Advanced Feats: Visions of the Oracle

Advanced Feats: Visions of the Oracle (PDF)

by

Sigfried Trent

Published by Open Design

Disclaimer: The copy used for this review was provided by the folks at Open Design.

I've really enjoyed the Advanced Feats line from the folks at Open Design, as I'm sure anyone who's read my prior reviews can guess, and Visions of the Oracle is no exception to this fact. Oddly enough, given the material at hand, Visions hits me differently than the prior offerings in the series yet that's not a bad thing.

First let's get the crunch out of the way; Visions of the Oracle covers a breakdown of the Oracle, provides 30 new feats, and advises the reader on build options using three examples within a 17-page PDF (1 page front cover, 1 page table of contents, 1 page license, 1 page back cover/blurb, and 13 pages of Oracle goodness) that is well designed and illustrated.

If you've ever wanted to play the character with the gift, or curse, of foreboding visions and insights, yet have never done so and wish to learn how, then this book is for you. As it can walk you through the Oracle class, give some ideas and understandings, and make suggestions for crafting a character that can put anyone on a good path to an enjoyable character.

However, it is also useful for veteran players, as it offers interesting insights and feats, as well as build designs, that would help any advanced player. 

Visions of the Oracle manages to do this concurrently by just covering the material at hand, slipping in designer notes as needed, and talking about what it is to be an Oracle, as well as the variety inherent to the class. Whether you're currently playing an Oracle, thinking about letting your players attempt the class, or wanting to use them as an NPC in your campaign, this latest Advanced Feats is good for folks on either side of the screen.

I like it, and plan on using it, and I think most gamers using the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game would like it, too. Everyone involved on this piece should be quite proud of it.

Buy yours today, for $3.95 (PDF).

Gnomish infiltration disrupts Clutchland Security!

If the following report is to be believed, it appears there has been another breakdown in gnomish/koboldian relations:



"Curses! Those dirty gnomes drugged our guard weasels—using weaselnip, the blighters!—and broke into the Kobold’s vault! 


Until we sober them up, there’s nothing the kobolds can do to stop you from downloading a FREE issue of Kobold Quarterly magazine. Go to the KQ Store, add issue #11 to your cart, and enter the coupon code KQ11Gift at checkout to snatch a PDF copy of your own."

Courts of the Shadow Fey

Courts of the Shadow Fey (PDF or Print)
by
Wolfgang Baur
Published by Open Design

Disclaimer: The copy used for this review was provided by the folks at Open Design.

I'm not an a guy who takes place in the 'Edition Wars,' I can easily say that something is a good system, yet add that I don't play it because I don't find it interesting. Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, in and of its self, holds little appeal for me. Sure I've played it — in fact I'm in a play-by-post campaign that converted to it — and I've ran it before, since that's what the group wanted, but if I'm left to my druthers I just don't do much with it. I've never even tried to design for it.

But, as with anything in life, there is always an exception.

While I avoid most 4e stuff, there is one huge, gleaming exception to this personal preference and that is whenever you cross 4e and the folks from Open Design. Of course, I'm sure you could say that about a lot of things, as I tend to like the craftsmanship of kobolds, however 4e compatible stuff is proof that they can make me like something that I normally do not enjoy.

If I were to ever run  a 4e campaign, it was going to use material from the Iron Gazetteer and Halls of the Mountain-King. Now I can add Courts of the Shadow Fey to that illustrious 'What If?' scenario of if, or when, I run a 4e game what would I use in it.

As a patron of Castle Shadowcrag, I'm familiar with the Shadow Fey, thus my enjoyment of Courts of the Shadow Fey. Not only is this it a well written and illustrated piece, but the layout is excellent and the bookmarks are quite useful. Broken into four acts, Courts of the Shadow Fey should take a party from 12th level to 15th level, give or take, and deal with the cunningly deceptive, as well as deadly Shadowy Fey.

Using the term 'bucketed', Wolfgang Baur offers up a series of sandboxes for folks to play in and through, with the bucket being how they must go one after another through the story's overall plot.

Tales of intrigue, mystery, the unknown, and much more are detail within this old world feeling adventure. As should be familiar with those who enjoy the work of the various offerings of Open Design, old folklore, myth, and legend is twisted in a more grim and inventive fashion to lead us down a hole that no rabbit would use, due to self-preservation.

Definitely an adventure worth buying, but also a hallmark of what folks who join a patronage project can get for the price of their membership. Not only is it a custom project, based upon the needs of the patrons, but it is also a course on effective game design and development.

So if a 101-page, four act adventure that follows the ebb and flow of the Shadow Fey, their courtly acts, and the machinations of those under a faerie ring — or fey ring, to stick more with the piece at hand — then you could do not much better than buying Courts of the Shadow Fey. Rumors, secrets, manipulations, courtly warfare, assassination, and the like drip from this adventure like an overflowing goblet of wine in a dowager queen's intoxicated hand.

Buy yours today for $14.00 (PDF) or $24.95 (Print) from the folks at Open Design.

Advanced Feats: The Cavalier's Creed

Advanced Feats: The Cavalier's Creed (PDF)

by

Sigfried Trent

Published by Open Design

Disclaimer: The copy used for this review was provided by the folks at Open Design.

The Cavalier's Creed is that latest offering from Open Design in the Advanced Feats line of Pathfinder RPG compatible books that focus on the classes presented in the Advanced Players Guide. It is a 16-page PDF that consists of a full color cover with artwork, a credits page, the customary OGL page, a split-page of Advanced Feats line advertisements, and 12-pages of content.

As with previous entries in this series, we are presented with an examination of the advanced class, 30 feats for it, and build ideas and three examples. It also has a nice cover by Christophe Swal that is quite evocative of the cavalier.

Okay, there's the cut-and-dry aspects out of the way, now onto the editorialization...

It'd be a slight understatement if I said that I like the work of Sigfried Trent on the Advanced Feats series, as well as that of his wife, and graphic designer of the series, Anne Trent. I really do as they put out a quality product for the folks at Open Design each and every time and The Cavalier's Creed is no exception.

In addition to the crunchy mechanics within, we are also presented with various author notes about historical footnotes, design notes, and factoids that are a combination of interesting and useful for the reader. Whether the reader is someone who remembers cavaliers in their various incarnations in d20-based roleplaying games, as well as a certain overly entitled pain-in-the-backside from a certain fantasy-based cartoon, or they are someone new to the class, this PDF will be quite useful and informative.

The black-and-white illustrations are a nice touch, as well, especially given their period feel and flavor. In fact, I would say that the illustrations lend an ambiance to the text, given the subject matter, and it helps put someone in the right mindset for playing a cavalier.

See, it is not just about being noble, talking flowery language, or being the hopeless romantic, and The Cavalier's Creed helps show that quite nicely. A quixotic knight is not a career, it is a calling. It is not a character trait, it is character exemplified. It is not just tilting at windmills, it is knowing that one of them one day will be a dragon.

Basically, being a cavalier is taking an unreasonable ideal or belief and instilling it as such a core concept for a character that it becomes reasonable, nay even admirable. It is when chivalry leaves a cavalier that the unreasonable occurs, but fortunately with a piece like The Cavalier's Creed that will not happen.

Buy yours today, for $3.95 (PDF).

Unkindness

Unkindness (PDF or Print)
by
Michael Satran
Cover Art, Illustrations, and Layout by DT Butchino
Published by BlackWyrm Publishing


Disclaimer: The copy used for this review was provided by the folks at Atomic Array.


First off, let us get the basics out of the way: Unkindness is an adventure for used with Heroes 6th Edition or ICONS that is 36-pages in length, which accounts for the front and back covers, blank inside cover pages, an informative credits page, an advertisement, a two-page license, and 28 pages of adventure material. There's color art and maps, a wide variety of dual statblocks for non-player characters, and more.


Secondly, it ain't often that I come across a gaming product that shares a touchstone with my academic life, yet Unkindness does just that with its psychological subject matter. Often when folks here 'mature themes' they think danse macabre, erotica, or some untoward thing, yet with Unkindness we're exposed to an all-to-common untoward act, as both a motivation for the events in the adventure and focal point for the heroes and their actions and re-actions. Not only did I find this an interesting avenue with respect to adventure design, but I applaud the message at the core of the adventure.


Yeah, I know, that's a bit vague, but I hate spoilers and I think that this is one best left discovered via player, or while laying out an adventure.


Basically, as a soon-to-be-graduated professional in the field of psychology, I'd like to take my hat off to Michael Satran and BlackWym Publishing for working with a difficult subject in a way that was both creatively sound, and morally sound.


But, enough of the lofty thought, and on to the grit of gamerness.


Unkindess is an adventure that you can drop into pretty much any location with only a modest amount of shoehorning. It includes some crisp maps that can not only be used for the adventure that they're included with, but also any contemporary roleplaying game. The art is very comicbookish, and it reminds me of some of the more indie comics, or small pressed from the 80s or, possibly, some of the later 70s.


You've a mysterious villain, unusual henchmen, and Norse mythology all rolled into a plot that's deeper, and perhaps more twisted, than a first or second look would suggest.


As the tag line suggests, "And even the mightiest of gods can be inspired by the evil that men do..."


Unkindness does just that. Not only could it pluck at heartstrings, and mash buttons on issues of the heroes, but perhaps their players as well. But, that's what roleplaying games can do for folks. Empathy is an interesting skill to hone, as not only seeing how someone else walks in their shoes, but why they walk as they do can be a powerfully moving thing.


So if you're up for an interesting game with your players, one that might have them think beyond the table while still having a good time, then Unkindness is definitely the right choice for your table.


Buy yours today, for $3.95 (PDF) or $6.95 (Print).



Want to learn more about Unkindness? Read on...

• Atomic Array - Episode 49: Unkindness
• Emerson's Bookshelf - Unkindness

Tales of the Old Margreve

Tales of the Old Margreve (PDF or Print)
by
Tim & Eileen Connors
published by Open Design


Disclaimer: The copy used for this review was provided by the folks at Open Design.


There are many stark contrasts between urban, suburban, and rural lifestyles, and all are quite telling of the communities that inhabit those environs. One of the more apropos, with respect to the topic of this review, would be that of the feelings of the people toward forested areas and what can be found within them. Those within an urban environment see the forest in two different manners, those verdant places outside of their borders that have a nostalgic veneer to them and the controlled parks within their border that are places of tranquility sometimes disrupted by the disdained segments of their populaces. However, the further away from the sprawl you get the truer notion of the old woods comes to the forefront...the deep dark of the wooded fringes are best feared and respected for we have forgotten the unfettered wilds within them.


Tales of the Old Margreve is here to remind your players of this very fact, that sometimes there are more dark things within the woodlands than found within mere dungeons.


Within this adventure anthology are all the resources you would need to craft a campaign with The Old Margreve forest as the centerpiece. Not only is there an open piece of fiction, to give you the flavor of the area, but also a gazetteer. There is also a bestiary and region-specific magic section, full of encounters and more flavor. Yet the bulk of this modest tome are the eight adventures that cover the ranges of play from 1st to 10th level that easily add to the potential sandbox nature of this product.


You've Richard Pett's Hollow (1st-level), The Honey Queen by Jonathan McAnulty (2nd or 3rd level), Challenge of the Fang by Dan Voyce (4th level), The Griffon Hatchling Heist by Michael Furlanette (5th level), Gall of the Spider Crone by Tim Connors (6th level), Dan Voyce's Blood and Thorns (7th level), Grandmother's Fire from Ben McFarland (8th or 9th level), and The Lustful Dragon by Steven Robert (10th level), all barely contained within these pages.


If you're looking for an imposingly ancient woodland, a place that would make even the longest of the long-lived whisper, then Tales of the Old Margreve is for you and your table. If your players seem jaded toward stone walls and tunnels, and you'd like to surprise them with an old thought or memory, then this is the product to use. It'd be easy to use the adventures as need, work up an adventure chain, or sandbox a campaign out of this book.


In addition to the main product, there are also supplementary products that include a useful web compilation and a cool set of Ashton Sperry's paper minis.


Buy yours today, for $9.95 (PDF) or $24.95 (Print). The web compilation for $1.95 (PDF) and the Paper Minis $3.95 (PDF).

Advanced Feats: The Summoner's Circle

Advanced Feats: The Summoner's Circle (PDF)

by

Sigfried Trent

Published by Open Design

Disclaimer: The copy used for this review was provided by the folks at Open Design.

If all I saw was the Eidolon Character Sheet, that would be enough.


Yeah, I know, I paraphrased a quote from A Knight's Tale, I'm cool like that. It could have been Roar, as my Heath Ledger man crush is that dated. I'm just warning you all.


Anyhow, on toward the review...


Seriously, there's an Eidolon Character Sheet...how cool is that?


Sigfried Trent offers further exploration of the new classes found within Paizo's Advanced Player's Guide for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, this time the focus is upon the Summoner. As with prior Advanced Feats works, we've a series of new feats (30 in total number), example builds (3), discussion of builds, and an examination of the classes its self.


I know, that's a wee bit dry, but that's just the quick and short version.


See, I like the Summoner as it's hits that boy-and-his-monster vibe for me. Whether it's Stanley and his Monster, Puff the Magic Dragon, or what not, there's a vibe that taps into a child and his uncanny companion that I like a lot. In fact, I'm fairly certain that early readings of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea instilled some of that in me, too, but I digress.


Trent hits the nail on the head, with respect to the Summoner, as it really is a class that folks can tinker around with and customer to their particular desire. Not only do you get a class, but you get a companion as a sort of two-for-one character.


There is a lot of focus on building the right Summoner for you, but there is also a fair amount of focus on fine tuning your eidolon and that's a big win for this product. Yes, the character sheet is useful, however the volume of focus on various things to do with and to an eidolon is full of utilitarian joy and win.


Are you in the mood to be all steampunky, then how about summoning clockwork beasts instead? It's right there.


Wanna go all Shiva on your foes? Multi-arm is there, too.


On that note, I should point out that there is a fair amount of advice on balance for GMs who might be worried, which is always a nice touch.


Overall, The Summoner's Circle is a continuation of the useful series that Open Design has been offering. It is a solid treatise on the class with useful feats, solid examples of build ideas, and is very helpful for those interested in the class.


Buy yours today, for $3.95 (PDF).