This .pdf stands as the best - albeit shortest, too- pieces of publishing advice on the market. I have used this product to make successful pitches to gaming companies and prepare my own homebrew gaming. The guide shows how tackling the biggest giants in hobby gaming can be done respectfully and with business-savvy. Knowing what potential audiences want seems like a great first step to writing and publishing. Knowing today’s market trends- even during this economic flux – is invaluable. Again, a short read will help want-to-be publishers reconsider their best efforts, and helps ensure capitalism reigns supreme. Buyer AND Seller beware, but be likewise prepared.
This small suppliment continues to fuel my imagination daily since I bought it two weeks ago. This product serves as a stand-alone addition to an existing shore-line/water campaign. It also promises to add greater depth the SINISTER ADVENTURE'S new "Razor Coast" book coming this summer.
The Good:
The price was great, and was even better bought as part of a bundle pack of .pdfs from Logue's SINISTER site. The feelings of *hunger* gnaw at me as I designed some problematic encounters for my PCs, especially a recurring villian. The feats and domain (Hunger) were interesting and certainly unique.
The Bad:
I would have liked more flexibility with the PrC shown. While highly interesting and chaulk full of setting-free flavour, it seems like it would be an easy cut-and-paste bad guy, who also used all of the other feats listed. This is only my opinion, though.
OVERALL:
Why are you still reading this review? You should have bought DAJOBAS already and should begin penning your own comments! Obey! Man, I'm hungry...
Great Stuff, Nick!
First, I think I found a nice and inexpensive land-mine to place in my PCs path. This free suppliment offers a lot of neat ideas, and provides good fluff with a teeny bit o' crunch.
The Good: Low price! Future products also seem inexpensive, but that didn't mean low-quality material for this .pdf. The inclusion of the bear-owl was more interesting than the owlbear piece, because of its ivocative imagry and likley addition as a higher-level wizard familiar. The overall feeling of this product was to spin something new from something too old/too familiar/too static.
The Bad: I would have preferred better layouts for the product. While sidebars were nice, I would have like some of the background story set in italics, but maybe I'm spoiled in seeing this is other products. I would have liked more art, too. Since this creature was very-much a magical creation, I hoped for a new spell about this creature, maybe for controlling it or summoning it specifically with a twist. These comments aren't a big distraction from the overall product; it's just my hopes for more good products.
Overall:
It's Wednesday night, and your gamers are coming to play this weekend. In the current adventure, you just don't like the vanilla taste of a certain monster that's listed. Changing it might take too much time- time you don't have. Drop a couple of bucks and re-read a classic monster for some good times, and a surprising twist.
This small document helps set the stage for further adventures along the Razor Coast. Set at 7th level, the adventures promises overwhelming villainy. Check-out sinisteradventures.com and spend some time reading some generic posts, product spotlights, and design notes. For now, even as a DM, avoid the forums until after reading the adventure. Doing this footwork should help prepare the DM for his mental challenege: maintain the literal sinking feeling of (at least) two distinct as equally diabolical forces pulling strings beneath the waves. The adventures does a lot of things well. Greg A. Vaughan laces this adventure with deceit and the story flows from these machinations. The combat sequences, however, are slightly less intimidating than our group initially expected for 7th level. However, tricky elements resurface and suggest that a hack-n-slash approach may not be best suited for the best outcome. Even though I get no royalties, I admit how important the rest of the Indulgences were to help flesh out this adventure- especially for PCs and improving combat scenes. In conclusion, this adventure is half Cthulu, half political mystery, and half insanity when combined with other Razor Coast products. Greg adds two new spells and a creature template, both useful to this adventure. My player hoped for a water-based familiar suitable for 7th level wizardry, especially now that Stormwrack is seemingly out-of-print. Greg?
This article provides a wealth of information for gamers (DM & player equally), as well and a short and enjoyable history read. It's a nice balance of applicable game material (ie: feats), as well as detailed knowledge of swordplay and historical sidenotes.
IN PRACTICE, none of the feats a 7th level Rogue (Paizo Pathfinder RPG Alpha 1.1) took from this article seem overpowered. The new combat application was interesting and was (imagination) visually interesting, especially when used by a halfling! I would be interested to see this kind of work developed and/or absorbed by Pathfinder as a staple of quality gameplay, instead of a simple spatbook. The quality and detail are far better than that reference. In fact, I enjoyed more from this small .pdf than I have from other hardback suppliments.
Marx believed that specializing in one area made one an expert. Paizo/Gamemastery Item Cards- specifically the Elements of Power deck- shows how wonderful this idea comes to full bloom. The images are great, as are the descriptions. I just received my set today, and am anxiously awaiting the .pdf version of the TC module from Gamemastery from the Treasure Chest this November (I already had other parts of the Treasure Chest, so I am just ordering this deck and the .pdf.
This adventure line is the introduction to the Wicked Fantasy Factory line, and it doesn't disappoint. Because of its influence and my PC's reaction to gameplay, I have subsequently purchased WFF#1 and #2. Based on cost ($2.00), the additional rules on playing an over-the-top, quick-kill game almost make it worthwhile. I liked the E-Z Statblock for ease of play. The story is average, but it does lead to a potential "sequel" in the next adventure module. Imagine running a game like "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns," or "The Scorpion King." Fantastic stuff, some yucky gore (but not sickeningly so, no matter how gruesome the line wants to paint itself), and at times, some campy and extreme actions. Good stuff, all. I also like the idea of "Phat Lewt" offered, which combines very well with the Paizo Gamermastery Item Cards line...
The cards themselves are absolutely fantastic in regards to art and cloudy wonderment of what - if anything - these items might actually do for a PC or NPC BBEG. I have found added benefit for my players by a little extra planning using pre-made adventures. I look over the module for any specific equipment or treasure, and place those related cards in a binder for reference. I also gave my 1st level PCs a simple folder with a customized character sheet, graph paper, and a plastic card sheet for up to nine cards (and one class or race specific item card as a nifty bonus to introduce them to my treasure allotment scheme). It has been a very fruitful experience.
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