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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ruemere" data-source="post: 5176586" data-attributes="member: 5515">Quick impressions from perusing Slumbering Tsar, file one...Warning: extremely subjective and based on cursory reading.Ratings: Very good, good, ok, ... [1], bad, very bad.[1] A flaw, a minor one.1. Argh! No bookmarks! Let me repeat this: this PDF, despite being made under (apparently) Adobe InDesign CS3 (5.0), contains no bookmarks. They are easily added (and the file is pretty short, so adding crucial headers should not require a lot of work), so let's hope there will be second release somewhere in the future. Rating: Very bad.2. Clear and legible fonts. Good fonts come with nightmarish prices (usually), and even if used, they often are not scaled properly to preserve legibility. Rating: Very good.3. Argh! No table of contents at the beginning... no table of contents at the end. Now, if there were bookmarks, it would not be a problem (ToC is pretty optional feature for digital product capable of producing active indicing, bookmarks or cross-references).Rating: Very bad. Reduce to "bad", if #1 is amended.4. Stablocks follow somewhat different format than PFRPG (creatures in PFRPG adventure products have often bonuses factored into stats with base stats appended to relevant sections), but they are well laid out and getting used to them does not seem to be difficult. Actually, after comparing entries, they seem to be very similar. Rating: Good.5. First paragraph under every header (and other major element) comes with a first line text-indent. It shouldn't. Same goes for paragraphs in gray boxes. This is somewhat pet peeve of mine so ignore it at leisure.Rating: ...6. (page 7) Hanging text. This is not a problem, however, it really stands out against the background of content literally crammed into pages. Rating: ...7. Very small margins and low line height values throughout the text. Allows for a lot of content, however, with register-true failing on several pages, it is somewhat painful on the eyes (basically, paragraphs under statblocks fail to follow register true). What is "register-true"? <a href="http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/OOo3_User_Guides/Writer_Guide/Working_with_page_styles#General_settings_for_the_page_style" target="_blank">Quoting Open-Office</a>: If you decide to check the Register-true box, Writer will create a vertical grid on the page with a spacing between grid points that depends on the selected Reference Style. The vertical grid makes sure that text printed on adjacent columns, opposite pages, or even both sides of the same sheet of paper, is aligned—making it easier to read as well as being more pleasant to see.Rating: Bad. 8. NPCs. Great concepts. Don't want to spoil this... so here is a tip: if you're a GM, read Camp NPC writeups. Worth using anywhere. Disclaimer: this is cursory reading and I am not the "John Cooper" type of person (even though I still admire his zeal), so if any of these advanced NPCs contain errors, it's not something I have problem with. Rating: Very good.9. New spells. Two particularly stand out: Condemned (no cures for you... no channels for you... however, there is no mention about interaction with regeneration/fast healing or heal) and Unholy Channel (Relics and Rituals spells, inverted version - basically, remote healing ability for undead). Both are very good and powerful under right circumstances. However, there are certain potential issues which may require GM to make rulings for them. Rating: Good. May need some work.10. Content throughout: very creative, imaginative and evocative. I know I should give some more weight to more words so (trying hard to avoid spoilers):This is Necromancer product and this is Necromancer product writing quality. Also, check #8.33 pages - breakdown (cannot give a table of contents as there isn't any):- cover - p. 1(no blank page inside)- credits - p. 2- internal cover for part 1 - p. 3- introduction - p. 4 to p. 7 - the meat of the book - p. 8 to p. 29- maps - p. 30 to p. 32- legal appendix (OGL and designation of PI) - p. 33Rating: Very good.11. Maps: not many as this is just an entry point for the real thing. Very usable, won't break your printers (though printing them may be an overkill).Rating: Good.12. Legal appendix:And to have a taste of sources used for this publication, here is section 15 of the product:Looks like those who loved Scarred Lands are in for indirect treat!(no rating for this section)SummaryFor current price ($2.00 over PayPal) - you cannot miss it.For overall price (subscription premium) - fine [1], but the editorial problems are somewhat irritating. The delivery should have been delayed by a week and run through someone who would spot obvious issues. Replace "fine" with "great" if the bookmarks are added. Replace "great" with "outstanding" if the rest of editorial problems are cleaned.Regards,Ruemere[1] At this moment, at the pinnacle of PDF publication editing skills, I would place Sue Weinlein Cook (for Ptolus, Banewarrens and others - this lady has produced probably the most usable and legible PDFs ever, in addition to clear bookmarking and the books themselves being very easy on PDF reading speed) ex aequo with Paizo Publishing team (since the credits did not specify who actually did the layouting, I will just applaud the whole crew) (bookmarks, cross-references, indices, a bit slow to render).</blockquote>

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