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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="geoffrey d`glanville" data-source="post: 2071260" data-attributes="member: 29329">Scarred Lands - DM Screen CompanionOn the first glance - this looks to be one of the better`n screens out there.But let us explain that in detail.First of all, the product is two-fold - you get a four-fold screen AND a 48-page booklet with some background material of the `Scarred Lands´ and two adventures (which was the reason I bought it), for just 8,95 $, that`s a pretty good deal.And after reading the whole thing through, I should not be disappointed.The screen features nice art (a 4.7 out of 5.10), is a little bit flappy (2.8), the tables on the inside are mostly useful (3.6) but in my opinion is rather ugly to look at from the DM`s point of view (1.8) because of the overuse of that ugly super-black colour. Maybe S & S wanted to generate some WoD-style Dark-Fantasy flair here, but sadly, they did not succeed. Infact, that`s the reason why I do not use the screen, it`s just too ugly to look at in comparison to the Forgotten Realms Screen, e.g.It`s a four-fold (4.0) which makes the screen a 3.4 overall.The 48-page booklet consist of a 17 page strong essay about the races of the Scarred Lands, which was not bad, but absolutely nothing special either. I liked the Forsaken Dwarves and the concept of the "Humans by Region", but in my eyes there`s nothing to it to make the `Scarred Lands´ special to other settings. Writing style is mediocre American English. (2.7)Next is "The Shrine of Madness", a 12 page long site based adventure, wherein the party has to retrieve a relic from a shrine of Enkili, the god of madness. The party should have 8-12 total levels, which is realistic.While this is primarily your 08/15 dungeon crawl, it has a nice feel to it. I liked the encounters with the mistwalkers and the whole idea of a shrine devoted to the god of madness. The Star of Chaos and the legend of Drel Darkblade make it a very nice scene to expand upon. (3.8)Then comes "Kadum`s Horn", Dungeon Crawl no.3286, but again, it`s somehow nice to play it. It`s 16 pages long, the party should be totalling 15-20 levels, which is again realistic.The setup, a children`s rescue from the big bad evil overlord, is of course a boring classic, but the NPC`s really rescue this one. The villagers of Dosath are nice to expand upon, the spider-eye goblin concept is cool, the Forsaken Dwarves were fun for me as the DM to play and Kraal the Blood-witch seems to beg to be promoted to the big leagues as a campaign antagonist.The "True Ritual" was also nice, the Kadum`s Horn dungeon rather uninspired. This is a 3.6.Writing style of the adventures is a little better (another author).Both adventures are nice to expand and build upon by a DM who wants (and ought) to do so, but in their basic version they`re basically just a little bit over average.The cover of the booklet was very attractive to me (4.6). It`s painted by Vincent Dutrait.The whole booklet has 7 s/w illus by Talon Dunning, which were mostly bad in my opinion (2.5). Plus, there are two more, which are "group photos" of the 7 seen before. Nice to see it that way, but recycled material.The 7 s/w illus by Mike Chaney resemble wood-cuts and are very evocative, but strange to look at (3.1). That makes it a 2.8 altogether for the illus.The maps done by Richard Thomas were nice and detailed, but sometimes way too small (e.g. the Enkili shrine); the handout was nice to see in a DM`s companion; a 2.8.Overall, the inner layout is aspiring, 3.8.Cover layout is very nice, a 5.4.The binding is normal for a booklet, the cover nicely laminated, 3.3.Paper quality is normal, 3.4.Price/Value: is excellent in my eyes; you get two adventures, a four-panel screen and a setting essay for under 10,- bucks - that`s really fair. And over here in Europe, the whole thing`s even cheaper, 5.6.The authors Joseph D. Carricker Jr. and Stephan Wieck have given it a good try - and produced a solid, yet not particularly inspired work. The two adventures by Clark Peterson clearly rescued the booklet from falling under 3 stars.Overall, a 3.8 product, very good three stars on EN World. A screen that has done a lot things better than many of its ancestors.This is a 3.0 E product, useful for and easily adabtable to any d20 or other fantasy setting.</blockquote>

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