Kirth Gersen's page

Rabid fans of Roger Zelazny's early "Amber" books will certainly want to read this major influence. Apart from that claim to fame, though, Kuttner's The Dark World (1946) is no more than a blatant (and rather weak) ripoff of Abraham Merritt's far superior Dwellers in the Mirage (1932), which remains one of the pinnacles of the genre.

Erik Mona has achieved a rare thing: creation of a low-level adventure (1st-4th) that has a clear, well-conceived theme and fast pacing between episodes, but nonetheless remains wonderfully open-ended and has space enough to grow. There are creepy investigations, daring rescues, infiltration of humanoid-infested ruins, shaky alliances, mythic beasts, and solid bang-up fights.

This is one that you could run three times with three different groups, and it would be a totally different adventure each time. Likewise, it segues seamlessly into the rest of the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path, but one could just as easily skip episodes 2-6 and instead use this as the start and basis of an entirely separate campaign. Either way, it's hard to imagine NOT wanting to start playing it right away!

Far from being a typical pirate's treaure adventure, this one has a very unique "treasure" and a bevy of interesting challenges along the way. I'm unable to give a full review, as most of our characters died less than halfway through: make no mistake, this one will kill parties that are not optimized for deadly combat, or who are foolish enough to split their forces at any time. Despite the gory finale, we all enjoyed it thoroughly.

Don't let the "LB" designation fool you; this adventure can easily be run on its own, in almost any campaign world.

"Singharat" starts off strong; Stark is cool, savvy, and tough; the action proceeds briskly; the dialogue is not that silly bombastic psuedo-fantasy garbage -- most people talk in this book, instead of walking around issuing Shakespearian pronouncements. You can almost see it like it's on TV. Understand in advance that you, the reader, will figure out the "surprise plot twist" a few days before Stark ever does -- evidently the guy is no genius -- and it gets sort of beat into the ground from there. But this is a solid story, overall, and it's over so quickly... But wait! There's a BONUS novel included, "People of the Talisman" -- and this one is WAY better than Singharat! It's exactly like Robert E. Howard meets A. Merritt. We get barbarian rages, thieves, medieval warfare, ancient artifacts, alien races with superior weapons -- everything you could want from a science fantasy novel. And Stark is at the center of it all this time, making things happen, putting his mark on the world instead of just going along with events, and he is one crafty, savage, no-nonsense barbarian hero.

Nick Logue, unquestionably one of the best adventure writers in the business, brings us a collection of aggressively Hawaiian-themed items and feats to make your unarmed combat break the bonds of mere punches... and enter the realm of the comic book hero. With these feats, you can punch through solid rock, crit as often as with a keen rapier, and casually toss people 30 feet through the air. If you always wanted to play the Incredible Hulk, you NEED this very inexpensive PDF. Unfortunately, if you prefer a grittier, more simulationist approach, it's best to steer clear of this one entirely, and buy some of Nick's excellent adventures instead -- or take a look at "The Art of the Duel," which is slightly more down-to-earth.

The Scribe obviously knows his fencing! This little goodie contains a short intro piece -- extremely evocative and well-written -- and then offers a slew of light-weapon feats (11 in all) that offer excellent options for swashbuckling characters. The feats seemed workable and well-balanced mechanically; some are similar to previously-published material, but apply slightly less onerous prerequisites. My only concern is the lack of congruity with earlier stuff and verging into the "too good" territory: there's one feat, for example, that relicates "Robilar's Gambit" almost exactly, except with easier prereqs and no penalty to attack -- out of everything presented, that one could see some serious abuse. Luckily, it applies to only one target/round, but you'd still be crazy NOT to take it, if it's offered.

Overall, a lot of very good stuff, with only one or two feats bent a bit (but not broken, and very easily straightened out by adding a limitation or two). This is worth WAY more than the asking price!

Most of this is what we've come to expect from Paizo: 5-star game content, cartography, production value, etc. Much of the artwork is superb, even for non-Wayne Reynolds fans. But I had to remove 1 star for the font size--I don't think I'll be able to run the adventure--that's how small it is. 5-point, maybe, at a guess? My other gripe is with some of the minor illustrations, which look so cartoonish that they jar with the rest of the product--we're talking the worst of Saturday morning cartoons, or "Garbage Pail Kids"--that kind of look. Again, this isn't the norm, but enough examples of it pop up for me to subtract another star. Enlarging the font and deleting the Warner Brothers art would result in something that has every right to be considered the proper successor to both Dungeon and Dragon.

I love this product. The layout and fonts are near-ideal; the artwork is bold without being silly; the cartography is top-notch; the game content is everything that Paizo has come to stand for. The fact that I can get combined shipping with Pathfinder is even cooler. If anything, I'm even happier with this than with Pathfinder.