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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kaptain_Kantrip" data-source="post: 192304" data-attributes="member: 546">Got the book!Got my Avalanche book today! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />VLAD THE IMPALERLots of great detail on medieval Romania/Transylvanian life, gender issues, economics, history, neighbor relations, the aristocracy (boyars), and Vlad himself, right down to preferred methods of impalement. Sidebar tips on how to play Vlad are included and prove helpful insights into his er, "unusual" personality.Extremely graphic, gritty and nasty... and historically accurate medieval life in one of the worst places to live you can imagine. Exactly what I'd always wanted! The only problem is the maps are more poetic than functional game maps (images taken from actual maps of the time in museums).d20 Mechanics:There are four new feats---Amputate, Behead, Firearms Proficiency and Gunnery (cannon). None of these are very amazing. Amputate is only used in surgery, not combat, LOL. Behead gives you a chance to lop off your opponent's head. The other two are self-explanatory.There are two new PrCs: The Boyar (gains income and taxation powers as well as bonus feats---the bonus feats are however, never described!) and the Hussar (a cavalryman).There are two NPC classes: The Herbalist (makes poultices) and the Lautar (a bard variant with some interesting songs of power).Strigoi is the Romanian word for vampire and that creature is provided as a template. It is a variant vampire modelled on the original Romanian version of the vampire. Also provided are a couple new monsters: the Obru, an undead dung-eater (whose black heart is made of dung!), and the Vukodlak, a large undead flesh-eating raven.Rules for gunpowder weapons are given, along with gangrene and grievous bodily harm.The book includes an adventure in which the PCs get to meet Vlad the Impaler, which is actually pretty cool and involves intrigue and diplomacy moreso than hack-n-slash. Whether or not Vlad is a vampire is left up to the DM. Both ideas are supported in the adventure. Overall, I would say the book is setting rich and crunchy/mechanics weak. Buy it if you want a dark, gritty, realistic medieval setting. I'm sure it stands head and shoulders on this point over Ravenloft's Transylvania supplement. Unfortunately, you will have to create your own game map from the drawings provided, and nothing is mapped for game use... not a typical village, boyar estate or Vlad's castle.</blockquote>

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