Jim Groves's page

Disclaimer: I write for Paizo and I know Wes Schneider, and he’s the Editor-In-Chief. That may completely disqualify this review. If you can get past that, what I have to say may help you decide whether you want to buy this book or post your own review.

“Is misery made beautiful right before our eyes
Will mercy be revealed or blind us where we stand?”
-Sarah McLachlan, Witness

I have owned this book for approximately four years. During that time, I have referred to it, referenced it, but never just sat down and read it from cover to cover. You know? Like prose instead of an encyclopedia. Recently I was given an assignment that required some insight into the matter of Hell and devils and I grabbed this book. Something in me said, “Why don’t you just read the entire thing, with an eye towards enjoyment rather than just select paragraphs. Take it all in.”

I was glad I did. At this risk of being a suck-up, this is a magnificent piece of work. Allow me to articulate why. Mr. Schneider is not only a skilled editor, the man can write. This is not a book of interesting facts, it borders on poetry. Each sentence is lovingly crafted and considered. Every word is rich and evocative and he spares no imagery to communicate his vision of Hell, it’s denizens, his concepts, and plot hooks and adventure seeds. I imagine he paced the floor after writing each paragraph in order to scrutinize how it might be made better, or he wrote this while high and drunk during a raging thunderstorm. It is poetic without being poetry. What exactly do I mean? The imagery is savage, hideous, and monstrous and yet somehow beautiful.

Let me give you an example of the language:

The pristine halls and lavish sanctuaries of Baalzebul’s court are dedicated to his profane glory, perverted visions of a grand cathedral that hide shrines filled with fly-ridden sacrifices and cesspit-like chevets. Within the heights of Betzebbul’s central spire lies the throne room of the archfiend. Here, more than half dead, hangs the suspended and shackled corpse of the forgotten god Azhia, endlessly fed upon by the innumerable flies that make up Baalzebul’s verminous form.

Or…

Within the deepest pits of Hell, profane smiths rip ingenious blasphemies from the minds of the damned and sculpt soulflesh into creations of unparalleled malignancy. Several diabolical masterworks, creations of exceptional depravity, appear through accounts of history’s darkest annals, leaving wakes of ruin and damnation in their heinous paths.

The entire book is that lavish and evocative, save perhaps certain sections of game mechanics which would not be well served by it anyway.

I give this book an easy five stars. I also offer a bucket of tears that Wes’s duties only permit him to write the occasional sourcebook. Would should be so lucky and fortunate if he would, one day, captain a Bastardhall project.

In addition to fantastic prose, there is a generous helping of actual game mechanics (spells, items, artifacts), all of which appear balanced—including a prestige class and 5 new demons. There is something for everyone. Let me stress, it’s cool just to read it.

I would love to see a hellmouth creature someday. It would be weird without a standard movement, but I love the idea of a “living” portal with eyes and other features.

That concludes my review, but I have a few remarks I am going to put behind spoiler tags.

Wes avoids something I have seen in other books and I double down on my praise of him for not following suit. What follows is editorial.

Here is some constructive feedback. It in no way warrants the loss of a star. It is minor stuff (and no not grammar and punctuation).

I strongly recommend this book for purchase.

There's not a lot you can say about a t-shirt, but I was pleased. I ordered a small, and it shipped promptly. It is a good quality cotton T-shirt. My wife loves it and her professional colleagues were envious when she wore it to an informal gathering. This was an awesome impulse purchase from Paizo. I even thought the price was reasonable.

Jason Bulmahn's two dollar PDFs are becoming no-brainers. For those who have not purchased any of his other PDFs, what you're buying is content. Not art and high production values, but solid game material—for about the price of two items off the McDonald's Dollar Menu.

But man.. the content is great. It's all stuff I would expect in a Core Book. There is more usable content here than what appeared in many gaming articles when RPG magazines were more common than they are today.

It is well balanced between GM exclusive content (new lich templates, specialized lich feats), and player based content (player feats, and items). And honestly some of the spells fall in a deliciously nebulous gray area where I could see both lichs and players utilizing them.

As always with Jason's PDFs, at a glance all the content passes the sniff test of being balanced. I think absolute balance is an illusion, but everything appears well thought out and considered.

Honestly, this PDF is cheaper than a lot of gas station beef jerky. At that price, it doesn't have to look very pretty, and to review it at anything less than five stars would be unfair.

First of all, I loved the Knowledge skill breakdown. As a GM I'm fairly firm about metagaming, but I encourage Knowledge checks and my players make them all the time. Now, I probably didn't "need" one for the ghoul (because I have been playing since before Jason was born), I loved that it was in there. I think any 3PP author doing a dedicated monster product should include this feature or something like it.

The feats were solid, and in my opinion, well balanced. Many fall into the category of "Why didn't I ever think of that?" Which is good, because that means they're clear, straight-forward, and fit the theme. There are some which beneficial to those who fight ghouls, adding value to the PDF.

One feat that has been questioned allows one of two consequences—either the ghouls existing ability plays out as described in the Bestiary, or they can apply a condition for 1 round. This stacks and so continues as long as the target is hit by the ghoul and continues to make their saving throw. It does not compound upon the creatures special ability if the target fails their save. A feat that requires you to succeed on an attack, and then allows you to apply a condition for 1 round doesn't seem out of line to the Core Rules to me—specially when that condition is not helpless. Fighting monsters is dangerous, folks!

The alchemical items are imaginative but also quite practical.

(That is a theme throughout the PDF, this is stuff isn't gonzo, these mechanics are practical and yet imaginative.)

The spells are well balanced and what I would expect. One spell could be used to create or augment an entire encounter. Something a group of PCs would never expect. Kudos on that one in particular. There is an item which does something similar and makes a wickedly good addition to the game.

It is as if Jason has seen some issues with certain types of encounter design, and he's developed some solutions for them. Not in a contrived fashion, but with solid new mechanics.

To sum up, for two dollars this is a nice package of ready to use mechanics, creature variants, and items which will definitely add some spice to any campaign where ghouls will make an appearance.

Disclaimer: I freelance for Paizo, but I had nothing to do with any stage of this product—and I paid for it with real money.

I saw this product demonstrated by Vic Wertz at PaizoCon 2012. When I recently received my copy it met all my expectations and more. Its made a delightful Christmas present to me from my wife. My copy came in excellent condition with no defects—and was obviously packed and shipped with care.

I am very pleased to have this collectible bit of history! Runelords got me playing again in 2007 and eventually entering RPG SuperStar

Thanks Vic and Paizo!

Disclaimer: I am a freelancer for Paizo, so you could argue I have a biased opinion. If you think that calls for discounting this review, I'm okay with that. On the other hand, I paid cash money for a physical copy of this book, and I've been working with Magnimar as a GM since 2007 (Skinsaw Murders) and long before I was a freelancer. I've read this book cover to cover and more thoroughly than most recent books—so I feel comfortable reviewing it.

Briefly: this really satisfies any itch I have to know about Magnimar and gives me plenty of tools to devise and run adventures, both short and long, in this truly fascinating city.

The majority of the book is broken down into the various districts, each of which are rich with details, plothooks, and NPCs. There is a "Secrets" section in the back similar to Guide to Korvosa, but the district chapters are by no means dry, and also contain a wealth of neat ideas to be mined.

The maps are different than previous books. They're still overhead top down representations, but they're quite clean and crisp (not to imply that the city itself is). When a pointer indicates a noble family's villa, it looks like a villa, the exclusive fenced in club looks like it should—not just one random building in a congested city section. Its laid out with a nice sense of space and proportion. The text compliments the map nicely, and the two authors have spent some time considering why each district is that way it is.. be it for practical reasons or an actual history that is explained. Oh yeah, there is a map for each section of the city. There are location pointers with the tags off of the surface of the map, so you have as much of an unobstructed look at the map as possible while still having specific location pointers.

Few stones have been left uncovered by this book, from the Golemworks, to cults referenced in previous APs and modules, to the Irespan. James Jacobs can be conservative in revealing spoilers on the messageboards, but if you throw down your money on the table, he and Mr. Daigle lift up the hood and let you in on many (if not all) of the secrets of Magnimar. There is a wealth of lore and history here and it all makes easy kindling and fuel for adventures. Some of it intersects with previous products, but in those cases it enriches that content without repeating it. The 'Secrets' chapter can easily spin-off multiple extended adventure arcs for the GM to develop in their home campaigns.

All of the art is top-notch, there is no lame or shoddy illustration in the book. The layout is clean, and the sidebars are check full of interesting highlights.

I guess if I had to make one observation that doesn't try to address any one aspect of the book and just comes right from the gut: the content is meaty and rich (I almost want to say dense). Not because it's a hard or boring read, but if you just flipped through the pages quickly it might not stand out. If you sit down and read it, there's a lot of interesting detail here that you're not going to pull out from just scanning the pages. And it's not boring at all. They pack a lot of value in this book.

I loved the Guide to Korvosa, and while this book doesn't try to copy it 100% I think it is every bit as good if not better. Definitely worth the investment if you love Varisia.

Disclaimer: I am a contracted employee for Paizo. I had no affiliation with this product whatsoever. As far as Mike Shel? I've never met the guy or even spoken to him before. No one whatsoever suggested, encouraged, or prompted me to write this. Nevertheless, we work for the same company so I'm making it quite clear. If the reader thinks that poses a conflict of interest, I understand and respect their point of view and I won't be offended if they disregard this review.

Overview of the main islands: Personally I found them interesting and flavorful and the writing sharp and professional. It didn't feel dry to me, but it felt like a gazetteer- much in the fine tradition of such books dating back to Greyhawk when I was in junior high in 1979. That's okay! I expected a gazetteer and Mr. Shel provided me one. Specifically each entry told me why the island was important and what was interesting about it. The entries suggested some typical creatures to be encountered, as well as an extraordinary plot hook entailing something above and beyond what monsters live there. Each individual island received a full page, two column text entry- allowing for some quarter page art on some entries. Really this compares well to the Inner Sea Guide and other gazetteers when you consider that each page is for one single island. As for being 'textbook-like', I like that Mike Shel actually uses his word count to tell me something useful and informative, instead of spending paragraphs telling me-

"Scholars can only speculate about-"
"Only the gods know and they remain cryptically silent, blah blah.."
"Sailors whisper rumors about some strange bizzaro conjecture based on nothing but its filling my word count, so hey..."

Ladies and gentlemen, that's the stuff that makes ME cringe.

When I read these entries and I can learn specifics about (very short spoiler)..

Bestiary: This is a meaty bestiary that really rounds out the regional monsters I need in order to design professionally in this area, or just run a homebrew campaign. That is, I need a range of CRs and different types of creatures (i.e. magical beasts, oozes, undead, fey, plants, constructs, you know- a little of everything). To me, none of these guys are filler. Not even the sea snake. I need basic creatures in my toolkit right along with the exotic monsters. Variety is key, and this book has provided it handily. Plus I got some nice handy Pirate NPCs here that I can plug and play into an encounter. Saving me work with kick ass monsters is what I expect, and I wasn't disappointed.

Art: Standard high Paizo quality, my kudos to Sarah Robinson and her Department.

Maps: The one provided is pretty good. The major islands are identified along with the major locations on those islands. Could there be more maps? Yes- yes there could. ::shrug:: I am respectfully dubious of how much they would be used without being part of a module, scenario, or adventure path. Again, I point out the tension between what is expected of an overview of the area, and an actual adventure or set of actual encounters. If the lack of maps is preventing this book from being useful, then respectfully I think an Adventure Path or a Module is more in keeping with what the reader is looking for. A gazetteer is fuel for the GM, and this book fulfills that function. I would expect to have to extrapolate some information in finer detail. More maps would be nice, but I know there is a lot of considerations that go along with that. Less content and a possible higher price point.

I can compare this book to Distant Worlds which has more maps, but to no more affect and I can't quite reconcile some of the criticism. And I loved Distant Worlds (I really did, J.S.) But that's my point. I don't feel THIS book did me any disservice or lacked in any significant comparison. The two authors are different, have their own styles, and the topics interest me on different levels; but in terms of the product line there is patently not so great a difference that this book needs or should be judged harshly. That’s my opinion. This is good stuff.

Well done Mike.

I received a complimentary review copy of this product. I was a little dubious at first (I’m not sure why), but in the end it exceeded my expectations.

What a buyer must understand is that the first half of this product is devoted to a short fiction piece on how the spell originated. It may or may not fit within your campaign, and that might sway your own opinion of its value. I did find the story to be entertaining and engaging; and the basic idea here, of a magical tower with Gates and mirrors is a good one. It reminded me of some of Roger Zelzany’s Dilvish the Damned stories and the The Changing Land. Some of my peers have marked Bret’s products down for the back stories and I think that’s unfair. It’s a core premise to the product. If you hate that idea, you may not agree with this review.

He does need to watch how much word count he spends being conversational with the reader in his narrative. Example from the text referring to a location: “(I think this catchy name was given to the valley just to scare folks away but have never ventured there to confirm that assumption myself)” At $2.00 per PDF, conveying too much of Maxolt Alberiim’s conversational editorial opinion decreases the value. Perhaps there is room for this in a collected product where a bundled price makes the cost per word not so tight. That’s why it lost one star, not because the background itself. The background can be revised to match the specifics of your campaign in terms of details and tone.

The spell variants, 2 magic items, and the mechanics were a real treat! I’m not a mechanics whiz, but the DC’s and item costs seem to be set to reasonable levels and the logic sound and consistent with 3.5 rules. This really helps establish the value of the product.

I am much more likely to try some of the others having read this one! I recommend Prismatic Trio!

The short answer- I loved this adventure. I got my money's worth. I recommend it to others.

A little more detail? An excellent start to a beginning campaign with an engaging new setting, the world of Golarion.. revealed a little at a time. For new and experienced GMs, this is a great starting point.

Comments: Many have complained about the font size, I disagree. The art is a little rough at times, but I don't mark it down for that. With the transition from a more active partnership with WOTC, and the fact I've seen the next five chapters- the art improves.

Here's the one thing I would see done differently.

Don't let that one niggle convince you not to buy this though. Otherwise this is a great adventure with an engaging story. I heartily recommend this adventure. It's a winner.