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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Byrons_Ghost" data-source="post: 2611001" data-attributes="member: 7396">Note: I was sent this PDF for free as part of the ENWorld summer review program.Tiny Terrors is a unique mini-game which takes the playful energy of movies such as "Toy Story" and "Monsters, Inc" and transfers it into a world in which good toys struggle against the evil minions of the Boogeyman. The PDF itself is 47 pages long, but contains several large chunks of white space, which probably bring the count closer to 42 pages. That's still a good amount of material for the price, though.In the Tiny Terrors setting, an evil creatures in the distant past were cast outside of our world and imprisoned in what is called the Nightmare Realm. In order to survive, and eventually escape, they must steal Spirit essence from humans. The central villain of Tiny Terrors is the Boogeyman, who steals Spirit from children by frightening them with his nightmare minions.Enter the toys. As children love and play with their toys, the toys become infused with a portion of their Spirit- enough to become alive and fight the minions of the Boogeyman. The toys can use both their innate abilities and infused Spirit to fight the monsters which invade the bedroom, eventually taking the fight to the Nightmare Realm itself. One thing they can't do, though, is move or act around adults- at least, not without great difficulty.Tiny Terrors doesn't have numbered chapters, instead it is broken into sections:A Child's World: This is the introduction to the game and the setting. It outlines the Boogeyman, the threat he poses to children, and the toys that stand against him. This section also touches upon the changes in scale that the game requires: movement is measured in inches instead of feet, so one map square would equal five inches. One interesting idea is to use the actual room floor in lieu of a battlemat, with real toys taking their real positions. Since the scale of action is so much smaller, one furnished living room could easily be enough for an entire scenario.Rules: Tiny Terrors is built upon the D20 Modern system. The rules section assumes that the reader has access to either the book, or the SRD, and only touches upon those D20 Modern rules that need adjusting.Character Creation: The longest section in the book, this chapter covers toy types (the races of the setting), character classes, and new talents and feats. The feats mostly revolve around accessories or features that are advertised on toys, such as Changing Colors or Kung Fu Grip. In fact, just about all equipment that a toy can have is acquired through feats, and some, such as vehicles or playsets (think Castle Greyskull) can be quite elaborate.  Action Figure: These are the strong, warrior toys that take the front lines in the battle against the Boogeyman and his minions. They gain extra accessories, almost always combat gear or the like.  Constructive: Not single toys, but instead a collective intelligence of building block toys that can reform themselves into different shapes and structures. The player may choose from a list of different block types in his pool, which may then be combined in whatever suits the needs of the moment.  Doll: This category encompasses non-action toys such as Barbie dolls. Dolls are the charismatic leaders of the toys, and gain an even balance between Spirit abilities and accessories.  Security Blanket: As the name implies, security blankets are those pieces of cloth that make children feel safer. As such, they are the most spiritually powerful of the toys. The blankets themselves are amorphous creatures like aberrations, and can use their unusual shapes to protect or shield both children and toys.  Stuffed Animal: Stuffed animals are also treasured possessions of their children, and are second in spirit power only to security blankets. The fact that they are animals also makes them effective in combat, where they rely on their natural abilities rather than theaccessories of the action figure.The classes for Tiny Terrors are the same as in D20 Modern, only renamed. There are also some new talent trees for the classes, such as Missing Toy, Yard Toy, and Unobtrusive.Finally, there are some toy-specific advanced classes. While intended for use in this setting only, some of the classes could be transferred to any setting which involves characters using spirit powers to battle evil, with only slight modification to the classes.  Collectible: A rather confusing name, this advanced class could apply either heirlooms or those toys that are kept by adults for their collector's value. Because of their proximity to adults, these toys are more thoughtful and mature than most, and may act more easily around adults.  Dog Warrior: While most pets are a danger to toys, the dog warrior has managed to tame a pet and use it as an ally and steed.  Haunted Toy: Unlike the collectible toys, which have adapted themselves to the adult world, these toys are able to affect adults through their own will and spirit powers. As such, they gain the title "haunted toys" because adults never actually see them move or act, but still get a feeling that something is amiss.  Spirit Traveler: These toys are sort of the clerics of the setting, gaining abilities to ward against and banish the creatures of nightmare. They also have an easier time entering the nightmare realm, and would be indispensable on a quest to fight the monsters on theirown turf.  Spirit Wielder: The spellcaster of the setting, this toy sacrifices combat and accessory gains for a small list of mage spells (of levels 1-3). They are also able to craft spiritually empowered items for their allies.  Toy Champion: These elite warriors of the toy world gain combat abilities normally seen in D20 fantasy classes, such as favored enemies and weapon specialization. One key feature of the Toy Champion is that they become immune to all forms of fear, an ability common among the servants of the Boogeyman.Equipment: This section gives some statistics for the sorts of equipment that a toy might come with. Most of the figures look to be the same as in D20 Modern.Spirit: Spirit points take the place of action points in the Tiny Terrors game. While toys gain more points than heroes in the D20 Modern system, they also need to expend more points, both to take actions around adults and to fuel whatever feats might require aspirit cost. The spirit chapter also covers methods of recovering spirit (generally through playing with one's child), and touches upon the landscape of the Nightmare Realm.Monsters Under the Bed: This section describes some of the monsters and nightmares that toys might encounter in their fight against the Boogeyman. There's also stats for one Servant of Fear (the chief minions of the Boogeyman, each of whom has his own domain) and for the Boogeyman himself. There's only a few monsters, but the nice thing is that the DM can import pretty much any creature from the SRD, provided that he accounts for size differences.----------------------------------------------------- Likes: The game and setting are both well-thought out and imaginative. With a few exceptions (Grimm springs to mind), it's unusal to find a D20 supplement that explores a fairy tale or childish fantasy milieu. There's a wide array of character options, and playing a toy gives one just as many choices as playing a fighter or rogue would in a standard D20 game. Many of the character choices, such as the Constructives and the accesory equipment, are wonderful examples of adapting standard D20 features in a new way, while still being familiar enough to be immediately accessible.Dislikes: I'm not generally too concerned with art or layout in a book, but I didn't think much of either one in this PDF. There's hardly any borders or graphics at all, and what art there is is either touched up photos or simplistic line drawings of toys. Fonts are kept in the same type and size pretty much throughout the document, except for the use of boldface. While this doesn't sound like a problem, combine this with some odd spacing and sections such as the talent trees become difficult to read, as it's hard to tell the difference between tree title and talent title, or where one tree ends and another begins. The fact that they weren't in alphabetical order didn't help, either. While the lack of art and creative layout doesn't really detract from the game as a whole, it doesn't add anything either. A game with such a unique premise really could have used a layout which conveys the feel of the game, and this document didn't do that in the least. Other ENWorld products, such as Four Color to Fantasy and Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns, have had colorful and well-done layouts and plenty of artwork. It could be that Tiny Terrors was intended to be a printer friendly product, but then why are there pages that only have a few paragraphs and then white space? Besides, it's pretty much common practice in the PDF market now to include a printer-friendly, grayscale version with products that might prove too costly or large for the typical printer.The other main sticking point I had was setting detail. I know that this is intended to be a mini-game rather than a setting (though there seems to be a pretty big gray area as to which is which). But something like a short list of adventure hooks would've been nice. Aside from the basic plots of "monster attacks house" or "toys go to Nightmare Realm to attack monsters", there aren't any suggestions as to what to do with the game. A smaller, but related, matter is the inclusion of only one Servant of Fear, and a rather flat one at that. The Servants of fear are supposed to be the prime henchmen of the setting, sort of like the level bosses blocking access to the Boogeyman's final boss. They're also supposed to have their own themes, styles, and motivations, but the provided servant (The Hobgoblin) is basically just a warped human. Again, a listing of different Servants and ways to use them would have been nice- not even full statblocks, just a sidebar table.Final Verdict: While there may have been a lot of complaining in the "dislike" section, it was all pretty much nitpicks on my part. I didn't think that any of it was bad enough to drop the game down to a 3, and everything before the Dislikes section can be considered to be something in the game's favor. It's an imaginitive work with potential for a great deal of fun, and would also seem to work well as an intro game for children (though the aspects of the Boogeyman's assault on children would probably need to be downplayed). In short, this would be a great game for anyone looking for something different to run for a few nights, and whose group doesn't have to take themselves too seriously.</blockquote>

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