Recession Reviews: Raging Swan Round up

by Frank Gori

Recession Reviews: Raging Swan Round up

Times are hard and while a gaming book beats any trip to the theatre, our loved ones don’t always see it that way. When you can spare the money what products deserve your hard earned gaming dollars? Who balances enough crunch with the fluff to allow the frugal GM to recycle, after all the best games are the ones you can play over and over again without losing interest.

Normally we’ll not being doing half an AP all at once, and any who wish to review something in this format should email me a request at frank.gori@gmail.com

 

Dark Oak Collector’s Edition :

Written by: Creighton Broadhurst and Steve Hood

Page count: 45 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 12 (covers, forward, sectional title pages)

Golden Pages: 19 (reusable npcs, spells, reusable maps, monsters, new items)

Cover price: $10.99 (print)

Price per page: $0.24

Modified price per page: $0.21 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 3.75 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 8.5- quite reusable

Description (minor spoilers): I’m giving this a full 1 point bump for layout. Typically you only notice poor layout but this adventure has outstanding layout that make it easier to use. The crunch is conveniently located and a table in the front has a quick reference and page numbers on all the stat blocks. Now that I’m done gushing on the layout let’s address the work itself.

We get 2 main locations, a village home base with allot of character and what essentially amounts to a dungeon. Lots of NOCs in the village and it’d make a fine drop in for just about any setting where you need a small village and a swamp. There’s some negative space in the design as a few hooks are left open (like why an npc fears her own basement.)

The dungeon is a fine drop in and front and rear loaded. The first fight suffers slightly from being the third or fourth corrupted Treant I’ve read about this year (Kingmaker 6, Realm of the Fellknight Queen, pretty much what frost firs are in Reign of Winter), its turning into a trope. The Pcs can talk their way around it leaving them quite able to handle this in one long session.

The middle fights are ok, and the big fight to finish promises to be memorable, though I’d consider adding another lizardman veteran or 2. Terrain will play into this heavily and it is the main thing to consider carefully in the end fight.

The additional items are fantastic and some pregenerated characters appear in the player aid section if one wanted to run this as a one shot. Those characters can just as easily be stat blocks for baddies and it’s a nice addition as is the rules supplement.

Overall this is a good adventure with a classic feel which is its strength and where it falls down for me. There’s nothing here that feels innovative or particularly exciting game design wise. While this is far from innovative it is extremely well executed. The layout, attention to detail on rules and characters raise this from an average tale to a really solid drop in I’m comfortable recommending for a Midguard or Kingmaker campaign.

Henchfolk and Hirelings :

Written by: Creighton Broadhurst, Christian Alipounarian and Andy Glenn

Page count: 48 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 4 (covers, forward, sectional title pages)

Golden Pages: 4

Cover price: $5.99 (pdf only)

Price per page: $0.12

Modified price per page: $0.12 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 12 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 9- valuable

Description: Like Creighton I’ve never been satisfied with the leadership feat, this presents useable old school rules and provides quick stats and more importantly personalities for a fairly extensive range of classes, races, and alignments.

If this had all the statblocks it’d be an undisputed 10 as it stands I would make the pcs flesh out the rest (which is perhaps the intention.

Villains III :

Written by: Julian Neale and Martin Tideswell

Page count: 23 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 8 (covers, forward, title pages)

Golden Pages: 15

Cover price: $3.99 (pdf only)

Price per page: $0.17

Modified price per page: $0.13 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 2.87 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 8- useful

Description: 10 villains in the CR5 ish sweet spot. All of them complete with statblocks and personality, I used one as a villain in Kingmaker and it ended up a PC’s cohort. This product is solid usable material for just about any campaign in need of a quick villain or 10.

 

Overall: Raging Swan is one of the 3PPs I’d extend trust to. Their layouts are helpfully superb, they have a strong focus on GM material, and they in particular make good characters which at the end of the day is the foundation of roleplaying. I haven’t seen innovative but what I do see is safe, solid, and useful products for today’s harried GM.

I also give them kudos for their sample pages and money-back guarentee. Gaming budgets are tight, if you aren't happy with a product having the ability to get your hobby budget back is clutch.

Recession Reviews: Wrath of the Righteous 2

by Frank Gori

Recession Reviews: Wrath of the Righteous 2

Times are hard and while a gaming book beats any trip to the theatre, our loved ones don’t always see it that way. When you can spare the money what products deserve your hard earned gaming dollars? Who balances enough crunch with the fluff to allow the frugal GM to recycle, after all the best games are the ones you can play over and over again without losing interest.

Want to see a reveiw of your product here? I'll give any Pathfinder or 3.5 product an honest reveiw for a reviewers copy just email me at theflyingpincushion@gmail.com and we can discuss it.

Book 2 Sword of Valor :

Written by: Neil Spicer

Page count: 98 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 17 (covers, forward, advertisements, and a story not directly useful to the adventure)

Golden Pages: 47 (reusable npcs, spells, reusable maps, monsters, new items, relics, demon graft system)

Cover price: $22.99

Price per page: $0.23

Modified price per page: $0.18 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 5.76 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 9 very reusable

Description (minor spoilers): I’m still reluctant to adopt the mythic system, but this AP is so full of awesome last week I dove in to the first book and left off at Neatholm. In this installment you’re PCs will be leading an army of 100 paladins through a series of challenges that will test your Pc’s skills as individuals and as commanders.

The mission is to take an artifact that will also aid you in regaining a lost city in the world wound. When I read this and when I GM this, I will channel Heart of Darkness it has a little of that vibe.

This is the first time I’ve seen the mass combat rules of Kingmaker back in action and Neil Spicer shows a mastery of them. I fully expect that half the fun is figuring out when your PCs need to foray ahead and when they need the full might of their army. There’s a good mix on both the encounters and the rewards. Its clear that you will be given a downtime period to perhaps revive the kingdom building rules, I fervently hope I’m right and that this goes beyond just one installment.

 

The monsters presented are quite useful, the items are awesome including magical medals which I love, and I’ll be using the crunchable demon grafting article on tons of baddies (and expanding it as a game designer.) If you never run this AP but like throwing demons, or run Kingmaker and want some new prestatted armies there’s allot to poach from this installment.

This AP had a tremendous start, this was a vital hand off and Neil Spicer rose to the occasion and delivered like a champ. Keep up the good work Paizo.

Recession Reviews: Kingmaker 1-3

Recession Reviews: Kingmaker 1-3

Times are hard. While the cost of a gaming book beats any trip to the theatre, our loved ones don’t gaming dollars? Who balances enough crunch with the fluff to allow the frugal GM to recycle, after all the best games are the ones you can play over and over again without losing interest.

Normally we’ll not being doing half an AP all at once, and any who wish to review something in this format should email me a request at theflyingpincushion@gmail.com

Book 1 Stolen Land:

Written by: Tim Hitchcock

Page count: 98 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 21 ( forward, advertisements, and a story not directly useful to the adventure)

Golden Pages: 36 (reusable npcs, spells, reusable maps, monsters)

Cover price: $19.99

Price per page: $0.20

Modified price per page: $0.18 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 4.66 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 6.5 while you can reuse allot, this is also before allot of alternate classes and suppliments and the challenge rating system tends to undersell what a PC can do.

Description (minor spoilers): This is an exploration grind, but in the right homebrew hands much can be adapted to a fairy tale type campaign or a political campaign if you use the gazetteer on Brevoy. This was really good when it came out, it has suffered a bit with age.

Book 2 Rivers Run Red:

Written by: Rob McCreary

Page count: 98 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 23 (forward, advertisements, gazetteer on a god that actually becomes less compelling as you read more about him and a story not directly useful to the adventure)

Golden Pages: 47 (reusable npcs, spells, reusable maps, monsters, extremely useful kingdom building system that while problematic provides a base foundation for several variant systems)

Cover price: $19.99

Price per page: $0.20

Modified price per page: $0.16 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 4.26 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 8 (Very reusable, more so if you check in at kingmaker forum or buy supplements to kingdom building rules.)

Description (minor spoilers): The PCs found a kingdom and face some smaller threats. The original story is ok, what DM_Dudemeister did to this is generally considered superior and rightfully so. There are problems with this, but ultimately it’s a foundation any campaign can adapt and learn from and could be a well treasured tome for the homebrewing DM. Also Trollhounds…

Book 3 The Varnhold Vanishing:

Written by: Greg A. Vaughan

Page count: 98 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 29 (covers, forward, advertisements, an wasteful gazetteer on iobaria which never relates back into the story and isn’t functional enough for a DM to make relevant and a story not directly useful to the adventure)

Golden Pages: 38 (reusable npcs, spells, reusable maps, monsters, new items, extra story hooks)

Cover price: $19.99

Price per page: $0.20

Modified price per page: $0.18 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 3.37 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 5.5 Gives you a method to nerf liches, but there’s some filler here despite restricting the authors space with wasteful story pages and perhaps the least useful gazetteer I’ve come across for a campaign. There’s allot to love but its also hard to adapt and reuse, especially the generic spriggans in the beginning.

Description (minor spoilers): Our heroes sort of save an undersized colony and stop a lich. They also make friends with centaur allies. This was my favorite villain and my favorite core idea for a story. Running it changed my opinion somewhat as the story is a bit sparse and there’s tons about kingmaker that logically do not jibe. This has also aged poorly. That said by far and away my favorite villain in the AP.

Kingmaker comes with an asterisk. If you use it as an outline for a heavy homebrew and you make use of the reams of fan content on the boards it will be your best campaign. If you don’t allot will not make sense and fall flat. Great AP if you have the time to work it and are willing to color outside the lines quite a bit.

Recession Reviews: The Worldwound Incursion (Pathfinder AP 73)

by Frank Gori

Recession Reviews: The Worldwound Incursion

Times are hard. While the cost of a gaming book beats any trip to the theatre, our loved ones don’t always see things it that way. When you can spare the money, what products deserve your hard earned gaming dollars? Who balances enough crunch with the fluff to allow the frugal GM to recycle, after all the best games are the ones you can play over and over again without losing interest.

Today we take on the first installment of Wrath of the Righteous. Any publishers interested in having something reviewed in this format should email me a request at theflyingpincushion@gmail.com

Also, Last week we got a contact from Brandon Hodge about the recession review format, here's what he had to say "I really like the approach to reviews--value for page is a really cool meter. Keep it up, and, again, thanks for taking the time to review our stuff!!!"

Book 1 The Worldwound Incursion:

Written by: Amber E. Scott

Page count: 98 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 21 (forward, advertisements, credits, and a story not directly useful to the adventure)

Golden Pages: 32 (reusable npcs, spells, reusable maps, monsters, new items)

Cover price: $22.99

Price per page: $0.23

Modified price per page: $0.21 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 4.66 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 8.5 very reusable

Description (minor spoilers): When I saw what was coming I was very close to cancelling my AP subscription. I downloaded the playtest for the Mythic Adventure Tiers and was NOT a fan. As a DM I already have trouble with the CR system as it doesn’t account for player experience. My players are all DMs and ex DMs with a decade or more gaming experience, they punch 3-4 CRs above their level consistently and rarely with casualties. As a DM I can put them on the ropes of a TPK with strong tactics but they always find a way out. Mythic Tiers just makes my job harder.

I fucking love this book. I am using an economic system here so the rating is as high as I can justify but I was close to giving the narrative when the PCs awaken a golden page ranking. Here’s the thing you need to appreciate about this AP your PCs start off as collateral damage in a greater conflict and rise up to be big heroes. All the tricks as a DM I use to make a player feel more heroic are here, from flawed allies they need to rescue to eventual minions, to a city in crisis and your PCs being the only real chance to save victory from the jaws of disaster.

Another good element here is that you can take this as a stand alone book with very little adjustment. It will take your PCs from 1^st to 6^th level and give them decent treasure and alliances but there is nothing that absolutely forces you into the next installment.

I’m not going to use the mythic Tiers. I’m not going to adjust this at all, my guys will beat it anyway, if it comes up I’ll throw them some extra treasure or potions or items to make up the difference but there is one certainty, I will run this book, the rest have a high bar to stand up to.

Recession Reviews: Open Gaming Monthly 5

by Frank Gori

Times are hard and while a gaming book beats any trip to the theatre, our loved ones don’t always see it that way. When you can spare the money what products deserve your hard earned gaming dollars? Who balances enough crunch with the fluff to allow the frugal GM to recycle, after all the best games are the ones you can play over and over again without losing interest.

Any who wish to review something in this format should email me a request at theflyingpincushion@gmail.com

Open Gaming Monthly Issue 5 :

Written by: Various Authors      

Page count: 99 counting the cover

Throw Away pages: 24 (covers, forward, advertisements, recipe, and fiction not directly useful att he gaming table)

Golden Pages: 71 (reusable npcs, spells, character paths, magic items, monsters, traits, flaws, and solid articles)

Cover price: $2.99 + OGM 2 included for free!

Price per page: $0.03

Modified price per page: $0.02 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page, not factoring in OGM#2 gift w/ purchase

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 4.13 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 9.5 extremely reusable and useful

Description (minor spoilers): What makes OGM shine aside from the value of its price per page is that there’s always going to be something useful. You might not agree with all the authors or even use 90% of it but you will always get something for your money and usually an entertaining read to boot. Highlights of this issue were the expansions on traits and drawbacks (which really needed the help), the guide to the minotaur, the dragon cemetery, the beastiary, and the magic items.

It is notable that OGM sticks in ads to fill half pages, the editors seem to miss some grammar mistakes, and the art quality ranges from amazing to distractingly bad. Overall you are getting a very good deal so no complaints from me!

***It is notable that I am a contributer to this publication, the review however focuses on the content that I did not contribute. I of course think my article giving GM advice on Sidekicks is amazing but that did not factor into this rating we are merely discussing value for your gaming dollar, aside from freebies this is the best deal in gaming.

Recession Reviews: Reign of Winter 4-6

by Frank Gori

Recession Reviews: Reign of Winter 4-6

Times are hard. While the cost of a gaming book beats any trip to the theatre, our loved ones don’t always see things it that way. When you can spare the money, what products deserve your hard earned gaming dollars? Who balances enough crunch with the fluff to allow the frugal GM to recycle, after all the best games are the ones you can play over and over again without losing interest.

Normally we’ll not being doing half an AP all at once, and any who wish to review something in this format should email me a request at theflyingpincushion@gmail.com

Book 4 The Frozen Stars:

Written by: Matthew Goodall

Page count: 98 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 31 (covers, forward, advertisements, in this case the gazetteer for Triaxus, and a story not directly useful to the adventure)

Golden Pages: 31 (reusable npcs, spells, reusable maps, monsters, new items)

Cover price: $22.99

Price per page: $0.23

Modified price per page: $0.23 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 2.16 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 5 while you can reuse allot, it takes enough GM effort to merit a lower rating

Description (minor spoilers): Despite the rating I love this adventure. The option to either assault or defend the fortress is a welcome trope that harkens back to the wargaming roots of the system. If your looking for a dragon rider based world then Triaxus is the place and pick this up to supplement Distant World.

This is mostly just too gonzo for most homebrew worlds.

Book 5 Rasputen Must Die:

Written by: Brandon Hodge

Page count: 98 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 27 (covers, forward, advertisements, gazetteer on a god 90% of your PCs will never touch, and a story not directly useful to the adventure)

Golden Pages: 45 (reusable npcs, spells, reusable maps, monsters, new items, new troop subtype, amazing modern firearm gazeteer)

Cover price: $22.99

Price per page: $0.23

Modified price per page: $0.23 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 3.26 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 2 or 9 depending entirely on your perspective on modern firearms in fantasy

Description (minor spoilers): The party comes to Earth. You’re either the DM that has been waiting for this since the game’s beginnings or the type that will hate this with a fiery passion. I fall into the former camp and this is likely my favorite AP standalone ever (and I’ll be using it in kingmaker as a Numerian invasion,)

As a history buff Brandon Hodge has a deft hand at introducing this story in a manner that doesn’t do the period an injustice.

Book 6 The Witch Queen’s Revenge:

Written by: Greg A. Vaughan

Page count: 98 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 23 (covers, forward, advertisements, and a story not directly useful to the adventure)

Golden Pages: 32 (reusable npcs, spells, reusable maps, monsters, new items)

Cover price: $22.99

Price per page: $0.23

Modified price per page: $0.22 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 4.26 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 6 You can translocate some of this but so much is within Baba Yaga’s Hut it’s hard to see any of this transplanted elsewhere.

Description (minor spoilers): Our heroes save the lesser of two evils and save the world. It’s another hard sell for those picking this up in part to farm matereals for another campaign. The villains are tough here and can be reskinned in a number of ways.

Overall, this si a fun and engaging series of adventures I’d recommend to either run straight or if you’re inclined it meshes surprisingly well with Kingmaker and Tales of the Old Margreve for a dark fairytale feel with a strong Russian flavor (though if you do that Rasputen must Die is a hard sell.)

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Recession Reviews: Paizo's Adventure path Reign of Winter 1-3

by Frank Gori


Times are hard and while a gaming book beats any trip to the theatre, our loved ones don’t always see it that way. When you can spare the money what products deserve your hard earned gaming dollars? Who balances enough crunch with the fluff to allow the frugal GM to recycle, after all the best games are the ones you can play over and over again without losing interest.

Normally we’ll not being doing half an AP all at once, and any who wish to review something in this format should email me a request at theflyingpincushion@gmail.com

Book 1 The Snows of Summer :

Written by: Neil Spicer

Page count: 98 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 23 (covers, forward, advertisements, and a story not directly useful to the adventure)

Golden Pages: 34 (reusable npcs, spells, reusable maps, monsters, new items)

Cover price: $22.99

Price per page: $0.23

Modified price per page: $0.21 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 4.36 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 8.5 quite reusable

Description (minor spoilers): The party starts in Taldor if you follow cannon and moves on thru a magic portal to Irrisin. Along the way your players gain the power and responsibility of a mantle that ties them to Baba Yaga.

Reusable pages include several new monsters like Frost Firs, House Spirits (Fey), Winter animals some of which the party druid or ranger may covet (Giant Weasel), new winter themed items like the spear of manhunting, new winter themed spells like snowball, allot of good NPCS, and 2 locations one could use separately or combine into a more interesting whole.

These pages can enrich winter in any setting but the adventures themselves can easily be cut and pasted into other adventures or settings. In particular it melds well with Kingmaker, Tales of the Old Margreve, or if one were inclined it’d make a fine evil sub realm in Ravenloft.

Book 2 The Shackled Hut :

Written by: Jim Grooves

Page count: 98 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 27 (covers, forward, advertisements, way too much about the ecology of winter wolves, and a story not directly useful to the adventure)

Golden Pages: 30 (reusable npcs, spells, reusable maps, monsters, new items)

Cover price: $22.99

Price per page: $0.23

Modified price per page: $0.23 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 3.26 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 7.5 reusable with light reworks

Description (minor spoilers): The party romps thru Irrisen and has a number of memorable fights.

Reusable pages include several new monsters like Dawn Piper (Fey) and mirror men but not as much as the previous installment (sorry don’t see anyone using courage heart ever really), though this has a winter fey template you can use to empower any fey the template is something I’ve seen before in Carnival of Tears. The new winter themed items have a real standout in the rime pelt, and the write up on Millani is particularly good. The encounters presented are actually in my opinion a little more interesting then the previous installment though some are severely underpowered.

This would meld well with the APs adventures and realms I mentioned previously or in any homebrew looking to strike a Russian fairytale element.

Book 3 Maiden Mother Crone :

Written by: Tim Hitchcock

Page count: 98 counting the inside covers

Throw Away pages: 27 (covers, forward, advertisements, a god writeup that has little bearing on the story and barely covers a niche and a story not directly useful to the adventure)

Golden Pages: 39 (reusable npcs, spells, reusable maps, monsters, new items)

Cover price: $22.99

Price per page: $0.23

Modified price per page: $0.21 = Cover price/pages + golden pages – throw away pages= modified price per page

Crunch to Fluff Ratio: 3.26 to 1

Our Rating out of 10: 8 reusable

Description (minor spoilers): The party romps through a creative and interesting dungeon culminating in a fight with a potent centaur.

Reusable pages could well be the whole book as dungeons are almost universally reusable. That said the reusable pages are all or nothing. You either want it all or you’re likely to want none of it.