An Endzeitgeist.com review

This little expansion-pdf for 13th Age fighters clocks in at 9 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 5 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was requested as a prioritized review by one of my patreons.

The pdf begins with a brief introduction, which takes up the first page. After that, we are introduced to the 4 new talents herein, the first of which would be Bravado, which lets you once per battle, as a quick action (free for adventurer feat, +usable 2/battle, but only 1/day) roll 1d20 + Charisma vs. MD; on a success, AC and PD are lowered against your attacks by the escalation die value for the remainder of the combat. Mooks targeted extend this penalty to the whole mob. For the champion feat, this also reduces the target’s attack and damage rolls, and the epic feat adds hampered to the target once it’s staggered, with a save to briefly negate the condition.

First to Arms lets you spend a recovery to go first at the start of battle; if more than one character uses this, you go by Dexterity modifier, rolling d20 to break ties. At adventurer tier, we add the higher of Dex or Wis-mod to AC until the escalation die is equal to or greater than your level…which is pretty potent, considering the damage 13th Age characters can dish out. I’d have halved that. At champion tier, the feat also extends this bonus to PD and the epic feat lets you spend a full turn before everyone else does and still roll initiative normally after that, at the cost of a recovery. Okay can this be stacked with the base benefit?

Resist & Endure lets you 1/battle spend a recovery as a quick action to immediately reroll a save with a bonus equal to the escalation die. The adventurer feat improves that to free action, +1/day lets you sue it twice in a battle. The champion feat makes this an auto-success, sans need to roll. Not the biggest fan there. The epic tier feat makes a use of the talent free, but only the first after a quick rest/full heal-up. The final talent would be Taunt, which lets you roll 1d20 + Charisma + level vs. a nearby target’s MD. On a success, all allies gain resistance 12+ vs. the target’s attacks and power until the start of the next turn. However, the target’s crit range increases by 2 regarding attacks made against you for the same duration. Mooks taunted apply the penalties to the whole mob, and a target can only be currently taunted by one character. The adventurer feat causes the target to take your Charisma modifier in psychic damage when it attacks an ally. This damage scales to doubled and tripled at 5th and 8th level. The higher tier feats improve the resistance to 16+ and 18+, respectively. Nice: As 13th Age generally does not differentiate between types regarding the effect of psychological tricks like Taunt, the pdf does spend a bit of time explaining how to best handle the like.

Next up would be the maneuvers, two of which are first level maneuvers: Pommel bash triggers on odd misses and may daze a target for 1 turn on a failed normal save, with adventurer feat adding Strength modifier to miss damage. Champion feat modifies the effects and confuses the target for 1 turn before dazing him – no save for either condition. Compared to shield bash, particularly the latter seems a bit too strong. Cunning Feint triggers on natural odd misses and applies the higher or Int or Wis-mod to the next damage roll versus the target. The adventurer feat lets you convey that to a nearby ally instead. Both champion and epic feat sport formatting deviations from the standard – INT and WIS are not used in class feature text, instead using the full word. Effect-wise, we add the higher of the two plus escalation die/twice escalation die, respectively.

The pdf sports 3 different 3rd level maneuvers. Get Clear triggers on a natural, odd hit, allowing an ally to pop free from being engaged with the target as well as move to a nearby location. The adventurer feat adds escalation die to AC and PD for the ally vs. opportunity attacks, as well as to any disengage checks. The champion feat upgrades ally movement to a far away location, but at the cost of the ally’s next move action. Left You An Opening triggers on natural even misses while escalation die is 2+. You forego miss damage, but double the escalation bonus of an ally for their next attack versus that foe. The adventurer feat renders the target vulnerable to the next attack of the ally, while the champion feat adds an extra WEAPON die. I’m not 100% sold on the vulnerable benefit for adventurer, as most abilities that grant this are relegated to champion tier. Wounding shot triggers on a natural 16+ and you deal half normal base damage, but the target suffers ongoing damage equal to the higher of your Wisdom or Intelligence modifier, triple that at 8th level. The champion feat allows you to trigger it with a natural even hit, and ending the ongoing damage is a hard save.

There are also two 5th level maneuvers, the first of which would be Impaling Shot, which triggers on a natural odd hit. The maneuver potentially pins targets to terrain features, rendering it stuck. The target may expend a move action to attempt to free themselves with a normal save, taking ½ basic damage upon success. So, upon failure, no damage? I assume so, but this component could be a bit clearer. The maneuver has a Champion feat associated, which lets you target PD and increases the save to hard. Skullrattler triggers on a natural odd hit. The maneuver deals half damage, but hampers the foe for Strength modifier turns, with a normal save to end. Champion increases the save difficulty to hard, and the epic feat lets you inflict full damage.

Finally, the pdf has two 7th level maneuvers. Rain of Missiles is triggered on a natural even hit on escalation die 2+. You deal half damage, but also to all enemies who are engaged with the same creature as your target, with a maximum of Dexterity modifier. The epic feat extends range of the rain of missile to nearby the target. The final maneuver is Heroic Sacrifice, which triggers on a natural even hit, but requires that you’re staggered. The attack deals double damage, but you suffer half of it as well. Allies engaged with the target may pop free. The epic feat renders the target stuck unless it makes a hard save, but you also become stuck and vulnerable to the attacks and powers of the target.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good on a formal and rules-language level. Apart from aesthetics, I saw no issues. The pdf sports surprisingly great full-color artwork, including a 1-page piece. The pdf has no real bookmarks, but needs none at this length.

Richard Moore’s fighter maneuvers and talents are interesting in that they reward fighters with decent attributes in the mental range – there is a reason to have a solid Wisdom score here, and this swashbuckl-y options are something I certainly enjoyed. The maneuvers can be considered to be a bit on the strong side of things, but offer some interesting teamwork and tactics. And there is the price-point. This pdf is really inexpensive. Considering the more than fair price point, I consider this to be worth getting – an interesting pdf that is worth 4.5 stars, and while I’d usually round down, the low price point and interesting design decisions make me round up instead.

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the Deadly Delves-series clocks in at 49 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 3 pages of advertisement, 2 pages of SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 41 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing queue as a prioritized review as the request of my patreons.

This is a high-level adventure, intended for characters of 16th level, and should bring them to 17th level by its conclusion. This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion.

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All right, only GMs around? Great! Cout Larom has ordered the excavation of an ancient site, rumored to be the final resting place of the mighty crypt dragon Roanax. This mighty specimen, back when dragon’s ruled the region, was slain in a concerted effort by several of its lesser peers. However, when the magnificent beast was about to draw her last breath, she managed to draw herself, her hoard and her assailants into the eponymous dragon’s dream, endlessly living out her memories, the realities of dream slowly corrupting and changing her would-be slayers. Now, only her skull bears witness to the passage of aeons. The aforementioned excavation did, consequently, not find the mighty dragon’s hoard, merely her skull – and they reactivated its magic. The poor sods were drawn into the mighty dragon’s dream, slain and trapped…or enslaved by the horrid caricatures that Roanax’ foes had become. To complicate matters more, it seems like the dream can capture souls, creating a false afterlife of sorts, which has attracted the attention of a cadre of psychopomps, who fear that the dragon’s dream may well spiral out of control. Sounds awesome, right? While PCs are probably hired by the count to help salvage his archaeological expedition, the stakes may well become much higher…fast.

Now, the set-up for the module is actually more detailed than what you’d expect – we get read-aloud text for the count’s estate, as well as some serious notes pertaining legwork that the PCs might undertake to know what they’re getting into. Now, heroes of this caliber don’t grow on trees, and as such, the count is not above mentioning the fabled treasures that ostensibly can be found in Roanax’ hoard. As the PCs approach the singing pit, as the doomed location has become known locally, they will be greeted by further complications: The site has been occupied by a small tribe of stone giants (custom stats included), led by Verot the Godling, a horrid, dominating CR 17 ooze that brought me way back to Book of Beasts: Legendary Foes. And yes, the stats of the monster have been provided as well. When the godling is slain, a warped mass of draconic remnants manifests from its slimy hide, providing a first hint of some truly potent, mutating factors here. It should also be noted that the PCs can obviously meet aforementioned psychopomps and, hopefully, secure their aid: Consulting their meticulously researched material may provide some interesting hints. If the godling is defeated and the PCs are sufficiently charismatic, they may even secure the aif of the powerful outsiders. They’ll need it.

Further exploration of the lavishly-mapped pit will yield the remnants of a wasted opera house, where banshees act as singers, and the once proud green dragon Brithorn has been transformed into a forest blight. Corrupting dreams manifest as a specialized haunt that is susceptible to additional forces, and a dybbuk…and ultimately, they’ll reach the skull. Here’s to hoping that they befriended the psychopomps – Rakeshta is stationed here, and she is an olethros, which clocks her in at CR 17.

Activating the skull will drag mortals, including native outsiders and outsiders bound to characters, right into the dragon’s dream – and it is there that the PCs will need to go! The dragon’s dream itself is the main dungeon, and it is unique indeed: The complex begins rather regularly, with an orrery that can, when positioned correctly, open a door – failure will result in a battle versus a potent demodand. However, the truly amazing and captivating component of the dungeon would be the dragon’s memories. Throughout the complex, globes of light represent scenes from the dragon’s life, and touching them allows the PCs to live through the experiences of Roanax! Each of the memories has a condition to succeed, and once it is met, the light dims. Failure does allow for retries, provided the PCs in question survive the respective experience. This may not sound like much, but these vignettes are a perfect way to show the PCs the history of the mighty dragon, the trials and tribulations faced, all while they’re making their way past the potent guardians of the complex: Rune giants, mithril golems, jacks-in-iron, nightshade nightwalker with shadow giants…the regular enemies in the dream are no pushovers, with Roanax’ erstwhile vanquishers twisted into a series of exceedingly potent boss-monsters. The dreams themselves, which, while solvable via rollplaying and studded with DCs, are something that many of the more technically-minded high-level modules forget: Excellent venues for creative roleplaying.

I can picture many a player chuckling, when, in the skin of a mighty dragon, talking to an elven archmage who claims that he can’t teach more to such a magnificent being. The role-reversal is simply fun. From the banner of legions to mighty Roanax’ spellcrown, the dungeon also offers loot for particularly capable individuals. In particular the mighty staff of sands, focusing on time manipulation and memory tweaking as well as prescience can make for a formidable tool. Soul-trapping statues are just one of the examples where the forces faced require PCs to be up to their A-game. The dreams also contain vital information regarding this place. Ultimately, the PCs will thus progress through ahigh-light reel of the mighty dragon’s life, finally confronting the CR 19 variant old crypt dragon. Here’s the thing: The echo of the mighty dragon draws sustenance from unresolved memories and the fabled treasures she hoarded: Each potent item not claimed will yield her formidable powers; memories not overcome will manifest as shining children – up to 8 of them! If the PCs were sloppy during their exploration, they will probably have no chance to regret their decisions, for the dragon on her own is already a formidable foe! In a smart move, the optional boons granted by the mighty items are not included in the statblock, which means you won’t have to do a ton of reverse-engineering. Good call!

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I noticed no significant hiccups in either formal or rules-language categories. Layout adheres to a really nice two-column full-color standard. The artworks deserve special mentioning: The pdf sports a lot of really nice full-color artworks, including a glorious one-page version of the cover art. Aesthetically, there’s nothing to complain here. This also extends to the full color cartography by Justin Andrew Mason, which is excellent and evocative. Better yet, the module comes with an accompanying map-booklet that contains not one, but TWO different player-friendly versions of the maps! One of them sports details like ladders, blood-spatters and grids, while the other is completely barebones. Dear publishers, that’s how good map-support is done!

Landon Winkler’s “Dragon’s Dream” is a rare beast indeed: First of all, it is a high level module, a lamentably rare breed of adventure in itself. Now, the deadly delves series of adventures is pretty impressive in its technical aspects – the challenges posed etc. are generally interesting, and this holds true here as well. However, the module truly excels in its storytelling: There is a ton of interesting roleplaying potential suffusing the pdf, and the adventure ultimately rewards for the PCs caring, being invested in the story, etc. The backdrop is intriguing as well, with the bosses all chosen to signify something – which may become apparent to the PCs as they progress through the adventure. What first may seem a bit haphazard turns out to be a rather methodical theme. The furious final fight makes for a sufficiently brutal endgame scenario, and if your PCs try to get cocky and nova the scenario, they’ll soon realize that the dream’s eternal nature may just result in undead or twisted versions of their defeated foes – so no rest/kill/rest-15-minute-adventure day-ing either. (As an aside advice, dear GMs: This is where you pull out all those delightfully twisted templates from e.g. Rite’s Pathways Bestiary and similar sources and go to town…)

The module does not attempt to account for the vast capabilities of PCVs of this level, but its premise and set-up means that it doesn’t really have to. Once in the dream, the PCs are trapped, but otherwise, we have all the basic covered and enough guidelines to handle this as a proper and well-crafted high-level exploration. In short: This is an excellent module. The craftsmanship and production values are impressive, and the book manages to evoke a unique and concise atmosphere that breathes evocative high fantasy. My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars + seal of approval – Well done indeed, Mr. Winkler!

Endzeitgeist out.

I bought the printed version of this adventure module ‘The Temple of Orcus’, which is a nice introduction adventure to lead players toward the plane of shadows, also known as Shadowsfall. It is made for a group of 4 players of 5th level and this adventure module includes 4 sample 5th level characters for those who like ready to play characters in their campaign (has also its use as NPC idea-source to help populate your campaign if so desired).

From the 18 pages this adventure module is rich, it contains 14 actual pages of content, which is nice. It is a black & white print with a colored softcover. Without giving away any spoilers, I can say that it is a straightforward adventure to fill your evening. It can be played both with the use of miniatures or without for those who like more the theater-of-the-mind approach. This module includes 2 maps (each filling half a page) with squares (each square equaling 5 feet). Not only useful to the GM, but also toward players (if you remove a few capital letters and numbers) since the maps doesn’t contain any secret (=spoiling) info.

‘The Temple of Orcus’ adventure also include 1 introduction page to Shadowsfall, explaining in short what exactly the plane of Shadows is, how Dark Vision works on this plane, how Shadowsfall affects magic, … It has a good editing and formatting with a nice layout. For its price, you get a quality product that I personally find its 5 stars worth.

I would describe ‘The Temple of Orcus’ as a classic rescue mission where player characters attempt to rescue some NPC’s from the clutches of evil, the mission clothed in an atmosphere of horror. It can be easily adapted to fit in any custom made world and Ravenloft-lovers could swap the plane of Shadows with a domain from the demi-plane of Dread for example. There is no limitation except by the limitation of your own imagination.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the Deadly Delves-series clocks in at 41 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of advertisement, 4 pages of SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 32 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up as a prioritized review in my reviewing queue at the request of my patreons.

This is an adventure-review, and as such, it contains copious amounts of SPOILERS. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion.

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All right, only GMs around? Great! So, in ancient times, the city-state of Khys arose, rules by catfolk, all under the auspice of the deity Heshatta, known as the Tomb Dancer; a goddess of limitless curiosity, amoral explorations and the unearthing of forbidden truths. Her high priests crafted the amulet of nine lives to honor her most powerful gift. When human barbarians destroyed her city-state, the deity sowed the lands of the dead with her living children, so that whenever death’s doors opened, the dead would not return alone. Ages pass by, and in a remote barony, Markail Petane, last of his bloodline, was lost at sea. His widow has a serious issue: The land is made temperate courtesy of the fairwind spire, which is tied to the bloodline of Petane; without an heir, she can’t extend the growing season, which will wreck the economy, preventing trade with dwarven allies – a chain reaction.

Growing season is still around, but ultimately, it will not last long enough. Thus, she sent her niece, a historian named Adene Corvuth, to procure a diamond for true resurrection, but neither diamond, nor scroll could be found…but the sage did find the amulet! Thus, the plan gestated to summon the mighty, long lost general Ourys Petane from the dead…but neither baroness, nor sage did know that the amulet is still cursed… If that does not work, story-wise for your game, you’ll be happy to note that the pdf does come with a variety of nice suggestions/hooks to customize the adventure. It should also be noted that there is an alternative: The bride would much rather have handsome and kind Akouryn returned from the dead, but while he may be able to use the spire as well…wouldn’t the hero of old make more sense? Or should the PCs listen to Adene’s desires? Interesting conundrum there, particularly if the heroes return with both champions of the house…And whether Akouryn, a young, adventurous fellow, wants to tie the knot is yet another question.

The PCs are tasked to find the body of Ourys Petane in the Tomb of Valor, devoted to erstwhile heroes of light in the Orcwall wars. The set-up of the briefing of the adventurers comes with serious details, including rationale why the baroness doesn’t wish to return her husband from the dead instead. Similarly, the NPCs, while trusting, are not fools and don’t just send the amulet alongside the PCs sans safety precautions. The transition to the tomb features random encounters, should you choose to include them.

Okay, this is where the module becomes awesome, but in a rather unique manner: You see, the crypts per se are a place of goodness, but they have, unbeknown to the Petanes, been taken over by a powerful demon cult, including a shemhazian demon. The amulet in the PC’s hands does make it possible for them to return up to 9 people to life, including the long lost heroes of ancient times, which can obviously act as a great plot-device for GMs to provide potent tools, new mechanics etc. at a late stage in the campaign. The secrets had just died with the hero in question! However, the amulet is cursed, and as such, it does have its price: Whenever it is used, the catfolk of the long-gone deity return as well – and for each of the resurrections, another array of fully statted champions of progressive power are provided. And yes, some of these include psionic characters! (For campaigns sans psionics, the pdf has enough statblocks otherwise to replace these fellows, just fyi.)

Anyways, the exploration of the fully mapped dungeon is interesting in that the PCs have a super potent tool…and may well need it. The builds employed for adversaries are diverse, deadly and should provide sufficient challenges for even the high-level PCs that will tackle this dungeon. The villains/foes called forth by the demon cult deserve special mention, as e.g. ghost clerics, graveknight bloodragers and ghoul soulknives make for deadly foes to challenge PCs, combining races, classes and class options in sufficiently potent combinations. We also get quite a few unique traps and terrain hazards to make the respective environments interesting.

In short: Between the dungeon exploration the threats that stem from use of the amulet, and the potent opposition, the PCs will have their hands full! As a sidenote: The deities assumed here are the Aesir, which means that this module can be smoothly and pretty seamlessly integrated into Nose/Northern-themed campaigns – replace Baron with Jarl and there we go. The module does justice to the “deadly” aspect of the series’ title – the dungeon is challenging indeed, and degrees of success are possible: Fully clearing the dungeon is a wholly different task than just getting out with a resurrected heir…and beyond new, demonic foes, the PCs may have inadvertently raised a long-forgotten deity and her deadly servants from the slumber of aeons – in any way, the module sports ample of adventuring opportunities far beyond the confines of these pages.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good on a formal and rules-language level. Layout adheres to the 2-column full-color standard of the series and the pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience. The pdf sports full-color, original artworks, which is rather nice. The cartography of the dungeon is full-color, pretty neat and the pdf comes with a second pdf that contains player-friendly versions of the maps – two, in fact! One with details on the maps, and one without them! You basically get your choice of the level of detail of the player maps, which is amazing – after all, there’s a chance that the PCs can find out about the dungeon layout before. Hand them the detail-less version. Then, whenever they explore a room, cut up the detailed version of the room and superimpose on the map, showing the magic circles, blood spatters and pillars, etc. Huge kudos for going the extra mile for maximum convenience there!

I know Christen N. Sowards primarily as an author of crunch: The master of Lost Spheres Publishing knows how to create interesting rules that have a very strong tie-in to storytelling. As such, I wasn’t surprised to see this adventure sport pretty interesting and challenging adversaries. What did surprise me, though, was how well this adventure played. This is a dungeon that works better in play than on paper, and the tie-in with the easily replaced divine angles, demons and ancient cultures can make this work within the context of a ton of different settings; the catfolk angle would make this, for example, a natural tie in for Midgard’s Southlands, connecting north and south. So yeah, the module ties in pretty seamlessly with most common campaigns.

The amulet, as a powerful angle, can provide a helpful change of pace for high-powered games and potentially provide a cool angle to go further planar.

Beyond the stats and mechanical aspects, this module, as a whole, makes for one of the few rewarding high-level modules out there. All in all, this one does not necessarily reinvent the wheel, but doesn’t have to. It is a cool, interesting module that can, if you choose, provide a great transition towards the world of high-level gaming. My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the Deadly Delves-series clocks in at 29 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of advertisements, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 23 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

All right, this adventure takes place in the city of Carnassat (full statblock provided), though it can be slotted relatively easily into pretty much any world, just replace it with another city and you should be relatively good to go, provided there are enough folks to hold the city without trivializing the actions of the PCs. Carnassat, while lawful per se, is obsessed with gambling, so that would be a pretty good excuse for the PCs to be in town; otherwise, the city is not mapped per se and acts as a backdrop for the first act of the module. Relevant for the GMs that are less confident in their ability to improvise flavorful descriptions: The pdf does feature read-aloud text and DCs in the text etc. are bolded for your convenience, making that aspect pretty comfortable.

Now, there is one more thing that you should be aware of: This first act of this adventure can be easily expanded, pretty much like a type of event book of sorts; if you have books that deal with volcanoes and the like, this is very much the time to pull them out. It should also be noted that there is a distinct chance that the PCs will end up with a potent, artifact-strength magic item, the molten mantle, which may also act as a catalyst for future adventures, planes- and world-hopping. They will also probably end the module with a powerful, magical apparatus. It’s easy enough to deprive the players of these prizes, but depending on your plans for your campaign, the items might either be considered to be intrusive…or an awesome plot-device. Either way, the items are definitely worth pondering prior to running the adventure; the apparatus can easily be locked in, the mantle taken by the potent entity that made it. The pdf does contain a new monster (with a rather cool full-color artwork, the CR 8 pyroclastic wight: These things can generate nasty terrain, fir lava bombs and have a nice means to deal with them. All in all, a cool critter.

All right, this is pretty much as far as I can go without serious SPOILERS. Potential players should skip ahead to the conclusion.

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All right, still around? Just as the PCs were enjoying a fine evening in the Pot and Kettle, things immediately become horrid. Basically, building falls, lower level characters die: An earthquake rocks the tavern, crashing down on the PC’s heads. There are survivors to be saved beyond the PCs, but things won’t let up: In a haze of dust ad eerie glow, raging fire elementals scour the city…and once the PCs have dealt with these huge, berserking brutes, they will have had their fill for the day; but in the dusk, they’ll notice a sight that is sure to be disquieting: On the horizon, a mountain now looms where none was before!

The PCs are invited to an emergency meeting with the local guildmaster; after all, who else could deal with…well, such a strange and potentially deadly situation? The guildmaster can actually identify the volcano: It’s Mount Ymawaah, sacred engine of destruction of the Elemental Queen of Fire. In case this sequence of words wasn’t ample clue for you: This is really bad news, for the volcano is notorious for appearing…and then erupting, within 3 days, killing everything is a huge radius. Hard time limit – smart!

Seems like it’s up to the PCs to placate an angry elemental quasi-deity…right? Well, things are not that simple. First of all, the PCs will have to navigate the outer crust of the volcano; here, a planned encounter with fire drakes is waiting for the PCs. Unfortunate: The text references a random encounter table that seems to have been cut from the module. The entryway to the outer caves is guarded by fire giants – it should be noted that their leader is a modification of the Strngarm from the Monster Codex. Beyond the giants, though, an easy riddle in a shrine can yield a hint to an issue later that level and a custom haunt, a scream of obsidian shards, can be encountered and a forge of magma houses salamander smiths, fully statted, The theme of fire is progressed with nice ideas – we don’t just get magma oozes, we get magma oozes infused with poison and even a massive, 13-headed pyrohydra! Okay, so far, we have a fire-themed dungeon, just as we expected.

This, however, is where the module becomes MUCH more interesting: After defeating the hydra, the PCs will get the thoqqua apparatus – which they can pilot through magma to the heart of the volcano! This is amazing…and it comes with full stats and all. I really loved this…but ultimately, the module doesn’t do too much with it; it just remains a means of transportation, when the journey through the molten flows could have been one amazing section; if you run this in your home-game, do me a favor and employ this to its amazing potential. I mean, come on: Magma-diving, magical tank? You have to have some epic encounters there! The PCs thus arrive at the second level of the dungeon, the sanctum of pure fire, where the molten variants of iron golems, nessian hell hounds and other infernal threats (like an ice devil – the encounter has the fun title “Not a snow-ball’s chance…”) loom…oh, and the PCs get a taste of the pyroclastic wights, the things that will rise from those slain by the sacred volcano if the PCs fail.

It is also here that the PCs can find the fully-statted efreeti inquisitor (CR 10) Siad Barkan, held as a prisoner…and he is an agent of fire. The inquisitor can easily fill the PCs in regarding the true plot here: The protean Ecarnamish has taken over the mountain, and the entity has effortlessly bested Sian, who proposes an alliance…though the inquisitor isn’t that big of a help. Another shrine allows the PCs to gain a one-time boon…if they survive drinking sacred flames that bypass all resistance and immunities…but if they do, they have a potent tool at their hands. Ultimately, though, the PCs will have to once more navigate the thoqqua apparatus even deeper into the burning heart of the volcano, reaching the final level of the dungeon, where the infusion of chaos matter into the lava (hence, chaosfire…) takes place: The protean’s plane-splicing has tainted the lava here, and appropriate guardians await: Like acid-infused dire crocodiles, lightning elementals and a frost worm – all potent foes, with energy-type-changed pools awaiting…and finally, the PCs will encounter the protean mastermind, who is btw. a pretty brutal imentesh protean arcanist 10 with potent spellcasting, nasty melee tricks and a pretty detailed tactics/during combat section – most assuredly a fine BBEG. If the PCs don’t want to give up the mantle that allows them control of a planes-hopping volcano/weapon of mass destruction, then they will also have to best Siad…which, after the boss, will be one tough cookie… The pdf does provide notes on concluding and continuing the adventure, just fyi.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are generally really good on a formal and rules-language level; I did some reverse-engineering with the statblocks and noticed no obvious hiccups. Layout adheres toa nice two-column full-color standard that fits a lot of text on each page – this module is surprisingly long for its page-count. The borders of the pages look a bit like molten rock, which is a nice flourish. The interior artworks are full-color, original and nice. The cartography is also full-color and comes with an extra-pdf of player-friendly versions of the maps. The maps aren’t particularly aesthetically-pleasing or detailed, though.

Joel Flank’s “Chaosfire Incursion” is a module that starts off with a great bang: The first act is cool and makes clear that the stakes are high; the first dungeon level is a deliberate feint, making it look like a themed dungeon, which is partially true; once the PCs have found the apparatus, things become amazing, though: The idea is glorious. That being said, there are a couple of minor hiccups I need to mention: The random encounter table missing from the file is one down-side, though not my biggest complaint; so, the PCs have basically a magma-tank, right? Where are the sequences where they have to navigate streams of magma, avoid lavafalls, etc.? Where the engine gets stuck and the PCs have to defend the vessel against endless, burning hordes while it’s rocking on a literal sea of flame? I mean, come on! We get the stats for the vehicle!

And yes, any GM even half worth his/her salt can add that, but the absence of any such sequence is still utterly puzzling to me. It’s the coolest idea in the whole adventure! That being said, this still sports some seriously nice scenes: The monsters are often modified in unique ways; the module is challenging and the final boss appropriately brutal. Moreover, we a) don’t get many modules in the high-level range and b), the artifacts that can be gained, while potentially problematic, can make for absolutely fantastic ways to transition the PCs from regular adventuring to the wonders of the planes.

This module, in short, is certainly well worth running; perhaps even more so for what may follow in its wake. How to rate this, then? Well, while this is almost excellence, it does fall short of e.g. the truly excellent Gilded Gauntlet, but it still remains a neat adventure. Hence, my final verdict will clock in at 4.5 stars…though I have to round down for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.

Deadly Delves: Reign of Ruin Review

Reign of Ruin is a 34 page adventure for Swords & Wizardry by Jon Brazer Enterprises, suitable for a party of 6th level PCs. In terms of transparency I received a complimentary copy for review purposes.

The book opens up with some starting fiction and background. The background is a set-up for the adventure, where the descendant of a long-dead black dragon tyrant mobilizes her minions to menace the warm-blooded races who her forebear terrorized so long ago. The backstory is a bit wordy and rather specific with proper names and regions. I feel that it could be shortened considerably to be more generic for the purposes of individual campaigns.

As for the present era, the plot hook for the party to get involved is via a scout’s last dying words of the razed city of Northam and its need for reinforcements. The other hook involves traveling merchants explaining in more detail that the Ixtupi (lizardmen devotees of the black dragon) have come to attack the village as revenge. Once the PCs get to the town, they find it in the aftermath of a massacre, with a few clues pointing to the identities and motives for their attackers in the form of a survivor’s testimony and draconic graffiti. The clues give a relatively good sense of the opposition for a canny group of players (corpses whose flesh seems to have dissolved off their bodies which is the result of acidic breath weapon), but overall I feel that this adventure could have had a stronger start if it began proper with the party arriving in the town. The merchant adventure hook is too much “tell, not show” and ideally the site of an attacked settlement alone should be enough to attract the PC’s attention.

Further encounters before the main dungeon itself include the village of Mistlevy (the raiders’ next target) and a swamp encounter where the Ixtupi are fighting a rival tribe of lizardfolk. In both of these encounters there is quite a fair number of enemies, but also potential allied NPCs to fight alongside. This does a good job of preventing characters from feeling overwhelmed, but on the other hand risks the GM rolling “against himself” a fair bit if their gaming group is slower-paced. A good idea may be to grant the players the opportunity to control said NPCs; I did this in various campaigns, which made my gaming group feel more engaged with the battle.

Additionally the first encounter has a point where the black dragon main villain makes a personal appearance to wreak havoc before fleeing back to her temple headquarters. The intent of the adventure is that the party will face her down in the heart of her lair, with the first encounter as a taste of things to come. Although mobile and strong like many dragons, the old adage “if it has stats, the players can kill it” holds strong. A bad saving throw or lucky attacks may bring the dragon down at the outset, and given that the final encounter is a pretty clever room full of terrain-based hazards, this would be robbing the gaming group of a good fight later on down the road.

The temple itself has three major levels not counting the aboveground entryway. It has a healthy mix of reptilian monsters, undead, animated objects, and other creature types to prevent combat from getting too monotone. The dungeon is the meat of the adventure, and there are quite a few traps. There was one trap that I liked but felt could have been executed better: stone pillars which summon corrupted elementals if a spellcaster uses magic which deals energy/elemental damage while within their vicinity. It takes an otherwise common tactic of “blast them all” to use against the party in a thematically interesting way. Unfortunately said trap is a one-time occurrence so that it is likely to happen without the players growing aware as to their purpose. A repeat appearances of pillars would engender a cautious mindset in players; they would need to weigh whether they risk using powerful magic against the enemies currently arrayed against them, but at the possibility of biting off more than they can chew. Another involves a room which fills with acidic water while dragonblood brutes (who are themselves immune to acid) attack the party. A hidden lever can be found during combat to drain the room. I particularly like this touch; it combines monsters and environmental hazards together in a way I don’t see often in many OSR modules.

As for enemies, there are mentions of what happens if the complex goes on alert, notably in the form of kobold slaves acting as messengers. However, most of the intelligent monsters rarely go beyond their own rooms and instead prepare to attack PCs who come to them first. This feels a bit artificial, and while it makes sense in some cases (unintelligent undead and constructs) it would’ve been nice to have suggestions for what rooms monsters would retreat to or use as chokepoints in case of an invasion of the temple. Lord knows the complex has enough traps to exploit for this purpose!

The final encounter with the black dragon overlord has a good description of the room in which the battle will take place, with descriptions of terrain for both the party and for the dragon to use to their advantage.

Miscellaneous Thoughts: The maps for this adventure are well-detailed. Full-color and grid-based, they cover the entirety of the main dungeon as well as the first encounter. The adventure also makes clever use of existing class features. The “Open Doors” roll, for example, is used for various feats of strength such as escaping from the grip of a giant venus flytrap or pushing a fallen stone block trap to reopen a passageway.

The adventure itself is rather expensive for its size ($10 for a 34 page adventure). Given that adventures have limited replay value for gaming groups, this reduces its viability in comparison to other Swords & Wizardry products of similar length but at more affordable prices. I understand the need to make up costs especially given the detail of the maps, but as a consumer it will not be an attractive option.

In conclusion, Deadly Delves: Reign of Ruin rates well for an OSR adventure. It has the core idea of a dungeon delve, but the terrains, traps, and enemies are varied and well-detailed enough to keep the players on their toes. Its low points are that the BBEG shows up too early (and thus risks the potential for an early death), the fact that temple has a high enough number of traps to the point of triggering player paranoia which can slow gaming to a crawl, and the product’s price tag is rather high for a book of its length. But overall the good outweighs the bad in this dungeon crawl. My final verdict is a 3.5 out of 5 stars, rounded to 3 for the purposes of OneBookShelf.

Well written, well organized, nicely laid out. Artwork doesn't always maesure up to what we see in Paizo or WOTC, but still pretty good. Cartgograpy is very nicely done in most instances. Only one map seemed less cleanly done than the rest. I was able to easily copy all the maps in my Adobe Reader to use in VTT platforms. Magic items are not very numerous. The monsters seem to be wel balanced for what the party should be capable of doing at the given level and recommended numbers. Interesting NPC's and locations. Info all the way from the background setting to the specific locations helpful but not overwhelming. This will be easy for me to adapt to my own setting. The adventuyre uses a lot of familoiar tropes and locations, but the author gave a good effort at making them still likely to be a unique experience for even the more seasoned GM's (32 years of solid gaming here) in at least some of the encounters. If the adventure summary sounds like something you would like, I strongly believe you will not be disappointed with what you get out of this.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the Deadly Delves-series clocks in at 19 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page advertisement, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 14 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This is an adventure for 1st level characters and it should be noted that it comes with a second pdf that contains its two full-color maps both with and without grids in player-friendly versions – kudos for providing these! This being an adventure-review, the following will contain SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.

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All right, we begin this module pretty much in medias res, as the adventurers arrive at the village of Mossdale, only to find it overrun by spiders – the village does not come with a sample map, but there isn’t necessarily one required. The PCs will pretty much immediately be thrust into combat with the first of MANY arachnid foes – while the main force of arachnids seem to have retreated for now, the search through town will pit the PCs against pretty dangerous foes, including spider swarms – but thankfully, one of the aforementioned mapped locales would be an alchemist’s home, where acid and alchemist’s fire can be procured…and where one of the few survivors can be found. For such a detailed and well-mapped locale, I did wish that that encounter sported a bit more options to creatively use the lab in combat, but that may just be me. As provided, care should be taken, but there are no exceedingly weird things that can happen. Among the supplies provided by the grateful alchemist, there are moss ropes that somewhat enhance climbing capabilities, representing a new item here.

Ultimately, the PCs will have to venture into the woods, where a list of random encounters can spice up things. Credit where credit is due: The woods are interesting and sport only few squares of light undergrowth, with the spider population making climbing to canopy levels rather easy (and feasible) for level 1 characters. Venturing into the woods, the PCs soon happen upon a wererat, who asks to parley – his rats have just been slain by the spiders and he wants them dealt with – he can also point the PCs to two potential sources for the strange incursion: Mites and an ettercap. He can point them towards both. Arriving at the ettercap’s lair, the creature is actually baffled, sad and somewhat innocent – it did not send the spiders to attack and was abandoned by its flock. The mites, meanwhile, are being slaughtered when the PCs arrive, making them also rather poor suspects. There is a 3rd encounter that may be one of the deadliest herein, one with a rather nasty druidess – who is not responsible either, but unlike aforementioned monsters, she is perfectly willing to ambush and slaughter the PCs…and Conrad the wererat only warns the PCs of her if they’re really nice…

Ultimately, the trail leads the adventurers towards a circle of stones left by the Drothic people – here, defeating more arachnid foes will allow them to proceed into the depths (provided they can make their way past the giant spiders and the fiendish trap door spiders) – and ultimately find a giant assassin spider that behaves rather uncharacteristically: The veil to the ethereal plane has thinned, allowing an entity called “The Grand Hive”, a being of pure thought, access to our world – well, it can control spiders. It seeks to expand its dominion…and it cannot really be slain in this module: While its potent host (CR 4, stats provided) may be defeated, the bragging entity can only be sent back to its domain, preferably before all of Mossdale meets a rather nasty fate. Minor complaint here: It would have been really nice to get a map of the arena where the final boos is faced – only the above-ground battle-ground with the giant spiders is mapped.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good on a rules-level, good on a formal level – I noticed a few minor typos, but nothing grievous. Layout adheres to the nice 2-column full-color standard of the series. The interior artwork is generally rather impressive and the full-color cartography is detailed and nice, where provided. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Joel Flank’s “Along Came a Spider” is a solid critter-theme module; the foes employed are pretty deadly for first level characters, making this a challenging, but fair module, particularly if the PCs don’t try to murder-hobo everything. I absolutely love the BBEG of this module and how it can be used as a great recurring villain that could theoretically carry a whole campaign – a tie-in with Fail Squad Games’ Fosc Anansi (or any drow-book) would e.g. be very much possible. That being said, while I enjoyed the module for the unpretentious offering that it is, it does suffer a bit from the village not being mapped and from the final boss fight having no map – here, some could terrain features and a creative arena would have added this cool final oomph to make this stand out.

Speaking of the BBEG – it may well be a bit too cool for its own good. Personally, when reading this, I figured that it read mostly like a prologue for the big saga, for the tough fight against the entity – an establishing shot, if you will. You may like that (I certainly do!), but be prepared to have your PCs focus on thwarting the entity afterwards – you will pretty much need to deliver a follow-up here, making the module potentially less self-contained than what some GMs are looking for. Personally, I would have also enjoyed the book making more use of its unique wood backdrop’s terrain features, but that is just me complaining at a high level.

That being said, structure-wise, this is a very vanilla adventure – it is pretty linear and while it delivers a good blend of challenges, you should not expect to be utterly blown away by what you’ll find here. All in all, this is a solid adventure, slightly on the positive side, which is why my review will clock in at 3.5 stars…but ultimately, I feel that I can’t round up for it.

Endzeitgeist out.

A very combat-heavy dungeon delve with an intelligent dragon who should cause many problems for the adventurers.

Full review: merricb.com

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This massive compilation of d66-dressing files clocks in at 52 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page blank inside of front cover, ½ page editorial, 1 page blank inside of back cover, 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 46.5 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing queue as a prioritized review at the request of my patreons.

Okay, so this book is nominally designed for use with the Foreven Free Sector and the Traveller game, but it is de facto a system neutral dressing book that is just as useful for Starfinder, Ashen Stars or any other SciFi RPG, really. While the names later reference races and worlds, these are easily reskinned for a suitable race in your game’s context.

It should also be noted that this is a compilation of the smaller d66-files released by Jon Brazer Enterprises – so unless you want print and/or all in one place and already own the constituent files, this may not be what you want. The well-made organization may also help in making this worthwhile…but you’ll see. If you have so far not taken a look at the series, though…well, let’s just say that there is a lot of ground to cover, table-wise, so let’s start!

After a brief and concise introduction to the subject matter at hand, we move in from the larger scale: After a really nice piece of b/w-artwork, we begin with ship names – a total of 6 d66-tables, to be precise – the tables are organized alphabetically and provide a refreshing diversity regarding nomenclature employed. Under the letter “A”, you can e.g. find “Admiral Nelson”, “Agape” (perfect for pretentious pricks like yours truly), “Asteroid Dancer” or, rather funnily, “Always Something.” Functionality-driven names can similarly be found, btw. – the tables generate, as a whole, a nice mix of different naming aesthetics, a leitmotif you’ll see repeated in other tables as well.

Beyond these, we also get one d66-table for pirate ship names and one d66-table for personal spacecrafts – here, you can find e.g. “White Swan”, “Serenity” (sniff) or “Free from the Job” –a sentiment that most assuredly quite a few of you out there can relate to…

The next table sports something different: “Damage to Abandon Ships” – pretty sure that there’s a typo here and that it’s supposed to mean “abandoned ship”…or it’s weirdly phrased and is supposed to denote damage sufficient to cause the crew to abandon ship. Either way kinda works, but from the entries, I consider the former interpretation to be more likely: From EMP-damage to gaping holes in cargo sections and “Griffitti”[sic!] throughout the interior, the entries are neat, but point towards an already wrecked ship.

Slightly weird from a formatting perspective: The next 4 table-headers are not bolded, unlike all other headers in the book – but that remains an aesthetic quirk. Speaking of which: The next d66 table would pertain ship quirks, which include fogged up windows in jump-space, low ceilings, panels that fall off – some delightful pieces of local color here. Speaking of which – there is a d66-table of random things to find in a ship’s hold, which include 3D-pictures, anti-telepath helmets, pink ruffled dresses, 20 inflated helium balloons…from the standard to the weird, there are some nice ideas here.

Two cargo-tables allow you to determine on the fly potential goods carried (sans monetary values assigned) and many a referee will rejoice at the convenient d66-table for communications/sensors not working properly right now: Overheated cooling fans, solar flares, raspberry-colored residue on external components – nice array. The final part of this section would be a d66-table of smells on a ship and another that sports galley contents – like delicious avalarian lamb, river sprigs or scalliprawns. I’m getting hungry…

After another nice piece of b/w-art, we move on to planets and bases: We begin with two d66-tables of planet names and move on to one table for moon and comet names each. More uncommon would be the objects orbiting a planet, which also get their own table. Here, you can find e.g. “X-Boat and tug”, survey ships, wrecks…some nice adventuring potential.

We also get two different tables to randomly choose space station names and a rather interesting one: The exotic atmosphere table primarily uses our elements and notes pressure in general categories…but we can also find one entry that contains flatus gases and one that sports an unidentifiable, purple haze… On the planet itself, a d66-table to determine planetary governments can be found alongside a table of unusual local laws: These are, btw. really funny at times: Sales of 20-sided dice being heavily taxed, worshiping lobsters, a requirement for life guards to be blond…some funny entries here, though serious ones can also be found: From youth being required to remain silent while elders speak to not showing soles or a ban on eating cheese on Tuesdays…some interesting entries here.

2 d66-tables provide different main industries, while another provides spaceport city names – conveniently located next to sample city smells. Speaking of convenient: It makes sense to have the entry for spaceport bar names and the names for alcoholic drinks next to another.

The next chapter deals with people and groups: We get one table of MegaCorp names (Including the Hyrul Triforce Group…or, more seriously, the Tungsten Metallurgy Manufacturing corporation) and one for shipping corporations. Names for planetary survey teams are next and then, we get a table of sample graffiti. Two tables of mercenary corporation names are next…and if you required some neat emblems for organizations, agencies, etc. – well, these is a table devoted wholly to that here as well. A table of tattoos that can be found as identifiers (or simply art) would be up next – and, since the yakuza connotations may remain, we move on to fonts for organized crime and sample names for organized crime bosses in the next table.

After another nice artwork, we move n to the tech section, where we first get two tables of neat robot names before moving on to (simple) current instructions a robot may have – like welding metal pipes, trimming hair, etc. They have to come from somewhere, right? Hence, we get a table of robot manufacturers and mechanics tools they may have, ranging from air purifiers to ultra-speed saws…let’s hope the robot with the latter did not get the “Kill them all!”-instruction…

Two tables of gun names and one for gun manufacturer names would be up next, before vehicle manufacturers and models are next; the latter, with their snappy names, in particularly are nice. “Sure, I have the wild cat model!”

The final chapter is devoted wholly to generating character and NPC names: Vilani male and female names, with 2 tables of last names and the same amount for the Solomani, Zhodani and Sword Worlds are provided. The pdf then provides tables for Aslan, Vargr and Dhroyne names – but only one table for male and female, respectively – though, helpfully, the names are depicted as how they are pronounced, not how the respective race would write them.

The pdf closes with a handy, alphabetic index of tables.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting, for the most part, are very good. While a few typos have found their way into the pdf, they aren’t that numerous. Layout adheres to a printer-friendly no-frills b/w-standard, with either one or two tables per page, depending on the respective entry-length. Interior artworks are pretty nice pieces of b/w-artworks. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Dale C. McCoy Jr. & Albert “GamerDude” Beddow Jr. deliver an interesting dressing book. Now, there are two roughly types of dressing books: One would be the generator, which allows you to create something from scratch, building on previous steps in the generation process, usually featuring interlaced tables that influence one another. The second would be what I’d consider alternatively the book to fill in what a referee hasn’t prepared in advance or the imagination jumpstarter. This book, obviously, fits squarely in the second definition. If you expect a series of generators to detail certain aspects of the game from the big picture to the small, then this may not exactly be what you wanted.

If, however, you often find yourself caught off-guard by PCs asking for models, manufacturers, details about your game’s window-dressing, then this will be a boon. Never gave a name to that weirdo the PCs are questioning? There you go. They want to have a drink and ask for the local specialty? You’ll know it. They want to know the model of the killer’s weapon, left behind? The one you never thought about until it became their main line of inquiry? Well, now you have the names at the flick of your wrist.

This is, in short, an incredibly useful book for what it is - at the same time, this is a book for the broad strokes and not something to generate the miniscule details of a station etc. As long as you’re aware of that, I’m confident you’ll have a lot of fun with it. That being said, at the same time, I felt that perhaps a few more charts per chapter would have increased the value of this even further – strange drugs, weird vacations – there is an infinite amount of options still waiting….but then again, the series has sparked Vol. II of these compendiums by now…

My final verdict? Well, I consider this dressing book to be very much worthwhile for a scifi/space opera game; it is a nice filler for the blanks that we often leave unintentionally. Its organization is good and the names per se are crisp, though it should be noted that there are perhaps a bit many names for some folk’s tastes, but then again, that may be just what you’re looking for. As a whole, I consider this to be worth getting. My final verdict will hence clock in at 4.5 stars – though, to me, the book misses excellence by a mark, which is why I’ll round down.

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This module from Jon Brazer Enterprise’s „Deadly Delve“-series for experienced groups clocks in at 46 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 41 pages of content. It should be noted that the pdf comes with an extra-pdf that contains properly-sized, big versions of the maps – these are key-less and generally player-friendly – with one exception: There is a “S” denoting a secret door left on one of them.

This review was moved up in my reviewing-queue as a prioritized review at the request of my patreons.

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.

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All right, so this adventure begins with a ranger collapsing, talking about the village of Northam being razed to the ground – one of multiple settlements adjacent to swampy terrain. Trying to warn other settlements and find out more, the PCs will soon, in Mistlevy, happen upon their first massive fight – with the lizardmen of the Ixtupi tribe – a somewhat quasi-Aztec vibe accompanies them and their culture as a leitmotif, but more on that later. To their shock, the PCs will encounter a deadly black dragon crash into the clash between the elite Stormhammer guards and the Ixtupi – thankfully, this dragon, quite possibly the commander of the lizardfolk, does retreat – and she has an agenda.

You see, once, this whole area was rules by a black dragon named Nyrionaxys – the draconic being enslaved all it could find and killed the warmbloods. When the dragon was slain, the victors failed to notice one of the dragon’s eggs – this hatchling, fostered by the Ixtupi, grew into Nyrionaxys II, brainwashed to believe herself the reincarnation of the ancient draconic overlord by being raised by the Ixtupi. To complicate matters further, some more benevolent lizardfolk, tired of being salves to draconic whims, have since then split off, becoming the Tsiikil tribe, who was trying to keep the Ixtupi at bay – but with dark whispers in the dragon’s mind, her time seems to be drawing near: She heeds the call of Tlaloc, who has promised her power – all it takes is a blood sacrifice in her home, one of powerful individuals. And suddenly the blatant provocation of the dragon makes sense – the PCs are walking right where the dragons want them to go…

Still, this leaves the PCs without much recourse – they need to stop the black dragon, asap! Thus, they venture deeper into the marshlands towards the temple of the Ixtupi. Tsiikil lizardfolk can provide support and directions, should the PCs help them. The temple of the Ixtupi is a foul stone pyramid surrounded by a great moat – to even get to it, the PCs will need to deal with potent, dragonblooded lizardfolk; the presence of stormwyts, an alkaline-spit-using wyvern-variant adds a further danger – and woe if the PCs start using elemental magics: The taint of the place causes such magic to spawn tainted elemental spirits– stats for all 4 variants are included, just fyi. Big plus in the 5e-version, btw. – the lizardfolk get, at least partially, unique actions that represent their culture: We get e.g. the Tlaloc’s Blessing reaction and similar design decisions to represent the influx of draconic blood and the peculiarities of the tribe.

Breaching the temple is already a feat in and of itself – but exploring the dungeon will not be simple, either: Here, Ixtupi warpriests, mud-caked lizardfolk zombies, mummies and spirits, kobold trappers and even a dire venus flytrap, stand between the PCs and progress – but to reach further below, the PCs have to pass the mosaic pillar chamber – where multiple unique beasts spring forth from the pillar…and that’s before the traps, which make this transitional area a really nice gauntlet.

The bulk of Ixtupi resistance can be encountered in the lower temple – here, the most potent of the tribe await – alongside glass golems, demons, evil idols boosting the foes of the PCs…and even a half-dragon gynosphinx – and yes, she comes with sample riddles. Ultimately, past all the traps, the PCs will have to delve deep into the place where caustic water and grueling sights await and face Nyrionaxys II…if they don’t fall prey to the hatchling ghosts of her brood mates or the half-draconic anaconda. Or the stormwyts…and yes, all of this doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well, here is a big difference to almost all adventures featuring dragons: Nyrionaxys II doesn’t wait to be slain. A full page is devoted to tactics of the mighty dragon – who btw. comes with legendary actions as well as access to lair actions.

Speaking of which: Beyond the numerous variant monsters mentioned, I enjoyed the variety of the builds: The 5e-version goes above and beyond to make the respective lizardfolk feel unique and concise; the versions of the new creatures, similarly, are interesting. As a minor complaint, though, it should be noted that here and there, very minor hiccups can be found – an attack value that’s off by one (challenge 8, thus +3 proficiency bonus, with Str 16 = +6 to attack, not +5), but these glitches are rare and the exception – the stats, as a whole, as surprisingly well-made. Among all versions of the module, they are my favorites.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good. I noticed no serious accumulations of either formal or rules-language glitches in the module apart from a couple of minor hiccups. Layout adheres to a really nice two-color full-color standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks for your convenience. The maps featured for all major sites are solid and full-color; apart from the minor tarnish of the remnant secret door-relic mentioned before, the inclusion of player-friendly maps is another big plus. Artwork deserves special mention: The module sports a couple of really nice full-color artworks.

Richard Moore’s “Reign of Ruin” was an honest surprise to me: You see, there are two basic dragon-module set-ups (not counting random encounter dragons): The long, epic one, wherein you defeat a dragon at the end, after much hardship, and with the exact goal of defeating the draconic threat; and the briefer one, where a dragon at the end is basically the boss. The first tends to be represented by mega-adventures, campaigns, etc.; the second by smaller modules. Both have one thing in common: Most of the time, the dragons in them are DUMB, character-less engines of destruction, when ostensibly, they are supposed to be really smart. This module, thankfully, gets that aspect right: The dragon herein is an interesting character, embedded in a dungeon and social environment with an interesting leitmotif; she makes sense. Her proactive strategies can allow the Gm to unleash hell upon the PCs and vanquishing her doesn’t break ongoing campaigns – the rewards are significant, but won’t break the game.

In short: While this does not reinvent the wheel, it’s one of the few anti-dragon modules that did not cause my brain to hurt at one point – and that’s a big, big plus. 5e’s as a whole well-crafted mechanics help as well; to the point where I honestly believe that the mechanics of this version may be the best of the bunch in terms of creativity and how they enforce a succinct cultural identity. Were it not for the minor hiccups in the stats, I’d award this version my seal of approval as well. While thus not absolutely perfect, this still remains my favorite version of the module, directly followed by the PFRPG-iteration, which is why my final verdict will clock in at 5 stars – recommended as a fun, challenging module.

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This module from Jon Brazer Enterprise’s „Deadly Delve“-series for experienced groups clocks in at 40 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 35 pages of content. It should be noted that the pdf comes with an extra-pdf that contains properly-sized, big versions of the maps – these are key-less and generally player-friendly – with one exception: There is a “S” denoting a secret door left on one of them. The PFRPG-version comes with a second, more printer-friendly version.

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.

…

..

.

All right, so this adventure begins with a ranger collapsing, talking about the village of Northam being razed to the ground – one of multiple settlements adjacent to swampy terrain. Trying to warn other settlements and find out more, the PCs will soon, in Mistlevy, happen upon their first massive fight – with the lizardmen of the Ixtupi tribe – a somewhat quasi-Aztec vibe accompanies them and their culture as a leitmotif, but more on that later. To their shock, the PCs will encounter a deadly black dragon crash into the clash between the elite Stormhammer guards and the Ixtupi – thankfully, this dragon, quite possibly the commander of the lizardfolk, does retreat – and she has an agenda.

You see, once, this whole area was rules by a black dragon named Nyrionaxys – the draconic being enslaved all it could find and killed the warmbloods. When the dragon was slain, the victors failed to notice one of the dragon’s eggs – this hatchling, fostered by the Ixtupi, grew into Nyrionaxys II, brainwashed to believe herself the reincarnation of the ancient draconic overlord by being raised by the Ixtupi. To complicate matters further, some more benevolent lizardfolk, tired of being salves to draconic whims, have since then split off, becoming the Tsiikil tribe, who was trying to keep the Ixtupi at bay – but with dark whispers in the dragon’s mind, her time seems to be drawing near: She heeds the call of Tlaloc, who has promised her power – all it takes is a blood sacrifice in her home, one of powerful individuals. And suddenly the blatant provocation of the dragon makes sense – the PCs are walking right where the dragons want them to go…

Still, this leaves the PCs without much recourse – they need to stop the black dragon, asap! Thus, they venture deeper into the marshlands towards the temple of the Ixtupi. Tsiikil lizardfolk can provide support and directions, should the PCs help them. The temple of the Ixtupi is a foul stone pyramid surrounded by a great moat – to even get to it, the PCs will need to deal with potent, dragonblooded lizardfolk; the presence of stormwyts, an alkaline-spit-using wyvern-variant adds a further danger – and woe if the PCs start using elemental magics: The taint of the place causes such magic to spawn tainted elemental spirits that employ a modified unholy template – stats for all 4 variants are included, just fyi. The PFRPG-version, just fyi, employs both variant templates (here: unholy) and archetypes in the respective builds, making the opposition generally an interesting cadre.

Breaching the temple is already a feat in and of itself – but exploring the dungeon will not be simple, either: Here, Ixtupi warpriests, mud-caked lizardfolk zombies, mummies and spirits, kobold trappers and even a dire venus flytrap, stand between the PCs and progress – but to reach further below, the PCs have to pass the mosaic pillar chamber – where multiple unique beasts spring forth from the pillar…and that’s before the traps, which make this transitional area a really nice gauntlet.

The bulk of Ixtupi resistance can be encountered in the lower temple – here, the most potent of the tribe await – alongside glass golems, demons, evil idols boosting the foes of the PCs…and even a half-dragon gynosphinx – and yes, she comes with sample riddles. Ultimately, past all the traps, the PCs will have to delve deep into the place where caustic water and grueling sights await and face Nyrionaxys II…if they don’t fall prey to the hatchling ghosts of her brood mates or the half-draconic anaconda. Or the stormwyts…and yes, all of this doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well, here is a big difference to almost all adventures featuring dragons: Nyrionaxys II doesn’t wait to be slain. A full page is devoted to tactics of the mighty dragon – who btw. actually has class levels as a standard bearer cavalier, making her a potent commander!

Speaking of which: Beyond the numerous variant monsters mentioned, I enjoyed the variety of the builds: From the numerous variants of monsters to the archetypes and templates employed in their creation, the respective critters are interesting, challenging and fit the thematic angle of the tribe. Also relevant: The module does not break the WBL-assumptions: While the hoard of the big boss is massive, the majority of coins are copper – it’ll be a logistics-challenge to get the coins to civilization…

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good. I noticed no serious accumulations of either formal or rules-language glitches in the module. Layout adheres to a really nice two-color full-color standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks for your convenience. The maps featured for all major sites are solid and full-color; apart from the minor tarnish of the remnant secret door-relic mentioned before, the inclusion of player-friendly maps is another big plus. Artwork deserves special mention: The module sports a couple of really nice full-color artworks.

Richard Moore’s “Reign of Ruin” was an honest surprise to me: You see, there are two basic dragon-module set-ups (not counting random encounter dragons): The long, epic one, wherein you defeat a dragon at the end, after much hardship, and with the exact goal of defeating the draconic threat; and the briefer one, where a dragon at the end is basically the boss. The first tends to be represented by mega-adventures, campaigns, etc.; the second by smaller modules. Both have one thing in common: Most of the time, the dragons in them are DUMB, character-less engines of destruction, when ostensibly, they are supposed to be really smart. This module, thankfully, gets that aspect right: The dragon herein is an interesting character, embedded in a dungeon and social environment with an interesting leitmotif; she makes sense. Her proactive strategies can allow the Gm to unleash hell upon the PCs and vanquishing her doesn’t break ongoing campaigns – the rewards are significant, but won’t break the game.

In short: While this does not reinvent the wheel, it’s one of the few anti-dragon modules that did not cause my brain to hurt at one point – and that’s a big, big plus. The PFRPG-version of this module does a lot right: It doesn’t break the WBL-cap and can be inserted as a fun. Challenging module into any campaign without breaking its power-level. All in all, this is a well-made anti-dragon crawl with a smart foe. My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This module from Jon Brazer Enterprise’s „Deadly Delve“-series for experienced groups clocks in at 34 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 30 pages of content. It should be noted that the extra-pdf that contains properly-sized, big versions of the maps is not included in the 13th Age-version.

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.

…

..

.

All right, so this adventure begins with a ranger collapsing, talking about the village of Northam being razed to the ground – one of multiple settlements adjacent to swampy terrain. Trying to warn other settlements and find out more, the PCs will soon, in Mistlevy, happen upon their first massive fight – with the lizardmen of the Ixtupi tribe – a somewhat quasi-Aztec vibe accompanies them and their culture as a leitmotif, but more on that later. To their shock, the PCs will encounter a deadly black dragon crash into the clash between the elite Stormhammer guards and the Ixtupi – thankfully, this dragon, quite possibly the commander of the lizardfolk, does retreat – and she has an agenda.

You see, once, this whole area was rules by a black dragon named Nyrionaxys – the draconic being enslaved all it could find and killed the warmbloods. When the dragon was slain, the victors failed to notice one of the dragon’s eggs – this hatchling, fostered by the Ixtupi, grew into Nyrionaxys II, brainwashed to believe herself the reincarnation of the ancient draconic overlord by being raised by the Ixtupi. To complicate matters further, some more benevolent lizardfolk, tired of being salves to draconic whims, have since then split off, becoming the Tsiikil tribe, who was trying to keep the Ixtupi at bay – but with dark whispers in the dragon’s mind, her time seems to be drawing near: She heeds the call of Tlaloc, who has promised her power – all it takes is a blood sacrifice in her home, one of powerful individuals. And suddenly the blatant provocation of the dragon makes sense – the PCs are walking right where the dragons want them to go…

A big plus for fans of 13th Age would undoubtedly be the inclusion of notes on how the respective icons and Nyrionaxys II’s agenda interact, providing some proper contextualization for that aspect of the game. This level of attention to detail also is represented by a sidebar talking about creature sizes and their more abstract meaning in 13th Age.

Still, this leaves the PCs without much recourse – they need to stop the black dragon, asap! Thus, they venture deeper into the marshlands towards the temple of the Ixtupi. Tsiikil lizardfolk can provide support and directions, should the PCs help them. The temple of the Ixtupi is a foul stone pyramid surrounded by a great moat – to even get to it, the PCs will need to deal with potent, dragonblooded lizardfolk; the presence of stormwyts, an alkaline-spit-using wyvern-variant adds a further danger – and woe if the PCs start using elemental magics: The taint of the place causes such magic to spawn tainted elemental spirits. Here would be a good job to comment on the 13th Age stats – the book does a rather good job at converting to the system – from creature-type classification to internal consistency, the creatures presented make sense – when something should have a draconic ability like resist acid 16+, it does. Both natural even and uneven hits, damage types, etc. can be found in the respective entries and builds of the adversaries encountered. Some of the critters also make good use of the escalation die, which is another mechanical big plus.

Breaching the temple is already a feat in and of itself – but exploring the dungeon will not be simple, either: Here, Ixtupi priests, mud-caked lizardfolk zombies, mummies and spirits, kobold trappers and even a dire venus flytrap, stand between the PCs and progress – but to reach further below, the PCs have to pass the mosaic pillar chamber – where multiple unique beasts spring forth from the pillar…and that’s before the traps, which make this transitional area a really nice gauntlet. As a minor complaint regarding design aesthetics – while the optional cover rules covered are nice, terrain-wise, the adventure could be a bit more dynamic in 13th Age – you can tie cool effects to the escalation die…but that’s just me complaining at a high level.

The bulk of Ixtupi resistance can be encountered in the lower temple – here, the most potent of the tribe await – alongside glass golems, demons, evil idols boosting the foes of the PCs…and even a half-dragon gynosphinx – and yes, she comes with sample riddles. Ultimately, past all the traps, the PCs will have to delve deep into the place where caustic water and grueling sights await and face Nyrionaxys II…if they don’t fall prey to the hatchling ghosts of her brood mates or the half-draconic anaconda. Or the stormwyts…and yes, all of this doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well, here is a big difference to almost all adventures featuring dragons: Nyrionaxys II doesn’t wait to be slain. A full page is devoted to tactics of the mighty dragon – and no, she is not a simple black dragon; she actually has more than 300 hp, making her less prone to being killed off too quickly, an issue that dragons in 13th Age tend to have.

Big plus, btw.: Instead of focusing just on treasure, the conclusion-section here talks about the repercussions for the champion tier into which the PCs undoubtedly have ascended at the end of this module.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good. I noticed no serious accumulations of either formal or rules-language glitches in the module. Layout adheres to a really nice two-color full-color standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks for your convenience. The maps featured for all major sites are solid and full-color. The 13th Age-version of the module, as per the writing of this review, did lack the player-map bonus pdf, which makes that aspect a comfort detriment. The 13th Age-version comes with a second, more printer-friendly version with a white background. Artwork deserves special mention: The module sports a couple of really nice full-color artworks.

Richard Moore’s “Reign of Ruin” was an honest surprise to me: You see, there are two basic dragon-module set-ups (not counting random encounter dragons): The long, epic one, wherein you defeat a dragon at the end, after much hardship, and with the exact goal of defeating the draconic threat; and the briefer one, where a dragon at the end is basically the boss. The first tends to be represented by mega-adventures, campaigns, etc.; the second by smaller modules. Both have one thing in common: Most of the time, the dragons in them are DUMB, character-less engines of destruction, when ostensibly, they are supposed to be really smart. This module, thankfully, gets that aspect right: The dragon herein is an interesting character, embedded in a dungeon and social environment with an interesting leitmotif; she makes sense. Her proactive strategies can allow the GM to unleash hell upon the PCs and vanquishing her doesn’t break ongoing campaigns. The 13th Age conversion of the module has been handled with care and is well-crafted.

In short: While this does not reinvent the wheel, it’s one of the few anti-dragon modules that did not cause my brain to hurt at one point – and that’s a big, big plus. The well-done mechanics help as well, which is why my final verdict will clock in at 4.5 stars – though I have to round down for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This module from Jon Brazer Enterprise’s „Deadly Delve“-series for experienced groups clocks in at 34 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 30 pages of content. It should be noted that the pdf comes with an extra-pdf that contains properly-sized, big versions of the maps – these are key-less and generally player-friendly – with one exception: There is a “S” denoting a secret door left on one of them.

As you can glean from the cover, the OSR-rule-set employed in this version of the module would be Frog God Games’ Swords & Wizardry. We get both ascending and descending AC-values.

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.

…

..

.

All right, so this adventure begins with a ranger collapsing, talking about the village of Northam being razed to the ground – one of multiple settlements adjacent to swampy terrain. Trying to warn other settlements and find out more, the PCs will soon, in Mistlevy, happen upon their first massive fight – with the lizardmen of the Ixtupi tribe – a somewhat quasi-Aztec vibe accompanies them and their culture as a leitmotif, but more on that later. To their shock, the PCs will encounter a deadly black dragon crash into the clash between the elite Stormhammer guards and the Ixtupi. Thankfully, this dragon, quite possibly the commander of the lizardfolk, does retreat – and she has an agenda. Which brings me to a problem that’s somewhat inherent in the system and the faithful version to the system: In S&W, dragons can be pretty fragile – and compared to her servants, the dragon boss of this module unfortunately adheres to this formula; here, a deviation from the standard rules to account for her boss-nature would probably have made sense.

You see, once, this whole area was rules by a black dragon named Nyrionaxys – the draconic being enslaved all it could find and killed the warmbloods. When the dragon was slain, the victors failed to notice one of the dragon’s eggs – this hatchling, fostered by the Ixtupi, grew into Nyrionaxys II, brainwashed to believe herself the reincarnation of the ancient draconic overlord by being raised by the Ixtupi. To complicate matters further, some more benevolent lizardfolk, tired of being salves to draconic whims, have since then split off, becoming the Tsiikil tribe, who was trying to keep the Ixtupi at bay – but with dark whispers in the dragon’s mind, her time seems to be drawing near: She heeds the call of Tlaloc, who has promised her power – all it takes is a blood sacrifice in her home, one of powerful individuals. And suddenly the blatant provocation of the dragon makes sense – the PCs are walking right where the dragons want them to go…

Still, this leaves the PCs without much recourse – they need to stop the black dragon, asap! Thus, they venture deeper into the marshlands towards the temple of the Ixtupi. Tsiikil lizardfolk can provide support and directions, should the PCs help them. The temple of the Ixtupi is a foul stone pyramid surrounded by a great moat – to even get to it, the PCs will need to deal with potent, dragonblooded lizardfolk; the presence of stormwyts, an alkaline-spit-using wyvern-variant adds a further danger – and woe if the PCs start using elemental magics: The taint of the place causes such magic to spawn tainted elemental spirits…

Breaching the temple is already a feat in and of itself – but exploring the dungeon will not be simple, either: Here, Ixtupi priests, mud-caked lizardfolk zombies, kobold trappers, spirits, mummies and even a dire venus flytrap, stand between the PCs and progress – but to reach further below, the PCs have to pass the mosaic pillar chamber – where multiple unique beasts spring forth from the pillar…and that’s before the traps, which make this transitional area a really nice gauntlet.

The bulk of Ixtupi resistance can be encountered in the lower temple – here, the most potent of the tribe await – alongside glass golems, demons, evil idols boosting the foes of the PCs…and even a half-dragon gynosphinx – and yes, she comes with sample riddles. Ultimately, past all the traps, the PCs will have to delve deep into the place where caustic water and grueling sights await and face Nyrionaxys II…if they don’t fall prey to the hatchling ghosts of her brood mates or the half-draconic anaconda. Or the stormwyts…and yes, all of this doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well, here is a big difference to almost all adventures featuring dragons: Nyrionaxys II doesn’t wait to be slain. A full page is devoted to tactics of the mighty dragon. Still, while S&W obviously uses smaller numbers and her AC and defenses are impressive, at 32 hp, the dragon still remains comparatively fragile.

Speaking of monsters – the stat-conversions to S&W are solid, as far as I’ve seen. Spell-names are adjusted, etc. Big plus, btw.: The hoard of the dragon, while massive, is WBL-appropriate and shouldn’t pose a problem for ongoing campaigns. In fact, being mostly copper, transportation may yet pose some interesting problems…

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good. I noticed no serious accumulations of either formal or rules-language glitches in the module. Layout adheres to a really nice two-color full-color standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks for your convenience. The maps featured for all major sites are solid and full-color; apart from the minor tarnish of the remnant secret door-relic mentioned before, the inclusion of player-friendly maps is another big plus. The OSR-conversion to S&W is solid and generally well-crafted.

Richard Moore’s “Reign of Ruin” was an honest surprise to me: You see, there are two basic dragon-module set-ups (not counting random encounter dragons): The long, epic one, wherein you defeat a dragon at the end, after much hardship, and with the exact goal of defeating the draconic threat; and the briefer one, where a dragon at the end is basically the boss. The first tends to be represented by mega-adventures, campaigns, etc.; the second by smaller modules. Both have one thing in common: Most of the time, the dragons in them are DUMB, character-less engines of destruction, when ostensibly, they are supposed to be really smart. This module, thankfully, gets that aspect right: The dragon herein is an interesting character, embedded in a dungeon and social environment with an interesting leitmotif; she makes sense. Her proactive strategies can allow the referee to unleash hell upon the PCs and vanquishing her doesn’t break ongoing campaigns – the rewards are significant, but won’t break the game.

In short: While this does not reinvent the wheel, it’s one of the few anti-dragon modules that did not cause my brain to hurt at one point – and that’s a big, big plus. A minor issue of the S&W version, at least if your PCs are lucky, may be the relative fragility of the boss – but that’s something inherited from the system. Still, compared to the other versions, I feel that this version is slightly less compelling – mainly since the versions for the other systems work so well due to the mechanics; to make up for their brevity, more flavor and/or bonus-content for the OSR-version would have been nice. Hence, my final verdict will clock in at 4 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.