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Grim Hollow Campaign Guide - 3rd Party Review
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<blockquote data-quote="Sparky McDibben" data-source="post: 9135726" data-attributes="member: 7041430"><p>An excellent callout! The book certainly feels like the world <em>is</em> magical, which helps it fit the 5E milieu.</p><p></p><p>Alright, y'all! We're covering two chapters today: Factions of Etharis and The Etharis Pantheon. Let's get cracking!</p><p></p><p>Factions of Etharis is five pages long (including two full page art spreads). This covers five large factions that are, essentially, the group patrons from <em>Tasha's</em>. We get a mages' guild, a thieves' syndicate, a mercenary company, a free trading company, and a priestly / knightly order. All of these are given a quick four-paragraph thumbnail sketch, together with some "what do they actually <em>do," </em>and then a couple of potential antagonistic hooks, too. </p><p></p><p>This isn't bad, but I really was hoping for some concise, easy-to-read, and easy-to-implement adventure ideas per faction. I also would have like some kind of scaling rewards for being part of those factions, so that there's a mechanism for the faction to help them.</p><p></p><p>The Etharis Pantheon, unsurprisingly, has no gods. That's because all the gods are dead, of course, but it does have a bunch of arch-angels and arch-demons, which serve the exact same function. And I mean the <em>exact same. </em>They provide your cleric their spells, offer omens and tidings, and can intervene on behalf of the cleric, too. </p><p></p><p>And this really is the crux of my problems with Grim Hollow. They make big, bold, awesome choices (Kill the gods! Make the world dark!) and then fail to deliver on them as a meaningful part of play. If you're going to kill the gods, then <em>follow through</em>. No clerics. Or maybe clerics can't get spells above spell level 3. "Priests" don't have magic, and all their power comes from their community (not in a metaphysical way, but rather as a "pillar of the community" way). The closest you can get is a celestial-patron warlock or a divine soul sorcerer. If you're going to have a dark world, come up with a way to handle darkvision. The frustration I'm feeling is entirely a product of looking at this setup and going, "Heck yeah! That looks so awesome!" and then seeing the payoff and going, "Wait, that's it?"</p><p></p><p>We also get some elemental gods and some cosmic horror entities. These are not very detailed and feel like kind of an afterthought.</p><p></p><p>Y'know what? Screw it, we're going to do <em>three</em> chapters tonight!</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://media4.giphy.com/media/FHzemFzwkyRfq/200.gif" alt="elmo count GIF by Sesame Street" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>Ah! Ah! Ah!</em></p><p></p><p>Chapter Nine covers Renowned Characters of Etharis! This does triple duty, highlighting 1) the kinds of stories you can tell in Etharis, 2) the kinds of characters that fit here, and 3) some NPCs for the DM to drop in. These feel a little like someone said, "Hey write me up like ten backstories for some characters, and give 'em some crossover," and then they just put those backstories into the book. I know they didn't actually do that, but that's what it feels like - scattershot.</p><p></p><p>I will, however, give them credit for making each character feel like they come from a distinct place, and that each distinct place has distinct tones attached to it. That's not easy, and well done!</p><p></p><p>Next time, we're going to hit the DM's section. See you then!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sparky McDibben, post: 9135726, member: 7041430"] An excellent callout! The book certainly feels like the world [I]is[/I] magical, which helps it fit the 5E milieu. Alright, y'all! We're covering two chapters today: Factions of Etharis and The Etharis Pantheon. Let's get cracking! Factions of Etharis is five pages long (including two full page art spreads). This covers five large factions that are, essentially, the group patrons from [I]Tasha's[/I]. We get a mages' guild, a thieves' syndicate, a mercenary company, a free trading company, and a priestly / knightly order. All of these are given a quick four-paragraph thumbnail sketch, together with some "what do they actually [I]do," [/I]and then a couple of potential antagonistic hooks, too. This isn't bad, but I really was hoping for some concise, easy-to-read, and easy-to-implement adventure ideas per faction. I also would have like some kind of scaling rewards for being part of those factions, so that there's a mechanism for the faction to help them. The Etharis Pantheon, unsurprisingly, has no gods. That's because all the gods are dead, of course, but it does have a bunch of arch-angels and arch-demons, which serve the exact same function. And I mean the [I]exact same. [/I]They provide your cleric their spells, offer omens and tidings, and can intervene on behalf of the cleric, too. And this really is the crux of my problems with Grim Hollow. They make big, bold, awesome choices (Kill the gods! Make the world dark!) and then fail to deliver on them as a meaningful part of play. If you're going to kill the gods, then [I]follow through[/I]. No clerics. Or maybe clerics can't get spells above spell level 3. "Priests" don't have magic, and all their power comes from their community (not in a metaphysical way, but rather as a "pillar of the community" way). The closest you can get is a celestial-patron warlock or a divine soul sorcerer. If you're going to have a dark world, come up with a way to handle darkvision. The frustration I'm feeling is entirely a product of looking at this setup and going, "Heck yeah! That looks so awesome!" and then seeing the payoff and going, "Wait, that's it?" We also get some elemental gods and some cosmic horror entities. These are not very detailed and feel like kind of an afterthought. Y'know what? Screw it, we're going to do [I]three[/I] chapters tonight! [CENTER][IMG alt="elmo count GIF by Sesame Street"]https://media4.giphy.com/media/FHzemFzwkyRfq/200.gif[/IMG] [I]Ah! Ah! Ah![/I][/CENTER] Chapter Nine covers Renowned Characters of Etharis! This does triple duty, highlighting 1) the kinds of stories you can tell in Etharis, 2) the kinds of characters that fit here, and 3) some NPCs for the DM to drop in. These feel a little like someone said, "Hey write me up like ten backstories for some characters, and give 'em some crossover," and then they just put those backstories into the book. I know they didn't actually do that, but that's what it feels like - scattershot. I will, however, give them credit for making each character feel like they come from a distinct place, and that each distinct place has distinct tones attached to it. That's not easy, and well done! Next time, we're going to hit the DM's section. See you then! [/QUOTE]
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