JoeGKushner
Adventurer
There are some products that GMs will always find useful. Products that cover characters and locations are one such product. Scrollworks Characters and Locations, edited by Christian Walker, the editor of Scrollworks and illustrated by Christopher Shy, is both useful in the RPG and almost a work of art in and of itself.
Now perhaps I've grown used to the landscape layout of Philip Reed or he makes the most out of the subject, but I find it easier to use the product with this layout. The first page provides a nice overview of the book with a location for each character, magic item and location and cleverly has the ads for both Scroll Works and 101 Collection on the side. Interior pages use a three column layout with a sky blue marbleized border with boxed text setting off the stats with a light yellow background.
The material from the Faces in the Crowd, the NPCs, is a collection of characters from Scrollworks 14-29. Each character starts off with the name, author, issue it originally appeared in, quote and background information. The stats are boxed off so that the GM can easily separate character from background information. Some of the backgrounds includes standard events that the character partakes in. For example, Jhaevin Whil is normally found helping peasants and farmers fend off lesser menaces.
One of the strengths of the book is that the layout is used effectively. No characters are put onto half a page to start another character. The information is well spaced out. Another strength is that several of the characters know each other, like Lt. Deirdre Shae and Duncan. This makes it easier to work into a campaign with a logical reason. “Do we know any mages?” “Sure, I'll grab my friend Duncan.”
One of the problems that sneaks in is character consistency. For example, Duncan Faulk takes the odd idea of a wizard using a sword. Sure, he's got the martial weapon proficiency with the longsword and he likes to use it, but then he doesn't have any magical spells that really back up such a melee style like True Strike or Bulls Strength. Other characters don't match their backgrounds. Loesung is described as a terrible vampire slayer but is only a 9th level character with some unique magic items. Not good for an elf over 1,000 years old.
What would make the NPC section more useful, outside of adventure seeds, is some material on using them at different level settings. For example, “To use Loesung in a standard campaign, increase his ranger levels by 2 and his rogue levels by 2. Increase X by +2 and Y by +1.” It's important to note that while not a weakness, the product is definitely aimed at the lower power levels. There's nothing wrong with having a warrior at 1st level with a detailed background, but it's not going to be every reader's cup of tea.
Modest Magics continues on that lower power level with some self described 'odd' magics. Take the Armor of Bellarm Turen. It's cursed armor but if the wearer survives wearing it for three levels, the suit actually gains enchantments. A nice idea for those paladins who've done some wrong and need punishment. Not all such items are 'weak' though as the Bone Saw is an unholy bastard sword of wounding with a +3 enchantment.
The last section, Locations, provides fully illustrated locations on grid maps that are easy to use and should be suitable for most fantasy campaigns. Old standards like the Quiet Thyme tavern to Ocindra's Antique Blades, the locations have background, map keys and NPCs for the players to interact with. These settings are the type that can easily fit into anywhere from Freeport and Bluffside, to Mitrhil and Hollowfaust with minor tweaks.
The book runs for $6.95 so is in the 'average' price for for a PDF file of this size. The material is useful and saves the GM a lot of time. The illustrations are top notch but suffer from the 'head shot' syndrome. The weakness in the product is that this isn't an exotic book like say the Bonds of Magic where every character has something new to add to the game (although several here do) or like Bastion Press' Friends & Familiars and Allies and Adversaries book where the characters are fully illustrated. The PDF file is bookmarked with a shortcut to each location, character and magic item, but doesn't include a black and white version nor a 'printer' friendly version.
I'll be using the material to help supplement the 'background' elements of my world and looking forward to other compilations of this material with a hope that we'll see some more utility put into the product for uses other than those perhaps intended by the user.
Now perhaps I've grown used to the landscape layout of Philip Reed or he makes the most out of the subject, but I find it easier to use the product with this layout. The first page provides a nice overview of the book with a location for each character, magic item and location and cleverly has the ads for both Scroll Works and 101 Collection on the side. Interior pages use a three column layout with a sky blue marbleized border with boxed text setting off the stats with a light yellow background.
The material from the Faces in the Crowd, the NPCs, is a collection of characters from Scrollworks 14-29. Each character starts off with the name, author, issue it originally appeared in, quote and background information. The stats are boxed off so that the GM can easily separate character from background information. Some of the backgrounds includes standard events that the character partakes in. For example, Jhaevin Whil is normally found helping peasants and farmers fend off lesser menaces.
One of the strengths of the book is that the layout is used effectively. No characters are put onto half a page to start another character. The information is well spaced out. Another strength is that several of the characters know each other, like Lt. Deirdre Shae and Duncan. This makes it easier to work into a campaign with a logical reason. “Do we know any mages?” “Sure, I'll grab my friend Duncan.”
One of the problems that sneaks in is character consistency. For example, Duncan Faulk takes the odd idea of a wizard using a sword. Sure, he's got the martial weapon proficiency with the longsword and he likes to use it, but then he doesn't have any magical spells that really back up such a melee style like True Strike or Bulls Strength. Other characters don't match their backgrounds. Loesung is described as a terrible vampire slayer but is only a 9th level character with some unique magic items. Not good for an elf over 1,000 years old.
What would make the NPC section more useful, outside of adventure seeds, is some material on using them at different level settings. For example, “To use Loesung in a standard campaign, increase his ranger levels by 2 and his rogue levels by 2. Increase X by +2 and Y by +1.” It's important to note that while not a weakness, the product is definitely aimed at the lower power levels. There's nothing wrong with having a warrior at 1st level with a detailed background, but it's not going to be every reader's cup of tea.
Modest Magics continues on that lower power level with some self described 'odd' magics. Take the Armor of Bellarm Turen. It's cursed armor but if the wearer survives wearing it for three levels, the suit actually gains enchantments. A nice idea for those paladins who've done some wrong and need punishment. Not all such items are 'weak' though as the Bone Saw is an unholy bastard sword of wounding with a +3 enchantment.
The last section, Locations, provides fully illustrated locations on grid maps that are easy to use and should be suitable for most fantasy campaigns. Old standards like the Quiet Thyme tavern to Ocindra's Antique Blades, the locations have background, map keys and NPCs for the players to interact with. These settings are the type that can easily fit into anywhere from Freeport and Bluffside, to Mitrhil and Hollowfaust with minor tweaks.
The book runs for $6.95 so is in the 'average' price for for a PDF file of this size. The material is useful and saves the GM a lot of time. The illustrations are top notch but suffer from the 'head shot' syndrome. The weakness in the product is that this isn't an exotic book like say the Bonds of Magic where every character has something new to add to the game (although several here do) or like Bastion Press' Friends & Familiars and Allies and Adversaries book where the characters are fully illustrated. The PDF file is bookmarked with a shortcut to each location, character and magic item, but doesn't include a black and white version nor a 'printer' friendly version.
I'll be using the material to help supplement the 'background' elements of my world and looking forward to other compilations of this material with a hope that we'll see some more utility put into the product for uses other than those perhaps intended by the user.
