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I recently got an e-mail with a link to a free download of Dragon's Hoard. Apparently I was selected from RPGnet's pool of reviewers. Now, Dragon's Hoard isn't the sort of product that I'd normally take any interest in, but since it was so short, I decided to give it a look anyway. What it is, is one of those mini-PDFs that seem to be a trend in the d20 market right now. That is, you pay a nominal fee for a short treatment of a very specialized subject, usually geared towards GMs. In this case, it's a fully-statted red dragon complete with hoard.
Dragon's Hoard is 13 pages, although the actual content is only 9 pages long, including a one-page quick-reference stat sheet. On the plus side, it's fully bookmarked -- down to individual bookmarks for each of the magic items included. In a document this short, that might be considered overkill, but does show that the guys at Big Finger Games know how to make a good PDF.
The first page is the cover, which has an emblem bearing a strong resemblance to the Mortal Kombat logo, against a dark-red textured background. Very attractive. Second page is the credits and contents page, which is bright red with white text and black borders (it almost looks like a back cover). Third page is the introduction, which consists of two short paragraphs stating the purpose of the product, a quote from Beowulf, and a medieval-woodcut picture of a dragon that takes up two-thirds of the page. I didn't count this page as part of the "actual content", since there really isn't any to speak of.
Now for the meat. First, there's a description of the dragon itself, an old red dragon by the name of Demrelkull. Sadly, the short background text is totally generic, which is a huge missed opportunity since dragons have great potential for memorable personalities and backgrounds. The one interesting twist they include is the fact that Demrelkull's greatest treasures have been taken from would-be dragonslayers. Not something I would have thought of myself, but it makes a lot of sense.
As for the stats themselves (which follow 3.5 rules), I didn't go over them with a fine-tooth comb, but I did check them against the Monster Manual, and counted the number of feats and spells. I found two small discrepancies: blindsense isn't listed among the special qualities, and the Listen and Spot skills seem to exceed maximum ranks. The spell list has a nice mix of offensive, defensive and utility spells, including see invisibility (handy for catching would-be thieves) and greater invisibility (ouch!).
Following this is a description of the dragon's combat tactics. I won't give away the details, but they seem well thought-out. I will quote this little bit, which made me smile: "If you need to pause to consider the dragon's next action, by all means, take the time. If your players object, tell them that portraying the actions of a centuries old dragon with a genius level IQ takes a little thought." Next is a description of the traps protecting the dragon's treasure, which are nothing out of the ordinary, and a list of the contents of each chest. The box listing magical auras for each chest is a nice touch.
Next are descriptions of the magic items in the hoard: six major items and seven minor ones, the latter including three items from the DMG (one of them cursed). Each major item has a short paragraph describing its appearance (like the monsters in the 3.5 Monster Manual), and DCs for Knowledge (history) or bardic knowledge checks to discover various bits of information about its history. The new items are pretty nifty; I don't want to give away the details but I'll tell you the names of a couple of my favorites: slaver's brand and fourfold spellbook. One item has a slight hiccup in the rules, though: it can be used to create a shield against a a single attack, but this requires a standard action to invoke, which would prevent you from using it in reaction to an attack.
Finally, there's a new spell called martyr's immolation. No prizes for guessing what it does, though the name is a bit inappropriate since it can be cast on an involuntary target. This would actually be a handy spell for a red dragon to have, on account of their immunity to fire, but it's not on Demrellkull's spell list; instead, it goes along with one of the magic items.
The last two pages are the quick-reference stat sheet for Demrellkull (a nice touch) and the OGL.
Style: The layout is quite attractive (the pages are white with black borders, and all the boldface text is bright red). There's hardly any art, but what's there is appropriate and attractive. I discovered six typos, four of them in the space of three sentences (in the first paragraph of "Major Items").
Substance: Obviously, Dragon's Hoard has a very limited appeal. However, if it's the sort of thing you'd even consider buying, I would guess that you probably won't regret it. The only things I felt were lacking were an interesting backstory for Demrellkull and a map of his lair.
Dragon's Hoard can be found at RPGnow.
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