John Cooper
Explorer
FAIRYTALE FOLIO: PUSS IN BOOTS
By Steven A. Tinner
SATurday Graphics product number FF01
7-page PDF, $1.50
Fairytale Folio: Puss in Boots is presumably the first in what might be a long line of d20 products based on the characters from fairy tales. (There are certainly enough potential characters that could be incorporated into D&D/d20 Fantasy campaigns.)
The cover artwork is an uncredited drawing of Puss in Boots himself, wearing a swashbuckler-style floppy hat (with long feather) and wielding a sword. It's a very simple, cartoony work, and I haven't quite decided what those colored strips in the background are supposed to be - ribbons, maybe? In any case, it's not the best artwork I've ever seen in my life, but it captures the subject matter appropriately enough, in any case.
The rest of the artwork in the PDF seems to be all clip art (with the exception of the illustration of Puss in Boots himself, which is a scaled-down version of the cover artwork, sans funky background). Fortunately, the artwork isn't really needed to get the ideas across, considering that the other personages depicted are a Marquis, a King, and a Princess, and the two magic items are a pair of boots and a bag. On the plus side, though, since the interior illustrations are all about an inch square, you could easily print out another copy of pages 4 and 5 (where the illustrations are located), cut out the illustrations of Puss, the Marquis, the King, and the Princess (each handily outlined in a square), and have some functional NPC tokens for use on the battlemat as needed. (That may not have necessarily been the intention of using the artwork at that scale, but if nothing else it's a fortunate side effect.) The only artwork I kind of missed was an illustration of the new monster, but given that it's merely a shapeshifting ogre, I suppose its lack can be forgiven.
In what will no doubt be the standard format of future volumes in this PDF series (and I feel confident in my "no doubt" statement, given that Steven tells us that in a sidebar on page 2), Fairytale Folio: Puss in Boots begins with a recitation of the relevant fairy tale, then provides d20 game statistics for the main characters and magic items presented in the fairy tale. (Presumably, when necessary, future volumes will also incorporate things like new spells, races, weapons, prestige classes, or whatnot, based on the specific fairy tale involved.) I'll admit that up until now, I hadn't ever read (or heard) the full-blown fairy tale of Puss in Boots, but the retelling feels very appropriate to the fairy tale structure, so if Steven's just paraphrasing from versions he heard as a child, he's doing a good job of it.
After the two-and-a-half-page fairy tale, we get stats for the four characters mentioned above, Puss' boots of awakening and bag of hunting, and the new ogre shifter, followed by several game hooks on how to incorporate the material into your campaign. The creature stats are pretty poorly done, however; not only does Steven seem uncomfortable with the way information is traditionally aligned (instead of providing a Base Attack Bonus, for example, he comes up with "base melee" and "base ranged" values with size, Strength, and Dexterity already factored in, which will be counterintuitive to any DM used to standard d20 creature stats), but he also slips back to 3.0 format with his ogre shifter monster stats, providing "Attacks" and "Damage" lines instead of "Attack" and "Full Attack" lines, "Face/Reach" and "Climate/Terrain" instead of "Space/Reach" and "Environment," and so on. This would be forgivable had this come out just after 3.5 was released, but since it's got a 2006 copyright date, Steven's had more than enough time to get the 3.5 standards down right.
For those interested, here are the changes I recommend making to the creature stats:
Fairytale Folio: Puss in Boots is pretty average, then, in presentation. None of this is groundbreaking material (I actually got a bit of a chuckle over the fact that the human NPCs all have 10s and 11s for all of their ability scores, except for the Princess, who apparently deserved 9s in both Strength and Constitution), and the material is of questionable utility to the majority of fantasy campaigns, but if you're looking to add fairy tale material to your game world, then this may well be worth a look. I'm giving it a straight-out "3 (Average)."
By Steven A. Tinner
SATurday Graphics product number FF01
7-page PDF, $1.50
Fairytale Folio: Puss in Boots is presumably the first in what might be a long line of d20 products based on the characters from fairy tales. (There are certainly enough potential characters that could be incorporated into D&D/d20 Fantasy campaigns.)
The cover artwork is an uncredited drawing of Puss in Boots himself, wearing a swashbuckler-style floppy hat (with long feather) and wielding a sword. It's a very simple, cartoony work, and I haven't quite decided what those colored strips in the background are supposed to be - ribbons, maybe? In any case, it's not the best artwork I've ever seen in my life, but it captures the subject matter appropriately enough, in any case.
The rest of the artwork in the PDF seems to be all clip art (with the exception of the illustration of Puss in Boots himself, which is a scaled-down version of the cover artwork, sans funky background). Fortunately, the artwork isn't really needed to get the ideas across, considering that the other personages depicted are a Marquis, a King, and a Princess, and the two magic items are a pair of boots and a bag. On the plus side, though, since the interior illustrations are all about an inch square, you could easily print out another copy of pages 4 and 5 (where the illustrations are located), cut out the illustrations of Puss, the Marquis, the King, and the Princess (each handily outlined in a square), and have some functional NPC tokens for use on the battlemat as needed. (That may not have necessarily been the intention of using the artwork at that scale, but if nothing else it's a fortunate side effect.) The only artwork I kind of missed was an illustration of the new monster, but given that it's merely a shapeshifting ogre, I suppose its lack can be forgiven.
In what will no doubt be the standard format of future volumes in this PDF series (and I feel confident in my "no doubt" statement, given that Steven tells us that in a sidebar on page 2), Fairytale Folio: Puss in Boots begins with a recitation of the relevant fairy tale, then provides d20 game statistics for the main characters and magic items presented in the fairy tale. (Presumably, when necessary, future volumes will also incorporate things like new spells, races, weapons, prestige classes, or whatnot, based on the specific fairy tale involved.) I'll admit that up until now, I hadn't ever read (or heard) the full-blown fairy tale of Puss in Boots, but the retelling feels very appropriate to the fairy tale structure, so if Steven's just paraphrasing from versions he heard as a child, he's doing a good job of it.
After the two-and-a-half-page fairy tale, we get stats for the four characters mentioned above, Puss' boots of awakening and bag of hunting, and the new ogre shifter, followed by several game hooks on how to incorporate the material into your campaign. The creature stats are pretty poorly done, however; not only does Steven seem uncomfortable with the way information is traditionally aligned (instead of providing a Base Attack Bonus, for example, he comes up with "base melee" and "base ranged" values with size, Strength, and Dexterity already factored in, which will be counterintuitive to any DM used to standard d20 creature stats), but he also slips back to 3.0 format with his ogre shifter monster stats, providing "Attacks" and "Damage" lines instead of "Attack" and "Full Attack" lines, "Face/Reach" and "Climate/Terrain" instead of "Space/Reach" and "Environment," and so on. This would be forgivable had this come out just after 3.5 was released, but since it's got a 2006 copyright date, Steven's had more than enough time to get the 3.5 standards down right.
For those interested, here are the changes I recommend making to the creature stats:
- p. 4, Puss in Boots, awakened cat rogue 4: Base Attack should be +3 (as a Rog4), not "+1 base melee, +8 base ranged" - it's always best to stick to the standard creature stat format, rather than making up your own. (And the values provided are wrong anyway; throw in size modifiers and Dex modifiers - Puss has Weapon Finesse - and they'd both be "+8" anyway (+3 BAB, +2 size, +3 Dex); the only way to get to "+1 base melee is to use Puss' -4 Str penalty, which isn't a factor due to Weapon Finesse.) No AC breakdown is provided; it should be "(+2 size, +3 Dex)." "Knowledge (Monsters)" isn't a standard skill, and there are no provisions in the PDF explaining how this "new skill" works, or what it covers, or anything. In any case, it looks like he spent 61 out of 70 skill points; I'd recommend dropping the nonexistent "Knowledge (Monsters)" entirely and bumping Knowledge (nobility and royalty) to +9 [7 ranks, +2 Int] (which in turn bumps Diplomacy up to +11), Move Silently to +14 [7 ranks, +3 Dex, +4 racial], and Survival to +8 (+10 following tracks) [7 ranks, +1 Wis, +2 conditional synergy bonus from Search]. We'll also need to add Knowledge (nature) +4 [0 ranks, +2 Int, +2 synergy bonus from Survival] to round it out.
- p. 5, The Marquis de Carabas, male human commoner 1: He spent 16 of 12 skill points, so we'll need to crop off 4 points somewhere. You could drop Bluff altogether (it's cross-class for a commoner in any case, so there's all 4 points saved right there); or, failing that (since it makes sense for him to have some points in Bluff, considering the story), crop 3 points off of Handle Animal and 1 from either Ride or Profession (miller). Really, there's no right or wrong way to allocate skill points, just as long as the totals match up correctly.
- p. 5, The King, male human aristocrat 3: Initiative should be +0, not -1 (+0 Dex). AC should be 10, not 9 (+0 Dex); ditto with both touch AC and flat-footed AC. Longsword attacks should be at +2 melee, not +1 (+2 BAB, +0 Str). Will should be +3, not +2 (+3 as an Ari3, +0 Wis). Spent 29 of 30 skill points. This one's an easy fix, since he has maximum skill points spent in all but one of his skills: bump Ride up to +6, and we're done.
- p. 5, The Princess, female human aristocrat 1: Base Attack Bonus should be +0 (as an Ari1), not -1 (although this is a result of Steven's insistence on already factoring in Str bonuses/penalties rather than sticking with the standard practice).
- p. 6, Ogre Shifter: Speed should have "(8 squares)" after "40 ft." The AC values, while correct, have the breakdown wrong; "+0 Natural,+5" should be "+5 natural." Base Attack/Grapple values are not listed; should be +3/+12. Instead of the "Attacks" and "Damage" lines, it should read: "Attack: Greatclub +7 melee (2d8+7)" and "Full Attack: Greatclub +7 melee (2d8+7)." "Face/Reach: 10ft. by 10ft./ 10ft." should be "Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft." No Special Attacks line is given (even though it would probably be "-"). With Str 21 and Dex 8, why in the world does he have Weapon Finesse as a feat? (I suppose it could come in handy depending upon what shape he morphs into, but it still seems kind of an odd choice.) "Climate/Terrain" should be "Environment." Also, while it isn't part of the stats (but rather the plot hooks section that follows), if an ogre shifter turned into a viper, he wouldn't be venomous (as indicated), as anything leaving his body loses its properties (see the polymorph spell, which is specifically listed as the source of the ogre shifter's "change shape" special quality).
Fairytale Folio: Puss in Boots is pretty average, then, in presentation. None of this is groundbreaking material (I actually got a bit of a chuckle over the fact that the human NPCs all have 10s and 11s for all of their ability scores, except for the Princess, who apparently deserved 9s in both Strength and Constitution), and the material is of questionable utility to the majority of fantasy campaigns, but if you're looking to add fairy tale material to your game world, then this may well be worth a look. I'm giving it a straight-out "3 (Average)."
