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The Drunken Unicorn's Prize
by Bob V. G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/19/2023 11:25:36

Recently, I soloed my way through the adventure The Drunken Unicorn’s Prize (23 pages). It is for the Cairn Roleplaying Game, but I used Champions of Odd (free/pay what you want at DriveThru, 86 pages). I changed four lines in The Arcanum RPG and made it my solo engine. I used the same four PCs and three apprentices from my last adventure. The adventure started with the PC party on the road traveling through the Westwood. It was a quiet day. On the second day they found a lost traveler. He was recruited as a replacement for the apprentice that had died in the first adventure. On the third day of adventuring they entered the old town of Renton. They talked to nine NPCs that day. The ranger went out on a date, and all of the PCs were hired to help build a house. They worked on this house for several days. On the seventh day, the unicorn appeared at the clearing. It sampled the various meads. Kev the NPC tried to touch it, but he was kicked (he survived). Sam the NPC tried next, but he was kicked and killed. The PC ranger tried to touch it, but he was kicked (he survived). The sailor PC was able to touch it. He was granted a wish and received cleric spells. Next, Daedra the PC made an attempt. She was kicked and did survive. At this point, a brawl started in the clearing.

So, the PCs went to the tavern and picked up a quest from The Quest Giver. They then went back to the woods to search for the Done Keep. That evening they encountered the Soupeaters (aggressive). A fight broke out and Daedra cast her Insect Swarm. The Soupeaters retreated. On they eighth day the PCs used their tracking skills to find the keep. They could tell that it was occupied. They backtracked and set up camp because it was late. They had no encounters that night.

Give this a try! Maybe you will have several wishes granted instead of just one.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Drunken Unicorn's Prize
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The Tricks of Treachery Isle
by Frank R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/27/2019 07:46:21

This adventure is a strange beast. Everything is mysterious - even for the Referee. And that's the biggest downside. To run this adventure, you'll have to read it not once, but at least twice. There is a chapter called "Background for the Referee" which is not helpful at all, unless you already have a fair grasp of what is happening. And even then some stuff is confusing. It tells you that some NPCs are utting on a show, but not what their actual game is. You'll have to invest quite some time to run this. The upside is that reading through it more than once does not feel like a chore. More like slowly solving a mystery. You will have to make up some things as you go. The players can for example find some letters, but the adventure does not provide even a hint of what's in them. The adventure generally only hints at what happened in the past and gives you few facts to go with.

Pros:

  • Self-contained, easy to drop into any campaign (it's a remote island)
  • Some fantastic magical items and relics.
  • Fun to read as a Referee
  • Nice 3-column layut (but confusing as hell, see below)
  • Very distinct atmosphere - it is weird, but not the LotFP Heavy Metal kind of weird. More like reamy, surreal and still menacing.
  • Nice artwork - too bad most of it sits in the appendix

Cons:

  • Needs (lots of) preparation
  • The layout is often confusing, with section breaks that you can easily miss, some captions on one column or page and their body somewhere else
  • The is no index
  • Most maps and pictures are in the appendix, but some are not. All NPC and monster stats sit there as well. The descriptions are always very far away from the corresponding appendix. Best to print out the whole latter half of the book to have everything at hand while reading through the adventure

All in all I liked The Tricks of Treachery Isle very much. Lots of things that you just have to go along with, but that's okay for me. The only thing I really disliked is the needlessly confusing layout. I will try to run this adventure soon, and I'll probably have to break it apart and re-layout it for myself in some way to make stuff more accessible while running it.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Tricks of Treachery Isle
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The Book of Ten Trillion Things
by alexander m. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/02/2019 18:48:31

It's 30 d100 tables of the writing prompt style, plus about 9 "condition" tables for rolling up such things as a madness and its duration.

I don't recommend paying $7.40, given the similar but free inspirational materials both on DriveThru and the wide net.

Contents: 1) 67 pages of sample rolls, each with an item description based on the table results. Ex: given "Crude Big Water Chain" the author writes about a chain onced used to anchor a ship; you can make trip attacks with it.

2) 26 d100 tables for getting a writer thinking outside the obvious. About half of these tables are adjectival, the other half item lists. Ex: a roll on "Sequence" then on the "Potpourii" misc item table can give you "new-fangled abacus" or "third skunk."

3) 9 tables pertaining to fright/poison/etc. (It would be a higher count, but "Poisoned" and "Sickened" are cut/paste identical, and several columns are duplicates or at least highly interchangable.) One is a d4 table, the rest are d20.

A new release has some useful changes: 1) The previous release of the book was 267meg; the cleaned-up version is 8meg. 2) there's now a table of contents, including clickable hyperlinks

Missing in the Table of contents: 1) table "random" is not listed. 2) the 6-7 condition tables are lumped into one entry. (As it's a book of tables, this obfuscates their existence -- they're not in the ToC and people don't expect more chapters after finding the glossary/index.)

The technical presentation has vastly improved over the last release, but its content isn't competitive.

removed from review: several layout complaints, referred to by author's response.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
The Book of Ten Trillion Things
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Creator Reply:
Huh. Noted. I'll try to fix this up and let you know when it's been more optimized. Some of this I hadn't considered - so thanks.
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Alright, well I've attempted to fix some of the things you've indicated - I hope that the updated links & the table of contents will suffice to fulfill your request for a better master-table. If the PDF is still showing the orphaned paragraphs - I'm not sure why - can you let me know if you're still having that problem?
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The Game of the North Player's Guide
by Ronald v. B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/03/2017 21:47:51

Game of the North is an all around fun romp. You can build your characters however you like. The mechanics are designed to be fluid and fun with an emphasis on storytelling aspects over brute force mechanics and bonus chasing like other popular fantasy games on the market. Pick this book up, get some friends together and have an adventure in the Game of the North!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Game of the North Player's Guide
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The Book of Ten Trillion Things
by Pim H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/10/2017 13:49:03

I have not had a chance to use this product yet, but a quick read showed me that this will allow me to add some flavour to my dungeons, and provide the adventurers with some random loot. I do not think the first tables will be particularly useful, but the latter ones will definitely spice things up. I think most of the value lies within it's use as an item reference more than as an actual random table.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Book of Ten Trillion Things
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Creator Reply:
Hey Pim! Thanks for trying this book out. I know it's a little peculiar and I get that I'm not ideal at explaining the best use of this book (the proper use is however you choose to use it!) Over on our Facebook page we put up a different item, most days, that's been generated using the Book of Ten Trillion Things - here's the first 31 from this year - just to give you a sense of what you can do with this gentleman. And Pim - Thanks Again! Average Despotic Helping Javelin Casting-Spears of the Conqueror were manufactured for seven decades at the slave-factories of the Coal-Fed-Undercroft. These were the symbols of the despot’s rise, the emblem of their reign & the signal to their foes. Despite the 70 years’ of war the despot never did conquer the land and died ignominiously in a pit. The javelins are still prevalent – a peculiar surplus of a bygone war. Worldly Endeavoring Innovative Sharp Serpentine Cheetah Disguise (Whew) Sensational Cat Masque worn at the height of the winter season at the demesne of a petty, but connected prince, this masque was the unconventional star of the gala. Though it is de rigueur for bored & contemptuous nobility to wear such a masque – this one is nevertheless rather avant garde. Fashioned to resemble the always weeping face of a cat, the masque has concealed within it the fangs of a deadly cobra – which can be used surreptitiously to poison one’s social superiors or rivals. An Elite Cutting Cutter A Master Shiv – one of the fabled relics of the depths of Eternal Bondage Warren Seven, the shiv of shivs, the cutter of cutters. A crude implement fashioned with so much malice, so much terror & cunning that it cuts other blades as it cuts flesh – and it certainly cuts flesh. Hidden until needed, and frequently needed one of the master shivs is never noticed until it is too late. Grotesque Trendy Triangular Grayscale Mercantile Marble Measuring Rod Ostentatious Merchant's Scale - Both tacky & flashy, this is a marble rod with a few commercial uses. The scale is a sign of petite bourgeoisie affluence in the culture that fashioned it. It measures coins by size - if one follows the marks along its grotesquely carved sides - which are made to resemble naked women of improbable proportions. It also measures by weight - if it is laid on a firm surface the angled instrument - all made of gray marble - can be used to measure out, with good accuracy, the weights of small objects. A Scrupulous Fabric Rerebrace Mantle of the Saint's Shroud - The true believers who follow the faith of the saints regard their martyrdom as a passage into the next world, a beautiful and perfect world at war with an evil and corrupt earth. The relics of the saints are considered holy & magically powerful. So much so that the death shrouds of the departed saints are commonly fashioned into suits of armor - stiffened with the blood of the slain saints - these mantles are worn into battle by the most devoted of the saint's believers. Extraordinary Pudgy Serrated Kaleidoscopic Ectoplasm Flail Ghost Rainbow Pendulum - The implement of a large creature - maybe an ogre or an orc - this extraordinary flail is composed not of steel & chain but of the jagged ectoplasmic substance of ghosts. In the right light the flail casts a shimmering cascade of whirling colors, almost hypnotic. In the hands of a giant this might be an inscrutible tool but at your size it makes a crediable weapon. Pestilent Endless Dark Frightening Possum Plague Totem - This unseemly beast - a scrawny, tattered & dingy possum has been in your family's possession for generations. It is undying & possibly unliving. It is endless. It is also a harbinger of disease & a vector for plague. You can brandish it, when you wish, to universal dismay, but you cannot get rid of it. It is a totem creature and it always seems to find its way back to you. Comical Significant Flame Coat Famous Clown Coat - A long and comically proportioned coat. This garment is ragged & patchwork by contrivance - meant to elicit a humorous response - its main comedy gimmick is how it bursts into flames on command. Not quite magical and not quite alchemical, the process by which the coat bursts into multihued flames is a trade secret that you have to re-rig intermittently. The coat's fame derives from its previous owner - a performer of renown. Useful Massive Regular Fang Tool-Tooth - One of your front teeth is notably larger & stronger than the others and it is remarkably useful. Good for severing ropes, prying apart stuck items, even for gnawing through wood or metal. You've been known to sharpen blades & cut through bolts with your tool-tooth and at need your old fang makes a fair weapon - though it's never quite pleasant biting a monster or enemy. Ritualistic Slender Next Champions Diamond Frustrating Slug Gastropod Idol - The champion must run a race, each year. This is what keeps the sun in the sky, the running of the race by a champion. Of course they wouldn't be much in the way of champions if the race were easy. No. Everyone in the polity must attempt to frustrate the Champion and they do so by throwing effigies and idols of the dark gods of the pantheon - those who wish to extinguish the sun. When your turn as champion came you chose something else. Either run the race and be pelted possibly to death, or take the idol and go. It's a slender affair- resembling a kind of slug- one of the baser villain gods of the pantheon - and it's encrusted with jewels, diamonds. It's worth a small fortune no doubt but not enough to die for - and look, the sun is still rising anyhow. Spearing Insect It's a Mosquito - You have a pet mosquito Stern Tremendous Tattered Marine Gold Koi The Great Gold Carp - not quite lucky and not quite unlucky the Great Gold Carp is auspicious. It's moustache-like whiskers are long & grant the creature and intense, almost hostile expression. It's quite large of course, almost as big as an Orc and it's gold. Not gold in color, but gold. Its scales are pure gold, that is, where they remain intact. Treasure hunters haven't been kind to the Great Gold Carp. It's up to you to care for the creature - which is why you've brought it with you. Denim Coat Your Dad's Sweet Jacket - Your dad is pretty cool. That's what he tells you. You're not so sure but maybe he was once cool? His Sweet Jacket seems to suggest that he might have been. It's a torn & beat up denim jacket that' pinned together with patches & emblems of bands & gangs & fictional nations. It's pretty much The Coolest. And it kind of still fits your dad - so maybe he's right. Anyhow - he gave it to you because you're going on an adventure. Disconcerting Mongoose Rikki Tikki Terror - As mongooses go, this one is pretty weird - it's unpleasant is what it is. It's like a typical mongoose except for how it's also a cobra. It's got a cobra hood and it does a cobra's hypnotic dance… Still, it's got four furry legs and hunts snakes. Doesn't make it any less creepy. Enthusiastic Liliputian Pioneering Tawny Majestic Beaver Invasive Miniature Beavers - Somewhere in between a mouse and a rat in size, these shaggy little creatures are flat-tailed aquatic dam-builders, beavers. They're common in your homeland - known for breeding at a terrific pace and for damming & controlling the flow of rivers. They're an essential part of your home's ecology - so why not bring them to the North as a boon to future settlements? The few you carry with you were given you by the kings & queens of your homeland - from the regnal stock, they're the exemplary specimens of these beasts that can be found Beautiful Mini Textile Belt Quilt Sash - A lovely wide belt made of many beautiful scraps of patterned cloth. It's quite comfortable and very distinct. Impossible Baby Millionth Immaculate Baize Staff One Millionth Baby's Green Felt Staff - An edict went out - centuries ago - that every baby be swaddled in green felt - and that in time, the swaddling clothes be wrapped tightly and formed into a rolled up tube - a staff. Each of these felt staves - given rigidity by the tightness of the wrapping & the application of secret varnishes became emblematic of the many generations as each was carried by everyone in the culture. The edict, the ancient mandate held that the thousandth-thousand child would be the last, the final progeny of the line. And so it was. You might be the last baby of your society - or you might have the last baby's staff from an unrelated culture. Lithium Pitons Mermaid Fireworks - These arrowheads of elemental lithium are stored in a small keg full of naptha. When properly used these arrowheads are exposed to water where they react vividly by exploding into silvery light which burns luminously undersea. Opportunistic Ruby Dagger Barbed Hairpin - A ruby crusted hairpin that hides cruel barbs when the rubies on its stem are properly manipulated. The hairpin makes a cunning and pernicious dagger that's easily concealed. Dumb Garnet Gilded Ladder Preposterous Carriage Stairs - This small, portable stairway was intended no doubt for the royalty of some opulent nation. Now in your possession, these golden stairs encrusted with garnets give easier access to carriages, help you mount horses & are otherwise modestly useful for reaching things on top shelves. Adequate Coruscating Forged Enchanting Staff Tool Wizard's Reservior - In the land of your origins there are wizards of no small power and have been for many generations. Among them they carry their vanity in the form of fabulous staves - each brimming with enchantments. The staff of a wizard requires a goodly bit of maintenance in order to remain magically effective - and so the invention of one wizard became a sought after item - the Wizard's reservior is an adequate little device that bends the dimensional harmonics so that it can re-enchant magical staves & other items. Obdurate Advanced Trapezoidal Burnt Mechanical Rabbit Hedgehog Stubborn Mechano-Pet - All the rage long ago, the mechano-pet was a vaguely wholesome combination of clockwork, phlogiston, rabbit & hedgehog. Yours still is all of that, and stubborn too. Where the others have quit, given up the ghost, ceased to function - yours still works. It's a rarity & an oddity in most places, but a few in the world will recognize it fondly as one of childhood's own gimcracks. Morbid Smallish Blocky Immaculate Metropolitan Toga Your Mourning Toga - As a child you wore this toga frequently - a garment used as a sign of official mourning, it was in constant use as plagues and famine struck the great city of your birth. Over time the toga - 10 yards of dark wool, finely woven - came to represent many, many failings & difficulties in your life. You keep it now, and wear it when it suits you - an elegant momento of a more tragic age. Secondhand Sturdy Religious Lens The Sin-Seer's Monocle - The Sin-Seer of your town was a wicked individual, coarse & full of harsh punishments. When you held the mirror up it was a scandal - on you of course - for your impudence - but more on the Sin-Seer, the mirror wouldn't relent & the old cleric fell into a fit. You swiped the Monocle for yourself & ever since you've had the knack for spotting the dirtiest deeds that stain the hands of the wicked. Pitiful Baggy Crude Slug Mortar & Pestle Petrified Snail Mill - You crush the roots & grind the leaves, you make powders & poisons, tinctures & tonics. It's not just the ingredients though - that you know. It's the vessel - an ancient snail-shell, of some kind - a fossil maybe? And for the pestle, the petrified remnant of the snail - or maybe a slug? It's ugly to look at, puffed & wrinkled as it is, it looks like... Well, it's not polite to say in mixed company just what the wrinkled old gray thing looks like - but it grinds the leaves & roots just right, adds a bit of antique magic. Dreaded Trim Hazy Sand Sling Sand Caster - A weapon without like or peer, handed down to you from its inventor. This armament - simple in design - a sling woven of cloud & dust, the gauzy tendrils of the sirrocco bound together into a sling. Used to scatter & scare the desert jackals rather than to kill - it throws volleys of grit rather than stones - unerring little projectiles that irritate rather than harm. And yet, in many ways much worse than a simple stone between the eyes. Useful Asbestos Sundial Fire Clock - What the sundial lacks in nighttime utility the Fire Clock adequately compensates for. When placed in a fire, any fire, the Fire Clock stays cool to the touch, impenetrable to heat it nevertheless reacts to light. When placed int the fire the clock shows the hour, as if the flame knew it and were happy to tell. Awesome Common Primal Whole Arcane Poniard Complete Blade - In ancient ages when the gods created the heavens they did so during a war amongs themselves & the void that divides. Among the gods' champions were the umpteenth powers, the mountains & the oceans & the moons - all of these living geomorphs, covering the unformed sky - battling with space itself left marks that remain in the world still. An old broken hill, small for a mountain but of an ancient temper - a fallen comet, a mountain from space that was once a warrior - its fingers long spikes, its nails complete swords. Complete. There were 10 once, all of the awesome swords fallen to earth, the fingers of a mountain that was a soldier in the sky. You've one - a whole one - complete. Subtle Microscopic Maroon Seraphic Samite Descending Talisman Kiss of a Falling Angel - Once, when you were born an angel came to see you and left a mark upon you - its unutterably white lips against your maroon, just born lips. A kiss that passed on the germ of the angelic, the dust of stars & the image of heaven itself - retained in your mind, a permanent notion of what could be and what might be lost. It abides in you, subtly, surfacing only at times of despair when need for clear vision is greatest. Putrid Shadowed Lead Pills Those Bitter Bullets - A small passel of bullets - lead balls used for slings & as shot for harquebuses. These though, are peculiar. Having been used at some point to pierce the tenebrous hide of the Night Monster they have become somewhat tainted, somewhat mystic and somewhat sought after. These bullets are colored with the blood of the Night Monster & it's ichor scored them with hideous epithets in its strange, starry language. Now they grant peculiar powers over shadow - allowing you better vision & better stealth when you have the nerve & the desperation to actually swallow one. A Quantity of Crafy Voluminous Aboriginal Miasma Sheep The Plague Drove - Those who settled in your homeland brought with them their own breeds of barnyard beasts. Among them were the diaphonous wooled ewes of modern providence. This particular breed - while giving a fine wool has an extremely unhelpful, even dangerous feature & that is that their wool gathers & disperses contagion. Where this drove of sheep go there follows a plague. Driven away & out the shepherds of this storied breed relenquished their herds and you ended up with a few.
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Tombs of the Adamant Colossi - Player's Guide
by Ben S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/01/2017 05:05:09

This is more of a preview to the world of Tombs of the Adamant Colossi. It does paint a picture of a very interesting world and promises several adventures for the various tombs, which I am eager to read when they come out. This pdf is definitely worth tossing some change to in order to give at least some support to the creator and get an idea whether you'd be interested in getting further suppliments.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Tombs of the Adamant Colossi - Player's Guide
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