About "Tales of the Valiant"

In the past year or so I've backed two Kickstarters for "Tales of the Valiant" - the first was for the development of the system itself (a 5e near-clone with some nice enhancements), and the second for the Gamemaster's Guide (which looked very nice). In backing the second I actually broke one of my cardinal rules with Kickstarter, which is to never back a second project from a team until the first has delivered - but I mitigate that by noting that Kobold Press have never let me down.

Anyway, both Kickstarters have now delivered everything I signed up for, which tragically comes just a bit too late - I'm unlikely ever to even read any of the books (PDFs) they have sent me as I just don't have use for them at this time. (Plus, I now have two 5e near-clones, the other being "Level Up", and there's a third available in the form of D&D 2024.)

But that's a "me" problem rather than any sort of a problem with the product, and the Kickstarter was pretty much impeccable in its delivery. And Kobold Press routinely do great work, so I have no hesitation in recommending them as a company. Just a shame that it's come a little too late.

Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk

"Lost Mine of Phandelver" was the first official adventure published for 5e, was the first (and arguably only) classic adventure of that edition, and is perhaps the single best adventure that Wizards of the Coast (but specifically them - not TSR) have ever published for the game. So when they announced a new "Phandelver campaign" I was extremely interested and rather excited.

I then read the reviews, and that excitement withered. But a really good Amazon deal led to me buying the book, and so brings us here.

"Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk" is a standard 5e adventure book - a 192-page full colour hardcover with an RRP a fraction under $60. However, it is routinely available at a fraction of that price, which is fortunate as it is very much not worth that money.

Unlike other 5e adventures, this one is very much an adventure of two halves - the first half is a near-reprint of the classic "Lost Mine of Phandelver", with a handful of tweaks in the name of inclusion and a handful more to seed some hooks for the second part. The second part of the adventure then picks up with a new menace that is busy gathering the shards of a shattered obelisk and has to be stopped (because, of course they do).

And while the book is nowhere near the disaster that I had been led to believe, neither does it really work.

The fundamental problem is that while "Lost Mine of Phandelver" is a great adventure, it is a great adventure of beginning groups. Expanding that to a full campaign was a good idea, but it almost certainly should have been a beginner's campaign - something reasonably simple and classic to point new DMs towards.

Instead, the book awkwardly seques from a beginner's adventure into something considerably more advanced, complete with trigger warnings for material that really needs a deft hand to address. (Well... what constitutes tricky material these days. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay this is not.)

It also doesn't help that the second section is, frankly, another soulless railroad. It's fine, so far as these things go, but I wouldn't put it anywhere near any top-ten lists. Frankly, "Storm King's Thunder" is better, and that one is deeply flawed.

Basically, they've made the wrong product, and they've made it fairly badly. It's not an utter disaster (as I had been led to believe), but neither can I find any reason to recommend it. Except for one: "Lost Mine of Phandelver" remains great, and stocks of the original Starter Set are now running low, so this will soon be the only way to get your hands on that adventure.

But "Lost Mine of Phandelver" isn't worth $60, or anywhere close to that. So if you're a beginning DM looking for a first adventure, if you can't find the original Starter Set, and you can get this one at a huge discount, then maybe go for this one. Otherwise, save yourself the money.

D&D: Honour Among Thieves

I had a window of opportunity on Monday, and so made my way out to see the new D&D movie. I was lucky to catch it - it had already left our local cinema, and none of the other nearby ones had shows I could catch. Luckily the one near my parents' had a couple of showings, which meant I stepped back in time. That said, they've refitted their screens with reclining chairs for all customers, which was a pleasant surprise. And so, I sat down in an almost deserted cinema to watch the film.

And it's okay. It's a perfectly fine film, a diverting way to spend a couple of hours, with the same blend of action and comedy one might expect from a "Guardians of the Galaxy" or recent "Thor" film. The cast were all pretty good, the pacing was good. It was all good.

And almost completely unmemorable. Indeed, almost all of the best bits of the film had already been released, in the form of the trailers, TV spots, and other promotions. What was left was the connecting tissue, which was all fine but was mostly just... there.

Ultimately, my view is... yeah, it's okay.

On the plus side, it isn't the cinematic abomination that was the previous films, so that's a positive. On the other hand, that's not exactly a high bar to reach. And I'm struggling to find a reason to watch this one over, say, watching "Guardians of the Galaxy" again (which is funnier, more action packed, and just generally a bit better on every metric).

Make of that what you will, I guess.

Paranormal Power

One last review for a while...

I've always been a fan of psionics, at least in principle. And given that two of my favourite settings, Dark Sun and Eberron, were built assuming that psionics are present, I've always found those somewhat lacking in editions that don't have that support - notably including 5e.

So when a Kickstarter for a small psionics book was launched, I decided to jump on it. "Paranormal Power" is the result, which I received in PDF form.

I should note that due to a computer freeze I don't currently have access to the book, so I'm writing this from memory.

This was a short book of ~65 pages, with a decent amount of art. That art was AI-generated in the initial version, though my understanding is that it is in the process of being replaced with human-generated works instead. But lacking a critical eye, my view was that the art was fine - like all RPG art, it does the job, and then my interest ends.

The game material contains all the things you might expect: a new heritage (race), a new class, new subclasses for all the existing classes, some new spells and magic items, and some new monsters. And, crucially, a psionics system and the accompanying powers.

And it's all fine - good, solid material that I would have absolutely no qualms about allowing into any "Level Up" game I was ever to run. It's a really good work.

But...

My one concern with the book is that it very definitely is a "Level Up" book. And while "Level Up" claims to be 5e-compatible, and consequently so too should be "Paranormal Power", I find myself very hesitant to cross the streams. And where books like the "Dungeon Delver's Guide" include conversion notes for vanilla 5e, this book does not.

That's a very small quibble, but it does affect my recommendation somewhat. Which is as follows: if you like psionics and you're running "Level Up", I highly recommend this book. If you like psionics and you're running 5e, I'd consider it only if you're happy with blending material from LU into your games - this probably isn't the first book with which to do that. And, of course, if you don't like psionics then skip this one - there's nothing for you here.

And having said all that, I will be looking out for the author's name (Rachel Williamson) on future products, either under her own imprint or for other publishers, because this is a solid product that suggests other good things may be yet to come.

Tome of Beasts III Lairs

As part of the Kickstarter for "Tome of Beasts", I signed up for the PDF of the accompanying Lairs book - a collection of short adventures showcasing monsters from the book. There are Lairs books for both "Tome of Beasts" and "Tome of Beasts II", and indeed for the "Creature Codex", but I haven't looked at any of these books previously.

The adventures themselves range from levels 1 to 12. They're all short, intended for a session or two of play, with a 5-room dungeon (or a little more) at the centre of each. Each features a small handful of monsters from "Tome of Beasts III", with some also drawing monsters from the SRD (or Monster Manual).

As might be expected, the adventures are something of a mixed bag. They're all functional, if rather basic, adventures. None of them are terrible, none of them are really spectacular, though some few do seem rather dull. That said, if needing a quick adventure at short notice, or if particularly looking for something to use monsters from ToB3, these are decent.

Ultimately, though, this book hasn't inspired me to go looking for the other Lairs books, and I'm not particularly inclined to recommend this book. Certainly, it's a companion volume for ToB3, so this is one to avoid if you don't have that book. If you do have that book, this one is worthwhile if you're looking for a set of short adventures (which, to be fair, is a useful thing to have - provided you don't already have a ready supply of such things). And, of course, if you are offered a good package deal then this may well be worth looking at.

So that's a somewhat ambivalent review for that one. Make of it what you will.

(Note, though, that "Tome of Beasts III" itself is something I regard much more highly - whether you go for this one as well or not.)

Tome of Beasts III

Seven years ago, in my review of "Tome of Beasts", I said I probably wasn't interested in any more generic monster books. I then repeated this four years ago in my review of "Creature Codex", and then again in my review of "Tome of Beasts II".

And here we are. In my defense, this time Kobold Press have declared that this is the final volume in their ToB 'trilogy'. We'll see. Perhaps also of note, I picked this one up from their Kickstarter, and only in PDF - I find I'm very much moving away from physical RPG books now.

There's actually very little to say about this book - it's a 400ish page book, in glorious full colour, containing a lovely assortment of new monsters. If you enjoyed previous volumes in the series, you'll probably enjoy this; if you didn't, you almost certainly won't; and if you haven't checked out those volumes you should get them first. This book doesn't require the earlier volumes, but as they publish the monsters have become increasingly niche in nature, so the earlier volumes are probably more useful.

If making recommendations for 'monster' books for 5e, my order of recommendation is as follows: "Monster Manual", "Tome of Beasts", "Monster Manual Expanded", "Creature Codex", "Monster Manual Expanded II", "Tome of Beasts II", "Monster Manual Expanded III", "Tome of Beasts III", "Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes", "Volo's Guide to Monsters", and finally "5th Edition Foes". Indeed, at this point I would stop well before the end of that list - I don't regret any of the purchases, but I just don't need all these monsters.

(Note that "Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes" and "Volo's Guide to Monsters" have now been replaced with "Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse". Based on what I've heard, I would certainly recommend the combined volume over the two separate ones, and it would probably appear a good bit higher on the list. However, as I don't own that book, I cannot make a solid recommendation.)

My recommendation here is necessarily conditional. If you're looking for even more monsters, this book is an excellent buy. If you're looking for specific WotC-owned monsters, then of course this won't do the job for you. Likewise, if you're looking for monsters that will appear in WotC products, or on the DM's Guild, this book isn't going to help. And if you're looking for anything other than monsters, this isn't the book for you. It does one thing, but does that one thing extremely well.

And that's that.

I'm pretty sure I'm now done with buying books for D&D 5e (even if the OGL thing does get reversed, with the new version coming next year, it doesn't make sense to buy much), I'm even more sure I don't need more monsters, and Kobold Press claim they're finished. But maybe I'll be reviewing "Creature Codex II" in a couple of years...

D&D Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle

Having been hugely impressed with both the previous Starter Set and the Essentials Kit, I was very interested to see what was in WotC's new Starter Set, "Dragons of Stormwreck Isle". I therefore picked it up for Christmas, and have just finished working through it.

This set is a box the same size as both the previous sets, priced at $19.99 - the same as the previous Starter Set, though due to a VAT increase (thanks Rishi!) and a weak pound (thanks Kwasi!), it was slightly more expensive. On the other hand, eight years of inflation means that the original set 'should' be about $25.

For your money you get a set of dice, two booklets, five pregenerated characters, and a flyer adertising... something. Oh, and a cardboard insert designed to make the box look fuller than it actually is.

The dice are just dice. As with the previous Starter Set you get a set of 6 dice (no "d10 percentile"), and they're all the same colour. That's a little disappointing on both counts, but understandable. Besides, I have dice.

The five pregen characters are likewise fine. They're just example characters: a Fighter, a Paladin, a Rogue, a Cleric, and a Wizard. One nice touch is that here, unlike in the previous set, where a character has an explorer's kit, or similar, this has been itemised into specific items right on the character sheet - no need to check the rulebook. On the flip side, the characters have 'lost' the various traits (Ideal, Bond, Flaw), and are therefore much 'thinner' in role-playing terms than previously.

(Perhaps also of note, a lot of the artwork in this set uses the characters from the old D&D cartoon, and those names are used in the various examples in the book. That's an interesting touch, though I'm not sure why they went for a nostalgia play for a cartoon that aired 37 years ago. Plus, the pregens aren't all human, so that doesn't fit, and they've had to invent a new character, Nico, to be the cleric.)

The flyer is fine - it points to arious other products, including some "how to play" videos. That's probably a set up from the equivalent in the old set, though not really worth paying anything for.

The cardboard insert is, obviously, truly awesome and worth the price of admission alone. (Actually, there is one small possible value - if you remove it, that creates a bit of space in which you could fit your own notes or other materials. Again, not worth paying for, but not quite the embarrasment I previously thought.)

The first of the booklets is a 32-page rulebooks. This is essentially the same material as the previous Starter Set, providing a quick synopsis of the rules of the game as they relate to the adventure included. In particular, note that this does not include character creation rules.

It should be noted that while this book has the same page count as the equivalent in the previous set, the font is a good bit larger and there is more whitespace. There is therefore less material here - fewer spells, slightly less equipment, and the omission of the rules for Inspiration (hence the lack of Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws).

And thus far, there is absolutely nothing here to recommend this set - the flyer is advertising and the cardboard insert is of no values; the characters can be freely downloaded from Wizards' website, and the Basic Rules (and, even better, the Essentials Kit rulebook) are likewise freely available. The dice have some value, but better dice can be had easily enough.

As with the previous Starter Set, this one can only be recommended for the adventure, "Dragons of Stormwreck Isle" - the second, 48-page, booklet in the set.

And it's okay but, sadly, no more than that.

The booklet starts with an ultra-quick overview of the rules the DM needs for running the adventure. It then has a four-part adventure, a little section on what to do next, and then appendices detailing the magic items and monsters used in the adventure. There's basically nothing here about DMing in the wider sense - the book gives you what you need to run this adventure, and nothing more. Which is fair enough. Wizards were up-front about this being their strategy, it's the same as the previous Starter Set, and so not really a criticism.

Unfortunately, what is due to criticism is the nature of the adventure itself. "Lost Mine of Phandelver" actually had a very clever structure - a small dungeon to start, constraining the action tightly to be easy to run; then the starter town with various plots in there; then a wider sandbox area with several mini-quests; and then a final larger dungeon for the DM to really stretch their wings.

"Dragons of Stormwreck Isle" jumps straight to the starter location, with the DM being presented with a dozen characters to try to bring to life. And while there are things for the characters to do, there isn't the same constraint which means there also isn't the same clear objective.

Parts two and three then provide two mini-quests, much like those in part three of LMoP, except that these have to be pitched at parties who could be either 1st or 2nd level. Each is pretty much a 5-room dungeon (or slightly more... but not much). That's okay, but provides very limited scope for branches, loops, or other clever dungeon design. They're absolutely fine, but they're very basic.

And then part four gives a showdown with the mini-boss of the adventure. Again, this is little more than a 5-room dungeon with a couple of interesting features. And, again, it's fine but no more than that.

One other thing that is definitely worth noting is that while DoSI is designed for characters of levels 1-3 compared with LMoP's 1-5, and although the book is nominally three-quarters of the length, at 48 versus 64 pages, levels 1 and 2 in 5e are very much "training wheels" and so very short indeed. And because of the bigger font size and the increased whitespace, this book is actually a lot smaller than LMoP - I estimate it at little more than half the length.

The upshot of that is that, like the previous Starter Set, you should buy this set if and only if you plan to run this adventure. But where LMoP was very much worth the price of entry (indeed, it may be the single best adventure WotC have produced for any version of the game, ever), DoSI is no better than okay.

Looking at the comparison with previous sets, I would recommend the previous Starter Set over this one without hesitation - LMoP blows DoSI out of the water, and everything else is a wash. I'd probably also recommend the Essentials Kit over this one - in every regard than the adventure the EK is the better, and the adventure in DoSI is only marginally better than DoIP. And where LMoP dovetails really nicely with the adventure DoIP, the same is not true of DoSI, which happens in a fairly separate reason.

All in all, this set is something of a disappointment.

Adventures in Zeitgeist

When I backed the Kickstarter for "The Dungeon Delver's Guide", I also took the opportunity to pick up the setting book for Zeitgeist. This was used in an Adventure Path that I have neither run nor read - it is well-regarded, but I didn't have an immediate use and so I skipped it.

Zeitgeist posits a semi-industrial world, with firearms and steam trains, printing presses and even photography. Some of this is magical, some technological. In that regard, it was somewhat reminiscent of Eberron, and indeed much of the sensibility of the world was similar, which is no bad thing.

The material was presented well, and covered all the subjects that might be expected - peoples, nations, history, running the campaign, and so on and so forth. And it was interesting enough. Except...

As I read the book, I did find myself thinking this was all nice, but what should we do with it? And while that was somewhat solved when I got to the final chapter (dealing with campaign styles), I did find myself left with more questions than answers. Which is a shame - this is a setting I could see myself really enjoying, but no campaign ideas leapt out at me.

That said, there's a whole bunch of material in there that I do fully intend to extract for my own use, notably the rules for firearms, and some of the new mechanical options. So that's good - certainly, I don't feel that I wasted my money.

So, can I recommend? Honestly, I'm not sure. I liked the style, but...

Make of that what you will.

Dungeon Delver's Guide

I had been intending to skip the Kickstarter for this one - since I'm unlikely ever to actually play Level Up, I don't really need to be buying in to supplements. But the previews persuaded me otherwise, and I'm glad that they did! "Dungeon Delver's Guide" is an outstanding book, containing content of value not just with Level Up, or even 5e, but for D&D and D&D-like games in general.

The book is split into three sections: a moderately large section on PC options (that is, frankly, largely forgettable), a moderately large section on DM tools (that is also, frankly, largely forgettable), and a huge middle section on dungeons - and it is this that holds all the value in the book.

The centrepiece of the book is a method for building dungeons (and, I'd imagine, dungeon-like settings) termed NODES - each location might have a Novelty, Obstacle, Discovery, Escalation, or Set Piece. It's a really strong, flexible way to construct these things, and exactly the sort of thing that should be going in to the next DMG in 2024.

The book also has several example dungeons, lots of random tables of varying utility, and other bits and pieces. But, basically, it's that NODES system and the surrounding material that makes the book - that's where the value lies, and it is why I recommend it unreservedly.

And now I'm hoping they'll do two more: one each for wilderness and urban adventures.

Level Up

About a year ago I backed a Kickstarter for "Level Up" - a take on an 'advanced 5e' by En Publishing. I finally finished reading through the PDFs this week. Some thoughts:

This may be one of the best games I'll never run. Level Up has some really nice features that probably make it an improvement over 5e, but it's also a step more complicated when 5e is pretty much at the upper limit of what I'm interested in running now. Besides, if I were to get the chance to run anything else, I'd go for something distinctly different - Firefly, or Star Trek, maybe.

I really like this method of buying into the game: back one Kickstarter to an appropriate level, receive a package of the books, and then that's essentially all there is. That sort of one-and-done is now really appealing, especially given my increasing disdain for supplements.

I backed this at a PDF level. I suspect that is now very much the future - I have sorely limited space for (or interest in) physical books any more, while other electronic formats are utterly useless to me. But PDFs are ideal.

And I think, actually, that is that. I had planned a longer, more in-depth review, but don't think that really aids anything. This is recommended for people who like 5e but would like it to be a bit more crunchy, in depth, and detailed, and is very much not recommended for anyone who fundamentally doesn't like 5e.

Review: Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft

Oh dear. This one is a horror, but not in the way that was intended.

This book is partly a guide to running horror adventures, and partly a guide to a reimagined version of the Ravenloft setting. Unfortunately, though, the whole is holed beneath the waterline by a key decision, and so ends up totally defanged.

Back when "Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes" was released, WotC introduced the ability for some elves to swap sex at will. This was a fairly innocuous piece of world-building... but it was also pretty much the only thing that was ever discussed about the book online. That is a pretty strong indicator of just how interesting MToF really is.

With "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft", the key topic of discussion is the introduction of "safety tools" for horror campaigns. Now, I should note that these tools are actually a good thing - in fact, the only problem with them, per se, is that the groups that really really need them are also the ones least likely ever to use them. But that's not WotC's fault - they can't legislate for bad behaviour, but can only do what they can do.

But the problem is that those safety tools totally overshadow everything in the book - they're discussed in the introduction, they're discussed in chapter one, and they're discussed in chapter four. That's way too much - basically, they should have had chapter one to themselves, what needed said should have been said, and the job would have been done.

The other major problem, though, is that the "safety tools" make it very clear that groups have to be aware of sensitive material that may trigger various members. Which is fine - it's an important consideration. But the rest of the book then slavishly applies that same logic. Absolutely everything that could be even remotely controversial has been excised from the setting. It's not even a Disney-fication of the setting - Disney's "Hunchback of Notre Dame" wouldn't pass the censors here.

The big problem with that is the horror is by its nature inherently problematic. If it doesn't make people uncomfortable than it is failed horror. And that is the case with this book.

Anyway...

The book is split as follows:

• The introduction is 8 pages. It's fine, giving the aforementioned discussion of the safety tools, some trappings of horror, and a brief precis of the setting.
• Chapter one runs 26 pages, and deals with character creation: new lineages (also handled badly - WotC have obviously decided to replace the word 'race' with 'lineage', which is also fine, but rather than just assuming people will understand that that's what they meant all along, the language becomes awflly convoluted as they go), dark gifts, subclass options, backgrounds, and trinkets. It's all okay, but bland.
• Chapter two runs 22 pages and deals with creating a domain of dread. This is also fine, with the discussion of horror subgenres being the most interesting part. Except for the oddly puritanical repeated refrain that the group must avoid various things.
• Chapter three is the discussion of the actual Ravenloft setting, and fills the bulk of the book at 124 pages. This gives a detailed description of 17 domains and then a very brief summary of 22 more. This is fine, but far too many of those domains are one trick descriptions - here's the darklord, here's their unique activity, so here's the adventure to be had here. Very few of these feel like they could support an entire campaign. Additionally, because this is a reimagined version of Ravenloft, all the pre-existing lore is now void... and there's no real prospect of WotC ever filling in any of the gaps, so the setting suddenly feels very empty.

The original version of Ravenloft had most of the domains connected in "the Core", and then a number of disconnected islands. This new version gets rid of the concept of the Core, and makes everything an island. This is really unfortunate - while many of the linkages in the Core didn't make much sense, it's also true that some of the domains work much better if they do have neighbours to contrast again. Additionally, splitting everything up means that characters of domain-spanning fame now just doesn't make sense.

On the plus side, this book does provide loads of adventure opportunities, and introduces a very large number of unique antagonists suitable for PCs of a wide range of levels. Or it would, if they'd provided stats for any of those Darklords. Instead, they've taken the view that the Darklords should each provide a suggestion of a standard Monster Manual statblock to use. The argument here is that this allows the DM to tailor these opponents to their own PCs, and that that's more flexible. Well, yes... except that exactly that same logic applies to absolutely every other antagonist in every book ever. I found this decision extremely poor - if they can provide lengthy statblocks for the demon lords, and then repeat them in a second book (where those demon lords are such high CR that almost no groups will ever actually use them), then they should provide them for the Darklords here.

Finally, this chapter reintroduces the Vistani. Now, these were one of the most problematic elements in all of D&D lore. In truth, they should probably have been removed entirely - and indeed, they should probably have been retconned so they never existed. Well, I'm glad to say that this version does not make use of any problematic stereotypes. The downside is that these haven't been replaced by anything - the pages on the Vistani basically use a lot of words to say nothing.

• Chapter four runs 38 pages, and covers horror adventures. This is okay, though given how defanged it is it's not really worth bothering with - this material has been handled much better in other books. The only thing of real value is the adventure, "The House of Lament", which runs 20 pages and is actually okay.
• Finally, chapter five rounds out the book at 34 pages, and deals with monsters. The first bit of this talks about reskinning existing monsters for a horror game, and the rest describes some new monsters. It's fine.

And that's that. I really can't recommend this book to anyone. I don't consider it a good guide to horror adventures, I don't particularly care for this version of Ravenloft (I do have to concede that there are a number of really good ideas here, but as a whole it just doesn't grab me), and I found the whole thing unforgivably tame.

As a consequence of this, I'm now no longer interested in WotC's take on existing settings, and as a consequence of that I'm done with 5e books. And since that's two consecutive editions I've checked out of, I can't imagine 6e will be of any great interest when it comes.

It seems my love for D&D has ended with a whimper.

Exploring Eberron

Another product from the DM's Guild, and another item supporting Eberron in 5e from the creator of the setting, "Exploring Eberron" is a 249-page PDF (with Print-on-Demand option) split into eight chapters. Intended as a companion piece to the hardback "Eberron: Rising from the Last War", this shows a slightly different slant on the setting - something of a "director's cut", bing Keith Baker's own take on the setting, or at least part of it.

The chapters in brief are:

• Discovering Eberron: 26 pages on ancient and recent history, and then some material on forms of magic and artifice.
• Races of Eberron: 16 pages covering Changelings, one Elven culture, Kalashtar, Shifters, and Warforged.
• Faiths of Eberron: 32 pages on various religions, and a brief look at the Aasimar.
• Uncharted Domains: 62 pages detailing heretofore uncovered areas: Droaam, the Dhakaan, the Mror Holds, and the Thunder Sea.
• Planes of Existence: A further 62 pages looking at the various planes in a bit more detail.
• Character Options: The inevitable grab-bag of new backgrounds, subraces, feats, and subclasses. This one runs to 16 pages.
• Treasures: 12 pages of new magic items, focusing on items unique to Eberron - dragonshards, symbionts, etc.
• Friends and Foes: 14ish pages of new monsters.

There is an awful lot to like here. It's composed, written, and illustrated in much the same way as an "official" book, and the experience of the team here rivals that of most published products. Plus, of course, Baker's knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, Eberron is second to none.

For me, the highlights were definitely the two chapters on Uncharted Domains and the Planes of Existence. As can perhaps be gathered, I wasn't so keen on the last three chapters - as noted, they pretty much felt like things that had to be there, rather than game-changers. That said, I don't think any of the material is bad, and may well use, or allow, it into my games. But it did leave me a little cold.

I would recommend this one to people who like Eberron, and liked "Rising from the Last War" but who want a bit more. (And I would definitely recommend it over "Morgrave Miscellany".) But I probably wouldn't recommend this in isolation, or to someone who didn't like, or didn't care for, Eberron as a setting.

One final thought: I'm now at a point where I think I have almost enough Eberron material. If WotC produce another hardback I'll certainly take a look, and if Keith Baker produces more products on the DM's Guild then I'll likewise consider them, but I'm probably only in the market for one of each now, at least until such time as I actually make use of the setting for another campaign...

Tome of Beasts II

This post may seem somewhat familiar...

I was all set to skip this book - as I said in my review of "Tome of Beasts", I really have enough monsters for 'general' use, and wasn't really in the market for a sequel. However, a lack of ideas for a good Christmas present brought this book to my attention.

As the third monster book from Kobold Press, this one follows a very familiar format - 400+ pages of monsters, rendered in glorious full colour, and all at a fairly competitive price. So if you liked "Tome of Beasts" and "Creature Codex", you'll probably like this one for the same reasons. If you didn't like those books, don't bother with this one. And if you don't have those books, then get "Tome of Beasts" first, "Creature Codex" second, and then decide. (Each book assumes that you have and can reference the earlier ones. They can certainly be used by themselves, but do work a little better taken together.)

If making recommendations for 'monster' books for 5e, my order of recommendation is as follows: "Monster Manual", "Tome of Beasts", "Monster Manual Expanded", "Creature Codex", "Monster Manual Expanded II", "Tome of Beasts II", "Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes", "Volo's Guide to Monsters", and finally "5th Edition Foes". Indeed, at this point I would stop well before the end of that list - I don't regret any of the purchases, but I just don't need all these monsters.

My recommendation here is necessarily conditional. If you're looking for even more monsters, this book is an excellent buy. If you're looking for specific WotC-owned monsters, then of course this won't do the job for you. Likewise, if you're looking for monsters that will appear in WotC products, or on the DM's Guild, this book isn't going to help. And if you're looking for anything other than monsters, this isn't the book for you. It does one thing, but does that one thing extremely well.

And that's that. As I said before, I'm now not in the market for any more 'general' monster books. I may pick up another "Guide To..." book from Wizards of the Coast, depending on the specific monsters that are present, and would certainly consider a 'themed' book of monsters. But for general use... well, I suppose there's always Christmas...

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything

RPGs supplements are generally marketed as being "must have" books for the respective game, without which the game will be somehow incomplete or lacking. The truth, of course, is that they're nothing of the sort. In fact, it very much seems that adding supplements to your game will actively make it worse, and the more supplements you add, the greater the problem. Which is a real shame.

"Tasha's Cauldron of Everything" is a frustrating book. On the one hand, 5e is sorely in need of additional subclasses (in my case, especially for Bards, though I suspect each DM has a different class or classes where that applies), which TCoE adds in abundance. On the other hand, some of the material is troublesome, or just plain bad.

The books is divided into four chapters.

The first chapter deals with character options, and this is where both the best and the worst material resides.

Firstly, the good: this chapter provides additional subclasses for each of the twelve classes in the PHB, and also reprints the Artificer from "Eberron: Rising from the Last War" (along with one additional subclass). This is all good stuff. (I wasn't keen on the additional spells for the new Sorcerer subclasses, but can live with those.)

The flip side is... controversial.

As noted previously, WotC have accepted that there is some problematic material in D&D, and has been making slow but genuine efforts to address that. One of the problems they have identified is that the ability score modifiers for the various races drive them very strongly towards certain classes, while the fixed proficiencies granted likewise stereotype the races. (I'm really not sure I agree on either count, but never mind...)

This book therefore takes steps to redress this, which is something I applaud... in principle. Except that it seems quite apparent that WotC don't really know how to fix the issue, which is embedded quite strongly in the game, and therefore their solution is just to allow players to re-assign those items anywhere they want. Which makes for a massive power-boost across the board, and makes the Mountain Dwarf an extremely appealing choice for all classes.

So it's a noble aim ruined by half-assed execution.

(On the other hand, the book does also give the "Custom Lineage" option for characters like the Scarecrow, Tin Man, or Cowardly Lion. Which is cool.)

The other very odd aspect of this chapter is that each class is given some "Optional Class Features". When I first came to these, I thought they were alternate class features that players could choose instead of existing features to give more customisation, but no. With the exception of the Ranger (probably the weakest class anyway) these are just additional features that the player can either choose to have or not. I'm not entirely sure why they'd choose not to, to be honest. (The book does say they should consult with the DM, but it says it is the player's decision.)

Oh, the chapter also includes a bunch of new feats, some of which are good, some of which suck, and none of which are likely to ever feature in my game. They're okay I guess.

Chapter 2 deals with group patrons. This is fine, but no more than that - did we really need guidance on how to have PCs work for a crime guild, military force, or similar?

Chapter 3 contains more spells and magic items. These are pretty cool. (The highlight are the "Summon X" spells, which are handled extremely well - these finally solve the single biggest problem that dragged 3e down. I very much approve.)

Chapter 4 provides fifty pages of miscellaneous 'stuff' for the DM. Again, this is fine but didn't hugely impress. The only thing that I really liked was the rules for Sidekicks, which are reprinted and expanded from the "Essentials Kit". By contrast, the twenty or so pages given over to puzzles were largely a waste of paper.

And that's that. Given the price point of $50 and the page count of 192 pages (and the slightly lower text density than the comparable "Xanathar's Guide to Everything"), this book really needed to be stellar to justify the value proposition. And it isn't that. On the other hand, if you can get a really good discount, are happy to ruthlessly ban a lot of the material that is there, you might be able to justify it.

For me, I'm frustrated by this book, rather disappointed with large parts of it (and especially the botched but very important changes to races), and frankly quite glad that I'm not DMing in an environment where I have to deal with players who would expect to be able to use it. Because I have little doubt that, used as a whole and as-is, it would make the game actively worse.

I've also reached a point where I'm done with WotC's player-facing supplements for 5e - both "Xanathar's Guide" and "Tasha's Guide" have fallen far short of the mark. The monster-focused books are likewise probably going to be something I skip unless they happen to be strongly-themed on something that appeals. That just leaves the occasional storyline to buy into (but mostly not), and possibly some of the settings - I'll at least look at any book on Eberron, Spelljammer (but absolutely not "Planejammer"), Ravenloft, or Dark Sun. I find it oddly disheartening to have come to that position, especially for an edition I actually very much enjoy, but there it is.

Review: Icewind Dale - Rime of the Frostmaiden

After swearing off WotC's adventures for a few years, I found myself in the market for a new adventure, provided it grabbed my attention and, crucially, started at 1st level. "Rime of the Frostmaiden" fit the bill, and so I picked up a copy. I'm glad that I did.

This is a fairly standard WotC adventure - it starts with a sandboxy section with a number of small quests to give the PCs XP, then gradually switches to a more linear big-quest approach. I do like this format for adventures. The adventures themselves seem to be pretty well put together, and the general makeup of the book is pretty good.

There were two particular highlights for me: one is the artwork throughout the book, which is outstanding. The other is that this book reveals a secret that they've been building up to through the last several adventures - I really like that sort of seeding of details and world-building (even if I hadn't seen the other adventures that started the mystery). It really shows an attention to a larger world that is nice.

There's not too much that I don't like about the adventure - the big weakness (the overly linear nature of the latter chapters) was something that I had priced in from the outset, so was happy to accept. There are two things, but one is another thing I've come to accept, while the other is something I can work around.

Specifically, this adventure has another case of the 'cheat' BBEG - the PCs are expected to face off against the enemy at 11th level, but that enemy should be far out of their league. So the adventure posits a 'cheat' to allow the match-up to work (this time that the BBEG is massively weakened). I'm not keen on that, but it seems to just be the way they do things now.

The other is the handling of XP. I've really come to dislike milestone XP, and the version as presented in this adventure is worse even than the norm. My strong suspicion is that this is done because the adventure just doesn't include enough 'real' XP for all the levels intended, so again they 'cheat' to speed things up without the players feeling that they haven't earned those levels. (Of course, my view on how XP should be awarded is very different from standard too, but never mind.)

There's not too much more I can say without giving spoilers. Suffice to say that this one almost certainly will be my next campaign, once "The Mist of Lamordia" have parted... and indeed that I may well buy in to the next storyling that WotC choose to present. I'm very impressed with this one.

Review: Eberron: Rising from the Last War

I've recently finished reading through the 'real' setting book for Eberron in 5e, "Rising from the Last War". I'm now finding it extremely hard to review!

Physically, the book is really good value: 320 pages, full-colour and hardback, and crammed with good stuff (written in a nice, small font - there's loads here). Given that it's priced at the same $50 as the rest of the 5e books, that marks it as especially good value in that product line.

But what matters with a book of this sort is the content, and on that front this book is... fine, I guess.

The book has six chapters: character creation, a gazeteer of the world, a description of Sharn, a guide to creating adventures in Eberron, some material on treasure, and the inevitable bestiary.

The character creation section is probably the most important in the book, updating the various game elements to 5e. These are all fine, but an awful lot of it is repeated material. The new stuff includes things like orc and goblinoid races, another take on the warforged, and a few other bits and bobs. Unfortunately, I remain underwhelmed by 5e's warforged - they've now done three distinct versions, and none have managed to appeal to me. This one is probably the best of the bunch, but that's not really saying much. (Similarly, I'm really not a fan of 'monster' races, so while the orcs and goblinoids are mechanically fine, I think I'd have been happier had the book omitted them.)

The chapters on the world and on Sharn are likewise fine, but there's just too much repeated material here - basically, this is now the fourth time they've gone over this ground, and nothing much has changed. The descriptions here are fine, but they're not spectacular.

And, likewise, the bestiary is fine, but not much new, as is the section on treasures.

Where there is perhaps some significant value is in the chapter on Eberron adventures. This is good stuff, I think. Unfortunately, by the time I got here I was generally just wanting to be done with the book, and everything I read seemed to make me less enthusiastic to play a game in Eberron, not moreso. That's a real shame, and probably not fair on either the book or the setting.

And yet...

If you're a 5e DM who wants to run a game in Eberron, you probably need some sort of support for it. And given the choice between this book and the "Wayfarer's Guide", this is the one to go for. My problem, I think, is not with this book at all, which is all fine, but purely to do with the amount of repeated material - as I said, I'm now on my fourth repeat of most of this stuff, and that's not ideal. But if you've skipped the "Wayfarer's Guide", and especially if you've skipped the 4e books, I expect this one would be much more favourably received.

(Of course, the other option is to get this book but to not bother actually reading it. Instead, use it for reference as appropriate - use it only for the updates on the mechanical elements. That should work fine.)

D&D Essentials Kit

This was one of the things I got for Christmas, having seen it in a store in December and then finding a very nice discount on Amazon. (As an aside, I don't feel particularly good about that, but when Amazon are offering 40% off, and that's the difference between "too much" and "sure, why not", it's hard to argue with it. But I digress.) This is a revised starter set for D&D fifth edition, although it looks like the existing Starter Set is to remain in print, which makes for a rather confusing offering: they now have the Starter Set, the Essentials Kit, a "Stranger Things" starter set, and a "Rick & Morty" set - four products doing essentially the same thing all competing in the marketplace.

My initial thought is that this is a very impressive set, and that in all aspects but one it blows the "Starter Set" out of the water. But that one aspect that remains is a big one. I'm also inclined to think that this set is a worthy contender against the old Pathfinder "Beginnner Box", which thus far has been what I've considered the gold standard for these things. Though, again, there is one exception that leaps to mind...

Firstly, let's take a quick look at the "extras". This box is fairly packed with them, and they're quite impressive.

We have the obligatory set of dice. This includes the standard 6 dice, but also includes a second d20 (for dis/advantage), a second d10 marked with the 10's (for d%), and four d6. This is a really nice touch, instantly covering the major multi-dice rolls. My only nitpick is that the dice aren't colour-coded, but to be honest I didn't expect they would be.

The set also comes with six blank character sheets. These are okay as far as they go, except that the standard 5e character sheet pretty much sucks, and these days the go-to place for character sheets is really online. These are okay, but... meh. (Incidentally, this is where the one aspect that the Beginner Box does better comes in - that box includes double-page spreads breaking out and explaining the sections of the character sheet. Adding one of those would probably be a better use of resource than a handful of blank character sheets. That is, of course, a pretty small detail.)

Moving beyond the standards, the box includes a fairly basic (but, IMO, quite nice) DM's screen and a double-sided map (the Sword Coast on one side, and Phandulin on the other). Two nice-to-have items here.

Then there are the cards, and a flat-packed box in which to hold them. There are, I think, 81 cards, including Initiative cards (1 to 9), Sidekick cards, Condition cards (very nice), and Magic Item cards for the items included in the adventure. These are all pretty great, and much appreciated.

Finally, the set includes a flyer advertising other products, notably the core rulebooks and D&D Beyond. However, whereas the equivalent flyer in the "Starter Set" could be disregarded as mere advertising, this one includes access codes for some expanded material, and a 50% discount for both the "Essentials Kit" adventure and also the "Player's Handbook" in D&D Beyond. So if you're interested in such things, this is good stuff. (And, actually, it means that if you're about to buy into D&D Beyond, and are going to purchase the PHB on that platform, this flyer alone pretty much pays back the cost of the "Essentials Kit", especially if you do get a big discount somewhere.)

So, those are the extras, and a fine bunch they are. And now the meat of the set: the two books.

Like the "Starter Set", the "Essentials Kit" comes with a rulebook that gives the basic rules of the game. In this case, however, the rulebook is 64 pages long (rather than 48), includes rules for advancing as far as 6th level, and includes character creation. It also includes the basics for the four most popular races (human, dwarf, elf, halfling), the five most popular classes (fighter, wizard, cleric, rogue... and bard) each with two subclasses, and five backgrounds. So there are a decent number of customisation options here. The book then gives concise equipment, combat, and exploration rules, details a basic set of spells for each class, and gives details of a number of magic items. The book then ends with a brief appendix giving the Sidekick "rules" (though it's a bit of a stretch calling them rules - there's a handful of paragraphs and three stat blocks), which are both very nice, and ideal for one-on-one play; and then the back cover serves as a second appendix of conditions.

Three thoughts about the rulebook: Firstly, this is a vast improvement over the one in the "Starter Set", which was really hampered by the absence of character creation. Secondly, there's almost nothing new here (the exception being the sidekick rules). But, thirdly, this book really puts the Core Rulebooks to shame, especially as it seems most games are in that 1-6 level range, and almost nobody plays higher than about 12th level. There's just so much unnecessary crap in the core rulebooks, and I'm inclined to think we'd be better off ditching most of it. Indeed, one could almost produce a boxed set the same size as this one containing only two 128-page softcover books, and include everything worthwhile from the three core rulebooks for levels 1-12... and that product alone would then be sufficient for almost every group out there.

Thus far, this is an outstanding product. As I said, it's a vast improvement over the "Starter Set", and it is most certainly the set I would recommend to new groups. The only remaining item is a 64-page adventure, "Dragon of Icespire Peak", designed to take characters from 1st level up to 6th.

Now, the first thing I have to say about this adventure is that it's not bad. This is an adventure you could buy, read, and run as-is and have a good time. So that's a pass-mark in my book.

But the problem is has is that the adventure in the "Starter Set", "Lost Mine of Phandelver" is a genuine classic, by far the best adventure WotC have produced for 5e, and quite possibly the best WotC have produced for D&D ever. "Dragon of Icespire Peak"... isn't. It's a collection of mini-quests all centred around the town of Phandulin - PCs are expected to pick a quest, go off and complete that quest, and return for tea and biscuits. Rinse, repeat, and then kill a dragon.

That's fine, so far as it goes. But it lacks the immediate hook of "Lost Mine" (which saw the PCs starting with a small dungeon incursion), and it also lacks the gradual build of complexity of "Lost Mine" (which started small and gradually opened up, while also gradually guiding the DM to more and greater things - eventually ending with an exhortation to create an adventure of his own). This one basically presents a bunch of stuff, and leaves the DM to get on with it.

(Though, funnily enough, one other newish DM I spoke to commented that he didn't find "Lost Mine" particularly well presented, in that the details could disappear in the text. I daresay he'd find this one easier to follow.)

It's also worth noting that this adventure doesn't really contain enough material to take PCs from 1st to 6th level. Instead it uses milestone advancement - PCs gain 1 level for completing each of their first two "starter quests", and then 1 level for completing two "follow-on quests". And they gain a level for slaying the dragon. This takes them to 6th level if they complete almost everything, but those individual quests are very small. Play it out using standard XP awards, and you won't get that far.

(Oh, one more thing: one of the features I really liked about "Lost Mine" was that there was one encounter that was really tough, and that would almost certainly lead to a TPK if the PCs just barged in. This set doesn't have that - while a TPK is possible, PCs can afford to be much more bullish as the set tries hard to avoid challenges that are just too tough. I don't consider that a positive development.)

So...

The best thing about "Dragon of Icespire Peak" is that is does serve as a really nice complement to "Lost Mine of Phandelver" - it's set in the same region but uses different areas in the sandbox. So one ideal possibility is to take the quests and encounters here and add them in to "Lost Mine", and run a combined adventure as a mini-campaign. You'd need to revert the "Dragon..." quests to 'normal' XP awards, but that's no bad thing.

In terms of a recommendation: my view of the "Starter Set" is that you should only buy it if you plan on running "Lost Mine of Phandelver", but that I'd recommend the set for that adventure alone. My view of the "Essentials Kit" is that it's a much better offering for new players, and so I would recommend it unreservedly for such groups. However I wouldn't recommend the "Essentials Kit" for more advanced groups, as the adventure doesn't sustain the recommendation by itself, and while the extras are nice-to-have, they're not that good.

However, for both beginners and more experienced groups, I would be inclined to suggest that if you have funds to hand then get both. Combining "Lost Mine of Phandelver" with "Dragon of Icespire Peak" should give a really nice mini-campaign of general utility, while new groups will benefit from the Rulebook and other items from the "Essentials Kit".

Fantasy Mapmaker

A few years ago I read a book called "How to Draw Fantasy Art and RPG Maps", by Jared Blando. It was one of those "I didn't know I needed this until now" moments - a step-by-step guide to a subject that had long vexed me. While some of my older maps were okay, I had become rather dissatisfied with them, and especially given the availability of electronic tools that should have made the task much easier.

When I finished that book, the one other thing that struck me immediately was that it could do with a companion volume, dealing with how to draw fantasy cities and settlements. I guess Jared Blando realised the same, as he has now produced that book: "Fantasy Mapmaker". I finished reading this one over the weekend, and intend to try some of the techniques out over the winter break, time permitting.

My review of this book is slightly mixed. On the one hand, this one did not have the same transformative impression on me. How could it, given that the first volume already did that? On the other hand, it is probably the superior volume - perhaps Jared Blando has refined his techniques and/or style over the past few years, or perhaps he just has a greater passion for cities and settlements?

Either way, this is a great book, and highly recommended for any GM - it joins "The DC Guide to Writing Comics" and "How to Draw Fantasy Art and RPG Maps" on my list of unexpected resources.

Now, if he could only produce a third volume, dealing with dungeon maps...

The Emerald Spire Superdungeon

As mentioned in my previous post, I had one last Pathfinder PDF to read through. "The Emerald Spire Superdungeon" was something I had had my eye on for a long time, and when Paizo issued me with some store credit (for a delay I hadn't even noticed), and with my subscription benefits coming to an end, it was an ideal time to pick it up.

As the name implies, the adventure details a 16-level superdungeon. This was a product put together for one of their Kickstarters, and Paizo therefore used their contacts to arrange to have each level written by a different author, being a whos-who of some of the big names in the industry (excluding people working for WotC... can't think why...) The upshot is that each layer has a distinct feel, which may or may not be a good thing.

All in all... it's fine. It's one of those products that I suspect is of more interest as an artifact rather than as a gaming product - perhaps as a guide to how those big names would go about putting together something like this. From a quick glance, it really looked like many of the challenges, especially in the first half-dozen levels, seemed rather weak.

I did feel that there were some levels, notably in the middle of the pack, that were really great - lots of clever ideas, and it just generally seemed like fun. Given that this also matches up rather neatly to the 'sweet spot' that just about every version of D&D (and Pathfinder) has, that's not really a surprise.

I don't think I would recommend this product, those I certainly don't regret the purchase. It's just that there are better adventures out there. It's interesting, but something else would probably serve your needs better.

(And with that, the era really is ended. No more Pathfinder for me.)

Morgrave Miscellany

I've largely taken to ignoring the DM's Guild, mostly since I'm barely gaming any more, because the quality is necessarily very uneven, and because frankly I've got no chance of keeping up anyway. However it does have one extremely nice feature, which is that as WotC open up the various settings it gives scope for an interested creator to expand his or her creation, potentially in ways that WotC never would (due to market pressures). And so, very occasionally there will be a product on there that screams "must have" to me.

That is the case with the "Morgrave Miscellany", an Eberron sourcebook from the creator of the setting, Keith Baker, with mechanical help from Ruty Rutenberg (who is a new name to me).

The Miscellany comprises four chapters: one on classes, one on other character matters, a third on running a game in a noir style, and then a set of noir-ish adventures (actually, for 0-level characters).

As the name perhaps implies, this one is very much a mixed bag. The material for the classes is generally good (and, since this represents the bulk of the document, it is probably worth the price of entry by itself). Likewise, the expanded options for Dragonmarks (in chapter two) are also interesting and likely to see use. On the other hand, I'm unlikely ever to use the new feats (not a fan of feats in general), and I found the material on races rather bland.

The chapter on running a noir game was interesting, but should be filed under "you'll probably never use this" - it's mostly techniques that should only be attempted by a pretty skilled GM... but a pretty skilled GM will probably be aware of them without this book. I was also very much not a fan of the adventure material that rounds out the book, partly because I have no interest in 0-level adventure material, but mostly because it all struck me as too short and far too linear to be worthwhile - there's very little inspiration on offer here.

The upshot is that this is one has a conditional recommendation. It's good if you want more material for classes, especially material slanted towards Eberron. And there are some good ideas here. But it's not as polished or as consistent as most of the published Eberron books, or indeed the "Wayfarer's Guide".

Bottom line: I'm not at all unhappy I bought this, but I suspect it's unlikely ever to see any actual use.