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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neuroglyph" data-source="post: 7656999" data-attributes="member: 85633">There are many sources of inspiration for creating heroic fantasy adventure campaigns, whether legends and mythology, pulp fiction or classic novels.   Many GMs have their favorite touchstones when looking for ideas, sometimes trusting to a particular author, or thematic style, or heroic cycle.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] [align=right]http://www.enworld.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=66161[/align]Just last month, Kobold Press launched the first of three new supplements to inspire campaigns for Pathfinder GMs in the world of Midgard and beyond.   Author Jeff Lee looked into sources like pulp fiction, comic books, and ancient earth legends to create the Demon Cults <a href="http://www.koboldpress.com/k/front-page18599.php#.VK3hMtJzTJ8" target="_blank">series</a>.  And this first release draws on the lore of esoteric lodges and myths of Atlantis to present Demon Cults: The Emerald Order! Demon Cults: The Emerald Order (for Pathfinder RPG)<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Designers: Jeff Lee</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Editing: Scott Gable</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Illustrator: Subroto Bhaumik (cover and interior)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Publisher: Kobold Press / Open Design LLC</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Year: 2014</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Media: PDF (14 pages)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Price: $2.99 (Available from <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product/141672/Demon-Cults-1-The-Emerald-Order&amp;filters=0_0_0_31813_0?affiliate_id=270466" target="_blank">RPGNow </a>in PDF format) </li> </ul>Demon Cults: The Emerald Order is a Pathfinder RPG supplement from Kobold Press/Open Design which features information about an esoteric cult guarding an ancient divine artifact.  The supplement includes information on the cult and its leader, as well as adventure hooks to involve heroes in quests against the members of the secret order.  In addition, there is a new Prestige Class related to the cult, a new magic item, a new artifact, and a new kind of magical golem to challenge adventurers who dare to threaten The Emerald Order. Production QualityThe production quality of Demon Cults: The Emerald Order is very good, with some top-notch writing and a striking full color layout which presents the contents quite well.  The layout is fairly typical of the quality Kobold Press has been releasing the past few years, and Pathfinder RPG fans should have no trouble using and understanding the material presented in the supplement.  Important notes appear in shaded boxes, and formats of monster stat blocks, class information, and magic items are in PFRPG formats.In addition to a small table of contents, there are a set of PDF bookmarks for navigation to important topics.  The length of the entire book is a little more than a dozen pages, so just flipping through PDF pages is relatively a simple matter to find the one's way around the supplement, so the bookmarks are a nice bonus.The artwork in Demon Cults: The Emerald Order is really impressive, but it is a bit sparse given the length of the supplement.  The cover art depicts the grandmaster of the cult, Dromdal-Re, working in his laboratory and surrounded by esoterica.  While quite stunning, this artwork is reused again in the interior of the book, and is one of the mere two illustrations in the supplement.  The other illustration is of the smaragdine golem, and is a rather nice depiction of the creature, but that's the total of the artwork in the book.  While the book is only 15 pages, one would at least expect two or three more pieces to relieve that wall-of-text feeling.  My Cult's Better Than Your CultThe title of Demon Cults: The Emerald Order is a bit of a misnomer, as the organization described in the supplement neither involves demons nor does it involve Chaotic Evil entities.  Instead, it is a more Lawful cult - admittedly mostly Lawful Evil in nature - which is devoted to guarding and studying a major artifact of the god Thoth-Hermes.  [align=left]http://www.enworld.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=66162[/align]This supplement is designed to be used with a number of other products which include the Advanced Players Guide, Deep Magic, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Equipment, and the Midgard Beastiary.  Most of those references will be used with the one NPC described in the book, otherwise the PDF contains all the information needed to utilize The Emerald Order in a campaign. The operations of The Emerald Order is more subtle and secretive, with secret members in all walks of life who can manipulate a whole society to the machinations and schemes of the organization - perhaps if one could imagine Lawful Evil Free Masons? The Emerald Order is a secret society among worshippers of Thoth, who jealously guard the secrets and powers of the Emerald Tablet, an artifact containing secrets known to the god himself - and they guard these secrets not only from infidels but from other Thoth worshippers as well!  The book opens with an introduction into the nature and methods of The Emerald Order, which is short and fairly scant in details as to the overall goals, but made a bit more clear once the plot hooks are discussed later in the book. The main leader of the order, Dromdal-Re, is described next, with a full stat block and spell list along with a few details about his history and personality.  This non-player character's spell list and abilities reference several different supplements, and the author included notations to distinguish where to reference information about spells and powers. The author offers a section on Cult Activities and Adventure Hooks which range from APL 1 to APL 12, divided into four brackets APL 1-3, APL 4-6, and so on.  There are about ten different adventure plots here to introduce heroes to the cult activities - and several of them include ways that The Emerald Order might manipulate the player-characters to their own ends.  The plots are interesting but very bare-bones, with full development of the monster, NPCs, and rewards to be decided by individual GMs. [align=right]http://www.enworld.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=66163[/align]The supplement also includes a Prestige Class, Discipline of the Emerald Esoterica, which grant powers and additional spell levels to members of The Emerald Order.  The Prestige Class is fairly potent, but given that it would seem to be aimed at NPC spellcasters who are in good standing with this cult, it can make some pretty tough opponents for the heroes to fight.  This section contains a sidebar which discusses The Emerald Order’s influence and activities in the World of Midgard. Demon Cults: The Emerald Order offers a couple of new magic items to a Pathfinder RPG – an ioun stone and a major artifact.  The ioun stone called an Emerald Shard provides its owner with DR 5/- which is a pretty solid defensive item.  The Emerald Tablet of Thoth-Hermes contains secrets of the universe and magic and time from the knowledge of a god, and is the source of power which the order guards with great fanaticism.  It allows speedy spell research, a massive bonus to Knowledge checks, and can actually alter the universe if the possessor is powerful enough. The final section of the PDF contains a new monster, a Smaragdine Golem, made of emerald crystal and topped with the head of an ibis.  The golems are a CR 12 monster that are quasi-intelligent, can absorb and release magical energy, and are actually grown from shards of crystal taken from The Emerald Tablet.  They are an interesting addition to the lore surrounding the artifact and the cult, and provide security for the tablets as well as cult locations. Overall Score: 7.8 out of 10.0 ConclusionsDemon Cults: The Emerald Order has got some decent ideas in it.  Granted it’s a lot of bare bones material and general information, but it does have some good thought behind it and some strong writing from the author.  The layout is solid and attractive, although a bit sparse in illustrations or maps.  But it contains some good quality PFRPG mechanics, and the new magic items and monster offerings are pretty nifty.It would have been a bit more impressive to see at least one of the adventure hooks actually developed into a short scenario as an example to get GMs rolling into a campaign using The Emerald Order.   But compared to the price, there is a ton of good content in this supplement – cheap enough to definitely be worth a look for some new material to create a Pathfinder RPG adventure arc.Editorial Note: This Reviewer received a complimentary playtest copy of the product in hardbound format from which the review was written.  Grade Card (Ratings 0 to 10)<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Presentation: 6.75</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Design: 7.5 (Very good layout; excellent writing; good presentation of content)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Illustrations: 6.0 (Lovely cover art; scant but good interior illustration – even if one is the cover reused)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Content: 7.25</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Crunch: 7.5 (Solid use of PFRPG mechanics; cool new monster/magic items/prestige class)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Fluff: 7.0 (Fascinating lore; nice adventure hooks; wished there were more details)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Value: 9.5 (It’s a wealth of information compared to its price – a steal for some cool inspirations!)</li> </ul></blockquote>

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