Lost Books 3: The Log of the Gray Swan

[arwink]

Written By: Peter M. Ball
Page Count: 7 pages of content + OGL

The Log of the Gray Swan contains the collected spells of Zalich Ulhoran, halfling wizard and pirate of the Spice Coast. Fusing his love of hot spices and the sea, Zalich’s magic made him one of the most dangerous privateer captains to take to the Sea. Cripple your opponents with the landlubbers’ curse, bolster your crew with a meal from the captain’s table, or drown your foes with the power of a deadly whirlpool. With a dozen new spells and details about the Log’s history, appearance and value, the Log of the Gray Swan is ready to be dropped into your campaign.

 

[Crothian]

Lost Books 3 The Log of the Gray Swan

This is the third book in the series of Lost books by Clockwork Golem Games. The series of books are about books. Each PDF in the series is about a single book that was lost many years or even centuries ago. The lore in the books is usually unique and is contained only with in the books. The PDFs in the series are small usually under a dozen pages long. The books are focused on the books they describe given a good history for them and reasons for them being around.

Lost Books 3 The Log of the Gray Swan is a nice page PDF by Clockwork Golem Games. The series is written by Peter Ball and he seems to be the lone writer for this company so far. He has lots of creative ideas, good writing style, and with luck we will one day see him on some bigger products. The book has little in the way of art but it is nicely book marked and has a good lay out.

This book is the lost spell book of a pirate captain. It was first thought to be the log of his ship written in some odd language and that is why it is referred to as the Log of the Gray Swan. There is a section for Bardic Lore on the book to determine what a player might know about the book. The book has a really good physical inscription and the worth of the book.

There are about thirty two spells in the spellbook. Not all of them are new spells and they range for a few zero level cantrips to a couple seventh level spells. There are twelve new spells in the book. They are a mixture of food oriented spells and ones for surviving and getting by on a ship on the seas. There are some interesting ones like Burning Palate. It an illusion that makes a person feel as if they have some of the world’s hottest peppers in their moth. It is a distraction spell, very creative and unlike any other I have seen. There is also Phantom Sails which conjures semi real sails for a ship to use for propulsion. The higher the caster level the more options the sails give a ship like the ability to levitate and eventually even fly.

The book while small is filled with good new spells. The book itself makes for some good plot options as there is a mystery about what happened to the former owner. The answers to that are not presented here but there is enough information to start some very interesting plots or sub plots. The spells are fun and creative and at the very least one can have them used by NPCs to really surprise the player characters. This book, like the rest in the series is nice and small and has quite a bit to offer for a campaign. It is well worth the small price tag on the books.

 

[Pinotage]

Lost Books 3: The Log of the Gray Swan in a pdf product from Clockwork Golem Workshop, the third in The Lost Books series. The Log of the Gray Swan features the history and background of the spellbook of a halfling wizard and pirate, including all the new and novel spells contained therein. Lost Books 3: The Log of the Gray Swan is a 9 page pdf written by Peter Ball. Of the 9 pages, 8 pages are devoted to the content of spellbook history and the 12 new spells, while one page is devoted to OGL declarations. This pdf normally retails on RPGNow for $1.20.

Initial Impressions:

I was quite pleased upon finishing reading this pdf. The writing is clear, concise, and well-written; the spells are intelligent, flavorful and balanced, and the layout is simple, yet effective. There is no art in this pdf, but the layout is colorful enough to make the pdf look nice and its professionally done. There are 12 spells detailed in this pdf, all part of the Log of the Gray Swan, the lost spellbook of a renowned pirate and halfling wizard, Zalich Ulhoran. Spells range from simple, yet effective, cantrips like Zalich's deadly sigh to the mighty Whirlpool spell. The twelve spells are at a range of different levels, depending on casting class, the highest being Whirlpool, a 7th level spells for Wizards and Sorcerers.

There were a few minor editing errors contained in the pdf, such as Pepperblast not being listed as a spell in Zalich's spellbook, although the spell details and description are given; and a handful of minor 'typos' that did not get picked up. Overall I was very pleased, but let's take a look in a little more detail.

The Details:

The pdf starts by giving a detailed background on Zalich and his renowned pirate vessel, The Gray Swan. It's well-written, a good read, and gives ample opportunity for those with pirate/swashbuckling campaigns to draw a few plot hooks from or form a side adventure. Full details of the spellbook are given, including reasons for why it is called The Log of the Gray Swan, its physical description and even bardic lore DCs or equivalently Gather Information DCs on this infamous pirate and his ship.

The pdf then plunges into the 12 new spells contained in Zalich's spellbook. Once again the spells are well-written, full of flavour, balanced and the mechanics of the spells are sound. There was no need to reread a spell description to figure out exactly what it did, the meaning clear from a first read, something I really appreciate in spells and their descriptions. As can be expected, these spells will fit much better into a pirate or seafaring campaign, or with those characters that have this kind of background. However, almost all will be equally well suited to a normal campaign, although trying to find the tooth of a drowned sailor as a material component for Zalich's deadly sigh might be tricky under most circumstances!

I have to admit that it's the flavour of all the spells combined and the background provided that ties this pdf together nicely. Some of the individual spells use known or established mechanics or are only slightly different from other similar spells, but it's the way its written and the flavour elements that really shine. The small differences in some of the spells and their effects, as well as the novel ones form a well-rounded and cohesive pdf on a lost spellbook.

The spells themselves offer lots of variety, from Burning Palate that can hinder spellcasters, to Captain's table to boost the crew's morale and performance, to Zalich's Bellicose Blow to deal with boarders or clear a path between foes, to Wave Rider as a means to escape the deep waters of the sea on the crest of a wave. There's a lot of variety in only 12 spells, and any wizard is bound to find something useful in there.

Conclusions:

I really liked this pdf. It was well-written, tied together nicely into a solid framework and contains some good spells for any campaign to use. I suspect that not all campaigns will find a pirate's spellbook useful, but this is almost a must-have for those wizards in seafaring campaigns, or those centred on coastal cities. There's not a lot negative to say about this pdf, except for the editing errors, the slightly niche content and perhaps a little touch of sparkling novelty that would've made this excellent. As a result, I give this four stars or good, something well worth the buy at the price offered.