Paizo Superscriber, Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber. Pathfinder Society GM. 504 posts (512 including aliases). 7 reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 3 Pathfinder Society characters. 1 alias.
The map packs and flip maps have, for a while, been a useful addition to the busy GMs arsenal, enabling him/her to quickly construct a map without tedious drawing on a grid map. They are beautifully illustrated and are indicative of the general high quality of Paizo's mapwork.
The addition of the standard "subscribers get the pdf for free" makes these even higher value for folks like myself who mix between physical table top and virtual table top.
The previous review seems like a gripe against the shipping, not the product itself, so I personally have disregarded it.
This product doesn't get 5/5 stars due to two minor irritations with the physical product: the map packs can shift around a bit on the table, and the flip mats rise of the table due to their folded nature (which can be alleviated by bending them back in the opposite direction).
I think Rule of Fear is Paizo's strongest settings book to date.
The NPC portraits inside are exquisite.
The locale and city maps are extremely high quality, as good as anything the RPG community as produced in the last 15 years. There are some really excellent artistic touches like heraldry on the maps, neat looking borders, melted waxed embossing, and textured backgrounds.
Lots of cool hand outs and 'in character' narratives.
Really vivid and evocative writing. Schneider's work on Pathfinder fiction really seems to be paying dividends!
This work is a wonderful companion to anyone running the Carrion Crown AP, interested in Golarion, or looking for a top-notch example of world building.
This module truly deserves its high ratings. It oozes (or sporalates?) awesomeness.
Spoiler:
I ran it with a party of 4 Tier 1's - the BBEG at the end color sprayed the fighter and oracle, the barbarian was down to 2 HP and weaponless, and the first-time-ever-playing-DnD ranger was down to 1 HP. The BBEG had just enlarged self and was about to coup-de-grace the party (TPK?!), when the ranger crit'd her with a longbow, maxed out the triple damage, and killed the BBEG outright. The party cheered and the first-time-ever-playing-DnD player (wife roped into playing) was the hero of the day. Good times.
Elevator pitch: "Mapped Encounters: Saber-Toothed Tiger" is a Pathfinder based, plug-and-play, scalable mini-encounter set in snowy, ice-water ringed tundra authored by Steven Russell, with cartography by Jonathan Roberts. You get two things when you purchase it: a pdf, and a Maptool (digital tabletop) file.
Short story: overall, a nice release from the talented guys over at Rite Publishing. Recommended if you’re a fan of the Pathfinder system, digital tabletops, battle maps, cartography, or super badass saber toothed tigers, then this is a excellent product at an affordable price.
This book is great: it oozes the character of the American Appalachia, as its main character (Silver John, a silver-stringed guitar toting bard WWI veteran type) wanders from village to mountain, encountering various ghosts, witchfolk, other-dimensional Cthulu-esque beasties, and fantastic creatures. That Silver John manages to survive these various encounters is a testament to his rich Bardic Knowledge skills, luck, common sense, smooth talking, and Good Guy behavior.
The writing style is rich, with vivid descriptions and authentic American Appalachian dialect. The stories all vary in size, from a 1 page encounter with a woodland centaur to a 15 page encounter with a near-immortal witch survivor of the Salem witch trials, and all can be read in the "in between" (before bed, on train, in doctor's office, etc).
Overall a wonderful collection of American folklore.
One of the most creative modules I've seen in a long, long time. The story line is crisp, the bad guys are interesting, the environment is wonderfully textured, and the combat scenes are unique and well designed.
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