Mark Moreland's page

This is a much faster-paced game than most Fantasy Flight games, and is relatively simple both to set up and to grasp as a new player. It's got a colorful, evocative board and some cool minis. Most of the mechanics are random rather than strategic or skill-based. That said, I had a lot of fun playing (2 player game) and imagine it would be a lot more fun with more players. I don't think it's got as much replayability other games, but I've not played it enough to know whether that assessment is correct or not. Nevertheless, I'm interested to see where the Adventurers line goes and what sorts of expansions they come out with to support it.

The change in quality of card-stock and printing has been noted in other reviews, so I won't rehash it. I notice the difference, but I don't think it's as bad as everyone else is making it out to be. I tend to use these to show players an NPC's face and then put them back in the deck. I don't need them to shuffle, or last through a lot of wear and tear; I'm paying for the art. And the art selection and quality here is as good as—if not better than—the Friends & Foes deck. I see myself using these way more than the first set, even considering the quality of the printing. I recommend this deck, but hope that buyers can look past the change in printing and not set their expectations for something the deck can't deliver. What it can deliver, however, is amazing. So, Paizo, when's the next face cards set coming out?

I had the opportunity to play this for the first time this afternoon and loved every minute of it. The board, pieces, and cards all feature beautiful art and funny little details. I really liked the fact that one can play it fairly straightforward or with additional expansions (included!) and levels of strategy. My only gripe with the set is that the deck of cards is too tall to shuffle neatly, but other than that, it's a perfect game. I can't wait to play it with friends, family, and complete strangers in the near future.

I played this today after a PFS game fell through at my FLGS and had an incredibly fun time. We played without the base set and it worked great as a standalone game but I can see how it would be a great addition to mix and match different elements from various sets. I especially loved the variability and multiple strategies one can employ to win, and that the leader isn't apparent until the game's conclusion. I'm looking forward to getting this as well as the base set and playing it often.

I really like the backstory of the entire Echoes of the Everwar plot arc, but this one feels like the weak link so far. I was disappointed to see the same monsters show up in multiple encounters to the extent that they feel repetitive and unchallenging. There are also several plot holes that have shown up at multiple tables I've participated in that the adventure as written doesn't address. I can't wait to see where this series goes in the final installment, but none of the rich history comes into play or is revealed to the Pathfinders at all in this one, and that too is a bit of a letdown.

Play, or play not, but this mini you must buy.

In general, I am a fan of the now-defunct Compleat Encounters line. I might not have bought more than one had this been the first instead of penultimate set I picked up, though. The adventure here is the least captivating and the NPCs don't really inspire. I think the map is fairly useful, especially for a generic temple encounter, but the minis are the least versatile of any in the series. While several of the Compleat Encounters include a prop mini, the table of torture supplies in this set is the only one I don't think I'd ever use. Similarly, the humanoid figures are not particularly useful outside of the context of the adventure.

I picked these up at my FLGS today and am really happy with the deck. The cards are the same high quality as the GameMastery item cards. The art is all repeated from Pathfinder and GameMastery adventures and sourcebooks, but is universal enough to be useful to GMs of any system or setting. In general, the quality of the art is great, and there is a huge variety of races, ages, genders, and classes presented, though many portraits could be used for a number of roles, from PC portraits, to wanted posters or other handouts, to illustrations of key NPCs. I can't wait for the next set!

I really enjoyed this book, and loved the myriad details that obviously spawned now classical elements of the fantasy genre.

It took about a third of the book before I couldn't put it down, the shifting of the protagonist from the real world to that of the ship far too frequent for the adventure to grip me. But when it did, I was hooked, and finished the book in a single sitting from that point on.

My only real criticism of The Ship of Ishtar is that it is built around an antiquated misogyny that was unrelentingly distracting from what would otherwise be an exciting adventure. I recognize that the book was written over eighty years ago, but I was nevertheless pulled repeatedly out of the story by the overwhelming portrayal of the few female characters as vengeful, but ultimately submissive objects to be possessed by the dominant men. Merritt may have been a master at weaving descriptive prose and an intricate world of eclectic real-world myths and his own imaginings, but he was far from enlightened when it comes to gender. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the Virgil Finaly illustrations this edition includes, bare breasts and all, so take the above for what it is.

In all, I recommend The Ship of Ishtar and had a great time reading it, despite the problematic elements it contains, which are less the fault of Merritt than they are the time in which he wrote.

This is a pretty straightforward adventure that evokes many classic horror genre tropes in a new and non-clichéed way. I also appreciate that the scenario shows the first signs of some continuity between scenarios, with clear seeds that will be picked up in later parts of the Echoes of the Everwar series. I am really excited to see what parts 2-4 bring!

I enjoyed this scenario as both a player and a GM. It doesn't provide a lot of room for roleplay or problem solving, both of which can add nice variation within a dungeon crawl, but the scenario succeeds at what it sets out to do. I enjoyed some of the tactical situations the scenario presented, including a battle in a maze and one in a forest of statues. The scenario includes one encounter which I believe was incredibly overpowered, a relic of the imbalance in the 3.5 CR system, but my group managed to avoid a certain TPK by roleplaying the encounter, thanks to a generous GM. All in all, this is an average scenario with room for improvement, but it's far from the worst of the scenarios thus far.

I love the Compleat Encounters line, but this particular product stretches the definition of encounter a bit too far. It provides a detailed location--a ninja cult's lair--as well as three fully statted NPCs, but doesn't really combine the two. Each NPC has listed motivations and there are suggestions on how to use them all together, but it leaves way too much up to the GM. Using this as a "premade" insert into an ongoing campaign wouldn't really save you that much time. Additionally, I was continually annoyed that it keeps mentioning "the death god" without a name. I know the intention was for this to be modular, but Gorilla King included a definite evil power and that's much of what makes that one the best. I love the minis themselves and the map (displaying both the pristine and bloodied, post-battle ninja hideout) though the latter could be improved by removing the encounter numbers from the middle of each room.

There's a reason that the Gorilla King is one of the elements to carry over to the nascent Golarion from it's larval Compleat Encounters form. James Jacobs creates an encounter that is both simple and exciting, and sets evocative seeds for a whole campaign. As Pathfinders get set to head into the Mwangi Expanse next summer with the release of The Serpent's Skull Adventure Path, this small adventure seems the perfect treat to whet their appetites. Of the Compleat Encounters I've seen, this has the most modular maps, and the ones most easily used despite their double-sided nature. It's also got awesome monkey minis. MONKEYS! Even without the minis, though, this adventure alone is well worth the price.

As an adventure, Vault of the Whispering Tyrant, like the rest of the Compleat Encounters line, is a little sparse. In general, this one is worth picking up for the excellent minis and for a glimpse into the origins of Golarion. For the right level party, and placed in the right campaign, this series of encounters would be a ton of fun and quite a challenge. But if you're looking to use Tar Baphon in your Pathfinder campaign, think again--he's nowhere near epic enough to warrant his place on the cover of the Campaign Setting. Then again, this was produced before Paizo even knew there would be a Golarion. The maps create a high quality dungeon, but aren't 100% intuitive in terms of positioning them, and their double-sided nature makes them less useful outside of the adventure.

This mini is perfect for anyone wanting to run a beast of true Lovecraftian horror. With the shoggoth's inclusion in the Pathfinder Bestiary, I imagine demand for this mini will be going up. I haven't been a fan of most of the recent WotC minis, but this one is among their best in a long time.

I was very excited to pick this book up at GenCon, both for the new classes and races I could use in my PFRPG games, but also to support 3pp's who were willing to make content for my new system of choice. Sadly, the result of my eagerness was that I got a subpar product.

I like the idea behind just about everything in the book, from the three new races, to the new base classes, to the random adventure/monster/magic item generators. But when I was reading through everything, there are tons of balance issues. Some class abilities are incredibly broken, and rarely on the underpowered side. Races and classes are especially unbalanced as far as I can tell, some more than others. Many of the drawbacks are also rather unbalanced compared to one another.

I then look on the forums here and see that some of the major departures from the PFRPG design goals, like tying BAB/HD together, are being corrected in the main print run to release in a few weeks. Makes me think I should have waited to get the book then instead of supporting the publisher on release date. I still need to get the free pdf promised on the last page of the book, and hopefully any errata and changes will be updated in that document over time.

I will probably include many elements from this book into my games, but will have to thoroughly houserule most of it to maintain balance. I'm not opposed to doing this, but it would have been nice to have a sourcebook that would be more modular without the extra work to keep it balanced, though.

In the last year, the fledgling Pathfinder Companion line has struggled through the process of finding its niche, with the format and content varying from issue to issue. But with this volume, the line has found its stride and the result is the best of the line so far and one of the best Pathfinder setting support volumes to date. I haven't been inspired by Cheliax to this point, but this book won me over. I finally get it.

The background information on Cheliax is incredibly detailed without giving away spoilers to players and provided me with more than enough background stories for characters I will probably never get around to playing. I also really love the new approach to the persona section, providing multiple low-to-mid-level NPCs instead of a single person the PCs might never encounter.

For players in the Pathfinder Society, you'll find that there are tons of traits, feats, spells and other goodies legal for play (at least under version 2.0 of the rules).

I sincerely hope that future Pathfinder Chronicles volumes continue the quality of content and formatting of this volume. I'd also love to see a GM secrets version of this book with all the spoilers for people running games in Cheliax. As I said above, this book made me a Cheliax convert, so keep it coming!

I'll admit that I wasn't anticipating this book nearly as much as I was other releases. I tend to GM rather than play and Qadira was never one of the locations in Golarion that grabbed me.

Then I read it. This is a well-written, engaging book that has turned me on to this amazing nation in the setting and given me a caravan's load of new ideas for both sides of the screen. I especially love some of the new crunchy bits, like the suli race (which I think I might play in an upcoming Legacy of Fire campaign) and the zhyen familiar option.

I've been uninspired by past Companions either because of their content or their subject, but this book has made a huge impression on me. Plus, everything in it is 100% compatible with the new rules, so I don't even need to convert grapple to CMB and spot to perception. It's ready to go, right out of the gate.

As most anyone knows, Pathfinder fans don't come any more hardcore than me. But when I saw the incredible production value, professional artwork and creative and well-written articles, I just about gave up on the real Paizo and went exclusively with the fans. The fact that it's free is just another plus. Wayfinder #1 was one of the high points of PaizoCon 2009, a weekend which surpasses just about every expectation or competition, so that's really saying something. I'd be surprised if we didn't see some of the contributors to this in print in official Pathfinder products by the next Wayfinder issue. Which I can't wait for, by the way. When's that coming out again?

Possessing the same high production value of all of Paizo's shirts, the Osirion faction shirt may just outdo all its predecessors. The emblem of the ancient scarab beetle expresses both an undying presence and the ability to hide among the dust, waiting for the right moment to once again reclaim what is rightful that of the wearer. I can't understand why anyone would buy any of the other faction shirts when this one is so very perfect. My only complaint is that it also comes compressed in a triangle, which even after washing still leaves crinkles in the shirt, befouling the great glory of Osirion. But it gets you a free reroll at Cons, so I guess that's ignorable.