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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010656" data-attributes="member: 18387">As much as I hate to be the one to give such a poor review I myself can't contain my distate about a rather poor job of a book that I felt could have been so much more. Even so I will try to be objective and do highlight some good points as well as give you folks what you come to expect from my reviews. That being informative, concise, and helpful reviews.Penumbral Pentagon is a sourcebook about one of the more interesting cabal of wizards, the Penumbral Lords and their leader, Dar'Tan. At a mere 96 pages, (compared to the 124 pages of Hornsaw goodness), it's not only a short effort but one I felt jipped on a number of levels. I say this not only as a Scarred Lands fan, but also a guy that's come to expect some measure of quality in what I read. While Calastia wasn't the easiest book to read, the plot hooks and level of detail about each duchy at least kept the book afloat. Sad to say this wasn't the case for Penumbral Pentagon. While the history of the cabal and it's roots in the Slacerians are interesting in and of themselves, I can't say that what came after was much help. While I can understand the need to make your own history, I felt that a lot of what was written here was based off faulty information. Case in point, the duration of the Slacerian Empire. While I know innaccurate records exist, I did feel perhaps the author could have looked more closely at the SLCS: Ghelspad for a reference point. But even that to me takes a back seat to my main peeves about this book. 1) Not fixing the Penumbral Lord prestige class to make him not only a better shadow caster, but also to be a comparable wizard period.  I'm sure I speak for many of us that got this book expecting that we would see a much better version of Dar'Tan. Certainly one comparable to his estwhile rival, Barconius and certainly on par with other powerful wizards. 2) While there is some work done on adventures, most of these I felt could have been played down or at least taken up over half the book. Certaintly more could have been done to talk about the influences the Penumbral Lords are having on various regions, perhaps even giving us maps of those places. (Note I speak not of the stronghold of the Penumbral Lords, but more specifically, places where their influence is strong, like the Bridged City or even just a rough sketch of the terrian of the Keldars.) But I will say there are some bright points. Ed Bournelle does a great job on cartography. Certainly it helped to see how things worked. The shadow pathways themselves are interesting. A new means of transportation I've yet to see in better effect. But again this is weighted down by the fact existing NPCs (such as vampiric wizard that supposed work with Penumbral Lords, Dar'Gartal and Shan Thoz) are not even given mention. That to me speak volumes of the inaccuracy at work here. Also the interior artwork I felt was sub-standard, especially regarding the pieces Potail Teewyn, Night Arm and a few of the other low level operatives.) Also I would have like to see a greater linking towards Mithril and certainly more details about Dar'Tan own history. I really won't give much out for chapter details other than this cursory glance and some notesIntroductionChapter 1: The History of the Penumbral Pentagon: Detailed history of the group's rise and apparent belief in darkness and shadow. Does foreshadow well with Belsameth and this idea of every "good" god having a dark shadow. But the concept I felt wasn't lived up to it's true potentialChapter 2: The Members of the Penumbral Pentagon: Just a glance at the higher uppers. Some, like Blackfang, are interesting. I do like Sutane Terk and Night Arm. But overall, not much really to shout home aboutChapter 3: The Penumbral Fortress: This part of the book, Ed Bournelle shines. Plus the fact the entire fortress is almost a free moving shadowy place with only a few gates to connect to the outside world. But still not much to that interesting.Chapter 4: Magics of the Shadows: Some new spells, some low level, as well as the new Penumbral Gateway artifacts. Not bad...but I wasn't that impressed with the book to begin with. So the crunch is there...but not enough for me.Chapter 5: Adventures in Shadow: Uninteresting adventures and even fewer plot hooks. PassAppendix: Monsters of Shadow: (Should read monster of shadow since only the Shadow Creature Template is there. Really I felt the MotP Shadow Creature Template was better.)So that's my story and I'm sticking too it.</blockquote>

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