My latest Old-School campaign attempt’s ruminations

Yesterday I managed to run my first OD&D (LLB-based) session to my wife. After her first horror-laden LotFP game, we agreed in trying something more traditional. Because she has been reading The Hobbit (the comic book) to our daughter during the last month, I picked its setting (without any regard to The Lord of Rings) as a starting point. She quickly created a Dwarf Fighting-man of 1^st level. It’s interesting to note that her greatest difficult during the character creation process was why her dwarf was adventuring and what was his name. I offered some suggestions for names and allowed her to roll a background randomly (on a table I made). She discovered that her character was searching for his missing brother. She quite liked the random background idea.

The session started right in the wilds, with the discovery of a mule track (reputedly belonging to the missing dwarf) leading to a sinister pair of solid wooden doors in a otherwise normal cave entrance.  Having learned a little bit about the risks of dungeon delving alone, she decided to retreat to the closest village to find some hirelings. Searching at the local inn, she tried to recruit the patrons: an itinerant goldsmith, a potbellied peddler and a foreigner wanderer. The goldsmith was very interested but didn’t want to share any findings with the other two, while the peddler found the entire enterprise too risky. The silent foreigner accepted the job after our hero agreed to give to him the first 50 gold pieces found (after which they’d discuss future shares). The entire scene was pure roleplay (I didn’t bother with rolling reactions). I quite liked the fact that my wife readily mistrusted the mellifluous goldsmith, but decided to trust in the weird foreigner (and no, she never read The Lord of the Rings’ classic Strider scene at the Prancing Pony inn). The decision proved right, because the goldsmith was actually in league with the local bandits (besides other factions that I’ll not mention as my wife sometimes read these posts). Their journey to the mysterious sealed doors was interrupted by a quick assault of the aforesaid bandits. After felling two of the brigands, the others fled. Because it was late we decided to end the session before delving into the mines.

Well, my thoughts…

First, it was odd to run OD&D because it really feels “dry” to me, rules-wise. The fact that there is almost nothing between you and your fellow players made a huge impact upon me; besides demanding more attention to my descriptions and NPC reactions. With few rules and systems to watch out, the games’ pacing and refereeing becomes of utmost importance. [This entire conclusion may seem obvious to you, but I’ve been a D&D 3.5/Pathfinder Gamemaster for the last 11 years.]

Second observation: a rules light game doesn’t mean a preparation-less game. I really regretted not having prepared myself more for this session. While my previous LotFP was run basically on mood and mystery (two themes that I’m quite comfortable improvising), this OD&D session required expertise at an area that I’m rusted – exploration. I did have a NPC random table and two encounter tables, but I felt that they weren’t enough. I believe that the game felt too “vanilla”, and I think that my wife felt the same (another conclusion could be that we’re both just tired).

Anyway, after our small session, she confessed to me that the LotFP felt more tense and mood-heavy. Compared to it, OD&D was a lot more straight-forward and light, besides tactical. I guess she missed more weird/unusual NPC interactions. [At this point I must point out that I’m usually a Gamemaster that enjoys NPC-heavy games. However, I really wanted to try an Old School approach. So, I wanted to avoid games where my players consult patron-like NPCs about what should be their next move. As a consequence, the game’s dynamic was a little strange to me and – I guess – my wife.] As I said, I think that I should have dedicated more preparation time to the village and the local wilds – two elements that I thought could be left open and filled “organically” with random tables in future sessions.

Let’s leave my game impressions at this point. Next session should reveal the true “heart” of this (would-be) campaign: the exploration of the mines and the hunt for the missing brother. If the next session or two doesn’t develop well, I’ll suggest to her that we attempt a new LotFP game – the way I see my wife enjoys more mystery/investigative adventures than exploration ones.

Ok, time for the rules stuff.

• I used the LBBs as the base system, with a few bits from Chainmail (particularly dwarven racial benefits). 
• I added waysofetheearth’s Combat That Scales (which I really loved). 
• I used the Shields Shall Be Splintered! and a Binding Wounds rule (1d4 hit points, only if done after battle, followed by a small rest). 
• I granted a simple Cleave-like mechanic to the Fighting-man (if you drop an enemy you gain a free attack) – I may change this to the classical Chainmail rule about Fighting-man gaining extra attacks against 1 HD monsters. 
• Because an OD&D game with one player is very lethal, I stole the Flag System from the great E6 mini-game. Basically, I established that I can’t kill the PC unless the Red Flag is raised (this is represented by a red d6, which is passed to me). This doesn’t grant plot immunity – there’re several things worse than death (like being turned to stone, mutilated or imprisoned for life). When the Red Flag is raised I grant my wife 3 re-rolls to be used as she wishes. 
• Two-handed weapons damage uses 2d6, picking the higher. Fighting with two weapons grant a +1 to hit.

Many of these rules were inspired by the excellent Philotomy's OD&D Musings.

The Flag System is really a radical departure from Old School standards, I know, but I’m trying to use this OD&D campaign as a small tutorial. After all, I have only one player and one that hasn’t played for 10+ years. If things runs fine I’ll probably abolish the rule in the future (approximately at 3^rd level) – though I might grant re-rolls as a special reward system.

Besides this rules, I'm really attempted to strive as close as possible to the LBBs – Ability Scores in general grant small or no benefits (the most important one being extra XP), all attacks deal 1D6, I’m not using nothing from Greyhawk and other supplements etc.

OD&D Combat that Scales

For those you that are running adventures based on the LBBs, I can’t recommend enough the Original D&D Discussion forums. They’re a great gaming community and excellent folks to chat with. Their material and topics are also top-notch for those interested not only in OD&D as hobby history, but also as a game to be constantly played, tested and developed.

The Simplified D&D Combat that Scales – by the user waysoftheearth –  is my latest finding there. It’s a really amazing analyses of the OD&D combat matrixes, besides an intelligent (and fun) fix to make combat scale to their higher levels (especially if like the OD&D damage rules where every strike does 1d6 points of damage).

My LotFP Debut!

This last week was a really good one for me. I finally got some rest from traveling for public exams, work was easier, and while our little daughter is the most Chaotic Neutral creature I’ve ever seen, she’s also a boundless source of joy for us. So, things are running smoothly (except for this blog… I really need to update it more).

On Monday my Lamentations of the Flame Princess Grindhouse Edition finally arrived. I had already read the rules available online and quickly borrowed the non-Grindhouse Rules & Magic and Referee books. However, I never managed to read the whole package. It’s really an engaging game. Raggi managed to do something that I considered impossible – to create a unique and strong flavor, all by just using the basic D&D Rules (tinkered here and there, but still pure Old School).

I was planning to run a true 3 Little Brown Books game for my wife. She played RPG before (some 10 years ago I guess) and wanted to try again, so I created a solo game for me. She said she wanted to play with a Dwarf, but at the last moment changed her mind and decided for a Cleric. I thought that the official OD&D Cleric was a little “dry” at 1^st level. I also was really tempted to use my shiny LotFP box. In the end I switch systems in improvised a dark Medieval adventure, based on the dungeon I had draw for the OD&D game. I still hadn’t familiarized myself with the LotFP rules (I read them more 6 months ago) but I thought I could wrap things up by concentrating in the roleplay and mystery aspects of the adventure.

My wife’s Cleric was a poor member of the Holy Order of Saint Cyprian (this Crypian). We made the Order on the spot, because I think St. Cyprian of Antioch is an excellent patron for a spellcasting crusader. The adventure was about a small town in middle of the Holy Roman Empire’s dark forests. The local villagers had an old pact with chthonic fey spirits, which helped them in mining gold from the local mines. Things were fine until a priest came to town. He destroyed the pagan altars and symbols and took all the gold for the Church, as penitence for the sinner inhabitants. Presumably, he was killed and buried by the villagers, who were automatically afraid that the Church would send more priests (or an inquisitor) and kill them all. In this scenario, my wife’s Cleric came up. After investigating the village – and discovering little, besides the fact that something was clearly amiss – she decided to journey to the so called “haunted mines”. Unfortunately the local fey were just too happy to trap a priest and smash him to pieces with their pikes (think of kobolds, but make them really creepy, and mostly invisible). My wife forgot that she could retreat and didn’t survive her fist encounter after the fey managed to steal her torch and left her character in the dark.

The session was short but very fun and I was delighted by my wife’s reaction: she was half scared half excited by the whole story. Better: she ask me when she could make a new character. If everything goes right, we’ll another game try again this Sunday (this time I promised here that I’ll run something more lightly, so I’ll use only my LBBs… for now).

LotFP is very easy to run, thought it did take some time for me to remember that the ACs run from 12-to-18, not from 10 to 18 (or more). I also had to check the shield rule (and I used the Shields Shall be Splintered! famous rule). I really love Raggi’s version of the Cleric and it was the sole reason for switching at the last time my game system for the night.

I actually wrote this spot to share some ideas about LotFP implied setting. It’s clearly based (to me at least) on a late Renaissance/early Modern Period. I know that there’re firearms rules coming up in a future module, but what I missed most was a distinct division between evasion/armor. For Modern games I really like to keep those things separated. I’m entirely aware that his prejudice comes from the whole “firearms destroyed armor” issue (and yes, I known that the bow did the same thing centuries before). Anyway, I wished to make unarmored Fighters a viable option.

My first reaction was simply to use a character’s Dexterity as his Defense Class (AC sounds weird here). Other option – given that LotFP’s armor runs basically from 12 to 18 – was to make the DC equals to 9 + ½ Dexterity (thus a Dex 3 would give you DC 10, Dex 10-11 would give you AC 14 and Dex 18 equals DC 18).

By using DC instead of AC I could use armor as damage reduction (I thought about using it as a deflecting defense, but it sounded too complicated). Because LotFP uses really low damage bonus, this rule sounds perfectly here. Maybe leather granted DR 2, chain DR 4 and plate DR 6. Some weapons would pierce or ignore ½ of the DR – like firearms at close range (pierce) or maces vs. plate (ignore ½).

Shields would grant a bonus to DC.

Every level above Unencumbered would reduce your DC by 2. [Actually, because Encumbrance reduces DC I believe that shields should a different sort of advantage. Maybe Level 0 NPCs, Specialists and Halflings using a shield have a 1-2 in 6 chance of deflecting a blow. Clerics, Dwarves and Elves have a 1-3 in 6. Fighters get a 1-4 in 6. You can block one blow per round, two if you don’t attack. Rolling a 6 means your shield is broken, splintered, unbalanced etc. Ranged attacks are blocked for free, but a natural 6 means the shot pierces the shield.]

Just a few ideas. I’m not sure I’ll use them yet.

[Oh, and talking about Early Modern games, I recommend also that you check Sabers and Witchery, a very nice – and free! – adaptation of Swords & Wizardry for Solomon Kane-style campaigns.]

Augury – Wicked Fantasy series

Wicked Fantasy started as series of articles for Kobold Quarterly. On each article, author John Wick would propose an alternate version of a Pathfinder Core Race. Humans, elves and dwarves would get an “Ecology of…” article, but rewritten as something completely different from their standard/traditional roles. Those Kobold Quarterly articles were provocative and made you think beyond the usual rules and flavor.

John Wick expanded on each original article, starting the Wicked Fantasy series. This review is based on the PDF versions of the The Reign of Men (Humans), Children of Pain (Orks), Seeming Servants (Haffun), Guardians of the Wood (Elves) and For the Pack (Gnolls).

Before delving further, one last observation: John Wick’s material is renowned for having a strong “author’s voice”. Wick also enjoys creating fictional languages and a long series of alien words. If you don’t like it, stay away from Wicked Fantasy. If you’re a fan of traditional mechanics, this series might also disappoint you, particularly because the author’s tastes to mix mechanical bonus/penalties with roleplaying elements – a design approach many find unsuited to Pathfinder/D&D.

Ok. Enough background. To the PDFs.

“Physically” speaking, each product is a 26-34 pages color PDF. The text is edited in a two column format, and the pages’ background is beautiful. The art is rare and usually of average quality.

To our first ebook: The Reign of Men.

Humans here are described as the oldest race of the Known World. Ancient, proud, brave, passionate, cultured and intellectual. They don’t follow or honor the Gods, but the human spirit itself. Philosophers occupy the role usually reserved for priests and democracy is the chosen form of government. Think about a fantasy (and modernized) view of the Classic Greek ideals and world. It’s quite a change of pace, but a refreshing one and I really enjoyed these “new” Humans. They’re really unique.

Mechanically speaking humans now are good with teamwork feat and rally-like mechanics, gaining lots of racial traits and feats geared toward these effects. The Reign of Men describes 2 new domains (Humanity and Philosophy) and 2 new archetypes (Philosopher and Palatine).

The Reign of Men also details the Human’s greatest cities and gives general hints about the Known World.

Next PDF: Children of Pain.

Here we get our new Orks (with “k”). Flavor- and mechanical-wise this is definitely my favorite Wicked Fantasy so far (though I have high hopes for the Dwarves’ PDF). The idea behind Children of Pain is simple but awesome – imagine if the orcs, creatures breed to serve dark gods, eventually got tired of their lot and (literally) killed their deities. This is exactly what happens here. Finally free of their servitude and red rage, the Orks are slowly adapting as a full race. However, changing one’s nature is hard and the Orks are essentially creatures marked by pain. Today, through their blood shamans, Orks kind of “worship” Pain – not as something evil or that should be inflicted upon the world, but as force to be endured to make oneself stronger.

Children of Pain’s take on the Orks is interesting, from the “reskinning” of the race and some classes (specially the blood shamans, an oracle archetype), to entire new elements, like the whole idea of “orkfriends”. Most abilities (like feats) deal with the idea of pain and grant bonus in exchange of damage. It’s something hard to balance mechanically but the authors make it workable (if not fine-tuned). There are also rules for scars, god blood, a barbarian and bard archetypes, among other stuff.

The little ones: Seeming Servants.

 

This is the PDF about the “new” halflings. It was also the first article presented in Kobold Quarterly. John Wick took a really new perspective on halflings, while ironically keeping their initial flavor. No cannibal, otherworldly or kender-like halflings here. No sir, the Haffuns are true Hobbits, but with a clever twist – they’re the perfect servants. Think of an entire race dedicated to serve others and to understand someone’s inner desires. 

While the fluff here is terrific, the mechanics are a bit odd for me – especially the new base class: the Butler (yes, you play Alfred).

Now for the (likely) favorite of everyone: Guardians of the Wood.

These are John Wick’s elves (no, unfortunately not those elves). Elves in the Known World are creature literally bound to nature – their rulers are bound to the immortal Great Trees, their nobles to other trees, while their servants are bound to the soil. Each type of elf gets distinctive mechanical benefits that fit perfectly with their flavor.

There’re also rules for elves whose trees were destroyed or who’re iron-bound – severed from their tree-connection by iron shackles or chains. Before you ask: yes, there’re also “dark elves” and they’re excellent! Guardians of the Wood is probably the Wicked Fantasy product where Wick better mixes setting with mechanics.

There’re new feats, racial traits (lots of them), 4 new archetypes and a new prestige class. The Summoner archetype is the best “reskinning” of the class that I’ve seen.

For the Pack is the Gnolls’ PDF.

I had really high expectations for this one. Gnolls are so classic and well-known by now that they deserved to be made into a full (flavor-wise) PC race. This product was a wonderful opportunity to make justice to the “Beastmen”. Unfortunately what we get is a pseudo-wolfmen race (though I liked the Seven Moons part).

To make things worse, the mechanical aspects of For the Pack are overly complicated because they presupposes that gnolls spent 99% of the time moving in packs (even adventurer gnolls). There’s even a feat for buying more gnolls to your pack. While the idea is great and offers the chance for troupe-style adventures in Pathfinder, I found the rules lacking. For the Pack deserved to be a bigger product, with the page count necessary to properly address the complexities of integrating a pack mechanic do d20.

Definitely the most curious and interesting aspect of For the Pack is the setting, where its revealed that the Known World has seven moons.

What’s the augury?

Wicked Fantasy is a refreshing idea and John Wick is the perfect author to engage you – it’s hard to stay neutral to his material. Even if you don’t like his halflings or elves, each PDF gives excellent ideas.

I just wished John (and those that are helping him) had a better grasp of the Pathfinder mechanics. The Reign of Men don’t use complex rules – theoretically humans here are good at aiding others and working in teams – but the author’s implementation of rallying mechanics is a bit off (for me at least). Actually most Wicked Fantasy PDFs have strange bonus progressions for racial traits and feats. For the Pack is really bizarre on its mechanics.

One aspect that I liked about the whole series is that it uses a common (implied) campaign setting. This is really cool, especially given the fact that is easy to ignore the Known World and adapt the “wicked” races to your own setting. Another thing that I enjoyed was the cultural characteristics of each race – they felt really unique, different and engaging. Actually, these different traditions, secrets and taboos are perfect for running campaigns where the PCs are foreigners.

Of all the PDF, I felt that The Reign of Men and For the Pack were the weakest. The former adds little (of useful) to the original Kobold Quarterly article, while the later is just too difficult to use without resorting to an “all gnolls” campaign. Seeming Servants is good, though the new mechanics aren’t all that useful (like the Butler class). Children of Pain and Guardians of the Wood are top-notch material, with excellent flavor and interesting new mechanics. I recommend both with gusto. Each PDF costs $5.00.

Gnomes as the Wee Folk

For those of you out there that are still interested in using Gnomes (Anyone? Anyone?) but believe that the race, as written on Pathfinder, doesn’t have its own niche, here’s my latest idea (there was also this, and this and that one… I believe I may be overreacting on this) – make them smaller.

Think about it: Pathfinder doesn’t have any official Tiny race. Of course, nothing can stop you from creating a PC-friendly version of Pixies – our usual suspects. However, these little fellows fly and usually have a strong suit of spell-like abilities – things like invisibility at will, sleep etc.

While a Tiny race is severely limited in certain aspects (martial power), they make excellent rogues and spellcasters. They also provide all kind of cool opportunities for players that like to use the surrounding environment to their favor.

I always felt that Pathfinder deserved one Tiny, one Large and one flying creature among its PC core races (I have already a flying race in mind that I hope to post soon). Instead of creating yet another humanoid race – or adapting a fey creature – it’s easy to take our basic Gnomes and miniaturize them. In my mind, as Tiny creatures their fey aspect would be highlighted.

Wee Folk (a.k.a. yet another Gnome variant)

Here’s the new Gnome (differences are in bold):

Ability Score Racial Traits: +4 Dexterity, +2 Charisma and –4 Strength. Gnomes are nimble and with strong – if eccentric – personalities.

Type: Gnomes are Humanoid creatures with the gnome subtype.

Size: Gnomes are Tiny creatures and thus gain a +2 size bonus to their AC, a +2 size bonus on attack rolls, a –2 penalty to their Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense, and a +8 size bonus on Stealth checks. However, they don’t possess natural reach and thus suffer an attack of opportunity from bigger opponents when engaging them in melee combat (unless they use a melee weapon with reach or ranged attacks). Because of their size, Gnomes must choose special Size Traits – pick one Good and one Detrimental trait.

Base Speed: Gnomes have a base speed of 30 feet.

Low-Light Vision: Gnomes can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.

Hatred: Gnomes receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls against humanoid creatures of the aberration type and goblinoid subtype because of their special training against these hated foes.

Fae Blooded: Gnomes are also considered of the Fey type against effects and receive a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks with creatures of the Fey type.

Sylvan Kin: Creature of the Animal, Magical Beast (Int 3 or less) and Plant (Int 3 or less) subtypes won’t attack a Gnome unless provoked or ordered to do so.

Illusion Resistance: Gnomes gain a +2 racial saving throw bonus against illusion spells and effects.

Keen Senses: Gnomes receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.

Obsessive: Gnomes receive a +2 racial bonus on a Craft or Profession skill of their choice.

Gnome Magic: Gnomes add +1 to the DC of any saving throws against illusion spells that they cast. Gnomes with Charisma scores of 11 or higher also gain the following spell-like abilities: 1/day—dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation, and speak with animals. The caster level for these effects is equal to the gnome's level. The DC for these spells is equal to 10 + the spell's level + the gnome's Charisma modifier.

Weapon Familiarity: Gnomes treat any weapon with the word “gnome” in its name as a martial weapon.

Languages: Gnomes begin play speaking Common, Gnome, and Sylvan. Gnomes with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, and Orc. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.

Commentaries: First, I removed Defensive Training, because our Gnomes aren’t the original dwarves’ cousins described in the original D&D. In this version they’re the Wee Folk, closer to Brownies, Leprechauns and Pixies than Dwarves. I replaced Defensive Training for the Fae Blooded and Sylvan Kin racial traits.

I increased their Speed to 30 only because I like the idea of a very small race that’s fast. It’s funny and (in disturbed) mind it fits their concept.

As Fey creatures I changed their racial enemies to aberration and goblins. Kobolds in D&D/Pathfinder are today something so radically different (little dragonspawan) from the original German myths (mining/underground spirits), that I took the liberty of removing them.

Tiny size Traits

Ok, actually this part of the post is the one responsible for the entire thing. I was just tinkering with house rules for races of different size or exotic shapes (here, here and here). The Tiny Gnomes was just a good excuse for implementing it.

Basically, instead of making specific racial traits to each Tiny race I created a few generic ones. Read them, pick one good and one detrimental trait.

Detrimental Traits

Squashed Like a Bug: When you suffer a critical hit by a Medium or bigger creature, your enemy receives a +4 bonus on the confirmation roll.

Puny: You never add a positive Strength modifier to attack rolls, damage modifiers, CMB, CMD and skill checks. You add negative modifiers normally. If you choose this trait, you can’t choose Quickling (see below).

Like Thunder: When you suffer sonic damage from a Medium or bigger creature’s innate attack (be it a spell-like, supernatural or extraordinary ability), you are either deafened (75%) or dazed and deafened (25%) for 1d6 rounds. A Fort save can negate this.

Good Traits

Quickling: Replace your Strength by your Dexterity modifier to attack rolls, CMB, CMD and skill checks. If you choose this trait, you can’t choose Puny (see above).

Half-Magic: Being so small has its benefits. You drink only half a potion and still gain its full benefits. The other half of the potion can only be consumed by you; it won’t work on other creatures.

Hard to Catch: You receive a +4 bonus to your CMD against Grapple attempts.

Other consequences of small matter

First of all, it’s amazingly easy to gain Cover. Because it’s so easy to block the enemy’s line of sight to you (get adjacent to a bigger ally, for example), that means that Tiny creatures have lots of opportunities to hide (and play havoc with their enemies later through surprise attacks).

Second, you require a lot less food and water. I believe the Gamemaster should read these rules with more attention in campaigns/adventures where there’re Tiny (or Large) PCs.

These two are obvious consequences (and I hope I’m not forgetting any other); now comes the part where I create special (house) rules for our Tiny heroes. These rules should apply to “normal” organic Tiny beings, like the Wee Folk above.

First, I’d grant them a +4 bonus to Swim checks and rule that the first 1d6 of falling damage is always non-lethal. Both assumptions are based on the idea that Gnomes are light, spindle-thin creatures. Actually, I’d also let a player spend a feat to slot to gain the ability to run on water (thematically it’s a really cool trait). As long as the Gnome keeps running (as in a charge action), he won’t sink.

Second, I’d allow them to make a Stealth check (contested against Perception) every time they touched a Medium or bigger creature. If they succeed, the target won’t notice the Gnome is touching them. This mean that you little prankster can literally climb adversaries, maybe hiding in their backpacks, cutting their belts, backstabbing them or stealing their stuff (I would require a Sleight of Hand check for this last action). A target that has a Gnome “attached” to him can only attack the Tiny target with unarmed attacks or light melee weapons (although hand crossbows and pistols would also apply, if the target is suicidal) – as if the target was limited by the Grappled condition. This last rule is a potentially powerful combo, but one that’s easily compensated by the Wee Folk physical weakness and the fact that, if discovered, he’d be in a dire situation.

Most important, use your good sense. For example: I believe I’d allow a Medium or Large target to pick and hold a Tiny-sized creature with just one hand – inflicting the Grappled Condition on him.

Augury – 3 flavors of sin (Monsters of Sin)

In case you’re interested, my review on Monsters of Sin 1 – Avarice is here. I specially recommend this Monsters of Sin installment, based on its really cool monsters.

Our next sin is Envy. First you get a small template – Envious Creatures – that grants Improved Disarm, Steal or Sunder to the base creature, inflicting a few penalties on social skills. Bizarre and I wished the author has tried something more “supernatural” (and symbolic).

The new monsters are Bone Swarm (CR 11), Emerald Eye (CR 2) and Re-Echo Doppelganger (CR 14). The first creature isn’t something really new, but the author does pull up a cool new ability for swarms – Death’s Embrace. The Emerald Eye is perhaps the best creature concept (a really jealous psionic crystal), but I wished its abilities were more versatile or strong. The new Doppelganger is a scary martial version that copy feats and even spells and spell-like abilities.

The Embodiment of Envy (CR 19) is a more of a concept than a monster and can provide a cool framework for a recurring villain (or antagonistic source) in a campaign, especially if linked with some deity (or archdevil). Its special abilities are an interesting mix of beneficial and detrimental traits – discovering this can become the main goal of your party. Actually, looking now at this outsider, I really wished the author has done a template. It would fix nicely with its concept.

Time for the (usually) most grotesque sin – Gluttony.

I admit that I’m surprised that new template – Gluttonous Creature – doesn’t grant the Swallow Whole ability. It does however increase a creature’s size, Strength and Constitution.

The new monsters are the Bottomless Pit (CR 5), the Gnarljak (CR 6) and the Trap Bush (CR 10). The first critter is a disgusting aberration made all around the idea of swallowing (and digesting) adventurers. It’s the typical monster made to force a change of tactics in a party. The Gnarljak is a really devious construct that occupies the same role of traps in my mind. If it does catch you, it’ll hurt – a lot! The Trap Bush is a cool idea based on the goodberry spell. My only problem with it is that it doesn’t fit thematically with the other monsters.

The Embodiment of Gluttony (CR 18) is everything would expect of this sin – its grotesque and its getter bigger with each victim. A really cool take on the subject. I’m pondering adding an “Aura of Hunger” to it, and inflicting non-lethal damage to targets that don’t spend a move action eating.

Well, are these PDFs worth it? For $2.99, that’s definitely a yes! I still find Avarice the best PDF so far. Gluttony is also really cool, but I think Envy needed a stronger focus on its theme. Maybe its template should grant the base creature the power to mimic the most powerful ability of the (or to steal it). I don’t know, just an idea. Anyway, these PDFs are good for 2 reasons – they mix REALLY well with two other greater products: the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path (particularly to customize sinspawn) and the amazing Book of Fiends (still my favorite take on Neutral Evil outsiders).

Augury – Dark Roads and Golden Hells (Pathfinder)

Dark Roads and Golden Hells has a beautiful celestial cover, with a clean layout that is a wonder to read on the screen, though I wished the printed version was a little more elaborate.

The first chapter introduces us to the mentality of the Psychomachia – the eternal war between Heaven and Hell for the souls of mortals and, this, the importance of Midgard (the Material Plane) on this cosmological conflict. I admit that I was a little disappointed with this part of Dark Roads and Golden Hells. Let me explain: I was expecting either Wolfgang’s dark and flavorful use of old mythologies or Open Design’s clever twists on traditional fantasy clichés. What I got was a very dry, abstract and sometimes paradoxical text on how to use the Outer Planes as “Cold War-like” powers – a mix of fanaticism and cynicism. The idea is good (very good), but Planescape already pulled it off years ago with more surrealism and charm, by mixing such paradoxical conflict of axiological forces with doses of philosophy and dark humor – both elements are in my opinion missing here. One of the reasons for this may reside in the fact that Dark Roads and Golden Hells proposes itself to be a “plug-and-play” book. In other words: you can use it in a modular fashion. This is great if you want a Manual of Planes-like sourcebook, but I was more interested in a “Midgard Maunal of Planes”.

The good stuff, however, does shows up with the short, but appetizing, description of Midgard’s cosmology. The following entries are dedicated to planes in the Sea of Possibilities – the Astral Plane equivalent of Dark Roads and Golden Hells.

I quite like the format employed by the authors: we get a short description with the general aspects of each planar region (and planar traits), followed by specific exemplas of otherworldly locations (usually one or two paragraphs short). My favorites are the Conceptual Planes, an idea I wished was further developed.

Their take on the Ethereal Plane as the misty shores of a vast Underworld is excellent and allows the Gamemaster to use all kind of cool planar adventures otherwise “obstructed” by D&D/Pathfinder traditional cosmology. I especially enjoyed the Vim Flare rule – try to imagine the consequences of casting healing magic on Hades and you can picture what this rule is about.

When we finally reach Heaven and Hell, although we do get good descriptions, there isn’t any twist or original spin on them. Ok, I admit that after eternal classics, like the first Manual of the Planes, Planescape and Beyond Countless Doorways it is hard to come with something really new regarding D&D/d20 cosmologies. I must point out that this isn’t actually a negative point. Dark Roads and Golden Hells’ Seven Heavens and Eleven Hells are perfect usable Good and Evil uberplanes. The problem is that I (again) expected to see some of Wolfgang’ material and there isn’t any. Instead of a different, less known, mythological approach to Heaven and Hell we get typical “D&D-fied” Heaven and Hell (however, the Alignment-based gravity planar trait of Heaven and the Flowing Time planar trait of Hell are interesting innovations).

Dark Roads and Golden Hells does bring cool new stuff to the planar legendarium with the Between. When planar spells goes wrong, artifacts are (improperly) destroyed, portal are open inside portals or bags of devouring are misused you are dragged to the feared Between – literally the space between planes. I like to picture it as a combination of a planar underground and a prison. It’s also very creepy (yeah, I loved it).

Another unique location is the Casino, a sort of middle-ground where Law and Chaos meet and all kind of exotic, weird and dangerous games happen. The Casino is ruled by the Dual Emperors (one for Law, other for Chaos… and the cool thing is that PCs can become Emperors through challenging contests).

My favorite part of Dark Roads and Golden Hells isn’t exactly a planar location, but a city inside one. Vultures Beyond is a decadent city inside the Evermaw, the Hell of Hunger. It has a terrific Clark Ashton Smith vibe (read the The Charnel God). I’m very tempted to “unplug” Vulture Beyond from the Evermaw and use it as full city in my campaign world.

‘The Wellspring of Life and the Plane of Radiance’ is the most original (and weird) take on a Plane of Positive Energy that I’ve ever seen. It basically mixes that plane with the Ten Sephiroth of Kabalistic lore, creating a really good structure (and game hook) for planar adventures – particularly given the fact that the Plane of Radiance here is conterminous and coexistent with all other planes.

Dark Roads and Golden Hells details 3 new PC races: Deva, Maxims and Warplings. The later ones are new takes, respectively, on lawful and chaotic planetouched races. Unfortunately they suffer the same old issues – they’re just too bland and not as interesting as, for example, aasimars or tieflings (although the “floating” Ability Score bonus of the Warplings is a step in the right direction). The Deva are bizarre humanoids born fully formed (and equipped) from the Plane of Radiance. They have a mix of Indian and Abrahamic flavor that I quite liked – in fact, they seem like a more customizable and cool take on the Deva race from D&D 4^th. Each Deva is almost like a unique creature and it’s easy to think of new Planar Forms for these fellows.

After the races, we have new feats, divided among combat, general, magic, monster, racial and patronage categories. Patronage feats are special abilities that require peaceful contact (and covenant) with an outsider. Of the new feats, my favorites are Puppetmaster, Soul Eater and I’ll be back. There’re also a fair number of new character traits.

Oh, and did I said that there’re new Incantations? This is probably my all-time favorite rule from D&D 3.5 and I’m very happy that Open Design continues to use it in its products. Incantations are flavorful (and usually dangerous) magical rituals that can be cast by any character with the right skills (and time). They’re like Call of Cthulhu spells, but usually with a more mystical or mythological flavor. The new Incantations are Dead Man’s Bridge and Walk the Shadow Road.

Dark Roads and Golden Hells also has new spells. Angel Eyes stands out for me because it such a cool idea that I’m tempted to grant it to all my celestials and good outsiders as a constant ability; Chaos Ball and Combat Geometry are other great examples.  Confutation reminds me of those old and weird spells from the AD&D 2^nd Tome of Magic – its use isn’t obvious up front, but it can have all kind of clever applications and will surely encourage your PCs to think and plot. Other “complex” dweomers are Defensive Paradox, Memory Net (this last one is an instant adventuring hook), Slipstream and Winds of Time. Excellent stuff here!

The Gamemastering Chapter starts with a description of the more common planar highways of Midgard: the Ever River, Fey Roads, the House of Infinite Doors, the Nine Stairways and the Road of Gates. After that we get new planar settlements, together with additional rules for the city system described in the Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide. My favorite place is Beruthea, the Kingdom of Cats. Dark Roads and Golden Hells really impresses you with the section on Planar Economics. Of course we’re not talking about “real” economy here. Forget treasure and coins… between Heaven and Hell the commodities are more exotic: you can loan your body to a possessing spirit, sell a little of your Fate, or even your Name or Mortality. This part alone makes Dark Roads and Golden Hells worthwhile. As the king of all planar campaign setting, I’m sure old Planescape would be proud. This chapter ends with 3 new artifacts – the Archetypical Sword, the Fate-Eater’s Flesh and the Remnant Pearl.

The next chapter is for the Bestiary. There’re 5 new templates: Animus (our new Petitioner), Ankou, Fallen/Risen Creature, Neverborn and Radiant Creature. Following these templates there’re 9 new creatures, from a new dragon to a plethora of weird outsiders.

Dark Roads and Golden Hells is a solid sourcebook on the otherworldly. If you’re hunting for Midgardian goodness, you may be a little disappointed, as Dark Roads and Golden Hells leans toward the modular and generic side of the Outer Planes. Now, if you want to add planar content to an existing campaign/cosmology, then this book is a great option. It mixes easily with almost every other d20 book on the topic – especially the Manual of Planes (either 3^rd or 4^th Edition versions) and Beyond Countless Doorways.