I haven't run The Harrowing yet (though I hope to work it into my current campaign), but it made a fantastic and inspiring read. This is part and parcel of D&D's ambition to be more than a combat game, more than a tabletop skirmish game, more than a wargame with individual figures as player avatars. And that's while coming reasonably close to traipsing through faerie rings...
PCs find themselves in a magical world, trying to escape while preventing certain antagonists from escaping. Encounters and locations are inspired by the Harrow deck (as well as Lewis Carroll - and, dare I add, modules like Dungeonland). Players can take a hard combat line... or choose not to and still get quite far. I found that quite refreshing and well worth the money I spent on it.
I've owned GM screens for AD&D (1e, 2e), Villains and Vigilantes, Call of Cthulhu, and probably a few more and I've yet to find one nearly as sturdy as this one. Not only does the screen art look good, not only does the screen have tables I find useful and easy to find, but the screen clearly has been designed to stand easily and is built to last. Kudos to Paizo for considering physical utility as well as reference usability and aesthetics. The best GM's screen I've ever owned!
Of all of the Pathfinder Chronicles volumes I have (which is most of them), I found the Guide to Absalom to be the most uneven in quality. There are plenty of good ideas in there for running a campaign in the city, but I found that parts of the product didn't live up to other parts.
The cartography, in particular, falls short. The city-wide map offers little to support some of the features of the city - flooding in the Puddles, the Beast in the Docks, Misery Row. The city map, while it has little buildings dotting all over it, fails to include much in the way of major landmarks, either identified or implied.
I've played at least 2 previous editions of Family Business, the first about 20 years ago. From that first time playing to now, it has always been a fun and fast-paced game, simple to learn, and very easy to pick up and play a couple of quick games while waiting for your GM (or other late players) to show up.
It's also a great smack-talking game, particularly if you can play a Vendetta on all of the other players and then time their mobsters' death just as their own turns are coming up.
