Tag: RPG

Blurbs from the Booth-The Games We Play

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Note- I love my wife, but this one might seem a bit down on her.  It’s not.  She’s who I most often game with-either because she loves the games we play, or (more likely) it’s because I drag her into my insane adventures.  Love you my dear.

 

I’ve been thinking about the games I play most often.  Once a month, I get a game of Pathfinder Society in as well as some Shadowrun and DCCRGP.  But weekly, I get a game of DnD in as well as the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game.  Why so much love for DnD and the Card Game?

Well, I think it’s because of WHO I’m playing with as opposed to WHAT I’m playing.  Most often around dinner, my wife and I will cook and then set up the Adventure Card Game.  It’s fun, and it’s better than just staring at the TV while we eat.  So, I play that game a ton.  What I don’t play is the Shadowrun Crossfire game as much.  It’s not a bad game, but my wife doesn’t like it as much.  Since Jackson’s gaming scene is pretty small and I like my wife, I choose to play with her.  So, no Crossfire on the weekly schedule.

This also goes out to non-cooperative games as well.  My wife hates games like Agricola.  It’s far too much stress as you NEVER have enough time to do all the things that you want to do.  I enjoy the frustration a bit, but she’s of the opinion that gaming shouldn’t be a stressful as life.  Also, she hates games like Magic: the Gathering and Sentinels of the Multiverse.  Both of those are games where you have to read a ton of information on small cards.  She love games like 7 Wonders as they play quick, have good strategy, and don’t make you read a novel each time you play a card.

I’m a pretty universal gamer, and I hope that the blog posts have shown you that.  So, how do I do that AND play games with my wife?  Well, I have to actively seek out other opportunities to game.  Cons are a great way to find the random games to play.  This is a great way to get new games to the table and to meet new gamers.  Also, buying the equivalent of a board game a week can get expensive, so cons give me a chance to play a game and not have to buy that full thing!

I also game online.  OCTGN, Board Game Arena, Board Game Geek, Roll20, and Boiteajeux also give me a chance to try new games, meet new players.  I don’t have to drive cross-country to play some new awesome games, and I get to see what else is out there.  Bonus-all of these are free!  Check them out if you get a chance.

And, as a final way to get new games out there, I game at my local store once a week and twice a month at a local groups clubhouse.  At these places I bring whatever games I want as I drag my friends into whatever strange Euro-card-dice-3D game hybrid I bought of some strange backwoods website.  It’s a blast when you can meet the crazy gamers out there who will enjoy whatever is brought to the table.

How about you?  Who do you game with, how do they shape the way you game, and what do you do to play different games?

Ring Side Report-Dungeon Master’s Guide

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 3 Comments

Product-Dungeon Master’s Guide

System– Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition

Producer– Wizards of the Coast

Price– ~$50 here http://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Guide-Core-Rulebook/dp/0786965622/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417382314&sr=8-1&keywords=dungeon+masters+guide

TL; DR– Bands all together, let’s rock! 98%

 

Basics– Let’s get ready to roll!  The Dungeon Master’s Guide is the final book of the core three for Dungeons and Dragons.  This book covers all the behind the Dungeon Master’s screen aspects of the game.  It is roughly broken into three sections: creating a world/universe, creating adventures, and the math of the game/how to run Dungeons and Dragons.

 

Mechanics or Crunch– Ya’ know what I HATE in a RPG designed for the Dungeon Master?  No random tables!  Yes, I know they are a crutch that bad GM’s use when they don’t prep for an adventure.  But, I don’t want to have to figure out what I’m doing every second of the game, and sometimes the players will want to do something and having a random answer will really help make their choices happen at a moment’s notice.  This book as random tables out the wazoo-from making a complete random dungeon to a random adventure and the encounters between!  Also, this book goes into great detail on how to make the adventures in a non-random thought out way.  From the math behind monsters to how to hand out items and treasure, the book does an excellent job at making your life as a DM as simple as it can explaining how to set up a game in a manner where it won’t crash and fail from problems on the DM’s side of the screen.  Also, found the missing monster by CR guide from the Monster Manual!  It’s good to see it here, but it would be better to see it also in the Monster Manual. 5/5

 

Theme or Fluff-This book is full of content and absent of any content in the right ways.  The book goes into how to make a game work as a story and how to fill that story with people to meet and to kill while providing the default multiverse a bit of background too.  From the geography of the multiverse to how a circle of elders works in a feudal village, the game explains how to design a world and a story.  It’s a little light on advice on how to handle players.  That’s an experience thing, but some more sage wisdom on how to handle different kinds of people is always appreciated my new RPG fans.  The book does point to a reading list of books on how to GM, so that does cover kind of what I was hoping this book would have for the newer GM’s out there.  Overall, it’s got great story and tips on how to build your own story!  4.75/5

 

Execution– Just like the other two DnD 5e books, this one is well done!  There are enough words per page to inform, but not enough to bore.  There are lots of pictures to make the reader think of ideas to throw at their players, and almost all of them are new!  I used to play “spot the old art” in my DnD books, but I only saw one reused piece of art in this book which makes me extremely happy (along with the random tables!).  And, the new art is awesome!  If you want to learn how to make a book great from a layout, art, and design sense, then it’s this and Paizo’s books. 5/5

 

Summary– Look, if you’re running DnD, you bought this on Black Friday like the rest of us.  It’s that simple.  WotC spread out the core three books, and if you’ve bought the first two, then you bought this one too. If you’re new to RPGs, then get this book as well as the Player’s Handbook and Monster Manual.  This book has an awesome layout, great story ideas, and some randomness to help you get your players into the action as quickly as possible.  If you love Dungeons and Dragons, you need this book.  If you want to learn how to run Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, this is an awesome book that will give you all the tools you need to build the games you want and have a blast doing it.  This is a great capstone for the basic trinity of 5th edition DnD.  98%

Ring Side Report-Crawl! No.8: Firearms!

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Product– Crawl! No.8: Firearms!

System– Dungeon Crawl Classics

Producer– Stray Couches Press

Price– ~$3 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/121302/Crawl-fanzine-no-8?term=crawl%21+firearms

TL; DR– You brought a wizards to a gun fight! 93%

 

Basics-How about adding some guns to your DCC RPG game?  This book provides rules for adding firearms to your game spanning black powder cap and ball guns to laser rifles.

 

Mechanics or Crunch– Overall, the rules in this book are really well done.  This book provides different types of guns for however advanced a GM wants the guns to be in his/her home game.  The guns from different ages have distinct feels.  In addition to the standard gun y does x damage, there are new rules for duels as well as critical hit and fumble tables.  I like most of the added mechanics, but some of the things like a critical hit that disarms you I don’t like.  It’s good, but some things you might not completely agree with. 4.5/5

 

Theme or Fluff- DCC RPG has some of the best gonzo fantasy rules and themes of any RPG.  I love what I see here.  You can have modern day armies show up in a DCC RPG game and start drawing on your wizards and rogues.  It’s a blast! 5/5

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Execution-This one was reasonably well laid out, but some of the tables were a bit off.  I could read everything well enough, but I would have liked the information separated into a table and then had a larger description of the tables contents in a separate area.  It felt a bit cluttered.  Nothing is horrible, but it wasn’t my favorite layout for a Crawl! magazine. 4.5/5

 

Summary-If you love DCC RPG as much as I do, then you are going to buy this anyway.  If you are not an addict, this is a good one.  It’s not my favorite, but it’s a good addition to the magazine.  There are some great rules for adding guns to a fantasy game.  It’s all optional, but if you want a touch weirder game by giving the warrior a blaster, this is a great way to handle the rules. 93 %

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–05: Slave Ships of Absalom

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Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–05: Slave Ships of Absalom

System– Pathfinder

Producer– Paizo

Price– ~$4 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy9985?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-6-05-Slave-Ships-of-Absalom

TL; DR– Some problems hurt a good story that’s part of this year’s metaplot. 83%

 

Basics-Someone is selling tainted slaves in the Inner Sea!  A slave at a party had a spell cast upon her that allowed someone to eavesdrop on the guest.  Can you and the rest of the Pathfinder Society make some friends by discreetly finding out who is behind this?

 

Mechanics or Crunch– This is a reasonable short adventure as it’s designed for Pathfinder Society play.  However, some major missteps happen over the course of this story.  One is the players can fail a few rolls and be completely out of luck when it comes to the mystery.  In addition, like most PFS modules, there are some roleplaying and 2-to-3 fights.  However, one of these fights is pretty tough and can easily wipe most parties if the GM doesn’t pull a few punches.  This isn’t a bad module, but some of the Pathfinder mechanics work against the fun your players could have. 3/5

 

Theme or Fluff-Overall, I liked the story of this one.  There is a decent amount of roleplaying that can happen while still having the combat that some players crave.  However, some of the story seems off.  A character won’t help the players even after the players save that person’s life!  That kind of seems out of the realm of believability even with magic and elves about.  Also, this module is about slavery, so some players won’t like working for NPC’s who openly own slaves. 4.5/5

 

Execution– This is done by Paizo. They know how to layout a book.  It’s easy and quick to read.  The art is good, but as always I’d like a bit more.  What is here is well done. 5/5

 

Summary– This is a short, fun adventure that isn’t without its faults.  I enjoyed running this for my players, and they enjoyed playing this adventure.  It has the standard problems that can plague a Pathfinder game: combats based on CR alone and rolls killing investigation/roleplay.  Those are some problems that can really gum up this adventure’s gears.  Also, this is a module that deals with slavery.  If you’re players are not comfortable with that, then this will not be fun for them.  If you want a module set in Absalom where you have a decent mix of investigation and combat, this is a better than average module.  Also, if you want to get deeper into the Year of the Sky Key, then this an good start to the metaplot. 83%

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-22 Scars of the Third Crusade

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Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-22 Scars of the Third Crusade

System-Pathfinder

Price-$4 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy96i8?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-5-22-Scars-of-the-Third-Crusade

TL;DR–  Great roleplaying, but nothing for the combat heavy characters. 87%

 

Basics-Murder is afoot!  Pathfinder agents have been arrested, and you are sent to determine if they are guilty or not.  Can you prove the innocence of your fellow agents while in a town that already doesn’t trust the Pathfinders?

 

Mechanics or Crunch-This one has exactly one or maybe two fights scenes in it, depending on how the players proceed.  Most of the time, players are investigating the murders.  If you have a combat heavy party, they will just be bored.  Also, the combats that are present will be somewhat underwhelming to most parties in the level range.  The module presents some rules for investigation, misinformation, and events in town.  Some of these events are arbitrary as well as the rules for these events being somewhat unclear.  It just might need a bit more to keep some people involved. 3.5/5

 

Theme or fluff-This is where this module shines.  You as the GM get to scream at the players if they reveal that they are Pathfinders.  Most of the people in town don’t trust the Pathfinders, and players tipping their hands make this module come alive.  The town is well described and the personalities in it are fun to run.  Everybody here has a story, and the players have to try to figure out who did it over the course of the adventure.  I loved what I saw here.  If you want a mostly roleplaying module, this is the one to look for.  5/5

 

Execution-This is a wordy one.  To get all the information a GM needs to run the mod, lots of words have to happen in a very short amount of space.   I do like that the town has a town map to help you and your players understand all the places they can investigate.  In addition, the investigation methods are presented decently as well as providing the GM with a worksheet to help GMs keep track of all the information at hand, but this chart could use another column to help me keep track of what I and haven’t told the players.  I’d have liked a few more divides in the words, but the module is set up well. 4.5/5

 

Summary-I liked running this module.  I have no problems standing up at a convention and screaming at the top of my lungs about how I hate the Pathfinders and such.  When I ran this at a con with about five other tables, I did get a few stares.  If you want to have some awesome roleplaying with your characters, then this is the module to run.  If you what a hack and slash fest where lots of things die, then do not even consider this one.  I would like some changes to the module, but overall it was a great if you have the right group.  87%

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of AMP: Year One and Attack of the Buzz

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 1 Comment

Product– AMP: Year One

Producer– Third Eye Games

Price– ~$15 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/132784/AMP-Year-One

TL; DR– Want some amazingly customizable superheroes? Look here! 93%

 

Basics– When they showed up, everything changed.  AMP is a near future, heroic RPG.  Players take the roles of super humans in 2015.  The mutants have only been around and in large numbers for about a year, and the world isn’t really read for what they have to offer.  Will you fight to save mankind or destroy it?  Are you here to put these monsters in their place or will you stand with the mutants?  All of these are important questions that you will have to answer as you struggle to find where you fit in.

 

Mechanics or Crunch-This is a new RPG theme and with a ton of new mechanics.  Let’s do a rundown of some of the high points that are offer.

Base mechanic-This game has echoes of its d20 past, and I mean that in a good way.  Everything in this game is a d20 + skill A + skill B or d20 + 1 1/2 skill A.  That’s it.  It’s simple, it’s quick, and it’s fun to play.  Want to treat an animal’s wound?  That’s a d20 + beast handling + medicine.  Want to shoot a gun?  That’s d20 +marksmanship*1.5.  Simple enough.  It only gets slow when both the target and the attacker have to roll to determine if a hit is a success.  In my game, I found myself just saying 10 plus the skills for the attack or defense.  That change made my game run just a bit quicker.

Character Generation-This character generation is complex but has several walkthroughs.  This is a true everything point by.  You can really screw up your character if you try to min/max and fail horribly!  Everything from your speed, to your health, to your attacks is all bought via points.  You don’t have to take any points in speed, but you will move really slowly.  I love this style of customization, but newer RPG players really need to look over the example characters to make a useable character.  Unlike DnD5e where you make about five choices, when you make your character in AMP, you have at least 20+ decisions to make.  It’s easy to do as the math of the system doesn’t operate like the point buy from Shadowrun 4e, but don’t expect your first character to be made in five minutes.

Loyalties-One thing I wanted to point out from the character generation was loyalties.  This game has lots of different themes that are really well integrated into the mechanics.  One way that is done is with loyalties.  When you make a character you decide how important various aspects of your life are.  These range from your community, yourself, and to lovers you may have.  Each rank in these provides in game bonuses with ranks varying from rank zero to rank five.  I like the addition of mechanical benefits from role-playing choices, and these loyalty ranks really provide that connection.

Powers-It wouldn’t be a superhero RPG without superhero powers.  Powers come from several different general areas ranging from batteries (you store up energy) to behemoths (you are the Hulk!).  These powers all have augmentations that provide extra benefits like the behemoth has the crush augmentation that adds extra damage on melee attacks or the bolt ability which allows you to fire elemental blasts at people.  Most of these powers are dependent to on Juice.  Juice can be thought of as adrenalin, and it powers the superpowers of the heroes and villains.  Each broad category has a number of smaller augments that you get as you level up in the power.  Some categories have several different augmentations, while some only have a few.  It’s a quick and easy way to broadly provide the foundation for lots of different hero powers, options, and flavors.  Some of the names might be somewhat confusing, but looking over the powers the descriptions provide the rules and the story to how each power works.

Summary-The mechanics of this book are well done.  The game provides near endless customization and the ability to create the heroes and villains you want to be and see.  The new ideas such as the loyalties are excellent mechanics that other RPGs should employ that really developed the mechanics and the theme together.  However, this isn’t perfect.  Some aspects are a tad fiddly such as rolling for both attack and defense on both sides of the GM screen.  It’s not the worst thing in the world, but sometimes dealing with the amount of rolling in combat can be annoying.  Also, character generation is somewhat difficult.  If you know what you’re doing, you get all the tools you need to make any hero, but if you are just by yourself readying a character for a friend’s game, you might be lost in the amount of options you have to choose from.  4.75/5

 

Theme or Fluff- The basic story of AMP year One is that after World War I governments around the world worked on a super soldier project to stop war altogether.  Over the generations, the children of the experiments developed these super powers and passed them on.  Now, lots of super powered people are emerging.  How will the world change because of this?  What kind of person will you be?  This is a standard comic book intro, and this is semi-cheesy.  But, its super powered people.  You have to expect a little cheese in that territory.  Just look at the number to times Batman has died and come back to understand.  While it might not be my absolute favorite intro story, it does leave a lot of room for the GM to design a story in the near future world of 2015.  The first half of the book describes the history of the future, and provides lots of different story hooks as well as doing an excellent job of introducing the various groups at play in the lives of the mutants. Does this feel like the X-Men?  Good!  This RPG specifically mentions that as one of the main inspirations behind the themes of the game.  And since there is no currently published X-Men RPG out there, this is the best solution if you want to play in that world.  I think AMP does a great job driving home its theme while providing lots of different stories for the GM to run. 4.75.5

 

Execution– AMP is done fairly well.  The powers section is a bit wordy, but all the powers get nice flow charts explaining what augments you have to take to take the next one.  A little more art would be nice as well as color, but for a black and white book, it’s done really well.  The font, words, and layout all work well, and the hyperlinks don’t make my iPad slow to a crawl.  I would have liked a few more pre-generated antagonists for the PCs to face as well as a better guide on how to generate encounters.  But, on the whole this is a well done book that was fun to read. 4.5/5

 

Summary-If you want to play a free form superhero RPG?  Then, pick up this book.  The mechanics are simple, the powers work well, and the execution is great.  I have my minor gripes, but overall, this is a fun super hero RPG that isn’t too crazy or cheesy.  The world is fresh and interesting while providing enough open-endedness to give the GMs free reign in the stories they want to tell.  I was actually pretty entertained by the story that this book had to tell.  Since the tile of the book is AMP Year One, I hope the authors keep up with other AMP books or splat books to keep the metastory going.  93 %

 

How about two products today?  Here is the first adventure for the AMP Year One RPG-Attack of the Buzz!

 

Product– Attack of the Buzz

Producer– Third Eye Games

Price– ~$3 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/137727/Attack-of-the-Buzz-Adventure-for-AMP-Year-One

TL; DR– Know your group, and this will be a blast. 90%

 

Basics- Alice, Texas is under attack! Not by the mutants that are running around but by bees! Hundreds have died, and no one knows why the bees won’t give up attacking people.  Can you and the other AMPs you travel with find out how to prevent the bees from killing the town or will you end up like the rest of the town?

 

Mechanics or Crunch-The adventure is a fun one, but there are some problems depending on who is playing.  This isn’t a bad adventure for mechanics as everything presented makes sense in the AMP work and is balanced, but bees are swarms.  And, swarms are always hard to fight.  Especially with new characters.  Some characters will be completely useless for some of the major scenes in this adventure.  If you have a super computer hacker, then that character will spend most of his/her time running from the bees.  It’s a bold move for the first adventure put out by a system to feature swarms as the main villain, and I think it hurts the fun a bit.  However, the adventure does provide some new powers as well some equipment to help smart players.  What’s here is good, but the mileage your players will get out of the module really depends on who is at the table. 4/5

 

Theme or Fluff-This is one of the major events in the AMP Year One story.  My players enjoyed being part of the world and solving a major mystery that is presented in the main book.  It was fun for the players to work out how to solve some problems as well as fighting for their lives!  Also, the major groups all have reasons to send characters to this location helps me as a GM bring all the players to this location while still allowing the players to be whatever they want to be.  I didn’t feel like I had to shoehorn my players into this one size fits all adventure. 5/5

 

Execution-This product was laid out like the AMP Year One core book.  Overall, that’s good as I like the text, font, and layout, but I felt this lacked a few things.  Alice, Texas doesn’t have a map.  That was somewhat troubling.  However, I did like the fact that there is some new art like the main villain and the bees attacking the town. The art was well done, conveyed the sense of terror from a bee swarm attacking people, but didn’t go gory.  The RPG was still pretty age neutral, and that makes the super hero genera fun.  I would have liked a bit more art, but for the price of the module, it’s worth it.  4.5/5

 

Summary-As a mod that’s a cold intro to the system, this one might not be favorite.  The main enemies that are thrown against the player are kind of hard to deal with when players have limited resources and powers.  That said, if your players know that swarms are a problem here and they can plan accordingly, then this is a fun module.  I’d like a bit more to the module like a map, but for the price, I had fun and so did my players.  It’s a quicker mod as it doesn’t have tons of scenes, but that’s not a large problem.  If you need your AMP fix and want to learn one of the major secrets in the AMP world, this is a great way to get some more of the system. 90%

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Trail By machine

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Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6-01: Trail by Machine

Producer– Paizo

Price– ~$4

System-Pathfinder

TL; DR– Good intro to the Year of the Sky Key, but some plot flaws. 97 %

 

Basics– Pathfinders-time for some basic training!  Go to the old Red Redoubt and survive a few simple tests of pathfinder skills.  All goes well until something mysteriously sets off the eons old redoubt powering up motors long dead.  Can you figure out the ancient, yet futuristic technology of the Red Redout of Karamoss to escape?

 

Mechanics or Crunch– This one has a decent mix of old and new items and mechanics.  It eases the players into the new, fantastic technology that players can pick up while exploring Numeria.  Also, this scenario presents rules for converting enemy characters to good characters in the society setting.  It’s a fun way for players to reform others by thought, action, and speech. 5/5

 

Theme or fluff- The Adventure has some interesting twists that will throw your players for a loop.  I won’t spoil them here, but they are pretty fun.  However, if the players do the smart thing, and instantly leave when they have their goal, they will only get to explore roughly HALF the area and miss all the items and faction boons!  A simple change in where some doors close would really help this adventure force the players to experience the cool technology and locations offered here. 4.5/5

 

Execution– Trial by Machine is done well.  The picture on the front of the module is nice as its something you can show your players to help them understand what they are fighting.  I would have liked a few more pictures to help my players with some of the more fantastic enemies and locations, but the art included isn’t bad by any means.  The text is decently put together as it’s not too cramped and laid out well. 5/5

 

Summary– This is a fun one.  I really like the Sword and Circuitry concept of the year of the sky key and the Iron Gods campaign, and this get that into the Pathfinder Society.  This adventure eases the players in slowly to robots and other fun technology things while teaching them how to interact with technology and new items.  You might have to do a bit of GM fiat to make half the adventure happen, but if you do, the players will have a much better time than if you just let them leave after half an hour of Pathfinder! 97%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of the Current DnD 5e Expeditions Adventures

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Product– DnD 5e Expeditions- DDEX1-1 to DDEX1-3

System– DnD 5th Edition

Price– FREE!!!  (at participating game stores)

TL; DR– Great to see the new LFR. 85%

 

Basics– Dungeons and Dragons 5e is here, and so is the Wizards of the Coast organized play program called DnD Expeditions.  Let’s look at the first three adventures as a group.  The first publish three adventures are: Defiance in Phlan, Secrets of Sokol Keep, and Shadows on the Moonsea.  They are all open for characters level 1 to 4, and all play a role in the current metaplot-Tyranny of Dragons.  Let’s do a rundown of these adventures and see how the stack up.

 

Story or Fluff– These three adventures give an introduction to the town of Phlan and its surroundings.    In Defiance in Phlan, five different short stories are introduced with a time of one hour each.  Secrets of Sokol Keep has the bay lighthouse stop working and the players are asked to fix it.  And finally, Shadows of the Moonsea has an unknown “thing” moving up the Moonsea coast approaching Phlan next.  All these modules follow a pretty standard plot as  with previous DnD living games: 1) Introduce a problem/get the PCs involved, 2) PCs find the problem, 3) PCs kill the problem.  That’s not a bad story structure for organized play adventures.  If these three have a single problem, it’s the introduction of the problem, and why the players should care.  Often a problem is introduced, and the players have no reason to care aside from wanting to play some DnD that day.  Here is one area that the DnD Expeditions loses to Pathfinder Society-pre story player involvement.  Another problem that can occur is one time checks that if not succeeded often prevent the players from finding a major plot point.  Nothing is game breaking for the story, but some extra story parts would really help the players get into the story and prevent the GM from having to do some heavy story lifting at the start on the fly. 4/5

 

Mechanics or Crunch– DnD is a pretty tight system, and the adventures show this for the most part.  The combats are well done and provide enough challenge.  Also, each combat is given a small stat block to change the combatants on the fly for really weak parties to overly strong parties.  It really helps the GM find his grove and run a great adventure with fun combats.  One encounter I can think of deviates from this as the fight is just too hard for a level one party, and it makes that adventure suffer a bit.  But, that encounter is a clear outlier for these adventures. 4.8/5

 

Execution– These are free PDFs given out to the organizers of the Adventure League, so I don’t expect art.  I don’t get any, so I don’t penalize the adventures for that.  What I don’t like is how combats are buried in the text!  When the players enter a room, a box is given with the description of the room.  Below that box is the standard description paragraph of the room with all the hidden items, other checks the PCs might do, etc, but if there is a combat, the monsters and their numbers will be hidden in that same text.  That is not helpful!  As a GM, when I have a room, I really need to know how many of any monsters are in the room first.  I’d separate that from the main text and have that listed right under the title of the room in a separate block of text.  It is the same in the Tyranny of Dragons adventure, and it really doesn’t help there either.  However, these are free adventures that do tell some interesting stories.  I like what is here, but some significant changes to the organization of the text could really push this over the top. 4/5

 

Summary– DnD is back, and so is the child of the Living Forgotten Realms.  It might not be the old Living Forgotten Realms, but if this is what its children look like, I’m fairly happy.  It’s great to see a major company give out several hours of free play to its fans.  These are not bad adventures by any means, but a few changes would really help with these be just a bit better.  Moving where the monsters are listed would make my life as a GM much easier!  I’ve read the adventures, but being able to quickly scan the text will help me find out what needs to be in the room after my 10th four hour event at a con.  The stories need a bit of work at the start to draw the players in a bit more, but the last bits of the story and the world they create are often great.  Shadows of the Moonsea has a left turn, but it’s nothing that you won’t enjoy.  All and all, these are three great adventures that any new player to DnD will really enjoy. 85%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Pathfinder Campaign Setting-Technology Guide  

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Product-Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Technology Guide

Producer– Paizo

Price– ~$20 here http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Technology-Guide/dp/1601256728/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411311976&sr=8-1&keywords=technology+guide

System-Pathfinder

TL; DR– Problems with focus, but great item selection. 90%

 

Basics– Welcome to the world of tomorrow!  The Technology guide is the extra setting book that GMs of the Iron Gods will need to handle all the new technology items and some rules presented in that adventure path.  This book introduces a number of new archetypes, feats, spells, rules, and skill uses for the base classes as well as a prestige class.  Then, the book moves onto introducing several technological items, weapons, armor, drugs, and generators.  Finally the book adds new hazards, rules, and artifacts for the Iron Gods campaign and Numeria as a whole.

 

Mechanics or Crunch-This book is a combination of the Ultimate Equipment book and the People of the River.  The book adds an insane amount of items all with new rules how to handle them.  The rules make sense within the Pathfinder system and help distinguish technology from magic.  The character options are all well done and provide some awesome Numeria flavor for any technology based campaign you could be running.  5/5

 

Theme or Fluff– This book does have a decent amount of story.  Each item gets a short description in addition to its rules and a picture.  The pictures might not be amazingly large, but there are pictures you can show to your players and help them envision the world of Numeria.  The book even goes so far in depth to describe the different types of metals found in Numeria and what they look like.  It’s not a perfect theme book, as the primary focus of the book is to provide rules and items, not to provide story.  But, what is here does have some decent story to it. 4.5/5

 

Execution– I love how Paizo puts their books together.  Even though this is an item book, the pictures and layout really breaks up the text and makes this much less of a drag to read.  The problem I have is that this book is a Pathfinders setting book.  The setting books are not designed to be given to the players.  However, a 1/3 of this book is player options.  This book is kind of indicative of the problems I’ve seen with the Iron Gods roll out of as a whole. To do the Iron Gods AP justice, several new character options, items, and rules all have to be introduced.  However, all the Numeria character options are spread out across at least four books, and the rules are also spread out across some of these four books, but different rules are also in other books.  This is particularly a problem with this book as players are not supposed to look at this book.  But, as a GM you almost have to give it out, so base class characters can have additional class options.  It’s not world ending problem, but the lack of focus is apparent. 4/5

 

Summary– Honestly, if you are going to GM the Iron Gods AP, you’ve most likely bought this book already.  If you have no plans to ever put technology in your Pathfinder game, then this book has literally nothing to offer you.  It’s a good book for what it is (character options and items), but it has some problems with focus. 90%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of People of the Stars

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 3 Comments

Product– Pathfinder Player Companion-People of the Stars

System-Pathfinder

Producer-Paizo

Price-$13 here http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Player-Companion-People-Stars/dp/1601256744/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410741048&sr=8-1&keywords=People+of+the+stars

TL;DR-It’s that book with android stuff! 93%

 

Basics-I want to believe!  People of the Stars is the player companion to Distant Worlds.  This book follows the standard Pathfinder formula for player books by adding new races, feats, items, traits, archetypes, and spells for races from beyond Golarion in the solar system.

 

Mechanics or Crunch– This is crunch-tastic.  The book is full of all kinds of great stuff to build otherworldly characters.  What’s here is pretty useful and well done if you want to have an intergalactic campaign.  If you want to keep you game on Golarion, there isn’t much for you here.  5/5

 

Theme or Fluff– There are some amazing stories here.  Each world in the solar system gets about half a page and gives a nice, short summary that world.  The races all have some nice build up and are varied enough to be good additions to the Pathfinder race line up.  However, like I said above, the stuff presented here really won’t be that much use to any campaign or player if you just stay on Golarion. 5/5

 

Execution-Paizo knows how to make a good book.  This book is well written, laid out well, and entertaining.  This isn’t the best book put out by Paizo as there are some parts that drag on, and there are a few sections with “textbook problem”.  But, this is generally a good book. 4/5

 

Summary-Going to play in the solar system in Pathfinder?  Then, get this book.  Going to play the Iron God’s campaign and want to play an android?  Get this book, because this book has some android feat and traits you might want.  Otherwise, this book might not help you much.  It’s a well done book, but this book will mostly hit a niche market.  Even the Iron Gods adventure path doesn’t use this book and advices the use of another book called People of the River.  This is a good book, but only a few people will really need this book. 93%