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The Genius Guide to Loot 4 Less : Armor and Weapons

Production: 8/10
I loaded up the PDF and was thrilled to see it fit the format of my widescreen laptop. I see too many 8.5” x 11” formatted PDFs that I’m never going to print out. With that said the internal layout was simple and very readable. For some reason the layout seems cleaner than on the companion book in the series.

Art: 7/10
I’ll be honest, at this price point I all I expect out of the art is that it not be distracting. The art isn’t quite as good as it is on the Rings book but still pleasant.

Text: 7/10
The writing of this book was a tad ambitious but over all I think the writer was up to the challenge though I disagree with some of the conclusions. For example, I don’t like Spellforged being a fractional bonus rather than a simple cost based enhancement or effect on an item. The argument for the fractional bonuses and other underlying logic takes a bit and may beyond the ability of some attention challenged readers. I can definitely seem some qualities such as Leavened, Restful and Sharp making their ways into my games. The balance elements seems fine as well.

Overall: Pass
I judge products on a pass fail basis of would I allow their content into my games. This passes. Additionally, I think it was a good value for low level games.

The Genius Guide to Loot 4 Less Volume 2: Pretty, Pretty, Rings
Production: 7/10
I loaded up the PDF and was thrilled to see it fit the format of my widescreen laptop. I see too many 8.5” x 11” formatted PDFs that I’m never going to print out. With that said the internal layout was simple and very readable. The column layout is a bit awkward at times but never makes it unreadable.

Art: 8/10
I’ll be honest, at this price point I all I expect out of the art is that it not be distracting. Instead, we get a quite competent cover (no that isn’t an insult, being a competent artist is not easy) and respectable internal art.

Text: 8/10
The writing and editing are decent. Not all rings are in a style to my liking but are all reasonable and will probably find fans. I enjoyed the section entitled “Ring’s Upon Your Fingers” which discussed the wearing of more than 2 rings or in various places on the body without the painful resorting to expending feats for the simple sake of customization. I should note that there were a few spelling and grammatical errors such as that same section title. Ring’s there is possessive while it should be plural (no apostrophe). Over all there are very few such errors though and in the age of Microsoft Word often deciding it knows grammar better than you do many a writer has had egg on their face for hitting accept one time more than they should. The logic behind the items was sound and gives some guidelines for creating new items.

Overall: Pass
I judge products on a pass fail basis of would I allow their content into my games. This passes. Additionally, I think it was a good value if a niche product.