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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="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2009626" data-attributes="member: 9860">Beware! This review contains major spoilers.This is not a playtest review.Nocturnum is a series of d20 adventures for modern-day Call Of Cthulhu that can be moulded into a complete campaign. Investigators should be 4th level before beginning the campaign.Nocturnum is a 304-pages-long mono softcover book, and costs $29.95. There's not a lot to directly comapre this sort of size to - the only comparison is with the Twin Crowns campaign setting, which came in $5 cheaper for the same page count. Font and margins are fairly good, but there is a fair amount of white space - at the end of each adventure, in the section containing handouts, and in particular the six pages left blank for 'notes' at the end of the book. Five more pages are dedicated to credits, contents, and ads. Twelve different artists were used in the book, and it shows, with the quality running from appalling to superb. To the detriment of the book, the styles also vary considerably - some were atmospheric and disturbing whilst others were bland or insignificant. The fairly non-descript colour cover features what must be a comet hurtling out of the page but looks more like a solar eclipse. Maps are clear if a little bland - some are clearly scaled on the map itself, others not (including the indoor maps which use a 5-foot grid indicated in the introduction). Writing style is excellent - very atmospheric where relevant with clear explanations of complex plot lines and mechanics. Editing seems good.The background to the story is fairly complex. Aeons ago, evil creatures called shk'ryth were formed by the entropic entity of Azazoth in the depths of the earth, to fully awaken millenia later. A while later, a starfaring race known as the ktchoma, landed on earth and built a huge machine which was designed to pull their brethren's starships out of space towards their new world. A war between the ktcoma forced most to return to their homeworld, but four remained and went into stasis until they were discovered by a Danish explorer in the 19th century.Meanwhile the shk'ryth rose to full awareness, understanding that they were effectively prisoners on earth, and seeking an escape to the stars. The shk'ryth, disguised as humans, formed a multinational corporation called TemCo, designed to fund research into shattering time and space to allow the shk'ryth to escape earth. Helped by one of the reawakened ktchoma, the shk'ryth discovered the ancient city of the ktchoma and the alien machine that lay within. Kidnapping a brilliant physicist and a number of psychics required to power the machine, the shk'ryth use the machine to attract a comet towards earth, planning to use the impact to fuel their plans to shatter time and space, possibly heralding not just the end of the earth, but the end of the universe as we know it. Unknown even to the shk'ryth, they are being manipulated by the ktchoma who helped them. Also, the malign being of Nyarlathotep has discovered the existence of the shk'ryth and has catalysed some of his followers to further explore their goals in case they pose a threat to his domination. And somewhere, the other three ktchoma may also interfere with the shk'ryth's plans for ultimate destruction. Other, human, organisations are also involved, as astronomers have discovered the comet hurtling towars earth. Paralysed between requiring funding to find a means to divert the disaster, and not wanting to alert the public to the imminent danger which may cause widespread chaos, there is a conspiracy to keep the news from the rest of the world. And there are several humans who have discovered the secrets of the comet and the shk'ryth. These humans are in hiding, in danger of being exterminated.The campaign is split into three parts, each containing three or more short adventures.In Part I, the investigators get a chance to meet the shk'ryth and learn a little of their nature and their relation with the multinational TemCo. The adventures range from a number of bizarre murders in a hotel in the Rockies, to a small college town afflicted by an alien drug addiction, to San Francisco and the nearby peaks which hold a mysterious Tibetan monastery.In Part 2, the investigators learn the full extent of the shk'ryth's plans and the imminent destruction of the earth. The section begins with the FBI after the investigators as the TemCo shk'ryth frame them. They meet with a human, Timothy Ekloff, who can tell them much more of the shk'ryth's plans, and there is a section detailing how to deal with any attempts to make the information public by the investigators. The investigators also meet Nyarlathotep's minions, and pay a visit to Ekloff's brother in a mental asylum, where they will probably be captured by the shk'ryth. Through somewhat of a deus ex machina, the investigators escape and can continue their investigations in a Georgia swamp, at Ekloff's home town. The investigators finally meet up again with Ekloff, but fall foul of a TemCo trap and find themselves regaining consciousness on a freighter heading to an oil rig. Attacked by strange sea creatures, the investigators must find a way off the rig and head to Denmark to follow further clues.In Part 3, the investigators must race against time and TemCo to save the world, and possibly the universe. They move from Denamrk, where they find further clues to the location of the ktchoma machine in an old Danish manor house, to Moscow where they again meet up with Ekloff, before heading on to the Himalayas where they finally discover the ancient ktchoma city beneath the mountains. The investigators must then head on to the Gobi Desert to foil the shk'ryth's plans after they discover the last twisted secret of the plotline. The remainder of the book contains 26 pages of handouts reproduced from earlier pages for ease of photocopying and the blank notes pages.Conclusion:The value of this book is dependent on a few issues. Firstly, the GM must be interested in running a modern-day CoC campaign. Secondly, he must want to base his campaign around this storyline - despite its claims, running most of the latter adventures as part of another campaign will need some work to mutate to another plotline. Thirdly, the GM will need to fill in the gaps between adventures with her own or other published adventures, or the challenges of later adventures will prove too much for the investigators - the book advises this also. There is some railroading here and there, some of the scenarios require a bit of suspension of disbelief, and there is no real discussion at the end of the book on how to deal with the aftermath of the storyline.That said, the book provides a compelling, complex, and atmospheric plotline that makes a good basis for a campaign. Locations are well detailed, NPCs personality, descriptions, and motivations are captured, and there is good advice to the GM on running the adventures. The quality of the writing is excellent, and the Indiana-Jones-style plot will provide excitement and an epic feel (this is not a research and ritual CoC campaign - the investigators need to be fairly tough to survive).</blockquote>

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