Benoist Poiré's page

D3 is an excellent module. From a holy ceremony gone wrong, our PCs will explore the buildings surrounding Clydwell Keep to then plunge within its depths to stop a catastrophic event of unbelievable proportions.

I particularly like the "siege" aspect of the module, in the sense that PCs are racing against time, trying to reach a location of extreme importance by fighting their way "behind enemy lines", exploring the Demon-occupied areas in the process and dealing with the aftermath of their invasion.

It's really effective when run straight out of the book, and can also act as a spark, a foundation for a mini-campaign (by adding encounter areas and other things to do while the PCs make their way to the adventure's gullet to its end point), or a huge epic (with possible long term ramifications of the module's ending).

All around, the ambiance is there, the pace is sustained, the flavor ideas are great, and it's all a springboard from which many great game sessions could come alive. Recommended product. 5 stars.

The Collected BOXM certainly will remain as one of the greatest game variants to D&D itself, in my opinion, along with Arcana Unearthed, Pathfinder, True20 and others.

The changes are selective but dramatically change the game play. Healing becomes target-based instead of cleric-based, characters get feats every level, spell levels now match character levels (from 1 to 20th level spells), wizards don't run out of magical things to do while still retaining the Vancian magic system as a base for increasing power and abilities.

I think it would have been premature to take Pathfinder as a base since the final rules are not even published. It is, furthermore, totally possible to get a Pathfinder sorcerer concept going with BOXM as a pure Wizard, with the inventive use of some Bloodline feats.

A word of caution, however: this clearly is a game variant destined towards people who are already familiar with the 3.5 rules. The multiplication of feats, spells and other game components makes the game significantly more complex to approach (though easier to play in the end for the initiated). This is not a good product to bring people to gaming, in my opinion.

Now, that said, this is totally awesome. If you were the kind of player or DM interested in thoughtful variants to the base D&D game with Unearthed Arcana, Arcana Unearthed and others, this book is for you.

I really like this Pathfinder Chronicles resource. It is a small enough area to get a party of 1st level characters going without having to go through the intricacies of Golarion, the campaign setting itself, while providing enough details for a whole lot of adventuring if the DM chooses so.

I agree that the maps have some issues, like the lack of a scale, but was less bothered by the discrepancies between the general map and the details in the book itself, since I tend to treat those maps as "medieval" in nature, that is, imperfect, drawn by people observing the landscape rather than using satellite imaging, which leads to various interpretations and representations of the landmass.

Along with Crown of the Kobold King and its follow-up, Carnival of Tears, the Last Baron's module series, it really makes for an interesting, contained (and thus old school in nature) setting.

The production value is very high, the art inspiring. Like all the other items cards, this particular set is great.

Despite it's specifics regarding the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, these cards are perfectly usable in any of your home campaigns.

Recommended.

The organization and ideas behind the Harrow Deck (using the alignments as "colors" of the deck) are great, the production value very high.

I wasn't a fan of this artist before owning this deck. I was a little anxious while waiting for it in the mail. Now that I got it, I can honestly say that he did an amazing job on this product.

Well done!

Hauntings that remind us of the Skinsaw Murders. A harsh search for a city lost to tales and legends of the height of Thassilon. A feel of wonder and otherworldliness at the edge of the world, with giants, lamias, magic, politics... and all sorts of ruins to explore. Riches beyond belief, and the looming, quasi-Cthulhian threat of a Runelord trapped between two worlds overhead.

This is total, complete awesomeness.

The articles complement the plot well (stats of the Runelord -I love the Classic Evil archmage feel to him- and managing harsh cold environments).

The monster roster is outstanding. I particularly appreciate the several samples of "lamia-kin" included. The Denizens of Leng are great too.

Overall, a great finale for Rise of the Runelords. I wouldn't have had it any other way!

This adventure basically presents a seven-in-one mid/high level dungeon for the PCs to explore and ultimately defeat.

The politics of the place and events that precede the PCs' arrival are well detailed and compelling - it gives a real feeling of "life" to a place that would otherwise have felt dull and static.

The villains are all original in their own right. The challenges interesting and very "typical" for that kind of arcane dungeon for higher level characters. This is classic with a bunch of twists, which makes for great game play.

The Magic of Thassilon article is excellent.

The Cult of Lamashtu article is one of the best cult descriptions I've ever read in a D&D product. This makes the issue worth it on its own, to me. Absolute BLISS for a fan of ancient religions like me. Kudos for Sean Reynolds on this one. I'm very, very impressed.

The roster of monster is alright. Some very good, others less. But overall good.

Globally, this is one of the best issues of Pathfinder to date. Some of the material included here is a must-have for any Golarion fan.

I found the plot weak at the beginning. After attacks of Goblins and Ogres, the whole "siege" theme starts to get repetitive. I didn't enjoy that part very much, even if the scale was much broader.

This is just the beginning though. The rest of the adventure is particularly good, with some memorable encounters and creatures.

Lots of highs, some lows, overall it is still a great adventure.

The articles on Stone Giants and Dragons of Golarion are absolutely outstanding. The roster of creatures is great. I'm not a big fan of fiction, but that's okay to me.

Another win for the Pathfinder team!

Strangely enough, the inbred, wonderfully disgusting "logueness" of this issue didn't repulse me as much as I thought it would. That makes me curious as to what type of content was excluded from the final text!

The best part of the adventure, I think, is the relative free-form management of a fort the PCs can take care of after liberating it from its monstrous occupiers. This goes along with some advice on how to run the upkeep of a fort in the game.

The whole plot is extremely detailed and vibrant. It's alive.

The roster of creatures included with this issue is extremely useful. Great value there as well.

I give it a "4", probably because I was somehow expecting more in the ways of horror and disturbing creepiness, as well as a more original plot (this adventure is all in all very classic for D&D), after the Skinsaw Murders.

I find the idea of selling previews $20 US totally preposterous.

The layout and art may be nice, but nothing can justify that kind of marketing approach. This is just a cheap shot destined to sell half-baked products between 3.5 and 4E.

Fellow gamers, please don't buy into that strategy.

It's simple, straightforward, and very flavorful. The encounters, the villain, it's all classic and yet stuffed with twists which will make the whole experience worthwhile at the game table.

I found the investigation part too linear, personally, which can bring a risk of railroading, but nothing a vigilant DM can't avoid: there is enough room between the different encounters to customize the investigation and make it feel like it fits the players' style.

Yes, this is mainly a dungeon, and it started as a delve. It's the "D" series, as in "Dungeons", after all!

The flavor is excellent, the dungeon deadly with an old-school feel on several levels, among which the sci-fi undertones and the rooms with each specific traps/problematics to be solved.

This is a good dungeon crawl. You might not appreciate if you want to purchase a "story". If you are an old-schooler, you can invest with confidence: you'll find the module well designed.

The adventure in itself is outstanding. Creepy, entertaining, well balanced between investigations, fights and exploration... that's all good.

There is one minor flaw: the very pretty Magnimar map with keys and locations that do not match, as well as problems of orientation (one text mentions a migration of an NPC south, and the map shows the district thus created in the West of the river).

There's also a small question of thematic: I really appreciated the description of Desna and her cult. This is a great job, really. I would have appreciated something more fitting the creepy/horror genre of the adventure though. Lamashtu, or Ghaur (or Ghauth? Spelling may be off - it's described as some sort of horrific mosquito half-god of bloodsuckers and sickenesses) would have been a better fit. Something more relevant to the rest of the volume.

These are both minor issues to me, but it's enough for me to award 4 instead of 5 stars for this volume. Got to start getting tough on the marking for further improvements, here! :)

It's THE Classic mega-module of AD&D. You can either play it as a pure dungeon crawl or role-playing-laden campaign.

Your choice. Ultimately, the feel of T1-4 will hugely depend on the way the module is used by the DM. Run it as-it-stands, without creativity, and it can become dry very quickly. Use it as a spring-board for your imagination, whether as a suite of devious challenges and combat or as a saga of the destiny of Hommlet, the village from where the adventure starts, and the lands surrounding it, and you've got years and years of gaming ahead of you.

I know a group of players who has been using it for literally decades. I'm talking 25 years here. And they're still running it with children, grand-children, friends of the original player-characters. Amazing.

Cool issue. Love the Assassin (great replacement for D&D's PrC or Thieves' World base class), the alternate abilities for Paladins. The ecology was a nice read, as the interview of WAR.

Good stuff all around. Keep up the good work!

This magazine does exactly what it's set out to do: provide a magazine for gamers, by gamers, in a familiar, small-scale but high quality fashion.

The style of the magazine certainly will remind some of the first issues of Dragon. The feel is there, the good writing is present, there's nothing wrong that could be said about this issue, besides a few very minor things here and there (nothing out of the ordinary for a first issue, though).

If you want an alternative to the mammoth DI, something that's close to your interests as a DnD gamer, something that talks to you with a direct, friendly voice, this is what you are looking for right here.

Of course, this game is more based on the movies than the actual book, but it does its job well. The rules don't particularly suck, the archetypes and themes of the mechanical treatment recreate rather well the ambiance of the LOTR... It's alright as long as you're not picky.

If you can't stand other wizards on Middle Earth than the Istari, for instance, this is not the game you want to play LOTR, simply because PCs can play magic users. That's just an example. If you feel your skin crawl when you read this, you can forget about this game. If you're okay/can make sense of that, chances are you won't be disappointed.

Call of Cthulhu is one of the Great Old Ones, these classics of RPG history. It hasn't lost any of its appeal down the years. The mechanics are simple, the ambiance is definitely there, and Lovecraft's Mythos provides this "little something" that makes it different from countless other horror RPGs.

If you want to be able to say you know anything about RPGs, just like D&D, Vampire and a few other classics, you have to get and play this game.

The book provides exactly what it says it does: a complete description of the nature and features of the Dreamlands, specific rules for the Dreamlands, tons of ideas for CoC campaigns... it provides the other side of Call of Cthulhu, the one beyond the mirror of reality, the one that can be heroic, weird and timeless.

This is an absolute gem. A must for anyone who wants to get the complete picture of the Mythos.

Layout, quality of production, art, maps, every single physical aspect of the product is outstanding. I understand some people with bad eyesight might be bothered by the small font. I'm not, personally.

The contents are solid, and provide what you need to run the first part of Rise of the Runelords. I find everything well done. There are two types of vanilla ice creams: the bland ones you can get everywhere, and the superior ones you know, with real bits of vanilla here and there, really complex flavor and so on.

Burnt offerings is "Vanilla D&D" in nature. It's great, superior Vanilla D&D. Outstanding.

Promethean: The Created is to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein what Vampire: The Requiem is to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It takes the base concept and expands it tremendously to change it into a complete role-playing game.

What I love about Promethean is this opportunity to play a creature who’s nature is so intertwined with Alchemy, all this time trying to perform the ultimate Chrysopeia, to transmute themselves from Lead to Gold, to become fully Human.

The game does a great job, like Vampire did before it, to grab some myths and legends out there and re-interpret them using the game’s background. Caryatids, Golems, Frankenstein monsters, Dismembered Shamans, mummies... they're all there with a twist that heightens the integrity and variety of the whole.

You are a composite artificial creature of Alchemy trying to become human. Your "Azoth", or Inner Flame, is unnatural. You shouldn’t be alive, pal, and Mother Nature takes care to remind you of that. That’s called the Disquiet. That means that if you stay anywhere for too long the land, plants, life start to die around you, and people, animals, other supernatural beings feel like they want to shun you, push you away and finally, hurt you. Remember Victor Frankenstein’s monster pursued by the angry mob, the windmill burning? Well, that’s Disquiet at work right there.

All in all, Promethean is a great game, very different from other NWoD titles (since it relies a lot on character cooperation), genuinely new and well worth a try.

Werewolf The Forsaken is sort of different from Werewolf The Apocalypse, but yet it feels sort of the same.

Exit all the ecological theme of the Apocalypse. Exit the defenders of Gaia. Welcome Father Wolf. Welcome Pure Tribes.

Werewolves here are creatures that are both flesh and spirit, who exist between the worlds and act as the guardians on the border separating mortals from spirits, making sure one doesn't "bleed" onto the other, so to speak. It's a much simpler theme than the Apocalypse's was, and yet, it's sort of the same.

The rules are good, balanced. The whole is good. It surely can generate some very good entertainment. So it's all worthwhile, even if the game itself isn't really innovative.

Mage The Awakening is a weird beast, because it sort of is an improvement over its predecessor, Mage The Ascension, and yet, it isn't.

On the mechanics side of things, there are more explanations, more pre-made spells (or rotes), less room for wacky interpretations, so for people who like logic and structure, it's all good. For people who particularly liked the intuitive and creative magic of the Ascension, chances are you'll probably be left with a bitter taste in the mouth, at least at first, before you adapt to the new paradigm (seems appropriate for a Mage game, doesn't it?).

On the background side of things, the introduction of Atlantis is kind of cool, but many of the great things about the Ascension were taken out: Technocracy, War for the control of Reality, cool Traditions of Mages, and so on. The background of the Awakening is ... bland in comparison. Nice, but not "wow great". The Orders are the worst part of it, in my opinion: really bland, with no correlations in the occultism of the real world, simple adaptations of "vampire clans" with really sketchy political aims... I was waiting for much, MUCH more imaginative than that.

If you're into the NWoD to adapt its components to your own vision of things and change backgrounds, rules to suit what you envision for the WoD, you're going to be fine. It's an okay game. If however you're a huge fan of the Ascension and aren't prepare to modify stuff to suit your needs, you're in for a great disappointment, possibly at least.

World of Darkness introduces all the base principles to the system you'll need to know to be able to play all the other NWoD games, and allows players to create mortals characters right off the bat.

It's a good game as it stands. The rules are simple, intuitive in most cases. The background is minimalist yet inspiring. It's the base book. The corner stone of the whole NWoD building, if you will.

I think it is good on its own. It becomes great when Vampire, Mage, Werewolf etc. are added to it. It's an improvement over the rules of the Old WoD, certainly.

First thing first: to be able to play VtR you will need a copy of the World of Darkness rulebook which contains all the base mechanics of the Storyteller system.

Once you've got both books, you can appreciate the quality of the work that has been done: cleaned-up rules (faster in play, simpler in principles), background getting rid of a bogged-down metaplot, inspiring twists on well-known tropes of The Masquerade... The Requiem is a new game, a better game, a great game.

It's a classic of tabletop role-playing like Call of Cthulhu, D&D are. You ought to try this game at least once. If you like the concept of modern vampires in a world of darkness, like movies like Interview with a Vampire, Bram Stoker's Dracula and so on, you'll be greatly pleased.

Have fun!