Penumbra D20

[Knightfall]

Since the reviews section isn't up yet, I'm hoping to get people's opinions on the Penumbra line of products from Atlas Games. Specifically, which books are worth getting?

Also, which of the later releases are v.3.5 compatible?

Cheers!

KF72

Note: I already bought Touched by the Gods.

 

[buzz]

I was generally happier with their adventures that the rule supplements. Mearls' "In the Belly of the Beast" is wonderful, and would probably work even better with 4e's skill challenges.

IIRC, most of the Penumbra releases were 3.0.

 

[Crothian]

Most are 3.0 but the ones I like are mostly the more system less ones. Over all I find their stuff creative and well written, but the mechancis are not always the best. So, I don't use their mechanics. In my many purges though of 3ed books, these are ones that I find useful enough to keep.

Three Days to Kill: This is for 3.0 and one of their first if not their first module. It is also the only module in the line I've run. The idea is pretty cool, it is a fantasy Special Ops mission. I really liked it.

En Route: There are three of these and I use them all. They are a collection of mostly simple encounters. They are easily placed into most campaigns. There are ones for most levels; more low and medium then high.

7 cities/ 7 strongholds/ 7 Serpants/ 7 Civilizations: I also like these books. They have a good variet y of places to help flesh out a campaign world.

Sacred Ground 1 & 2: These are books of gods holy places. I ran a game that used a lot of demi and smaller gods and this was a key element. Lots of creativity and neat things in here.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Personally, I found Crime & Punishment, Dynasties & Demagogues, and Occult Lore to be very useful for D&D 3e. Only the first is 3.5. . . if that. I'm not entirely sure.

Not very well known, I'd wager, but I think they 'should' be. Well, could've been, perhaps. Any of them could definitely add something substantial to certain types of d20 fantasy campaigns.

 

[Knightfall]

I guess I should clarify that I'm mainly looking at this line of products for good "fluff" to add to my World of Kulan campaign setting. I'm not as interested in adventures or "crunch" heavy products.

 

[Psion]

I guess I should clarify that I'm mainly looking at this line of products for good "fluff" to add to my World of Kulan campaign setting. I'm not as interested in adventures or "crunch" heavy products.

Touched by the Gods has some good fluff content... backgrounds of the included organizations.

Dynasties & Demagogues is a bit crunchier, but good nonetheless if you want to have a focus on intrigues in your game.

 

[Crothian]

I guess I should clarify that I'm mainly looking at this line of products for good "fluff" to add to my World of Kulan campaign setting. I'm not as interested in adventures or "crunch" heavy products.

Aside from the module (which can still be used with different rules) the books I listed I use for the writing and not the rules.

 

[Voadam]

Penumbra Fantasy Bestiary. 3.0 monster book but a huge collection of well described monsters including a bunch of neat fey and oriental style among more medieval fantasy feeling monsters. A lot of good stuff to add to a fantasy setting.

The Seven series (strongholds, cities, etc.) provide neat discrete fantasy elements to include in a setting, I spliced in one of the cities into my high level game to good effect.

I've heard good things about Northern Crown the 3.5 alt history D&D Colonial America that is similiar to Green Ronin's D&D Egypt Hamunaptra.

I've been considering getting Dynasties and Demagogues for years.

 

[Kristian Serrano]

Crime and Punishment, which was written by Keith Baker, is a v3.5 book. It's a great book and works really well with urban adventures.

It really works well with Eberron campaigns as it provides two great new standard classes, the investigator and the bounty hunter, as well as a couple of interesting prestige classes. I posted the OGL content for the investigator class on the EN Wiki if you want to take a look. I planned to post the bounty hunter eventually, but I've been busy these days.

Even outside of Eberron, the book fills a niche that seems to be lacking in RPG supplements. I could see myself easily using this book in Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, or even Ptolus.

 

[Knightfall]

Occult Lore has some good fluff content... backgrounds of the included organizations.

Dynasties & Demagogues is a bit crunchier, but good nonetheless if you want to have a focus on intrigues in your game.

Okay, it sounds like Occult Lore is worth my time. How does it relate to Touched by the Gods? Are the two books linked in any way?

Dynasties & Demagogues sounds less like what I want but I'm not sure. I'll have to take a closer look at it if I can find a copy.

I was at my FLGS today and they didn't have any of the Atlas books left in stock. Of course, they are moving away from supporting OGL material, so I wasn't surprised. I'll likely have to "hunt" for some of these. (I rarely buy books online. No CC.)