The latest installment of Rite Publishing's "Pay-what-you-want"-e-zine is 41 pages long, 1 page front cover, 10 pages of advertisement, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 28 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?
As has become the tradition with Pathways-magazines, David Paul kicks off this issue, this time asking for homebrews of monsters, where the PCs are not your usual guys - so have you created a scenario à la e.g. Hans Cumming's "Wings of Twilight"? If so, drop him a line!
Steven D. Russell's template of the month would be the Tempest-creature at CR +1 to 3 depending on HD. Exclusively CN or CE, these beings come not only with electricity attacks, but also with an aura them prevents 5-foot steps and which creates difficult terrain and also teleport when using electricity-effects or casting electricity spells and additionally, their attacks resound with deadly thunder - damn cool template, applied to a damn fine CR 24 Elysian Titan (ouch!). Furthermore, the entry comes with a cool level 9 spell of tempestuous destruction and a wind-based level 1 spell. really an awesome template here!
Next is a fluff-only article by Liz Winters, making a point for different game systems - 13th Age, Fate Core, Star Wars: Edge of the Empire and Numenera. Definitely interesting for those not familiar with the systems/settings, though personally, I have issues with all but 13th Age, but hey, that's just subjective taste! I might also add the now by virtue of the Sword of Air-kickstarter free 0e retro-system "Swords & Wizardry" by Frog God Games for a nice change of pace away from simulation towards a more narrative system.
Creighton Broadhurst, mastermind of Raging Swan Press, once again has a lavishly detailed encounter all ready to go for you - this time driving the PCs to seek shelter with miserable weather, only to have them trapped underground by an earthquake! Getting out of the cave before everyone suffocates should prove to be an exciting task and various skills and difficulties are provided for you to choose from - this article alone is worth the space on your HD! Absolutely awesome and my favorite encounter Creighton has written for Pathways so far!
That's not all, though - Creighton Broadhurst and Will McAusland also have an article for players - about something my PCs learned the hard way - on how to properly run away! A nice article, especially for stubborn or inexperienced players.
Steven D. Russell continues his spree of providing new material for the excellent races provided in "In the Company of Monsters", this time with a total of 17 alternate racial traits for the Stonewarden gargoyles - and they actually universally are balanced, even the one that nest you SR, for it requires standard actions to temporarily lower it. The 14 favored class options include support for SGG's Armiger, Shadow Assassins, Time Thieves, Warmasters, Witch Hunters and Rite's own Divine Channeler and PDG/4WFG's Gladiator. Neat!
This issue's interview if with the master of Adventureaweek-com's blog, freelancer and self-publisher Mike Myler, whom I had the pleasure of working with, by the way - he's not only a talented designer, but an all-out nice guy! So take a look!
In the review section, we have Mike Knights, Megan Robertson and yours truly covering some of the best supplements recently released by 3pps.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch this time around - I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to Rite Publishing's two-column full-color standard and the original artwork by Ramses Mendelez is neat indeed. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.
From the template to the stonewarden support to Mike's interview and Creighton's superb encounter, this is one of my all-time favorite installments of Pathways - superb content for an unbeatable price, well worth the download and HD-space, this deserves 5 stars + seal of approval and would even make for a nice commercial purchase! If you concur upon downloading, drop the hardworking crew at Rite Publishing a tip!
Endzeitgeist out.
