I didn't get the Gazetteer for the same reasons that the previous reviewer dinged this entry. I looked at it and saw some nice fluff but little meat...
This book is nice and meaty, yes there's errors, they do slip in sometimes, we all know that, so I'm not dinging it too hard for those errors. It's still better than Adventurer's Armory.
Unfortunately the miniatures need some work. These are presented in 20mm scale, which is around the 1:72 model scale. The vehicles are resin, and have some pour issues, minor flaws, but they definitely detract from the look. And can make assembly more difficult. The Buggies come with a Spud gunner and missile gunner plus the driver. The Utility truck comes with nothing additional. Using Mac's Body shop in core rulebook lets you modify the profiles of the vehicles, I used some old Epic mini parts to trick out my vehicles. The game itself is a blast, Fast, Fun and Furi....no wait, that's Savage Worlds...Fast, Fun and Ferocious!!
In a nutshell, the game is a fun party game, with improv, straight face contests, and silliness. Lots of cards so it can be replayed several times without repetition.
While there still needs to be some updates regarding FAQs, there are issues, but I feel it's a better book than some obviously. I have written a full review on my blog.
One of the best. The FATE system is the only system I think that would work for the Dresden Files. As an avid reader of the series, I picked up the RPG. Besides using the FATE system, thus incorporating Aspects, compels and a built-in hero point system, the RPG allows the players to create the city they want to play in with its city design mechanic. Players are tied to each other using a back story system where you work in other players into your story and they are worked into yours.
The layout is top notch. Jim Butcher was involved in the production of the game, and it shows. The book is rife with Dresdenisms, and examples. The sidebar includes commentary from 3 sources, Harry, Bob, and Billy the Werewolf, who "designed" the game. The artwork is great, using casefile examples, portraying many scenes from the books.
The system is so solid, that I will be using it for a Supers conversion, and a Star Wars conversion. Aspects are a great tool for role-playing, and I hope to see similar systems in the future.
Disclaimer: This is a review of material provided to me free of charge for the purpose of review.
First Glance:
From a quick perusal, it looks very promising. Nice artwork, bold trade dress, and 20 unique monsters and 7 additional pages of material.
In Depth:
Many low CR monsters, from the stumble fish to the Night Caller and Mature Piranha. Though my favorite of the new monsters is the Giant Fly Trap, I’ve always had a soft spot for nature fighting back. The Dire Fly Trap is even more vicious. Those are my favorites, there are a few of the monsters I’m not as convinced with. The Addanc has a strange name, which is an odd crocodile/beaver aberration. I’m not a fan of the Hatethrall Demon since it’s a disembodied head is strange for a demon, and the Hydrus has a new Combat maneuver, which doesn’t have an explanation, in addition it’s a bit of an undercon at ½ CR. The other monsters are all well-crafted creatures.
Extras:
In addition to being a monster book, it is a resource book for the River Nations campaign setting (not to be confused with the River Kingdoms of Golarion.)
To this end, the first appendix is Konrad the Bandit King and his Cursed Brethren, the second is Grammy Beshic, an ancient gnome with a dark secret. The Grammy Beshic entry includes three adventure hooks.
New gambling games and a new drug, Kobold Krack, though it’s primarily something particularly vicious GM might use with some kobold barbarians.
The best part of any Monster book is the templates. The Book of Beasts introduces 5 new templates; drunk, enraged, fey-touched, hungry and river-born. Though I would probably not use the drunk template, since it only emulates the sickness of being drunk, not the rage side.
8 new diseases grace the final appendix of the book, not only bringing such common maladies such as Influenza, Bird Flu, and the Common cold into Pathfinder; but also Faire Fever (fantasy version of Con Crud); Dryad Pox (my fave), Mountain Air Plague, Owlbear Filth, and River Sickness. The only problem is they’re only stat blocks, with no fluff.
In Conclusion:
A strong book, with something useful for almost any campaign, it’s not perfect, but I do recommend it.
I've been perusing my PDF from my subscription for the last 24 hours, while I don't have a clue on how balanced everything is just yet, that will take months to figure out. I do know that the options presented in it are incredible. From subdomains to new classes, PrCs and options to the Racial options. This book brings in many fantasy tropes and expands every class in the same way that the rogue talent expanded the Rogue. I haven't sat down and just made characters for the sheer joy of it since I was a kid, but I know as soon as I receive my hard copy that's EXACTLY what I'm going to be doing.
I have recently done a complete review of the APG on my blog
Disclaimer: This is an honest review of a material that was provided to me free of charge for the purpose of said honest review. I am in no way affiliated with the company in question.
First Impressions: After a quick perusal of the material, I was definitely interested as any new mechanics get me excited.
What you get: You get 5 pages of material, excluding trade dress.
Art: Good quality black & white hand artwork.
Fluff: Nice Fluff, I enjoy the background prayer info.
Crunch: What you get. There is 1 magic item; three prayer books in the equipment section. The best part is the mechanics for the (prayers), a quick, once daily effect based upon which deity you call upon, minor effects, but really well thought out. I’ll have to see them in action with play testing to see if any are over-powered, but minor tweaks would be all that is needed.
Grammar & Editing: Minor, nothing to really be concerned about.
Value: Excellent value for the 99 cent price tag. As there are new mechanics, players would need their GM Approval to use the mechanics. I would want it in my library and would consider it a good purchase for me.
Just got this yesterday, played our first game today. It comes with 12 new tiles, only 8 of which have bazaars on them. The bridges are wooden and designed to span a tile, bypassing a road connection. The additional 4 tiles include a 3 town piece with a road section, a cloister inside a 2 connection city section.
Bazaars: Auctions are better for multi-player games, but a great idea.
Bridges: Another one of the expansions that lets you fill hard to fill spaces by bypassing road aspects.
Castles: Most fun aspect of this expansion, the castles let you score equal points to the next completed objective adjacent to the castle.
There are a couple numeric typoes on the rulesheet, but all in all an excellent addition to Carcassone. (one of them refers to a 2 tile city being worth 4 points, when it's worth 2, the other refers to farms being worth 3 instead of 4 at end game.)
Concept: Good concept, Needs more crunch as far as interaction with Feats. Points for upper level games need to be reviewed again.
At low levels the points seem to work fine, at upper levels, it completely breaks down.
They added new feats, but didn't explain how feats like Leadership would work. I would say as a GM that Leadership should be restricted.
I have yet to play a game, but these are my impressions so far.
I hope in future expansions to see a campaign system.
I would actually give it 3.5 stars, but as I haven't played it yet, I'll bump it to 4.
My biggest problem is that while a 20th level character could have 880kgp in magic items, that would be 8800 pts, it costs 2400 to be 20th level, and 15 points for stats; the suggested point value for 20th level play is 2480. 65BP in gear is 6500gp. So, I would ONLY play a wizard or monk in 20th level play.
I had been waiting for the new version to come out after hearing about the old print, So glad I did, the whole family loves this game. It's simple enough that even my 10 year old twins can win.
The nuances of play are exceptional, the key to victory is strike early, build up your spite tokens, and force your opponents to waste there cards. But be careful you don't leave yourself short.
One of the fun things we started doing is giving our characters a back story as to why we want to Kill Dr. Lucky!
Plan ahead, but be prepared for your plans to be
foiled!!!
The production values on this book are great, the layout, border, interior art are all incredible. There are errors of course, and everyone has different tastes...having been part of the alpha & beta testing, I'm impressed with the way the final version evolved from alpha.
Can't please all the people all the time.
I only have a few gripes, I don't like the armor pictures taken from the Gamemastery cards, they're not very accurate versions of real armor (particularly the banded mail, which doesn't even match the description, and the dwarven plate looks like a samurai armor knock off instead of a thick stone version of Platemail.)
The maneuver system is a blessing compared to the old grapple rules. The new skill system makes character/NPC creation much easier.
Some of the weapons (spiked chain) have been changed, character classes expanded in an attempt to equalize the classes. Sorcerers and wizards are now mechanically and thematically different rather than just in name and meta-game stats.
As a veteran Grognard with 27 years of gaming experience under their belt, I definitely support PATHFINDER.
It was great to put these lil guys on the table for RothRL...sure I could have used my regular WH gobbos, but these were much sweeter.
only wish there was a mounted commando on his goblin dog, and a a few more regular goblins, I made two sets for my game, but who needs 2 goblin kings or 4 war chanters?
I would say this is worth every penny. From the clockwork magic and gear domain, to the various new kobold traps, this product never falters in its presentation. Wolfgang is a great designer and an aficionado of steampunk. Zobeck is a unique location, and I can't wait to use it in my games.
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