This is great -- getting a BTech module that has nothing to do with the Clans, or the FedCom or anything of the other novel innovations -- just classic, down 'n' dirty Succession-War-era BattleTech. Davion Forever!
The only thing that keeps this from being five stars is something that is not the fault of either Paizo or necessarily FanPro/FASA. Most of the art in the book has been excised to remove the "Unseen" BattleMechs (ones derived from the anime series Macross, Dougram and Crusher Joe)that FASA had licensed from Japan, due to the lawsuit brough by Harmony Gold who was angry that they weren't getting a piece of the pie.
I liked this issue pretty well (I'm thinking of someday using the Robin Hood setting), but y'all didn't include the postermap of Nottinghamshire that is key to one of the articles in the issue...
The issue is pure gold -- Demogorgon AND a death knight for the PCs to face? I can't wait to put an unsuspecting party through that one. However, my one complaint was that the Greyhawk maps were originally scanned at too low a resolution -- they were near impossible to read or discern any of the locations smaller than the broadest regions, even when the magnification in Adobe is set to the highest I can put it without pixellating.
However, Paizo's recently fixed and now higher-resolution maps removes this complaint as the maps are now usable and readable. That bumped my review up to 5 stars. Thanks again for giving us the chance to have great digital versions of one of the most iconic worlds in D&D.
but not in a completely good way. The idea is one that is intreguing -- a dungeon full of puzzles that reward brains rather than brawn -- but the execution makes the module run more like the SAT than D&D. I have not run this one with my group yet, and I'm not sure I would without severe modification -- with this many puzzles and math problems and logic problems, most players would probably get bored with the thing, leave the dungeon and tar and feather the DM long before getting to Lyzandred himself.
This is what every frustrated DM needs (especially one who can't map worth beans) -- a series of maps ready to be populated and placed anywhere you need a catacomb, evil temple or tomb where adventurers boldly go where no adventurer has... (I'd better stop, I hear lawyers being sharpened :) ). The price is excellent, and the functionality of the PDFs are eye-popping. You can literally strip the maps down to just the outlines of the dungeons if need be, or leave them blue-filled and stocked with items and trap locations. By all means, buy this download.
Although some bits of history had to be changed or condensed in this treatment of the Crusades, it is a great resource for those who want to run a historical campaign.
This was the first D&D Module I ever owned, back when I was in Junior High in the early '90s. I'm glad I was able to find even an electronic copy, as Alphatia and Thyatis were a magnificent setting for adventure. The one thing though -- I don't recall the original box coming with the counters shown in the PDF (I don't remember it coming with counters at all, to tell the truth).
get "Greyhawk Ruins" instead. I love humor, but the encounters were all sub-"MAD Magazine" quality, and seemed to include every bad pun (and opportunity for frustrated ham-actor DMs to do their bad Leonard Nimoy impressions) the authors could cram in. No wonder the module seemed to have been all but disowned after the "Greyhawk Wars" reboot. I don't begrudge Paizo the $4 I paid -- they just offered it along with al the rest of the TSR back catalogue. But I will sue the original authors to get back the hour of my life I wasted reading it!
I can say nothing bad about Paizo's scan of this module. It's clear, and crisp, and legible. That's more than I can say of the module itself, which starts with an interesting but ultimately poorly-thought-out twist (letting the players take on the roles of the Council of Eight and then breaking every DM's rule by making sure they die no matter what the player does) seems never to let the player's own hero into the action, as they seem to be playing pre-generated characters throughout. It seems like an adventure for DMs with a bent towards sadism. And that's a shame, as the plot core (stopping Vecna and raiding his citadel) is one that most players would give their left eye (*ahem* pardon the expression) to go through.
After looking through both this book and the "Greyhawk Player's Guide," they are probably the most jam-packed and info-laden books on the Greyhawk Universe as a whole in existence. 3.5E DMs (like myself) who are hurting from a paucity of Greyhawk material in the new system would be well served buying this book and mining it for adventure hooks and NPCs. If you want to play Greyhawk and can't wait for "Expedition to the Ruins" to come out to get into Gygax's oldest and most alive sandbox, do yourself a favor and get this download.
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