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!

Wield these Rings of Power!

"Rings of Power" by Various.

Printed and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment.

ISBN-10: 0-971-3234-4-5 -- 160 Pages

The first in the "Powers" series, Rings of Power does not disappoint. The Powers series is: this book, "Swords of Power", "Wondrous Items of Power", and "Occult Items of Power".

This book is divided into nine major sections:

1) "Rings of Legend".

2) "Beast Rings".

3) "Dragon Rings".

4) "Necromantic Rings".

5) "Artifact Rings".

6) "Heroic Rings".

7) "Rings of Destruction".

8) "Fey Rings".

9) "Ruling Rings".

There is a short Preface and Introduction at the front, and another short section in the back for "Creating Magical Rings", "Game Statistics", and the usual OGL. The Preface, and the Introduction are only one page each.

Altogether, there are 78 Rings of Power. Each section has a very short definition of the type of ring. Each ring has one or two pages each. Each ring also has a photograph of the ring. Yes, a real photograph. These rings could actually be found in the real world! Although powerless, imagine the shock of your players when you drop a =real= ring on the table!

At the back of the book are pages for "Magical Ring Creation", Game Statistics for each ring, and a Price List for the once supported purchasing of a prop Ring of Power (which no longer are available), and one advertisement.

I like Fast Forward Entertainment enough to buy every single thing they ever produced. This one is no different. It's nice to have a larger Treasure Trove have at least one magical item. These make great treasure fillers, especially the ones that seem to be good, but end up being bad! It's very nice to have a large list of special treasures for players to fight over. Do not forget that either you must use the ring, or you must have it identified. Once again, one of my higher recommendations!

Equipment for Everyone!

"Ultimate Equipment Guide" by Matthew Sprange.

Subtitled: "Supplementary Rulebook 3"

Printed and Distributed by Moongoose Publishing.

ISBN-10: 1-903980-81-X -- 256 pages.

Now I know why these three volumes (This one, "More Equipment" and "Ultimate Equipment Guide 2") are so hard to find inexpensively. No one wants to part with them!

Ultimate Equipment Guide is probably one of the best deep looks at equipment there is. Almost every piece of Equipment is illustrated, giving Players and GMs a real look at what these things look like!

It is broken down into nineteen chapters, some of which contain other information.

01) Introduction.

02) Equipment in Your Campaign.

03) Designing D20 Equipment.

04) Arcane Sorcery.

05) Bards and Theatres.

06) Clerics and Temples.

07) Food, Drink, and Herbs.

08) Honor Amongst Rogues.

09) In the Wild.

10) Knick-Knacks of the Little Folk.

11) Psychic Mastery.

12) The Armoury.

13) The Dwarven Forge.

14) The Elven Retreat.

15) The Fighters Trade.

16) The Monastery.

17) Tools, Trades, and Crafts.

18) Rules Summary.

19) D20 and OGL License.

Just by this list alone, you can tell that this is a much more comprehensive look at all types of gear, ranging from items for Wizards, Mages, and Sorcerers; to Items for Common NPCs and the Tools, Trades, and Crafts that use them.

I'm not going to give you a detailed list, but I am going to tell you that this is one of the best books available for Equipment, both benign and deadly, and everything in between!

Items for every class, and a part about Designing D20 Equipment make this almost an indispensable book for GMs!

The very handy Rules Summary at the back of the book shows the ordinary tables of details for all of the Equipment above. But 36 pages of tables? You bet!

There's also a good Table of Contents, and a fine Index. The normal OGL is at the back.

Some of this material is from Third-Party publishers, too! Twenty-Eight different Third-Party Publishers! The addition of this other material makes this even more interesting.

As it is, I consider this book to be a godsend, but there's more! Believe it or not, there was enough material left over to make a second book, "More Equipment", and later a third book, "Ultimate Equipment 2!"

You do not need the other two books, as each can stand alone as a great resource of Equipment, but together they make up what amounts to an encyclopedia of gear! One of my very highest recommendations!

Venture In If You Dare!

"The Dread House" by Danny O'Neill.

Printed and Distributed by Hammerdog Games.

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

In the darkness, an old ruined manor house sits -- waiting for its next victim.

In "The Dread House" book are rules for 5th Edition D&D, Pathfinder 1.0, and, believe it or not, "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 tome. Given this, there is a very real possibility of being able to have player characters cross over from one system to another system to yet another system!

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 then broken down into smaller, but no less valuable, 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 one another. The chosen artists have been selected well. All of the included art matches the tone of the setting.

"The Time of Myth and Magic: The Dread House in Medieval Times" - Storyline One: "The Dread Wedding" concerns itself with what happens that makes the Dread House so Haunted. This is a section that occurs in a Medieval setting. "The Dread Wedding" is presented as it happens. Characters might try to stop this from happening, but this is very 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 that is also set in Medieval Times.

"The Time of Myth and Magic: The Dread House in Medieval Times" - Storyline Two: "Scions of Solaria" is also about the house, but the characters are led to find eight different parts of the prequel to the "Dread Wedding" and 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. These sections, like the rest, can exist in multiple timelines simultaneously.

"The Time of Mythos and Machine Guns: The Dread House in the Roaring 20's -- Storyline Three" makes up the Call of Cthulhu section of the book, but includes options for 5th Edition D&D and Pathfinder. It consists of six parts:

1) "Piercing the Veil"

2) "13 Ghosts"

3) The Tome of the Dead"

4) The Machine Man"

5) Ghostcatchers

6) "Dread Secrets"

This part of this book can span a time of sixteen years! There is also a small piece of fiction about each of the six parts. Each of the six scenarios may also be run as a stand-alone adventure!

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

Because of (I believe) the Call of Cthulhu material, the manse can also exist in modern times, and even in the future! The storyline here is broken down into two parts: "Stay the Night" and "Geist in the Group".

At the end of the book are good appendices, which include optional rules, Dread Ghosts, and the Arcane and the Eldritch. A GM toolbox 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 fairly good Table of Contents.

I was reasonably impressed enough by "The Grande Temple of Jing" to seek out any other products Hammerdog produced. This book even exceeded that book! If you like Pathfinder 1.0, and/or, if you like Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons, and/or you if like Call of Cthulhu, I think you almost can't go wrong by picking this book out! I now believe that this book is in my top 10 gaming books of all time!.

What is the Catalyst?

"Catalyst" (Boxed Set) by Alexander Jerabek.

Printed and Distributed by Cherry Picked Games.

ISBN-13: 978-1-304827-28-9 -- 270 Digest sized pages, and including 142 "Action Cards".

In the near future, several 'portals' or 'doorways' open between Earth and the realms of Demons and Devils. This post-apocalyptic setting really tweaked my interest. Millions of Demons and Devils invade our world. In addition, their arrival brought with them a plague which claims the lives of billions of people. Few remain.

But opening the portals between our world and theirs also brought an awakening of Magical and/or Psionic powers in most remaining humans. We now have the ability to fight them with their own powers!

This game uses a unique system - there are no dice - but a deck of 142 action cards (in the base boxed set) serves as your reactions. Each player and the Game Master places one of the cards in their hand on the table face down and then everyone flips them at the same time. Once on the table, you cannot change the action you have chosen, even if it doesn't do much of anything - or if it somehow causes one of the other characters to take damage. Ideally, you hit one of your enemies, and possibly do damage, or even kill it.

There are only six chapters in the book:

1) "Flotsam on the Sound"

2) World

3) Playing Catalyst

4) Combat

5) Equipment

6) Appendix

First, like most modern role-playing games, Catalyst starts with a piece of fiction set in the time of Catalyst. It is only four pages, but it still manages to give readers a sense of the 'now'.

Second is a section about the world, with parts for Humans and their roles in the game, as well as for Demons and Devils.

Third is playing and running the game. The Game Master is featured here in this category, as well as information about creating characters, their attributes, their "veins" (or magical abilities), spells, skills, standard abilities, talents, and traits.

Fourth is combat. One of the nicer inclusions is an entry giving an example of a battle. Tables for a Cerberus and a Demon are first, then two example characters. Following that are twelve scenes of their battle detailed completely, including maps of each. There is an explanation of how to use the action cards to complete each turn. A flowchart for combat makes it easier for GMs and Players to execute a game turn. Complete definitions for mapping battles and the conditions they create are given.

Fifth is Equipment. Statistics for firearms, melee weapons, explosives, clothes, magic items and weapon enhancements, and other things are here.

Sixth, the Appendices follow, starting with advice to GMs, a small bestiary, some sample characters, a background creation section, the spell and ability descriptions and supplements, and, believe it or not, finally, at the very end of the book are the credits!

I don't know what "possessed" me to buy this game, as I generally dislike Post-Apocalyptic settings. But, because it reeked of something that might have been caused by the finale of the End of Time, I decided to buy it. Once I found out that this one had no Zombies, it grabbed me and won't let go! I'm already deep into the process of creating a game to run with it! I'll be using some material from other games, such as "Delta Green" without the Cthulhu creatures. Players having Delta Green agents fighting the demons might be just the thing!

I'm going to be looking for the extra material that Cherry Picked (What an appropriate name!) has made for this game, including five PDFs you can download for free! They have a good home on my computer, and the only other physical thing I might need is the cards that go along with the PDFs.

Folks, if you like post-apocalyptic games, this one deserves a closer look! Highly Recommended!

Jing is the word!

"The Grande Temple of Jing" by Danny O'Neill

Printed and Distributed by Hammerdog Games

ISBN-10: 1-59180-047-1 -- 500 Pages

The Grande Temple of Jing is probably one of the better mega-dungeon books available!

It's sixty (yes, I said 60!) levels and hundreds of traps, tricks, side quests, and monsters, make it a tough dungeon, but, since it seems to be run by an avatar of Loki (he's called "Jing" in this universe) one would expect this.

The temple gets its name from the unusual method of doing certain things, such as opening a door.

Nothing short of a nuclear bomb will open that door -- except... There is a slot on the door frame, just big enough for a coin. If you put a copper piece in it, a small "jing" (such as you would hear from an old type cash register) is heard. Something happens - and not generally what you want. A silver coin will produce a much more satisfying "Jing" noise, and generally has the effect you want. But a gold piece in the slot makes a very happy sounding, very loud "Jing!" and whatever you were trying to do is accomplished. That's the good news. The bad news is that everything else in the Temple knows you are there, and nearby monsters may descend on you as a pack!

The really interesting thing is that the entire complex was designed and built by a God! While adventuring in this temple, it is almost impossible to die! Jing will almost always bring you back to life! Don't forget, however, since this is a form of the Resurrection spell, your experience goes back to one XP lower than the top of your last level!

I couldn't help but fall in love with this. Mega-Dungeons have always appealed to me, and this one goes out of its way to please even the most sinister plans of any GM. I've been known to perplex characters with traps, tricks, riddles, and other playthings. But this book goes =way= beyond anything I've ever conjured up! One of my highest recommendations!

The Shadows are on our side!

"Catalyst: Shadow Parliament" by Alexander Jerabek, Bennett Durlee, and Parker Thompson

Printed and Distributed by Cherry Picked Games

ISBN-13: 978-1-329-76811-6 -- 48 Pages

In the Catalyst Core Rulebook, we discovered that a vast unknown war was raging across our planet between the forces of Good (Angels, etc.) and the forces of Evil (Demons and Devils, etc.). This unusual take on post-apocalyptic games is a lot more interesting to me! I'm not sure if I ever want to look at another Zombie game again!

You should already have players that have created characters using the Catalyst Core Rulebook to use in this mini-campaign. If not, there are four characters at the back of the book they can use. This booklet is supposed to cover three to five players, and last about seven sessions. This booklet is meant for players that have characters who have already been contacted by The Shadows and what happens to them once they are made aware of the interdimensional war between the realms of Demons and Devils, and the realms of Angels on our world. No player should ever read this rulebook.

GMs should be familiar with the Catalyst Core Rulebook before reading or trying out this module. While the Shadow Parliament and Majestic-12 both work against Demonic powers, the group known as "The Illuminati" works with the other side.

There are 34 example characters at the back of the book. Four of those are ordinary people, but with the new magical powers within them awakened. There are also 17 Illuminati characters, and nine Demon types for the GM's use during play. The four shadows make the best to use for your players to become if they just want a pre-written character.

This booklet makes a good choice to use as an introductory adventure. If you bought the Catalyst Core Rulebook, this booklet would make a fine choice to get as your second Catalyst book. Highly recommended.

Exit Stage Right

"Neoexodus Campaign Setting (Color)" by Various Published and Distributed by Louis Porter Jr Design ISBN-13: 2-370-007-788-26-2 -- 268 (?) Pages

Let me begin this review with a very unusual statement. This appears to be a first edition first printing of this material. This also appears to be a color rendition of the same material. Bear that in mind when reading on.

I had to take the unusual precedent of actually physically counting the real numbers of the pages in this book. Several page numbers given are =not= correct. This is just the beginning of typos in this volume. There are banners in the upper outermost corners of the book that are supposed to contain the words "Neoexodus Campaign Setting" (which they all do), but, they are also supposed to contain the Chapter Title. No sooner than in the fourth page, this becomes "Section Title Goes Here".

Let's look at the other mistake first, page numbering. Up until page eight this seems correct. By this, I was led to believe that the full page art on the other half of the open book should be page nine. But, on the back of page nine, is page number twelve! Not only is this wrong, but it totally messes up the Table of Contents (which is also supposed to be an index) making finding any page in the book a challenge. This changes this seemingly professional looking book (great full color throughout!) into an amateur looking publication. Even a decent proofreader could have found and corrected these mistakes.

So, right off the bat, I subtracted one star for not having correct page numbers, and one star for not having correct page banners. But wait - there's more! I had always believed that "Janissaries" was a series title by Jerry Pournelle, but upon digging, found out that it had also been used during the Mongol Era, so, Ball One.

As many of my readers know, I am not a fan of Psionics in a Fantasy campaign. With this odd campaign mixture of some Fantasy and some Science Fiction, and some Psionics placed into a pot where even game balance might be hurt, made this text look like a bad "Star Wars" rip off. I have a feeling that this project was rushed through to allow the Kickstarter backers to get their product.

This is the first edition full color version. Other than being completely in color, it seems to be exactly like the black and white edition, and this edition carries the same mistakes. There is also a newer edition, called "Neoexodus: A World Divided". Even stranger, there appears to be an earlier edition from "Devils Workshop". I have not had the opportunity to look at these.

In summary, if you can get past the many page errors and other things, this might be of interest due to its totally unusual nature. I cannot recommend this edition, but will keep you posted on what I find from later editions. Your Mileage May Vary.

You might want to take an exit......

"Neoexodus Campaign Setting" by Various Published and Distributed by Louis Porter Jr Design ISBN-13: 2-370-007-788-26-2 -- 268 (?) Pages Let me begin this review with a very unusual statement. This appears to be a first edition first printing of this material. Bear that in mind when reading on. I had to take the unusual precedent of actually physically counting the real numbers of the pages in this book. Several page numbers given are =not= correct. This is just the beginning of typos in this volume. There are banners in the upper outermost corners of the book that are supposed to contain the words "Neoexodus Campaign Setting" (which they all do), but, they are also supposed to contain the Chapter Title. No sooner than in the fourth page, this becomes "Section Title Goes Here". Let's look at the other mistake first, page numbering. Up until page eight this seems correct. By this, I was led to believe that the full page art on the other half of the open book should be page nine. But, on the back of page nine, is page number twelve! Not only is this wrong, but it totally messes up the Table of Contents (which is also supposed to be an index) making finding any page in the book a challenge. This changes this seemingly professional looking book (great full color cover!) into an amateur looking publication. Even a decent proofreader could have found and corrected these mistakes. So, right off the bat, I subtracted one star for not having correct page numbers, and one star for not having correct page banners. But wait - there's more! I had always believed that "Janissaries" was a series title by Jerry Pournelle, but upon digging, found out that it had also been used during the Mongol Era, so, ball one. As many of my readers knows, I am not a fan of Psionics in a Fantasy campaign. With this odd campaign mixture of some Fantasy and some Science Fiction placed into a pot where even game balance might be hurt made this text look like a bad "Star Wars" rip off. I have a feeling that this project was rushed through to allow the Kickstarter backers to get their product. The good news, however, is that the art is very good, and would probably benefit greatly by using full color throughout the book. There is a full color version, and it will be interesting to see if it contains some of the proofreading mistakes. There is also a later edition, called "Neoexodus: A World Divided". I have not had the opportunity to look at either of these. In summary, if you can get past the many page errors and other things, this might be of interest due to its totally unusual nature. I cannot recommend this edition, but will keep you posted on what I find from later editions. Your Mileage May Vary.

There are no Sandworms here.....

"Monster Geographica - Plain and Desert" by Various Published and Distributed by Expeditious Retreat Press ISBN-10: 0-972-9376-5-X -- Digest Sized - 208 Pages This slim volume is a collection of creatures and monsters. There are 200 critters to baffle your players with. There are no drawings in the book, which might prove to be a problem, but I found that this made the book smaller and less expensive. You should normally give players only a description of a creature anyway. These creatures are from a wide variety of sources, mostly Third Party - so your players won't know what to expect! The format of the book is digest-sized, making it easier to carry around for outside the home use. This particular book lists creatures that prefer Plains or Desert areas. This unique idea allows a GM to quickly seize a book that complements the environment that players are passing through. The entries are not sorted alphabetically (there is a Table of Contents that does this), but by Challenge Rating, so that GM's can turn to an appropriate CR for the group playing their game. There's also an index of monsters by type in case you need a specific type. So, instead of seeing an Arboleth (for instance), the first creature in this book is a "Whistle Mite" CR rating 1/8! Although this seems pretty small (in fact, one of the smallest I have ever seen) it is provided for GMs to use for a dangerous unseen personal attack! The final entry in the book is for a "Mynfie Snake", CR 20! In the upper corner of every page is the creature's CR. This feature makes it easy for a GM to choose creatures that will perplex characters, and give them a workout without Total Party Kill. This unique idea is almost invaluable to a harried GM! There are five of these books altogether, making a library of various monsters that might be in your setting. At first, I thought that not putting them in alphabetical order was a bit strange, but I quickly warmed up to the idea of sorting by Challenge Rating. There are five of these "Monster Geographica" books: 1) Underground 2) Marsh and Aquatic 3) Forest 4) Hill and Mountain 5) Plain and Desert (this volume) This is the fourth of these that I have bought, and the fifth published, but I am certainly looking for the remaining one! Even though the statistics for creatures is for D&D 3.5, most GM's can convert these easily. My recommendation for GM's needing a few unusual monsters is high!

What's behind that Tree?

"Monster Geographica - Forest" by Various Published and Distributed by Expeditious Retreat Press ISBN-10: 0-972-9376-7-6 -- Digest Sized - 208 Pages This slim volume is simply a collection of creatures and monsters. There are 200 critters to baffle your players with. There are no drawings in the book, which might prove to be a problem, but I found that this made the book smaller and less expensive. You should normally give players only a description of a creature anyway. These creatures are from a wide variety of sources, mostly Third Party - so your players won't know what to expect! The format of the book is digest-sized, making it easier to carry around for outside the home use. This particular book lists creatures that prefer Forest living areas. This unique idea allows a GM to quickly seize a book that complements the environment that players are passing through. The entries are not sorted alphabetically (there is a Table of Contents that does this), but by Creature Rating, so that GM's can turn to an appropriate CR for the group playing their game. There's also an index of monsters by type in case you need a specific type. So, instead of seeing an Arboleth (for instance), the first creature in this book is a "Stinging Woodfly" CR rating 1/8! Although this seems pretty small (in fact, the smallest I have ever seen) it is provided for GMs to use for a swarm of these! The final entry in the book is for a "Humbaba", CR 24! In the upper corner of every page is the creature's CR. This feature makes it easy for a GM to choose creatures that will perplex characters, and give them a workout without Total Party Kill. This unique idea is almost invaluable to a harried GM! There are five of these books altogether, making a library of various monsters that might be in your setting. At first, I thought that not putting them in alphabetical order was a bit strange, but I quickly warmed up to the idea of sorting by Challenge Rating. There are five of these "Monster Geographica" books: 1) Underground 2) Marsh and Aquatic 3) Forest (this volume) 4) Hill and Mountain 5) Plain and Desert This is the third of these that I have bought, and the third published, but I am certainly looking for the remaining two! Even though the statistics for creatures is for D&D 3.5, most GM's can convert these easily. My recommendation for GM's needing a few unusual monsters is very high!

What? More Demons and Devils?

"The Encyclopedia of Demons and Devils 2" by Various Published and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment ISBN-10: 0-971-9598-5-4 -- 224 Pages Just as the title suggests, this is the second book containing Demons and Devils for your campaign! Fast Forward's fourth book, the Encyclopedia of Demons and Devils (Volume One) had sold well enough that Fast Forward decided to follow up with this volume, which also contains Demons and Devils from many cultures. As if there wasn't enough Demons and Devils in the first volume, FFE has 136 =more= Demons and Devils to think about! There is a one page preface and a three page introduction before diving right into the second collection of Demons and Devils. There is a different format for the pictures of the assorted demons - each is in a box that reminds me a bit of Magic the Gathering cards. The good news about this is that it standardizes the renditions of the Demons and Devils, but the bad news about this is that it limits the art to be contained into each square, making all the same basic size, regardless of the size of the creature. Each is in a rectangular frame accented by stars at all four corners, and places the name at the bottom of the box, but I believe that this allows for more text about the creature. Starting with "Aamon" and ending at "Zu", each has one or more pages of descriptions. Some are minor Demons or Devils, and only have one page of info. Some are Major Demons and Devils, and have two - or more - pages of info. Only one being has five pages of material, several have four pages, a few have three pages, many have two pages, and many have only one page. This creates a hierarchy of beings from low level one page "deities" to one of the higher level demons - who control many creatures. Also, in many of the descriptions are magic items, new spells, new Prestige Classes, and more. Each of these 136 characters has an agenda, or more than one agenda, which is found in the Introduction. The 13 (Lucky or Unlucky) agendas given allows a crafty GM to use that creature over and over again! Remember, these beings cannot truly be killed while in the Prime Material Plane! At best, they take enough damage to be forced to retreat to their home plane, causing the Demon or Devil to remain there for one year and one day, and then, they will probably return seeking vengeance! Although there are many books that contain Demons and Devil now, I still feel as though Fast Forward has really hit the mark! Although this is for D&D 3rd Edition, good GMs could still get a great idea of good info for their campaign here. Recommended!

Dare you go into The Hole In The Oak?

"The Hole in the Oak" by Gavin Norman Published and Distributed by Necrotic Gnome ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-0021-3 -- 32 Pages -- Digest Sized Introduction to the Mythic Underground The Hole in the Oak is a starter module for Necrotic Gnome's Retro Fantasy Adventure Game. GMs! There is a very nice two-page spread of the Dungeon that can be reached from the Hole in the Oak, as well as other entrances and exits. The color coding is a nice touch, and informs the GM what to prepare for their players in each area! The book is indexed from the Table of Contents, which is a numerical list of the 60 places in the dungeon characters may visit. This book is for characters from beginning to 2nd level. GMs should also have the 'Core Rulebook' and the 'Classic Fantasy: Cleric and Magic-User Spells' books. The 'Monsters' and the 'Treasures' are given in the module. There are no less than 60 different places to visit which gives this book a bit of replayablity, since it is doubtful that the players could visit the entire dungeon in a day. Wonderful random occurrences pop up here and there, and the area descriptions are good enough to give players a general idea of what the are looking at. The color tinted artwork is very good, and seems to fit the subject matter well. There are even factions within the dungeons, giving GMs the interesting idea of having the PC's stumble into a room filled with combat between the various factions! There are many mysteries to find, including the =real= owner of the dungeon! Random happenings in the dungeon are given, and the 20 different ones are easily expanded. The dungeon descriptions are very simple, and thus allow each room to be customized by a crafty GM! Only the first level of this dungeon id explored by this booklet, and there are three ideas for GMs to ponder using to expand it. GMs may use their own ideas at this point, and the paragraphs about what lies beyond the waterfall, the Crypt Level, and upstream are only the tip cf the iceberg! Of course, this is a great jumping off point to use with a new campaign based on Necrotic Gnome's Old School Retro Fantasy Adventure Game. I really enjoyed this booklet, and hope to find a group of players that don't have their noses stuck into nothing but 5th Edition of the World's Greatest Role Playing Game. I'd love to run this version, perhaps with a group of older gamers that miss the good old days! The entire collection of Necrotoc Gnome's Old School Rules is highly recommended!

Do Treasures make your players drool?

"Old School Essentials - Treasures" by Gavin Norman Published and Distributed by Necrotic Gnome ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-012-1 -- 48 Pages -- Digest Sized The Fifth Book of the Retro Adventure Game Books There is currently a revival of "Old School" type rules for Dungeons and Dragons. I've bought and/or looked at and/or played and/or ran several of them, and this is one of the best! This remake takes the old Tom Moldvay Basic and Expert ("B/X") rules and dissects them into five Retro Adventure Rulebooks. This is available separately and as part of a great boxed set! This book covers possible Treasures within Necrotic Gnome's Fantasy Retro Adventure Game. After a very short introduction, this gets right into possible items. Starting with Armor and Shields, then Miscellaneous Items, Potions, Rings, Rods, Staves, and Wands, Scrolls and Maps, Swords, Other Weapons, Sentient Weapons, and Special Things that can be applied to magical weapons such as Sensory Powers and/or Special Purposes. There's nothing like the look on player's faces when the Paladin draws his new sword and it starts singing! Sure, it has pluses to hit and pluses to damage, but the singing is loud, and might attract even more Monsters! Cursed Weapons can even more fun! Imagine what would happen if a player drew a sword that heals monsters! The Open Gaming License and a handy Index of Tables complete this work. Once again, Necrotic Gnome has packed this book as full as they could get! You will find treasures of various types on the inside front cover and more on the inside back cover for quick reference! GM's - if you are looking for possible treasures to award a successful adventure, in a specific area that is not in the rules. this is it! I've played other games, and I've been gaming for over 40 years! I started in 1976 with what is commonly known as "The Little White Box" which contained four digest-sized booklets: 1) "Men and Magic", 2) "Monsters and Treasures", and 3) "Underground and Wilderness", and a small white pamphlet with necessary tables repeated. I feel my experiences with gaming and role-playing, in particular, give me memories of the game as it was originally published, and thus real-life experiences to use in this review. I supported this through Necrotic Gnome's Kickstarter, and also received a module for the adventurers to explore called "The Hole in the Oak". Right now, I cannot think of a better retro-clone of older D&D. It reminds me of the original red booklet which was one of the first types of the first edition. Highly Recommended.

A to Z Monster Encounters

"Old School Essentials - Monsters" by Gavin Norman Published and Distributed by Necrotic Gnome ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-010-7 -- 80 Pages The Fourth Book of the Retro Adventure Game Books There is currently a revival of "Old School" type rules for Dungeons and Dragons. I've bought and/or looked at and/or played and/or ran several of them, and this is one of the better ones! This remake takes the old Tom Moldvay Basic and Expert ("B/X") rules, and dissects them into five Retro Adventure Rulebooks. This volume is available separately and as part of a great boxed set! This book covers the Monsters within Necrotic Gnome's Fantasy Retro Adventure Game. As it says on the cover, the large majority of this book is to present Monsters for the system. A very handy chart at the front of the of the book shows a matrix of Attacks by Hit Dice and their saving throws. Charts are available explaining their stats and other items. The chart at the back of the book breaks the monsters in the book down by their hit dice, a very handy thing if the GM wants to put a creature in the players path that will slow them down or even stop them cold. Counting the individual monsters themselves, there are over 140 different types. Many of the monster stat blocks have leaders, or the same monster, but of the opposite sex, different creatures of a similar type, such as the different types of Great Cats. at least seven types of dragons, the usual four types of elementals, six Giants, Were-creatures are treated under Lycanthropes. Other humanoids are found in such places as Merchants, and includes merchant guards and animals. Even Nobles are listed here. Pirates include the Ship Captain, and the Fleet Commander. Most creatures from Earth are present, too. Many snakes are here, and several others. It treats all humanoids as being possible antagonists. After the monster descriptions are encounter tables by type, NPC encounters, and Strongholds. The "Dungeons" are broken down by Dungeon Level, and the Wilderness areas are broken down by terrain type. The NPC's have Class and alignment tables, and the Stronghold by Class. The Open Gaming License completes this work. Once again, Necrotic Gnome packed this book as full as they could get! Even the inside front cover, and the inside back cover have important tables for easy access! GM's - if you are looking to populate a specific area that is not in the rules. this is it! I've played other games, and I've been gaming for over 40 years! I started in 1976 with what is commonly known as "The Little White Box" which contained four digest-sized booklets: 1) "Men and Magic", 2) "Monsters and Treasures", and 3) "Underground and Wilderness", and a small white pamphlet with necessary tables repeated. I feel my experiences with gaming and role-playing in particular, gives me memories of the game as it was originally published, and thus real life experiences to use in this review. I supported this through Necrotic Gnome's Kickstarter, and also received a module for the adventurers to explore called "The Hole in the Oak". Right now, I cannot think of a better retro-clone of older D&D. It reminds me of the original red booklet which was one of the first types of first edition. Highly Recommended.

Cleric and Magic-User Spells for Old School Essentials

"Old School Essentials - Cleric and Magic User Spells" by Gavin Norman Published and Distributed by Necrotic Gnome ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-008-4 -- 48 Pages The Third Book of the Retro Adventure Game Books

There is currently a revival of "Old School" type rules for Dungeons and Dragons. I've bought and/or looked at and/or played and/or ran several of them, and this is one of the better ones!

This remake takes the old Tom Moldvay Basic and Expert ("B/X") rules, and dissects them into five Retro Adventure Rulebooks. This volume is available separately and as part of a great boxed set! This book covers the Genre Rules for Spells within Necrotic Gnome's Fantasy Retro Adventure Game.

As it says on the cover, the large majority of this book is to give Clerics and Magic-Users the spells that they can use. The Cleric section gives players up to 5th Level Spells, and Magic-Users up to 6th Level Spells. A very handy Spell list at the front of the main part of the book shows a list of the Spells available for each class.

After a two-page spread picture, it gets right into the spell names and descriptions. Including the reversible spells, Clerics get 43 spells, and Magic-Users get 78 spells.
Now, here's a section that really appeals to me! I frequently play some type of magic-user, and an overview of this section shows it to be almost verbatim from the B/X rules. If you want to run an old school type of campaign, you have to look at this book, and, for that matter, this whole system!

The Open Gaming License and a handy index of Spells complete this work.

Once again, Necrotic Gnome packed this book as full as they could get! Even the inside front cover, and the inside back cover have important tables for easy access!

I've played other games, and I've been gaming for over 40 years! I started in 1976 with what is commonly known as "The Little White Box" which contained four digest-sized booklets: 1) "Men and Magic", 2) "Monsters and Treasures", and 3) "Underground and Wilderness", and a small white pamphlet with necessary tables repeated. I feel my experiences with gaming and role-playing in particular, gives me memories of the game as it was originally published, and thus real life experiences to use in this review.

I supported this through Necrotic Gnome's Kickstarter, and also received a module for the adventurers to explore called "The Hole in the Oak". Right now, I cannot think of a better retro-clone of older D&D. It reminds me of the original red booklet which was one of the first types of first edition. Highly Recommended.

Old School Fantasy Returns!

"Old School Essentials - Genre Rules" by Gavin Norman
Published and Distributed by Necrotic Gnome
ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-0046-0 -- 48 Pages
The Second Book of the Retro Adventure Game Books

There is currently a revival of "Old School" type rules for Dungeons and Dragons. I've bought and/or looked at and/or played and ran several of them, and this is one of the better ones.

This remake takes the old Tom Moldvay Basic and Expert ("B/X") rule sets, and dissects them into five Retro Adventure Rulebooks. This volume is available separately and as part of a great boxed set. This book covers the Genre Rules for Fantasy within Necrotic Gnome Retro Adventure Games, and is probably the one most people will buy.

There are seven classes available to choose from: Cleric, Dwarf, Elf, Fighter, Halfling, Magic-User, and Thief. Newer players would certainly say that races are not classes, But that =is= the way they were portrayed in OSR. Game Masters should have both the Core Rules, and the Genre Rules, as well as the Classic Fantasy: Cleric and Magic-User Spells book.

There's a two page spread for each class, giving each the table of progression (in other words: How much experience do I need to go up a level?) and other very general info. Equipment is next with general adventuring gear, then Weapons and Armor. After that is info on Vehicles and Mounts, Hirelings, and Strongholds.

Once again, Necrotic Gnome packed this book as full as they could get! Even the inside front cover, and the inside back cover have important tables for very easy access!

The Open Gaming License and a handy index of Tables complete this work.

I've played some other games, and I've been gaming for over 40 years! I started in 1976 with what is commonly known as "The Little White Box" which contained four digest-sized booklets: 1) "Men and Magic", 2) "Monsters and Treasures", and 3) "Underground and Wilderness", and a small white pamphlet with very necessary tables. I feel as though my experience with gaming and role-playing in particular, gives me memories of the game as it was originally published, and thus real life experiences to use in this review.

I supported this through Necrotic Gnome's Kickstarter, and also received a module for the adventurers to explore called "The Hole in the Oak". Right now, I cannot think of a better retro-clone of older D&D. It reminds me of the original red booklet which was one of the first types of first edition. Highly Recommended.

Demons and Daemons and Devils - Oh My!

"Encyclopedia of Demons and Devils [One]" by Various
Published and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment
ISBN-10: 0-971-3234-3-7 -- 224 Pages -- FAF 2004

This was one of the first books by Fast Forward that I bought. I wanted to put Demons and Devils in my campaign. I was so impressed by this tome to get the Encyclopedia of Demons and Devils Two.

It has an alphabetical index of the Demons and Devils available - from the "Aatxe" to the "Yunwi Djunsti". At the back of this book is a section on Summoning Demons and Devils. Only fifteen pages of non-specific information out of a book with 224 pages. Only five pages out of the front of the book is non-specific info. The normal Open Gaming License and one page of advertisements closes this volume. That leaves over two hundred pages of info on Demons and Devils.

Similar to a generic Monster Manual, each entry has a stat block, description, and info on combat. They each have a black and white 'photo' as well. There are 173 entries in all. The monster's picture is generally next to the stat box. The stat box starts with type (such as "Large Outsider") and continues through Hit Dice, Initiative, Speed, AC, Attacks, Damage per Attack, Face and Reach, Special Attacks (if any), Special Qualities (if any), Saving Throws, Ability Scores, Skills, Feats, Climate/Terrain generally found in, Organization (if any), Challenge Rating, Treasure, Alignment, and Advancement Range. The Challenge Rating is the most important thing to look at if you want to include an encounter with this thing. They range from a CR of 1 to an incredible 33! The average seems to be from an eight to a thirteen challenge level.

The only thing I miss about this book is that it should have an index of creatures by Challenge Rating. This might have given the book a little more info that a harried GM might need in a hurry. What I like about this book is that it adds quite a few demoniac and a few devilish creatures to a campaign. I may create an index of the Challenge Ratings myself,

Aligning this work well with your standard D&D campaign might tip the balance of the scales toward the evil underground. Take a really good look at it before you decide to buy it, but it has one of my better recommendations.

Conclude your Adventures in the Green Lands

"Slave Pits of the Goblin King" by James M. Ward
Published and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment
ISBN-10: 0-971-3234-2-9 -- 48 Pages

This is the third and final module set in Fast Forward's "Green Races" universe. This booklet is black and white throughout. It is designed to follow "Fortress of the Ogre Chieftain" and "Temple of the Troll God".

A very short Table of Contents unfortunately also serves as an index at the front of the booklet. Twenty Two places of interest are in the valley. The Green Dragon Inn serves as a perfect place to hole up before staring, and after returning from adventures. It is a vital part of the city of Rothyra.

It contains lead-ins to the mini-bosses and the major boss. It is designed for characters from 5th level to 9th level. It also contains maps and descriptions of the "Valley of the Dragon Goblins", and has new monsters including many Goblins, including the new "Dragon Goblins", three others, two mini-bosses, a "Bunyip" and the avatar of the Deadly Sin of Anger, ("Tanar'ri"), and the major boss, "Devalpa", who is a very powerful and very large "Outsider" ("Tanar'ri"). The very best that any party could do to him is to do enough damage to force him to retreat back to his own plane. Note that this also creates a big-time bad guy who will be able to return to their world after a year and a day seeking revenge! Talk about a recurring enemy!

There are thirty five monsters on the inside back cover. These creatures, found in six different areas, give possible occupants. The Mini-Boss, and the Big Boss of the dungeon are last.

An OGL and a few advertisements conclude the booklet. A map of the "Valley of the Dragon Goblins" is on the inside back cover. Recommended for four to six characters of 5th to 9th level. One of the nice things about this booklet is that it is the final part of a three-part adventure in the World of the Green Races. The other two parts are "Fortress of the Ogre Chieftain", and "Temple of the Troll God".

Potential GMs will need at least the "Player's Handbook" and "Dungeon Masters Guide", along with the "Green Races" campaign world book. Consideration should also be given to the remaining two booklets. I can't recommend this without also recommending them all.

As part of a much larger realm, this serves as the best adventure to follow "Temple of the Troll God". If you want to use the "Green Races" book without making it a campaign setting, or if you want to make these an integral part of the "Green Races" world, these booklets can't be beaten! Unfortunately, Fast Forward has been out of business for some time, but if you look long enough, you can generally pick these up relatively inexpensively! A good recommendation if you want to use the "Green Races" book as either a part of your world, or as its own campaign. Recommended.

Tackle the Temple of the Troll God!

"Temple of the Troll God" by Timothy Brown
Published and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment
ISBN-10: 0-971-3234-1-0 -- 48 Pages

This is the second module set in Fast Forward's "Green Races" universe. This booklet is black and white throughout. It is designed to follow "Fortress of the Ogre Chieftain" and is a lead-in to "Slave Pits of the Goblin King".

It contains seven parts as lead-ins to the mini-boss and the major boss. It is designed for characters from 4th level to 7th level. It also contains maps and descriptions of the "Temple of Afnar", and has nine new monsters including many Trolls, three others, a mini-boss, "Aatxe", and the major boss, "Afnar" or "Abraxus", who is a very powerful and very large "Outsider" ("Baatezu"). The very best that any party could do to "Afnar" is to do enough damage to him to force him to retreat back to his own plane. Note that this also creates a big time bad guy who will be able to return to their world after a year and a day seeking revenge! Talk about a recurring enemy!

Of course, Trolls make up the majority of challenges, not only in the area containing the old "Temple of Afnar", but on the roads and in the temple, and all nine of its levels! There is a very handy Monster Statistics Table on the inside front cover, and another map of the Temple on the inside back cover.

Ten new monsters are given the usual stats and can provide a GM with creatures of any level they wish. These creatures, found in six different areas, give possible occupants of the area. The Mini-Boss, and the Big Boss of the dungeon are last.

An OGL and a few advertisements conclude the booklet. Recommended for four to six characters of 4th to 7th level. One of the nice things about this booklet is that it is the centerpiece of a three-part adventure in the World of the Green Races. The other two parts are "Fortress of the Ogre Chieftain" (for four to six players of 3rd to 5th level), and "Slave Pits of the Goblin King" (for four to six players of 5th to 9th level).

Potential GMs will probably need at least the "Player's Handbook" and "Dungeon Masters Guide", along with the "Green Races" campaign world book. Consideration should be given to the remaining two booklets. I cannot recommend this without also recommending the others.

As part of a much larger realm, this serves as the best adventure to follow "Fortress of the Ogre Chieftain". If you want to use the "Green Races" book without making it a campaign setting, or if you want to make these an integral part of the "Green Races" world as its own campaign setting, these booklets can't be beat! Unfortunately, Fast Forward has been out of business for some time, but if you look long enough, you can generally pick these up relatively cheaply! A good recommendation if you want to use the "Green Races" book as either a part of your world, or as its own campaign. Recommended.

OSE Core Rulebook

"Old School Essentials - Core Rulebook" by Gavin Norman
Published and Distributed by Necrotic Gnome
ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-004-6 -- 80 Pages
The First Book of the Retro Adventure Game Books

There is currently a revival of "Old School" type rules for Dungeons and Dragons. I've bought and/or looked at and/or played and ran several of them, and this is one of the best.

This remake takes the old Tom Moldvay Basic and Expert ("B/X") rule sets, and dissects them into five Retro Adventure Rulebooks. This volume is available separately and as part of a great boxed set. This book covers the Core Rules for all of the Necrotic Gnome Retro Adventure Games and is totally indispensable.

Creating characters for use in whatever type of game your GM wants to use is first, and is the way the person you create becomes more realistic and can be used in the game. The most popular genre is the "Classic Fantasy" Core Rules, which comes with the boxed set, Necrotic Gnome packed all of these books full of very useful information. There are even charts on the inside front covers, and the inside back covers! These placements of rules is a very nice touch!

This book is about the basics of how to create your character, combat, magic, monsters, adventuring, and treasures. A good Table of Contents, which also serves as the Index, starts the book, with a short introduction about the game, and other primary rules.

Players are covered next with core rulebook information. Once everyone has created a character they like, and giving that character life and possessions, they may move on to the next phase.

Adventuring follows, and has parts on player and group organization and other rules for their characters.

Next comes Magic, which has basic info, but if the GM wants actual info on the spells your character may cast, that is in Book Two.

General notes on critters follow, and merely mentions them, because they are covered in more detail on each of them in the Third Book.

The next chapter is about actual play of the game. It focuses on running adventures and quite a bit about being a Game Master. The Game Master is like a referee. They are generally supposed to be a neutral party that is the final arbiter of the rules, and they handle the game as a Judge, a Jury, and occasionally an Executioner. They control all the items, the monsters and NPCs, and the game's system (which in this case will be the Old School Essentials books), and the setting - whether it may be outside traveling, in cities and sewers, in crumbling ruins or dungeons, in the wilderness and the villages, towns, and cities, and awarding Experience Points ("XP").

Assorted treasures rounds this book out. It includes where to place treasures, and what kinds are there, including Magical Items, Armor and Shields, Gems and Jewelry, Potions, Rods, Staves, and Wands, Rings, Scrolls and Maps, and finally Swords and Weapons.

The Open Gaming License and a handy index of Tables complete this work.

I've played some other games, and I've been gaming for over 40 years! I started in 1976 with what is commonly known as "The Little White Box" which contained four digest-sized booklets: 1) "Men and Magic", 2) "Monsters and Treasures", and 3) "Underground and Wilderness", and a small white pamphlet with very necessary tables. I feel as though my experience with gaming and role-playing in particular, gives me memories of the game as it was originally published, and thus real life experiences to use in this review.

I supported this through Necrotic Gnome's Kickstarter, and also received a module for the adventurers to explore called "The Hole in the Oak". Right now, I cannot think of a better retro-clone of older D&D. It reminds me of the original red booklet which was one of the first types of first edition. Highly Recommended.

Begin your Adventures in the World of the Green Lands!

"Fortress of the Ogre Chieftain" by Timothy Brown
Published and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment
ISBN-10: 0-971-3234-0-2 -- 48 Pages

This is a module set in Fast Forward's "Green Races" universe.

It contains four preliminary encounters as a lead-in to the main event. It contains maps and descriptions of the Ogre Fortress. It also has mew monsters including "Spirit Dragons", "Ghost Dragons", Goblin Chieftains, Ogre Chieftains, Shamans, Fungi, and Molds!

Sixteen new monsters are given the usual stats and can provide a GM with creatures of any level they wish. Tables of creatures normally found in two different areas give possible occupants of the Goblin Southlands and Troll Lands.

Of course, Ogres make up the majority of challenges, not only in the area containing the old "Sun Fortress", but inside the watchtowers and the castle itself. Simple maps of the towers (all considered identical except for occupants), and the large Castle of the Sun King. Although no information exists about any underground area, history says the fortress was attacked from below, and it is hard to imagine that Ogres would not have expanded that area into full dungeons.

An OGL and two advertisements conclude the booklet. Recommended for four to six characters of 3rd to 5th level. One of the nice things about this booklet is that it is the beginning of a three-part adventure in the World of the Green Races. The other two parts are "Temple of the Troll God" (for four to six players of 4th to 7th level), and "Slave Pits of the Goblin King" (for four to six players of 5th to 9th level).

Potential GMs will probably need at least the "Player's Handbook" and "Dungeon Masters Guide", along with the "Green Races" campaign world.

But as a part of a much larger realm, this serves as a good adventure for post-beginner characters from the "Green Races" book and/or the Players Handbook. If you want to use the "Green Races" book without making it a campaign setting, or if you want to make these an integral part of the "Gree Races" as its own campaign setting, these booklets can't be beat! Unfortunately, Fast Forward has been out of business for some time, but if you look long enough, you can generally pick these up relatively cheaply! A good recommendation if you want to use the "Green Races" book as either a part of your world, or as its own campaign.

Return to the B/X edition of D&D!

"Old School Essentials - Black Box Edition" by Gavin Norman Printed and Distributed by Necrotic Gnome ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-016-9 --- Total of 304 pages "Old School" Role-Playing games are coming back in a big way! There are probably literally dozens of current RPG's that try to duplicate that 'Old School' feel of games like Original Dungeons and Dragons. One of the better ones out there is Necrotic Gnome's "Old School Essentials". It distills the old "B/X" rules (the Moldvay/Cook Basic/Expert (B/X) rules) into a very replayable version of one of the first editions of Dungeons and Dragons. The Black Box Edition was first offered on Kickstarter and was so successful that it spawned quite a few books of its own, and even made it to your Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS). The box contained five books: 01) Core Rules (ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-004-6) 02) Genre Rules (ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-006-0) 03) Cleric and Magic-User Spells (ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-008-4) 04) Monsters (ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-010-7) 05) Treasures (ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-012-1) Many copies of the Black Box also contained an introductory adventure: "The Hole in the Oak" (ISBN-13: 978-3-96657-021-3) The original Black Box contains hardcover copies of the five main books. "Core Rules" has the rules for creating characters and magic, battles, and exploration and requires the use of one of the genre rulebooks available, The one included in Classic Fantasy. "Genre Rules" has sections on Clerics, Fighters, Thieves, Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings. Yes, even Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings were each their own class! "Cleric and Magic-User Spells" is exactly what it means. 34 Clerical Spells and 72 Magic-User Spells are detailed. "Monsters" is, of course, the creatures your characters will run into! Many different types are described - from Acolytes (some good and some not), to Zombies. A few very good Encounter Tables are included. "Treasures" are what your party may find after encountering (and surviving) the monsters above! From Armor and Shields to Weapons and small parts about Sentient Swords and magic weapon powers. I've seen quite a few of these attempts to recreate the flavor of the old game some of us remember, and this one is by far one of the best. I'll be also posting reviews of each of these separately, but whether you are a fan of retro-clones or just beginning to try them out, I can't recommend any other book or series about this any higher! My =very= highest recommendations!

Monster Geographica: Marsh and Aquatic

"Monster Geographica - Marsh and Aquatic" by Various Published and Distributed by Expeditious Retreat Press ISBN-13: 978-972-937-633-7 Digest Sized - 208 Pages This slim volume is simply a collection of creatures and monsters from several other sources. There are 200 critters to baffle your players with. There are no drawings in the book, which might prove to be a problem, but I found that this made the book smaller and less expensive. You should normally give players a description of a creature anyway. The format of the book is digest-sized, making it easier to carry around for outside the home gaming. This particular book lists creatures the prefer Marsh and/or Aquatic living areas. This unique idea allows a GM to quickly seize a book that complements the environment that players are passing through. The entries are not sorted alphabetically (there is a Table of Contents that does this), but by Creature Rating, so that GM's can turn to an appropriate CR for the group playing their game. There's also an index of monsters by type in case you need a specific type. So, instead of seeing an Arboleth (for instance), the first creature in the book is a "Lurking Lizard" CR rating 1/4! The final entry in the book is for a Northern Sea Dragon, CR 20! In the upper corner of every page is the creature's CR. This feature makes it easy for a GM to choose creatures that will perplex characters, and give them a workout without Total Party Kill. This unique idea is almost invaluable to a harried GM! There are five of these books altogether, making a library of various monsters that might be in your setting. At first, I thought that not putting them in alphabetical order was a bit strange, but I quickly warmed up to the idea of sorting by Challenge Rating. This is the first of these that I have bought, but it will =not= be the last! Even though the statistics for creatures is for D&D 3.5, most GM's can convert these easily. Based on my reading of this volume (#2 of 5), I shall be looking for the other four very soon! My recommendation for GM's needing a few unusual monsters is very high!

Monster Geographica: Underground

"Monster Geographica - Underground" by Various Published and Distributed by Expeditious Retreat Press ISBN-10: 0-972-9376-2-5 -- Digest Sized - 208 Pages This slim volume is simply a collection of creatures and monsters. There are 200 critters to baffle your players with. There are no drawings in the book, which might prove to be a problem, but I found that this made the book smaller and less expensive. You should normally give players only a description of a creature anyway. These creatures are from a wide variety of sources, mostly Third-Party - so your players won't know what to expect! The format of the book is digest-sized, making it easier to carry around for outside the home gaming. This particular book lists creatures the prefer Underground living areas. This unique idea allows a GM to quickly seize a book that complements the environment that players are passing through. The entries are not sorted alphabetically (there is a Table of Contents that does this), but by Creature Rating, so that GM's can turn to an appropriate CR for the group playing their game. There's also an index of monsters by type in case you need a specific type. So, instead of seeing an Arboleth (for instance), the first creature in the book is a "Barrow Rat" CR rating 1/4! The final entry in the book is for a "Quickner", CR 20! In the upper corner of every page is the creature's CR. This feature makes it easy for a GM to choose creatures that will perplex characters, and give them a workout without Total Party Kill. This unique idea is almost invaluable to a harried GM! There are five of these books altogether, making a library of various monsters that might be in your setting. At first, I thought that not putting them in alphabetical order was a bit strange, but I quickly warmed up to the idea of sorting by Challenge Rating. There are five of these "Monster Geographica" books: 1) Underground (this volume) 2) Marsh and Aquatic 3) Forest 4) Hill and Mountain 5) Plain and Desert This is the second of these that I have bought, and the first published, but I am certainly looking for the remaining three! Even though the statistics for creatures is for D&D 3.5, most GM's can convert these easily. My recommendation for GM's needing a few unusual monsters is very high!

Could this be the most monsterous campaign ever?

"Green Races" by Timothy Brown and James M. Ward Printed and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment ISBN-10: 0-9719598-1-1 --- 224 Pages "Green Races" is an entire campaign setting for D20 in which races that are generally considered monsters are trying to outdo one another to control the world. Fifteen factions are described, with quite a bit of background, classes and prestige classes, their armies, and at least one location for each that this race protects. The major races that are attempting to do this are: 01) Bugbears 02) Derro 03) Dragon Goblins 04) Drow 05) Duergar 06) Gnolls 07) Goblins (Group 1) 08) Goblins (Group 2) 09) Half-Orcs 10) Hobgoblins 11) Kobolds 12) Ogres 13) Orcs 14) Trolls (Group 1) 15) Trolls (Group 2) There are also many races trying to keep all of the above from accomplishing their aims. These include Humans, Dwarves, Good Dragons, Demonic races (believe it or not), and Evil Dragons! Not to mention the non-aligned races, such as Efreeti (called "Azazel's Horde"), Elementals, Fire Giants, Hill Giants, "The Hives" (a collection of bug-like races), Nameless Ones (mostly Undead), Necromancers (led by "Pearat"), Stone Giants, and Swamp Folk (mostly lizardfolk). A few maps, the OGL, and three pages of advertisements end this book. There are also three 'modules' set in the world of the Green Races: "Fortress of the Ogre Chieftain", "Temple of the Troll God", and "Slave Pits of the Goblin King". Yes, a few good aligned races are scattered throughout, and a very crafty GM and intelligent players could make for a bang-up series of adventures, and even a campaign! If you believe that this combination of races at each other's throats creates a world filled with battle, danger, and pure excitement, you're right! I've managed to collect all of Fast Forward's books, and this is by far the best! Your characters may become =any= of the races above, and make them their own! In addition, each race has at least one prestige class! The book begins with a two page spread map of the world, showing where each of the races dominate. The fact that this book is designed for monstrous characters, and primarily evil characters, makes this an attractive volume for GMs who are tired of the "same-old-same-old" campaign. Fast Forward Entertainment had created many books for the D20 system, and it is very unfortunate that it appears to be lost in space. Fast Forward did such a good job of creating material, that I ended up owning them all! Of that list, "Green Races" is at the top of the heap! One of my very best recommendations for D20!

Not just a Gazetteer

"Demon Wars - Gazetteer" by R. A. Salvatore and Others Printed and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment ISBN-10: 1-932201-54-8 --- 128 Pages The fourth and final book in Fast Forward's Demon Wars series, this book also features art from "Crossgen Comics". This supplement is designed to add new material to the first book, "Demon Wars Campaign Guide", the second book, the "Player's Guide", and the third book, "Demon Wars - Enchanted Locations". A short introduction leads you directly into the first major part of this book, the creatures section. Following that is another section about three of the places in the world, and finally more unusual creatures, and the Open Gaming License and four pages of advertisements. The first section covers four of the creatures you will find in this world in depth. They are: 1) Goblins 2) Powries 3) Elves 4) Giants Each of the creature sections has info on the regions of the world they are commonly found in, a history of the race, their outlook on life, their society and culture, their relationships with other races, their equipment, their magic and lore, and a look at one of the places they reside. There are differences in each race description, in that some include other material about that race. There is a single page about humans that divides the two types of entries. The second part has detailed info on three of the locations in this world: 1) Alpinador 2) Honce-the-Bear 3) Behren Each of these sections includes the regions within that part of the world, its history, the area's general outlook on life, their society and customs, their equipment available, their magic and lore, and concludes with a part on one location within that region. Other creatures take up the final info from this book. This book is ideal for GMs who want even more material to fill out the world of the Demon Wars, and also can be used in a campaign that has nothing to do with Demon Wars! I must say that I love R. A. Salvatore's stories, so getting these books was a "No-Brainier" for me. These four books cover just the first trilogy in the series. Salvatore wrote a second series in this universe that takes place after the original trilogy. There is no material from the newer four books included. Yet another book from my older collection that may make it into a part of my campaign world. If I can use this book then you can, too! Recommended. Your mileage may vary.

Six locatioms for Demon Wars

"Demon Wars - Enchanted Locations" by Thomas M. Reid and James M. Ward Printed and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment ISBN-10: 1-932201-53-X --- 128 Pages The third book in Fast Forward's Demon Wars series, this book also features art from "Crossgen Comics". This supplement is designed to add new material to the first book, "Demon Wars Campaign Guide", and the second book, the "Player's Guide". The short introduction explains what you need to play and also the start of an adventure - "The Bridge Adventure" which continues on through the book. Info also includes how to use the included locales in your campaign, and even a paragraph on using these sites in other campaigns. A major boss NPC is introduced, who is designed to perplex the characters though the six locations and eleven parts of the whole adventure. The book shows the suggested order of the eleven places to visit. A two page spread black and white map of the known world of Corona is last. The six major places include: 1) St. Mere-Abelle 2) Andur'Blough Inninness 3) The Barbacan 4) Tymwyvenne 5) Path of Starless Night 6) Walk of Clouds Each of these sites has an introduction, a mini-history, a prominent NPC, a map or two, material on what it is like today, a layout, and another part or two of the Bridge Adventure. Five of the six locales have two-part adventure sections. Six creatures fill out the rest of the book, except for the Open Gaming License, and three advertisements. This book is ideal for GMs who want some locations to fill out the world of the Demon Wars, and also can be used in a campaign that has nothing to do with Demon Wars! I must say that I love R. A. Salvatore's stories, so getting these books was a "No-Brainier" for me. These four books cover just the first trilogy in the series. Salvatore wrote four other books in this universe that takes place after the original trilogy. There is no material from the newer four books included. These six locations, along with the material on each section, make for a great book to add to your collection, especially if you are running the Demon Wars campaign. They also could serve as locations in another campaign, making this book quite a bit more useful. My personal favorite place to use from this book is the Monastery near St. Mere-Abelle. The primary use of this structure is to train Monks. That makes this an ideal start to a campaign in which one or more players want to be a monk. The full page map of the monastery indicates the huge size of the building and grounds, although the site only has one dock and pier, this pier is quite large enough for almost any ship to visit. It is a deep water wharf, with room for two large sailing vessels, one on each side of the pier. The breakwater that sticks far out into the All Saints Bay is totally man-made. An extremely long first wall protects the residents from attacks fro the west, and the almost equally wall extending from it protects from attacks from the East, or the Sea. At every turn of either wall is a guard tower that is always manned. Quite a few farms and fields stretch north and south from the Monastery which provide food and drink for the citizens. In addition, there are three underground levels that continue almost from every corner from the building above. The quarry that is in the third subterranean level provides the rocks that are shaped from the granite walls and are then taken to use as replacements for worn down pieces of the walls. Yet another book from my older collection that may make it into a part of my campaign world. If I can use this book then you can, too! Recommended. Your mileage may vary.

Expand the Demon Wars!

"Demon Wars Players Guide" by R. A. Salvatore and Others Printed and Distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment ISBN-10: 1-932201-52-1 --- 128 Pages The second book in Fast Forward's Demon Wars series, this Player's Guide features art from "Crossgen Comics". This supplement is designed for adding new material to their first book, the "Demon Wars Campaign Guide". There are three new races, six new classes, six new Prestige Classes, a guide to Earth Magic, seven new magic items, twelve new creatures, and a few pages on how the saga continues. That makes eight sections for you to consider adding to your Demon Wars Campaign. Most, if not all, of the material in this book is supposed to be for players. A GM should look at this book to see if it will fit into their current campaign. GMs could use any section, or all of this book to allow players to expand their characters, including choosing one of the new races, and/or new classes, and/or making a mage into an Earth Magic specialist. A canny GM could use this material for another campaign that is not Demon Wars. The seven new magic items add two new stones for rings, twenty-four new weapons, nineteen new types of armor, twenty-two new rings, and fifteen new types of other types of jewelry, twenty-six new wondrous items, and thirteen new artifacts. Several of these new items will need to be looked at by the GM to make sure they will not unbalance their campaign, especially the Wondrous Items, and the Artifacts. The next section is for New Creatures. Fourteen new monsters for the GM to decide to use. All contain one piece of art to show the GM what the creature looks like. The challenge level of these new creatures ranges from a measly 1 to an impressive 15. The book concludes with quite a bit about how this book, and this material, fit into the Demon Wars Campaign Saga. Starting with a glance into different timelines,(PS: This book, being a new part of the Demon Wars saga, is a bit further forward in the timeline created by the Demon Wars Campaign Guide}. The "Trial by Fire" storyline takes place sometime after the Demon Wars Campaign. The Trial by Fire mini-campaign contains five sections that are designed to work one right after the other, bur a canny GM could put aside quest in between any of the parts, A section about the races and their ways follows, each race having info on their history, their culture, their religions, and four new races for NPCs. It also contains six NPCs for GMs use. The book concludes with the usual Open Gaming License, and three pages of advertisements. If you are considering running a Demon Wars campaign, this book adds plenty of new material for both players and GMs. There is plenty of art from Crossgen Comics that looks great! I just wish all of these books to be in color! This book doubles the information about the world of the Demon Wars! I must say that since I love R. A. Salvatore's stories, so getting these books was a "No-Brainier" for me. These four books cover just the first trilogy in the series. Salvatore wrote four other books in this universe that take place after the original trilogy. There is no material from the newer four books included.

Begin the Demon Wars!

"R. A. Salvatore's Demon Wars Campaign Setting" by various. Published and distributed by Fast Forward Entertainment. ISBN 10: 1-932201-51-3 128 Pages Details a complete world setting based on R. A. Salvatore's first "Demon Wars" trilogy. The "Demon Wars" trilogy includes "The Demon Awakens", "The Demon Spirit", and "The Demon Apostle". Although there is another series, ("Mortalis", "Ascendance", "Transcendence", and "Immortalis") those books are not included in this volume. Although you'll still need the 3.5 edition of the Players Handbook from D&D, there are many places where the info in the PH is basically useless and has been replaced with new info from this book. Chapters include: "A Song for Sadye", Characters (and you'll be surprised at what is and is not included!), New Skills and Feats, Gem Magic (a big factor in the novels), Magic Items, Treasure, Creatures, and The World. There's also a short summary of the first three Demon Wars novels. The large section on gem magic, gems, and what they do is well worth considering even if you take it out and drop it in your own campaign. The chapter on Creatures even includes the Demon, Dactyl, the series' major bad guy. The tables in Treasure give enough random examples so as to not have a lot of duplication. The art is very good, even though it is black and white. Note that there are three other Fast Forward books about the Demon Wars: "Player's Guide", "Enchanted Locations", and "Gazetteer". Also note that "Demon Wars: Reformation" although set in the same universe, is =not= D20 compatible, although a good GM might be able to make it work as a continuation of the series. Altogether, this 128-page hardcover is a very well put together tome. For fantasy gamemasters, I'd say this one is well worth picking up. Highly recommended.

Discover the Secrets of the Mistborn

"Mistborn" by Brandon Sanderson Printed and Distributed by Crafty Games ISBN-13: 978-0-9826843-9-9 -- 584 Pages Folks, I think you almost can't go wrong when deciding on a new role-playing game, when the game is also written by the same person who wrote the novels it is based on! Brandon Sanderson's "Mistborn" novels are a six-book (so far) collection of good solid fantasy. I can't recommend them highly enough! So, I also bought the Mistborn role-playing game published by Crafty Games. The usual short fiction piece, called "The Eleventh Metal", begins the book. It gives flavor to the remainder of the text. An introduction to "The Final Empire" follows, with info on the people, the land, and the world. It also mentions the four novels that had been printed before the game's release. Between the intro and the fiction, this takes up the first 42 pages of the book. Then we jump right into Book One - "The Mistborn Adventure Game". Here you build your character, improve your character, find the basics of the rules, how to use contests, setting up conflicts, including physical conflicts, social conflicts, and mental conflicts, how your characters can change the world, and a special new character called a "Kandra". Kandra are natural shapeshifters and must adhere to a strict contract of conduct. Kandra are interesting characters, but I would only suggest them to a player with some role-playing experience. Book Two contains "The Treatise Metallurgic", which is the gist of magic use in The Final Empire. Magic-Users are also limited to a narrow band of classes. "Allomancy" allows mages to eat (yes, =eat=) metal and use the properties of that metal to cast spells. Less common is "Feruchemy", which uses metals as storage containers for various traits and capabilities which can be used to release that stored energy - granting the user superhuman abilities far beyond those of Allowmancy. "Hemalurgy" is the rarest type of mage, who can drive steel spikes into people, killing them, and stealing their characteristics or abilities, then subsequently drive it into another person's body (without killing them) and then passes its contents on to that person as long as they have the spike driven into their body. Following that is a section on the metals and what characteristics each possesses. These fall into four categories, Physical Metals, Mental Metals, Enhancement Metals, and Temporal Metals. There are also two so-called "God" metals. Nineteen known metal descriptions are next. Book Three, "Always Another Secret", dips into what wizards have hidden behind the curtain (which, I may assure you, is not the "Wizard of Oz"). This whole civilization has secrets on top of secrets, underneath secrets, next to secrets, and hidden secrets galore. This is a section primarily for the Game Master. It also has example characters, including the heroes of the Mistborn Trilogy, the Rogues Gallery, and how to create NPC's. An appendix ends this book, and has a rules summary, and sheets such as a Character Sheet, other record sheets, and a good index. A nice feature of this book are the black marks where each chapter is divided, making looking for that elusive rule a bit easier. To give you an idea of how much I love this book, I had Brandon autograph it (as well as the rest of my then trilogy). The concepts of the very unusual mages makes for a very different feel to this fantasy. Some prospective GMs may find this book a tough sell to players, but run correctly, it could make for a very interesting long term campaign, especially due to Mr. Sanderson's new books in the series. It's not based on any other game system, and has three categories for statistics, Attributes, Standing, and Resilience, each of which is broken down into three other stats. My suggestion on this one is to pick it up in a store that has a good place to sit, and scan it to see if you might like it. Fans of Sanderson's books may also want to take a look. Recommended - but only to players and Game Masters with a bit of gaming experience under their belts.

Agents of the Apocalypse

"Catalyst" (Boxed Set) by Alexander Jerabek Printed and Distributed by Cherry Picked Games ISBN-13: 978-1-304827-28-9 --- 270 Digest Sized Pages Including 142 "Action Cards" In the near future, a 'portal' or 'doorway' opens between the known Earth and the world of Demons. This near-future post-apocalyptic setting really tweaked my interest. Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Demons and their "friends", invade our world. Also, their arrival brought with them a disease that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of humans. Very few remain. The good news is that opening the portal between our world and theirs also brought an awakening of magical and/or Psionic powers in most remaining humans. So - we can fight these beings from another world or another dimension with their own abilities. I don't know what "possessed" me to buy this game, as except for one or two, I generally dislike Post-Apocalyptic settings. But, because it reeks of something that might have been caused by the finale of the End of Time, I decided to get one. This game also uses a unique system - there are no dice - but a deck of 142 cards (in the base boxed set) serves as your actions. Each player and the game master place one of the cards in their hand on the table face down and then flip them all at the same time. Once down on the table, you cannot change the action you have chosen, even if it does not do much of anything - or if it somehow causes one of the other players in the game to take the damage you meant to hit the villain with. Ideally, you hit one of the enemies, and possibly do damage, or even kill it. There are only six chapters in the book: 1) "Flotsam on the Sound" 2) World 3) Playing Catalyst 4) Combat 5) Equipment 6) Appendix Catalyst starts with a piece of fiction set in the time of Catalyst. Only four pages, but it still manages to give readers a sense of the 'now'. A section on the world is second, with parts for Humans and their roles in the game, as well as for Demons. The third is information about playing and running Catalyst. The Game Master is featured first in this category. Then info about creating characters, their attributes, their "veins" or magical abilities, spells, skills, abilities, talents, and traits. Chapter four is info on combat. One of the nice things about this chapter is that the first entry gives an example of a battle. Tables for a Cerberus and a Demon are first, then two example characters. Following that are twelve scenes of their battle described, including maps. An explanation of how to use the included cards to complete each turn follows. A flowchart for combat might make it easier for GMs and Players to execute a turn. Complete definitions for mapping battles and the conditions they may create are given. Equipment is fifth, where weapons, explosives, clothing, and other gear are located. Here are the tables for firearms, melee weapons, explosives, clothes, magic items, and weapon enhancements, clothing, and other things. The Appendices follow, starting with advice to GMs, a small bestiary, some sample characters, a background creation section, the spell descriptions, ability descriptions, and supplements, and, believe it or not, finally, at the very end of the book are the credits! As I said, I'm not generally fond of apocalyptic games, but this one grabbed me and won't let go! I'm already deep in the process of creating a game to run for my friends with it! I'll probably use some material from other games ("Delta Green" without the Cthulhu creatures) springs to mind as a source center for the Agents that will be part of the apocalypse and being Delta Green agents fighting the demons, I believe will be just the thing! I'm going to be looking for the extra material that Cherry Picked (What an appropriate name!) has made for this game, including five PDFs you can download for free! They have a good home on my machine, and the only other physical thing I might get is the cards that go along with the PDFs. Folks, if you like post-apocalyptic games, this one deserves a close look! Highly Recommended!