NPCs both Friendly and Foul!

"Encyclopedia of Villians" by Various.

Printed and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment.

ISBN-10: 1-932201-34-3 -- 128 Pages.

The cover of this book proudly exclaims: "Dozens of Deadly Enemies to Torment Heroes of All Levels!"

Just in case you don't want to read any further, this book achieves its claim to fame.

This is a very nice collections of NPC's both benign and evil. Of course, the characters all have friends.........

This set of thirty-nine malcontents can be a great aid to a GM looking for the party's next villian. Each has a black and white portrait, and some contain lairs as well! They are listed in the Table of Contents by Challenge Rating (CR). There is a short intro and a one-page overview of the main villians.

Indexing these by CR is a nice touch, especially to a GM that still hasn't settled on what to use in the next adventure.

My favorite in this book was "Lady Veritie Skredder" who is the owner of a manor home and large textile mill both just outside the city limits. Not only is she not quite what she seems, but her ownership of the manor house "The Stoffhus" is not quite all it seems to be either. Many parties are given here, including one annual festival that 'no one wants to miss'.

Then there is the Textile Mill itself, supposedly the largest in the world, that manufactures a great deal of clothing, all of which meets or exceeds the standards by which Masterwork items are constructed. These are mostly Noble clothing of cotton, silk, wool, and other cloth. In addition, the mill makes blankets, cloaks, shirts, and vests, and does a roaring business in internationlly sold silk rope.

The mill can also make any oftfits listed in the Player's Handbook, and other official material. THese items are at least double the amount listed in the PH, but since they are of Masterwork Quality, this is to be expected. Everything made by this mill can be enchanted permanently. They also sell carpets and tapestries of intricate design, many fulfilling jobs as magical items.

At the back is the OGL and three advertisements.

As usual, this book is a fine addition to my D20 collection. What's even better, with a little bit of homework from a GM, it could be used with almost any edition of D&D or Pathfinder. It really does deliver what it promises.

It's too bad that Fast Forward Games disappeared from the market, as many of these books also included online material which does not seem to be available anymore. However, these Fast Forward Entertainment books rarely disappoint me. If you want to really challenge your players and their characters you can't go wrong by getting this book. Highly Recommended.