NPC Files: Rungie Rampholean

[BradfordFerguson]

NPC Files: Rungie Rampholean, published by Expeditious Retreat Press, is a PDF product sold on RPGNow.com. For more information about the product itself, you can refer to the link above.

I have a one reservation about this series as the following text is in the introduction, but not stated on the product page where the PDF is sold: "The emphasis of NPC Files is mechanically describing a story-driven character. This means that sometimes they will incur experience penalties, sometimes they will have more or less than their expected wealth, and sometimes they don't always take the 'most efficient route' to their destiny."

So while the main reason for people to purchase the PDF is to have 20 stat blocks from first to twentieth level of the same character, those stat blocks may not necessarily follow the rules. This may irk some people who are looking for stat blocks that 100% follow the guidelines and prescriptions of the PHB and DMG. For this specific edition, Rungie Rampholean, a gnome rogue/wizard would have incurred multi-classing penalties early on in his career as the favored class of gnomes is bard, but the levels stay balanced after a bit.

The story, written by Nicholas Olivo, is interesting for all three snapshots of Rungie's life though it uses some off-genre lingo like "security firm." Rungie is a true master of traps. Traps are this character's life. This NPC would definitely be a cool NPC to incorporate into fantasy campaigns.

The mechanics, done by Joseph Browning and Suzi Yee, are very well done as a whole. I only have a couple of gripes. The first-level character is a rogue, but his untrained hide bonus isn't provided. Also, the character later has Craft (trapmaking) as a skill, but never has traps listed as a possession. However, this trapmaster is all about elaborate traps that can't simply just be laid down on the ground.

I refuse to give this product the 'John Cooper review treatment', but to my untrained eye, the stat blocks look good. Even if there were errors, all the stat blocks are playable—all the necessary spells prepared and spells in spellbook are given.

Likes:
Delivers on its promises.
Good back story. Good mechanics.

Dislikes:
Deviates slightly from PHB and DMG guidelines.

Score: 16 of 20 (or 4/5)

-----
Bradford Ferguson

 

[Crothian]

Rungie Rampholean

The non player character represents a lot in the gaming world. They are the soldiers, the bakers, the wizards, the bad guys, the allies, the cohorts, the leaders, and so much more. Most of the time they only need to be a name followed by a small definition of their abilities and personality. However, occasionally one will need a more in-depth version of the NPC. Stat blocks of various levels will be needed, more detail into the history and personality, and possessions all have to be defined. This can be very difficult and time consuming. That is were the NPC Files comes in. It is a series of small PDFs that detail one NPC but gives the stat blocks and other options that take time to create.

NPC Files: Rungie Rampholean is a book by Expeditious Retreat. They are the creators of one of the few must have books Magical Medieval Society: A Guide to Western Europe. This NPC Files books is only twenty two pages long, It has only one picture and that is the cover. The lay out is okay. They went with one stat block per page or per two pages. It is easier to look at and read but does have some wasted space because of it.

I like what the book tries to do but I do not think the book really succeeded in doing it that well. The book presents some background information on Rungie, a gnome rogue/wizard, but not enough. It talks some about what he does but I was hoping for more detail into the character. Most of the book is taken up by the stat blocks. One can imagine how much space twenty stat blocks are fully written out take up. There is a stat block for each level first through twenty. That is a lot of space. It might have been better to write up every third and then just mention what changes for the other level. Also, it would have been nice to see some epic progressions for Rungie now that the epic level rules are now allowed to be used.

The character is not fully optimized, it is created to a be a little more realistic then a min maxed version. The equipment is not always the best for the level the character is, and the level split is not always the most advantageous. I like that they did that.

This is a good product for anyone who has a need for a NPC that they will be using lots over the course of a campaign that spans lots of levels. However, I think the space could have been better proportioned between stat blocks and information on who and what Rungie the gnome really is.

 

[GameWyrd]

Rungie Rampholean the Master of Traps will set you back a gigantic $1 currently. That's half the price of the usual whopping figure of $2. The discount might be money back for the entirely unpronounceable name of this NPC.

$1 for 22 pages is the sort of price that only PDF products can do. That's fantastically cheap. If this were 22 pages, give or take for OGL and index foo, for original content then that would be fantastic. Original content isn't really the strength of the NPC Files series.

NPC Files: Rungie Rampholean the Master of Traps is hugely crunchy. There are nearly twenty pages of stats. There are nearly twenty pages of d20 stats for the Gnome Rogue / Wizard.

The pitch is this; we have a NPC, we follow this NPC through a detailed and rich history, we have stats for them at key moments of their life and then a complete wash of stats for levels 1 through to 20.

A history is a hard thing to squeeze into a few paragraphs - and that's all we have. We know Rungie had a pet badger called Beal. We know some of his quirks but we don't know much else about him - any hates, loves, why he's so obsessed on traps, and that sort of thing. We don't know whether he's lost any students to the traps his school practises on. I can't get inside Rungie's head; he's Lawful Good but he's a thief and a murderer.

The sheer weight of stats is useful to a point. I think it is this number crunching which is the product's real worth. I know how many Pounds Sterling I'm worth every hour at work and I know how many hours it'll take me to generate 20 levels of d20 stats. I'm pleased to say that it's cost effective for me to buy this addition of NPC Files! (Even at the full price of $2.)

There's another hidden strength in Rungie Rampholean; this is not supposed to be a mini-maxed NPC! In other words, the NPC has not been created in the most mechanically efficient way! My gosh. It's a poor comment on the industry when something a simple as this becomes an unique selling point. I cannot bring myself to criticise Expeditious Retreat Press for this; they've proven themselves as not crunch obsessed (with excellent products like A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture) but it does put another slant on the NPC Files concept.

If having quick access to a detailed set of d20 stats is important, useful or otherwise beneficial and you'd rather not wing the dice then NPC Files is something to consider. If you're happy to buy PDFs and time is precious then NPC Files is still on the to-consider list but if putting the characters together yourself is something you enjoy (as many gamers do) then NPC Files starts to fade in attractiveness. Of course, if you hate PDF products with a passion then, clearly, this product isn't for you and it's a mystery why you're still reading this RPG review.

It's a fairly easy call to make. In summary; if you've a $1 to spend and need a whack of gnome rogue/wizard d20 stats then there's every reason to pick up this product. Otherwise there's nothing in the way of unique selling points that'll make NPC Files: Rungie Rampholean the Master of Traps speak to you.

* This NPC Files: Rungie Rampholean was first published at GameWyrd.

 

[prodigyxss]

NPC Files is a new page pdf line from Expeditious Retreat Press detailing one npc by giving him a story and then smattering the rest of the pages with statblocks of him from level 1-20.

When I first saw that Expeditious Retreat Press made this, I immediatly thought back to their prized and well known A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe. So I eagery anticipated this as another well written piece of work. But as I was skimming through it before I started to read it, all I saw were huge statblocks and this made me cry for I wanted more than that. It does come with well written story about him though, which they could have made longer than the statblocks.

Rungie Rampholean is a 22 page pdf detailing his life and stats. Rungie is a gnome rouge/wizard who just loves traps and adventures anywhere he can to find new and devious traps to take notes on, construct, and then publish it in his famous book. Thats not all of his story of course, but lets just say he loves traps. His story was really the only thing "I" liked about the pdf as it was very interesting to me. Rungie is also created to be more of a realistic npc and not a min/maxed version. I could see rungie as a good reocurring ally or villain.

All I can say is that if you need a gnome rouge/wizard, then this pdf is for you. I think the npc files would be better if they didnt put all of the stats from 1-20, but outlined changes in the text, if they had a few more illustrations even though the cover art was well done, and if they expanded and made their stories longer as I liked Rungie's story.