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BASICS
Fast Forward Entertainment has
published an interesting
supplement to accompany their
Green Races source book. This
supplement is The Complete
Monstrous Fighter’s
Compendium. This tome is for
those folks that are tired of
hunting down and slaying one
more band of goblins or orcs.
Well, this book allows players to
reverse the roles and become the
players of these same goblins or
orcs. Instead of killing these
foul humanoids you’ll be
compelled to keep them alive
just as you would a beloved
player character fighter or cleric.
Being on the other end of the
spectrum will allow you to do battle with marauding bands of elves and dwarves
that are determined to eradicate you and your kin. No matter what type of
“evil” critter you might like to play, this book might have it. From a sly,
subterranean drow to a very powerful, but sharp-as-a-sack-of-wet-hair ogre, this
book has something to tickle your fancy…or possibly your sadistic side that you
keep hidden in the furthest corner of your soul.
PRESENTATION
The Complete Monstrous Fighter’s Compendium is a 128 page, hardback book,
perfect for decorating any self-respecting gamer’s shelf. It is a D20-based
supplement for the Dungeons & Dragons 3 rd edition system, produced under the
open gaming license. The book is laid out in easy-to-read black on white text
with an adequate supply of back and white artwork. Each green races described
in this guide comes with a better-than-average drawing depicting an example of
each race’s appearance.
The Compendium is well edited. The chapters are concise and supply plenty of
detail for monstrous races presented therein, but also descriptions of the “bad
guy” races, the races of demi-humans. Besides the chapter devoted to the
myriad races described in the book there are chapters for new classes and
prestige classes, new skills, new feats, new equipment (magical as well as nonmagical)
and one for new spells. Finally there is a chapter on how to go about
playing the green races, Fast Forward Entertainment’s term for their monstrous
player character races.
VALUE
For a MSRP of $24.99 a buyer gets a pretty good value for his money spent on
The Complete Monstrous Fighter’s Compendium. Besides receiving a nicely
constructed book the buyer gets enough bells and whistles to make the outlay of
hard-earned money worthwhile. This book contains fifteen green races as well
as five good races. Also, there are four new class included. My personal
favorite is the Freak.
As for prestige classes there are a whopping twelve of them and a half dozen
new spells. These go along with the new skills and feats with which to
customize your monstrous killer.
There is one slight drawback to The Complete Monstrous Fighter’s
Compendium. It really does not fit well with other, more traditional D&D
campaign settings. More conventional Dungeons and Dragons games take into
account the inherent toughness of some monstrous races and impose a level
penalty is someone is wanting to field one is a D&D game. The Complete
Monstrous Fighter’s Compendium does not include this type of penalty is the
descriptions of it’s player races. It seems that this compendium is meant to be
used with Fast Forward’s own campaign world and not with “normal” D&D
gaming world. But, if a dungeon master wanted to include the information in
this volume with his/her own campaign it would not take a whole lot of work to
find a way to make this information compatible to a particular d.m.’s taste.
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BASICS
“Enchanted Locations: Crypts
and Tombs” is a 128-page hard
cover book published by Fast
Forward Entertainment. The
front and back covers are full
color, while the internal
illustrations are all black and
white. This volume provides
outlines for quests in a fantasy
d20 campaign. The retail price
is $24.99.
INSIDE THE COVERS
The purpose of this volume is to
provide the referee with a set of
outlines for quests. Each quest
description includes one or
more magical artifacts, a
description and map of the areas where the artifacts can be found, and
information on the inhabitants of the area. These are not full encounters or
adventures, but outlines and sketches for the referee to fill out and use in an
existing campaign – or to start a new one. The first section covers quests and
how to setup and run them. This includes a discussion of the elements of the
quest – the motivations of the characters, the hardships they will encounter, and
what makes it more than just a dungeon crawl. In addition, this section covers
artifacts. Topics include artifact legends, the nature of artifacts, resistance,
attention and glory associated with them.
The final section of this book covers treasure. The author presents his thoughts
on awarding treasure – how to do it and what to do with it. He provides some
insight into various levels of treasure awards – from a standard DMG treasure to
an involved horde – for encounter levels one to twenty. In between, the majority
of the book consists of the tomb and crypt quests. Each set of quests begins first
with a large-scale map of the environment of the quest. This is followed by a
detailed description of the artifacts. These descriptions include legends,
reactions, special effects that arise when multiple artifacts work together. For
each artifact, there is an initial power that manifests itself when found and well
as multiple hidden powers that only manifest themselves under certain
conditions.
After the artifacts are maps of some of the areas detailed in the general map.
Each map includes a numbered key for interesting locations, though these
locations are only named. For each of the detailed area maps a list of denizens is
provided. This list consists of both NPC’s and creatures that inhabit the area.
These entries are not tied to any specific area on the detail map. The quests are
organized thematically. There are quests for wizard artifacts, clerical artifacts,
rouge artifacts, fighter artifacts, elf artifacts, orc artifacts, and dwarf artifacts.
VALUE
Quite a bit of thought went into this volume. The numerous artifacts are well
thought out and unique. It appears that this is where most of the work was spent
on this volume. And for these artifacts alone, this volume is work the cover
price. That being said, ownership of these nice trinkets is only part of the story.
Powerful magic should only be gained by extreme effort. Any set of these
artifacts could be the subject of a very involved adventure. The author realizes
this and, therefore, does not try to provide them. Instead, he presents outlines
and hints for the referee to create his own epic adventures.
For those referees who delight in creating their own world and designing the
adventures themselves, this book is a great source of inspiration. Even if you
decide not to quest for the Wizard’s Ring of Immortality, the suggested
encounter areas and inhabitants can be used in other adventures. However, if
you’ve not embarked on creating your own world, then this volume is a great
way to start. Within the framework provided, you can fill in the details and start
your group on their grand quest. Once you’ve done this, it will be much easier to
create an adventure or quest on your own.