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Rugged Adventures
by tim d. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/19/2011 23:00:20

This supplement addresses what I believe to be the biggest fault in 4E, the seemingly limitless ability of characters to heal and snap right back into the next fight. While many may like this feature, I prefer a more gritty tone to my games. Thus Rugged Adventures exactly answers my concern. Very well written, I think this is an excellent option for those who wish to add more tension and realism to the game. Low fantasy gamers, this is may be your cup of tea.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Rugged Adventures
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Advanced Class: Sorcerer — Aberrant Blood
by Dennis P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/10/2010 21:49:19

I really like the idea of the aberrant blood sorcerer. It has some interesting ideas. Manifesting only under some conditions is a nice setup. The conditions don't seem like they would always come up and might end too quickly although I haven't played with them yet. I was disappointed to see only the only level 1 power is an at-will. The level 3 powers can only be used when manifesting a particular aberrant growth. I could see that being problematic for example you manifest coiling tentacles when first bloodied but get hit with a melee attack before your turn ending the manifestation. Similarly a well timed stun could prevent you from using the encounter power before the manifestation ends.

The higher level spells level 5 and 9 look interesting. To fill out some of the other power levels they include upgrade options to make the lower level spells into higher level ones. I'd like to see more variety in powers and covering every level but I understand the limitations of the small book.

The twisted descendant's attack 11 power seem to do more damage than most other powers of that level.

There is only one image. I don't particularly care for it myself.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Advanced Class: Sorcerer — Aberrant Blood
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Huxtropy
by Jason C. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 04/01/2010 18:30:37

Huxtropy is a Fourth Edition D&D product that incorporates a deck of playing cards into a random, chaotic magic system that adds a new layer of fun and randomness into playing a spellcaster. One criticism I've seen of Fourth Edition D&D is that the system seems very standardized - you use a power, whether it be a spell or an attack, and you always pretty much know what's going to happen. Huxtropy lets a player that looks for more randomness play a character who uses a deck of random cards imbued with magic to sow chaos in combat through drawing cards. As they become more and more powerful and adept at using these magical decks, they are able to manipulate the decks much more effectively, turning bad luck on their enemies and combining cards for additional effects.

I'm not what you'd call a game balance guru, but it appears to me that if it's not perfectly well-balanced, the supplement is fairly close. Although powerful, especially at higher levels, huxtropy characters always have to deal with randomness. You can never count on the card coming up that you need, and that makes for an interesting tactical challenge.

The material also includes a new paragon path, as the character becomes attuned to randomness and probability. There's a new weapon group as well, "cards", which not only includes the magical huxtropy cards but comic book-ish fantasy cards with razor edges. Cool. There's new feats to bump up people's abilities in these areas and a new skill, Gambling, as well as rules for using it to make dough off the yokels who don't know any better than to get in a game with you.

Impressively, the purchase includes the full-color, full-art PDF for view on the screen, a black-and-white, simpler-art PDF for printing, and power cards which can be printed and used, in the same format as the 4e power cards. Bookmarks are well used in the PDF, and there's a full table of contents at the beginning.

I'm not a giant Fourth Edition fan, but material like this is always welcome. It's well-made, the layout is clear, the idea is compelling, the balance is good, and when you get done reading it, it passes the ultimate test: I want to play one of these characters right now!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Huxtropy
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Rugged Adventures
by Richard J. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/02/2010 18:13:38

I really like this supplement. I got it via the Haiti Relief promotional and otherwise would have missed this product. One of the issues I have with 4th Edition is the 'Super Hero" quality of the play. WIth so many healing surges, it is fairly common that the party is rarely at risk of losing any members in combat until the third encounter of the day. While this plays well in most of my campaigns, in a horror-styled campaign, one loses some of the tension and edge because one's party is never at risk on the first or second encounter. Rugged Adventures is a tweaking of the rules so that the party recovers slower, and thus is more vulnerable on the second and subsequent encounters before the party's extended rest. (An extended rest possibly requiring two days of rest rather than 6-8 hours; a short rest requiring 6-8 hours rather than 10 minutes, etc). The product goes further by giving ideas of how this adjusted system would deal with daily powers (which are now gained back after two+ days of rest); encounter powers (which would now come back after 6-8 hours of rest); magical items, etc.

If you like the way 4th Edition runs regaining of health, use of surges, encounter, and daily powers, then this product is not for you. If you have a problem - or want to tweak the rules to run closer to 3.0 or 3.5 - or just want to run a more deadly campaign or scenario at any time, then it would behoove you to pick up this product.

As a caveat, tweaking the surge/encounter/daily power usage in 4th Edition is not an easy task. In other words, there are many powers, magical items, and other what-not in 4th Edition that uses the surge/ecounter/daily power calculus that one product could not touch on them all without being a long list of rule addendums for each relevant power, etc. This product does not do that, but it does set the GM in the right direction. That being said, when I give this product a 5 out of 5, it is with the understanding that it is not a long list, but it is a good explaination of the concept, and a good discussion of the highlights.

I liked it a lot.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Rugged Adventures
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Rugged Adventures
by Christopher H. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 12/28/2009 02:38:45

Some D&D 4e players and DMs feel that certain aspects of the healing rules reduce the PCs' risk of death to an almost negligible degree. In particular, the unlimited use of healing surges during short rests and the full recovery offered by extended (six-hour) rests strikes some as cushioning PCs too much. If you agree with this assessment but aren't sure what to do about it, purchase "Rugged Adventures" without any further delay. In this very well-written supplement, Andrew Wilson tweaks the 4e rest and leveling subsystems in order to make PCs feel a sense of fatigue and danger much more dramatically. Essentially, the "Rugged Adventures" system redefines short rests as six hours, with a minimum sixteen-hour gap in between (just like extended rests in standard 4e), and redefines extended rests as two days of downtime, like a weekend off from adventuring. Before you object with a "what about …?" question, rest assured that Andrew has thought through the implications very thoroughly, and the whole replacement system coheres very well. If you want to slow your campaign down to about one fight per day, turning encounter powers into daily powers and daily powers into weekly powers, Andrew's modifications provide a robust system by which you can meet those goals.

The thing is, I don't personally agree with those goals. In my view, "Rugged Adventures" very skillfully reintroduces the five-minute adventuring workday, something that the 4e designers explicitly set out to exorcise from D&D. Andrew is very explicit about this: "Don't put two encounters in the same day," he repeats twice on p. 6. This brings us right back to the game rhythm the 4e designers wanted to avoid: the party gets into a fight that lasts a minute or less, and then holes up to rest until the next day. "Rugged Adventures" paints this adventuring rhythm as a virtue, but I don't see things that way. Thus, "Rugged Adventures" offers something I don't want. If you want to bring one-encounter days to your 4e games, though, "Rugged Adventures" is the way to do it.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Huxtropy
by Davin P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/19/2009 21:57:06

This was something I was already interested in creating for my steampunk campaign so this saved me valuable time. I changed the damage to necrotic, poison, radiant, and psychic keywords since I didn't like the "elemental" aspect, but I appreciated everything else. As a class option, it is more about high fantasy flavor rather than perfectly balanced game mechanics.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Huxtropy
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Advanced Class: Sorcerer — Aberrant Blood
by Naomi B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/01/2009 01:04:52

This is not something that I would play myself. A sorceror who is so abnormal that you aren't even human in semblance? No thanks! However it would make a great villain or NPC. One for the Masters not the Players.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Advanced Class: Sorcerer — Aberrant Blood
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Advanced Class: Druid - Favored Forms
by Naomi B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/01/2009 01:00:12

I don't think there is anything in here that I couldn't have figured it out for myself. That's if I wanted to restrict myself to a preferred form. Having said that, if I wanted to be lazy or create a NPC then this is a great way to go.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Advanced Class: Druid - Favored Forms
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Huxtropy
by Jeff G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 09/15/2009 17:53:25

This is an interesting concept that with this implementation I would definitely allow into my game for players, but not something I'm likely to highlight as a key point in my game setting.

The mechanics seem balanced, but don't expect a new class with a slew of new powers. What you do get is a bunch of new items, a reskinned Ranger that is a little bit awkward of a solution, but a workable one, and a new warlock pact.

All in all, a good product that is easily worth the price if you're interested in tossing elementally charged cards around your game.

Of note: This was a Pick of the Episode on The Tome Show and you can hear more about it here http://thetome.podbean.com/2009/09/13/the-tome-ep-115-halfling-cleric-and-pacing/



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Huxtropy
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Advanced Class: Sorcerer — Aberrant Blood
by Jim C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/25/2009 18:28:35

Spontaneously growing eyestalks is fun! Features and powers expand on each other and on the core rules options in several interesting ways. Graphically, it could be a bit more polished.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Advanced Class: Sorcerer — Aberrant Blood
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Advanced Class: Sorcerer — Aberrant Blood
by Peter I. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 04/24/2009 03:57:16

Advanced Class: Sorcerer - Aberrant Blood is a short 4 page pdf file detailing a new spell source feature for the 4e GSL game. This product is the second in the Advanced Classes line of products, the other being Druid - Favored Forms. Like other products from Silent7Games, this product is rated according to their 7scale, a scale from 1 to 7 that essentially highlights the complexity and novelty of the product allowing one to assess the suitability for your gaming style. This product has a 7scale rating of 4, which means it includes fairly complex material, new rules material and other novelties of the 4e GSL system. Details of the 7scale system can be found on Silent7Games' website.

The product comes as a very neat and professionally presented pdf file, complete with some good art by David Sorois and Andrew Wilson. In general, the product contains all the trimmings one would expect from a short pdf, combining together to form a top-notch presentation in a style and layout that's pleasing. The writing is good and descriptive, although a few editing errors did slip in, some which I'm quite surprised got through ('vdistortion', for example). Nevertheless, I'm quite pleased by the presentation of this product, as it shows the commitment of the publisher to the 4e GSL and the pdf industry. Let's hope Silent7Games is here for keeps.

This product presents a new bloodline and spell power source for the sorcerer class - the Aberrant Blood source. As the name suggests, the sorcerer's blood is infused with the power or presence of an aberration, and grants the sorcerer various powers, the most notable being the ability to sprout several different aberrant growths like tentacles and eye stalks for various purposes. This spell source has quite a Cthulhu flavor, for those that appreciate the horror and twisted elements of that genre. This product includes the details of the power source, various new sorcerer at-will, encounter and daily powers that build on the spell source, a new feat, and a new paragon path specific to those sorcerers that choose this spell source. The paragon path is available as a free download from Silent7Games' website.

I think this product has produced something interesting and something quite new, both in concept and new rules mechanics. I like the flavor of the spell source, and indeed the various twisted powers available to the sorcerer with this spell source. Even the powers, which I generally find to be quite an uninteresting part of the GSL game, have been adapted to make them more interesting by including power upgrades. This mechanical features means that the powers improve in strength and utility as you advance in level, meaning that you don't necessarily have to switch powers as you increase in level. The upgrades tend to be different enough that you won't get bored using the same power over and over again. I particularly liked how the powers were tailored to the various aspects of the Aberrant Growth feature of the spell source. That makes them more interesting and different when coming from different sorcerers. The feat and paragon path, the Twisted Descendant, are good continuations and support for the spell source.

Overall I really liked this pdf. It's short, to the point, but has been designed well to include good conceptual and mechanical material in very limited space. I think the new spell source and the mechanical novelties are interesting, and leave a lot of room for expansion and roleplaying opportunity. While perhaps the Cthulhu theme isn't that novel, the product modifies it well for the 4e GSL and the mechanical execution is very good. I think this product is an excellent addition to the game and well worth a look at.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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