NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2010430" data-attributes="member: 1129">Raise the Dead is the second book in the DM series, the first being the Book of Taverns. Unlike the Book of Taverns, though, this one isn't so much a DM sourcebook as it is a collection of adventurers.The book's theme revolves around bringing a comrade back to life. The adventurers are inspired by the fact that the players have to perform some deed to have the dead character restored. This is okay but doesn't really focus on the important things like rate of decomposition, the dead body increasing random encounters or basically anything to do with the issues of a dead character, like what happens to that character's soul in the meanwhile. How about the level loss the character suffers? Any way around that? This book isn't concerned with those issues.So if you're looking for a book the helps the DM and players solve some of the issues that result from having a dead character, this book isn't the 'event' book for you.As far as the adventurers themselves, they do a good job of delivering a few nights worth of gaming. Nature's Bounty, Kinslayer's Moon, the Crypt of Ronashim and Them Bones all provide something a little different.Nature's Bounty, designed for 8th level characters, for example, doesn't rely on raising the dead, but reincarnating them. A nice twist on the usual order of things, using druids as patrons for the players, a common theme in fantasy. Kinslayer's Moon, designed for 8th level PCs, can provide the GM some fun as the party has to race against another party to the well either in order to revive a dead evil comrade, or prevent an evil overlord from being reborn. The nice thing is that two opposing parties are presented so the DM has either option open to him.The Crypt of Ronashim, for 6th level characters, plays with history a little as players learn small details here and there, but discover that history is written by the winners and even those of good nature often cover up the mistakes of the past. Them Bones, designed for 8th level players, is another twist as the party isn't looking for help by a person in raising their comrade, but from an item of power.Some of the challenges that face the characters are riddles that if they solve, can help them overcome their enemies. I rarely see riddles in adventurers and enjoy the meta-challenge as the players have to think what their characters would know and apply that to the game. In addition, some of the assumptions players may make will get turned on their ear if they're not careful, especially when dealing with the NPCs. One thing that was nice to see but could've been expanded upon a little is the Scaling the Adventure. A few words at the start of the module provide some brief ideas on how to insure that parties of a level or two higher or a level or two lower have some challenges.One thing I think the book failed to capitalize on was the dead player issue. No rules for running around as a ghost or inhabiting another's body, merely running the bad guys or a one shot character. Nothing brand new in either of those ideas I'm afraid.The book is laid out in standard two column format. There's excessive white space usually only at the end of the chapter. Art is handled by Brian LeBlanc and as usual, is good, lending the product one feel through the book. His half page illustration of the wolf spiders and his one-quarter page illustration of the undead hill giant Gol are impressive pieces and lend the work a dark feel. The maps are done by SkeletonKey Games cartographer Ed Bourelle and as usual, are great but have no map key. These are several full page maps that DMs can use not only for this adventure, but for similar areas. The bad news is that there are five pages of ads and that some of the monsters, drawn from Necromancer's excellent Tome of Horrors, don't have full statistics reprinted here.Outside of the adventurers, there are two new monsters, the Drench, basically a water weird, and the Fungus Man, a living plant. Five new magic items are also introduced to the d20 system, expanding the use of the module beyond the adventurers a little.In the end, the problem is that the book is nothing more than a collection of mini-adventurers. This is fine, but for half the price, I can buy the full color Dungeon Magazine or check out some free online support and with a slight tweak, modify it so that the goal is the return of a dead character.Raise the Dead is a good collection of adventurers but isn't going to set any new standards in adventure construction and GMs interested in longer adventurers should check out their Gray Citadel or the Tomb of Abysthor.</blockquote>

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