Unboxing the 2025 D&D Starter Set

I grabbed the 2025 Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set at Barnes & Nobles on Friday. An 'undented' copy. 

Because it is a Starter Set  and meant to assist help new players and DMs get into the game I looked at it as if I were 10 years-old and also as myself as of today. There are differences in opinion. 

GM Companion for Shadowdark

Let's talk about Mr. Chubby Funster. Greg. If you go on RPG DriveThru and check out the Shadowdark section you'll see he had three books in the top ten. And if you look at his titles as a whole, 3 are Platinum, 3 are Gold, and 3 Electrum. Electrum? Don't get me started. That's one of those coins that is a little bit of this. Little bit of that. Not enough of either. With numbers like that Greg has sold thirteen buttloads of PDFs and books. Yes, buttload is a measurement (126 gallons). I think it's in the Bible. 

With that many sales and the number of books he written for Shadowdark Greg has earned his cred for being an authority on enhancing a Shadowdark. I speak from experience, I own nearly everything he's written (except his adventures he writes in French words). And if there is a podcast, YouTube channel, or Agway luncheon he's there. The man has turned into a PR machine. 

I kid. Not really. But I can't be too complimentary of Greg. I have to give him some shit. Because I'm going to talk about his book and it's very good. 

The GM Companion for Shadowdark is easily one of his best offerings if not the best. And one of the best 3rd party books for Shadowdark. I like to write adventures. A lot of them. When I write an adventure these days his books is close at hand if not smooshed down in front of me so I can refer to it. I want to break it down. All the fucking stuff its full of.

Point of Interest

The first section is Points of Interest. These are a collection of random d20 tables divided up into terrain types. Your party is traveling through an artic hex you can create an instant interesting 'thing'. Here my favorite party about these table. There are two columns. You roll two d20s and mix the two result together. These are my favorite types of tables because of expediential possibilities. He has 9 different terrains. Below is a sample of Artic table.

Hazards

The second section mimics the first but for hazards for each of the 9 terrain types. This time the tables use 2 d6. The first die determines the hazard and the second die determines what the hazard does to the party. The three categories are movement, damage and weakening. And of course combining effects is encouraged. Anything to make the players suffers gets the thumbs up from me. Another example of the tables found within. 

Settlements

This next section is particularly useful if a GM is struggling with a settlement along the way. The tables found here to generate a village, city or some redneck crossroads where everyone shares the same last name make it easy to give some depth. A few foothold to flesh it out before your party goes bat shit on the locals. The tables are detailed by districts. Each district type has its own d12 tables. At the end there are d20 tables providing possibility of businesses that could populate your town. Although Greg is being judgey in the one table where one of the entries is a predatory money lender. No other adjustives are in any of the other entries. I think Greg feels some kind of way about banks. 

I would have added a table here, but if you need to see 20 businesses listed then you'll need more than this book to be creative. 

Taverns

This is the obligatory tavern generator tables. It's needed. While there are several million billions of tavern tables if your going to write a book about generating colorful and handy taverns cause you know you're going to put a tavern where ever you can. Cause they are fun to have. If there is a tavern with the door hanging off its hinges, smells like an ogre's ass and the back part is one fire, the party is going in. 

The first table is to generate a name. Two columns. Roll separate. Smoosh together. You got a tavern. I rolled the Sullen Tooth. The third part of that table is what the tavern is known for. I rolled there is a magical fog that lingers around or in the Sullen Tooth.

The next d20 table is for the food and divided into poor, standard and wealthy. I'm going to say the Sullen Tooth is a standard tavern. Lets rolls on the grub table, Spiced Hoarfish. Sounds gross but that gives me an idea of where the tavern gets its supply of Hoarfish. 

Then on the drinky table. It has one column be still divided into poor, standard or wealthy to determine the number of drinks the tavern serves. And to determine what die type to roll. The lower numbered drinks are grog and gag drinks to the upper end they are the drinks one must stick out a pinky and take a whiff of it before drinking. Standard tavern serves three of these drinks and I roll a 2d8. Spiced cider, Bacon Broth Beer and Pudding Beer. Each drink has an affect noted with it.

Tavern Feast by Manolis Karavidas

Acts of Devotion 

While the rest of the party is getting trashed and causing problems, what is a devote holy man supposed to do? Watch their friends get cranked on a dwarven drink called Smegma from the Forge? Watch their thief in the party get into a fight with a bush while taking a leak and lose? Or watch the human ranger ask the serving wenches to play smell my finger? After discarding the option of smothering them with a pillow while they sleep, Greg has a couple of table that could prove to be constructive for the overworked, under appreciated man of holy. 

The first table is determined by the amount the priest is willing to devote to the act. The amount you give is accompanied by flavor texts of what happens followed by a bonus. Now the person of holiness is supposed to do this for altruistic reasons but we all know that's complete bullshit. Their true god is XP! 

The second table is to determine how please your god is. You roll a d8 and add your bonus on the table that goes to 14. Read the flavor text and gather all that sweet loving XP. In addition the priest can gain fanatics, allies, luck tokens or a frickin marriage partner. I can see players using their luck token to reroll on this table.

Then Greg adds tables like these for the other three classes. It adds a cool element to to off time. I think off time, between adventures are difficult for GMs to handle. Especially with games that don't have rules set into place for it. But with these tables you can divide up the time and have the players still be productive.

World Below or How I Built a Dungeon and Learned to Love the Ettercap 

Okay. This is where I rub my hands together and say, this section is worth the price of admission. This section takes the adventure from the original Shadowdark rule books and turns it up to 11. This section is divided into 5 sections: Dungeons, dungeon hazards, dungeon traps, NPCs and rival crawlers. 

Dungeons

I'm not dicking around with this section. I'm going right to the page I use the most. I have it marked so I can find it easily. It's the room type table. The original table is Shadowdark has a d10 table with 9 entries. Greg's table is a d20 with 14 entries. What are the additional entries? Each of these entries has additional tables to refine the result. 

• Change Over Time: Change the room every time the party leaves/returns. Love this addition. It allows the area to change and keeps the party alert. Tracking back to the entrance may not be as simple as retracing their steps.
• Magical Power: Magical effect that can harm/help the party. The PCs walk in an are revolted by the smell of charred flesh. A corpse in the room is blackened and smoldering. But I swear I saw it move.
• Combat Aftermath: Corpses of 1d4 monsters of average PC level. This is one of those entries I enjoy putting into my adventures. The hint of some extreme action occurred giving the place an active dynamic and depth. 
• Dead Zone: Hinders or completely negates a certain activity. I've used this in the past. When my PC priests find themselves in abyss and they are summoning their godliness I have them roll with disadvantage because of the roaming charges. 
• Unique Item: An object with properties not immediately visible. Objects with hidden properties is something I enjoy. It gives the eggheads in the party something to explore, research or if you have a player like Joe he slams it on and watches his hand rot. 

These additions and the tables that accompany the entries make dungeon/adventure creation a lot of fun. It provides juxtapositions you may have not thought of. Like in other of his table I roll twice for some rules and combine the results to come up with some great idea seeds.

I'm going to wrap this up but there are sections for Hazards and Traps. NPCs and rival crawlers with expanded tables. There is a lot of additions from Greg's Players Companion to Shadowdark. If you don't have that one get that one. 

Then to end the book Greg has a fantastic collection of monster and treasure tables. The monster tables are broken down in levels, 0 thru 9. I addition he's statted an assortment of monsters that are in the traditional games. He statted a rot grub. Just for that I approve. 

Then the treasure tables are broken into Dungeon Dressing, things of little monetary value but the party may find useful. Then the loot tables are broken into levels of 0-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10+. Is that all. Nope. He put a lot of effort into this section. Then collection of boons. Tables to create random potions. Tables to create random suits of armors. My only critique of this section is Greg added tradition, other suits of armor in his PC Companion, but did not include them here. Time to break out my Sharpie and modify. Then you find tables for magic items and magical weapons. At the end he includes a health chunk of original magic items.

As you can read this fucking book is packed. I am not going to call the GM Companion for Shadowdark a 3rd party supplement. It is THE 3rd party supplement. There is no hyperbole in my statement when I say when I write an adventure this book is open next to me. 

A lot of Shadowdark people have already bought it, but my pitch is to those who don't play Shadowdark. Maybe you play one of the thousand of RPGs available these days. This book only benefits you no matter the system. It is written in simple and straight terms. Easy to manipulate into your game.

Alright. I'm done giving Greg props. His head won't fit in his car. But I guess there is one more thing. He's got a Kickstarter running right now, ShadowCity: Blood and Neon. So far all the early opinions are glowing positive. 

Players Companion for Shadowdark

 

This post includes affiliate links. 

A grabbed a copy of Greg Christopher's Player Companion for Shadowdark a while back. And since then it has been my go-to third-party reference book. Let me give you the stats.

20 New Backgrounds

24 New Ancestries

36 New Classes

A gi-gundo amount of new equipment, armor and weapons

A breakdown for poisons

and spell catalysts that add an entirely new element to spellcasting

One of the main questions that I was asked if the new classes stepped on the toes of the four classes in the primary rulebook. Greg intends them to be drop-in replacement for the existing classes and ancestries. I'm not one that worries about class protection. I see the main classes as templates to build upon. A warrior in one region will look different from the typical warrior from another region. The differences are what adds the distinct flavor/feel of a campaign. Greg has provided different ways to do this. 

I am also a huge fan of his expanded equipment list. Always have been. Back when he penned Ambition and Avarice my favorite section was the equipment section. He provides a lot of diversity to how a character can interact with their environment. 

Players Companion is affordable priced at DriveThru RPG.

PDF is $8

Soft Cover + PDF is $9

Hard Cover + PDF is $15

If you like Shadowdark you can't go wrong getting a copy.

Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle Review

 

I thought it odd when I saw big name YouTubers talking about the new starter set WotC published, but I hadn't heard anything about it. I don't keep up on the latest news, but usually when a new box set...especially when a new box set is released, I hear about it. This one, nothing. I also thought the timing was odd. Being that they just released Spelljammer. Usually they throw their latest offering into the pool, watch as the gamers swarm it or greet it with indifference. But there's always a period of time between releases. Spelljammer was released August 16th, 2022. Dragons of Stormwreck Isle was released, well a Target release (I don't know why I find that funny they have a deal with Target, but I do. That's where I grabbed my copy) of July 31st, 2022. And the mass release will be on October 4th 2022. Fairly close release.

That said, let's rip off the plastic and take a look at the latest box set from WotC. Here is what we are supposed to find inside.

• 48-page adventure
• 32-page rulebook
• 5 pre-generated characters
• 6 game dice

The Box

The box is exactly like the others. Just wrapped with the latest artwork. It's a good sturdy box. No issues.

The Dice

Yup, those are the dice. Let's roll back a few decades and getting dice was a huge deal. They were hard to find and expensive. Today, you can't shake a 10' pole without hitting a dice dealer. So here's my issue with the dice. The quality is fine. You don't need anything fancy, just easy to read. But 5E uses 4d6 rolls for stats and uses 2d20s for disadvantage and advantage rolls. I think adding those extra dice would have been a nice touch. That said. None of the other starter sets did either.

Oh, and they come in a plastic bag. Please be kind and release them. Dice need to breathe. To live in the wild. To frolic among their other multi-sided brethren. 

The RuleBook

It's a 32-page rulebook, staple bound, that let's someone develop a character from 1st to 3rd level. Later on I'll get into the character sheets and they alone can walk someone through the progression without the use of the rulebook which is handy. This book is written specifically for a starter dungeon master. It explains the very basics. It does what it's meant to do, but here is where this particular box set starts to fail. In the Essentials Box Set a GM Screen was included. Having all those modifiers, task difficulty numbers, skill lists available to you at a glance is a huge benefit. A new GM won't have to halt a game to look for a chart. 

Also, it doesn't go into how to roll your own character. It has the pre-gens. Which I get, but it would have been nice to have a small section on how to create your own characters which they had in previous sets.

Overall though, the book does its job and gathers the most important bits and pieces in the game.

Pre-Gen Characters

Inside you'll find five pre-gens. A Lightfoot Halfling Rogue, Wood Elf Fighter, High Elf Wizard, Human Paladin, and...I'm not sure what the 5th one was. I got two the the lightfoot halfling rogues.

Maybe the halflings don't last as long and that's why you need two. 

The character sheets are on sturdy paper. Has all the information a player will need to reach 3rd level. There is a lot on these sheets. So handing a new player one of these sheets might look more like work. But 5E has a lot of content wrapped up in character creation and it's all organized neatly. 

To add on to what I said earlier, it would have been a good idea to add a couple blank character sheets so players can learn how to roll up their own characters. 

The Adventure

Dragons of Stormwreck Isle is the 48-page adventure included. It's set in the Forgotten Realms like the others. I can't say I am a huge fan of the adventure. Here's why. It's a starter set for both players and DMs a like. The adventure starts off with a fairly involved RPing section with numerous NPCs (11 of them!). I think starting off with a fairly simple premise and hit the ground running into the next dungeon to explore is the way to go. For both sides of the screen. 

Also there is too much content of the Forgotten Realms. If I'm just starting I don't care about that stuff right now. I want my focus to be on learning the system and running a adventure. There are many sections that could have been removed. Making the adventure more terse and easier to navigate. Some of the descriptions of encounters are a half-page long of explanation. Way, way too much self-indulgent fluff was included. I know this is a personal preference, keeping things short, but I also think it's a smart way to execute a beginning adventure. 

The adventure itself is okay. It has a handful of interesting encounters. Some situations for the players to think through so it's not all hack and slash. You gain levels by completing chapters. No keeping track of xp.

Lack of Extras

The biggest disappointment in the box set was the lack of the extras that could have made it better. Much better. As I've stated above, adding those extra dice would have been a nice touch. Adding a couple blank character sheets. But since this is a Starter Set and you're trying to draw in new players, and I am assuming younger players, you need some visuals. There are zero in here. There isn't even one of those beautiful Mike Schley fold out maps included. Having a gorgeous map sitting on the table alone will cause little imaginations to go wild. They are in the book for the DM to see, but not the players. Add a few monster cardboard tokens or cards to show the players when they encounter them. One of the first encounters in the game is shambling zombies of drowned sailors. Imagine a little one across from you when you show them that card. "They're chasing after you Jimmy what do you do?" And if nothing else, WotC is trying to move people to on-line gaming, then offer a code to download monster tokens for your on-line game. I think they really missed the mark.

Conclusion

How does Dragons of Stormwreck Isle stack up against the rest of the 5E box sets I have?

Definitely on the bottom. There should be a couple of empty boxes in between it and the Stranger Things Box Set. DoSI lacks soul. Lacks excitement. It fails to do it's purpose. I am defining that purpose as drawing young gamers into tabletop roleplaying. It doesn't do that. Where all the other ones do. Big time.

The point of a Starter Set is to get people playing. WotC's effort with this box set is miserable. They have done the minimum. It shows they weren't excited about it. And probably one of the reasons why it was released quietly. It definitely doesn't belong near the other starter sets they've issues over the past few years. Those were some of the best ones created.  

So if you're thinking of getting a Starter Set, bypass this one. Put your towards Lost Mines of Phandelver or the Essentials Kit. Those are wonderful places to get people involved in our fantastic hobby. 

YouTube Video Unboxing

I've been toying with more videos for my YouTube channel. I want to get better at doing videos. I'm lousy right now. But the more I make the better I get. That's the theory I guess. My blogging has slowed considerably, but if I can make a couple minute video with my phone that would be great. I'll see.

I keep it simple. Whisk was helping me with the video shoot until she thought she saw her reflection in the tin then handed me the phone and ran.  I was abandon mid-stream, but like a professional it, didn't phase me. I carried on.

I'd like to do review videos. I have to find a way to do it so it is most advantageous for the product. Me flipping through pages as I'm talking about the book isn't what I want to watch. I'd like to find a way to present it better. I need to watch more videos, see what I want to do and what I don't want to do.

I want to do some reviews on +Christian Walker's "the tolling of the great black bell", those one-page zines are fantastic. +trey causey latest release, I don't have it in front of me and I would slaughter the title and still may once its in front of me. And +Charlie Mason's newest White Box book. 

So many things. 

So many ways to play.

Pocket Creatures Review

So there is this blogger, you may know him, Tenker. +Erik Tenkar. He's a grumpy ass dwarf who calls out shitty Kickstarters, has a thing for Gail Gygax and hangs out with his good pal Ken Whitman. He's wrote this thing called Swords & Wizardry Light (S&WL). A system, both the player and GM stuff, on 4-pages. No dwarf mines alone, he recruited +James Spahn and +Zach Glazar to shine up those gems and secure the tunnels. Those three make up Triumvirate Tavern Publishing. 

Well, Erik wrote this thing, Pocket Creatures to accompany his S&WL. He created three new monsters to add to your game. 

First, there is the Three Armed Squat, I can see these guys as shock troops for a big baddie. It's got 4HD (which is no joke in S&WL) and the third arm is a weird, but satisfying, throwing expert. It's a good combo with a touch of weird to make the creature unique.

Second, Gelamorphous Cube. Another significant dungeon critter, at 5HD this could wipe out a party. If you are doing it right. It is a gelatinous cube turned up to 11. It takes on characteristics of what it eats. 

And the last Pocket Creature is Osseinian Horror. They loot like scorpion devil. Claw you. Poison you. Eat your head. While only 2HD they paralyze which makes them deadly.

Each of the creatures take up one page, stats, flavor text, content text and each is accompanied by art. +Denis McCarthy make an appearance with the Gelamorphous Cube and +Rick Hershey created the other two creatures. 

Pocket Creatures is available on RPGNow, PWYW. It is a nice trio of critters to add you your game. Add some strangeness into your adventures. A creature your players can't recite the stats and weaknesses. Meta gaming bastards. These three will show them. Grab a copy. Drop a dollar (or two or three) into the jar. Erik has done good with Pocket Creatures. Real good. I look forward to the follow up offerings.

Dungeon Fantasy that Echoes Vancian Magic

There has been this thing, this Dungeon Fantasy Kickstarter going around lately. You may have heard of it?  Well Steve Jackson Games has been releasing supplements of Dungeon Fantasy for years and every volume has been excellent. The latest, Incantation Magic, was written by +Christopher R. Rice and Antoni Ten Monros.  Chris writes the Ravens n' Pennies blog.  

Dungeon Fantasy 19 Incantation Magic captures the essence for the Vancian magic system and allows you to use it within the GURPS system.  Another optional magic system you can use in your game.  Which I like personally.  To give a different slant on magic from culture to culture.

Dungeon Fantasy 19 Incantation Magic is available in PDF for $7.99.  

Tales from the Game Tavern [Review]

Look at the beautiful orange and black cover.  The adventurers out with there jack-o-lantern candy containers.   A Halloween zine.  Two of my favorite things.  +Grand DM is the curator of The Game Tavern zine.

This review is based on the print version.  Tales from the Game Tavern is 28 pages, which is a bit meatier than the typical 24 pages.  The beautiful orange, cardstock wrap around cover.  There is a mix of artwork, some by the Grand GM himself and public domain images.  And the last two pages are dedicated to the OGL.  Now let's dive into the issue.

The introduction is one of my favorite parts of a zine.  A little glimpse of into the mind behind the zine.  This one is no different.  Grand GM professes his love for everything fall and Halloween and my favorite stat is he runs I6:Ravenloft and that Strahd record is 9-1.

There are seven articles within and the first on is titled Flesh Golem Redux.  An interesting take on flesh golems using the Gothic influence of Frankenstein.   A trio of female flesh golems, or the Monster's harem.  At the end of the article are a handful of helpful GM tips.

Haunted Armor is the next article, four pieces of armor that do more than protect.  I like the way this one is formatted.  A paragraph of flavor text, the appearance of the item and its enchantments.  The second paragraph is how to use it in game.  I like this feature.  Plus, the items are interesting and playable.  I am one of those GMs who likes to have magic items have drawbacks, these quartet fit that bill nicely. 

Tavern Ghost, a quick 1d4 table of, what else, Tavern Ghosts!  Add a little flavor into your tavern.  There are plenty of tavern name generators, tavern weird food or weird drink tables, but this is the first one for ghosts. 

Grody the Ghoul is a low level adventure.  This one is accompanied by a fantastic looking map.  Also a clever use of the map are two random tables Worm Chow and Gnarly Finds.  They do not disappoint.  I like the adventure, a straight forward affair that can be completed in a night.  What I like about it though is I can see it as part of the local folklore of a small village.  At the end of Grody the Ghoul is a nice hex map and suggestions on how to expand the adventure.   I like these GM tips and suggestions at the end of each article. 

Alien Abduction is a series of random tables to produce a horror abduction of the Halloween kind.  These table I see more useful in modern settings, but an interesting interaction between the four table can create crazy outcomes.

Now this one is my favorite article of the issue, Malignant Scourge.  It deals with disease, an underused thing in gaming I think.  And zombies!  I like the ideas and how it plays out I plan to steal it for my own game.  The spread of the Malignant Scourge is deadly and fun and add a few social elements and half-truths and it turns this article up to an 11. 

To finish out the issue is recipe for Game Tavern Goulash.  Taste is you dare. 

+Grand DM has put out a fantastic Halloween themed zine.  It is a lot of fun and there is a lot of good gamable stuff in the pages.  You can buy a print copy from his blog, Ultanya.  It is $5 US, $6 Canada and $8 for the world.  And after you order your copy go check out his incredible gaming room.  It's fricking beautiful.  If you want a PDF copy, it's available at RPGNow for $2.99.

Fantastic Four Review

I don't usually do film reviews, but I went out this morning to catch the first showing of the day.  For $5 and only a handful of other people it's a win win.

When I collected comics as a kid the Fantastic Four was my favorite group.  The Thing my favorite superhero.  When they released the previous Fantastic Four from...what about 10 years ago...I was disappointed.  Nope, I was pissed.  I'll give a little ground that the second one was better, but that's like saying an infected open sore smells better than a maggot covered corpse. 

The hype leading up to this movie has been all negative.  I can't think of anything positive except maybe one guy saying the movie was horrible, but at least it was short.  Which I can appreciate.  Then you have the idiots bitching about the Torch being played by a black guy.  When I hear complaints like that I put them in that special little box in my mind where senseless dumb stuff get thrown in the incinerator.  Then you had the director saying the movie is different from the one he cut.  So, not too much good was said about it.

But I don't give two shits or a nickle what others say about a film.  I'll make up my own damn mind. 

My expectation for this movie was nothing more than to watch a superhero movie on the big screen.  And appreciate it for what it is, tumors and all.

I liked the movie.  It was a decent movie for a summer watch.  That's all I wanted.  It is a very flawed movie, yes.  My biggest complaint is one I have for many superhero movies that always want to go over the goddamn origin story again and again and again.  I've seen batman's parents get shot enough.  I've seen Uncle Ben get whacked enough and the radioactive spider chomp Peter, I've seen enough versions of Superman crashing into a country cornfield to make me puke.  The difference however for those examples is they embraced becoming something different.

For some reason it has become canon that the Fantastic Four must bitch about being changed.  Then, near the end they accept who they are.  This version of the Fantastic Four is no different.  Except for Torch.  Torch always likes being the Torch.  It's like these movies are a first level adventure that they keep using over and over and rarely do we get to see them reach a different level.  Avengers does this well, showing the development of power and its cost.

Despite the whiny part in the middle, the Fantastic Four had some interesting bits in it.   I really enjoyed the dimension they were exploring.  They called it Planet Zero.  I'm not sure where that falls in the mythology of the FF4.  I remember the Negative Zone!  It kinda looked like the Negative Zone.

The boss fight at the end seemed to have been cut down.  I liked the introduction of Dr. Doom, it was kinda creepy.  But the final fight was over quick. 

Will I run out and see this film again?  No.  Will I get it on DVD?  Probably not.  Am I glad I went and saw it?  Absolutely.  It was a fun summer movie.  Just check your expectations at the door and sit back have fun.

Review: The Stronghold, Issue No. 2

This review of The Stronghold, Issue No. 2 is based off the print copy.  I got the +Boric Glanduum Special and have two print copies.  One for each hand.  This is the second issue of The Stronghold, a strong sophomore outing.

First off, The cover was done by Boric's daughter.  Love that.  Nice touch and it only proves how frugal Boric is, using staff already under his payroll.  "Draw me a picture kid or you'll get no supper tonight."  I like Boric's style.

The interesting thing about this issue is how personal and open Boric gets.  This issue resonates some of what's been going on with Boric in real life.  He's been able to translate it into some very gameable and fun material.  His introduction allows you a peek into his process.  I think introduction are often an overlooked part of a zine or any media.  But I am an introduction junkie.  I love reading about 'behind the scenes' perspective from an author I'm about to spend a few hours reading.

Into the zine we go.

Five magical musical items.  Each has a concise, but in-depth back story.  While the back story is secondary to magical item, Boric writes up some very interesting folks I would definitely translate into statted NPCs for my game.  Some of the items you would think of as musical items, such as a horseshoe.  But you find out its a brass tube shaped as a horseshoe and once blown into the wielder can create some spectacular effect.

Gholls!  New monster!  These are wicked cool.  Ghoul and trolls combines.  A little paralyze.  A little regan.  BAM!  You got yourself a wicked opponent to throw against the party.  If you really want to screw with the party throw a Ring of Fire Resistance on the sucker.  +Jim Magnusson contributed the art for this piece and it is lovely.  Four armed, brain eating, blobular, spit covered beauty.

Ohh, Missives from the Hold....oh the controversy.  For those of us who indulge in puerile humor at the gaming table, this article is for you.  Boric brings to the front that has always been kept behind us.  What happens to the party when they explore the exotic foods and what it might do their tum tums and how it comes out their bum bums.  Two tables of absolute gas humor.  And the stats to make it gamable!  I am still can't help but laugh when I read "Total Trouser Betrayal".  

Treasure tables.  These are a series of mundane items that can be found as treasure.  I like these tables.  I use these tables.  In fact I used them a couple of nights ago.  Sometimes I get stuck with what items are found in an adventure and I like to pepper the loot with a few cool mundane pieces.

The last section is made up of several sections, but the star is Theral "Papa" Quimby, proprietor of Papa Quimby's Pet Emporium.  And there is a fantastic map included on the inside the back cover.  When I was reading about Quimby it felt like I was reading a very good short story.  These last sections can be picked up as a whole and placed nicely into any campaign.  I could see it in a western, sci-fi, even post apocalyptic setting.  It reminds me a little of the old Flying Buffalo Citybooks from years back.  And that is a very good thing.

There's my review of The Stronghold.  I make no apologizes that I've been an on-line friend with Boric for a few years and hope his zine succeeds.  I'm also credits with  proofreading, but Boric sends some of the cleanest manuscripts I've had the pleasure or reading.  So mainly I just get to read it before you all do and I'll make a couple of suggestions, but mainly with layout. 

You can buy The Stronghold, Issue No. 2 for $5 US, $5.50 Canada and $6 for the rest of you folks.  The Stronghold is a strong entry into the OSR zine community.  Which continues to grow.  I hope you all take a look at Boric's cool zine and grab a copy or do what I did, ask for the Boric Special and get two!

Review: Temple of Greed

 

 "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge..."

 The quote above is from the movie Wall Street, these words spoken by Gordon Gekko (not the little salamander dude).  Read those words and you'll know what kind of attitude your party needs to have before setting foot into the TEMPLE OF GREED.  Temple of Greed was created by Daniel "+Thaumiel Nerub" Neffling.  Daniel had a great supporting cast helping him such as +Tim Snider, +Dyson Logos, +Edward Lockhart, +Jeff Russell and +Shane Ward.

This review is on the paperback version.  It's 23 pages long.  It has a mix of hand drawn illustration (I believe these were done by Daniel), public domain pictures, both drawn and photos and the map was done by Dyson. 

I like the introduction.  How to get your players involved?  One word: TREASURE!  Do you need anything more than to tell player characters the story of this greedy, now dead-and-forgotten god and all the treasures left behind when the temple was sealed?  If that is not enough, maybe this adventure is not for your players.

This is a trick and trap and puzzle dungeon crawl.  I will not go into details about them as not to spoil them for anyone.  The only helpful advice I will give is the pious and humble will not do well in this.  Thieves and brigands should have the perfect mindset.

The dungeon has 13 rooms and I think could be completed in a single evening.  And like I mentioned about it is a thinking adventure, not a hack and slash...at all.  The puzzles and traps presented are tough enough to be challenging.  Daniel deftly avoids the problem with most of these types of adventures, where the puzzles are too difficult or the answers too abstract that the players get frustrated.  All the puzzles are very manageable if the party does a little problem solving.  It makes it fun.

I really like what Daniel has done with this adventure.  It is something I struggle with, so I respect when I see others develop a dungeon around puzzles and traps.  Plus, the background of the place makes sense to the adventure.  Adds some depth to it.  And I haven't checked, but I think Daniel's god of greed would make a perfect Petty God.

In addition to the adventure +Edward Lockhart created a class that is dedicated to the God of Greed.  It fits perfectly with the adventure and I think could be a fun add-on to someone's campaign.  It would be easy to put into a campaign.  Unless you have one of those worlds where people hold hands and get along all the time...that would so suck.

A huge thumbs up from me.  My only complaint would be that some of the public domain art pieces did not fit.  Daniel did illustrations for the book that were fantastic, I would have liked to see his interpretation of the pictures.  But that is a minor point.

You can grab a copy of The Temple of Greed at RPGNow.  The PDF is only a $1.70 and the print version is a mere $4.47 and you get the PDF with it.  Well worth the price of admission. 

Review: Mischievous Monsters

If you don't know who Simon Forster is, you should.  He creates fantastic maps, adventures and he is an overall cool dude.  A few weeks ago, Lulu did one of their big coupon deals and I picked up a few books that included Mischievous Monsters.  I've been a big fan of Simon's from way back, but I couldn't remember him releasing this adventure.  I mentioned something to Simon about his lack of pimping this adventure and his reply was, "That Mischievous Monsters is old and nowhere near as good as it could be now, which is why I don't tend to promote it."

With that statement I should add to the list of Simon's qualities, he's full of shit.  I just finished reading Mischievous Monsters and this adventure is excellent.  I've read Simon's other adventures and I enjoy the way he constructs the scenarios and the simple mechanics he applies to add to the experience of the adventure.

Let's get some of the regular stuff out of the way.  It is a low-level adventure compatible with the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy RPG.  Which means, it adapts to any OSR system with a small bit of effort.  I bought the print version, paperback, digest-size, 28-pages long, and a left and right justified single-column.  Good sized font which makes for easy reading.  The cover is a default from Lulu with an inset picture.  There is no other art in the book.

Onward, to the adventure.  A simple premise, the party stays at The Dancing Donkey Inn with some other folks.  During the night, stuff gets stolen.  The layout is very nice, a roster of who is staying at the inn is given in a simple table form so referencing is easy.  Above, I mentioned simple mechanics that add to the experience of the adventure, here's what I am talking about.  During the night when the thieves are thieving, Simon provides a simple table of what happens, what turn it happens and the chance of the party waking while it's happening.  This simple mechanic at the beginning of the adventure can change the course of the adventure in many ways.  I dig this kind of thing.

Everyone in the morning is boo hooing that they lost their stuff and ask the party to get it back.  A great role-playing opportunity.  There are rewards to be had,  all simple, but useful.  This is a trait I enjoy about Simon's adventures, his adventures are understated.  Hyperbole is tossed in the bin. 

Another simple mechanic Simon has employed is a simple timeline.  Depending on how fast the adventurers react to the situation, things are moving in the background.  There is a countdown, this adds tension to the situation.  Because the players are unaware of these behind the scene activities, it will make certain 'happenings' unexplainable and mysterious. 

The meat of the adventure is when the party attempts to retrieve the stolen goods.  The things the party encounter and how the adventure unfolds are very cool.  I won't go into too much detail because you just need to get a copy yourself.  At the end, there is a great little magic item that has a history and makes sense.  It's not just a randomly rolled item cookie-cuttered in.

In the back of the adventure are three new monsters you'll run in the adventure.  Again, Simon makes this section very usable with a random table of treasure and items they might carry.

Lastly, the map.  I got to know Simon by his maps.  The map is fantastic!  He's got an overall map with three connected cutaway maps included and in one glance you can reference all four maps.  It works well with the adventure.

Overall, I think Mischievous Monsters is a great adventure and glad I added it to my collection.  This is one I can see running.

The paperback version of Mischievous Monsters can be gotten at Lulu for $10.78.  The PDF version is all yours for $2.36.  I would tell you to buy the PDF, but put it towards the print version.  It is a handy adventure to have in your arsenal when running a campaign or a one-shot for the evening.

Well done Simon.

Review of Manors 4 thru 7

Fellow Tim, +Timothy Brannan did a review of issues 4 thru 7 of The Manor.  Thanks Tim for taking the time to do the review.  And if anyone is one the fence about grabbing an issue head on over and get a very good glimpse of what you'll find.

Review: D&D Next Monster Manual: Finally Got Mine

Normally I get the Monster Manual or any version of a monster book without too much thought.  A book of monsters, I'm in.  I took my time getting the 5E version.  Probably because I've been attempting to clean out some of my gaming stuff, but seem to be collecting more.  Armed with a coupon at B&N last night I decided to grab a copy.  It's nice to see my local B&N looks to be getting more gaming books. 

One of the first things I do when I get a monster manual is I flip through it to see how it's laid out.  I think the 5E MM has done a great job.  Although I am puzzled why they would dedicate an entire page to a picture of myconids.  There are much cooler critters I would rather see featured with full-page art. 

It is nearly 50 pages longer than its 4E step-brother version.  The 4E version boasts having nearly 500 monsters in between its covers.  Because of this, the stat blocks dominated the page and the art was crammed into the corners where they could find space.  The 5E MM does fewer monsters, more space and a better product.  While the art in both are great, I get to see it and enjoy it more in the 5E version.  The stat blocks for each creature is easy to find and read, they don't take up the majority of the space, allowing for more details.  I like that.

The other habit I have when getting a new critter book is to look for the critters I use a lot.  I use a lot of the trope monsters such as goblins, bugbears, orcs and pretty much all the undead.  I check my standard monsters to see if there is anything new, any change that might spark my interest.  I like to see what someone else may have come up with to add to a certain creature's legacy.

The first example is the goblin.  With their stealth ability, which increases their chance of surprise make them no joke.  In my experience with 5E so far, surprise has become a huge factor on how a battle may go.  A handful of goblins armed with bows and surprise can whittle a party down quickly. 

Second example, fricking zombies and their undead fortitude.  A DM with hot dice can make a small group of zombies nasty.  Again, I've already had experience with this.  This is another example of how taking a normally innocuous encounter and with a simple tweak, these creature needs to be handled with care (and lots of fire!).  And they give a stat block for a beholder zombie.  How can you not like that?

A big thumbs up here at the Manor for the latest iteration of the Monster Manual.  I'm looking forward to building some adventures with the 5E system.  While the stat blocks are not conducive to my micro adventures I might try to slip one. 

How Not to React to a Bad Review

Over the weekend there was some drama over at Tenkar's Tavern (I know, shocking), but it wasn't the grumpy, drunken dwarf this time, but Dragonwars of Trayth who had a Kickstarter campaign running and Erik called it out.  Here's the link to the review.  Erik has since embellished it with some interesting pictures, but only after he was threatened with a lawsuit.

If you checked out the link you'll see Dragonwars of Trayth has since removed his (I'm assuming it's a male) comments and I believe the Kickstarter is dead.  At least I couldn't find a link to it any longer.  The comments were ridiculous.  And unfortunate.

Years ago I wrote a similar post with the same name, an author of a book had a breakdown in the comment section as she attacked the reviewer.  She made it a 100 times worse.

I get the emotional ties people invest into their products.  They spend a lot of time and effort into them, but because you poured your life's blood into a book or Kickstarter or adventure doesn't mean people are going to like it.   You have to be prepared to receive negative criticism.  If you put it out into the public, it's going to happen.  

Some of the negativity will come from dipshits who are going out of their way to be asses.  But at least they purchased your product or took the time to steal it.  Even when you get a negative review you are more than likely going to get a few sales from it.  Just happens.  When you get a negative review from someone who just hates it because reasons that make no sense (I had one guy who didn't like one of my adventures because it wasn't Tomb of Horrors...no shit, not supposed to be, but for what ever reason he wanted ToH2 and his review was not well thought out and had to do more about him than me) don't reply to these guys.  Just mark it off as someone who didn't like it.  Whatever you do, don't defend what you wrote.  It only makes you look desperate.  

Then you'll have the reviewer who is negative, but states his points, well thought out and highlights some of your weaknesses.  These guys are golden.  I'm serious.  First of all they have taken the time to read your product thoroughly and then they have dissected it to break it down into parts to talk about it.  I've had just as many good reviews for Knowledge Illuminates as I have had bad.  When you get reviewers who take their time to do this, thank them.  Thank them for taking the time for reading and doing a review and maybe they will like the next product better.

There is a lot of in between of these two types.  Some reviews matter more than others.  Some reviewers opinions matter more than others.  Be generous and polite or sometimes silent.  In this day and age very few have the skill to be silent.

It's important to have a thick skin, to not have an ego about your work.  Be proud of what you've done, but don't think it's untouchable.  Do the best work you can do at the time.  If you do your best more people are going to like it than not, but be prepared for the negativity that comes with putting your work into the public.

I think I've used this quote before, but I think it's great.  R.L. Stone of Goosebumps fame has an all-time favorite criticism.  "I've read 40 of your books and I think they're really boring."

I guess to sum up my blathering, don't get pissed off by a bad review.  Don't fall in love with the good reviews.  Listen to both.  If you're hearing a lot of criticism about a specific thing you better take a look at it and see what you can do to fix it.  Most of all, get to work on your next thing.  

Review: The Overrun Mines

The Overrun Mines was written by +Shane Ward under the 3 Toadstools Publishing banner.  It's a low-level adventure, for 4 characters of levels 1+ using the Labyrinth Lord & B/X rule systems.

Price:
.50 cents

Physical Make-Up:
Available in PDF only.   It is 15 pages long.  1 for the cover, 2 for maps, 6 for the adventure, 1 for author bio, 2 for pre-gen characters and 3 for the OGL.  It's well organized and easy to read.  It uses a two column format.  For the PDF is is formatted on regular sized paper (8.5" x 11"), but I printed mine out on zine form (shocking I know) and I can read it fine.

Art:
There are 5 pieces of art, including the cover.  Shane grabbed them from openclipart.org.  The art is simple and small.  While the art doesn't add to the adventure it helps break up the text giving it a light and fun look. 

Setting: 
Shane has kept the details generic so you can place it into your campaign easier.  A mine near a town.  It's all that it needs.  And you'll be shocked to hear that the adventure is underground!  There are two levels of mines to explore.

Premise:
Mines have been overrun...like the title reads.  But there is a twist to it.  Something I could definitely play on in my campaign.  I won't go into details to spoil the fun. 

Extras:
 Rumor Table
There is a rumor table, which is very good.  There is a lot of little things going on and if the players take the time (and the ale) to listen they'll get a pretty good idea of what is going on and what to expect.


Resurrection Rules
heh, you gotta love an adventure starts with a set of rules for when your characters die.

Underworld Day Rules
An interesting addition, a table of random effects from spending time in the underworld.  Each player rolls a d20 each day to see what boon they receive or what penalty they suffer.

Maps:
There are two simple, line drawn cave maps.  Shane uses some crosshatching to help define the areas.  I would have liked to have seen a darker pen to make them pop a little more.  While there isn't much detail, there is enough that a little more definition would have helped.

The Adventure:
An underground adventure that consists of two-levels, with 22 encounter areas.  I think a party should be able to get through the adventure in a single session (2 - 4 hours). 

My Opinion:
I think Shane captures the essences of an old school adventure with The Overrun Mines.  He keeps the adventure straight forward.  A GM can pick up this adventure and run it in five minutes.  But like a good old school adventure, GMs can integrate the adventure into their campaigns and add the layers of intrigue into it with little effort.  There is a political slant to this adventure that I could see myself run with.  What's also fun about the adventure is there are several different types of encounters.  The players will have a variety of things to hack at.  And there is enough elements within to keep every class busy.  It would be handy to have a diverse crew when entering the mines.  I like the touch of having the pre-gen characters in the back.  With them, running a pick-up game would take no time.

Grab yourself a copy of The Overrun Mines at RPGNow, it's only .50 cents.  While you are there, also check out his other short adventure, The Caverns of Ugard.  It is a PWYW product.  It's a 12 room underground adventure with the added bonus of his entry, Assault on the Thieves Guild, Shane's One-Page Dungeon 2014 entry.

 

Review: How to Create Great Fantasy Maps (even if you can't draw)

Sometimes I go on to RPGNow and cruise around for some random thing to buy.  I always stash away some store credit for such occasions.  This time around I saw the title, How to Create Great Fantasy Maps (even if you can't draw).  Great title.  I like maps.  I like great maps.  I like to try and draw maps.  So I bought it.  At the low price of a $1.50, hell yeah I was going to get it.

This is the PDF printed.  The staple is not included in the PDF.

How to Create Fantasy Maps was written by Mark Wightman (don't touch him or you'll lose a level) for Draken Games.  The PDF comes in at 24 letter sized pages.  This features, don't be shocked, a lot of maps.  It's very printer friendly.  No large black spaces.  No backgrounds.  Just text and maps. 

Being a map guy myself, I'm always looking for a few tips, tricks or cheats.  There are a couple of cool techniques I learned in this that I want to try.  I won't go into detail because that would spoil the fun.  While you won't find any deep, dark secrets of mapping within, it is very handy and I can see it being especially useful to beginners or folks like me who want to see how other hand draw their maps.

The biggest draw to How to Create Fantasy Maps is Mark's writing.  The guy's excitement for maps really comes across in his writing.  In the intro he mentions his love for the Tolkien maps and a spectacular example of his lack of artistic ability (I am right there with you brother).  It's a fun, practical way to learn how to draw maps.  The examples are great.  He gives advice that I would have difficulty following, such as be patient.  I forget that.  Let the ink dry first before you try to erase the pencil lines.  Good advice.

I give a big thumbs up for How to Create Fantasy Maps. 

Micro-Adventure #4: The Pierced Children

Here is my latest addition, Micro-Adventure #4: The Pierced Children.  You can go on over to Patreon and download it for free like all my other offerings.  If you like it, maybe throw a quarter into the till.  Either way, please download it and give it a read. 

This micro-adventure kept wanting to creep into full adventure mode.  One of the things I enjoy about writing these is keeping it concise and cutting away all the frivolous additions.

To conserve space for this entry, since many of the opponents were the same I just used a generic stat block at the end and if there were any variations I added them into the text of the encounter.  

+Thaumiel Nerub wrote a review about MA #1: Norman's Gone Missing.  He estimates it took him 1-2 minutes to read and that included prepping time and it takes 15 - 30 minutes of game time.

+Erik Tenkar also wrote a quick post about MA #3: The Pig and The Ogre.  He's itching to get a grease pencil and mark it up.  Great idea!

For those who are members of my Patreon offerings I'll be sending out laminated copies of the micro-adventures every so often and other surprises I am cooking up.

+Christian Walker took the time to post a few words about my laminated version of MA#3: The Pig and The Ogre.

There seems to be a lot of cats with my maps.  Maybe I should start selling these things at the pet stores. 

And to those who are already supporting my Micro-Adventures, a huge thanks.  It is appreciated and I hope to make it worth your while.

Some Zines Get Some Love'n

+Peter Schweighofer, who writes the Hobby Games Reece blog did a post today titled, Print Fanzines in the Electronic Age.  It's a very good post.  It features three OSR zines.  One of which is mine and the other two are +john yorio's Six Iron Spikes & a Small Hammer and +Nathan Irving's recent release Secrets (which he has just announced he is releasing the 2nd issue, Strange Races, and that you can pre-order it today).

Please go give it a read.  Thanks Peter, for the kind words and the awesome post.

Video Reviews Coming

I've been tinkering around with the idea of doing video reviews.  Last night I downloaded a video editing program that looks to be about my speed.  I've got a backlog of products I want to go through, several zines in fact.  Once I get comfortable with the video and editing and as long as I don't sound like a complete idiot (editing can only help you so much) I hope to have it out this week. 

I'm looking forward to playing with this new toy.  I see I can even do the Star Wars scene wipes.  I am gonna guess you will be seeing one or two of those.