JoeGKushner
Adventurer
En Route III, the Road Less Traveled, continues the series of encounters meant to expand a GMs campaign while saving the GM the preparation time necessary to run such encounters. Unfortunately, it continues the trend set by En Route II, less price, less pages. The page price is actually highest here in the 72 page sourcebook that runs for $17.95. What’s worse is that there are five pages of advertisements. Count the standard table of contents, credits page, introduction page, and open game license, and the actual price per page shots up even more.
The utility of the book isn’t diminished however. There are some very original and innovative encounters that the GM can spring on a wide variety of character levels. The first one for example, 15 Rounds of Fame, introduces the party to an entity from another time and dimension who is interested in the humble beginnings of the character and makes comments about their future prospects by accident. This allows the GM to lay the groundwork for future campaigns and provide the players with clues, even as the players have to work the information out of the entity.
Another unusual encounter, Between a Rock and No Place, snags a teleporting character and party and drags them into a demi-dimension where a mad device, the Crystal Between, tries to keep itself entertained after being left along for thousands of years.
Some of the encounters don’t necessarily rely on the party to use brute force. A Ston’es Throw Away is a clever side trek where the players are challenged by a group of stone giants to Dodge Rock, a giant’s game. They have a few options they can use to avoid conflict including another game known as Rock Toss, which is essentially a game of bullseye.
Another similar predicament, where sheer might could fail to overcome an enemy, is found in Hellcow. Here the party has to outsmart or outfight a rakshasa and his wards, a group of cows that are other rakshasa who have been turned into immortal cows for their previous acts. It’s a good time for a GM with a party that always insists on fighting everything.
Unfortunately, not all of the encounters are so varied. Flotsam for example, is little more than a group of game statistics with some combat advice piled on top of it. Something that a GM with a little time could easily do.
The book suffers in the art department a bit. Scott Reeves has a certain charcoal like style to his illustrations and unfortunately for me, it’s not one I enjoy. Details are murky and not easy to tell. I prefer the previous En Route books where more than one artists provided the illustrations. The layout is fair but has a little too much white space for a product of its size.
En Route III is perfect for time pressed GMs who’ve enjoyed the previous books and want more. For others the book might be a little on the expensive side and despite the conversion work necessary, an investment in En Route I or II might prove more value and due to their larger size, more use.
The utility of the book isn’t diminished however. There are some very original and innovative encounters that the GM can spring on a wide variety of character levels. The first one for example, 15 Rounds of Fame, introduces the party to an entity from another time and dimension who is interested in the humble beginnings of the character and makes comments about their future prospects by accident. This allows the GM to lay the groundwork for future campaigns and provide the players with clues, even as the players have to work the information out of the entity.
Another unusual encounter, Between a Rock and No Place, snags a teleporting character and party and drags them into a demi-dimension where a mad device, the Crystal Between, tries to keep itself entertained after being left along for thousands of years.
Some of the encounters don’t necessarily rely on the party to use brute force. A Ston’es Throw Away is a clever side trek where the players are challenged by a group of stone giants to Dodge Rock, a giant’s game. They have a few options they can use to avoid conflict including another game known as Rock Toss, which is essentially a game of bullseye.
Another similar predicament, where sheer might could fail to overcome an enemy, is found in Hellcow. Here the party has to outsmart or outfight a rakshasa and his wards, a group of cows that are other rakshasa who have been turned into immortal cows for their previous acts. It’s a good time for a GM with a party that always insists on fighting everything.
Unfortunately, not all of the encounters are so varied. Flotsam for example, is little more than a group of game statistics with some combat advice piled on top of it. Something that a GM with a little time could easily do.
The book suffers in the art department a bit. Scott Reeves has a certain charcoal like style to his illustrations and unfortunately for me, it’s not one I enjoy. Details are murky and not easy to tell. I prefer the previous En Route books where more than one artists provided the illustrations. The layout is fair but has a little too much white space for a product of its size.
En Route III is perfect for time pressed GMs who’ve enjoyed the previous books and want more. For others the book might be a little on the expensive side and despite the conversion work necessary, an investment in En Route I or II might prove more value and due to their larger size, more use.
