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The Gauntlet
by Dale M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/07/2012 13:26:48

The adventure is good and it would be worth a 4 Star rating. However, the presentation is IMPOSSIBLE. It is a staples removed scanned in product the size of a piece of paper folded in half from top to bottom. That would be fine except they did not arrange the pages into a readable fashion. So page 1 is on the right side while page 16 is on the same sheet. Page 2, switching sides from page 1, is on the left and page 15 is on the right. So to read this, you have to start at the front, read half pages to the end and then go BACKWARDS to read the second half of the adventure. Utter madness.

The adventure is pretty decent and is the only thing that saved this adventure from a 1 star rating. It really isn't even worth the 80 cents it is currently priced at. My apologizes to the authors who put time into this.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
The Gauntlet
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The Last Gods
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/05/2012 08:36:28

With potentially world-shaking import, here's a real cracker of a stand-alone adventure to drop into your campaign just when your characters think that all they have to worry is about whose turn it is to cook over the campfire...

So, there the party is, sitting around said campfire when a robed figure clutching a sythe turns up! But he hasn't come for anyone's soul, it's a bit more of a challenge than that. As he crumbles away before their very eyes, he asks them to take on a quest to save the very fabric of the universe itself. Assuming they don't dismiss this apparation as something brought about by those dodgy mushrooms the elf insisted on adding to the stew, they have an incredible adventure ahead of them, with all to play for and the very universe at stake.

Perhaps inevitable when gods start interfering in the characters' affairs, but there is a fair element of railroading once they embark on this adventure. A single path to follow, arbitrary effects that WILL happen and which there's nothing that they can do anything about... things that will annoy some players, but - for those prepared to enter into the spirit of the thing - events that bring home the fact that this time they are messing with things that are truly beyond mortal comprehension, even for relatively high-level fellows like themselves. As you'd expect, the combat encounters are physically challenging, but the main thrust of events involves a lot of puzzles to solve - something else that some players find annoying but others relish. Solving them should prove entertaining, and they can all be solved, even if you may find the need to drop the odd hint here and there.

It is, and intended to be, a strange adventure, not the regular sort of affair that goes to make up a normal campaign. It has the potential, if well handled and entered into in the right spirit, to be something that those who venture through it will talk about - in character and out - for years to come. Some players, as mentioned before, will find it a frustrating or even dull experience. That's the trouble of messing with the affairs of deities. They don't think like you or I do, and this adventure gets this across well.

It will work best - although it is truly a stand-alone event - if inserted into your regular campaign, and played through with your usual characters, than run as a one-off. For there are times when players will see their cherished characters at dire risk, maybe even having to contemplate making the ultimate sacrifice - and by that I mean, choosing to do so, not just risking all in a brawl. Moments that can become the highlights of your shared storytelling.

If everything goes wrong, and they fail to complete the quest, say it's a shared dream and blame it on those mushrooms! Yet if they complete their mission, they all will have something quite unusual to look back on as they break camp and continue on their merry way.

[A note on the rating: This adventure is one that will be either loved or hated - I've given it 5 stars, as it could be THAT good with a group for which it works. Just remember: it may not be to your taste!]



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Last Gods
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The Heart of Amun Khonshu
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/04/2012 10:18:45

A neat little adventure to slot in when you haven't had much prep time or there's a lull in the ongoing campaign, this is designed to entertain your players for an evening's play. All you need to do is have the characters in a city near a desert then sucker them into going for an ale one evening and then...

The premise is simple. Out in that handy desert there is an ancient tomb with rich pickings to be had by any willing to brave a little danger. As encouragement, the informant has a classic sob story to tell about his lifelong friend who lies at death's door and can only be saved by an artefact he believes is hidden in this tomb - everything else the characters may take for themselves. Who could resist?

Assuming the characters take the bait, er, I mean, decide to aid this worthy cause, they'll need to travel across the desert to the tomb. That bit is left to you, gloss over it or throw sand, sun and suffering at them as you please. There are plenty of resources to help you deal with desert travel if required. The tomb is, however, detailed comprehensively, as befits the focus of the adventure. It depends on how much time you have and the way in which you wish to present things - and how it all fits in with anything else that might be going on in your campaign.

The tomb itself, whilst somewhat reminiscent of something found in Ancient Egypt, is well-constructed from a fantasy point of view which an array of obstacles to keep tomb-raiders at bay. There's plenty to keep the characters occupied, without being too frustrating... at least, provided they are willing to put in some hard work to excavate the tomb properly.

Most monsters herein are relatively familiar, but there is a useful new one well suited to any formal tomb of a devotee of a cult that believes you and your possessions can pass on to an afterlife, the artefact itself (which has plenty more plot potential even after you've retrieved it), not to mention the occupant of the tomb who, shall we say, may well object to anyone having the temerity to disturb his eternal rest.

It's a neat package to use as a one-off game or a side-adventure dropped into a campaign at a suitable moment. With a bit of care and advance prepartion - such as finding reference to the artefact or encountering a situation in which it could be of use independently of a fellow in an inn enlisting the characters' aid, the adventure could be woven into your overarching plot.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Heart of Amun Khonshu
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The Gauntlet
by Jazmin O. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/20/2012 14:22:26

My players enjoyed this module, which was played the session immediately following the Honor Among Thieves Module. The party was made up of four level 6 players and one level 5 player; a mercenary group with good & neutral tendencies. They were trying to infiltrate the thieves guild and one of the fighters had dreams about it. They were also highly sympathetic to Sebastian, since they just helped him out.

Cons: It says that it is a sequel of Honor Among Thieves, or can be played as a standalone. However, it does not reference any NPCs from Honor Among Thieves (I worked Swift, the Minutemen, and Sebastian back in, however I did not use Desburg for the city in the 1st module and didn't use Desburg in this one). Again, the Module is laid out like a "pamphlet," which is a nuisance to assemble. I also switched the cleric's and the noble's house, it seemed like the cleric would have a more modest house than the noble.

Pros: I liked the fact that the DM can choose the last task (worked really well in my case), but perhaps 12 hours is too long for the PCs to get all the tasks done; using the Diplomat and some bluff/diplomacy skills (and one magic pipe performance, which made people dazed at the statue), they were able to get all or most of the tasks done within 4 1/2 hours.

I really enjoyed the how the players got around some of the tasks, for instance, since they were supposed to leave a bloody dagger in the noble's house (ie Sebastian), they weren't told how to do it or where to get the bloody dagger, so they drew one and left an apology note.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Gauntlet
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Honor Among Thieves
by Jazmin O. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/30/2011 13:06:48

I ran this over 2 sessions for my current Black Company game. The only differences I made that it was set in Beryl, the group got arms and armor instead of the Desburg magic item and I switched the shapeshifter's type from Terror fiend to Forvalka (wereleopard). In the tunnel section I switched out the water based monsters to alligators, although my party managed to avoid all of the alligators.

spoiler (some):

My group went the fastest route to Sebastian's house, and made a stop at the TTESSFFTT__ trap; it stumped them for a good 10 minutes or so, but I gave them several hints (ie "There are 10 spaces, 9 are filled and the last space is blank"). My suggestion to other DMs is to let the group roleplay it out, instead of using a Decipher Script roll. One of my players loved this trap so much, she is going to use the trap and part of the module in her home game.

I did up the HP of the terror fiend/forvalka some. My group was 5th level while playing this module, and are heavy hitters, so they would destroy a 50 hp creature within 2 player's turns. (However, I used the Terror Fiend's AC instead of the Forvalka's AC, and it took them a while to be able to hit it, before they dazed it and brought the AC down).

My top complaint is the layout of the module, where you had to assemble into a packet before you were able to read it completely through. The map was also very hard to read in the shades of grey (to see where the ledges where in relation to the rest of the tunnel was hard for the party), so I'd suggest at least making the map in color. If the DM's map is not possible to make in color (I copied the map included in the module and gave it as a hand out to the party), maybe make a Player's Map that is in color, as the party kept saying "oh, we're going towards room 10 or avoiding room 8" etc comments.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Honor Among Thieves
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World's Largest City
by Malcolm M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/28/2011 23:59:08

The World's Largest City does deliver on the promise of its title. The problem here is the quality of the PDF scan.

What you see in the Full-Size Preview section of the listing? That's the quality of the scan throughout. Useable, but not crisp or as clear as it ought to be.

The scan was not made from the original book layout; in fact this PDF looks like a hand-scan. Some of the pages are slightly askew, the contrast and crispness of the scan could be so much better than it is, and the book's cover image isn't even included as part of the scan.

Again, it's all usable (see the preview) but it's disappointing -- even slightly insulting -- that a $40 PDF couldn't be created with better quality, or more care for the customer.

Still, publisher AEG appears to have essentially abandoned D&D gaming as of this writing, and the book is generally out-of-print as far as I can tell. Unless one wants to pay $80 to buy a physical copy of The World's Largest City from AEG's website store, this is your best bet for owning a copy.

Short version: the book delivers on its promise, but the scan quality as of this writing is mediocre. Functional, but far from professional.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
World's Largest City
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The Red Isle
by Roy M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/27/2011 22:56:24

The adventure its self is a good one shot or could be dropped into a exisiting campaign easily, but the scan is not in order. The pages alternate between the first and last pasges of the original in a way that makes reading it a pain a refrencing it akward.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
The Red Isle
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Tomb of the Overseers
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 01/16/2011 12:16:18

This adventure is pretty much a dungeon crawl, although neatly dressed up with a backstory which makes it easy to provide suitable introductory events to round it out into a full scenario or to weave this little jaunt into an ongoing campaign. Alternatively, the backstory could be read out as a summary if you plan on running this adventure as a one-off game.

As provided, the adventurers are standing on the threshold of the Tomb of the Overseers, ready to go in. The map is laid out clearly, a bit linear... but such is the way of tombs of this sort (just look at the archaeological record!); with good succinct descriptions and notes on what you will find in each chamber. With a couple of exceptions, all monsters encountered are just that - something with which to do combat. The exceptions are pretty constrained in what they'll do, but should at least give those characters who like to talk rather than fight some opportunity to do so.

There is a distinct tendency for this adventure to be merely a mechanical puzzle-solving, monster fighting and item collection exercise, but this fits well in this instance because of the nature of the mission that the characters have been given. However, if there is a reason why the Big Bad Evil Guy at the end is actually there, it's not stated: however, he is the reason that the characters will want to collect all the handy items scattered around the place, so it is worth scavenging them all up!

Assuming the characters do defeat him, they will be able to complete their task, and there's even a note about follow-on events, although you will have to flesh them out for yourself... potential to kick-start a whole campaign if the ideas appeal.

An interesting note is that this adventure was published very early in the life of D&D 3e, and many of the monsters given cursory descriptions here appeared in later monster books - you may wish to track them down and so flesh the monsters out a bit before you run the adventure. But there's sufficient here to run them without, especially as they are there as combat-fodder rather than true encounters.

Overall, what seems to be a basic dungeon-bash actually has a bit more to it, if you wish to make use of it within a broader context, else if a quick fight through a small dungeon is what you need to fill an evening, this will do very nicely. Worth having around, for those nights when someone's missing or nobody feels like heavy role-play and ongoing plot arcs.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Tomb of the Overseers
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Wilds
by Lorinc P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/22/2010 14:57:15

The content is okay, but the poor quality of scanning makes it hard to read on-screen and impossible to print. Not recommended.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Wilds
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Castle Zadrian
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 10/11/2010 11:48:09

The premise of the adventure is simple: an alchemist with more money than sense has disappeared and his adoring wife is prepared to part with a goodly chunk of his wealth to get him back. What adventurer worth the name could possibly refuse?

The DM's introduction explains succinctly what the problem really is, and then settles down to set the scene in detail. The missing alchemist lived in a country castle (I did say he was well-off...) with a nearby village: there's loads of information to enable you to run the castle and village well, but without constraining you as to just where or in what country it is, so it can be located wherever convenient within your campaign world. There is quite a bit of information to pick up in the village, should the characters be prepared to go and ask... and then on to the castle itself, easily found about four miles away within thick forest.

The castle rooms are clearly described and, given the underlying rationale for what's actually happened to the alchemist, logical - although until the characters deduce just what has taken place, quite baffling. There are opportunities for those characters who like to work things out and for whom combat is not the only way of interacting with everyone you meet in the 'dungeon' part of an adventure, but plenty of scope to exercise the sword arm and practise offensive spellcasting as well: a nice balance. Provided that the characters make their way through the castle, they can find out where and how to set things aright... and of course there's a good final conflict scene in which they have the opportunity to do just that.

This is a neat little adventure, which should occupy an evening's play - perhaps an interlude when characters are travelling, or an opportunity to top up their funds with a bit of honest adventuring if finaces are low. Unless a wizard gets fascinated by the alchemist's work, there is not much, however, to build on: complete the adventure and move on. Hence it could serve as a 'one-off' game if required.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Castle Zadrian
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Stargate SG-1: Roleplaying Game
by Devon K. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 10/06/2010 15:01:29

I'm a huge Stargate fanboy, so this was a must-have for me. However, I found that I couldn't read it for extended periods of time due to the low quality of the scan. It is a scanned copy and there are track marks on the pages and the text is a bit fuzzy sometimes, making my eyes strain. The background information is wonderful, as well as the in depth look of the SGC. However, the number of options, while making for great choices during character creation can be a bit overwhelming.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Stargate SG-1: Roleplaying Game
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Ultimate Toolbox
by Shane O. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 06/06/2010 13:07:03

I missed out on the days of First Edition, but from what I’ve heard from friends who were gaming back then, one of the lovable quirks of the old Dungeon Master’s Guide was its collection of tables for various things. With just a few random rolls, you could determine who you met in town, what treasure was in a monster’s hoard, and so many other things. Nowadays, with concerns of balance and world-design, there’s far less emphasis placed on such randomness, and those quirky old tables are gone.

Luckily, AEG’s Ultimate Toolbox is there to bring them back again.

Now, to be clear, I never read the original Toolbox, so I can’t speak to how this is more expanded than the original. Hence, I’m reviewing this book on its own merits. And what merits they are. Four hundred pages long, with the front and back covers in a separate file, Ultimate Toolbox is big. The book is divided into seven chapters – character, world, civilization, maritime, dungeon, magic, plot – with an appendix. Each chapter then contains a number of tables that are thematically related to the chapter in question; the appendix contains miscellanious

Each table in the book contains twenty items; plenty of times, the subject matter would go on for far more than twenty entries, which resulted in them simply breaking the table and continuing on with the subject in another table. For example, Table 1-4: Character Backgrounds/Concepts 1 lists twenty possible character backgrounds, barely scratching the list of possibilities, and so continues to list them in Table 1-5: Character Backgrounds/Concepts 2.

The book is illustrated sparsely, with comparatively few grayscale images popping up every so often. However, each page has a fairly elaborate border, with chains hanging off of the tops of the pages, and an alternating bottom border with either a hooded figure or a pile of skulls. Obviously, this book isn’t printer-friendly, though I presume that there’s a print version of this book already for sale.

The one technical aspect of the book that I do find fault with, however, is the lack of bookmarks in the PDF. I’m of the opinion that all PDFs should utilize bookmarks, and that’s more true for this book than most. The sheer volume of tables here would make bookmarks, even to various sub-sections of chapters, extremely useful.

It should be said, also, that there’s more to this book than just tables. Various sidebars pop up every so often to discuss some finer point to various subjects. Even more helpful though are the “how to use this chapter” sections found at the end of each chapter. These provide a helpful example, usually more than one, to illustrate how you’d use combinations of these tables to chart things like communities, the history of a magic item, or a PC background, for instance. It’s a very helpful inclusion that puts a practical spin on the book’s contents.

Ultimate Toolbox may appear to just be a collection of random tables at first glance, but there’s far more to it than that. Arranged in a logical sequence, the tables cover a huge expanse of material, and have helpful examples for how to string them together to create interesting results for your campaign. The next time you need inspiration, or just want to randomly determine something that you hadn’t thought of, reach into your Ultimate Toolbox.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Ultimate Toolbox
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Magic
by Rob C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/04/2010 21:55:53

Make sure to pay attention to the fact that this is a 'scanned' book. The OCR that created the hidden text (that makes the PDF document searchable) underlying the image is fairly good but not perfect. Plus, the document is 65MB in size. This was a lesson to me to pay attention to the fine print in the product description.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Magic
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Ultimate Toolbox
by Ward M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/16/2010 21:20:51

"Utlimate Toolbox" published by AEG, 400 pgs. black & white. PDF format

This product consists of random lists divided into seven chapters (plus one appendix.) Each chapter covers a different aspect of campaign design. (See the free sample for a table of contents)

The good:

1) Some of the tables are quite inventive and helpful: twenty ways to describe a room other than saying "it's empty"; twenty ways to introduce the PC's that don't involve meeting a tavern; and a blank chart called 'twenty good uses for a gnome' are my favorites.

2) a relative lack of spelling errors, which is something unusual in the PDF's I have bought lately.

3) The PDF is twenty USD cheaper than the dead tree version.

The bad:

1) Each page of the PDF has a background stationery pattern, which will kill you if you try to print this book out yourself.

2) For some unexplained reason, the "How to use this chapter" page is at the end of each chapter. (It would make more sense to me if this were at the beginning of the chapter.)

The Ugly:

The PDF is four hundred pages long and has no hyperlinks. Even if it just allowed jumps from chapter to chapter, it would be better than nothing at all. Throw me a bone here!

Overall impression:

I bought this book because everyone kept telling me the sun rose and set around it. If you suffer from brain cramp or writer's block, this book is sure to jar something loose. This book isn't the center of the universe, as some people insist, but it is a very interesting book with good ideas.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Ultimate Toolbox
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Toolbox
by Bruce W. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/30/2009 20:39:40

I was very disappointed in this pdf. It is very hard/impossible to select text, which was the reason I purchased it. I love the product, but the pdf version is awful.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
Toolbox
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