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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010698" data-attributes="member: 18387">There are some products that just suprise you, in a good way. The Hamlet of Thumble by Open World Press/Mystic Eye Games is one of them. Although the cover design looks much like a module from the early 80's, inside you'll find something very different and yet in some ways the same. The cover art is quite good and has an atmosphere to it. It doesn't feel flat and the coloring is fantastic. The interior is also pretty good, some better than others. There could be a little bit more, but I liked it overall. The way the kobolds are portrayed harkens to the 1st edition version and the halflings are presented in a more quaint way than we're normally used to. The first couple of pages describes how to start the adventure for both good or evil PCs. There is also ways to start it with a party of good PCs working against a party of evil PCs and for two parties of evil PCs working together. Though I doubt I'd be able to get together two groups of players to run it like one of these latter scenarios, it's interesting to read about how it could be done. This is the kind of stuff that gives me ideas for other adventures. Before going into the adventure itself, there is a huge section detailing nearly each and every resident of the hamlet. All of them are halflings. I think it would have been good to have a token human resident or two, but the personalities of each halfling is so beautifully done that I don't mind too much the lack of diversity in the population. The stat blocks are different than what you find in many other d20 as they include age, height, weight, and reputation for each NPC. They are also in the new 3.5 edition rules, though I don't see much of difference from the 3.0 version.I really enjoyed reading about each resident. This is absolutely my favorite part of the book as I appreciated that each had their own distinct personality. The hamlet really comes alive with the text. I've never seen anything like it before. The adventure portion is actually quite short. It is a pretty standard one, but I think it would be great for getting a group of PCs started. I liked the moral conflicts introduced into the adventure and I'd be curious how they would be played out by different PCs, whether good or evil. There are also some good plot hooks for future adventures related to this one.The other parts of the book include new rules:There are three new core classes: cavalier, shaman, and witch. Each seem balanced and fun to play. I particularly liked the shaman which had a class ability called ritual sacrifice in which you can sacrifice an animal or monster for extra hit points. Accompanying these new core classes are nearly 60 new spells all of which are generic enough to fit into any campaign setting. Most have very short descriptions and some are only modified versions of other spells (example: fire bolt and ice bolt), but I really liked the spells confession, inferno, and shrinking head. They are primarily designed for the shaman and witch classes, but some can be used by other classes, too. A couple of new monsters, the dolloby (a small construct) and the wicked treant (a large plant) could be interesting to use. I think the dolloby would be especially so since it has this sticky skin ability that can get weapons used against it stuck on its body.  Near the end of the book, you will find supplementary rules such as stats for a bunch of mundane weapons (kitchen knife, broomstick, frying pan, etc), morale checks, using dreams, reputation points, and special abilities/weaknesses. Finally, there is an entire section on DM Tips that I think anyone either new or old to the game would find very helpful. I would definitely recommend anyone who is a DM or interested in being one that they read this section.  This is a great product that I would dare even say could be a "must have". It packs in so much more information than any other product of a similar size that it has to be one of the best values out there in d20. Final grade: A</blockquote>

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