Into The Green, a new 96-page sourcebook from Bastion Press, presents details on four different and ecologically unique environments---forest, plains, woods, and jungle. Designed to help flesh out wilderness adventures, it quite clearly is of interest to those in campaigns featuring druids, rangers, or barbarians in prominent roles.
The book is presented in the standard two-column format, and generally makes for a pleasing read. It only stumbles with the monster entries, which are all too often split between pages, creating some confusion. The cover art by Jason Engle is fetching, while the interior work is generally very strong as well. Again, however, the artwork fails when it comes to the monsters, as only a few have accompanying illustrations. This undermines their appeal and impact. Also of note, Into The Green marks a departure from the full-color, glossy paged sourcebooks that till now were the norm for Bastion Press. That said, the price is correspondingly lower---$23 compared to $25---so this is less an issue than an observation.
The four green environments are presented in similar format, with details on climate, plants, animals, and typical environmental hazards (everything from swollen rivers, to allergens, to fallen leaves resulting in poor footing). The writing manages to blend lots of information without becoming dry and tedious, and the rules nicely support the reference material. Best of all, the references suggest numerous unique role-playing possibilities. How would players overcome a flash flood, or the bone chilling winter winds on the plains?
It’s intriguing that Knauss decided to blend real and fabricated plants and animals in the ecosystems. It would have been more instructive if he had limited himself to existing flora and fauna; there’s certainly enough untapped potential to have done so, and it would have demonstrated how a real ecosystem works, acting as templates for a gm creating his own.
What’s more, there are many challenges unique to these environments that were inexplicably left out. Leaches are never mentioned, though they are an ever-present danger in jungle environments, and we see no mention of the tsetse fly that plagues horses in Africa, locust swarms that bedevil plains, or even poison ivy. I suppose it would have been impossible to include everything, but these omissions are made glaring when one considers more than half of the pages devoted to each environment are taken up by new monsters. The space was there, but the will to make a comprehensive book on the subject apparently wasn’t.
Admittedly, the monsters are a fine bunch, and indeed many are truly inspired. They range from the ½ CR bloodfrog, an amphibian that excretes toxins from its skin and has a vampiric taste for blood, to 14 CR Arborgeists, undead treants that met a gruesome death by fire. Each entry has information of habitat and society and, most usefully, hints on how to use them in a campaign---including adventure hooks.
In addition to the four detailed environments, there are also chapters on new equipment, spells, and three appendices.
The 10-page equipment chapter includes a nice mix of mundane items (bison “chips”, or dung, as easily transportable fuel), new materials for constructing items (beaver skin armor, for example, lessons penalty to Swim checks by 1), several magic items, and 26 alchemical substances. A worthwhile chapter, it provides a sense of the resources that can be culled from the wilderness.
Spells are essential weapons in the arsenals of druids and, to a lesser extent, rangers. They can prove the difference between life and death. With that in mind, Into The Green provides 22 news spells, most designed to overcome natural obstacles. When you need to cross a river ford comes in handy, while shade reduces the debilitating effects of the sun by casting a cool shadow. Others are more offensive in nature, like resin, which creates a sphere of sap that hardens on contact and slows victims.
Appendices cover new poisons, random encounters for each of the environments, and weather tables.
It should be noted that this book could be used effortlessly in any fantasy campaign, as well as in a host of other genres. Pulp adventures into dark wildernesses, planetary survey missions in Star Wars or Dragonstar, exploring the weird west in Deadlands….Into The Green is of use in all these situations, and no doubt many others.
On the back cover it proclaims that “Into The Green is designed as a guidebook for both players and DM’s alike”. This is a somewhat dubious claim. True, there are new spells and equipment for players to exploit, but the vast majority consists of new monsters and rules for fleshing out wilderness campaigns----not the kind of things players should be privy to. That being said, the book does manage, in large part, to do what it set out to do: provide a deep look at plains, woods, jungles, and forests. Is it a truly comprehensive work, the final word on the subject? Unfortunately, no, but it’s by far the best resource currently available.
Well-written, nicely packaged, and full of useful resources, Into The Green is a most welcome sourcebook. For campaigns involving druids, rangers, or barbarians it’s nigh near mandatory.
Review Summary