he Encyclopedia of Skill Lore and Other Wondrous Items for Bookworms
The Encyclopedia of Skill Lore and Other Wondrous Items for Bookworms
By Julie Ann Dawson
Bards and Sages product number BAS162079
13-page PDF, $2.99
The Encyclopedia of Skill Lore and Other Wondrous Items for Bookworms is the second short Bards and Sages PDF I brought with me on my plane trip to review, when I was specifically looking for something that wouldn't require me to constantly flip through the core rulebooks. At 13 pages, it was easy to print out and read through without any other reference materials.
The cover art (unattributed as to artist) consists of a cartoon bookworm (complete with glasses) popping up out of a large red book. Besides the cover, there were 8 other pieces of clip art, depicting books, bookcases, and the like. None of it was specifically necessary, but it helps to break up the page. There were also four covers to other Bards and Sages products depicted on the last two pages of the PDF, which are devoted to advertising. That means if we strip off the front cover, two pages of ads, and mandatory page of the OGL, you're really getting 9 pages of material. Of course, once again, you'll have to go and write the page numbers in yourselves (or just mentally keep track of them in your head), because Julie opted not to include them. (Once again, I assume it's Julie doing everything for this PDF, as she's the only one listed on the cover, and there is no credits page.)
Proofreading and editing are once again rather poor, with no attention paid to standard d20 conventions (skill names should be capitalized but not italicized, the names of languages should be capitalized), and several instances where incorrect terminology is used. (For instance, the skill is "Perform," not "Performance," and likewise it's "Intimidate," not "Intimidation.") She also apparently missed out on the 3.5 update that all skills are either class skills or cross-class skills now; there are no "restricted" skills. (One example explains how a fighter can't take ranks in Open Lock, which wasn't even true in 3.0 - it was then, as it is now, a cross-class skill for fighters.) This PDF was released in 2005, so I'd expect that the 3.5 rules were being adhered to - fortunately, this was the only case where there seemed to be some confusion as to the rules of the current edition. (Although I suppose the numerous times she refers to the "alchemy" skill - as opposed to the "Craft (alchemy)" skill - might be another indicator.)
However, there were plenty of typos and misused words that really irritated me. Examples? It's "cliché," not "clique." The word "not" is spelled with an "n," not an "m." "Site" and "sight" are two different words, with two completely different meanings, and shouldn't be used interchangeably. She also has an irritating habit of capitalizing random common nouns and pluralizing with an apostrophe.
The Encyclopedia of Skill Lore and Other Wondrous Items for Bookworms does have some decent material in it, though, despite the rather amateurish presentation. (Once again, it reads like a first draft, not a finished product.) The main concept is that knowledge gained through reading nonfiction texts can grant you bonus skill levels, and it's an idea that I'm not opposed to - I've seen it in other products, and it seems to me to work well. I do like the fact that Julie has created a mechanism whereby such knowledge is not automatically gained - you have to work at it, and there's no guarantee that, having spent the time reading through a work on a given subject, you'll understand enough of it for it to sink in (and grant the competence bonus to the skill). The "Encyclopedia of Skill Lore" in the title refers to a 23-volume set, each volume of which concentrates on a single skill or small set of closely-related skills. In addition, there are 6 separate tomes in the collection that do the same, as well as several other book-related mundane, alchemical, and wondrous items, ranging from false books and book safes to a wax that protects pages from the elements, a magic pen that scribes words down as they're spoken, and a folding bookcase. All in all, not a bad deal for those interested in book-related items and the mechanics behind "book learning."
I give The Encyclopedia of Skill Lore and Other Wondrous Items for Bookworms a solid "3 (Average)." Some polishing might have bumped it into the "4 (Good)" range, but I'll pass my compiled list of errors on to Bards and Sages and see what happens.
