TwiceBorn's page

I have most of Paizo's flip mats, and this is one of my favourites. Both sides of the mat are very atmospheric. Side 1 features an iconic narrow bridge over a yawning chasm, with raised ledges, a small pool, and branching tunnels. Don't want a bridge in your scene? Just black it out with a dry erase marker. The reverse side, which features natural walls and pillars, is very versatile. You can use it as is, or easily add in additional contours of your own, taking advantage of some pre-set features which reduce the DM's work load. The shades on both sides of the mat are great. Highly recommended!

With the exception of the "Dungeon" flipmat that was released several years ago when the line was still owned by Steel Squire, I have (or soon will have) every flipmat that has been released thus far. Overall, "Desert" is quite possibly the most visually impressive flipmat Paizo has produced. The one side, with the sphinx, jackal-headed statues and oasis is beautiful and atmospheric, perfect if you have those elements in your desert adventure. So why only three stars? I think the map is somewhat limited in its utility. If you are hoping for a flipmat that primarily provides a generic "endless sand, dune and scrub" backdrop, then this mat doesn't deliver. Both sides of the map feature an oasis (and, of course, not all desert adventures will lead to a sphinx). I would have preferred something more generic (on which I could have drawn an oasis, if necessary). YMMV...

Another great release from Dronolan's Tower! While I also have all of the Midnight Syndicate CDs and one by Nox Arcana, IMO, Dronolan's Tower remains the creme of the crop. That having been said, I do feel that "Those Who Dwell Beneath" is a step down from DT's first release. I normally enjoy dark, brooding music, and this disc certainly delivers that in spades. I felt, however, that some pieces sounded a little too much like one another, and that the percussions were at times overpowering, if not redundant and uninspired. The heaviness of the music could have been maintained at having to rely on booming tympanes or kettle drums. That's a relatively minor quibble -- this CD still provides a great deal of inspiration while I'm preparing an adventure, and a great deal of atmosphere at the table. My players enjoy hearing it in the background. It's a great soundtrack for a Midnight campaign, and for any other campaign that is dark and gritty. I really hope that DT will release more music in the future!

I was blown away by this CD and it made me wonder a) why I had never heard of this composer before, and b) how much did it cost him to produce this??? I use it to "get in the mood" when I'm writing scenarios, and as background music during sessions. My players felt the music really enhanced the mood at the table (if I had more time, I would sync particular passages with in-game scenes). There are epic pieces, quiet/romantic pieces, exotic pieces (that would be fitting themes when meeting characters of a race that is alien to the PCs for the first time), etc. I think the soundtrack is on par with the works of Shore, Horner, etc... but you needn't worry about your players humming along or goofing off to some well-known movie theme. High quality, and highly recommended!

I have the same problem as the previous reviewer. I've read Paizo's advice where the Window's unzip utility is concerned... can anyone recommend another unzipping utility that might work?

"Lord of the Spiders" was a huge disappointment. First of all, the title of the novel is completely inappropriate. There is little logic or purpose behind Michael Kane's arrival in the land of the Lord of Spiders, and suffice it to say that it is inconsequential to the overall "plot" (what little there is of one) anyway. While I generally enjoyed reading this story more than I did the first in the trilogy (City of the Beast), perhaps because it reads a little less like a hack an' slash novel than the previous book in the series, the other reviewers are right. There are way too many threads left dangling by the end of the story. The characters remain as bland as they were in the first book, and the ending left me thinking "meh". Moorcock spent so much time developing random encounters throughout the novel that he had no time/space left to write a compelling climax and denouement. Oh well...

I'll second B_Wiklund's review and rating. First of all, as with the second book in this trilogy, the title really has little to do with the main story. Secondly, while the novel does start out with an interesting concept and fantastically creepy atmosphere in the city of Cend-Amrid, this unfortunately goes to waste in favour of high action random encounter-like situations that do little to further the plot. Ideas that are full of potential (the Yaksha and the Sheev) remain undeveloped. The dialogue is wooden, and the characters have no depth. Worst of all, the ending is a total anti-climactic cop out. It's as if the author had an impending deadline and was about to exceed his word or page count, and instead of revising earlier elements of the story to make for a more compelling conclusion, he settled for a total dud of an ending. Moorcock has written some awesome stuff, but the Michael Kane/Mars trilogy is, in my opinion, some of his worst.

I should preface this review by specifying that I did not read the Planet Stories edition of City of the Beast, but the one that appeared in the White Wolf omnibus edition titled "Kane of Old Mars." That having been said, I imagine that little (if anything) has changed between the editions. Also, I generally consider myself a fan of Michael Moorcock, and have read dozens of his books (and have dozens more that I have not yet read). Finally, I expected not to enjoy "City of the Beast" because... well, the premise of a sci-fi/fantasy story set on Mars just didn't excite me. Still, given that I'm reading the White Wolf omnibus volumes in order of publication, I thought I would give it a shot.
Overall, City of the Beast was a so-so read (slightly more enjoyable than I expected). It's far from Moorcock's best, but it certainly isn't his worst, either. If you like action-packed novels that race along at a break-neck pace, then you'll probably enjoy this. Character development was limited to non-existent. I found that Michael Kane's character was a little bit too cookie cutter "flawless knight in shining armour" and wooden for my taste (the same goes for the other characters in the novel). He was nowhere near as gritty as Oswald Bastable, Elric, and many of Moorcock's other "anti-heroes" (some readers may find it refreshing that Moorcock seemed to develop a more traditional hero in this book, in contrast with his usual grim/cursed characters). Also, the speed with which Kane adapted to Martian society (and was accepted into it) was a little bit hard for me to swallow. I found the dialogue was a little clunky/cheesy at times.
On a positive note, the novel did contain suspenseful moments, and interesting twists and turns that kept you guessing what might happen next.
All in all, it's reasonably good mind candy. To judge the book on its own merit, I think it accomplishes what it set out to do.