Coliseum Morpheuon, presented as an adventure for higher level characters, quickly took on more of a feel of a full setting waiting to be realized. Looking through support material, it isn't hard to see I wasn't the only one thinking along that vein, as an entire series of NPC's have sprung up to make sure that there are new and fresh faces awaiting your players for further exploits within the Dream Plane.

Weighing in at 130 pages, this PDF is crammed with an immense amount of material detailing the setting, it's inhabitants, new and variant rules, and of course the adventures that await your players. With how many reviews have already gone into extensive detail, rather than rehash upon what has already been said both here, and throughout the comments thread from the actual product posting, I thought I would touch instead on a few thoughts.

First off, the book is flat sexy folks. With page borders that, honestly, set a new standard in the concept of layout and background design. Scattered throughout the book we are visually treated to thematic artwork designed to take us along for the visual trip into a realm of possibility. Several of these pieces are very, very good. Good enough that they make up for the ones that, to be blunt, should never have been put anywhere near this book, Lady Puzzledeep comes to mind. The Pasha of Swirling Ashes ranks up there in my top ten for all time favorite NPC illustrations, the piece is simply fantastic. There is also the concept of the drastically different art styles represented within this book, going from a standard I would call semi-realistic, to cartoon. And, if the two from the cover are going to make so many appearances, shouldn't they be statted somewhere in the book? And, while we're discussing stats, why no monster illustrations for our new critters?? That's a huge downer folks, new monsters need new artwork, lol. And speaking of monsters and artwork, the one new creature we get identified with art, has no stats, the Dream Horror....that thing is freaking creepy, I want stats!!!!!!!!!

Now, layout and formatting follow the dual column approach with embedded artwork. The few hiccups in grammatical and editorial are minor enough to barely even register, which is pretty impressive in a book of this size. I did find it odd that the image of Lady Puzzledeep reveals more on the back cover than on her actual stat page though.

The real question, all comments regarding how pretty or not the book is, is it worth the price? Because at the end of the day, that's what it boils down to, is a product going to provide you with enough material, that has been designed well, to make the price worth paying. I can answer that easily by saying, this is what high level enthusiasts have been waiting for. Contained within this book is a playground for those characters that currently have nowhere to go, and we all have a pile of those from past glories and quests. Truly, one of the most aggravating concepts of playing a character is getting to that point that there's nothing left, and you have to again say goodbye to an old friend. Well, no more. The beauty of this product is it's re-usability, as it is more setting then simply adventure, and more than easily adaptable to fit the feel of many different playgroups. Well thought out NPC's, encounters, trials, and challenges all make sure there will be plenty to do for quite some time within the lands of dreams.

More than happy to add my 5 star stamp, for even with my issues with artwork, the pros of this book far, far outweigh such minor cons. Honestly people, even if your a new GM with brand new characters, add this book to your library, and give them something to work towards, it will be worth it.

My review is directed specifically for Game Masters who need an epic conclusion for their own campaign.

As I look over the array of 5 star reviews I am struck by two things. The first is that I don’t feel I can add to the content of the reviews for specifics of what this product contains. There are several very in-depth reviews that state exactly what you are getting when you purchase this book. The second is that I fully agree with these reviews.

What I can add to the discussion is why I purchased this book and how much use it will be for me and any other GMs out there who need a high level campaign to end on a high note. I admit that I hesitated to buy Coliseum Morpheuon. I heard it was a high level duel style campaign. I thought to myself, “boring!” Boy was I ever wrong. When I read the reviews one thing stood out as being very useful to me, the material on the Plane of Dreams. I hesitated, hemmed and hawed and read the glowing reviews until I succumbed.

What I didn’t know before purchasing and scanning over the book from cover to cover was just exactly how brilliant this product is. I can link no less than three of my very ultimate all-time favorite RPG settings with this product, the City of Brass (Necromancer Games), Call of Cthulhu (Chaosium), and very obviously the Rise of the Runelords adventure path by Pathfinder Roleplaying Games. This fills the holes in my own campaign and makes these links not only possible, but easy. Now I don’t have to do much on my own to accomplish this because the geniuses who created this did it for me. I am not saying that only those GMs who use those three products can find this useful. Oh no. I can imagine a whole array of other possible links to other game worlds. Virtually every kind of GM who uses PFRPG or 3.5 and needs a high level epic campaign capper to the exploits of their game group’s heroes can link whatever they have created for their own campaigns with minimal effort.

Simply Brilliant.

If I could hand out a review of more than 5 stars I would do it. Coliseum Morpheuon met and surpassed all of my hopes and expectations. Not only does it allow me to provide a sufficiently epic conclusion to my own campaign but also has delightful potential to provide multiple denouements for each of my players’ characters. I hope to see many more brilliant works by you folks at Rite Publishing.

Coliseum Morpheuon is more than just an adventure module for Pathfinder. It is an entire setting taking place on the Plane of Dreams, written adventure, possible mini-campaign, and possible full campaign setting. The setting is beautifully detailed with an excellent array of adversaries, NPCs, plot-hooks, encounters, and the Gladiator events themselves. The publication is filled with fantastic illustrations, maps, and an easy to read layout. Even if you don’t use the Gladiator events or the overall Gladiator games, the content is filled with so many more ideas that you are almost getting 2 full publications in one with loads of potential for exciting adventures and thrilling campaigns.

The Coliseum Morpheuon Gladiator events are written for 16th – 20th Level characters and could be thought of as a playground (not just a sandbox). There are given events that are supposed to occur at given times, but the time in-between can be spent playing anywhere throughout the playground doing virtually anything the GM or players can imagine.

I can’t help but say great things about Coliseum Morpheuon. The publication is very professional and I absolutely love the illustrations. New mechanics, setting details, new adversaries, new NPCs, and maps, this publication has it all! There is so much value found throughout that no matter what you don’t want to use, there is bound to be piles and piles of information that you will find very useful.

Overall I highly recommend Coliseum Morpheuon. Not only for the Gladiator events but for the wealth of source material presented throughout. Along with this there are great new mechanics for GMs and players alike pertaining to the Plane of Dreams that could make any adventure or campaign more colorful. Rite Publishing has done an excellent job of bringing together a collaborative publication that can serve as a sourcebook, adventure, mini-campaign, or full campaign.

I bought this on a whim, not expecting a great deal, but hopeful for something new.

And boy did it deliver!

Okay, let me put it this way... there have been some great Adventure Paths and Modules printed for the Pathfinder RPG, but I'd rather play this one rather than any of those others!

Unfortunately, my review is far too long to fit into the space provided here. Check the discussion thread to find it.

Coliseum Morpheuon by Rite Publishing

This product is 127 pages long. It starts with a cover, credits, and intro. (3 pages) There is no ToC beyond the bookmarks.

Chapter One – Plane of Dreams (4 pages)
This gives a nice little overview of the plane and some of the traits of the plane.

Chapter Two – Dream Burning (5 pages)
Each character has 3 dreams, hope, aspiration and goal. It has rules for burning your dreams to gain short term benefits at a long term cost. It also has rules for restoring your dreams or stealing the dreams of others. Included is 8 new dream related traits.

Chapter Three – Denizens of the Dream (8 pages)
This section talks about the types of creatures one might encounter in the Dream Plane. It includes 4 new monsters.
Chittering Dream Eater – They eat your dreams.
Denizens of Leng – Evil race native to the plane.
Oneirobound – Sleepers that have had their conscious lost in the dream world.
Qarnjthak – A huge native predator.

Chapter Four – The Island of Coliseum Morpheuon (9 pages)
It gives a nice overview of the island. Including a short history, discussion of it's society, as well as the varies locations around the island. There is a full page of rumors with DC's for finding out about them and a page of adventure seeds.

Chapter Five – Denizens of the Coliseum (30 pages)
Here is the stat blocks and information about the 16 key NPC's on the island. There is 3 new magical weapon properties, 6 new feats, and 5 new magic items.

Chapter 6 – An Overview of the Epoch (6 pages)
A overview of the Gladiator event hosted at the Coliseum once every 100 years. Including information on how to get the PC's involved in the event, as well as what NPC's are involved and why. As well as other groups that are competing in the event. It ends with a section on how to run the Khan of Nightmares the main NPC/ruler of the Coliseum. One minor artifact.

Chapter 7 – An Invitation to Damnation (12 pages)
This is the beginning of the adventure in the book. There is 4 encounters in this section. It also has a hook to get the PC's involved, rumors. It has some nice riddles I really liked in one of the encounters.

Chapter 8 – The Tests of the Coliseum Morpheuon (5 pages)
There is 34 subplots or encounter idea's in this section to help bring things to life. The PC's and DM can choose to use as many or as few as they like. Many of them lets PC's discover some of the secrets of the island and those living there. Though the DM will need to flesh them out.

Chapter 9 – The Tests of the Damnation of Epoch (20 pages)
There is ten tests. They have to accomplish goals while competing against other teams. The events are interesting, I think most PC's would enjoy them.

Chapter 10 – Secrets of the Coliseum Morpheoun (5 pages)
Here it details 6 subplots going on during the event and what happens if the PC's become involved in one of them during the events of the tests.

Appendix 1 – The Dirges (9 pages)
Stat blocks and information about one of the teams also competing in the event. This section also includes 1 new magic item, 4 new spells, and 5 new feats.

Appendix 2 – The Gray Feathers (6 pages)
Details one of the other teams competing in the event with full stat blocks and information.

Appendix 3 – Pregenerated Characters (5 pages)
4 pregenerated characters for the adventure. Some of them use other rite publishing books information such as races. Though all relevant information is in the stat blocks. There is also 2 new spells in this section.

It ends with a OGL and back cover. (2 pages)

Closing thoughts. It is very well written and interesting the art work is fair to pretty good. It gives a nice taste of the plane and I do hope they do a follow up talking about other parts of the plane as a supplement to this book. The NPC's are well done and interesting, they also had art for each one which was very nice. The adventure is very nice as it is not your normal adventure at all. It has nice use of hyperlinks in the text in key area's.

There was three flaws that I seen that bothered me about the product. One there was no ToC, I know the bookmarks work as one but I would have still liked to have seen one added to the book. No art for the new monsters, that’s kinda a big deal for me, when it comes to new monsters. The final thing is, other than on the back cover there is no mention of the adventure level or recommend number of PC's.(16-20th level) A minor flaw but I would have liked to have this information at the beginning of the adventure section.

This is one of the best high level adventures I have seen. It is nice that it is not a typical adventure as well. There was a few minor flaws and because of them I am giving it a 4.5 rating.

My review won't fit, check out the product discussion for the review.

Half fantastic planar supplement, half incredible high-level adventure. The best praise I can give is that this is the next adventure I will run for my players. It is a fun and creative romp in the dream lands. At this level characters shouldn't be traipsing through dungeons anymore, and Coliseum Morpheuon more than delivers an epic feeling adventure.

This adventure knocks one out of the coliseum!