GM_Solspiral's page

2 special notes:
1) I was given a reviewer copy for free. This did not influence my review.
2) I'm also a publisher, I look at this as though it were something in front of me to print and scored it based on that perspective.

The Good: Every specific piece has line art, the layout is top notch, and the cover is gorgeous. Several items stand out and pricing seems pretty legit on everything. My opinion on the items is mixed but that is to be expected in multi authored work. I will call out a few as superb like the bombardier beetle shield, the variable shield, the toy barding, the clarion flail, and the Gemini shirt sword were some of my favourites.
The Bad: I see no reason for a dragon to keep a lot of this stuff and I'm going to call out a complete lack of fluff. If you're going to name this The Dragon's hoard give me a short intro story or a 1 page introduction of any sort discussing why a dragon keeps weapons and armor for medium creatures. It's a nit pick but inject some fun... give me some foreplay before getting to business. I'm also rather confused by the choice to cite the authors on some work and not on others, it's a little distracting but irrelevant to the score.
The Ugly: To be blunt anyone who hangs on the Superstar forums is going to see some tropes from the past couple years sneak in. Windstriker style blade check (no less then 5 from the past couple years), assassin's crossbow of killing, blood blade for the blood god, they are all here. Mind you they have been done well but it doesn't change that they seem like rehashes of things I have seen before. I do see a problem with the darts that turn you into a lycanthrope being a balance issue, and one item clocks in at over 130k which is pretty much pointless as the wealth by level to achieve this is pretty much at the end of most games. On the other end of the scale we have few options for the lower levels where a lot of games live.
Overall Mostly those are nit picks and this is a very fine supplement falls between 3.5-4 stars so 4 stars. Nice work all round, I'd print it.

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It's in my Recession Review format.

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This is highly debatable. Storywise I love it, but my reviews are based on economics check it out here]

I write bullet point reviews, K.I.S.S. words to live by.

The Good-Despite being black and white I love the game tile maps.
-Story is sandbox style which for me is big plus.
-Excellent storytelling throughout great relationship tracker system one could well reuse.
-rewards for the adventure are really keen with interesting long term effects.
-Not a hack and slash dungeon one could negotiate with the majority of the "enemies" in the citidel which is more than refreshing

The Bad -Gnome presented is more Dragonlance than pathfinder, his machine is a little gonzo for some campaigns.

The Ugly -I'd seriously pay more to have this in color with a better binding.

Overall I love this dungeon will use this dungeon will reuse elements of this dungeon, and at will add flavor to my kingmaker campaign. Only loss here is quality of print, I'll pay more for better quality seriously.

Bullet point reviews = my bag baby.

The Good: -Strong female NPC lead that doesn't strike me as arm candy for your fighter.
-Feels like a Russian Dark Fairytale which is a good vibe.
-Nifty new animal companion option, fun battles.
-Strong story sets the tone, love the ice sculpture bit.

The Bad: -Might be a little too similar beginning to a certain iconic fantasy that has a Lion Jesus allegory.

The Ugly: -You're off to rescue the less bad guy.

My new review style recession reviews are here

Overall: Mostly nitpicks but overall I like the story, I like the challe4nge to PCs going from a relatively comfortable land to a harsh winter environment.

Like this AP, I'm sticking to my bullet point format.

The Good: -Stats for a clockwork dragon, sweet that was worth the money.
-Ok the artifact reward is frakin awesome and deserves a nod as perhaps the best reward in any AP I've read thus far.
-Opening disaster makes the story more compelling.

The Bad: -6 dungeons is a little much

The Ugly: -I hate Xin as a villain. For one he was the good guy this is just a machine trap, kind of lame.
-Not tech no, didn't see that coming not something I like in my setting.

Overall: An AP's apex villain needs to close the AP strong, I can't love this because I con't love Xin as a villain, I might take pieces from is but I will NEVER run it.

My review style is bullet point, isn't that easier to read?

The Good: -Villain is awesome (cover art a big hint why)
-Giants and magma and dragons oh my!
-Good battles throughout excellent rewards.\

The Bad: -Another dungeon, this one with a thin reason for its existence.

The Ugly: -I hate encounters like the one with the drow here, too convenient just so happens ect...
-I don't buy the dragon giving up a shard to find another shard...

Overall: Another great dungeon but story is a disappointment after book 4.

My reviews use bullet points, just how I roll.

The Good: -Location is very strong.
-Monsters and bonus monsters are very strong.
NPCs are strong.
-Backstory is strong.

The Bad: -If you're looking for more than a dungeon look elsewhere.

The Ugly: -Redemption option on main villain seems thin.

Overall: Can't give it a 5 star, I want more than just a dungeon. That said you can run this without the rest of the AP and be fine. Great back pocket dungeon.

My reviews use bullet points, just how I roll.

The Good: -Compelling story especially if you play a goblin.
-decent story
-Travel feels like actual travel
-Good fights throughout

The Bad: -Eastern treasure kind of a gyp (pun intended.)

The Ugly: -Poor NPC design at times this is frustrating.
-Get the feeling the travel theme is going to become a grind? trust your gut it will.

Overall: I almost want to ding this by another star based solely on the treasure but the story was just plain amazing.

My reviews use bullet points, just how I roll.

The Good: -Main villain while a repetition can be compelling storyline wise.
-Numerian artifacts, sexy.
-Some fun plot twists and bring on big battles and warfare!
-Like kingdom building the mass combat system is flawed but workable.

The Bad: -You need to restat the main villain to make his stats match how awesome his story is.

The Ugly: -Players can throw a serious curve ball int he adventure design, this is where sandbox can be an issue
-DM labor intensive, though kingdom building was allot of work, add armies.

Overall: I know when I run this it will be more than a 3 star experience but again I have to base it off of how its written. IF you run this AP I highly encourage you to be a part of the forum community that if anything can raise all my ratings by a full star. The forum support for this AP is epic...

My reviews use bullet points, just how I roll.

The Good: -Barbarian villain seems pretty tough.
-Good storyline, overall one of the better stories.
-Rewards for the PCs are really strong, this is important.

The Bad: -1st of 2 main villains is going to go down like a chump.
-Suffers for wanting mass combat but not having rules for it yet.

The Ugly: -OK we see gay characters but big surprise they are pretty lesbians with fan service art, bad form.
-The big bad's sword is effectively a cursed reward.
-The mid level boss is the chump little brother of book 5's boss.
-Its a little too apparent that these adventures were developed by seperate people who were only very basically collaborating. Paizo has gotten better at this but Neil is an excellent author this was not his best IMHO

Overall: The rewards are great, the villain would be better if not sandwiched between an awesome villain (book 3) and a better version of the mid level villain (book 5.) Can't give a 4th star for it...

My format is bullet points, just how I roll.

The Good: -Awesome villain, sells it for me.
-Ok this is based of what is perhaps the most interesting mystery in US history.
-If you use Varn right he adds an amazing element to the story (intro him by book 2 invests your PCs.)
-Some great traps and pitfalls.
-Noman Centaurs are awesome despite the terrible name.

The Bad: -Hexploration, again, can't we just hire surveyors?

Flying Pincusion Recession Review.

The Ugly: -While awesome this villain has no connection to the meta-plot

Overall: Haven't run it yet but I'm psyched to do so, the best reads always translates to teh best adventures.

My review format is bullet points if you want to read a book, well read the book :)

The Good: -I feel like I've been waiting for good kingdom building rules my entire gaming career, this will also be under ugly its a love hate system.
-End villain is amazing if you steal ideas from DM_Dudemeister's thread, if not so so.
-Sandbox style which I still approve of.
-NPCs become way more interesting and critical as the PCs need them for the kingdom building rules which is a great story building tool.
-At the end of the day I had a blast running this despite its flaws

The Bad: -Hexploration gets really old and there's 3 more books of it.
-Candlemere is a waste of location opportunity, lose the story about the annoying kid and his priest friend and make this a real location.
-I end up disliking Erastil.

The Ugly: -Not for novice DMs, this book broke a GM I took over.
-The kingdom building system provided the base of the system I've been looking for without knowing it all my life a a DM, that said I have reworked it extensively as it wasn't nearly comprehensive or balanced enough. Maybe get the John brazier product if you're too lazy or use the system I posted....
-Unless you mod the Owlbear at the end is redundant as an enemy and king H makes no sense as written.

Overall: The kingdom building will divide most groups as some will love some will hate. Again you get out what you put in have to think of this AP as an outline, use the forums Luke...

Recession Review is located here.

My review format is bullet points if you want to read a book, well read the book :)

The Good: -Great first encounter.
-NPCs are well written with rich backstory.
-Sandbox style is interesting and feels homebrew which is good.
-Rewards are balanced yet cool.
-First act hints at many mysteries, which is great.
-Tickleback, nuff said.
-End boss fight can be a puzzle and easy or an epic encounter, good fun design.
-Amazing forum community if you are a GM and want to customize your own spin.

The Bad: -Hexploration gets old and a bit of a grind.
-Bad random encounter roll can absolutely murder everyone.
-Ally NPC Jhod is poorly designed.
-Dire Boar adventure and a few other side treks feel about as WoW as you can get.

The Ugly: -Not for novice DMs, the DC is too high for you go with a railroad save your sanity.
-Those great pieces of backstory are never really exposed to PCs as written.
-Smart players have too easy a time.

Overall: There's allot to love, plenty to complain about I give a neutral 3 star rating based on the fact that this AP is for the most part entirely what you make of it.

Read the recession review here The Flying Pincushion