#30 Portable Rooms (PFRPG) PDF

This pdf is 19 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 2 pages of advertisement, leaving us with 14 pages of content, so let's take a look!

After a short narrative framework that establishes Wyrist Spellweaver, an heir in spirit to Leomund and originator of the rooms herein to us, we are introduced to general properties of the rooms herein. Activation and Deactivation is a standard action (and happens after 12 hours) - upon deactivation, creatures are expelled harmlessly. Entrances may accommodate large creatures, huge ones may squeeze inside and generally the rooms block sight and sound and also gaze and breath weapons, antimagic etc. are also covered interaction-wise. It should be noted that these rooms are not safe zones - when activated anybody can enter them, though they may still be preferable to otehr surroundings the PCs may find themselves fighting in.

The respective items that contain the rooms cover a truly interesting breadth - take e.g. the Belt of Winding Paths that can be made into a ramp that leads up to a kind of domed observatory, complete with a telescope that shows you random flashes of scenes from your life, past and future, and while it may confuse you, there also are bonuses to be had here. Of course, the room also comes with a crystal ball to study the planes. Going beyond the basics of construction, price etc., the rooms also provide lore-section to glean information about them. Or take a horseshoe-turned-shoescraper with ends of broken arrows that works as a mobile stable which allows communication with the animals or a bladed boot that can be used to conjure up a pond (and have others drop in) - completely with edible, calming fish! Fighters may now have a mobile armory that not only replenishes mundane ammunition, but also has the option of having one or multiple sets of armor on stand-by, making it possible for the wearer to quickly conjure them up back to his body. Cool especially for heavily armored PCs who don't want to sleep in their armor or embarrass their adventuring companions when interacting with the high society.

Of course, mobile libraries contained in a book, a pottery workshop in a broach, a brush that contains mobile springs, a gym/trap-obstacle course, a mobile distillery (Yay for all dwarves!), an idyllic grove to share with one's love and even a marble containing a torture chamber can be found amongst the various items featured in this collection - with specifically me feeling the need to mention that not only are the rooms creative and intriguing, their respective activating items also feature an array of creative, interesting forms. Furthermore it should be noted, that the lore-section and means of activating the respective items are also covered - from twirling thrice to throwing up in the air or touching a picture next to a verse - it is such a creative means of activation, this detail, that makes these rooms stand out as something uncommon, as items that feel magical.

Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RiP's old, rune-bordered b/w-standard and the b/w stock arts are nice and fitting for the product. The pdf comes fully bookmarked.

Author Liz Smith, has created an array of intriguing, interesting rooms, mobile workshops (that should come as a huge blessing for many campaigns) and not only married solid rules and interesting ideas with a sense of wonder, but actually also avoid the trap of repeating benefits and style of the items, instead opting for a wider, more creative array of options. And for the better! This collection of rooms is bigger on the inside, much like its topic covered: All the small details and ideas that you may not realize are there, but which show up on second and third reading, at least for me, elevate this pdf from being a good collection of rooms to being an excellent collection of rooms. It is with utmost pleasure that I rate this pdf my full 5 stars + seal of approval. Congratulations for the significant increase in writing prowess and quality since the last offering!

Endzeitgeist out.

I was a fan of Leomund. I think a great deal of folks were. As well as several of the other fictional spell designing, item crafting powerhouses who's names graced so many items throughout an era of gaming. And yes, a great of those echoes of times gone by are still there, albeit under other names, but the connection to an individual is gone, and than somehow lessens the finished results. What an I yammering about? Something very cool...that's what.

Liz Smith takes on 30 Portable Rooms in this latest offering of the #30 series, but does it with more than just a collection of stats for some items. She gives us a name. Wyrist Spellweaver. A piece of fiction, sure, but aren't they all? The sheer fact that the PDF opens with a small piece of correspondence mentioning that the following is a collection of notes pertaining to one Wyrist Spellweaver, and his items of creation, and the reasoning behind why he created them in the first place took this PDF to a completely different level for me. Instantly I was far more interested in what these pages were going to contain, and how the mythos of this new NPC would evolve. See, that was, in the end, what we lost with the named spells, the mythos of those characters laid bare through their works. So, without even making it past the first paragraph I found myself impressed Liz, well done.

But, what of the rooms? What offerings are we presented with? Well, the Black Arrow is a classic example of the portable room done right, a stable complete with unseen servants and enchanted to allow speech with animals with the room, all presented as an old Horseshoe turned into a boot scrapper when deactivated. Or perhaps the Book of Books, a library, hidden with a book. Yeah, I know, so freaking obvious it astounds that this wasn't already done, but design of this nature is some of the best design out there, as it relies on its own simplicity.

We have a pair of boots that leave a fishing pond in their steps, a mug with a trapdoor to a hidden wine cellar, a thieves dart that spun just right will open a trapdoor to a training gym...in short, there are some seriously interesting takes on how one defines the idea of a portable room.

The best part here has to be the benefits of the rooms themselves. Each room gives a reason why one would want to get into it, be it a bonus against a roll or check, rest, food, etc. But not one of these benefits outweigh the value of the item to a game. By this I mean simply that any of these items could be introduced without doing enough unbalancing to do any true damage to a game, which is ideal of course.

Editing and format wise I caught nothing in regards to errors or bad layout, rather quite the opposite, this overall look and feel of this PDF is rather well put together. Design wise I am very impressed with Liz Smith's take on the portable room concept, and and can't help but recommend this PDF to anyone and everyone who missed out Leomund as much as I. A solid 5 star rating, and well worth the price of admission.

So now we have it, the TARDIS-equivalent for the Pathfinder RPG!

Take some small innocuous object, open or activate it and hey! You have a vast expanse, somewhere to hide or study or store stuff or shelter from bad weather.

All dressed up as an academic treatise that you might find in a local wizard's library, there is a wealth of different, unusual and exciting rooms to play with.

My husband says I have to acquire the Book of Books forthwith, as my RPG collection sneaks into every corner of the house! It's really neat, a book that when activated grants access to an otherspace cozy little library, complete with a comfortable chair and LOADS of books.

That's just one. There's the Bladed Quill, a brass pendant of a crossed dagger and feather, which gives access to another otherworld space, this time an armoury lined with empty weapon racks and armour stands. You can put all your spare gear in here, and provided you secure it neatly in the racks rather than leave it lying around, it will be there for you next time you activate the pendant.

And it goes on and on, a whole collection of different 'rooms' accessed from distinctive individual items. Whole adventures could be built around them, the simplest being finding the item in a treasure hoard or, well, anywhere, and finding out what it does. Or seeking out one you've read about...

(TARDIS, by the way, is the famous 'bigger on the inside than the outside' police box-cum-time/space machine Dr Who travels around in, the letters stand for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space... so there's a 31st portable room for you!)