Indeed, I will add to the chorus here: AD&D's Dungeon Master's Guide is a great book for any DM who wants a different take than Monte Cook's (author of third edition's DMG) on DMing, this time by none other than Gary Gygax, "Father Of Tha Game" (TM).
So you get loads of charts... and weird words used here and there... and tiny fonts... and so on and so forth, but through it all there truly is a vast collection of gems to be found.
Don't try to read too much at once, and just flip back and forth through the book by thinking about this or that issue about building a campaign world or dealing with magical items: you will always find a little something that will prove to be inspiring and intelligent somewhere.
I mean: we are talking about AD&D here. This game is absolutely great: start with a great game system; then add a steady development from its beginnings in 1972/1973; pour a good dose of witty writing and weird words by none other than Gary Gygax; then serve to your friends for their pleasure.
Honestly, AD&D didn't lose any of its original appeal. I love third edition D&D and AD&D 1E. One doesn't have to "choose a side" here. Both games are great, for very different reasons.
If you appreciate the level of detail in rules mechanics of third edition, but would like a game system that allows for more DM decision-making (or fiat), then you can purchase AD&D with confidence.
Like with all the other Compleat Encounters, this presents itself as a set of three miniatures and a few tiles presenting a short mini-plot to be inserted in any campaign, the main NPCs involved, the actual battlemap in four tiles and means to scale the encounter to any character level.
The plot here is simple: two corrupted "law makers" kidnapped a dwarven diplomat/prince and want to blackmail the nation he came from for ransom. What I really like among the suggestions to adapt this mini-plot to your campaign is the possibility to substitute one PC for Prince Thorgrim has the prisoner of these two scumbags: if you have a player who can't make it for a session or two, that can be a great Compleat Encounter to run by making the PCs save the unfortunate, unplayed character until the player makes it back at the table.
My small complaint here is about Prince Thorgrim's miniature: it is a bit tall for my taste. While 28 and 25 mm miniatures are usually fairly compatible (after all, I use my old Ral Partha minis alongside D&D miniatures), Prince Thorgrim looks almost like a simple broad human with a beard.
Overall, another great Compleat Encounter for any D&D campaign.
I used this Compleat Encounter to run a short session for one of my players who ran the last campaign sessions for us. We wanted to find out what had happened to her character, lost alone in a huge dungeon complex during all this time, and I decided to use the Vault of the Whispering Tyrant.
The miniatures themselves are absolutely gorgeous. I particularly love the lich's "concubine". Great to find a female non-vampire undead so nicely (or should I say, creepily) done.
The reason for the "4" is the actual map. While the perspective weren't as bothering with the Dark Elf Sanctum, the use on this battlemap in four tiles of numerous stairs makes it sometimes hard to see what section of floor is "above" and which is "down". A bit confusing.
Still, a great Compleat Encounter for the mini-plot and miniatures.
Paizo's own products are I think among the most inventive of the hobby in terms of quality and actual use value in a game.
For instance, in the Game Mastery line, you have the Item Packs which provide you with good looking, practical cards to hand out to your players during the game, thus enhancing the visual and material appeal of the session while increasing the overall organization of equipment and magical items.
The Dark Elf Sanctum and all the Compleat Encounters follow this same logic: these are made to be used. The short adventure/few encounters included here are scalable to any character levels. The text is clear and uses ideas that are easily dropped in any homebrew campaign.
The miniatures are absolutely awesome. I loved the horned demon so much I use the miniature for my own character when I play the game. The sculpt is gorgeous, the bases are large and well textured, part of the miniature, which changes from the crappy plastic bases so usual these days.
A plan to assemble the four tiles of the battlemap would have been appreciated, but this is really a nitpicking, to be frank. Plus, it in fact has been taken care of in later Compleat Encounters.
Really amazingly cool for such a low price. Great.
The Shackled City Adventure Path is a great campaign that any player and DM of D&D who is a fan of the game will enjoy for sessions after sessions.
It will take months, if not years to end this campaign from level 1 all the way to level 20.
The qualitity of production is well above standards, the adventures are straight D&D and vary locations and aims in a way that will keep the players entertained, provided the DM likes the campaign and makes it "his own".
People who do not like dungeon delving might want to think twice before buying, but then I'd wonder why you play D&D and not another RPG, honestly. There is plenty of occasions for significant role-playing and developping character-driven plots. This is what a campaign centered around an area like Cauldron allows, so it would be too bad to not seize the occasion, but the focus of the product itself is dungeons and weird locales, really.
Really, great campaign. Way worth the money. You like D&D? Go ahead. Buy it eyes closed.
The Dragon Compendium, Volume 1 represents an excellent resource for any D&D game. Whether you like prestige classes, feats, neat background ideas, articles about weird dungeons and magical items, new races, or simply enjoy the look of a good book, this item will satisfy your needs.
I would have appreciated a larger amount of old articles of Dragon from previous editions of the game updated to third edition. Such as it is, the compilation might annoy some subscribers who would then already own a significant portion of its contents through recent issues of the magazine. That's the reason I'm giving it "4" intead of a straight "5".
Excellent job in any case, Paizo. Keep up the good work.
The Item Pack I is an excellent product for all dungeon crawlers and fans of D&D and fantasy RPGs who want to have a better organization and/or visual references for equipment and magic items:
These cards allow for some easy tracking of "who owns what" during the game, "what's been given to whom" and "what's been sold and/or bought". Plus, it serves as a neat visual reference for weird items and can possibly provide triggers for DMs to come up with more inspired descriptions of items in the game.
The production value for $9.95 is good, the cards are "Magic: the Gathering"-like in terms of quality (which is to say, very good), and the back of the card (the white area to write down the specifics of the item) is laminated differently to allow an easier writing.
Excellent idea, excellent execution. Can't wait for the next packs.
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