Catalog No. 12
Catalog No. 12 is a pdf product from Lost Worlds, a relatively new publishing company with this as its only product so far. Catalog No. 12 is written from the perspective of an auction house, and presents a catalog of magical items up for auction from the renowned auctioneers, Spilk and Morundel. Catalog No. 12 is a 83 page pdf, of which 75 pages are devoted to the descriptions of the various magical items up for auction. Catalog No. 12 normally retails for $5. This review was done as part of Crothian's Review Project.
Disclaimer: The reviewer is also a d20 freelance writer with recent published material through another publisher. Every effort has been made by the reviewer to ensure that this is an impartial review.
Initial Impressions:
Catalog No. 12 comes a single pdf file which unfortunately doesn't have any bookmarks, but hopefully that is something that can be corrected in the future, as that's about all that I can say that's negative about the presentation. Having said this, the pdf does contain a very useful index, something that's rarely seen in pdfs or even print products. The rest of the pdf's presentation and layout is top notch and very professional - heck, it's better than most products out there. The artwork is outstanding, and amazingly there is a piece of art for every one of the 111 magical items provided in this pdf. It was a glorious read, with fantastic art and some really memorable images.
The layout is in two columns on each page, with a magical item assigned to each column on any particular page. I did have one other minor comment about this layout - it's rather strictly enforced, with the net result that if a particular item has a large piece of art or particularly lengthy mechanical description the related flavor text is cut down to a sentence or two rather than the excellent material normally presented. And it's the flavor that captured my attention during reading this pdf, as it's both fresh, innovative and a joy to read with loads of humorous, interesting and useful ideas related to the history and background of each item.
The Details:
Catalog No. 12 present an auction house's catalog of items up for auction, and presents 111 such items in the following categories: Armor, Containers, Divining Devices, Garb, Gems and Jewelry, Instruments, Librams, Miscellaneous, Riding Equipment, Staves, Tools, Transportation, and Weapons. Each item is thoroughly detailed and presented with a brief blurb from the auctioneer, a lengthy and flavorful background (legend and lore section) followed by the mechanical description of the item's properties, and the normal crafting criteria, market value, caster level and other mechanical details.
There is a lot to this pdf, and some truly innovative and fun reading. The background material to each item provides some insight into the nature and history of the item, as well as the reason it was crafted and what it was originally used for. I truly enjoyed reading all the little tales on each item, and was an excellent part of this pdf. In addition each item is presented with its own artwork which gives you an excellent idea what the item looks like, and most of the artwork is excellent.
Mechanically the pdf is sound - each item is well costed and presented, with adequate detail, and I didn't really find anything that was overpowered or not balanced. I found that some of the items were a little uninspiring or uninteresting, but in general they were solid, useful, and sometimes innovative and intriguing. As the list of different items suggests, there are some items here that are not typically found in a collection of magical items, such as the Transportation items (the War Wagon is particularly fun) and these provide for an useful expansion to existing material.
In addition to all the magical items presented, the pdf details more than a dozen new weapon, armor and shield enhancements that can be added to different weapons and armor. There is also an artificer prestige class, a specialist class devoted to understanding and crafting magic. Finally all the magical items are sorted into tables compatible with the DMG, in terms of minor, medium and major magical items.
Conclusions:
Catalog No. 12 is the first product from Lost Worlds (I believe Lost Worlds is actually a game store in New York that has released this product) and presents an auction house's catalog of magical items for sale. The level of detail is truly fantastic, and the artwork enhances the quality of the pdf tremendously. Each item is described with wonderful flavor and interesting additional text, making sure that each item is unique in its own way. While the mechanical properties of some of the items weren't all that interesting, it's solid on that front with some enjoyable and fun material. Overall, I think this is an excellent pdf from a new publisher, and at $5 excellent value for money. Based on fresh content, excellent art and presentation, good and solid mechanics (sometimes uninspired) and excellent flavor, I'd grade this pdf with four and a half stars, rounding up to five stars. Well worth buying!
