Art is from a wide variety of sources. Some of my favorite pieces are from David Griffith who does several pieces including a trio of fighters that is perfect for copying and going to the players, “You see this.” As the guy who traditionally does the running of the game, I was happy with the first article right off the bat, Roads to Adventure. It’s a seven level, 8 page adventure. My campaign thus far, (only 4th level mind you), has consisted mainly of ‘sandbox’ style encounters build around the numerous role playing elements I’ve thrown into it. Things like this allow me to continue to work on adding such touches to my game while leaving the mapping and writing out of encounters to others for my ease of use.
As a GM, I was also interested in GM Gems, Fiendish Foes. This article presents three templates. Now for all of the love shown 4e, especially in terms of monster creation, which I freely admit is much easier than 3e, templates took a massive downsizing in terms of what was initially available. Now you can add templates like demon knight, hell beast, and hellfire adept to your campaign. Included are samples of each template to allow use in your own campaign right away.
Another article that should have been of interest to me was Blackdirge’s Bestiary which showcases numerous dinos for the game. Unfortunately, these dinos have already appeared in a PDF dedicated to them in Critter Cache 2: Prehistoric Beasts. I can see the lure of using material already presented elsewhere as a quick savings and I’m not saying every creature here is a direct reprint but when I recognized a few of them from art and text, I skipped over the rest of them to return as a future date perhaps. Goodman Games, in addition to providing adventurers and sourcebooks, does have their own campaign setting. One of the features here, Deities of Aereth, expands upon the information from the 3e setting and updates it to 4e. In this case, Gorhan, the Helmed Vengance, is introduced as a Lawful Good God of War, Valor, and Chivalry. This is solid material for a Game Master who wants such a deity in his home brew or is actually running the Goodman Games setting. It provides numerous hooks for players as well as game mechanics such as a feat, a magic item, and a paragon path.
One thing I found interesting as a reader was Power Skins. Here, Aeryn Rudel takes numerous powers for the fighter, at will and 1st level fighter powers, and uses different descriptions to detail how the powers work. Let me tell you, it goes a long way in giving the game a different read. While the actual powers are the same in terms of game mechanics, it’s such a different take, I can easily see how these powers will fit into the Death Dealer: Shadows of Mirahan adventure coming out and in that ‘grim and brutal world’, it can serve as examples for those who want darker fantasy or more classic sword and sorcery fantasy.
The player focused stuff, I can’t really comment on it in terms of utility. It’s not that its badly written or not fun to read. For example, Azagar’s Advice for Adventurers is an entertaining bit.
Rather, it’s that as a Game Master, when looking at game mechanics for the players side of things, unless I’m doing extensive playtesting or unless one of the players demands something immediately out of the book in question, I’m just not too worried about things. If something turns out to be overpowered, as my group and I are all fairly civil with one another, I’ll go, “Hey, that seems to be overpowered. I’m going to need you to swap that out.” Or “You’re underperforming. Are you sure you want this ability?”
With that in mind though, players seeking new options should highly enjoy Level Up #1 as it includes a lot of options ranging from feats and paragon paths to magic items.
As with anything, including official material, the GM and players should read the material carefully before deciding what to add to their own campaign.
For $2, you’ll get not only your print money’s worth, but also your PDF’s money’s worth too.
