I was the GM for terraleon (whose review can be found below) and I concur: this adventure is absolutely terrible. Secret doors that aren't labeled on the map, tactics that make absolutely no sense at times, whole encounter locations that aren't even ON the map, and an over abundance of completely irrelevant fluff and gushing descriptions of the cathedral's interior that consume word count better used to make the scenario playable.
This adventure requires the GM to basically restructure the whole adventure and come up with logical explanations of why perfectly plausible means of entry and/or egress must be completely impossible. Also, there are whole sections of the cathedral which are simply said to be "beyond the scope of this adventure." Absolutely horrid.
Something that I didn't really pay attention to when I purchased this book is that, while I simply thought it was a companion guide to Requiem for Rome (which is utterly fantastic, by the way), it turns out that this book is actually an adventure. A hardback module, if you will, of fairly epic proportions. While there are a few new rules within, particularly pertaining to ritals and senatorial debates, the vast majority of this book is an ADVENTURE for Vampire: The Requiem. If that's what you're looking for, then this is a good one. I, personally, was more interested in deeper setting material for Rome and was a bit disappointed. Still, good stuff if you need a ready-made chronicle for your troupe.
This book expands the options from the Dark Heresy book by adding a few new character origins, a new class, and "elite advances" for various character archetypes (think Prestige Classes). It also contains a bevy of new weapons and equipment which is always useful for any Inquistorial acolyte. Overall, highly recommended to broaden your game's range of options and add more depth to your campaign!
Just acquired this book recently at the behest of my friend who agreed to run it if I bought it. I must say, being something of a 40K fan, this game is fantastic. The system is relatively easy to learn (though "level advancement" is a tad strange) and it definitely captures the essence of 40K well. I will echo the previous reviewers points about the critical hits table, except that it's only "funny" in as much as watching a zombie movie with far too much blood and gore is funny. You can blow off limbs, decapitate, and otherwise horribly eviscerate your opponents with the arsenal of weapons provided within. Looks like a lot of fun! I can't wait to get our game started next week!
This handy little PDF features a boatload of new feats and abilities to spice up your swashbuckling campaign! No more will the lightly armored agile fighter be a less-than-desirable character concept in the d20 system!
After seeing that Vic Wertz himself had given rave reviews to this product, I had to see it for myself! I'm so glad I did, too, because the rules given in this PDF are truly amazing and versatile. Highly recommended to anyone, player and DM alike.
This movie is fabulous if you can get past the cheesy low-budget special effects (not a problem for my group of die-hard B-movie fans).
After showing it to my gaming group, it has rapidly become the most quoted movie at our gaming table, even surpassing "Monty Python and the Holy Grail!"
This book provides a lot of interesting options for Mage players as well as a couple of "left-handed" paths designed for antagonists and the Storytellers who love them. Every Watchtower gets at least a few Legacies to choose from in this book, adding a great deal of diversity to player character options.
My only complaint? There aren't enough of them in this book. The Werewolf Lodges book contained 22 Lodges, yet this book only offers 13 Legacies for the same price.
While this book does contain a few Lodges who dwell in places like Poland and Japan as the preview states, I was somewhat disappointed to discover that they were among the minority. Many of the Lodges within were largely decentralized and could be easily dropped into any culture or location. Generally, this is not a bad thing, but I was really hoping that this book would focus specifically on Lodges with a strong "foreign" theme since the other Lodges books provide more "general" ones that are designed to be dropped into any setting.
Still though, the book is useful and the foreign Lodges that it does contain are well-written and are certain to see use in a future campaign.
This book features a wide array of archetypes and powers with which to construct your very own changing breeds in the Storyteller system, either as PCs or NPCs.
While I found the process somewhat complex at first, after a second read-through it made sense. However, I was honestly hoping for more focus on "established" changing breeds (like the Bastet) to show how they fit in to the natural order and, more specifically, the political environment of the World of Darkness. As it is, the various breeds seem to be very fractious and happenstance. Granted, there's no reason a Storyteller couldn't just make something up for them, but seeing some more solid, established backstory that ties them into the world would've been nice.
The leading leg of this mini is a separate part that must be glued into place. I'm not sure why, but it was a huge pain in the ass. The leg must be wedged to fit between the hip socket and the base and, in my case anyway, the final result left a small but noticeable gap between the leg and the hip which I had to fill in with super glue. I was very disappointed with that fact, but I'm no pro miniature assembler either.
Still, this is one of the coolest looking minis I've seen so far, so I can't give it less than 4 stars, despite my difficulty.
Getting this mini together was a little tricky because the axe and the hands holding it are all one piece that must be aligned and glued onto the wrists of the main figure.
The mini is heavy! It's quite large, too. The base fits into a standard 5' square on a battlemat but any adjacent minis with parts that extend even a little bit over their bases might not fit next to this behemoth.
This mini definitely captures the terrifying power of a half-orc barbarian, though, and the detail is incredible!
This mini is just plain awesome. Also, to those who may be thinking "my paladin uses a shield, though," fear not! This miniature has a shield on his back, held on by a pair of very detailed belts. Overall, a very cool mini.
This mini comes in three parts: the shield (and hand holding it), the sword (and forearm), and the main body.
The shield is much smaller in real life than it appears in this photo, almost comically so. While not a big problem, I do wish the shield was a little larger.
This mini is big and heavy. The base of it is ever-so-slightly larger than a stadard 5' square on a battle mat and it's arms extend into adjoining spaces, making positioning it somewhat tricky. If you're not using squares on a mat, this mini should be fine. It does look very cool, however, and my tank players look forward to using him to represent their characters in future campaigns!
Maybe it's just me (I'm pretty new to the whole miniatures thing), but the arm with the shield is very difficult to attach to this mini. There doesn't seem to be any good fit for the piece on that side of the body. Perhaps my mini was damaged or imperfectly cast in some way, but I ended up gluing it in a potition very different from the one demonstrated in the photo presented on this site. It stayed together, but I have that feeling of "I did something wrong" when I look at it.
This book is incredible! It details the entirety of the continent of Immoren beyond the borders defined in the IKCG and describes the Skorne Empire as well as the Bloodstone Marches in great detail. The monster section at the beginning of the book covers some of the unique creatures that roam these lands and provides the usual amount of amazing IK detail in it's descriptions.
My only complaint? I'm not sure why they decided to incorporate the lands beyond Western Immoren into a Monsternomicon. They should have called it "Beyond the Iron Kingdoms" and detailed the additional setting material in the first part, then added the monsters in the back as an appendix. Still, as a hardcore IK fan, this book is extremely cool!
This book is largely filled with roleplaying information regarding the various paths of magic. It details the events that typically surround a given path member's Awakening and provides a few additional merits and legacies for the various paths.
I was surprised (and somewhat disappointed) to discover that the book does not provide information on how the different Paths approach the same types of magic. I was hoping to see some information on how an Acanthus' conjuration of a weapon differs from, say, a Moros mage. Still, the book has lots of information regarding the attitudes that the Paths have towards many things and provides an excellent roleplaying guide for Mage players.
If you've got a tight budget and want only the books that will enhance your gaming experience the most, however, this book can probably wait.
This book brings the terrifying realm of the Shadow closer to home. Full of tales of hauntings, evil spirits who possess people, and all manner of spiritual anomalies, this book is certain to be useful to anyone who wishes to explore more of the unseen world that lies behind the Gauntlet.
The contents of the book, besides the wonderfully chilling stories, include dozens of sample spirits to drop into your campaign, expanded information on loci and how they form, and additional rules regarding the Spirit-Urged and Spirit-Claimed. The book also contains a new vampire Discipline that allows interaction with the spirit world, a handful of werewolf rites and fetishes, and a few rules for dealing with non-supernaturals who attempt to consult the spirit world by ritual.
This book is highly recommended for any game in which the spirit world will be involved, even if it won't take center stage. The information and descriptions provided by this book will ensure that your players never forget their visit to the 'Other Side.'
Whether you're an old-school WoDer like me who is still trying to figure out the new clans and systems or someone who's jumped into the Requiem from the onset, this book brings phenomenal clarity to the vagaries of Kindred existance.
The book contains systems for the effects of torpor on a Kindred's memories, more detailed information on how the Kindred body heals, the properties of Vitae and how it can be used, and much much much more! If you buy no other book to compliment the Requiem core book, get this one!
This book is amazing for someone looking to incorporate the various themes of the World of Darkness all in one place! It covers mortals, vampires, mages, and werewolves all in the same area at the same time! The book is divided into sections for each creature type so that, if you're only running Vampire in Chicago, you don't have to wade through pages of Werewolf junk. I'm planning to run a WoD game here for a bunch of mortal characters, so having all the resources this book has to offer on hand will be a tremendous asset. The book details the motivations of major NPCs, the political situation between various factions, contested areas where certain creature types might butt heads, and much much more! Again, this is a fantastic resource for people who are fairly new to the new WoD but even veterans can certainly glean something useful from it.
This book is not quite as thorough and useful as I would have liked. It does provide a few types of opponents to pit characters against in a typical WoD game, but a large part of the book is dedicated to detailing the 'how' and 'why' instead of the 'what.' Zombies, hunters, and cultists are the main focus of this book and there is a lot of info on how zombies are made, how hunters organize themselves, why they set out to battle the supernatural, and all that jazz. There's not as much 'crunch' as I was expecting from a book called 'Antagonists.' Very little of the book actually details the powers, abilities, and stats of these various foes. I was also very disappointed to learn that ghosts are not covered in this book. It fell short of my expectations.
I own a set of the Gold/Silver dice from this set and they are probably the most attractive dice that I own. The numbers are easy to read, the dice do not feel light and flimsy, and the color pattern is just awesome. Easily the best dice for the price anywhere.
The name of this review says it all. The concept of this game is something that I have personally never seen done before and it provides a very interesting basis for an RPG: you play the offspring of a god. You have various godlike powers at your disposal. The system is designed for high action, awarding bonuses for stunts and feats of amazing prowess. However, as a character performs more amazing feats, he must contend with Fate, which seeks to pit him against greater opposition and challenges worthy of his legend.
The mechanics of this game are loosely based on the old Exalted system. It still relies on d10s like any other White Wolf game and there are numerous superpowers for the characters to draw on (though not nearly as many as Exalted had, nor are they based on Abilities anymore). The combat system and the activation of superpowers seems to be a little complicated to me, however. Perhaps after spending some time familiarizing myself with the system, it will become clear but, initially, it's quite daunting.
My wife picked this one out for a cleric she wants to play and, despite my initial disbelief: Yes, the miniature really is that detailed! You can even see the little pin she's putting her hair up with! Reaper never fails to impress me.
The illustrations in this book are high-quality black & white line drawings and each of the rhyming lines throughout the book are well-chosen (though a few of the rhymes are a stretch). It maintains the spirit of a typical children's book while providing something more interesting for mommy and daddy to read aloud to their child than another boring fairy tale. I saw this book here on the website and knew that I had to have it for my daughter. I do not regret my purchase in the slightest. Highly recommended for Mythos fans with unsacrificed children!
While I did not buy mine through Paizo.com, I do own one of these incredible mats (the Large one, specifically). My games tend to involve many large-scale battles and the flexibility offered by this mat is incredible. With just a few wet erase markers of different colors, I can sketch any kind of terrain that I want onto it in a matter of seconds. The grids are the standard 1" = 5' and, combined with miniatures to represent players, NPCs, and monsters, this mat is essential to my weekend gaming. My one complaint? After about a year of ownership (being used twice a week), the very edges have started to fray a bit, with little strings coming out of the sides. Nothing major, though, just an aesthetic matter. The mat hasn't torn or anything. Great product! Highly recommended!
This is a fantastic book for detailing the biological processes that occur within a werewolf's body and some of the nuances of werewolf society. It talks about how werewolves cope with things like getting a job, being a parent, and balancing their supernatural lives with their mundane ones. It also details the effects of different drugs on the physiology of the different forms. For example, in human form, chocolate has no more effect on a werewolf than it does on normal people. However, in wolf form, the chocolate causes a poisonous reaction with the physiology and can cause seizures, paralysis, or even death! All sorts of things like this and more are covered in this book and it really is an interesting read. I'll admit that the only disappointment I had with this book was that there is virtually nothing mechanically relevant present within. There are a couple of new rites, a few new merits, but that's really it. I have nothing against 'fluff' books, but I was expecting a bit more 'crunch' from this book.
I bought this book because I always thought only having the 5 core clans was a bit restrictive and wanted some more character and Discipline diversity available. I have to say that I'm not exactly disappointed in this book, but it does leave a bit to be desired. Not every one of the bloodlines within has it's own signature Discipline, but most of them do. While several of the new Disciplines are very creative and exciting, several of them are rather gimmicky and poorly conceived in my opinion. I was very happy to see that Obtenebration (the old Lasombra clan Discipline from the old WoD) has made a comeback, though slightly altered, and I was also pleased with some of the creative concepts behind the bloodlines. However, there are a few glaring disappointments. Namely, there is a Nosferatu bloodline that focuses entirely on appearing like 'spooky doctors' and they have a signature discipline that revolves around maintaining a secure building (supposedly related to these vampires' connection to hospitals and whatnot). The discipline is called 'Institutionalize.' Silly, imo. There are a couple of other disappointments, but that was the biggest one.
Still, there are several cool things to be found in here. I would highly recommend that any Storyteller go over it with a fine-toothed comb to determine what is and is not appropriate for his game before allowing players to have free reign at what's inside. Overall, a useful book, but it could have been MUCH better.
This book would be a must for anyone running DA: Vampire or DA: Werewolf in the British Isles. If you're running DA: Mage (like I am) or DA: Inquisitor, however, you may find the relevant information a bit lacking. While the book does address the Mages and Inquisitors a bit and even provides some information relevant to them without being explicit (such as the locations of various Crays and areas where the Gauntlet is thin), the majority of the focus seems to be on the Cainites and Garou.
This book explains everything it says and more! The most useful feature I found was the section which details each Fellowship's approach to different types of magic. For example, using a spell to convince someone that your lie is true is a very different undertaking for each Fellowship. The Order of Hermes can do it with simple Corona magic, while the Old Faith uses Autumn and Spring. The Ahl-i-Batin do not have any way to blast an enemy with fire, but they can still use magic to attack by allowing their sword to reach across great distances. In contrast, the Batini cannot heal themselves except with a very obscure spell involving Al-Hajj and Al-Abayhim(sp?) detailed in this book! If the magic systems of Dark Ages Mage is daunting to you like it was to me, this will clear things up very nicely!
As usual for Privateer Press's Iron Kingdoms line, this book is chock full of detailed information and amazing artwork. It includes rules for city chases (including modifiers for running across rooftops!), dozens of rumors to use as plot seeds, hundreds of NPCs, and an insider look at one of the most corrupt cities in Western Immoren! It also features 3 new prestige classes (the Spy, the Enforcer, and the Malefactor of Thamar) and a handful of city dweller feats. In fact, the only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was because the 'tools for defining other Iron Kingdoms cities' are very sporadic and not terribly detailed. I was really hoping to use this book as a building aid for designing the city of Caspia in Cygnar, but if all you're looking for is a book that shows you the ins and outs of Five Fingers, this is the book for you!
This plushie is, as the previous reviewer stated, must more vibrant in person than the picture implies. It is also made of very soft material and the wings are indeed posable by means of a small wire in them. My daughter uses the Cthulhu plush as a bedtime companion and its so cute to see her cuddle the elder god while she falls asleep, undoubtedly dreaming of pan-dimensional conquest.....
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