Magic Merchants 2: Silver Moon Tattoo Parlor

[arwink]

Written By: Peter M. Ball
Page Count: 16 pages of content + OGL

The owners of the Silver Moon Tattoo Parlor deals in psionic and magic tattoos, but they are more than willing to trade away some of the items they receive in payment for their services. This product details the complete store, ready to be dropped into your d20 Fantasy game. Including information about the store, its owners, and its stock, it also comes with 3 new psionic tattoos, 6 new magic tattoos and the psionic craftsman’s eye. Designed for low and mid-level characters, the Silver Moon is ready to be included as part of any large port town or city in your campaign.

This is the second release in the Clockwork Golem Workshop’s Magic Merchants series, detailing a variety of stores and traders that deal in arcane and divine wares. Each release in the series comes with a variety of new items and adventure hooks that can be used to liven up the process of shopping for magic in your games.

 

[Crothian]

Magic Merchants 2

Gone are the days when adventures had to brave the dungeons and fight the beholders and other creatures to get at the latest and best magical items. Now all they have to do is gather up their precious gems and gold and go to the local shop and buy that potion of cure light wounds they have been saving up for three months for. But what is the magic shop like? Who owns it? What are they like? What does the shop have in stock? All of these can be pain in the butt questions for a DM. The DMG gives lousy guidelines for this sort of thing just saying items of certain cost can be found in cities and towns of a certain size. Does this mean everything is available? And how many of each? Luckily after the games been out for a few years a company has come along to give some examples of interesting and useful magical shops. And thus there is Magic Merchants 2: Silver Moon Tattoo Parlor.

Magic Merchants 2: Silver Moon Tattoo Parlor is the second in this line from Clockwork Golem Workshop. They also have another line of PDFs that deals with lost books of a magical nature. This PDF is seventeen pages long. It unfortunately has no book marks, little art, and a nice lay out. It is written by Peter Ball who has written the other books Clockwork Golem Workshop has put out that I have seen. He has been doing a good job.

This book is nice and simple to use. It presents a magical shop full with inventory, stats on the owners Amaris Deltoren and Mirish Eliath. Unlike the previous book these NPCs are actually of high level. On thing that really separates this from other magic shops is one of the owners is a Psion so this shop has a variety of items both magical and psionic in nature.

The feature I really like is the set inventory. Players can come in and want whatever they want but more then likely it will not be here. Also, on items that get bought out there are simple expectations as to how long it could take to be restocked assuming it would be. There is a nice history and discussion on the parlors reputation.

The place does do psionic tattoos which include a few unique to this shop. The place also has a small selection of potions, wands, and Dorjes. There are a few other miscellaneous items but most of those are single items not easily restocked. This shop has a lot more to offer and to sell then the one depicted in the first Magical Merchants series.

Overall, it is a nice and easy magical shop to place in a campaign. The NPCs are nicely worked out, the shop has an interesting history and look. The place can easily become more then just another shop the players visit. It is nicely written and should serve the game well for people looking to incorporate magical shops that have personality.

 

[DragonTurtle]

Magic Merchants 2: The Silver Moon Tattoo Parlor

Physical Description: Magic Merchants 2: The Silver Moon Tattoo Parlor is a 17 page PDF by Clockwork Golem Workshop. The PDF is in landscape format for easy screen reading although this will effect those wanting to print it out. The last page is the OGL and the cover page goes right into the introduction. Art is sparse and is mostly clip art style. Unfortunately there are no bookmarks for this book, which would be handy to quickly jump to the desired item.

For the Player: It is good to have a place to spend your adventuring loot, and the Silver Moon tattoo parlor is such a place. They have a number of common tattoos waiting for immediately transfer to the willing and paying adventurer, and even more custom ones that will be the perfect surprise against the unsuspecting adversary. The place is also there for trading other magical items although the inventory will be sporadic.

For the DM: This is an easy to drop in location, complete with back story and a sample plot hook. It is a good template of how to introduce the concept of a magic shop without handing the players the price list out of the DMG. With the new psionic tattoos it is also possible to give your seasoned players a start or two.

New Mechanics: There are 9 new tattoos and one new magical item in the PDF. Some of the tattoos have multiple effects depending on where they are placed or how the wearer chooses to display it. For example the Shifting Mask has 3 different configurations each one granting a different benefit.

Overview: While I have never really thought about the use of magical tattoos in my game, this document does pique my interest and gives a good starting ground for the idea.
I like the idea of sending assassins after the players with a couple of these tattoos on them. The warrior’s hand that twists the users hand into a blade has just the right visual effect to get my players wondering what they are up against. Add to that the Shfting mask that can cause terror or increased disguise ability, and it makes a powerful combo.

Even the items for sale that are not tattoos have interesting descriptions that should make the player feel more connected to the items. I give the product 3 stars, it plays the role of a magic shop well albeit one that is highly specialized. The book would have done better with a few more secrets or plot hooks, nicer art and book marks.