TL; DR-Two tastes that don’t quite go together. 78%
Basics-How do we stop a hoard who feels no pain! Zombies or unfeeling monsters have surrounded the town, and you are called to aid the defence. But mid-meeting you are whisked away to do the bidding of a wizard. Can you save the town and stop being a mister fixit on call?
Mechanics or Crunch-This adventure is short! The major bad guy is the wizard who keeps summoning you. You can fight the zombies, but the book makes it seem like you will die. As a DM I would kill you as well. The tower with the wizard isn’t bad, but he also is pretty much the only thing in it. It’s a short dungeon with balanced fights, but just not enough of them. It’s a little too old school as you have to find the fights and the goods here as opposed to them being out in the open for you to pillage and kill. I didn’t hate it, but it will require you to punch up the adventure to keep your group involved. 4/5
Theme or Fluff-There are not one, but two things for the PCs to face. But, they are tied together. BUT, only you, the GM, really get that. The wizard only brings you in when he needs help. You have to find and explore the place in seven rounds before he sends you back. The zombies are ok, but why are they here? I know why because I read the book, but it feels like two different adventures put together. I didn’t hate this, but even after reveals, my players felt like there were really two adventures here. Both of the singles are good, but together it’s three Michelen star steak mixed with gold ribbon winning chocolate. Maybe these two things shouldn’t go together. 3/5
Execution– PDF? YEP! Hyperlinked? no…That’s honestly my biggest gripe here. The execution isn’t bad. I would like clean maps I can show my players without having things marked on the map that they find. Text read fast and I could play quickly. It is one of the standard well put together DCC modules I know and love. 4.75/5
Summary-I don’t hate this one, but this might not be the first adventure I show to new players. I was able to turn this to keeping my players on the purple planet. It works well that way, but the basic story gets lost in most of the GM fluff. Not bad, but unless the players work to make friends with their captor, they won’t get it. The dungeon needs more pieces and stuff to play with in the form of fights or toys. The presentation is good, but I still want hyperlinks! Overall, it’s an ok adventure that is maybe a bit too stuffed with disparate things. 78%
This helmet is made from bashed together metal plates from the scraps of other helmets of those who were the last to survive a battle. While wearing this helm, you gain a +1 bonus to AC and increase your maximum hit points by one hit point per level. In addition, while wearing this helmet, you will always be the last one to survive the battle. If you would be killed, you teleport to the last safe bed you slept in and are at one hit point waking up the next morning . If the last safe place you slept is not safe, the magic of the helm will continue to find the previous place until it finds a place where you are safe to wake up.
For the next hour, when you enter a fight, immediately after you kill an enemy or critically strike an enemy with melee attack, you my make a melee attack as a free action.
There are powers to resist damage. How about to resist conditions?
(Condition) Resistance You been through a lot of pain in your life, and you’ve learned how to shrug off things that don’t just hurt, but cripple. • Cost: 12 Karma • Game Effect: When choosing this quality, select a status (p. 51). When under the effect of that status, gain a point of Edge before making a test for any test affected by that status and on tests to end that status.
How about more love for conditions in Shadowrun 6e?
Firebug Fire keeps us warm. Burning people keep you warmer. • Cost: 14 Karma • Game Effect: When when you inflict the burning status on a creature, increase the severity of the burning condition by 1.
TL; DR-How the mythos is meant to be played in 5e! 99%
Basics– Ia Ia Cthulhu Fhtagn! The grand cleric of the elder gods is writing for DnD 5e! Sandy Pertersen’s Cthulhu Mythos for 5e is a MASSIVE book with new races, class options, feats, spells, monsters, and mechanics that you can throw into your 5e game. Let’s break down the pieces to see what’s in here.
The tcho-tcho in the room-Ah Lovecraft…I love his work, but MAN he would not fly today. From mental illness to racism, Lovecraft in his original form isn’t post #METOO or #BLM friendly. So, how do you handle the insanity and cosmic horror with the subtext or just text of Lovecraft? Sandy Peterson walks this line extremely well with sidebars dealing with handling mental illness to just dropping the racist parts of the mythos monsters and human acolytes. We can go mad with terror from learning the true history of the universe without having to go to HR!
New Eldritch Toys- This book is a BEAST of content. This book features THREE new races with race specific class options. The old standards of 5e all get some toys as well with feats for everyone, class options for all the core classes, books of unholy lore, and a boat load of new spells. There are also several new items that all cover the fan favorites of star mead to things I haven’t heard of before.
New Mythos Monsters-A hero is only as good as the monster is bad. Then let’s make your heroes LEGENDARY! This book has everything from simple monsters you can throw into your game just because you want something weird to freak out the power gamer who memorized the monster manual to GAME ENDING TITANS who would be the final bad guy in your campaign. Again, you have the fan favorites here like cthulhu to some of the more esoteric, even for the Lovecraft alicionadio, like Byatis. This book also adds in new options for you to throw onto worshipers so your bland cultists into true harbingers of the mythos even at low levels.
New Mythology Mechanics-This book isn’t just a highlight reel of Lovecraft’s old toys. This book adds new crunch to 5e. There is a whole revamped madness and dread system. All characters can now learn how to cast some spells called formulas. There is even a whole new skill dedicated to understanding the cthulhu mythos. The final boss of a campaign now has a solid progression system where the fight becomes epic tales you will tell for years to come.
Ok, now my thoughts.
Mechanics or Crunch– Sandy Peterson is one of the foremost game developers in the Lovecraft mythos, and it shows. This book isn’t just a reskin book where you take a scary monster and now it’s cthulhu. The crunch here is truly Lovecraftian. Monsters feel like they are beyond human ken. There are DEEP dives into the mythos, and not just into the new stuff from people writing in Lovecraft’s shadow. Stuff that gets a small mention that even I forgot like the gnorri get a full race write up. The stuff that is in the base DnD 5e book gets revamped well. I don’t like the madness system in DnD 5e, but this book provides an amazing system that has a great write up that you can drop into a non-cthulhu campaign. I like most of what’s here, but there are a couple of things I have some minor quibbles with. The new mythos skill is called yog-sothothery. I just want it called mythos lore or even to borrow from Call of Cthulhu- cthulhu mythos. Also, I want stat bonuses you get from eldritch tomes to be permanent. But honestly, those are pretty small issues. This book is a solid addition to the Dungeons and Dragons 5e crunch regardless of if you want to run a Cthulhu based campaign or not. 4.9/5
Theme or Fluff-Sandy Peterson is one of the foremost Lovecraft scholars today, and it shows here too. This isn’t just a pile of reskins with tentacles so Lovecraft. This is a well crafted library of Lovecraft eldritch lore. I MYSELF learned stuff about the Lovecraft world from this book. This will teach you not only how to run a solid horror game but also about the world of Lovecraft. But, let’s say you just want a splat book to draw some scary stuff from? This has you covered too. This book is a solid addition to my collection as both a DnD DM and a someone who love the mythos. 5/5
Execution– PDF? YEP! Hyperlinked? YEP! AND IT NEEDS IT! This is a BEAST for 20 bucks. It’s over 400 pages. The base DnD books are not that long and cost twice as much! It’s easy to read but still feels familiar with the font and backgrounds looking like the base books with a decidedly eldritch flare. Monsters have TONS of pictures, so I can throw pictures to my players quickly without having to do a google image search. This book is a solid example of how to produce a 3rd party book. 5/5
Summary– I love Lovecraft. Any idiot can stab me, so that’s not scary. Any punk rogue can sneak attack my character and kill him-not scary. But learning the horrible history of my family and what cost I too have to pay to keep the thing in the basement “pleased” so my family prospers? That’s horror. This book will help you do that. I can’t heap enough praise on this book. I have my minor issues, but those are so minor it almost doesn’t matter. For the amount of content alone for 20 bucks, you can’t go wrong. If you want some monsters to throw at your bored players? Done. You want a book that will be the key and the gate to a world of horror you might never have known existed? This is that book! 99%
AMPED UP! (1 to 3) You like to rock people, so you come in hard and heavy with the spells. • Cost: 12 Karma per level • Game Effect: Each time when you amp up the effects of a spell, for each level you only add 1 to the DV of the spell. Each amp up beyond the levels you have in AMPED UP! adds the normal 2 to the DV.
How about a gift the party might receive from some monks after a good ol’ fashioned training montage?
Monastic Signet Ring
Ring, very rare (requires attunement)
Given to the worthy, who while not part of an order, have earned the orders respect through effort and training. While wearing this ring, your melee unarmed attacks do damage equal to a monk of 1/2 your level, minimum 1. Also, three times per day, you make a free action unarmed melee attack. This ability returns after a long rest.
I’ve been adding the fighter’s second wind to other games, so why can DnD have stamina points? How about an item that kind of makes them happen?
Lesser Health (Rare): When healed magically and you reach your maximum hit points, the additional healed hit points spill over into temporary hit points. You can gain a number of temporary hit points up to 1/4 your maximum hit points while this dull shiny sphere orbits your head. These temporary hit points are lost when you take a long rest.
Health (Very Rare): As per the ioun stone of lesser health, but you can have a number of temporary hit points equal to 1/2 your maximum hit points while this bright sphere orbits your head.
Greater Health(Legendary): As per the ioun stone of lesser health, but you can have a number of temporary hit points equal to your maximum hit points while this miniature star orbits your head.
You take a quick breather, and you are back in the fight!
Prerequisites: Diehard, character level 5th.
Benefit: Once per day as a swift action, You can spend 1 RP to roll a number of dice d8s equal to your hit dice and immediately regain that many stamina points.
Thoughts? I debate among myself if this should cost 1 or 2 RP.
Throat Punch Games 