages. "Demons" are here, but no devils. I know NorthWind has a Player's book out now, but a Monster book would also be fantastic. Thankfully nearly every Clone or OSR monster book can be used with this with minor tweaks.

Volume V: Treasure covers the next 50 or so pages. Among the magic items are things like Radium Pistols and other sc-fi artifacts. Very pulpy. It also includes some rules on scribing spell and protection scrolls. There is even a small section on Alchemy in Hyperborea. Very useful to have really.

Volume VI: Hyperborea Gazetteer is our last volume. It is a great bit that I can easily drop into my game. The lands are a pastiche of Howard, Vance, Lovecraft, and Smith. If these names mean anything to you then you know, or have an idea, of what you are going to get here. This section has been greatly expanded from the previous edition. Included here are the gods again and a little more on religion. Basically you get the idea that gods are either something you swear by (or to) or get sacrificed to by crazy cultists. So yeah, you know I am a fan.

Appendix A: Referee Advice is just that. One page and straight to the point. Appendix B: Weather in Hyperborea. You mean it does more than snow? Charts that help you figure out the temperature and conditions at any given time. Also useful for other games. Appendix C: Rogues Gallery. Some NPCs, or what I guess we could call the Iconics of AS&SH. All are easily recognizable from the art in the book. No iconic witch though...hmmm. All are listed at 1st, 5th and 9th levels. Appendix D: Introductory Setting. This gives us the Town of Swampgate. It's a pretty robust setting with some adventure keyed in.

I have said it once, but I will repeat it here. Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea is hands down one of my most favorite retro-clone/OSR/Old-School games.

For me, it is another example of striking the perfect balance between B/X D&D and AD&D1. This one leans more towards the AD&D side of the spectrum, but the power level, the grit, the overall vibe is far more B/X. THEN you add in material from Lovecraft, Howard and Clark Ashton Smith? Well, that is the perfect icing on the cake really.

Of course, it is nearly perfect out of the box, but it can also lend itself to so much more than what is given us to use between the covers. I have run Zothique games and Pellucidar style ones as well where all of Hyperborea was either one continent in the far future or underground, inside hollow earth (respectively).

The book is as attractive as it is huge.

I really can't recommend this book and game enough.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (Compleat Second Edition)
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DARK PLACES & DEMOGORGONS - The Cryptid Manual - An OSR Bestiary
Publisher: Bloat Games
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 02/24/2019 16:35:09

If I have said it once I have said it a hundred times. I LOVE Monster books. Any and all monster books. I even grab monster books for games I don't play. So when Eric Bloat they head monster hunter at Bloat Games asked if I would be interested in looking over his new monster book (Kickstarting today) for his FANTASTIC Dark Places & Demogorgons I screamed HELL YES at my computer.

Now I promise to be fair here but a couple of words of full disclaimer. First I was sent this book as part of an agreement for a review. That is no big, I get a lot of books this way and I always try to be fair. Secondly. Well, look above. I am predisposed to like Monster books and I already love DP&P and cryptids are a TON of fun. So please keep all this in mind.

Dark Places & Demogorgons: Cryptid Manual is a digest-sized book weighing in at 90 or so pages. Some bits look like redacted Governmental documents and blood splattered hunter's notebooks. It's actually pretty cool looking if not 100% original (see Chill, Supernatural and Conspiracy X). That being said though it is also 100% EXPECTED. That's HOW I want my 80s monster hunting guide to look like.

The interior and the cover features two-color art (blacks and reds) on glossy pages. Now the gloss might just be my pre-copy version, or not. In any case the color, the art, and the layout are all a leap ahead in terms of style and look than all the previous DP&D books. If this is the future of their books then the future looks good.

A little over 50 monsters fill this book. They use the same stat block as DP&D so that also means they are roughly compatible with Swords & Wizardry (I'd say about 99%) and most other OSR-flavored games. Given the size of the book it fits in nicely with my Swords & Wizardry Whitebox games, so I have another monster book now for that! Each monster gets a page. Some exceptions occur with the Bigfoots and the E.T.s, but still, it's a good bit for each one.

There are also templates in the back of the book that work like the monster templates from 3.x. So you can apply the Vampire, Werewolf or my favorite Radioactive, template (among others) to any monster. Radioactive Bigfoots? Hell yes! There is also a table of enhancements and how they change your monster. So now it's Agile Radioactive Bigfoots! There are some conditions ported over from 3.x (more or less) but very, very useful and I am happy to see them here.

Ok what are some of my favorites? There is the Almasti, which I also used in Ghosts of Albion. They have a special place in my heart. I'll likely include Almasti Shamen in my DP&D games like I did with Ghosts. Old faves like the Bunyip and Chupacabra. Holy crap there is a Crocoduck!

I have to admit I nearly shot coffee out of my nose when I first saw that. Worth the price of the book alone in my mind. Flatwoods Monster, all the various extraterrestrials (Nordics, Reptilians, LGMs, Greys), Hellhounds, the Hodag! (love those things!), Jersey Devils, Skin Walkers, and the Wendigo. So plenty really and many more. The monsters mostly come from modern cyptids, but there some classics from myths and local monsters.

This book is great really. While I may have been pre-disposed to like it, it really delivered and then some with me. The art is great and fun. The layout top notch and the monsters are just too much fun.

While reading it I could not help but think how well this would also work with White Star or other White Box derived game. So even if you don't play DP&D (and you should really, it's just too much fun) you can still get a lot of enjoyment out of this book. For example the Cryptid Manual is 90% compatible with Swords & Wizardry White Box. There is not a lot of overlap in monsters, so this makes the CM a perfect monster book for S&WWB players. Also, there are a lot of "new" monsters in S&W for the DP&D player/GM. Who's to say that an alien life form could resemble an orc or a wyvern.

In fact, this is true for nearly every clone. The clone game provides monsters for DP&P and the Cryptid Manual provides new monsters for your clone of choice. You just need to justify why they are there.

Worth picking up.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
DARK PLACES & DEMOGORGONS - The Cryptid Manual - An OSR Bestiary
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Realms of Crawling Chaos (Labyrinth Lord)
Publisher: Goblinoid Games
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 02/12/2019 13:14:25

The physical book is 60 pages worth of material and deals with running a Lovecraftian-inspired game of horror fantasy. The PDF is 66 with covers and an ad for Mutant Future.

A few new races are introduced for a Race-as-Class style game with notes on other classes to use in an advanced game; Sea-Blooded, Subhuman, White Ape and White Ape Hybrid.

Next, are some new magical formulae and some new spells all based on various Lovecraft sources. Enough to sprinkle into various dammable texts for the players to find AND then really get into trouble with.

We come to the monsters and all the old favorites are here. Comparing them to other sources of similar monster will give you plenty of differences in stats, which is a good thing really. Players who are familiar with other books should not have knowledge their characters do not.

A small section on Eldritch Artifacts, a staple of many of Lovecraft's mythos stories.

And finally a section on Psionics which differs from other books/games.

We get some appendices on Eldritch tomes and an artifact generator. Appendix 3 covers the use of these psionic rules in Mutant Future. And Appendix 4 covers the stories and books used.

We end with the OGL section.

The book is awfully fun and is full of great ideas. If you are a fan of Labyrinth Lord and Lovecraftian tales then I would most certainly grab this.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Realms of Crawling Chaos (Labyrinth Lord)
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DARK PLACES & DEMOGORGONS - The UFO Investigator's Handbook - and use w/other OSR games
Publisher: Bloat Games
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 01/16/2019 20:41:12

This book is the latest (for now) book in the Survive This! Dark Places & Demogorgons line. A couple of things jump right out at me.

First, the cover has dropped the "Survive This!" label. It is still mentioned on the cover page, but I am thinking that the Dark Places & Demogorgons name has more visual recognition.

Second, that cover is fantastic. It's a step up from the covers of past books (which are still great, this one is just better) and it invokes EXACTLY the feelings they wanted. Is that a Whitley Strieber inspired cover? Fire in the Sky? X-Files? Yes. To all the above.

Ok, let's jump right in.

I am reviewing both the book and the PDF. These were not sent to me, I bought them on my own dime. Noticeable differences: The PDF cover is blueish on my screen (nod to Blue Book?) but the physical copy is more green (Little Green Books?) anyway. Not important...moving on.

The book is 48 pages with an interior cover page and two pages of OGL. The font is larger than say your average Swords & Wizardry book at the same digest size. Color covers, black and white interior art.

The first section covers new classes. We get a good selection of the usual suspects; UFO Investigator (a class I resemble a little too closely at that age), Conspiracy Theorist, Alien Hunter, and Alien in Disguise (for your Starman types). The UFO Investigator covers your basic Fox Mulder, Carl Kolchak, Scooby Gang, and others. The Alien in Disguise is the most detailed with various forms and powers.

Up next are a couple pages of new equipment including the UFO Investigator's kits. Some adventure hooks, UFO terms, and some misrepresented UFOs. Enough in a couple of pages to get you going really.

The really fun stuff is next Alien Encounters/Seeds. Included are the Hexpost Monster, Alien Probers (we know what these guys are all about), K.U.F.O.O. (an organization), Green Men Attack Gaslight, and the G-Men Come to Town (basically the Project Blue Book). So if the hooks couldn't get you going these will.

We end with what is one of my favorite parts of all the DP&D books, the Recommended Reading and Viewing lists. Interestingly enough "Project U.F.O." is not on this list. Ok, Josh Palmer, this needs to be added to your watch list.

The book is excellent really. Great addition to the Dark Places & Demogorgons game.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
DARK PLACES & DEMOGORGONS - The UFO Investigator's Handbook - and use w/other OSR games
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Kobayashi Maroon
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 10/25/2018 16:52:31

How am I supposed to say no to an Alpha Blue product that invokes the memory of one of my favorite things in one of my favorite movies ever?

That answer is "No. I am not going to ignore it."

Now sometimes I like to read books to review on my lunch break at work. Yeah. That wasn't going to happen with this one. Look, there is nothing X-Rated in this book. Maybe R, maybe a racy PG-13. Nothing more. But it is certainly Not Safe For Work, so keep that in mind.

This is a collection of three short adventures.

Episode one is a riff on the Kobayashi Maru, you need to rescue The Vanessa before Yog-Soggoth comes..er, wait that sounds bad. Before Yog-Soggoth arrives. I dig this one since I have been all about mixing Trek and Cthulhu. I am not sure I can play this one straight though. Still, I love the idea and it really made me laugh.

Episode two is an Amok Time riff and I must say kudos to author Zoltar Khan Delgado (no shit, that's his name. I really, really want it to be his real name too.) for coming up with Pr0n Fa'ar. I am disapointed in myself for not coming up with it myself. But then again I was not blessed with a name like Zoltar. With a name like that there are certain expectations.

The third and last epsiode features a wine mixing event in which the PCs are security. It's a pretty clever set up and could be run complete straight to be honest. The NPCs are all rich, powerful, extremely good looking or all the above. This where the power of the three galaxies come to play. Of course there is going to be trouble!

We end with an Appendix of random tables that will only ever find use in an Alpha Blue game. My only gripe about this book is where was it when I REALLY needed it? You know back in 1985.

But in all seriousness, this is just good old pervy fun. I won't run it for my kids, but I will mine it for ideas. Plus my kids are old enough now that if they find it and want to run it for their groups that is fine. Serious. Why is being a "murder hobo" ok but a pervert is not? Give me a pervert any day.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Kobayashi Maroon
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DARK PLACES & DEMOGORGONS - The Ghost Hunter's Handbook - and use w/other OSR games
Publisher: Bloat Games
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 10/02/2018 06:19:27

Nothing beats a good ghost story and the early 80s was full of them. From the old school hauntings of 1981's Ghost Story to 1982's Poltergeist to the old guard in House of the Long Shadows (1983) and even to 1984's Ghostbusters. And this is now where near all. If you loved ghost stories it was a great time.

Thankfully Bloat Games hears you and has what you need.

DARK PLACES & DEMOGORGONS - The Ghost Hunter's Handbook is 60 pages (digest sized) with color covers and black and white interior. It has the same feel as the other books in this series. The art is good and I recognize a lot of the names inside.

With this book, like the others, we start out with new classes. The Clairvoyant can see things the others can't (we have a couple "I see dead people" classes already, but this is a good one). The Parapsychologist is great, but I think it is stretching what it means for a "Kid" class like the core book is filled with. Though, I guess reading the starting equipment this is also the class that best fit me in High School! Yes, I did write a program to emulate a PKE meter on my TRS-80 Color Computer. The Mystical Ghost Hunter covers your basic exorcists/cleanser type. But the class I was happiest to see was the Nullifier! This is the guy who walks in the room and all paranormal activity stops. The class might have limited growth, save that they are the ones that will survive any magical attack, but I like them all the same. In college one of my "hippie" friends claimed I was a "Null" because his Ouija board never worked when I was around!

Pages 14-24 cover different kinds of ghosts, spectres, and haunts and their reasons for haunting. This is one of the parts that make this book "and use w/other OSR games". You can drop these spookies into any OSR game (some will require tweaks) and you are good to go. They can all be run as-is really; especially if you are playing Swords & Wizardry. In fact, there is a lot here in the DP&D that the S&W game master can use.

A few pages on what you can find on The Other Side! (uh...Thanks! but I didn't get you anything. OH! THAT Other Side.)

There are a couple pages on equipment including Ghost Hunter kits to fit your price range. Next, we have some new ghost-related magic items. A couple pages of minor and major spells.

And what book on ghosts would be complete without a haunted house? Well, this one taped into that 80s feeling well and gives us a haunted asylum! It's like you guys read my Christmas lists or something!

Information of the J'town Paranormal Society (which feels like it is somewhere between Supernatural's "Ghost Chasers" and Doctor Who's LINDA).

We end with a great, but incomplete, list books, movies, and television shows.

Author Josh Palmer did a hell of a job here and this is a worthy addition to the DP&D line. The book is worth every penny. In truth at just $5 and 60 pages you are getting a hell of a deal.

Print on demand is coming soon.

It's Halloween. Get out there and bust some ghosts!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
DARK PLACES & DEMOGORGONS - The Ghost Hunter's Handbook - and use w/other OSR games
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Blue Razor 5 Page Background
Publisher: The Knotty-Works
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/07/2018 15:27:43

Needed a cool background for a project and this one is just perfect. Can't argue with the price either!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Blue Razor 5 Page Background
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Going Through Forbidden Otherworlds
Publisher: Lamentations of the Flame Princess
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/22/2018 11:55:36

Going Through Forbidden Otherworlds, or GTFO (cute huh) is again a case of me getting something that is exactly what I need. While I am not going to play it as-is, there is a tweak mentioned in the book itself that works perfectly for me. In fact, a lot of this book works perfectly for me and my next set of adventures. I can't believe I am saying this, but I will turn up the gore factor in this Lamentations product for my needs.

Not a real fan of the art inside but I see why it works for this.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Going Through Forbidden Otherworlds
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Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Annihilation Event Book (Premium Edition)
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/14/2018 09:31:49

Fun while it lasted. This could have been a GREAT book for the MHR line. To bad it seemed to have died before it really got going.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Annihilation Event Book (Premium Edition)
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Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event Book (Premium Edition)
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/14/2018 09:29:51

Fun while it lasted. This could have been a GREAT book for the MHR line. To bad it seemed to have died before it really got going.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event Book (Premium Edition)
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Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event Book (Essentials Edition)
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/14/2018 09:29:36

Fun while it lasted. This could have been a GREAT book for the MHR line. To bad it seemed to have died before it really got going.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Marvel Heroic Roleplaying: Civil War Event Book (Essentials Edition)
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Stock Art: Female Witch with Serpent
Publisher: Purple Duck Games
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/14/2018 09:13:19

Very interesting little witch with snake. Can't wait to find a good home for it!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Stock Art: Female Witch with Serpent
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PFV: Fire Witch (Poster Sized Jpeg)
Publisher: Stainless Steel Dragon
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/14/2018 09:01:23

Well there is a woman here and there is some fire. But nothing really "witchy" about it.

Still I downloaded it and used it as my phone background for a bit.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
PFV: Fire Witch (Poster Sized Jpeg)
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RIO DRACO: Base Set
Publisher: Fat Dragon Games
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/14/2018 08:45:44

I don't play a lot of Wild West games (ok almost never) but I own a lof of Fat Dragon products and this one does not disapoint.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
RIO DRACO: Base Set
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Companion Expansion
Publisher: Barrataria Games
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/14/2018 08:43:07

The Companion Expansion by Barrataria Games didn't get the same level of hype as the B/X Companion, but it covers much of the same ground. I have not looked at them together to see how they cover similar topics, but they seem very compatible.

For new races there are gnomes and wild-wood (sylvan) elves, half-orcs, half-ogres and half-elves as race-classes. Wood elves share the same spell lists as do druids and gnomes share a list with Illusionists and bards. All for the B/X system

It also has a Bard, Druid, and Illusionist Classes that are roughly equal with the AD&D versions. But the real feature of this book is the expanded spell list. If you are looking to extend your illusionist, druid or bards a bit more with more spells then this is a good way to do it.

While this book does not have the feel of the first Basic and Expert books, it does have a ton of useful information and all of it (well all but about 0.5%) is 100% OGL.

I consider this book a forgotten treasure.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Companion Expansion
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