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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2011232" data-attributes="member: 18387">By Steven Creech, Exec. Chairman d20 Magazine RackInitiative RoundNearly four years in the making, Denizens of Avadnu is a monster supplement for the yet to be published Violet Dawn: The Time of the Unravelling campaign setting. Coming in at 224 pages and retailing for $39.95, this full color hardcover is the first offering by Inner Circle Games.The book boasts over 140 new creatures, templates, and monstrous prestige classes along with 30 original skills and feats, and over a dozen weapons, spells, and magic items. Each monster entry comes complete with 3.5 edition stats and sections on adventure ideas and Avadnu specific campaigns. Interlaced among the entries are new game materials that include the spells, magic items, weapons, etc.Before you get to the creature entries however, there is a chapter devoted to Building a Creature. Here you find the explanations behind the creation of new subtypes (Voidspawn), skills (Autoheal, Focus Essential Energy, Perfect Recall, Scent, Sculpt Self, and Sense Supernatural), and feats (Channel Essential Energy, Controlled Breathing, Crushing Blow, Wide Eyes and many other too numerous to include here). Most of these appear to be created out of necessity for the Violet Dawn setting. Contrary to the title of the chapter, this new information is all that is contained. You find nothing more regarding creature construction as one might surmise.Chapter two is the meat of the book and consists of the individual monster entries. The creatures show a wide range of Challenge Ratings (from ¼ to 20) with the majority between CR 5 and CR 9. Creature types are also varied accordingly with a significant number of aberrations, outsiders and magical beasts. Creatures that stood out for my gaming tastes include the blood ooze, eri, kei-ehri, madrir, nightbeast, and the skarren. The solar creature template is also very interesting, but it would have been nice to include an example creature with the entry.Chapter three is a short four page treatise on how to use monsters from the Monster Manual in the world of Avadnu. Chapter four is an updated summoning table and also an index of creatures by Challenge Rating, type and subtype.Critical HitAll to often, monster supplements are primarily comprised of nothing more than existing variations of other creatures. That is far from the case here. Most creatures are almost entirely alien in nature compared to what one normally sees. The originality really shines in creatures such as dread spire, goldencrest, nightbeast, planar grimalkin, straga, and teo-selerai.The decision to print in full color with this book is also a solid hit. It really adds a missing element to the book when combined with the strong artistic qualities. Add this to the web support that Inner Circle promises and you have a strong argument for owning the book.Critical FumbleDespite being billed as suitable for fantasy campaigns, most of the creatures really come across as ‘too alien’ for fantasy (with the exception of Dark Sun). Another fault lies with the game balance regarding certain skills or feats. For example, Scent is now a skill and not a special ability. Additionally, some of the feats presented, such as Controlled Breathing, already exist in other sources under a different name. In this case, see Breath Weapon Burst in the Monster’s Handbook (from Fantasy Flight Games).Unfortunately, there seems to be binding issues with the book. After very little use, the binding is already becoming loose and is threatening to crack. Hopefully this is an isolated incident and not the norm for this book. Regardless, it makes the desire to use the book on a regular basis less attractive.Coup de GraceDenizens of Avadnu is a refreshing change of pace from the run-of-the-mill monster books. While not for everyone, it fills a niche that has been lacking for gamers who want to run a non-fantasy d20 game like Dragonstar, Babylon 5, or even d20 Modern if you go with the X-Files type of campaign. That’s not to say that the book has no place in a fantasy setting. Certainly, those who play in Oathbound, Dark Sun or Planescape will find greater use over those who play in more traditional settings like Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms. Like Eden’s Liber Bestarius, this one caters to the gamer with more diverse tastes in his monster fare. For a first effort, Inner Circle has delivered a quality product.To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at <a href="http://www.d20zines.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1025&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0" target="_blank">www.d20zines.com.</a></blockquote>

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