Could this be the Ultimate Crossover?

"The Dread House" by Danny O'Neill.

Published and Distributed by Hammerdog Games.

ISBN-10: 1-59180-057-9 -- 288 Pages.

I recently bought "The Dread House" by Danny O'Neill. If I had known that it was going to be =this= good, I would have bought it =much= sooner.

The Dread House is a take on one of the oldest tropes of Role-Playing Games - a Haunted House. The most important feature of this book is its compatibility with Pathfinder 1.0, and 5th Edition D&D, =and= Call of Cthulhu!

I cannot think of any other product that claims the distinction of having D&D, Pathfinder, and Call of Cthulhu in the same volume! Given this, there is a very real possibility of being able to have PCs cross over from one system to another system to yet another system!

In the darkness, an old ruined manor house sits -- waiting for its next victim. If this sounds a bit like "The Shining" to you, you are close to correct!

There are only three sections in the book:

1) "The Time of Myth and Magic: The Dread House in Medieval Times".

2) "The Time of Mythos and Machine Guns: The Dread House in the Roaring 20's".

3) "The Time of Connected Dependence: The Dread House Today and Tomorrow".

There are dozens of full-color maps of the manor, including a master map on pages 54 and 55. Each section of the house is broken down into smaller pieces, each appearing in an appropriate section of the book. The marvelous map of the area beneath the manor should drive prospective players who map insane, for tunnels twist and turn, frequently overlapping each other. The chosen artists have been selected well. All of the included art matches the tone of the setting.

Section 1 - "The Time of Myth and Magic: The Dread House in Medieval Times"

Storyline One: "The Dread Wedding". This is what happens that makes the Dread House haunted. This occurs in a Medieval setting. "The Dread Wedding" is presented as it happens. PCs may try to stop this from happening, but this is difficult since the Dread House also exists in the 1920's, and the modern-day, and even possibly, in the future! In addition, in order to truly end the reign of the Dread House, they must complete the second part of the story.

Storyline Two: "Scions of Solaria" is also about the Dread House, but the PCs are led to find eight different parts in this prequel to the "Dread Wedding" and this can take beginning Pathfinder or D&D characters from Level One to Level Six. In this chapter, there are references to "Solaria", Goddess of Life and Light. Complete information about her is found in the back of the book. Copying the single page about Solaria might be a good idea, since at least one, if not more, party members should worship her.

Both of these sections includes info about 5th Edition, Pathfinder, and Call of Cthulhu.

Section Two -- "The Time of Mythos and Machine Guns: The Dread House in the Roaring 20's"

Storyline Three: This section is designed to work best with Call of Cthulhu, but also has stats for 5th Edition D&D and Pathfinder 1.0! It is divided into six scenarios:

1) "Piercing the Veil"

2) "13 Ghosts"

3) "The Tome of the Dead"

4) "The Machine Man"

5) "Ghostcatchers"

6) "Dread Secrets"

This part can span a timeline of sixteen years! There is a small piece of fiction about each of the six parts. Each of these six scenarios may be run as stand-alone adventures.

"Section Three: The Time of Connected Dependence: The Dread House Today and Tomorrow".

Storyline Four: Because of (I believe) the Call of Cthulhu material, the manse can also exist in the modern-day, and even in the future! Storyline Four consists of two sections:

1) "Stay the Night" and

2) "Geist in the Gears".

At the end of the book are three good appendices, which include "Optional Rules", "Dread Ghosts", and "The Arcane and the Eldritch". A GM toolbox at the end has a nice summary of effects. An advertisement for their other mega-dungeon, "The Grande Temple of Jing" ends the book. There is no index, but a good Table of Contents.

I was impressed enough by "The Grande Temple of Jing" to seek out other products Hammerdog produced. This book even exceeded my expectations! If you like Pathfinder 1.0, and/or, if you like 5th Edition D&D, and/or you if like Call of Cthulhu, I think you almost can't go wrong by picking this book up! If you like two or all three of these, my suggestion to you is to buy this! This book now has the distinction of being in my "Top Ten Gaming Books of All Time" list!

Odyssey of the Dragonlords Mega-Module?

"Odyssey of the Dragonlords" by Various. Published by Arcanum Worlds and Distributed by Modiphius. ISBN-13: 978-1-912743-40-7 -- 478 Pages.

There was a great deal of hype about this book, which led me to purchase it. The Friendly Local Game Store that I usually shop at included the separate map.

I must say that I was a little disappointed by this book. I'm a big fan of making material for RPGs that are set in the Greco-Roman period. This book is set firmly in the Grecian period. In its thirteen chapters, and seven appendixes, it covers almost all of the Grecian myths, including several I knew already, and a couple I had never heard of.

Strangely enough, the Introduction is basically an overview of the world of Thylea, its Gods, its structure, and many other parts of describing why this world is different.

This book is basically a mega-module allowing the characters placed there to have seventy adventures in the area.

This is the section that I did not care for. The way I see it is that to me, this book is a huge step-by-step module designed to take characters from about First Level to about 12th to 15th Level. What was wrong about this was that the flow of this book seemed very linear. The GM takes you by the hand and you have your adventures in the order in the book. There are a few side quests, but this book =almost- reminds me of the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books.

Starting at the first chapter, for instance, the book has six mini-adventures, each one with its own few paragraphs about what must happen in that area. For example, the "Heroes of the Prophecy" section is the beginning of the book, and then a section called "The Poet of Mytros" with the GM reading aloud the parts which give the PCs a place to rest for the evening, and a place to purchase things that they may need.

The second mini-adventure begins when the PCs hear the rumor in the barroom about a Wild Boar near the small town. Some of the patrons of the bar are all talking about this, and it has injured a couple of farmhands and destroyed crops. With info from the bar's patrons, the PCs should go kill the Wild Boar. Don't forget to use one of the townsfolk to tell them about bringing the beast's body back.

After whatever happens, once the Wild Boar is killed, the PCs are asked to sacrifice the boar's body to the local Gods. If this occurs, the PCs could receive either a blessing or a curse depending on which God they offer the beast to. In order to do that, though, the characters must take the body to the nearby Temple of the Oracle, which is the next adventure in the book.

The Temple is the last part of Chapter One. It seems almost impossible to reach the temple, as there is a large river in their way which is boiling hot with many unpredictable boiling hot geysers within it. They will eventually reach the temple, and manage to get by the few guards in the temple's chambers, and guarding the grotto beneath the temple. Once the Oracle is freed, she will give the PCs a prophecy and tell them of a few mini-adventures nearby.

I have given this summary of what occurs in the first chapter to indicate the flow of these adventures continues in the same direction all the way to the 12th chapter. The side quests that are given are good, but the focus is on completing the Odyssey of the Dragonlords. This book would be very useful to a beginning GM, but I found it boring. But, then again, I've been GMing for about 40 years.

Although the FLGS gave me the accompanying map, it is sold separately. The Map of the Land of Thylea is on one side of this nine-panel map, and the city of Mytros on the other. Should you decided to purchase this book to use as a campaign, the map is almost invaluable.

Despite all of it's shortcomings, I'd be willing to use this book as a complete campaign lasting several sessions. I can recommend it.

Devilish Dens for Demons

"Devilish Dens" by Anne Brown and Kevin Melka.

Printed and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment.

ISBN-10: 0-971-9598-3-8 -- 48 Pages.

A very short Intro and Table of Contents are combined on the first page, and the next two pages are about the owners of each of the dens, along with small pictures of the Demons that own them and a short paragraph about each one.

This small booklet contains a total of ten dens of iniquity for your players to explore. This book works best if you have "Encyclopedia of Demons and Devils 1" and/or "Encyclopedia of Demons and Devils 2", but neither is absolutely necessary.

The first of these dens is the home of Asmodeus! Even high level characters should think twice before entering there! Each of the ten adventures has four pages of detail, and a small map. None of these adventures are suitable for low, or even medium level, characters. Not to mention that each of these dens can be used as separate adventures! Each of these confrontations should serve well as almost a final chapter for the PCs. If battles occur, I suspect that each of these adventures could last much, if not all, of one session of gaming!

Ending this booklet are the usual Open Gaming License, and three advertisements.

I own both of the Encyclopedias, and I find this book to be an invaluable aid if my players have characters that are high enough level. Since these lairs are actually part of the plane of existence of each of the owners, they provide a way for my players to follow the demon that they may have dispelled on the Prime Material Plane to their home. But remember -- any damage done to them on the Prime Plane will be restored in their home, plus the demon has all of their spells again, and some even have new ways to approach any oncoming party that arrives by simply being on their home plane.

As you know I love Fast Forward, and recommend these books to prospective GMs!

Can you escape Dungeon World?

"Dungeon World" by Timothy Brown and James M. Ward.

Printed and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment.

ISBN-10: 0-971-9598-0-3 -- 192 Pages.

I've seen a lot of mega-dungeons. 50 Levels, 60 Levels, and many more. But I believe that this book is the largest dungeon ever printed. Why? Because the entire planet is one big dungeon! In very small print under the title, it says "Universe". There are a couple additions to this tome, "Dungeon World: Secrets of the Enemy Capital", and "Dungeon World: Catacombs" that should also be counted as part of this campaign. There are two other books by Fast Forward that would dovetail nicely into Dungeon World: "Treasure Quests" and "Treasure Quests: Tomb of Ra".

This book is separated into many parts: first are notes about Dungeon World, including the Prologue and Introduction, a small chapter on the nature of Dungeon World, how to reach it, how to escape, putting it into your campaign, and a section on how to use this book for an entire campaign, and finally a bit about the Caretakers of the world, and the Heart of Dungeon World - known as "Nex"!

After that, the book is broken down into levels, from 1st Level all the way up to 25th Level! There are also side quests - 25 of them - which will need to be fleshed out by the GM. Based on the diagram on page 35, there are 26 levels total. Should the characters survive all the way to the 26th Level, they will find a spiral staircase, going up, that has exits on each and every level back up, and finally comes to rest inside a building on the surface!

Technically, Dungeon World is on its own plane of existence. Somehow, it lies in such a different plane of existence that it really isn't connected to other planes at all! But it is very close to the Elemental Plane of Earth, within the Elemental Sub-Plane of Stone. But it's really easy to get there - thru portals, through sadistic Dungeon Keepers that want you to really feel pain, and others. There are a few methods of escape - but these are either rare or hard to find, or both.

Sure, you can get away with calling Dungeon World a 26th Level Dungeon with 192 pages. But, if you include their other Dungeon World Books, it's even larger! "Enemy Capital" adds 128, and "Catacombs" adds another 128, making 448 pages total, and if you decide to include "Treasure Quests", which is 160 pages, and add "Tomb of Ra" which is another 128 pages, it equals 736 pages, rivaling Monte Cook's "Ptolus" in length!

You can see by the above why I bought this. It covers not only up to 20th Level characters, but continues to 25th Level Characters! Quite a few maps of levels, and many new creatures to meet are included! At the back of the book is the usual OGL and three advertisements. This gets one of my highest recommendations!

Quest for Treasures Campaign?

"Treasure Quests" by James M. Ward. Printed and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment. ISBN-10: 0-971-3234-7-X -- 160 Pages. Treasure Chests is one of my favorite books by Fast Forward Entertainment! First of all - the spiral bound lay flat binding is a stroke of genius! This tome can be opened to any page and will not lose that page! The fantastic Table of Contents in the front of the book also serves as an Index. Generally, I prefer books with both a Table of Contents and an Index, but this Table of Contents works for this book. The short Preface, Introduction, and a two page section about "How to Use this Book", make up the front matter. There are thirteen chapters, starting with an adventure for beginning characters called "Village of Stret", and ending with an adventure called "Tomb of the Ancient Lords" that I would only recommend for level 13 PCs or higher. This means that if you decide to use all of this book, it would make a great campaign world all by itself! Each of the chapters also have a black and white map of the area the players are in. The Table of Contents has a bold faced name for each level, so you can find where you left off easily, and you can find an area that matches up with the average group's level quickly. The thing I like the most about "Treasure Quests", is that they can also be used as individual adventures that a GM can insert into his own campaign world. Stuck for an adventure for this week's game? Get out this book, find the chapter that matches up with the party's average level, and have a blast! These Fast Forward Entertainment books rarely disappoint, and this one has one of my highest recommendations!