Turin the Mad's page

My home group enjoyed the atmosphere and flavor text, with several commenting "this would make an excellent set up for a movie!" We spent some time elaborating on the back story descriptions given. It really creeped out the players with the lunatic at the beginning somehow manipulating the spirits of the fallen bound to this accursed place before getting eaten alive by a trio of baddies as the party effectively dangled him out ahead like a tethered goat in a Tyrannosaur pen.

At tier 1-2 it proved to be a bit rough for 2 3rd and 2 1st level characters - one permanent death (1st level 1 XP shy of 2nd level) and one temporary death (3rd level 1 XP shy of 4th) salvaged only due to the surviving characters chipping in cash and throwing a caster level check. The final baddy was a rude surprise for the party...

Awesome! ^_^

Once I experimented with this software a bit, I found this about as easy to use and flexible as the GURPS Character Assistant software - no mean feat in its own right.

Once they get the 1.9 patch linky to work, I'll be a happy man. :)

Naturally, I would want the chaps who worked this puppy up - if possible - to factor in the material in the Unearthed Arcana as selectable options (including, as an example, Gestalt Characters with up to five core class selections) as well as the ability to use the software - or even as an add-on pack - "GM" tools.

So far, I like what it can do already. KUTGW!

EDIT: And of course, if it would be possible to acquire Pathfinder RPG rules datasets - say, at release next August - for this software it would be particularly useful too.

Pros: Quickstart rules booklet, pre-generated characters include level-up information detailed out, XP awards et al are layed out for the DM. The included maps are very detailed and give an excellent sense that may not be well conveyed by flavor text. The folder pockets are a nice idea but should have been bottom-and-side sealed, open on the top. Otherwise the pockets are an improvement.

Cons: Wants to be Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde - only, it is not.

The folder's construction is considerably flimsier than Slaughtergarde's.

The included maps are (a) not 'poster sized' in any normal perspective of how big a poster is to a non-gamer; and (b)2 of the 3 are recycled. The big problem I've had with these poster-maps all along is that they are not particularly durable on thier own. You pretty much have to acquire a sheet of transparent material to lay atop them to endure table use.

They retain the use of the Delve format, and I would presume based on the stack of materials showing in the pre-order catalog that they intend to retain this page-eating format. Understandable, but unnecessarily page-count inflating.

The overall feel I got from perusing the text was ... not much. A generic starter module, sufficient to the task.

Miffed that I chomped the bait and found myself with a glorified catalog that cannot be ordered from, I have yet to determine what to do with this thing.

The only value for this would be to swat bugs - thus the one star.