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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="pogre" data-source="post: 2449021" data-attributes="member: 6588">Magic Merchants 1: House of the Transformed ToadWritten by: Peter BallPage Count: 11pages + OGLPrice as of July 28, 2005: $1.40Introduction   This is not a playtest review. However, I will go into some detail in the review. Those wanting a quick overview of my judgment of the product are directed to the capsule review at the conclusion.Impressions   The House of the Transformed Toad (“Toad”) is a magic shop intended for use in a small town or large village. Many DMs recoil in horror at the thought of a place for the selling of magic, but this place deserves a second look. First, the Toad is not a place for players to grab for your DMG and start a wish list. Instead, it has a real flavor of a curios shop and descriptions of what is in the shop and why.   One of the impressive things about this pdf is the amount of flavor packed into it ready for use in your campaign. For example, the sign outside of the Toad has an animated illusion of a duel where one of the combatants gets transformed into a toad. The sign is often surrounded by children, who cheer at the transformation of the evil wizard. This is great stuff that a DM can use to paint a scene in his world. I could easily envision myself describing that scene to my players and raising their curiosity about the place. It certainly beats, ‘down the road you see a small magic shop.’      There is a small catalogue of things the owner has on hand and even a couple of unique low-powered items he has created. There’s a list of wands, scrolls, potions, and alchemy and notes on which items the owner will seek to restock and how long it will take him. Some of the rarer items require certain ingredients and this of cours creates adventure seeds, particularly for lower-level PCs. The owner will also perform a few spellcasting services for a fee.   There are a number of  one off items that the owner has acquired and these items are described in depth with their regular game statistics provided. So a Wand of Magic Missiles with 15 charges has a number of sentences describing its appearance and reasons why the owner might be reluctant to sell it to adventurers. Complete game statistics for the owner, Telgen Mythhander, are given so DMs may determine what he is capable of creating or casting. The document concludes with a page on how to include the location in your campaign and a pair of adventure seeds.    There are a few things lacking I would have like to have seen in a location such as this.  The Toad reminds me very much of a series of books by Buffalo Games in their Catalyst line called City Books. These old books, the first was published in 1983 I believe, detailed places in the city with NPCs and adventure hooks. They also contained nice maps of the location. Unfortunately, this document has no map of the Toad. More information on what Telgen Mythhander, owner of the Toad, is willing and able to buy would have helped. I sensed Telgen would need to barter for most higher ticket items, but it is not specifically stated that I read. There is also only filler art and an illustration of the Telgen would be cool.   The Toad is designed for lower level PCs and would work well even in campaigns where magic levels are a little lower than the D&D standard. Before you turn your nose up at the thought of a magic shop, you should really give the House of the Transformed Toad a try.Capsule Review   I really like House of the Transformed Toad. The location and NPCs described therein are useful nearly to any campaign. The House of the Transformed Toad is a cool curios shop of magical items that PCs are going to enjoy browsing and interacting in. Even DMs who are adverse to the idea of a magic shop in their campaign should give this document a read as it logically and flavorfully describes the shop in a very non-Monty Haul way. My only problems with the document are the lack of a map and a lack of details on what the shop will purchase from PCs. These minor reservations aside I heartily recommend this magical location.</blockquote>

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