Basics– WAR! Breachill is under attack. Your job is to save who you can. Search the no man’s land to save civilians and maybe even learn secrets of more attacks!
Mechanics or Crunch– Paizo knows the math of their system. This adventure has a strong mix of social and combat. There isn’t much exploration, but that’s not the goal of the adventure. The math that’s on display is solid and makes this a pretty balanced adventure. 5/5
Theme or Fluff– This is a fun story. The adventure starts with the players choosing three of five different locations and finding people there to save. After enough saving people, the adventure switches to running from the ravages of war. Finally, some the people you save tell the players about goblins being sacrificed and the players are off to save them. It’s a solid story that is fun to run and play. 5/5
Execution– This adventure worries me. We are seeing more of the mix of the old and new styles of book. Some of the monsters were given pictures, but not all. Some of the stat blocks are in the adventure, but not all. I don’t like the reliance on external resources. I know this is more of an indication of what is to come. 4.5/5
Summary– The adventure is solid, but Paizo adventures are at a time of change. The story and crunch is fun. The execution is changing, and it’s into something I don’t love. The price is not changing, but there will be less in the book. However, if you want to jump into the fray and save who you can, this is a fun adventure! 97%
Basics– Dinner time! Dinner at Lionlodge is a stand alone adventure where the players are invited to meet with a mysterious benefactor. Does he only want to give us money?
Mechanics or Crunch– This adventure has a few too many things that confound the player. There are lots of enemies that either can shake off damage or might be a bit too high a level for it to be fun. It works, but players may not want the hard entry of crunch into this one. 4/5
Theme or Fluff– This adventure works, but it feels a bit too random. The random invitation is too good to be true, but why the heroes? That seems off. Also, there is background in the adventure that is surprising and kind of comes out of left field. It’s not bad, but there is too much randomness that doesn’t involve the player. 3/5
Execution– This book has lots of extras that help, but is missing one key piece. There are maps, pictures, and even character sheets. What it’s missing is ties between the characters and the adventure. Others of these have nice pieces that indicate relationships and messages to tie them to the story. That’s not in here. It’s an absence that is felt. 4.5/5
Summary– I didn’t have as much fun with this one. It’s not bad. But I was hoping for a quick one shot to get some crazy story. That said, it did play, but my players didn’t enjoy it as much, as bad rolls combined with rough resistances led to a bad day. The story was a bit fragmented, and the usual Paizo polish missed a bit here. I don’t hate it, but it’s not the best of the one shots. 77%
Basics– Where is the dead guy from from? A man walks to the village and dies. You join a village elder to find where he came from, why he died, and how to stop the death toll from rising! Why is everything rusting and falling apart along the way?
Mechanics or Crunch– I love solid low-level, one-town adventures. You end up in a town, and within a short bit are delving the dungeon. The fights are fun, but balanced. There are not just fights but also enough things happening to give the bard and the rogue something to do. There is not a ton happening outside of town, so the exploration based ranger will be a bit bored, but it’s balanced in enough ways to make this a solid play. 5/5
Theme or Fluff– We’ve got cults, traps, undead, and the friends we make along the way. There is a story the players can unravel and build upon to have a blast. It’s not one note, but it is a dungeon crawl for most of the adventure. That is always a blast. 5/5
Execution– This is Paizo! They know what they are doing. BUT! I feel one thing was left a bit loose. There is a way the players can mess with a major end event, but they won’t know about it till they get there. I feel the GM is in the same boat. I’d like that emphasized a bit more. Aside from that, this is a fantastic adventure. 4.75/5
Summary– This adventure honestly feels like the first Diablo to me. You have a town where bad stuff happened, and you have to delve a dungeon under it to solve the problem. AND I LOVE IT! I had a blast, the players had a blast, and the story came through. It’s got a slight problem, but overall, I’d suggest this to any GM who wants the One town, one dungeon experience. 98%
Basics– Let’s go make friends! The Pathfinder society wants to make friends with a dragon, and YOU get to make the introductions. Don’t mess up, because you can be flamebroiled and are tasty with ketchup!
Mechanics or Crunch– The adventure has all the pieces where they should be and they generally work well. There are about 3 fights, a couple traps, and a skill challenge. Those are all mechanically done well. The skill challenges are not as much fun as they could have been, because my players tend to feel like they want them to just end by accomplishing X solutions before Y events. I can dress that up, but the repeated challenges can get boring in a hurry, so I just let them succeed if they do well enough. Overall what’s here is good, but it has a few issues. 4.5/5
Theme or Fluff– This adventure is a pretty simple story where the normal dungeon crawl is flipped. Instead of going into a place where you are NOT supposed to be, you are invited into this one. However, some elements feel a bit crammed in. I like the goblins making kimchi, but they are not really needed and it detracts from the overall flow. My players didn’t really explore much; why would you just explore a person’s house if they are waiting for you? Also the last fight just doesn’t need to happen. Maybe having a hallway fight with OTHER robbers would be a better way to endear the kobold butler to the players? Something to consider. 4/5
Execution– Pathfinder by Paizo? Yeah this is gonna be a slam dunk. I might not be crazy about the 9 buck price tag, but for five people to get 3ish hours of entertainment, then I’m a bit more ok. 5/5
Summary– This is a decent adventure that will tie to something bigger. And that’s the whole hope of organized play. It’s a fun ~3 hour adventure where the players get some fights, some social encounters, and some skill tests. It’s well put together, but a few issues crop up along the way that prevent perfection. Some are system choice issues and some are flow issues. None are going to hurt this in a fatal way, but maybe change an element or two to make this a better experience. 90%
Basics– DnD 3.5/5e/Shadowrun IN SPACE! This is a new riff on the 5e system by building in classless systems into the basic math of 5e. The universe has gone to war in a way that nearly destroyed it and now at least four different dimensions are all interacting.
Let’s break down the system.
Classless, but not levelless– This system does use levels, but when you take a level you choose a profession and possibly an archetype within it. This gives you places to spend forte and fine-forte points. These are the equivalent of skill points. You can freely change profession when you gain a new level.
Base mechanic- 5e has proficiency, but you don’t really change your class in 5e. Here you do things a bit different. It’s still a d20+number, but how you get to that number is a bit more complicated. Your modifier is ½ ability modifier +½ forte modifier + fine-forte modifier. This way almost all things have the feeling of 3.5 DnD and Shadowrun skills as you choose where you spend skill points to make some better or worse depending on how you want to build your character. Saves, attacks, and skills all have this basic mechanic built in.
Powers and special abilities- Characters gain resources on level up that come back and are used like hitpoints, but this system also introduces focus points and energy points. DCs are determined just like basic 5e, with one exception being how we determine bonuses (described up above) When you do something cool or use psychic powers, you spend the points as needed. Again, it’s classless so multiple paths will get you the same powers and abilities.
There is always more, but that’s the basics to get you mechanically in. Ok, now to my thoughts.
Mechanics or Crunch– This is an interesting system that might be a bit over complicated. The idea of classless 5e is a fun one. I do miss the days of crazy class combinations (until I play some 3.5 with a friend who has at least five different classes in a 7th level character). But this builds nicely together. It’s a tad clunky as its DEEP point management at level gain, but that’s what the designer wanted. That’s not bad, but it’s an intentional thing. A cheese stick of basic 5e vs the fondue of this system. Both are highly rated and good, but it’s what you want when. Some streamlining may help with this system though. 4.5/5
Theme or Fluff– For the fuff, the big question is do you like Mass Effect? That’s the big question here. If you like the idea of flying a ship around and meeting creatures of multiple races with multiple different goals, then this is the game for you. I do, so this has some crazy fun places to go. 5/5
Execution– This book has some solid things, but some near unforgivable issues. Let’s start with the unforgivable that can easily be fixed: no pregens, character build walkthrough, nor premade adventure. As I get older, I want to pick up a book and play with six buds ASAP. Sure, I need to read how to do the dice things with this dice game, but give me an adventure and pregens and a four hour simple adventure I can print off and play after I glance over your rules. It has some pre-made things, but give me those please. For a new system, that is a requirement! Next, this is a pretty deep pool to dive into without a step by step walkthrough of one character build. That would make the issues I had in mechanics evaporate. There are examples of how to do some things, which are great. And, while missing those things is unfortunate, what’s here is good. There’s art to break up text. The text could be a different font or background to make it more readable, but it works decently enough and my tablet can zoom in. There’s hyperlinks in the text, so I can hop around quickly to get to where I want to be. Some of you may not like its Midjourney art, but this is an extremely small publisher with an over 400 page book and one author. That’s a feat! Just give me some quick start assets built in and I’d be much happier. 3.5/5
Summary– If you want 5e classless Mass Effect, then this is what you want. That’s the basic summary. I like the basic mechanic, even if I think its a tad overcomplicated. The theme is the sci-fi I love. The stumble is the lack of quick start and pregens to the book. I don’t even need a crazy space adventure with ships, just a dungeon crawl fighting something in a cave would be nice. Even a link to a free adventure would fix that need, but there isn’t one quite yet. One is coming, but not yet. However, I like what’s here enough to stay interested for when it does. 87%
Basics– It’s Pathfinder 2nd ed-AGAIN! Player Core is the ORC approved, non OGL version of Pathfinder. Spoilers for this one- If you liked Pathfinder 2nd Ed, you’re gonna like this. If you HATED Pathfinder 2nd ed, you’re still not gonna like this! Let’s look at the parts.
Mechanics or Crunch– This is the exact mechanics you saw in the original Pathfinder 2nd Ed book. The system’s basic mechanic is level based bonuses with ability bonuses to a d20. If you would like a deeper breakdown check out our original review here https://throatpunchgames.com/2019/08/18/ring-side-report-pathfinder-rulebook-2nd-ed/. It’s a solid game. 5/5
Theme or Fluff– Like Golarion? If you liked 1st Ed and you like the previous 2nd Ed world, then you will like this. Nothing really changed in this book aside from switching out what classes made the cut: witch is in but paladin/champion is out. Things do not drastically change with this new book, but I liked the old book too. 5/5
Execution– Paizo does good books. Layout, text, pictures, and words all flow well. What this book does differently than the last one is some edits to explain some concepts better. I think this is the distinction between the two versions. Also, since we moved from the OGL to the ORC some game terms changed, and honestly despite it being mostly superficial, these are good changes I like. I can sum this up in one example spell LEVEL vs spell RANK. Those two things mean the EXACT same thing. BUT, too many new players get confused when you say level with spells, and anyone with any experience with games can tell you about a 3rd level wizard, shocked they only get 2nd level spells. Now, that’s gone. That right there is worth this five out of five. 5/5
Summary– Welp this review can be summed up as “if you liked Pathfinder core rulebook you will like Player Core, and if you hate Pathfinder 2nd Ed, you won’t come back for this one!”. And that’s about it. The elephant in the room is “was this needed?”. And honestly, not really and yes. Not really because this book’s biggest changes are cosmetic. The cosmetic updates are welcome, but are really just surface changes as the base mechanics haven’t changed. I like them, so that’s not an issue. And completely needed because WotC hinted at major changes and this book makes Paizo stand on its own with its own rules and systems. So, your mileage will vary as you can get quite far with an old player book and have a blast, but if you have holiday money and want to get into Pathfinder 2.1 (since this isnt as big a change as DnD 3 to 3.5, not even close), then this is a great book to buy and play. 100%
Basics– Want some free advice? Little Book of GM gems are articles from Knights of the Dinner Table providing ideas for GM of all levels. Let’s break down what’s here.
Mechanics or Crunch– This isn’t a setting or a crunch book. It’s an advice book, so there are no mechanics here. -/5
Theme or Fluff– If this is an advice book, how’s the advice? Honestly, It’s solid. It’s not new, as it’s from the Knights of the Dinner Table Comic, but it’s good. This is pretty timeless advice that new GMs can use and old GMs can use a refresher on. 5/5
Execution– Overall, this is a well laid out book, but there are a few small issues. Hyperlinks, decent font, good layout, and pictures all make this an easy read. There are some issues with background and the use of a cramped cursive font in the intro of each chapter is a bit hard to read. This is good, but not perfect. 4.9/5Summary– This is a well done product, but if you should buy depends on what else you have. If you have every Knights of the Dinner Table comic, then this might not be the best purchase. I don’t (one day, but not now!), so this is a solid read as I get some good advice. I’ve gotten some of this advice before from older GMs at cons, but not everyone has that opportunity. This product fits that niche of passing along good advice to GMs who haven’t gotten the expertise from meeting other GMs. It’s not completely new, but it is completely good. It’s a solid product, but make sure you are getting what you want. 99%
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