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 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.
