I’m not entirely sure I can offer more than what the other reviewers here have said, except that while reading it in its entirety through this weekend I got quite a rush of nostalgia that few other products this day can emulate. It’s made for our current beloved Pathfinder Roleplaying Game but read and felt just like something out of AD&D.
The fact that you don’t just fight the same types of creatures room after room, the interesting treasures to be found, factions to play off of and secret history to uncover make this a real gem. Not to mention, this book loves the GM. Each room is provided with every conceivable detailed answer to questions a GM or the players may have about the environment.
It’s a dirty, gritty dungeon crawl that offers a dynamic location; with information so well defined as you read you get a complete feel for the major shakers and movers and how they all interact. The only real difference from real early modules where there was absolutely no rhyme or reason why some of the creatures or things would be in the same complex, this not only gives all plausible reasons and explanations but then actually executes it and pulls it off!
Not to mention a big collection of nine pre-generated player characters using classes and rules from the Core Rulebook and Advanced Player’s Guide. Speaking of stats and crunch, the monsters are all fully statted out so no flipping through the bestiaries, and game rules throughout and provided every step of the way (including the magic detection DC, school and strength of aura for all magic items!).
The whole location feels real, monster tactics and responses to different adventure tricks and attacks are explained throughout. Each location, from the tower, donjon, and the dungeon / crypt levels beneath also have a random detail chart and encounter charts to make them more alive. The maps are not necessarily artistic but pull off the old-school vibe very well and are perfectly functional and easy to follow. Throw in a bunch of good art (including scenes to show the party), player handouts, and potential allies from both rescued folks and monsters and you got an adventure to keep a group of seasoned vets enthralled.
At the same time: beginning GM’s pay attention. You can do little better than this module, that caters so well to organization and provides everything you need to run the encounters in a nice, clear format that’s a snap to navigate. Well done, bravo! I was provided a copy for review.
The Underdark, The Night Below, The Darklands, whatever you call it has amazing appeal thanks to the game’s long legacy. When I realized I had prepped a Darklands excursion as a one-shot for three gamers, two of which had only been gaming a few years and never had such a journey, I sifted through sourcebooks to help make it special. I really found what I needed in this book.
What was that? Good, solid encounters featuring the best cavern dwelling creatures. Without a doubt I had planned to toss at them a Roper and a Purple Worm, among other things. But plopping down the mini and saying roll for initiative isn’t going to give them stories to tell their friends about.
Caves and Caverns is a big, meaty 88-page sourcebook of encounters, stats and helpful underground challenges. With over 60 stat blocks (many advanced or custom designs), 25 encounters with detail, and a bunch of rule-sets for dealing with underground dangers like environmental hazards, descriptions of terrain features, and GM helpful hints, it’s one stop shopping for underground adventure prep.
There are also lots of random encounter tables to utilize and Raging Swan’s meticulous cataloging and cross-referencing so you can find what you need in a blink. There’s also a sample location, the Roaring Caverns complete with map! Organization is real clean and handy: each encounter is on a 1 or 2 page spread so you can just print out what you need (or keep the pages open on a laptop or tablet) and run it without a lot of page–flipping.
There’s even a little song/poem on the TOC page I had an NPC read to my players before they began and it set the whole stage. The group was already 12th level and the encounters range from CR 4 to CR 13, so I had a handful to pick from. The roper’s cave and additional terrain was a great challenge and its’ personality freaked them out. The purple worm encounter sent them flying as expected but with good foreshadowing and hints on the effects of the debris it kicks up made it very worthwhile. There were surprises, too. Everyone knows when you see stone life-like statues there’s a medusa or basilisk around. What about piles of smashed glass? I’m not giving that one away but my players loved it; especially the one who’s been playing for 32 years and never saw it coming.
Something I didn’t get to use but filed away for use when I run Shattered Star was underground groups. Entire groups fully stated with individuals, of drow, duergar, morlocks, svirfneblin and troglodytes are presented to drop into any encounter. Building gangs of stats like this can be tough on time, here they’re all ready.
This supplement reeks of homage to classics like Decent into the Depths of the Earth and The Night Below Campaign, but with fresh, new ideas and twists to make each encounter worthwhile and memorable plus easy to run. I’ll be referencing and using this for a long time! I was provided a copy for review.
Many GMs have a favorite magic item that shows up in most games. I knew a GM that was always introducing pieces of the Rod of Seven Parts in his games. James Ward has said every game he runs features Ioun Stones. Well, for me it’s the Rod of Wonder. And yet I’ve only used the official version once or twice. As soon as I found variant or expanded charts (or made my own for 2nd Edition) the players have enjoyed it even more. The draw for me as a GM is it can surprise me. With so much of the story already known, having surprises come up like this to deal with are part of the fun.
This handy little book features the Rod of Wonder, and three variants, the Rods of Bewilderment, Marvels, and Wonderment, each with their own chart of random chaos. Each rod gets its own percentile table, and custom stat blocks for the pair of creatures the device can summon, minimizing page flipping or rules lookups.
There are also tidbits on making custom variants, like Aligned Rods, Cursed Rods and Lesser Rods. There’s a good section on intelligent Rods of Wonder, including a sampling of some specifically named ones and their personality with full Intelligent Item stats. There’s even a section of interesting quirks you can give a Rod and some activation words. This section in general is a nice extra touch.
I like the alternate Rods and the array of powers they are given. Careful consideration was made to make them unique and yet right on par with the original device, ensuring that no one was better than the other. I also like the number of “rules free” happenings we all remember fondly from the old days, fun stuff like leaves or horns growing from the target, but if an environmental effect takes place like mist or whatnot, there’s game rules provided for the effect.
I like my chaos a little more unpredictable, so when I recently unleashed a Rod of Wonder on a set of my players, I had them roll 1d4 first to see which chart herein they roll percentile dice on and let the full tables work for a single device. Mad, perhaps, but they love the variety. Now I just hope they don’t become addicted to it.
Let’s be honest, you can grab probably dozens of free homemade Rod of Wonder tables across the interwebs, but for a buck ninety-nine you get a variety of good Pathfinder-centric results, all carefully designed, and with extras to make them unique and easy to run during the game. Win. I was provided a copy of this for review.
I held off getting this for months because I figured I’d never run it. Then I remembered that I’ve enjoyed lots of RPG items over the years I’ve never run, just read. So I did my homework on other’s reviews. They all said the same thing: what a total joy to read.
So, I plunked down the full price to the Frog Gods for the hardcover book and the PDF. Then 2 weeks later Paizo had it on sale for $50 off for their GM’s day promotion. And I don’t care.
It’s so huge I don’t know if I could ever actually run it. And I don’t care.
I’m going to lose a whole year reading this thing, and I don’t care.
I’m only on page 52 and having a fantastic time. The reading is easy, flavorful and fun. Like a novel, you really can’t wait to read the next location or situation. Its steal-ability factor is sky high, either just for situations, NPCs, encounters or monsters and flavor. It is also a cohesive set of mini stories all tied to one terrible location. The maps may not be gorgeous but they are clear and easy to follow – so I don’t care.
What I do care about is value for money and this is a prime example of it. If you were/are a huge fan of Necromancer Games’ 3rd edition material like I was, it will remain a treasure on your shelf. My hat is off to Greg Vaughan for sticking with it all this time and Bill Webb for making it happen.
Henchfolk & Hirelings: To sum up: I sure wish I had this 15 years ago, and I sure am glad I have it now.
I was a running an AD&D 2nd Ed game in the late 1990’s. The group was finally going to be travelling to a remote adventure location with difficult terrain and no towns. When confronted with a few logistical troubles, someone said “Hey, remember henchmen? Let’s hire some!” So, being old-school folks, they set about posting job offers and spreading the word. Having a few extra stat sheets handy was no problem, as the DM I was good to go. The players then spent the next 3 hours interviewing each and every candidate and I came up with so many personalities I lost track. But the players loved it and were sure they found the right folks for the job.
This book brings back good old henchmen and hireling rules from the earliest edition of the world’s oldest RPG and makes them work with Pathfinder. The author points out that the Leadership feat and rules are not always a viable option, especially when all you want is a guy to cover your flank in combat or detect traps down the passage. This is about boss/employee relations and coin exchanging hands, not some following of adoration because you’re some high-level hero.
For ease of use, there are multiple charts cross-referenced to allow you to locate the type of henchfolk you need in a hurry at the table, by race, alignment, class, etc. Then in just a couple of pages it goes over the basic rules; how to attract the number of folks you are looking for and the type of settlement you are in both play a factor. Payment options and interviewing them are all covered with ease as well as sound advice on ensuring they are the right choice for the type of game you are playing.
Now, in Pathfinder the rules under equipment list hirelings as paid 1 silver piece a day while this tome lists them as 100 gold a month, but for good reason. Pathfinder assumes these people are simple warrior mercs, or maids, stable hands, cooks, etc. You know, Nodwick, the guy to carry your torches and spears. It also states specially trained henchlings will be paid significantly more. That’s this book. CLASS level folk, not NPC classes.
But before I go too far into that you need to know there are no NPC stats in this book. There are instead 100 NPC’s that are given a cohesive appearance, background, personality and mannerisms. They’re given a name, an array of suggested ability scores, and an alignment and race and class. The meat of the book are these NPCs laid out so the GM can play them during interviews and give you an idea of how they’ll behave in combat as part of the group. These descriptions are tight and concise so a GM can read it in an instant and then get back to playing the game.
All classes and races from the Core Rulebook are represented. I did find it odd that they are all listed as ‘1st level’ when really you are creating or borrowing the stats from elsewhere to use them in game play they can be whatever level you need them at the time. In a way I missed not even having a chart like in the old modules also listing basic equipment and the like but really you need to customize these folks to the game, and there are already a thousand PC/NPC stats available on the Paizo SRD so this works great just as it is.
While not necessarily a must-have book, if you want to add henchfolk and hireling rules back into your game this is a super way to do it. I was provided a PDF of this book for review.
