This “deck” offers you 49 different NPC and monster “head shots” that you can use as visual aids in your games. The images don’t seem to be intended for any one specific game or setting. The characters depicted run the gamut from sphinxes to robots, with weird-looking humanoids predominating. There’s a little bit for any GM here—which could be a strength (flexibility) or weakness (lack of focus), depending on how you look at it. I confess that I wasn’t too impressed with the artwork, and personally, I’ll be sticking mostly with my Paizo face cards—they cost more, but they have better artwork, they’re focused on the fantasy genre that I most often GM, and I don’t have to print them out. The big advantage of the Rite NPC Deck over preprinted decks is that you can selectively print exactly the cards you want, and nothing else. Ultimately, it’s sort of take-it-or-leave-it for me. About a dozen of the cards could serve for humans or halflings in a fantasy setting, or humanlike aliens in a sci-fi setting; another seven or eight seem to be elves (including drow or dark elves); two have on full helms and could be almost any species under there (though I get the impression of maleness). A couple of cards appear to be vampires, and two more appear to be demons of some description. Two of the illustrations look like robots to me; one has two heads. I perceive one each of orc, hobgoblin, tiefling (or efreet), dragon, sphinx, wolf, and winged lion (manticore?). There are a few more that I don’t quite know how to classify; one looks like an aquatic alien or a medusa with no nose, and another looks like an African human female, except that she’s full of stars.
Rating: [3 of 5 Stars!] |