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Starfinder Compatible: The World Of Nommu
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 02/06/2020 12:02:42

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This supplement clocks in at 40 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 2 pages of SRD, leaving us with 35 pages of content, laid out in a horizontal manner that is obviously intended for use with e-readers. The supplement comes with two jpegs – one depicting the G’Non system, and one being the world map of Nommu – both don’t have a scale.

In case you were wondering – this is the home world of the Nomi, introduced in the supplement depicting the roving city station Orbi, and their racial stats are provided: +2 Charisma and Intelligence, -2 Strength, 3 HP, Small. They gain Skill Focus and 1/day may reassign it. They also get +2 to checks made with tools and to make use of unknown technology. Most interestingly, they have two arms, two legs, and two limbs that can be used as either, which can either allow them to wield more weapons or increase their speed. The write-up includes notes on playing nomi, height, weight, etc. Nice!

There is also a variant that instead gets +2 Intelligence and Wisdom,+4 for aid another, and the 1/day ability to spend Resolve (not capitalized properly), and if you do, you recall knowledge as though you rolled a 20 to represent your planning. Alternatively, you can retroactively have bought and paid for an item of a light bulk, up to an item level equal to your character level. These retain the versatile limbs. There are also 4 traits for the nomu, which struck me as odd, since traits are not a thing in SFRPG – shouldn’t these be instead statted like, I don’t know, themes?

Anyhow, Nomu is a per se utopian world, but also one steeped in inequality (topical…) – the differences in tech might well be centuries between cities, with the NEW (Nomi World Empire) as a planet-wide coalition behind colonizing efforts of other worlds – because the inequality is erupting. For centuries, there had been no wars, but now, border conflicts are slowly escalating, all while invasive species threaten delicate ecosystems, and the resources of the planet are dwindling. Revolution is coming a-knocking, but will it be soon enough?

The pdf then proceeds to cover the planets of the G’Non system, from the star to the scorched, rocky plains of Ishini, icy Safura and Nommu’s moon Lot, we have a couple of nice angles before diving into the planet’s history. After a brief primer on the culture of the Nomi, we proceed to cover the places to explore on the planet, covering the various nations and unclaimed lands. The NEW is theoretically a council of 30, but de facto is led by 4 entities (including a LG self-aware tier 10 computer technomancer – awesome), though we do not get stats for these movers and shakers. The pdf then proceeds to explain the planet’s military, as well as the pantheon of the aliens’ deities, snarkily titled “Technically not incest.” This irreverent tone surfaces time and again.

The pdf also includes new critters, like the Hearthforged Robot (CR 11), a tech-insect with cutting lasers for hands. There are some errors in the stats, both in EAC , damage type missing, etc. We also get a CR 8 soldier of ideals operative, and a pretty cool CR 4 buzzbird, basically a kolibri-like apex predator. The builds also share these issues. Cool: We get a tier 3 treeborg living computer, including an expansion bay version.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are good on a formal and rules-language level. Layout adheres to a two-column horizontal standard best suited for e-readers. The background is blue, with most of the text yellow, so printing this will take serious ink/toner. Cartography is full-color and solid. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Michael McCarthy delivers a fun little world, and considering he did EVERYTHING here, an impressive and inexpensive little booklet. This may not be perfect, but for 2 bucks? Worth taking a look at. My final verdict will clock in at 3.5 stars, rounded up due to the good bang-for-buck ratio.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Starfinder Compatible: The World Of Nommu
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Starfinder Compatible: Orbi City-Station
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/20/2019 06:32:37

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This supplement clocks in at 21 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 2 pages of SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 15 pages of content, though it should be noted that these pages are laid out in a horizontal standard optimized for e-readers – that is, letter-size is pretty large.

The city station of Orbi sits on a disk dozens of miles across a city of metal and glass, with a central tower of black supporting an almost translucent platform almost as large as the city itself. Streets of warm laughter and cheer make the city of Orbi, home of the Nomi, a galactic entertainment hub. The city can fly and take to the air sans even a ripple of air, often traveling not only from place to place, but from world to world. Glass platform and city floor form an airtight bubble, allowing for travel through space.

The city of Orbi is thus a great way to travel and with its incredibly complex engine, the small, gregarious and open nomi, perpetually interested in new impulses and cultures, are a central focus of what makes this cosmopolitan place so compelling. As hinted at before, Orbi does regularly land on planets, and thus could potentially act as a place to meet primitive cultures or provide a culture-shock for characters; as a means to transition or marry science-fantasy and sword-and-planet, for example, this rather works well. The engine of the Orbi is mostly magical, and the city houses almost 600.000 inhabitants, 5/6th of whom are nomi. The city station follows a 256-day year, and population is controlled, with deaths and emigrants counted and then, a procreation season at the start of the year. It should be noted that sexual activity is not frowned upon – as long as procreation is limited to the proper season. Non-nomi are not subject to these official regulation, and immigrant passes and the general focus on the arts make the place seem pretty liberal.

The pdf also explains to use the history of the 200-year-old city ship, mentions the good guy in charge (an android soldier/technomancer, mentioned in fluff-only – Nomi aren’t that inclined to long-term planning), the bitter local fruits grown, etc. While there are dissenters that wish the city closed to immigrants (their leader is once again mentioned), the decision is still up in the air. The city, unlike the standard SFRPG engines, is powered by the Bend Engine, a magical device that bends space. Somewhat to my chagrin, we don’t get stats for the bend engine, which is a bit of a pity, as it certainly has a lot of narrative potential and would make for a nice starship upgrade at higher levels of escalation down the plot line. We do get an overview of the outer and inner ring and the movers and shakers to be found there, as well as a brief summary of the 6 flavorful ships noted as pretty much permanent fixtures. Once more, ship stats would have been nice.

The pdf also includes a write-up of the Nomi, who get +2 Charisma and Intelligence, -2 Strength (making them lopsided on the mental side of things), 3 Hit Points, and they are Small humanoids with the Nomi subtype. They have a pair or arms, a pair of legs, and a pair of limbs that can be used as either. Changing modes for these limbs (for wielding/holding more items or base speed increase by 10 ft.) is a swift action. Cool, if not as refined or fun as e.g. The Ydreft from Star Log.EM: Ydreft. Nomi get Skill Focus as a bonus feat, and may 1/day spend an hour to retrain to which skill this feat applies. They also receive a +2 racial bonus on checks made with tools, and o checks to make use or activate unknown technology. (It’d have been nice to get some guidelines what constitutes unknown technology). Beyond these stats, the nomi come with a full proper write-up regarding relations, homeworld, and even the often overlooked “Playing as a Nomi”-section including what other races may think about them. Kudos! Speaking of which: The pdf even provides notes on nomenclature and vital statistics, such as average height, maximum age etc.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting re very good on a formal and rules-language level. Layout adheres to a horizontal two-column full-color standard with a blue background and light yellow text. The layout is optimized for e-readers, which means that this isn’t exactly printer-friendly. The pdf has no interior artwork, but does come with proper bookmarks for easy navigation.

Michael McCarthy’s Orbi is a fun city station. I like the take on a traveling good-guy station, and the nomi, while weird, are also rather charming. They are good-guy aliens. One could easily interpret an artist’s city-on-a-hill-metaphor into the place, though that, if intended, is subtextual and something most folk probably won’t notice. All in all, I really enjoyed this supplement. Orbi is a fun place, has quite a lot of adventuring potential, and features some evocative, cool ideas. If anything, it does suffer a bit from the lack of stats for the ships noted, the engine, etc. Mind you, at this low price-point, this is definitely a good purchase, but it could have easily been a fantastic one with a bit more crunch. This is still very much worth checking out, though. My final verdict will clock in at 4 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Starfinder Compatible: Orbi City-Station
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Roleplaying Game Dictionary
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 07/19/2018 06:02:00

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This massive book clocks in at 53 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover leaving us with 49 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

“So, the other day while the GM had almost TPK’d us, he told me off as I was above character, describing how I’d be able to RAW Take 20, and then he’d suddenly argue my character build’s baseline, without which I could have never gotten to this level of being able to tank DPR, right? Which I btw. only did to make the cleric-guy less of a heal-bot, and then, suddenly, this whole thing became the tired old RAI-discussion…”

If you’re reading this review, then chances are you understood the entirety of the above, which you may very well overhear at a table. Once we take a step back, though, we’ll realize that, for non-gamers, this sounds like gobbledygook.

Every hobby, every science, every component of our lives does have its own terminology, its technical terms. Roleplaying games, as a medium, have more than most, as the hobby is wholly contingent on language and the associations you can conjure forth. As such, we have developed quite a set of terms, and while some, like THAC0 have gone on towards more obscure old-school games, the more rules-heavy recent games have added a copious amount of terms, while also borrowing heavily from video games.

This, surprisingly, can present a quite distinct entry barrier for new gamers. Enter this book.

What we have here, is basically a dictionary of game- and gamer-lingo, focused on Pathfinder.

We begin with the very basics that include shorthands like RPG and describe roleplaying games; Game Master and player, level-ranges, mechanics, dice and their notation – we move, in a sensible manner, from the large categories and frame to the smaller components: The book categories the sections from Rules and Game Mechanics to terms denoting adventures etc,, gaming materials, etc. SRD, 3PP, difficult terrain, light, planar basics, conditions – and we even get explanations of pure slang in the end – from GMPCs to TPKs, from rollplayer to roleplayer…

Oh, and we even get a detailed Index!

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I noticed no serious hiccups or omissions. Layout adheres to a nice two-column full-color standard and the pdf features nice stock art. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience and comes with an EPUB-version.

Michael McCarthy’s Roleplaying Game Dictionary for Pathfinder is amazing. It is a godsend for new players and really handy as a starting point for people wanting to understand gamer-lingo. This book, in short, is a really great supplement that achieves its goal remarkably well. Organization is excellent…and it’s PWYW (pay what you want)! This must have been a ton of work, and frankly, I wholeheartedly suggest dropping the author a tip for this book – any supplement that helps new folks get into our hobby should be applauded. 5 stars + seal of approval, highly recommended for new players!

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Roleplaying Game Dictionary
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How Do I... Rest
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 07/19/2018 05:59:20

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the PWYW-series of rules-explanations clocks is for Starfinder and clocks in at 7 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 3 pages of content. The pdf comes with a second version optimized for e-readers, which clocks in at 12 pages and is presented in a landscape layout. Content-wise, the two versions are identical.

So, resting in SFRPG is more complex than it was previously, so I found myself somewhat surprised that the rules pertaining rests never were truly collated in one place in the SFRPG-core rules. This pdf remedies that oversight.

First of all: A character does not necessarily have to be asleep to rest, but the precise restrictions are presented. 10-minute rests and how they work, as well as the means to mitigate the exhausted condition to fatigued via a 1-hour rest, are noted.

The pdf then concisely lists the differences between a full night’s rest and a full day’s rest. How and what constitutes interruptions, the interaction with rings of sustenance…and the limit of “full night’s rest” in a universe where a night may be rather brief or agonizingly long, are presented and acknowledged – in short, only one 8-hour rest per 24-hour period. Medicine’s long-term treatment is also noted in this context.

The pdf then concludes with noting effects that are not necessarily healed by resting, or unaffected entirely.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I noticed no hiccups. Layout adheres to a printer-friendly 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf has no artworks. The pdf comes fully bookmarked, in spite of its brevity – kudos!

Michael McCarthy’s summary of resting mechanics is handy to have and should prevent some book-flipping. What more can you ask from such a humble little game-aid pdf, particularly from one that comes as PWYW? This is very much worth leaving a tip for and makes playing more smooth. No complaints. 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
How Do I... Rest
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How Do I Polymorph
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 07/19/2018 05:57:26

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This little pdf clocks in at 7 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD/editorial/ToC, leaving us with 5 pages of content, so let’s take a look! It should be noted that the pdf comes with a second version, one optimized for e-readers that is landscape format – it#s 12 pages long and otherwise, content-wise, identical.

Now, as we all know, previous editions of the game often had…let’s say, rather byzanthine rules for shapechanging. In Pathfinder, this is easier. Comparatively. The pdf first explains, newbie-friendly, that polymorph denotes a spell – as well as a subschool of transmutation.

The pdf then lists the more common, specialized transformation spells for shapechanging (handy!) and the general ones – this explains, concisely, what type of spell you’d use for what…and then, the issue of speech is addressed. Nice: The pdf does correctly note how parrot’s won’t suddenly be able to speak and takes familiars into account; it also points towards the Expressive Pantomime solution for specialists. The ways to get past the casting limitations a new form may impose are also clearly stated.

The pdf then presents a handy bullet-point list of what you always gain and what you always lose upon shapeshifting – and we get a list of what you probably get. It is important to note that e.g. special movement or senses are not automatically bestowed, which can be awkward…having that spelled out makes sense for newer players. Similarly, having a list of what you never get is handy indeed. A minor correction here: While it is correct that a polymorph spell costs you natural attacks of a previous form, sorcerers and similar characters that can grow e.g. claws and the like as a class feature may do so in the polymorphed form! This little tidbit should probably be added.

Anyways, the pdf helpfully notes that the lesser one of special movement rates granted (base form vs. spell) is gained in an often overlooked component of the rules. Interaction between polymorph spells on a target and a handy little attribute modifier table for targets smaller than Small or larger than Large helps as well – though an additional table for size modifiers and special size modifiers would have improved this further.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no serious flaws. Layout adheres to a nice two-column standard and is easy to read. The pdf comes bookmarked, in spite of its brevity and has no artworks inside.

Michael McCarthy’s handy little guide is great for novices of the game. Since polymorph, while simpler than before, is still a pretty complex collection of rules, it’s nice to have such a pdf and the option to point towards it. Now, while not 100% exhaustive, it does its intended job rather well – which is why my final verdict will be 4.5 stars, rounded up due to the PWYW nature of this handy little helper.

On another note: If you enjoy shapeshifting and want to get deeper into size-changes and the like, there’s no way past Everyman Gaming’s superb Microsized Adventures-book and the corresponding template-mini…

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
How Do I Polymorph
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Conversation Cards
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/11/2018 05:35:15

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This is something different, a system neutral game aid of sorts. The pdf either comes as an 8-page pdf, with half the pages depicting the back cover of the cards noted; the other half the respective cards.

This is, in short, a helpful guideline to determine somewhat more complex and varied starting attitudes for characters – and they also help as roleplaying aids of sorts for PCs and GMs in particular

The first pages are used to explain the mechanics of these, and each page contains 9 cards. There are three sets of cards: Passive cards, submissive cards and aggressive cards. These sport a speech-bubble that is color-coded, allowing you to immediately discern the type of card featured.

Now, each of the cards provides also a glyph inside the speech bubble. These glyphs allow for differentiation between subtle, casual and overt emphasis. 3 cards per emphasis are provided, with one page devoted to each card type.

The helpful thing for GMs and players less comfortable with roleplaying (or, for example, social nuances due to one reason or another), is that each card sports suggested conversation verbs, as well as actions to suggest roleplaying gestures at the table.

In short, this is made as a decision-quickener, as a catalyst that should be helpful for particularly newer players or groups, or individual GMs that are uncomfortable deciding the emotional state of copious NPCs. The product comes with a full array of .PNGs in an archive, which makes printing/only-use easy.

Michael McCarthy’s conversation cards are an unpretentious GM-aid. Veteran groups probably won’t need these cards, and they are not something that will blow you away, but for the right people, they can be a godsend, a neat aid, a fun potential randomizer. The cards, priced at just $0.99, are fairly priced for what they provide, and as such, my final verdict will clock in at 3.5 stars, rounded up for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Conversation Cards
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Trap Cards
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/11/2018 05:34:05

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This is something different, providing system-neutral game aid cards. The pdf comes as an 6-page pdf, with half the pages depicting the back cover of the cards noted; the other half the respective cards.

Each page presents 9 cards back covers, or 8 cards. Trap triggers are codified in three ways: Hazards, magical triggers or mechanical triggers. One of the 9 cards presented per trigger type notes the general type, and the cards per se each sport a variety of suggested cues to clue in the PCs that something is amiss before things become deadly.

To give you an example, mechanical movement traps may note that the walls have have just moved, that the stones under your feet moved, a heavy grinding noise, etc. If you have a tough time improvising these, then this will be helpful indeed, as particularly more rules-heavy systems tend to be rather sparse regarding descriptive text. In short, you get a total of 24 cards, each with a variety of descriptive cues.

The cards, much like the conversation cards, come with with an archive that contains the . PNG-versions.

…. There is a bit of an issue here. The cues presented, while nice, are ultimately just that – they don’t necessarily provide a particularly fine differentiation between traps. Moreover, I can’t really glean any reason why these are cards in the first place. You see, you kinda need to know already the general type of trap your card is supposed to correspond to for the proper cue, and printing cards as well as having them all lay out behind your GM-screen is…inconvenient.

Frankly, small tables for general trap triggers would have made much more sense and have been a more paper-friendly solution to the issue this attempts to remedy. You could have fitted all content from Michael McCarthy’s trap cards on a single page of small tables. Randomly drawing cards and improvising traps based on trigger is a bad idea in most systems, as you require the mechanics and several systems differentiate between means of detecting them, so this is kinda limited.

The supplement has another issue. Out of some strange reason, the backs of the cards are crisp and clean, while the text on the front, at least in the pdf, is surprisingly pixilated. As much as I can see the conversation cards work well for some groups, I can’t say the same for these trap cards. That being said, at the low price of $0.99, I can settle on a verdict of 2 stars. If you’re looking for some cues for trap-trigger descriptions, this may be worth checking out.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Trap Cards
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Straight Classes
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 04/12/2018 05:39:43

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This supplement clocks in at 25 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC/intro, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 21 pages of content. The pdf comes with a second version, optimized for screen-use with e-readers. It employs a landscape layout and clocks in at 34 pages and is content-wise identical to the letter version to be printed out.

So, what is this? In short, this represents a quick and dirty rulebook for quicker character generation, condensing PFRPG’s classes down to 16. The book classifies characters in 3 rough categories: Martial characters, skilled characters and spellcasters. The focus of the book is to provide quick NPC-creation rules as well as an option for new players to learn the system. The books does that by first classifying abilities: “Always” abilities are, bingo, always on. “Anytime” abilities can be used as often as you’d like. Occasional abilities can be used once per minute (10 rounds) – this is perhaps one of my least favorite decisions made here, as it makes abilities work cooldown-based, which is pretty rare in PFRPG. Abilities classified as “With Preparation” can only be performed after a good night’s rest and once – spells are classified as “with preparation” abilities. These ability types are italicized when they show up in rules-text. While we’re on the subject of formatting: Abilities end with a full-stop, not with a colon here, which made me think of 5e more than PFRPG. That’s just cosmetic, though.

The system modifies how iterative attacks work: You can either make one attack with a bonus damage that is contingent on how many iterative attacks you forego, or you make the iterative attacks, which, however, ALL take a penalty. Executing two attacks clocks in at -4, executing 3 attacks makes them hit at -6, etc. The bonus damage is 5 for 1 foregone iterative attack, +10 for 2 and +20 for 3 foregone iterative attacks. This is a nitpick, but the pdf should explicitly point out that the attack penalty for multiple attacks applies to all of them.

Gaining a feat or increasing an ability score by 1 is covered and we have synergy with Straight Skills as well, in case you’re using that pdf. Spellcasters prepare their spellslots ahead of time.

Okay, so martial characters have 4 skills, d10 HD, proficiency with simple and martial weapons and gain a feat at 1st level and every odd levels thereafter, ability score increases at 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter. Additional attacks are gained at 6th level and every 6 levels thereafter. These characters have full BAB and good Fort-saves.

Skilled characters have 8 skills, d8 HD, get a feat at every odd level, ability score increases at 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter. Second and third attacks are gained at 7th and 15th level, respectively and we get ¾ BAB-progression as well as good Ref-saves. Skilled spellcasters prepare their spells and get spells of up to 6th level.

Spellcasters have 4 skills, d6 HD and get a feat at every odd level. (They are erroneously referred to as “martial characters” here. Slightly unwise: These characters are referred to as “Casters” in the rules-text, when their proper moniker is “spellcaster”, which should not provide issues per se, but is somewhat counterintuitive. Spellcasters obviously get spells of up to 9th level and get ½ BAB-progression, good Will-saves.

Now, based on these core chassis types, we take a look at the respective classes – Barbarian, Cavalier, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Bard, Hunter, Inquisitor, Magus, Ranger, Rogue, Wizards, Sorcerers, Oracles, Druids and Clerics are covered. One highlight here would be the humorous tag-lines all of the classes get: The Ranger is, for example, noted as the “original murder-hobo”; barbarians note “anger-management not required.” It’s a small touch, but it makes reading the crunch-heavy pdf more fun.

Now, if you take a look at the classes, you’ll notice that they indeed are simpler: A barbarian’s berserker fury, for example, adds class level to atk and damage and gain DR of the same amount, but rage penalizes AC and Reflex saves by -4. Now, the abilities themselves are sometimes rather interesting – like getting twice the AC bonus from light armor. Mounts have ½ the rider’s hit points and share saves and AC, for example. Notice something? Yeah, this basically makes the classes, in a way, behave more like their 5e counterparts.

Now, the best way to think about this would be to picture it as an OSR-style hack for PFRPG; it still requires that you understand PFRPG. The pdf does not explain spellcasting and DCs, saves or rules-terminology like that – instead, it focuses on being a handy tool for quick and dirty gameplay. This does change quite a lot regarding the base assumptions: Bonus types, for example. Damage types are not really codified – the bonus damage for foregone iterative attacks is not specified, while a magus channeling energy into arcane strikes does distinguish between energy types. Sorcerer bloodline nets spells that can be cast anytime. (Chosen from what? The bloodline’s list? That of the sorcerer?) As you can glean from that, we have a different experience here – which grafted onto PFRPG’s rules, there is an instance of infinite casting here, consequently, also infinite healing, which e.g. the oracle can yield occasionally. Provided, the spell was chosen for the mystery. Odd: Proficiencies are a bit weird: magi, for example explicitly get medium and heavy armor proficiency, while the other simple classes don’t specify the like.

The pdf also provides very brief notes on NPC-classes, with warrior, expert and adept fitting on one page with their tables, and commoners acting as fixed low-HP mooks. The animal companion of the druid, for example, is based, stat-wise, on the adept.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are okay, I guess – there are a few minor hiccups on a formal leve, but the issue I have is with the rules-language. Layout adheres to a 2-column standard with yellowish tables and high-lights. The pdf has no interior artwork. The pdf is fully bookmarked for your convenience, though oddly martial and skilled characters get nested bookmarks and spellcasters don’t, which can be slightly confusing at first.

Michael McCarthy’s “Straight Classes” are a great idea per se. Simplifying class options is a smart move per se and can potentially be really handy for the GM and for newer players. Potentially. You see, they are contingent on knowing how a lot of PFRPG works, as the pdf’s classifying of abilities doesn’t really manage to denote the myriad of concepts that the draw upon. That means that you need at least an experienced GM to make proper use of them.

The pdf has another issue, namely that it attempts to divorce classes and their mechanics from the remainder of the game, which only works partially. Considering the intricately entwined rules of PFRPG, that should come as no surprise, but the interaction of the simplified options herein with the non-simplified ones is weird. Spellcasting, for example, requires that you know about action economy. At the same time, the iterative attack modification seems to be mostly divorced from it. The interactions between this pdf and PFRPG’s core rules generate a lot of issues and change in some instances the basic premises implied by the game – infinite spellcasting, to name but one.

Beyond this pretty big problem, we have issues in internal consistency – when DRs can diverge and energy types can, we’d need to distinguish between physical damage types as well, to name but one.

In short: This pdf doesn’t work because it labors under the misconception that the classes can be simplified as something divorced from the system as a whole, when, in truth, the modifications herein would require a discussion of action economy and a rewriting of spells, feats, etc. as well. Now, granted, this is billed as “quick and dirty,” but my contention is that it does not succeed at its goal. The interactions are so problematic that they make the gameplay rather opaque; to the point where I thought that I’d be better served with 5e or one of the OSR-games, who offer simplicity with precision.

Now, I consider a simplified Pathfinder and class-options like this a good idea; at the same time, this does not manage to blend its simplified rules well with PFRPG’s options. It can be used, yes, but it does generate a ton of rough patches regarding the more intricate components of the rules. As such, my final verdict cannot exceed 2 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Straight Classes
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Straight Skills
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 04/05/2018 04:17:40

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This alternative take on skills clocks in at 7 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC/introduction, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 3 pages of content. There is an alternate version included, which has been laid-out in landscape standard, optimized for e-readers. As such, it clocks in at 14 pages, but is otherwise content-wise identical to the letter-version.

Okay, so the skill system assumes a 3-pronged skill category system: A skill can be either broad, general or specific. A broad skill can include noticing things, recognizing creatures etc. General skills can include e.g. recognizing undead or spotting. A character skilled in a general skill “grants a +2 bonus” on related skill checks – that should be “gains,” otherwise it implies an aid another scenario. Specific skills include e.g. searching for traps and yield a +4 bonus instead.

If you’re skilled in a skill, you roll 1d20 + character level +3. When you roll something your character is capable at, you roll 1d20 + character level. Otherwise, roll 1d20 +1. The respective skill bonuses are added for being capable or skilled. Speaking of which: I think it would have made sense to properly define “skilled” and “capable” before going into rules-intricacies.

A character is skilled in skill ranks gained by class (NOT + Int-mod!) plus Spotting, Searching and Listening. They also are capable in 4 things. Gaining a level in a new class that has more skill points than the original class nets +1 thing to be skilled in, +1 to be capable in. This is weird: Stepping from martial classes up to skilled ones is thus more efficient, skill-wise, than vice versa. When stepping “down” to a class with less skills and gaining a level in it, you demote a skilled skill to capable or lose one skill they had been capable in. Clerics and Wizards get additional skills, but oddly none of the other classes do. Only the core classes are codified thus.

Retraining a skill takes 3 days of downtime and 50 gp per character level. Half as much costs for being capable. There is an alternate suggested for skill points, but which retains the skill categories introduced here. In this scenario, general skills net +2, specific ones +5. Complaint here: There’s a “See page XX” reference here that should just point to the next page.

The final page is devoted to a massive list of sample skills, with broad, general and specific skills listed.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are good on a formal and rules-language level. Layout adheres to a no-frills two-column standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. The pdf has no interior artworks.

Michael McCarthy’s alternate skill system is per se interesting; it does not, however, represent a simplification. It divorces skills from attributes, which may be something you enjoy or dislike. That being said, it actually allows for a more defined gradience between different uses of a general notion of a skill. The system makes intimidating creatures in combat, getting folks to tell you things and getting folks to give you things three different specific skills. Whether that makes sense to you or not depends on your personal tastes. Personally, I like the more detail-oriented notion here, if not the classification employed. I similarly don’t get how asking questions and court etiquette necessarily are different things – when I try to ask discreet questions in court, which skill do I use?

I can also make a case for the pdf being not complete. How does the system interact with class abilities that net a bonus to the skill? What about magic items? We get the very barebones basic system here, which was to be expected, considering the low asking price. It is my contention, though, that the straight skill system presented here would have benefited from a) more details and b) clarified interactions with rules-components that are not replaced; considering that ability score modifiers are taken out of skills, the emphasis of skill-boosting items may well further increase (not a fan). How do skill-contests work? Feinting? Intimidation? Feats? In short, this is a promising, alternate skill system, but it is simply not finished. Using it on its own will require copious amounts of GM-calls. And I don’t really see the value here. The system doesn’t make things easier per se. It makes the skills behave in a more unified manner, yes, but to properly capitalize on the idea, we’d need more information regarding the more intricate details.

Still, the notion underlying this pdf has some value and I can see this appealing to some groups. Hence, my final verdict will clock in at 2.5 stars, rounded up due to the low price point.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Straight Skills
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The Stealth Scale
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 02/15/2018 05:35:30

An Endzeitgeist.com review of the revised edition

This optional subsystem clocks in at 9 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page company logo, leaving us with 5 pages of content. The screen-version optimized for tablets instead clocks in at 15 pages, laid out in landscape format, and sports the same content.

This review is based on the revised and improved version of the pdf.

All right, so what is the Stealth Scale? If you’re like me and adore infiltration scenarios, you’ll have noted that Stealth can become pretty rolling-intense; The Stealth Scale proposes the following: Each character being stealthy tracks the position of the foes on the Stealth Scale – all of them, at once, with one token.

When using the Stealth Scale, it is assumed that creatures use two dominant senses to track creatures: Sight and hearing. These are the Basic Senses.

Keen Senses include darkvision, greensight, mistsight, low-light vision and see in darkness as well as spells like see invisibility.

Advanced Senses include blindsight, blindsense, lifesense, tremorsense, scent, thoughtsense and x-ray vision.

A huge improvement of the engine is the introduction of the masked conditions –basically, impaired creatures no longer necessarily drag down their groups and instead are treated as masked until the condition has been resolved. More on that later, but it is a game-changer of an improvement. Masks may pertain to either hearing, sight or other senses.

The Stealth Scale knows a total of 5 different states, which are summarized on a handy cheat-sheet that can now be found on the final page – now actually also listing mechanical benefits! This makes the cheat-sheet actually useful to have, so yeah, kudos.

Full awareness of a creature is called “Paying attention”; then comes “Aware”, which increases the Stealth DC by 5. “Alert” creatures are on guard; Cautious creatures decrease the Stealth DC by 5 and do not add Dex-bonus to AC against the Stealth-using character(s). Finally, Off Guard critters decrease Stealth DC by 10 and don’t add Dex-mod to AC or initiative.

With the Stealth Scale, other creatures are situated at a distinct point between Awareness and Stealth, which constitute, like on a scale, opposite sides of the same value. Increasing one decreases the other. A Stealth check is rolled versus 10 + highest Perception modifier from the observing group + number of creatures in the group + 5 per advanced sense in the group; Alternatively, 5 + CR can be used to calculate DCs; once more, significant improvement, as it makes the DC less metagamey.

The pdf proceeds to explain the most common actions and how they interact movement on the Stealth Scale – the rules are tighter and giving signals and creating distractions (and using them!) now actually are covered: Basically, distractions create temporary masks, which is really elegant.

What are masks? Means to prevent detection. They only apply if they can fool all targets in the opposing group; a character may only benefit from one mask per sense; for each mask successfully used, the maximum level of awareness that may be reached on the Stealth Scale decreases by 1. Temporary masks are more fragile: Whenever the character using them would increase Awareness, the character must make a new skill check against the DC or the temporary mask is lost. Cover and concealment grant temporary masks.

Group Stealth is still handled by designating a Point Man – this character makes the Stealth check on behalf of the group. All other characters are designated as operatives and increase the DC of Stealth checks made by the point man by 2. Actions by all characters may increase Awareness, but only the Point Man may increase Stealth. Rejoining groups that temporarily split is btw. covered as well.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting have been significantly improved. Layout adheres to the two-column standard with a few subdued colors. The pdf has no interior artwork, but comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Michael McCarthy proves not only that he cares; his improved version of the Stealth Scale now actually succeeds where the previous iteration failed miserably:

The system is elegant, quick and easy to grasp and the introduction of the mask-concept also nets the GM some tight controls and easy customization angles beyond what is contained herein – specialized masks can theoretically be created to suit individual requirements. Big kudos!

Gone are the hiccups in interaction with Occult Adventures and the cheat-sheet is actually useful as presented. To add a further bonus, the system is less metagamey without compromising the ease with which it can be used. Like day and night, a vast improvement over the original iteration!

I consider this an excellent alternative for the use of Stealth, easy to grasp, less rolling intense…what’s not to like? All things you can still complain about theoretically are direct results of the system-immanent complexity-decrease, and would as such not be fair.

Add to that the low and fair price point and we have a final verdict of 5 stars + seal of approval for the revised version of the Stealth Scale. Kudos indeed!!

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Stealth Scale
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How Do I Use Magic Items
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 01/29/2018 07:04:59

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the „How do I...“-series clocks in at 9 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 6 pages of content. As always with Straight Path games-supplements, we do get a second version optimized for use with tablets. This version clocks in at a total of 14 pages laid out in landscape format, but content-wise remains identical to the other version. All righty, let’s take a look!

We begin with a reiteration of categories of magic items – this list is great, particularly for newer players. There are a couple of notes I’d like to add here: While the pdf is correct in stating that unarmed attacks are usually enhanced by amulets, this is by now not the only way to affect them. It should also be noted that two spell-references in the explanation of potions have not been italicized – though the pdf correctly points out an NPC Codex issue. It should also be noted that references to precise magic items throughout the pdf have not been italicized. As another minor addition, while the pdf correctly states that staves can usually act as quarterstaffs, there are a few exotic exceptions, so a “usually” qualifier would be nice here. The pdf also lists the various forms of wondrous items and then mentions cursed items, intelligent items and artifacts, though sans elaborating on the mechanics of ego etc.

After we have established the categories , we take a look at activation types, starting with use activated items, noting potions as special and then lists the peculiarities of command word items and spell trigger and spell completion items. It should be noted that use activated magic items that require an extra action to activate, as correctly stated, do not per default provoke an attack of opportunity, unless the action undertaken to activate the item would provoke an attack of opportunity. On the plus-side: The pdf takes the notes of spell completion items and scrolls and blends them into a concise whole that is easier to grasp for new players.

Finally, the pdf mentions the Use Magic Device skill’s basics.

Conclusion:

Editing is tight and well-done; formatting is problematic, failing to italicize pretty much all spell and magic item references. Layout adheres to a 2-column standard with a touch of color, but remains pretty printer-friendly. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Michael McCarthy’s summary of how magic items work represents a really handy little pdf; while I could list all the odd exceptions to the rules presented, as a whole, this represents a concise and precise summary that can easily be handed to a new player, helping them grasp the basics of the game. As a PWYW game-aid of sorts, this is worth checking out if you’re not need a quick explanation of the basics here. All exceptions and deviations I noticed are the more obscure components that go beyond the basics – and as such, they are not necessarily required for such a pdf. While the formatting oversights are annoying, the PWYW-status of the pdf makes it a fair offering. My final verdict will hence clock in at 4.5 stars, rounded up for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
How Do I Use Magic Items
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What Is Incorporeal
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 01/29/2018 07:02:52

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This little pdf clocks in at 5 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 2 pages of content – at least for the print version. There is a tablet-version with a landscape layout that is a total of 9 pages long instead, but content-wise remains identical.

So, you don’t have to be a developer to notice that some components of Pathfinder’s rules are more clear than others; any GM will sooner or later bump into the roadblock of being incorporeality, and it is, historically, not one that grew over night. In fact, if you’re reading old-school supplements on a regular basis, you’ll notice that not having a body has been a somewhat wobbly state as far as rules are concerned for quite some time. This pdf seeks to shed some light on this rules-aspect and help you thus avoid needless grief.

The pdf first states one of the major sources of confusion: Being incorporeal does not equal being incorporeal: There is the subtype, the defensive quality and there is the condition. It should also be noted that there are a lot of individual exceptions for creatures that are incorporeal. These, obviously, exacerbate the confusion of players, and often, GMs. The pdf does thus list a variety of different misconceptions pertaining being incorporeal.

The pdf does list 3 general traits that apply to all incorporeal creatures, which generally are well-defined...but they are not necessarily complete in their effects listed. For example, holy water is NOT, RAW, a magical attack, but still may affect incorporeal undead, presenting an exception to the rule of nonmagical attacks not affecting incorporeal creatures. While the pdf correctly states that incorporeal creatures take half damage from bodily sources (and does NOT sport a miss chance!); however, unlike the condition, the defensive ability and subtype doe have something that probably is the source of this common misconception: Supernatural or spell-based effects that do not employ [force] and originate from a bodily source that do not cause damage have only a 50% chance of affecting an incorporeal creature. It is my conviction that the pdf should state this. It’s pretty important.

Unfortunately, the notes on the effect of the defensive quality also are not exhaustive: The list fails to mention, for example, that deflection bonuses apply; the pdf correctly states that armor, natural armor, shields etc. are ignored, but lists, with force-effects, only one of the exceptions here. The list of the defensive qualities also, irritatingly, fails to state that such creatures moving through physical objects are penalized when attacking creatures outside the object; since cover, total cover and concealment in such a case are pretty important, that should be mentioned.

The pdf also fails to state a crucial component of the incorporeal subtype: Creatrues with the incorporeal subtype are not only immune to precision damage; more importantly, they also are immune to critical hits!

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting, per se, is very good. Layout adheres to a 2-column standard in both versions and is color, but remains pretty printer-friendly. The two versions of the pdf are nice and even come with bookmarks, despite their brevity.

I like what Michael McCarthy attempts to do here, for this is a component that should be explained. That being said, the explanation remains pretty rudimentary. Its structure is nice, but ultimately, it fails to mention a couple of crucial components, which severely detracts from the overall usefulness of the pdf. That being said, this is PWYW, and as such, a fair offering. Still, as provided, I’d personally consider it to be more feasible to just flip open the definitions of the three states and compare them. There is still value in the list that clears up the misconceptions, and it’s nice that such a book exists. My final verdict clocks in at 2.5 stars, rounded up due to in dubio pro reo.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
What Is Incorporeal
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And Then... Zombies!
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 01/08/2018 04:32:46

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 6 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 3 pages of content in the regular version of the pdf. The file also comes with a second version with landscape layout that is more suitable for e-readers etc. – in that format, it clocks in at 11 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 7 pages of content.

It should be noted that this is the first installment of the And Then….Trouble-series, which focuses o spicing up encounters. Beyond the mechanical modifications, the respective entries within contains a bit of read-aloud text for GMs not that comfortable with improvising, as well as a rather detailed adventure hook. As I will be commenting on these adventure hooks in the following review, I hereby pronounce a SPOILER-warning. Players should probably skip ahead to the conclusion.

..

.

All righty, only GMs around? Great! That out of the way, the first encounter-modification clocks in at CR+2 and has the PCs stumble unwittingly over a mass grave. The read aloud text has a character grappled by a zombie from beneath the soil (no save or CMD here – and for once, I’m good with that!) and every round +1d4 new zombies will climb out of the mass grave, until there’s a zombie for each character. Zombies after the first have the proper CMB-value noted. After having tumbled over this dark edifice, PCs are bound to ask what has happened here – three sample solutions, from a necromantic cult, to raiders, the first two suggestions are pretty much expected: Having magically-preserved ancient dead, with magic reactivated? Now that is interesting!

The second encounter suggestion is titled “Don’t Stay Dead” and clocks in at CR 1+; after an encounter with a living creature that ended in the being’s demise, the PCs hear shuffling, as the opponent has risen once more…oh, and all corpses in the vicinity as well! Here’s the thing – it’s not the location. It’s the PCs. Nothing they kill stays dead. Finding out what the reason for this is, the exact parameters of the animating effect – some cool adventuring potential here that turns a classic premise much more interesting. From cursed items to unwittingly being a carrier for a magical plague to being the first portent of the realm of the dead closing – the hooks are intriguing and well-crafted.

The third encounter presented herein would be “Dead All Along”, at CR 4: The PCs are beset by brigands in the wild – who happen to have been juju-zombified, retaining some smarts…though not much. They weren’t the sharpest tools in the shed to begin with, you see. The explanation posited by the adventure hooks for undead criminals encompass a juju disease, a crimeboss offering Discount resurrections” (genius!), an unholy relic and a vampire’s doing.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good; apart from the juju-disease not being perfectly formatted, I noticed no relevant glitches. Layout adheres to a solid two-column standard. The pdf sports no interior artwork, but doesn’t really need it. Same goes for bookmarks at this level of brevity.

Michael McCarthy’s encounter-modifications herein elicited, when I skimmed over them, a yawn from me. They’re classics, right? Well, a well-executed classic is wort something and that these most assuredly are. There are some nice tweaks in the set-up, the presentation is pretty user-friendly, and all of that costs you a whopping $0.99. This pdf is most assuredly worth its low and fair asking price. Some angles are really creative and the complications presented are diverse and interesting. Hence, my final verdict will clock in at 5 stars – well done!

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
And Then... Zombies!
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The Wealth System
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 10/30/2017 03:56:16

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 15 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 2 pages of SRD, leaving us with 10 pages of content – for the screen-version, that is. We get a separate version for the printer, which presents all information on 5 pages in a classic layout (as opposed to the tablet-optimized screen version). Kudos for going the extra mile there. The supplement also features an extra pdf, a handy one-page cheat-sheet, but I’ll get back to that later.

This review is based on V.1.1 of the file.

So, the wealth system presented herein would be basically an abstract system to handle the affluence of PCs via an attribute – Wealth. Upon character creation, a character begins play with Wealth equal to their Charisma modifier + their character level, minimum 1. Upon gaining a level, the character’s wealth increases by a further +1, up to a maximum of the character level + Charisma modifier + 3. When an item is used, no longer required, etc., you just erase it from your sheet: Items are assumed to be part of the wealth accumulated by the character. Basically, this system gets rid off haggling, selling, etc.

The second term defined herein would be Value: This measures the worth of goods and services. The gp-equivalent Value increases exponentially. The pdf provides a table that lists gp-Value-conversions, ranging from 100 gp (Value 1) to 307,200 gp (Value 24). Okay, this may help when acquiring valuable objects, but what does that mean for you? Can your character afford the concrete item xyz with his abstract Wealth? The system is simple: If the value of the object character is -5 lower than the character’s Wealth, the concrete item to be purchased is so relatively inexpensive, it’s not worth noting and has no bearing on the character’s Wealth. Anything with a Value of Wealth -4 is considered to be Pocket Change. A character can acquire up to 15 such items per downtime period. Additional purchases decrease the character’s Wealth by 1. Objects with a Value of Wealth -3 are considered to be Readily Available. 5 such items may be purchased per period of downtime. As always (and in all other instances below), going beyond that, reduces the Wealth by 1. Values of Wealth -2 or Wealth -1 are Affordable. 3 such items can be purchased per period of downtime. A Value equal to Wealth are Big Purchases. A character may only have purchased one such item at a time. Purchasing a second reduces Wealth by 1.

Items that exceed the character’s Wealth can be exchanged for equivalent items – bows for crossbows, swords for spiked chains – you get the idea. Only one item above a character’s Wealth can be exchanged per downtime period.

Now, obviously, Wealth can be pooled. The highest Wealth is used to determine starting Wealth. Each character contributing to the Wealth of the pool can increase the Wealth of the pool, but only if the character’s Wealth is within 3 points of the current Wealth of the pool. In order to avoid exploiting this, the maximum increase is equal to the character’s wealth +4. The pool can purchase one item with a Value up to the pool’s Wealth. Until this item is returned/sold, all contributing characters reduce their Wealth by 2. Losing the item makes this reduction permanent, obviously. Shopping for others counts against the limits of the character actually spending the money.

There also is the concept of Credit. Taking an item on Credit temporarily reduces Wealth by 2 or more and prevents you from increasing your Wealth by selling items. If you return the item, the restrictions are removed. Keeping it makes the Wealth reduction permanent. One item with a Value of Wealth +1 or +2 can be purchased on credit, but selling it can’t increase Wealth. Only one such item can be purchased per downtime period.

Now, we all know that adventurers sometimes get their hands on items that far exceed their usual monetary means – hence, items with a Value of the character’s Wealth by +3, +4 or +5 or higher have special rules: Wealth +3 items increase the Wealth of the seller by +1. Wealth +4 items increase the seller’s Wealth and that of another character by +1. Items with a Value of Wealth +5 or higher can’t be sold – at the GM’s discretion, these may still be sold, but should not ncrease the PC’s Wealth by more than the item’s Value -3.

While mostly player-centric, the system can make shopping easier for the GM – all those +1 weapons and armor will no longer accumulate their gp values in this system – using a creature’s CR as Value guideline would account for that creature’s Big Purchase. Finally, we take a look at a handy table that notes the value of common equipment.

The cheat-sheet is really handy, summing up all the rules and featuring lines for valuable items to track, a line for “currently on credit” and lines to keep track of total purchases per downtime period.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good – while I noticed a missing italicization in reference to a magic item, as a whole, this is professionally presented in both formal and rules-language criteria. Layout adheres to a landscape-two-column standard for tablets etc. for the screen-version and the printer-friendly version really deserves its name. Kudos. The screen-version comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Michael McCarthy’s Wealth-system will be a godsend for many groups – it is not a perfect system, but its simple and easily grasped abstractions help dealing with the minutiae of adventuring without eating everybody’s time.

In short: This succeeds at what it sets out to do. The cap for pooling and purchases, subservient to the GM’s definition of what constitutes a downtime period, means that the GM retains full control over this system. Now, the wealth system obviously isn’t for everyone – if you want a game, where player wealth oscillates strongly, then this does account for it, but not to the extent of “rags to riches and back”-scenarios – you won’t see Conan-esque fluctuating fortunes. Similarly, and you will have already gleaned that, if you enjoy the minutiae of selling, haggling, etc. and/or e.g. use kingdom building rules, this becomes somewhat less useful.

That being said, for what its intended purpose is, this most assuredly works well: If you hate the selling/purchasing aspect, the WBL-tracking etc., then this is definitely for you and may even potentially rank among your most beloved purchases, particularly considering the low and fair price point. This is not made for me – but I can see a lot of folks enjoying this system. My final verdict will hence clock in at 4.5 stars, rounded up for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Wealth System
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How Do I Fly
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 10/17/2017 04:04:54

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the series that explains the more problematic concepts of PFRPG clocks in at 13 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 2 pages of SRD, leaving us with 8 pages of content. The printer-friendly version comes with a different layout and manages to cram the relevant information on 4 pages.

All right, flight. So, one of the strengths of PFRPG’s rules, at least in my opinion, would be that the rules are organized in a very clever and sensible manner, at least compared to many other games. I never realized how good the organization actually was until I started designing for other systems as well and noticed how obscure the organization of certain rule-books is.

Anyways, if there is one aspect where PFRPG’s rules really suck and are incredibly annoying and opaque, then that would be frickin’ flight. The pdf first explains, very newbie-friendly, that e.g. the Fly skill doesn’t let you fly and just measures your competence. It also introduces the importance of size and maneuverability.

This out of the way, there is the issue of 3D space – hence the height of a 3D-5-foot-square is defined as 7.5 feet. After this, we take a look at the basic differences and advantages of flight over landbound movement. EDIT: Here, I was originally being a know-it-all prick; the pdf has since clarified a potentially confusing statement, which made me delete this section. The pdf has been corrected.

Anyhow, next we take a look at the uses of Fly that do NOT require a skill-check, then list those options that do require one. After this, we take a look at special considerations for magical flight and winged flight – the basics, mind you. A handy table sums up the modifiers for flying in bad weather (and explains the concepts of checked and blown away), and finally, the pdf sums up common uses of flight in combat.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are good, though I noticed a few typos. Layout adheres to a two-column, full-color landscape-standard for the tablet-optimized screen-use version. The version for the printer sports a printer-friendly 2-column b/w-standard. The pdf have no interior art, but need none. EDIT: The revised versions now sport proper bookmarks - KUDOS!

I love flying combat. In fact, I only recently had an utterly overpowered omnimental hunt my alchemist and his oracle cohort piloting a vril-powered gyrocopter through a city in the throes of all out magical warfare. I love 3D-combat and the cool tricks it lets you do…however, the organization of flight in PFRPG is less than ideal…and this pdf provides a relatively handy primer on personal flight. It only covers personal flight, but hey – it’s PWYW and for a novice, this little files is certainly helpful, if not exhaustive.

That being said, if you want a truly breathtaking book on assisted flight, do check out the legendary Companions of the Firmament – it is a must-have for all campaigns using flying mounts.

Öh…forgot the rating, right? Michael McCarthy’s file is certainly helpful for players new to the concept of flight. I consider it worth downloading and leaving a tip for. It’s helpful, PWYW, and the complaints have been taken care of - hence, the revised version is updated to 5 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
How Do I Fly
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