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I only own this mighty tome in PDF form, so my review necessarily limits itself to that. So no flowery praise for production values, or other aspects limited to the physical product.

The content is good, however. It carries over the best innovations of the Beta editions, while cutting the dross and improving compatibility. In fact, most of the rule messes in 3.5 seem to have been cleared up without violating the "core concepts" and making the game drastically different from what I have grown to love.

For the PDF only, I had to knock off a star for problems with the bookmark navigation. A true pity, given that Paizo worked very hard to produce a great PDF. Hopefully, an update will become available soon, allowing its full glory to be restored.

Let me start this review off by saying I nearly would have missed new years because of me going against the final boss of the game. Yes, it is that addicting.

The main campaign is relatively short, but features a huge number of twists on the already-varied gameplay. Usually, one or two "terrain cards" are added, which affect the battle rules in a significant way, or additional objectives are added to either win or lose the battle.

Duels against the computer allow for a quick fix, and a number of "achievements" is available for you to rabidly collect. All three play modes (Storyline, Duel and Online) are covered.

What knocked off a star then? I had hoped for a somewhat larger number of cards, truth be told. The arbitrary selection of cards for each duel can result in selections that are much harder than others. And a special stinker for me: The game crashes unless launched with administrator privilege.

This book, like any book redefining a well-loved and followed product is torn between keeping the good of old, and finding its own voice.

It absolutely found its own voice. The merits of that voice are, to say the least, questionable. The redefined realms could just as well be any of a huge number of more or less indistinguishable homebrew worlds.

As for keeping the old, the Spellplague might as well have been called Armageddon. Some of the names remain the same, and you might even run into a few "familiar faces", but the entire setting has changed so much that these seem to be anachronistic throwbacks, rather than reminders of old.

As for the book itself: Quite gutsy, starting off with an adventure. Very time-oriented, very much in what seems to be 4th Editions "ready to go right now" philosophy. Kudos for seeing it through with such consequence. If only the adventure had felt less like generic filler, this might have been easily another star. Production values are good, too. All in all not the best deal, but there is worse in the RPG market.

Sadly, am one of these metaphorical parents. While maybe not with as impressive credentials as some members of the community, i actually liked the look and feel of the previous editions.

For the sake of the review, i decided to not look at this game as "how does it hold up to 3.5", but rather as a game of its own merit. I have to say, it went beyond my expectations. Good, very clean and lean layout, succinct and easily understood rules, everything is there. I fully expect this system to achieve many of the stated goals, with quicker gameplay, better balance, and less contrived character builds.

But it just does not have the feeling. If you are looking for a good fantasy RPG with a cool paintjob, use this.

If you look for your parent's D&D... not here, friend.

Let me begin by stating that the basic premises rock! The adventure takes the party by a pseudo-steamboat up a tropical river, and forces them to content with all manner of unpleasantness on the way. The "feeling" is there, and a few surprises as well.

Why only three stars, then? Because it is not a very good adventure, truth be told. The encounters are disjoined, and do not neatly flow into a single narrative. The motivation for taking the "boat trip" is not as good as i would have hoped ("do it for greed, or have the DM come up with a better reason"). Likewise, the conclusion feels disjoined, and while i like the fact that there is no overdone happy ending, the options do not quite cut it.

This module is by no means all bad - but it is not on par with some of Paizos other offerings.

Once again, Nicolas Logue delivers. Hangman's Noose is a wonderful little gem for getting a party started, with each character forced to walk in the boots of one of their relatives, and taking their place in a horrible retrial of an unjustly hanged man.

The NPCs in this locked room / survival horror scenario are believable and well-thought out - and while you may still cheer when the first villain bites the dust, you probably will become queasy once the roster shrinks, and ever fewer victims you have not grown fond of are left.

What cut off one star in this case are a few somewhat "cutscene" type events ("You realize X is gone, then hear a scream behind the locked door"). This could have been done with more interaction potential. Also, while its not so hard to figure out who the true villain is, actually getting him to the gallows is left pretty much open.

This adventure has it all. It starts off with a very nicely-designed encounter scenario, which features believable events that present a challenging, but very winnable "defense" task. The assaulting force is neither completely without tactics, nor unwinnably wiley. In short, it captures how i would imagine a giant raid to the t.

Following that is a short wilderness travel bit (in terms of play time), before the adventure proceeds with a classic counterattack, including a chance to do a bit of politicing for parties so inclined. There really is not much to complain about - it all fits neatly.

The support material is solid as usual, and the ecology of the Stone Giant is spot-on. The only nitpick i can find that in places the dragon expose can be seen as a bit too shameless a plug for a certain gamemastery adventure.

All in all, it is a very worthwhile read and purchase.

First off, lets make one thing clear. This four star rating is not given because the adventure limps in at about 75% satisfaction, but because it comes in at just short of 100% - and loses quite a bit due to (i would imagine) space constraints.

The city of Xin-Shalast is lovingly crafted, and even though i don't buy "10000 years abandoned", it feels like an ancient ruin. The new monsters are interesting enough (even though Leng is straining my Lovecraft tolerance to the limit).

What breaks off one star is, sadly, Karzoug himself. While he is beautifully characterized, and a foe you love to hate - he is mechanically uninteresting. Worse still, he feels as if he came right out of the SRD. I would have hoped to see a little more uniqueness to this ancient menace. Some personal spells, maybe. Some more interaction with him throughout the city. He feels a lot like an "end boss" in a CRPG in the early days.

When i got my hands on this book, i fully expected to walk away with even bleaker expectations for the forth edition.

Surprisingly, i did not. While there are many questions left open, and i really would have appreciated a bit less shameless bragging and self-congratulation, the information is sound, and actually makes me believe some thought went into making the design choices they made.

All in all a worthwhile purchase for any would-be RPG designer out there, or any 4th edition enthusiast. Run-of-the-mill DMs or Players would probably consider it a waste of money, though.