Glyfair
Explorer
One of the 4 items my brother & I got from Free RPG Day was the Temple of Blood adventure.
Production Quality
I'd say it's hit and miss. The cover had bad contrast with most dark red & dark gray and almost everything ends up blending together. Not something that will grab your attention. The art is above average, but not top-of-the-line.
I'm not too fond of the font choices because they make it seem like a product made on someone's home computer However, it's not hard to read at all.
Wicked Fantasy Factory Rules
Wicked Fantasy Factory series. It's an interesting concept that could be best described as "video game D&D" (in fact it directly references video games). Basically there are three elements "Phat Lewt," "Finishing Moves" and "Mooks & The Big Badass."
Phat Lewt: Each adventure has one item that is equal to the rest of the adventures treasure. Thus it has double treasure from a standard adventure. It also makes it easy for the "cheap DM" to adjust the treasure level to standard by removing the one item.
Finishing Moves: Each character gets a "finishing move" that should be flashy, gruesome and over-the-top. They can use it once per combat. If they finish off their opponent then they get extra experience. The rules specifically say "no cheating"; don't pull your blows until you think you can kill him with a finishing move, no healing downed opponents so you can use a finishing move on them, etc.
The mechanics make them harder to pull off (no weapon focus, point blank shot, magic weapon, etc. bonuses), can be magical, and do a lot of damage (1d6 per level). Basically you use BAB + Str/Dex for combat attacks and caster level + spell casting ability bonus (it actually doesn't say bonus, but I believe its intended) against the opponents AC.
Mooks & The Big Badass: Certain creatures have a symbol that indicates that they are "mooks" and one has a symbol indicating that he is the "big badass." Against mooks you get automatic Cleave and Great Cleave or Rapid Shot. What if you already have them? They you gain a bonus (or lack of penalty) on attack rolls.
The "Big Badass" on the other hand gets one free resurrection. Once you drop him (no matter why or how), he gets back up at full the next round. Typically they have an interesting way of recovering. For example the scenario boss turns into insects when he dies and then they reform into a body made of the insects.
Adventure
The adventure is very basic, but does the job well of introducing players to the game. It tends to have a video gamey slant to the terms (the mook kobolds are "Pissed Lizards"). It even notes that the DM should announce "finish him" on the first non-mook they meet at a certain point, so they get a chance to experiment with them. It also suggests that it should be kept wobbly so everyone can use their finishing move on it.
I think the adventure has some interesting ideas. I don't think I'd be interested in the line long term, but it would be a good thing to use for those days when you want some beer & pretzels roleplaying.
Some of the elements of the game definitely add some flavor to a normal game. The mook, etc rule can add some interesting elements to a standard game without the complete over-the-top finishing move elements, for example.
Production Quality
I'd say it's hit and miss. The cover had bad contrast with most dark red & dark gray and almost everything ends up blending together. Not something that will grab your attention. The art is above average, but not top-of-the-line.
I'm not too fond of the font choices because they make it seem like a product made on someone's home computer However, it's not hard to read at all.
Wicked Fantasy Factory Rules
Wicked Fantasy Factory series. It's an interesting concept that could be best described as "video game D&D" (in fact it directly references video games). Basically there are three elements "Phat Lewt," "Finishing Moves" and "Mooks & The Big Badass."
Phat Lewt: Each adventure has one item that is equal to the rest of the adventures treasure. Thus it has double treasure from a standard adventure. It also makes it easy for the "cheap DM" to adjust the treasure level to standard by removing the one item.
Finishing Moves: Each character gets a "finishing move" that should be flashy, gruesome and over-the-top. They can use it once per combat. If they finish off their opponent then they get extra experience. The rules specifically say "no cheating"; don't pull your blows until you think you can kill him with a finishing move, no healing downed opponents so you can use a finishing move on them, etc.
The mechanics make them harder to pull off (no weapon focus, point blank shot, magic weapon, etc. bonuses), can be magical, and do a lot of damage (1d6 per level). Basically you use BAB + Str/Dex for combat attacks and caster level + spell casting ability bonus (it actually doesn't say bonus, but I believe its intended) against the opponents AC.
Mooks & The Big Badass: Certain creatures have a symbol that indicates that they are "mooks" and one has a symbol indicating that he is the "big badass." Against mooks you get automatic Cleave and Great Cleave or Rapid Shot. What if you already have them? They you gain a bonus (or lack of penalty) on attack rolls.
The "Big Badass" on the other hand gets one free resurrection. Once you drop him (no matter why or how), he gets back up at full the next round. Typically they have an interesting way of recovering. For example the scenario boss turns into insects when he dies and then they reform into a body made of the insects.
Adventure
The adventure is very basic, but does the job well of introducing players to the game. It tends to have a video gamey slant to the terms (the mook kobolds are "Pissed Lizards"). It even notes that the DM should announce "finish him" on the first non-mook they meet at a certain point, so they get a chance to experiment with them. It also suggests that it should be kept wobbly so everyone can use their finishing move on it.
I think the adventure has some interesting ideas. I don't think I'd be interested in the line long term, but it would be a good thing to use for those days when you want some beer & pretzels roleplaying.
Some of the elements of the game definitely add some flavor to a normal game. The mook, etc rule can add some interesting elements to a standard game without the complete over-the-top finishing move elements, for example.
