Warmachine February Releases for Orgoth and Khymeara Rules Drop

Those of us who have embraced the fourth iteration of Privateer Press’ tabletop skirmishes game Warmachine, were in for a treat this week as the rules for the three new model kits, set for release in February, hit the Warmachine app. Two forces are enjoying the February releases, the Orgoth and Khymaera factions. Let’s look at the full list.

ORGOTH

First we see a new Cadre for the Orgoth, the Cursebound. The Orgoth Cadre offers up a total of eight models, led by a new Cursebound Warcaster Oriax, the Soul Slaver. In addition to the new caster those who purchase the kit will receive a character solo, Halexus, The Warlord, a Ravener heavy Warbeast(‘jack?), a Grhotten Keeper solo, a Grhotten Champion solo, and a three-member unit of Gnashers, the shock troopers of the Cursebound. MSRP is $109.99

KHYMEARA

The Shadowflame Shard Army Expansion is built around a new Warlock Nyxyan, The Stygian Coil. It also features three new solos Wraithwing Paragon, Spinner, and character solo Ryvyn, The Onyx Rampant. There will also be two three model units included, the Talon Lashers and the Wyrmspine Cinderbacks. MSRP is $129.99.

The Shadowflame Shard’s fun doesn’t stop at the army expansion though, a third kit will be available separately to users of this force. The character Warbeast Skylla, The Abyssal Fury. MSRP $12.99

I’ll start with the Khymeara additions. This is my first time diving into this new faction for MKIV, the official title for the fourth iteration of this game, these flesh-crafted dragonkin are new, living weapons, that now march across the surface world. This faction appears to be a mobile powerhouse. Nearly every unit and solo has some form additional movement associated with their abilities. Acrobatics, Side Step, Apparition, Reposition, it’s all there in the abilities. The Warlocks certainly have ways to help cohorts, units, and solos move about the board too.

The February additions to this force continue the theme. Nyxyan 1 comes with Apparition herself and the spell Shadow Step and Admonition for further movement options. She packs a Feat that will mesh very well with the warrior models in the force giving them all the benefit of her Prey ability, which moves to whatever target you fancy upon popping the feat. The Talon Lashers already have Gang to work with so adding Prey to a potential target will be quite damaging (and with 3” range on their chain blades and 6” of movement the potential victim list grows). The Wyrmspine Cinderbacks add some additional range to the Shadowflame unit list that focus on limiting movement of foes rather than being mobile themselves. Some choking ash from their fire blast can keep living warrior models from running and charging.

The Spinner solo comes packed with some utility. AOE effects like Smoke Bomb throws around cloud effects, and it even has an Acid Bomb with a 2” AOE but I think many will appreciate the Spinner’s ability to heal and, even more so, use Grim Return to bring destroyed grunts back to the field. On the other side of solos the Wraithwing Paragon is a simple little mechanodragon, the thing is just a brute, plain and simple. Cleave, Hyper-Aggressive, Critical Decapitation and speed 7 with a 2” range on its POW 15 Great Sword make it a dicey combatant. Rounding out the solos is the character solo Ryvyn 1. Ryvyn take being mobile to heart with Prowl, Reposition 3”, and especially Jump. Ryvyn can get in the mix quickly with a POW 14 spear as a weapon master and Thresher, plus using Mortal Fear makes it tough to pile damage onto that ARM 17.

The additional kit for the Shadowflame is Skylla 1. Skylla is essentially a beefed up Hydrix from what I can see, maintaining that useful d3 Regeneration but also packs Excessive Healing which, when used, grants Rapid Healing so the beast can remove d3 damage points every time it is damaged by an enemy attack, this could make for some staying power if the dice land in your favor. Three heads make for a lot of attacks and you can choose between smaller head options that can either focus on armor piercing or debuffs to enemy DEF. A crazy little addition makes both the melee and ranged attack from the central head grant Transfiguration, removing enemies boxed from play and returning your own lost Grunts to the action.

Fully unpaid endorsement but MM is the GOAT

I’m a late addition to MKIV. Having spent the bulk of my time playing in MKIII, and building some size-able Ret and Grymkin lists, I was a bit hesitant to move on. In fact I’ll fall on my sword here and reveal I’ve only played one skirmish under the new ruleset using just a 35 point Grymkin Prime Legacy force to take the field. I’m liking what I see though, and had the fortune to be in the right place at the right time at my local FLGS branch of Miniature Market. They had been provided a number of model kits to use with their customers in order to ramp up interest in the game. Now sadly, Miniature Market has stop selling physical models for Warmachine in their brick and mortar buildings (although they are still my go to for online purchases), and I was lamenting that to the store employees one evening which led them to recall their supply of these kits. I ended up walking away with a number of them to use and hand around to my friends who all still enjoy the game.

At last we get to the point of this little side story. I found myself interested in one of the new forces, the Orgoth Sea Raiders to be specific. Miniature Market did well handing me some kits because I went right back onto the website and purchased the Orgoth Sea Raiders Core Army Starter, a 50 point force to get you moving. Now with that in hand and the items handed out to me I’m ready to truly dive into MKIV! So… suffice it to say the February release of the Orgoth Cadre has me very interested.

It’s a start right? Probably needs that fancy new Cadre though…

Oriax 1 brings souls into the equation and a penchant for both Warjacks and Warbeasts (like the new Ravener addition). The souls Oriax gains through either the killing of living models in his control range or from his feat, Howl of the Abyss which grants d3+2 soul tokens, allow for a number of useful tricks. Gate of the Worlds spends soul tokens to move a friendly around, Soul Phase grants Incorporeal, and Vengeful Spirits allows Oriax to slam 3 focus points down on friendly cohorts for merely the cost of a soul.

Howl of the Abyss has the added effect of adding Shadow Bind to the Melee weapons of friendly Cohorts. Oriax’s spell list leans heavily toward debuffs, subtracting ARM, SPD, or even using Star-Crossed to add an additional damage die to enemy models in Oriax’s control range only to have them then drop the highest number rolled. Since my initial grab in this faction focused on Kishtaar, and her ranged prowess, it might be fun to grab up this Cadre just to add a little melee option to my group.

Oriax has decided to bring a curse bound Warbeast into the fray with him. The Ravener is melee powerhouse that can be treated like a Warjack allowing focus to be placed on it. This is an interesting addition to Warmachine and it is noted in the rules on the app that not everything related to Orgoth Warcasters controlling Warbeasts is finalized yet. The Ravener has Berserk so let him do his stuff away from your own. It cannot be targeted by spells, which is good and bad I suppose. It packs three melee attacks, a Gore attack with Beat Back as an option, A Mechano Claw with man Catcher, and its main weapon the Fell Cleaver. Fell Cleaver is a nasty little POW 16 attack with Weapon Master in tow.

Berserk is a common theme among the Curse Bound it seems. Two of the new solos pack the ability (and our new unit, but more on that later) the Grhotten Champion and the new character solo Halexus the Warlord. The Grhotten Champion seems like a mini me of the Ravener honestly, though 7 points cheaper. The Champion also has a Fell Blade with Weapon Master and POW 16 but they get to add Thresher, allowing them to attack anyone within reach. Oddly the Champion’s Fell Blade has an addition inch of reach that the Ravener doesn’t enjoy allowing for an even deeper pool of targets for Thresher. The Champion can heal with Blood Drinker (boasting a max health at 14), has Blade Shield to beat back pesky ranged attacks, Side Step and the same Spell Ward. I’ll be frank, 5 points seems pretty cheap for this guy, field allowance is limited to two though. Oh, and he’s tough! Grhotten Keeper seems a little tame when compared to the Champion, but comes with some utility. Critical Decapitation on its Fell Axe makes for some potential for big damage but a shield makes for solid ARM and the ability to use Shield Guard make this solo more defensive minded. Still likes to get in the mix with Primal Rage marching it up the field though.

Back to Halexus the Warlord. He’s Unstoppable, Tough, and loves souls. In fact, every soul up to his max of three adds more ARM and he can use those souls to take extra attacks or negate spells. If at any time he doesn’t feel like he wants them any more he can use a special action to transfer them, say to someone like Oriax. His weapon Deathgorger should make collecting souls easy enough with Weapon Master in tow. Shame his POW on that is only 14 but he can be beefed up by spells unlike the other solos here.

Rounding it all out are the Gnashers unit. A three grunt unit with Berserk, Blood Drinker and Spell Ward they fit right in with the Grhottens and Raveners of the world. They duel wield POW 13 Fell Weapons that are, of course, equipped with Weapon Master. They are Tough and also have Advanced Deployment and Ambush allowing for some tricky business with placement.

Looking back across these two factions there’s a lot to love, and I’m sure some tweaks will come down once the community gets a look at these rules. I was very hesitant about MKIV but Privateer Press is winning me over, these new factions maintain a nice connection to previous editions of the game while introducing interesting new things, not just new things for the sake of a changing edition. I love seeing something like Ravener popping up, a weird Warjack/Warbeast mix, and hope to see more of that, especially for Orgoth. Anyway, hope you enjoyed my rundown and I hope I can get my hands on some of this to unbox and discuss in February. Feel free to let me have it in the comments if you feel I missed something great about any of these models (or if you think I’m hyping some up too much), I’d love to hear from you!

-Melv

All illustrations are copyright 2001–2024 Privateer Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks contained herein including Privateer Press®, Iron Kingdoms®, WARMACHINE®, Cygnar®, Khador®, Orgoth®, Khymaera®, warcaster®, warjack®, Dusk®, and their logos are property of Privateer Press, Inc.

Eberron: Rising from the Last War

I’m late to the review game here folks, but I’d never forget to do a write up on my favorite Campaign Setting for Dungeons and Dragons. Eberron!

If you want to get my thoughts right out front, Eberron: Rising from the Last War is great. Coming in at 320 pages it is very meaty, and long on assistance for the Dungeon Master. Has some excellent tidbits for players too. It’s pretty much what I expect to see from an Eberron Campaign setting book. We’ve seen this before in two previous editions of D&D. This setting in particular always does a great job of introducing the world, without getting long winded. You get the perfect bare bones rundown, and are then handed the tools necessary to run with it. That’s the book in a nutshell. If you want to run games in this Campaign Setting, grab this book and you’ll have all the setup you will likely ever need.

Now, let’s flesh this out!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t start with a toast to the alternate cover art. It is one of my favorites since they started down this road of providing such a thing. If you have a choice between the standard cover and the alternate it is really a no-brainer here. Vance Kelly knocked it out of the park. A perfect companion to this weird little pulpy, noir, high fantasy, steampunk world. Does everything you need to set the tone. As for the standard cover (pictured above) I’m not a huge fan, simply because it highlights an area of the world setting I never really play around in, personally I preferred the working cover art, which does make an appearance in the book at least.

Original cover art

The first part of the book spends some needed time introducing players to the basics of Eberron. The background of the world, and what to expect about play style. Eberron has always been set almost immediately after a shaky peace has been negotiated between countries that have been at war for a generation. This sets up a very conflicted world that really allows a DM to play around. With this many groups vying to find their place in a newfound world you can go in a myriad of directions. The best thing about how this has always been handled, and continues to be handled, is that there is very little hand holding for the DM. You get the info you need to create, but aren’t told specifically which direction to go with it. We don’t even get to know what caused the major cataclysm that instigated the world to sit up and force a peace! That’s on you to explore. It can make for a somewhat advanced treatment for a DM on where to go, some may need a little more help than that, but I have always appreciated the freedom to stretch my imagination some.

Chapter One kicks off some character creation stuff, and this is where player characters will be spending most of their time. This isn’t a tidbit chunk added to appease folks looking for a few new character options, here we get a solid rundown of the changes you’ll find for races of old, and four whole new races to look at.

• Changelings – Descended from doppelgangers these individuals can change appearances with ease. Often choosing a static humanoid form to be their day to day appearance because their natural form typically earns them nothing but mistrust. 
• Kalashtar – Tough to describe but they are essentially the blending of humans and psychic spirits. Certainly new type of race to play around with. In fact I’m reminded that I’ve never done much with them personally. Maybe that should change. 
• Shifters – Descended from Lychanthropes, can take on bestial characteristics in order to enhance their natural abilities.
• Warforged – Metallic constructs given sentience for the purposes of war. Where they fit in during a peace time their race has never encountered is up to the player. One of my personal favorite additions.

We are also given a new class to play with known as the Artificer. This is a classic Eberron class that approaches magic with a mixture of tech, often giving a steampunk feel to the style. The Artificer can currently advance in their roles as Alchemists, who delve into potions and other mixtures, Artillerists, that essentially bring a magical turret to the battlemat, or Battle Smiths who function almost like a combat medic. Overall the Artificer is very setting appropriate, but certainly a class for players who have a bit of experience under their belt. There seems to be a lot going on with this class and you’ll want to be prepped.

Another great element to the character creation chapter is the addition of Dragonmarks, which have always been a staple of Eberron, namely I like how they are implemented in 5e. In fact this is probably my favorite implementation to date. In 5e, choosing to take on a Dragonmark replaces your chosen racial/subracial traits. It basically pot commits you to the choice. Really forces a PC’s hand to make use of the role-play aspects of their chosen Dragonmarked house. Definitely a go-to for someone wanting to try something a little different that is setting unique.

Chapter Two delves into Khorvaire, the core of the Eberron world. Here we are informed on the major countries, organizations, faiths, etc. of the lands where the bulk of the action seems to take place in Eberron. At the center of this land mass lies the ever elusive, and highly dangerous, Mournland. The Mournland used to be the country of Cyre until a magical cataclysm turned it into a wasteland of horrific monstrosities and magical hazards. This destruction helped force the uneasy peace that keeps the other powers at be in check, no one wants such a thing to happen in their own backyard.

Anyone familiar with Eberron will recognize this iconic artwork.

Chapter Three highlights just one city located on the continent of Khorvaire. What can be so special about the city of Sharn that it gets a chapter all its own? Just to whet your appetite, the city is so massive it must be contained via magic to support it’s growth upwards rather than out. The city of Sharn is aptly referred to as the City of Towers for this reason. If you’re looking for the noir aspects claimed by lovers of this campaign setting here is where you might want to set down some roots. Shadows loom lengthy in a city where those above you get richer as the layers get laid. Mysteries abound around every corner as groups like the Boromar Clan operate like gangsters, or the Tyrants utilize Changelings for information dealing. I’ve personally used Sharn frequently for some excellent adventures. Truly a unique city for tabletop rpgs. The book gives some great detail on districts and organizations. Just enough for you to work with as usual.

Chapter 4 is the Dungeon Master’s toolbox essentially. Lots of great embellishment of villainous groups, and some morally gray ones at that. With the exception of perhaps the Emerald Claw most groups aren’t outright evil, they just find themselves at odds with what many would consider “good” when they start looking out for themselves. You’ll find details of places beyond Khorvaire here, some good maps, travel considerations, and more. Plus, lots and lots of random roll tables to help pad some stuff out. Rounding thing out, we are gifted with a nice little adventure, titled Forgotten Relics, for a DM to either use or peruse in order to get an idea of what an adventure in this setting might look like. Looks to be a one shot that could last two or three sessions.

Chapter 5 focuses on treasure specific to Eberron. Everything here is something you’d find unique to such a world. It isn’t the highlight chapter of the book for me but it is a nice added touch. With over 20 new magic items to dole out it will be easy to nudge one of these items out for the players.

Chapter 6 is a 40 page highlight of some of the NPCs and foes you might run into in this world. I’m always a fan of more baddies to throw at my players, especially ones fresh to a setting so they might not be privy to all the information about the beast. I mean, we need to know what lurks in the Mournland right, or the jungles of Xen’Drik? If the players are foolis…I mean brave enough to try and muck about in such places, I need to be prepared!

My opening remarks stand. Eberron: Rising from the Last War is a gem. One of the best additions to this particular edition’s line of books. If future Campaign Setting source books follow suit we are looking at some great content. It is doubly fun because I could see this book working for the player and the Dungeon Master equally (with a slight edge to the DM, which is to be expected). Quality books or no, the line of large campaign books we’ve seen of late are typically just a DM’s tool with little to offer the players. Here we have some added content that a player character will enjoy. Would have loved to see such a thing for Ravenloft rather than the adventure we received honestly, not that it was a bad adventure just left a lot of opportunity on the table.

I feel like Eberron: Rising from the Last War is a must have.

-Melvs 

P.S. If you’re looking for more Eberron lore to pad your adventures I’d suggest looking into some of the books from previous editions. One of the great things about never advancing the timeline for the setting is that those source books hold up. I personally love Sharn: City of Towers and Five Nations the most. Also, we are starting to see a full crop of Eberron support on DMs Guild (including the pdfs of the two books I mentioned above).

 

 

Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

Baldur’s Gate. Just hearing the name of this iconic fantasy locale conjures the allure of adventure for so many who have spent time with the Forgotten Realms over the years. It is certainly fitting that this sprawling tale begins in the famed city. Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus starts innocently enough with the players simply aiding the city in ridding itself of some typical bad actors, but by the time events come to a head they find themselves far from home, and more powerful than they could have dreamed. How will they fare against the denizens of the first layer of the Nine Hells itself!?

Cover imagery by Tyler Jacobson shows the symbol of Bhaal in all its splendor with Zariel leading the charge.

Descent into Avernus (DiA) really is sprawling, certainly a roll back to campaign style printings that launched the supplements stylings of 5e. The adventure paths your characters will take in this book start things off at level 1 and should take them all the way to 13 before things are said and done. Going from street level goons in Baldur’s Gate to the big bads of the Nine Hells. A very satisfying arc. Lots of interesting choices to be made as well because there’s more than one way to skin a Tressym.

The alt cover by Hydro74 features Bhaal’s flame-ringed skull.

The book is almost exclusively geared towards the Dungeon Master, as one would assume with a Campaign of this length. The adventure itself is contained in the first 154 pages of the book. I won’t spoil the story for you, but I find the progression from street level to literal pits of Hell to be natural and well executed. Sometimes adventures this grand can feel forced, but this plays out like one would expect one of the better book series written in Fearun to play out. Normal men and women pushed more and more into fantastic destinies.

 

Before running the story the DM will want to delve into the Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer chapter so they can freshen up their knowledge base on this dicey Sword Coast town. Here you have fifty pages of details on governance , economy, the citizenry, and all the dangers your players may face. The city is splayed out over the pages in as much detail as you will likely ever need for this campaign and beyond. Almost worth the price of admission for this piece of the book alone if you just wanted background on another Forgotten Realms locale.

Lastly for the DM we have the appendixes. These cover some of the standard fare like new creatures and magic items that play right into this campaign arc but there are a few unique ones. Appendix A highlights something spoken of often in D&D but rarely given any kind of rules, a deal with a devil. I had a lot of fun reading this section, there is some frightening imagery surrounding these nefarious pacts, I particularly liked the descriptions of how a contract my visually be formed, like kissing a lemur tattooed with infernal runes marking the contract for example! Other appendixes go into infernal war machines, a menu written in infernal, and even some infernal script to play around with.

Player Characters aren’t fully bereft of options in this book, despite the main focus being on how to help a Dungeon Master run the adventure. In the Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer section the players will find character backgrounds, old ones given a bit of flare specific to the city and a new one called “Faceless” which focuses on characters who might don a disguise to hide who they really are as they take on the scum of villainry in the city! Following backgrounds there is a section unique to this adventure where characters are encouraged to roll randomly for a Dark Secret to add to their character’s history. Also, remember those Infernal War machines I kindof glossed over above? Well, they are seriously awesome and I hope all PCs get a chance to muck about in them. Mad Max eat your heart out (or maybe a demon and or devil will, who knows).

The team at Wizards of the Coast, with story consultants Joe Manganiello and Jim Zub, have cobbled together an excellent campaign here. Dungeon Masters wanting to run an epic game will certainly find what they need to do so. From the adventure itself to ways to bring that adventure to life with details of Baldur’s Gate and other lore, WotC has made it easy for a DM to bring game night to life for their players. Admittedly players don’t get much here in the way of concrete additions to the character sheet, but there are plenty of details included in the lore to help flesh them out. I find myself easily recommending this book for your table.

-Melvin

Along with these two excellent books I received some campaign specific dice and information cards on devils and demons, and an expansion pack for Dungeon Mayhem!

 

 

 

Salvage Operation Rewrite: A Ghosts of Saltmarsh Tale

Ghosts of Saltmarsh dropped at a very convenient time in my household. Summer’s approach means a lot of time opening up for my family. This meant I could actually run some Dungeons and Dragons for a change! Wizards of the Coast sent me a review copy of Ghosts, but I didn’t receive it until fairly late in June so at this point I’m fairly certain if you wanted a review of the entire book, you’ve gotten it elsewhere by now. So instead I’ve decided to focus on one adventure in the book, and the many changes I invoked before putting it in front of my players.

*WARNING* this post will contain spoilers for the Ghosts of Saltmarsh adventure Salvage Operation. This is mostly for Dungeon Masters looking to run the adventure a little different than as written.

Salvage Operation, built for a party of 4th level or higher, starts with a great hook, years ago a local lord lost a boat with important documents aboard that essentially prove up most of his wealth. He hasn’t been fairing so well since. However, recently it has been reported that a ghost ship was spotted floating in the open sea five or so days out from Saltmarsh’s harbor. It has also been reported to bear the name of the very ship our lord lost at sea many years ago. In comes your adventurers. They are tasked with sailing out to sea, boarding this floating wreck, and retrieving the lord’s lost paperwork. Should be easy enough yeah?..

Obviously it won’t be or else where is the adventure eh? I loved the concept of this adventure and felt like it would set a great starting tone for my group. Especially since I was starting them at 4th level to make up for the last time we played for a while before having to call it quits. It does a great job of introducing the sea into the mix, and that was something everyone was craving. My only issue with the adventure? Almost none of the encounters on the ghost ship were themed in a manner befitting an adventure on the open seas.

Behold! The ghost ship “Emperor of the Waves”!

I’ll link my excel doc that has the mock up for these floor plans below. I just cut them out and glue them to foam board typically.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the original author’s concept, a mad half-orc druid has launched the ship off their original island seeking new ground to lay down stakes, I loved that skeleton of an idea. My changes were all wrapped up in who that druid was, and the types of critters he commanded. As written the half-orc druid reveres Lolth, and boy does it show. You have a creepy scene where spiders of all ilk roam over this ship. Swarms, Ettercaps, Giant Spiders, and Giant Wolf Spiders, the ship is lousy with them. It’s deeply disturbing, and haunting. I wanted things to be a little more nautical though so here are a few changes I made.

Spiders became crabs…and a few giant toads

I really liked the idea of the spiders crawling over everything, and wanted to keep that creepy vibe, so pretty much every instance of a spider became either swarms of crabs, giant crabs. These guys didn’t always pack the same kind of punch though so I also added a few Giant toads. Giant toads are great fun by the way, bite and swallow makes for some frightening encounters for players.

Webbing morphed into writhing seaweed

The spiders brought a ton of webbing, and that added some nice aesthetics I wanted to keep. For me it wasn’t a huge stretch to believe that our new ocean based druid (more on him in a bit) might use seaweed to help keep this wreck afloat by wrapping itself around broken timbers and clogging holes in the boat. The players were very uneasy around this slimy stuff. Plus it was easy to add difficult terrain where I needed. Slippery stuff!

Introduction to my Thanoi Druid, and his polar bear friend

I’m not always a fan of grabbing stuff from unofficial D&D sources but I was really into these Thanoi guys when I came across them. Essentially they are walrus people. Pretty barbaric types typically, but it seemed like a lot of fun slapping one in this adventure as our druid who revered Umberlee, The Bitch Queen herself, instead of Lolth. Plus I gave him a polar bear animal companion rather than the Phase Spider the original guy had. For this I had a fun pairing the Druid NPC stat block with the Thanoi one, cutting spells that just don’t thematically work as well and adding new ones like Ice Knife, and adjusting flaming sphere to be a ball of ice instead!

Lastly, that fight in the hold

In the original adventure the cargo hold, where the thing the players want resides, contains some ghasts that were originally sailors on the ship. This works fine but I went with something new here as well. In my narrative our Thanoi trapped a Sea Lion (not the cuddly type) below deck with the intention of trying to tame it for his purposes but has so far been less than successful.

This made for a suitable last fight for the players.

All of these changes made for some fantastic fun with the group. I have a lot of pretty cool resources generated from this as well. I’m happy to share them with you too!

Floor Plan for “Emperor of the Waves” – Boat QuarterDeck

Floor Plan for “Emperor of the Waves” – Boat Main Deck

Floor Plan for “Emperor of the Waves” – Boat Lower Deck

Floor Plan for “Emperor of the Waves” – Boat Cargo

MONSTERS – Salvage Operation

Krell – Thanoi Druid

-Melvs

P.S. Ghosts of Saltmarsh, on the whole, is an excellent book for DMs who want to add some coastal flair to their campaigns. If you’re looking to add things like boats, sea baddies, pirates, etc. into your games I’d highly tout this reference manual as a great accessory. 

Dragons Conquer America – Kickstarter Canceled

Back in 2015 a company by the name of Burning Games took Kickstarter by storm with a brand new Role Playing Game, FAITH: The SciFi RPG. The concepts put forth by the Kickstarter were well received by fans of RPGs and critics alike. Set in a SciFi setting the game utilized a poker deck in a unique fashion to set forth a gameplay that was less based on luck and more so some resource management for players. I was certainly on board.

When the Kickstarter had run its course FAITH had been successfully funded and Burning Games had a success on their hands. It wouldn’t be their last either. Since then they’ve gone on to great success getting three other Kickstarters funded. So when they launched the Kickstarter for Dragons Conquer America, there was likely a lot of optimism, they’d been here before. A unique product, not much like what people have seen before (even in a gorgeous time of a veritable treasure trove of RPG concepts), with a touch of resemblance to FAITH by utilizing the same poker deck based system backbone, known as the “RPC Engine”. However, not far into its run backers started to stall and ultimately the creators decided to go back to the drawing board. What happened?

It is evident by their offered Starter Set, The Coatli Stone (free to download by the way), that this game has been worked on, in depth, prior to the Kickstarter. So while you may shrug and say “at least they aren’t out much, good thing they had Kickstarter!” You’d be partially correct of course but I imagine plenty has already gone into this product already. It wasn’t just a concept like some companies are fortunate enough to be able to utilize. Blood, sweat, tears, and capital likely went into what they have now, and if you check out the download mentioned above they have a cool idea.

In Dragons Conquer America you are transported to a fictionalized history of the 16th century invasion of the Americas. In this version all the trappings of fantasy are also prevalent. You have magic, from both the indigenous peoples of the Americas and a religious based magic from the European invaders, there are fantasy creatures to contend with as well, especially…well Dragons.  That’s not all though. The creators decided to try something a little different with the lore this time around. They want the community that plays this game to help guide that lore. A living game if you will. It’s been done before but this would be the chance to essentially be a part of establishing a game world from the get go. Even using the outcomes of the Starter Set adventure.

So as you can see, Burning Games has a pretty cool concept at play here. Obviously it didn’t grab the same level of attention as their previous games did though. I have a few personal thoughts.

One area I noticed was the high dollar figure they aimed for. With FAITH they went for €30k (roughly $35k). That’s no slacker of a ticket price but they ended up with €41k at the end of the day. Perhaps that’s what played into their decision to set the goal this time to €42k (nearly $50k). To me getting into numbers that high for a brand new game setting can be a tough sell to some, even if you are a company like Burning Games who has a proven track record of delivering very quality merchandise.

Another potential issue at play might be the recent release of the revamped 7th Sea game by John Wick and company. It gives players a chance to run around a similar time period in an already established setting. Granted the loose system present in 7th Sea isn’t nearly as crunchy as the RPC Engine, so they are very different games, but it does provide another avenue to play explorer in an age of flintlock and boats. In this same vein, perhaps the core fans of Burning Games’ stuff just prefer Science Fiction.

I think what might be affecting it the most though is how the game lands in our current world climate. In DCA you can play as either the invading Europeans or the Indigenous peoples, this is true, but considering how we are currently looking back on those times, how would you ever want to be a conquistador? There is even a sub system within the rules that takes into account a character’s personal prejudices. That is some loaded shit right now, no matter how you view “political correctness”. To me I would have concerns running one of these games at a con, expecting everyone at the table to treat their character’s in game prejudices in an adult fashion. Yeah, it sounds ridiculous that I would be concerned about something like that, but it’s an inherent truth that many in our hobby have trouble with this. Granted, this is your game and you can be as good a guy in game as you want or as bad. It just seems like adding in a system that expects you to roleplay a prejudice might be uncomfortable for many (as a caveat you are expected to build you “tolerances” over time and are rewarded for it).

Maybe I touched upon some problems, perhaps not. In my last paragraph I might have even gone too deep into the system and found something personal when it might just be some surface stuff they need to tweak. In the end I truly hope they work out the kinks and bring this back to the table, I do actually love the conceptual time period as an area to play around in. I also know that Burning Games knows how to produce very quality work with interesting lore and solid mechanics. I’m positive this is merely a setback and not a barricade to future work. I wish them nothing but success!

-Melvs

If you wish to weigh in and voice why you think things went belly up for the time being feel free to comment below! Also let me know if you think I’m completely off base!

XANATHAR’S GUIDE TO EVERYTHING: A DEEPER DELVE

My initial “review” on Xanathar’s Guide to Everything was merely a “hot take” on the book, I wanted to ensure you all got some information right up front about the bare bones essentials of this important new product for 5e. I had always intended to present a more in depth review but then something even better came along. A good friend of mine wanted to try their hand at contributing to the site and this gave me the opportunity to share the wealth a bit by letting him borrow one of my copies for a time. I always love involving my friends’ voices to this site, gives people a chance to hear things from a different point of view than my own. So without further delay here is a deeper delve into Xanathar’s guide by none other than my friend Conzo! -Melvs

When I read through Volo’s Guide to Monsters, its contents primarily spoke to my DMing side. While it presented a variety of new PC races, the creature-specific lore made me want to introduce my players to entire societies I’d never considered before, and the stat blocks helped me spice up combat encounters. In order to restore the cosmic balance Wizards of the Coast is releasing Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, a 5th Edition supplement that’s much ado about the players.

Like Volo’s, Xanathar’s Guide is justified with a little in-world setup: the infamous beholder crime lord Xanathar (featured on the cover) has documented all sorts of fantastical things in his life, and for some reason he’s sharing some of his records with the reader. This flavor manifests as goofy little jokes interjected by the many-eyed menace, which I could’ve done without. Luckily they’re restricted to the margins of the book. We’re here for rules text, after all.

If you’ve already bought some of the supplements for 5E and you’ve been following the Unearthed Arcana site, most of the material in Xanathar’s Guide will be familiar to you. A few of the subclasses from Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide and the spells added in Princes of the Apocalypse are reprinted here, just for any players who didn’t catch them the first time. However, the meat of this book comes from Unearthed Arcana, where Wizards of the Coast has been posting 5E test material for free since 2015 (side note: that’s a super-cool way to crowdsource your playtesting). In theory, a miserly player could forgo this book by searching through pages of complimentary pdfs, but Wizards has considered player feedback and made some significant changes to the classes. The most striking change in this regard was transforming the peace-loving Way of Tranquility monastic tradition into the paladin’s Oath of Redemption. When you buy Xanathar’s, you’re buying polish, balance, and some flavorful art.

The guide immediately jumps into the new subclasses, and even if you disregard the reprints it presents a cornucopia of options. While there is only one new arcane tradition for wizards, there are two to three brand-new subclasses for everyone else that expand on what it might mean to be a cleric or a fighter or whatever. For example, warlocks have been making pacts with dark and disturbing entities for ages, but what if you wish to deal with a force of good? Ask your doctor if the Celestial is right for you. What if your rogue prefers solving mysteries over stabbing people in the back? Check out the Inquisitive. Every class gets a boost of characterization, as well as mechanical diversity: players are getting all kinds of new ways to heal and defend, find a tactical upper-hand, or straight-up blast the bad guys (and that’s to say nothing of the new multiclassing opportunities). Personally I wasn’t ever interested in playing a ranger before, but the portal-finding, teleporting Horizon Walker and the invisible-to-darkvision Gloom Stalker have piqued my interest.

 

 

Of course, all the mages out there get some extra attention by way of an expanded spell list. Xanathar’s Guide includes 22 pages of spells, from cantrip to 9th level, bard to wizard. As previously mentioned, the elemental evocations and manipulations from Princes of the Apocalypse make an appearance, but Xanathar’s list includes necromantic attacks and beams of radiance, arcane transmutations and enchantments, and summoning rituals for hordes of demons and magic fortresses. A lot of this section was withheld from Unearthed Arcana testing, so its novelty is definitely one of the highlights of the book. I don’t want to spoil the specifics of any given spell, but I’ll tease you with a sentence of rules text that I found more entertaining than any of Xanathar’s quips: “If a target is killed by this damage, its head explodes, assuming it has one.”

While players are getting a lot of rules to study and abuse, Xanathar’s Guide also has some optional characterization resources to support the storytelling side of D&D. As someone who’s played a “fighter who just likes to fight” before, I can say these tables of ideas are a great way to break past a writer’s block or start investing yourself in a character. Some of these tables are class-specific, like a barbarian’s superstition or that one awful performance a bard wishes she could forget. Some are background-specific explanations of why the character became a sailor or an acolyte. The table I found most interesting was a set of randomized life events, Adventures and Tragedies and Weird Stuff to be rolled more frequently depending on how old your character is. Maybe that Horizon Walker I was thinking about is an elderly man that’s been around the world before the campaign even begins.

While most of the book is devoted to player materials, there are a handful of DM resources that are presented somewhat randomly. There’s clarifications on sleeping and flying, lists of simple magic items, the contents of each tool kit and sample DCs for using them, tips for designing rival NPCs and complicated traps, and an appendix about running a game with multiple DMs. There are also some very expansive tables for rolling random encounters, divided by environment and party level, that seem really useful. Whether it was the scattered presentation or the fact that I was still thinking about character creation, this information didn’t excite me, but it’s a resource I might take a second look at in the future.

As I wrap up, I should mention that while I tried to note everything in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, I almost certainly did not. The supplement abounds with eclectic information worthy of a beholder’s library, and there are a few pages of information that didn’t make it into this review. That said, even if I never see those pages again, Xanathar’s Guide is a great supplement to the core rules of Fifth Edition D&D. If you’re a player, or you have a group of players, looking for ways to give your next adventuring party a zesty new flavor, this book should keep you entertained for many campaigns to come. Your current characters might even start taking foolhardy risks, just so they can be replaced by newer ones. Unless Melvin lets me keep one of his copies, I’ll be picking up my own after November 21.

-Conzo

Aggressive Ovens and Aggravating Cattle Pens: Hoyuk

Hey everyone! Today I have the pleasure of introducing a new contributor to the site. Shane is a fellow teacher at my wife’s school who runs the gifted program. He has built a fair portion of his program around board gaming, with no small amount of help from my wife Sarah. So when the MAGE Company sent me a couple of board games to review I knew I should send at least one of them his way to have for his kids. In return he offered to write the review, and after reading it I feel like I’d probably do a disservice if I had attempted to do the same. Shane wrote a strong review below.  If anyone else feels they would like their games reviewed by Shane let me know and we can work something out in order to put more copies in his classroom! -Melvs

 

Synopsis

In Hoyuk, players compete to develop blocks of families within a grid-based map. To do this, they lay down tile houses and wooden meeples representing resources. Each turn progresses from building (twice) to executing catastrophic scenario cards, awarding aspect cards for holding more resources than opponents, and then aspect card replenishment.

Dwellings are arranged by players in families (groups of one tribe) that are grouped together in blocks (groups of different families). While building, based on cards drawn twice per turn, each player attempts to have more of each resource (cattle, villagers, shrines, ovens, and pens) than his neighbors in each individual block. Controlling a resource in a block earns you aspect cards which can then be used to purchase more resources to place or victory points. Victory points are tracked on the outer border of the game board and determine the winner after all houses have been placed. A block doesn’t qualify for awarding aspect cards until it contains more than one family, which is an interesting and necessary mechanic.

Catastrophes are random events selected by cards and occur once a turn to work against the players, separating blocks and families and removing houses from the game. The shaman piece, however, can protect a block from these penalties and is placed using a construction card.

The intricacies of the block/ family dynamic are important and should be read  and discussed carefully before the game starts. This may seem like a given but there are some intricacies that are subtle and less obvious, like the splitting of families due to ruined houses, placement of houses in existing blocks, or the inability to connect blocks.

There are three levels of play ranging from 3 aspects judged per block (shrines, ovens, and pens) to 7 aspects judged (shrines, ovens, pens, stories, houses, cattle, and villagers) and there is an option to play with fewer than 25 houses speed up the game. It was nice to have these options outlined, but the full game is so much richer in strategy and not so long that the shorter versions seem necessary. A 60 minute play time, as suggested by the box, is pretty accurate from our trials. Honestly, even in a full game with all aspects and houses, I found myself wishing we could continue.

Classroom Application

As a gifted education teacher, I ask 3 things when I try a new game with my students;

1. Do you need to be adaptive in coming up with a strategy?
2. Is communication necessary, or at least helpful, to succeed?
3. Will we be able to play this again with different results?

When my students and I journeyed back “some 10,000 years ago” with Hoyuk by Mage Company, we were able to answer a resounding “yes” to all these questions.

Some potential strategies to attempt were obvious after reading through the rules and the clear choices proved to be effective, but those who adapted to the placement of their opponents’ structures, negotiated with neighbors, and attempted multiple approaches benefited far more than those who chose an approach and dogmatically stuck to it.

I loved the communication aspect of this game, despite its lack of necessity during some playthroughs. Whereas communication can be brief and cold in some games that require or encourage trading, the negotiation in Hoyuk enhances the game and requires players to be tactful and clever. It is legitimately possible to be sneaky, supportive, underhanded, generous, or ambivalent in your diplomacy with neighbors and all these approaches have a place in seeking the most victory points.

Comparatively speaking, most games of this type seem restrictive in how far you can bend your conversation. That said, we finished a couple playthroughs with barely a word of discussion. It is hard to say communication is a necessary component, but imagine a game of Settlers of Catan with no trading. It would be possible, but far less engaging and entertaining.

After playing the game with 4 different groups of students of varying grade levels, I saw different results each time. Approaches worked for one group and were less effective for others based on opponents, catastrophes and chance. I personally tried different, and rather polarized, ideas from the start each time and saw relative success with each.

Suggestions
The individual clan powers were a disappointment. The Der’s house stealing ability and the Oleyli’s element theft are both helpful and powerful enough to base a strategy around, but the other 3 clans’ powers (extra resources and control of the shaman) feel like throwaways by comparison. I found it to be a disappointing implementation of a potentially exciting and game-changing element.

The requirement for 2 families to be in a block before it is scored works beautifully for forcing opponents to deal with one another instead of an independent free-for-all. It was satisfying to see players attempt to coax others over to their massive stronghold after turtling resources in a corner for a few turns only to see their efforts rot pointlessly when their negotiations failed. Give-and-take (or trickery cleverly woven into deals) won the day over brute, strength and lucky card draws.

I would also recommend more thorough catastrophe explanations on cards. The system adds an appropriate and welcome amount of recalculation and chaos to the game, but a more informative  graphic, much like the element “suits” on the aspect cards, would reduce dependency on the game manual during play. The current graphic explanations are clever, but not very clear.

Conclusion

Hoyuk delivered an experience that fired on all educational cylinders, ended before strategies grew stale, and used tile, resource, and trade mechanics in an interesting way. It is simple enough so anyone can come up with a strategy to try and have fun, but also complex and interpersonal enough to generate multiple playthroughs with different results. It’s greatest strengths in my experience were the need for adaptability and genuine communication. The only real weakness we noticed was imbalance in individual clan abilities, and even those are far from detrimental.

My students look forward to trying the Anatolia and Obstacles expansions, as do I. Even without expansions, I would deem this game worth the price tag of $50 on Amazon based on the replay value provided by the aforementioned strategic diversity and communication. I look forward to the next time I can take over a block with the thieving Oleyli, protect a large stronghold block with the Lebu and their shaman, or cause havoc with the angry Ders.

Market Price: $49.90

-Shane

Fresh To War: Uboxing the Warmachine New Releases for May 2017

Privateer Press has a new batch of fightin’ bastards to liven up the ranks of numerous factions! This month’s offerings hail from not one, not two, but four warring coalitions from the Warmachine line. All solos too. As always I’ve linked each new selection to their corresponding page on the Miniture Market webpage, my personal favorite shopping spot for all things Warmachine & Hordes. So pull up a stool, because your old pal Uncle Grumps is going to bend your ear for a moment or two and give you his thoughts on these combatants. – Melvs

What’s up, Jerks?  Your friendly neighborhood Uncle Grumps is back with another quick look at some new releases from Privateer Press.  We have a varied selection of solos to scope out so let’s get started!

First up, we have the Deliverer Arms Master:  

From Privateer Press’s website:

“Few deliverers survive long enough to gain true mastery of the weapons they wield, but those who do can earn the distinguished title of arms master, directing their charges in combat from the back lines. Tasked with the upkeep and repair of Skyhammer rockets and Sunburst artillery, they also train the faithful in the use of these devastating weapons.”

The Deliverer Arms Master has a similar stat line to the Deliverer Skyhammer unit.  His MAT, RAT, DEF, and ARM are 1 point higher and his CMD is 2 higher.  He also has the Tough ability.  The Master is armed with a short range, POW 12 fire bomb that causes the Fire continuous effect on a crit.  He also has a POW 7 sword, but if you’re using this something has most likely gone terribly wrong.  The Arms Master has two special ability actions.  The first is Combat Coordination [Deliverer] which allows a Deliverer model in the Master’s command range to re-roll one attack or damage roll.  The other is High-Angle Fire which gives a friendly Faction model’s ranged, AoE weapons Arcing Fire.  (Arcing Fire allows a model to ignore intervening models further than an inch away when attacking.)  The Arms Master also has the Veteran Leader [Deliverer] ability which grants +1 to attack for other Deliverer models in this command range.  

The Deliverer Arms Master greatly increases the effectiveness of several of the Protectorate of Menoth’s ranged options.  The most obvious is the Deliverer Skyhammer unit.  Combat Coordination allows the primary attacker in a Combined Ranged Attack to re-roll his attack or damage as necessary.  Additionally, the +1 to attack rolls helps offset the -4 penalty from Inaccurate.  Keep in mind that these abilities can also be applied to the Deliverer Suburst Crew unit.  Veteran High-Angle Fire can help your models with AoE ranged attacks reach vulnerable parts of your opponent’s army.  Keep in mind that High Angle Fire will work on any friendly Faction model.  The Judicator, Revelator, and Vanquisher could all greatly benefit from Arcing Fire.  The Deliverer Arms Master is a solid support solo and an auto-include for anyone who wants to get the most out of Deliverers.  

Next up is the Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan:

From Privateer Press’ website:

“The artillery kapitans of the Winter Guard understand the true strength of Khadoran artillery. Under their command, crews lay down fearsome barrages just ahead of their advancing troops, decimating enemy lines while creating a chaotic environment that Khadoran forces can turn to their advantage. Often friendly troops are caught in these blasts, but a kapitan knows such losses are a necessary price of victory.”

The Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan has the same stat line at the members of the Winter Guard Infantry with the exception of 1 additional point of STR, MAT, RAT, and CMD.  He is armed with the traditional Winter Guard Blunderbuss and Axe.  He also has the tough ability.  The Artillery Kapitan has access to three special action abilities.  The first is Artillerist which gives a friendly Faction model in his command range +2 RAT on its next ranged AoE attack.  The model affected is also able re-roll the direction or distance if the attack doesn’t directly hit and deviates.  The Close Fire action gives a friendly Faction weapon crew unit the Clear! Ability.  Clear! causes ranged attacks from the affected model to automatically miss friendly models.  (And before you ask, yes the exclamation point is absolutely necessary when discussing Clear!)  Finally we have Fire & Displace which gives a friendly Faction weapon crew Reposition [2″].  

The Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan brings an interesting mix of abilities to the table.  Fire & Displace greatly increases the mobility of both the Winter Guard Mortar Crew and the Winter Guard Field Gun.  Reposition [2”] can help these units line up a shot for next turn or keep some distance between them and the enemy.  Artillerist is an extremely powerful ability that can help any of Khador’s ranged options.  Putting Artillerist on a Victor will partially eliminate the Inaccurate penalty of the Siege Mortar, and if you do miss, the re-roll on the deviation will help ensure that the 5” AoE lands where you need it.  The Conquest, Destroyer, and Mortar Crew all benefit from Artillerist in similar ways.  The Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan is a powerful support solo that will give you plenty of bang for your buck.  (I couldn’t resist)

The next solo that we’ll be looking at is the Venator Dakar:

From Privateer Press’ website:

“With exaltation a remote hope at best, the ruthless warriors of the Venator caste take to the field for survival and victory instead. Relentless and cunning, Venator dakars are stern leaders with exacting standards. Under the watchful eye of a dakar, other Venators march quickly and take precise aim, proving they are every bit as skilled in dealing death as the more respected warriors of the skorne.”

The Venator Dakar has a similar stat block as a Venator Reiver with the only differences being his higher RAT and CMD.  The Dakar is armed with the standard Reiver and Sword but the Weapon Master ability on his Reiver means he can dish out more damage than a standard Venator.  The Dakar has two special action abilities.  The first is Combat Coordination [Venator].  The ability works just like the Deliverer Arms Master’s Combat Coordination but it affects Venators instead of Deliverers.  The second special action is Desperate Pace [Faction Weapon Crew].  This ability grants +2” of movement to a friendly Faction weapon crew in the Dakar’s command range.  The Venator Dakar also has the Veteran Leader [Venator] ability which gives friendly Venator models in the Dakar’s command range +1 to attack rolls.  

Just like our previous two entries, the Venator Dakar is a ranged support solo.  Combat Coordination can help you Venator Reivers land an important combined ranged attack.  It’s also handy for increasing the accuracy or damage of the Venator Catapult Crew and the Venator Flayer Cannon Crew.  The Venator weapon crews also greatly benefit from Desperate Pace.  An extra 2” of movement may not seem like much but the added threat range can take your opponent by surprise.  Veteran Leader provides a +1 to hit for every Venator within nine inches of the Dakar.  This includes the two weapon crews, the Reivers, and the Venator Slingers.  I highly recommend bringing a Venator Dakar if you want to get the most out of the Skorne’s Venator units.  

Last, but not least, we have the Hellslinger Phantom: 

From Privateer Press’ website:

“A malevolent specter born of Cryxian magic, the Hellslinger Phantom bears a striking resemblance to the Cygnaran warcaster Allister Caine, and rumors suggest it was made from a sliver of his very soul. The Hellslinger Phantom mimics Caine’s style on the battlefield, firing runeshots akin to the ones employed by gun mages. First spotted in a remote town in northern Cygnar, the phantom slaughtered a large number of innocent civilians, and now every day it roams free, the body count grows.”

It looks like Caine has been moonlighting as a pistol wraith.  Speaking of pistol wraiths, the Hellsinger Phantom has the same stat line as a standard wraith but with +1 RAT, DEF, and ARM.  The Phantom also shares the pistol wraiths’ Undead, Incorporeal, and Gunfighter abilities in addition to Soul Taker: Body Count which allows the Hellsinger to claim enemy souls and Strength of Death which allows it to spend soul tokens to boast attack and damage rolls.  The Hellsinger Phantom also has the ability Swift Hunter which lets it move 2” after destroying an enemy model with a ranged attack.  The Phantom is armed with two Wraithstorm Pistols.  These mid-ranged, POW 12 guns have three different attack types to choose from when making an attack: Critical Grievous Wounds which causes models that are hit to lose tough and the ability to be healed on a crit, Ghost Shot which ignores line of sight, concealment & cover, and Incendiary which changes the damage type to fire sets models hit ablaze.  On top of all this, the Pistols also have Reload [1].  This allows the Phantom to make 1 additional ranged with each pistol per soul token spent.  

The Hellsinger Phantom excels at hunting down enemy infantry.  The Phantom’s first order of business should be to gather souls to make the most of Reload and Strength of Death.   Just be careful after attacking.  The Phantom loses Incorporeal after making an attack leaving it open to retaliation.  Swift Hunter can help keep you safe by allowing you to re-position after destroying an enemy.  This combination of powerful abilities makes the Hellsinger Phantom one mean combat solo.  

Well folks, Old Man Melvin is tapping his foot and glaring at his pocket-watch* which means it’s time for me to wrap things up.  ‘Til next time!

– Uncle Grumps

*Melvin does not own a Pocket Watch but now wants one.

Pathfinder: Bestiary 6

Ask anyone, I’m not a Pathfinder guy. I played decades of Dungeons & Dragons 3.X and walked away satisfied, but also with no real desire to play the system again. Even the enhanced version of the rules put out by the wonderful folks over at Paizo didn’t really give me an urge to dive back in. I don’t want to cause any confusion though, I have watch Paizo succeed, and give them nothing but praise for their, practically doting, attention to their fan base and quality product line. In my hands now is their 6th Bestiary. I think it’s high time I delve back in and check out some of these new monsters!

Pathfinder has always been a game of excesses. They are great about providing a plethora of anything a player or GM might want to get their hands on. The Bestiary 6 sports over 200 new monsters & playable races for the table. Growing up I always had a thing for wolves, this has survived into adulthood so of the many new playable races I really love the look of the wolf-headed humanoid known as the Rougarou. I love the lore surrounding them, they are often mistaken as werewolves but actually detest lycanthropes and hunt them mercilessly. I think I’d really enjoy playing around with these guys. They can even shift to wolf form!

The biggest draw to this book, for Game Masters that is, are the inclusion of some really excellent new archdevils and a really cool Horsemen of the Apocalypse angle. I really like that the Horsemens’ steeds each have their own special stats and abilities. The Horsemen themselves are nasty creatures to go up against, the lowest CR being a 27. These are some truly epic level foes to throw at a party. Their lore is extensive too.

Even Krampus makes an appearance.

The book is laid out very well. I’ve always enjoyed Pathfinder’s commitment to maintaining an artwork style that flows smoothly over all of its products. Keeping a similar look. This bestiary also sports a huge variety of appendixes to make searching for that perfect foe for your table very easy. The layout and variety of appendixes is something for other tabletop games to emulate.

While I may not find myself playing Pathfinder any time soon, I can eassily say that if you do this book will make for an excellent addition to your library. I have to say, with Starfinder on its way, I am very happy to be starting to dig a little deeper into Paizo’s line of work. They produce really quality items and I know their next line will be the same. Let me know if you have any further questions about Pathfinder’s 6th Bestiary below!

-Melvs

Decades of Tales from the Yawning Portal

Tales from the Yawning Portal features seven iconic adventures and dungeons collected from the 40+ year history of Dungeons and Dragons. Updated for the fifth edition of the game we are treated with some of the most famous titles out there, not only from the early days but with many picked from the pages of years recently past as well. Another nice little touch is adding in details of the Yawning Portal itself in the introduction for GMs to use in their campaigns.

I love the idea of this book, it holds so much use for just about any Game Master out there. If you are a beginner, the wealth of resources provided to you by having all of these adventures close at hand is simply fantastic. It provides you something to run for your group if you find you aren’t up to crafting one on your own. If, rather, you feel like taking your first crack at adventure design, how could you do worse than some of the most famous quests ever built? Experienced GMs will likely use this book to run some of these iconic games for fun or pull ideas from the pages. Either way, this book has some serious use!

The book itself is as gorgeous and well crafted as always. Binding seems solid and the artwork excellent. I especially like that though the book maintains a cohesive look there are dozens of little touches to each adventure to mark their uniqueness. It’ll look really nice on the shelf next to my other 5e products, and will certainly shine behind the screen.

Let’s dive into what adventures have been chosen shall we? The book prints the adventures in the ideal order you’d want, by character level. You’ll soon see that if you were to play these adventures from one end to the other you’d have a nice character progression!

Chapter 1 – The Sunless Citadel – by Bruce Cordell, published in 2000. Original Edition, 3rd.

A buried citadel brings the dangers of blighted nature and your more typical monsters in this dungeon run for players of 1st level in anticipation of advancing to 3rd. Looking through this one I can see that this would be a great starter adventure for new GMs and new players alike. As cool as everything leading up to it is, I think the best part of this adventure lands on the climactic battle. I don’t want to reveal much, but the final challenge is really where it’s at.

Chapter 2 – The Forge of Fury – by Richard Baker, published in 2000. Original Edition, 3rd.

The Forge of Fury was originally designed to be a direct sequel to The Sunless Citadel so it’s no surprise that it works best for characters starting at 3rd level, it should take them to the 5th level. You could easily slide this adventure into any campaign though. Once more the players will find themselves in some ruins, this time an old Dwarven Stronghold. As you’d imagine, it’s brimming with dangerous monsters just waiting to get a piece of the PCs. That’s not where the adventure ends though, they’ll find themselves deeper and deeper into the goings on and the earth itself. The last fight is about as iconic as it gets!

Chapter 3 – The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan – by Harold Johnson & Jeff R. Leason, published in 1980. Original Edition, 1st.

Let’s do the Time Warp folks! Hailing from before I was born we have an adventure that gets off to a thunderous start, quickly pitting the PCs against its foes. One of the coolest aspects of this adventure comes from its homage to Mayan and Aztec imagery & design. From all accounts the authors went to great lengths to study the cultures before producing the story-line. The result is really immersive and feels very different from your traditional crawl. I really love this one and plan to run it for my group first chance I get! Oh, and this one is geared toward PCs of 5th level and will take them to, or near, 8th level.

Chapter 4 – White Plume Mountain – by Lawrence Schick, published 1979. Original Edition, 1st.

White Plume Mountain is one of the better known adventures from the early days. The concept is pretty excellent, there’s a village near a volcano and superstitious chatter abounds! People near the volcano tend to disappear as well. Now some highly valued magical weapons have disappeared and White Plume Mountain seems to be mixed up in the whole ordeal. Hosting some great baddies to fight, plenty of magic items to grab, and intriguing rooms inside a volcano, this adventure is a great place to delve into! As expected this adventure runs best for characters of 8th level and will likely end up around 9th-10th level.

Chapter 5 – Dead in Thay – by Scott Fitzgerald, published 2014. Original Edition 5th.

Technically Dead in Thay was crafted during the playtest period leading into 5th Edition, but now its been fully developed. This adventure is a sprawling dungeon that pits the adventurers against some truly renown evildoers in the Forgotten Realms, the Red Wizards of Thay. The Red Wizards have obtained ownership of a dungeon, known as The Doomvault, that frankly grants them access to too much power. It has tipped the scales too much in their favor and they need to be stopped. This is an all out dungeon crawl of epic proportions for PCs beginning at 9th level and should end with them at 11th. It’ll take time though, this place is huge, easily the largest dungeon in the book!

Chapter 6 – Against the Giants – by Gary Gygax, published 1981. Original Edition AD&D

Written by Gygax himself, Against the Giants was originally a compilation of adventures written that pre-date the official release of Dungeons and Dragons. The concept begins simple enough, giants roam the civilized lands antagonizing the populace. The PCs are tasked with removing the threat. As high level adventurers now, 11th level or higher, they are to be considered some of the “go to” folks for handling such a menace. I really like the fact that this adventure hold so many named enemies who can harry the adventurers later if not dealt with in full when first encountered. You get a taste of a lot of giants and their strongholds here, truly a feat to take them all out! This adventure would fit nicely into Storm King’s Thunder if you can find a place for it.

Chapter 7 – Tomb of Horrors – by Gary Gygax, published 1978. Original Edition OD&D

We knew it would make the cut. Even some who have never played a game of D&D in their lives know a thing or two about this one. It’s even iconic enough to have earned a place in the book Ready Player One as one of the first big pop culture references. To hear Gary Gygax say it, Tomb of Horrors is an adventure for players who crave a mental challenge. It doesn’t feature a ton of baddies but it makes up for that with trap after trap, and puzzle after puzzle. Personally, I’ve never seen the appeal, but you can bet I’m going to read over the 5th edition version to see if I can suss out what makes this dungeon tick. This is the penultimate adventure of the book though and were your players to play them all back to back (and a decent GM would easily find a way to connect them all) your PCs will likely enter this dungeon at around level 15 or higher and end at level… well they probably won’t survive it to be honest.

The book rounds itself off with some pretty good appendixes. There are certain magic items and monsters found within the pages of this book that can’t be found elsewhere, so it’s obviously nice to have some extra space to store those. If I’m being honest I would love to have every magic item and every monster referenced in each adventure located at the end of each chapter they are found in, but I get the idea of not creating extra bulk for the printers. The new items and monsters are some really cool treats too.

As I said before this book is really useful and would make an excellent addition to an aspiring GM, or even an old hat’s bookshelf. Each adventure is really well laid out and the updates help it fit really finely into this new age of Dungeons and Dragons. I hope to see more inventive additions to this line of books!

-Melvs