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In general I'll review just about anything if asked (\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ci style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003EIf asked it the important part as I have had stuff sent to me out of the blue\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E), but I'm a bit of a dice snob and the idea of potentially collectible sets of random dice that I probably wouldn't personally use doesn't really excite me.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKnowing I already have a bias I didn't do ANY looking up on this company, but I did know they were based in the UK. The dice arrived far more quickly than expected (they were not overnighted or anything) and I got three sets. I'm keeping two sets back to give out to readers here and I took one set with me on a business trip, but I of course took my regular travel dice set because I assumed these dice wouldn't get the job done. I mean, come on, a bunch of random dice in a bag?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWell, you know what they say about assumptions.....\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI had this preconceived notion that these dice bags were just a scoop or something of random dice. I was kind of surprised to find the bag was \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003Eactually\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E a complete set of dice and the randomness was about the coloration. I mean, that makes a lot more sense, but there isn't any indication of this on the packaging and even a cursory examination of the website doesn't clear this up (from the FAQ):\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEjJ37G_RzAmHP5UvVQNLt75sYenUbcGsh17sUR309s5IUfwdxqwU1E5e8-TsNufC52vRLacQmwbu_LlrUCd6oaPY_IpepnwhBCyX4Mngq3zXyOOXu35Vr7hVTvemetdYZF2yxgksH3JMHJ6dbBKb5DuDGh2kN_ex6ornjH45zcgm-uKEHygGW6sgnt3YAQa\/s864\/MDG_Grab_Bag.png\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Mystery Dice bag\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"576\" data-original-width=\"864\" height=\"213\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEjJ37G_RzAmHP5UvVQNLt75sYenUbcGsh17sUR309s5IUfwdxqwU1E5e8-TsNufC52vRLacQmwbu_LlrUCd6oaPY_IpepnwhBCyX4Mngq3zXyOOXu35Vr7hVTvemetdYZF2yxgksH3JMHJ6dbBKb5DuDGh2kN_ex6ornjH45zcgm-uKEHygGW6sgnt3YAQa\/w320-h213\/MDG_Grab_Bag.png\" title=\"Mystery Dice bag\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWhy Mystery Dice?\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;\"\u003EMystery dice bags and standard dice sets each have their own appeal, and the choice between them ultimately depends on your personal preferences and priorities. Here are some reasons why someone might choose to buy mystery dice bags over standard dice sets:\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Col style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;\"\u003ESurprise and Variety: Mystery dice bags are all about the element of surprise. You don't know exactly what you'll get, which can add excitement to your purchase. If you enjoy collecting dice and appreciate a variety of styles and colors, mystery bags can be a fun way to expand your collection.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;\"\u003EUnique Designs: Mystery dice bags often contain dice with unique and uncommon designs that you might not find in standard sets. If you want dice that stand out and make your tabletop gaming experience more visually appealing, mystery bags can offer a diverse range of options.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;\"\u003ECollectibility: Some people enjoy collecting dice as a hobby, and mystery bags can be a way to discover rare or limited-edition dice that can become valuable additions to your collection over time.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;\"\u003ECost-Effective: In some cases, mystery dice bags can offer a better value for your money compared to buying individual dice sets. You may get a variety of dice for a lower price per die.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;\"\u003EGift-Giving: Mystery dice bags can make for interesting and unexpected gifts for tabletop gaming enthusiasts. The surprise factor can make the gift-giving experience more enjoyable.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ol\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EI did find though, on the page for the actual mystery dice they do note that it's a complete set of dice you're getting and they've updated the packaging to indicate this as well. I was just sent some older packaging. The likelihood of you buying one of these bags and not knowing this is low, but i didn't actually buy a bag (yet).\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EI know a LOT of people who buy dice sets like they're freaking going out of style and I think a good number of them would just love this mystery dice grab bag. I'm kind of torn because well before my Gamescience days I was big into grabbing a set or two of dice that were just for one PC. That PC dies, and I need to roll another, then I'd find some new dice. Not right away, but maybe once I hit level two. I usually want two dice sets to make it easier too roll 2d4 or some such.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEjPUNsnoUyQu1ookY98spvXTRAQdOUliye_HsgRrFmomr8Z0rDzyFZd82-DSUQoSrz8NCVsA_PXaHdaJnCn6-3myk-MQfIU_7Ss3eK0wXRRiVa_RQ_UdW6CMEY0U2bAXZ9To8JNvo38CSkhI_DndBQqsmIbQxHd6TpsRpRE4QBpACbuUr-yms1vR_EYmzjM\/s576\/MDG_Dice.png\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"The set I got from the Mystery Dice Bag\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"576\" data-original-width=\"432\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEjPUNsnoUyQu1ookY98spvXTRAQdOUliye_HsgRrFmomr8Z0rDzyFZd82-DSUQoSrz8NCVsA_PXaHdaJnCn6-3myk-MQfIU_7Ss3eK0wXRRiVa_RQ_UdW6CMEY0U2bAXZ9To8JNvo38CSkhI_DndBQqsmIbQxHd6TpsRpRE4QBpACbuUr-yms1vR_EYmzjM\/w150-h200\/MDG_Dice.png\" title=\"The set I got from the Mystery Dice Bag\" width=\"150\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003EOn the flip side, I do like the mystery of it all and it scratches a bit of a nostalgia itch reminding me of my trading card collecting days. Did I ever waste so much time \u0026amp; money on those things, and I didn't do squat with those cards. At least with dice I can use them in a game.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003ECan being the operative word. I do have my dice bias and if you poke around this site a bit you'll probably figure out I have some superstitions and whatnot when it comes to my dice. You want to borrow my dice? Yeah, that's not going to happen! In the past I've picked up loaner dice just for that purpose and those dice are not allowed to mingle with my dice, at least not the dice that I have currently sanctioned for tabletop play.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EThing is dice can be expensive and going to the store to pick out dice I'm not personally going to use is a bit much. Last time I did that those pink dice (\u003Ci\u003Emeant to be an embarrassment\u003C\/i\u003E) actually rolled well and the player asked to keep them!\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EI liked the set that I managed to get in the one mystery bag I opened. They were pretty colorful and if I had been gifted this set (\u003Ci\u003Ewell, I kind of was\u003C\/i\u003E) I would not be disappointed. I'm not sure I think they're worth $9 a set plus shipping, but multiple sets have a discount and picking up 6 sets at something like $5.16 per set....that's a different story.\u0026nbsp; I'd spend the $ to have sealed sets of dice for guests to use if needed. I could conceivably keep them with my other dice and not risk contamination. That's defiantly worth $5.16 a set to me.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003ESince these aren't dice I'd use myself, I'm going to fixate on cost, but I really don't think the Mystery Dice Goblins are doing this for guys like me, but for my dice hoarding compatriots. The Goblins have a subscription service that I suspect would be like crack to some of my dice-hoarding friends. A monthly subscription of mystery dice bags that get some bonuses added in? Oh yeah, I can envision that being real popular with my friends. They also have some related Mystery Box Scoops that come with at least a full set of dice as well, that is beyond my ability to comprehend.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEh3l9VyrioQnxuv6TjLjGeR-FjWSGkrJIMtplGfgTHnkXVYgLf4bqRkD4vWNdBh7nEfXJjQb6PSZ0FwwUT-UvTtnwomu7PvveEH66DUDYneR5SMFCqu9WpGur2Mw7il_3T-p4yY6f0TVvNZQwaJ12KaT_iZJQY7qmxFobFmCGraE1H2ER_1mNJeZCy7rJuT\/s288\/4-Starsflash5.gif\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"204\" data-original-width=\"288\" height=\"204\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEh3l9VyrioQnxuv6TjLjGeR-FjWSGkrJIMtplGfgTHnkXVYgLf4bqRkD4vWNdBh7nEfXJjQb6PSZ0FwwUT-UvTtnwomu7PvveEH66DUDYneR5SMFCqu9WpGur2Mw7il_3T-p4yY6f0TVvNZQwaJ12KaT_iZJQY7qmxFobFmCGraE1H2ER_1mNJeZCy7rJuT\/s1600\/4-Starsflash5.gif\" width=\"288\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELong story short, you don't know what you're going to get when you buy a Mystery Dice Bag from the \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/mysterydicegoblin.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EMystery Dice Goblins\u003C\/a\u003E, pretty much self-explanatory in the freaking name! They're dice, kind of a commodity thing, but you don't have to spend time figuring out what color to get. If you like getting new dice all the time or enjoy the mystery aspect of it all, then I say go for it, but don't do half measures. Either buy a lot and make the bulk discount work for you \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003Eor\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E go with a monthly subscription and get that metered dice fix.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cb\u003ENote:\u003C\/b\u003E I'm going to be picking up some more of these dice bags so I have loaner dice on hand and when they arrive I'll be doing a contest\/giveaway (\u003Ci\u003Epurchased dice + the two freebies\u003C\/i\u003E) since I hadn't done one in some time. I'm thinking early December, so keep an eye out for that.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E2023.10.28 Edit:\u003C\/b\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003EI just got back in from a visit to a FLGS and I ended up taking a long, hard look at the dice on hand, of which there was a metric buttload. I was a bit shocked at the prices as most all the dice sets were a good 30% higher priced than what I remember. This store also had some small grab-bags of mystery dice, but they were mini-sized. There was also some \"official\" D\u0026amp;D mystery bags that had a set of dice, a pin, and a cheapo dice bag. Aside from a cute marketing gimmick I wouldn't have given it a second glance (\u003Ci\u003E$25, really?!\u003C\/i\u003E).\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EI tried to do this review in a bit of a bubble and not compare them to other dice, but at the game store it was hard to not compare and unless I really wanted a specific color, or I was willing to pick up one of those \"pound of dice\" bags, these Mystery Dice Packs from the review were superior. I went ahead and pushed it up to 5 stars, which is not really a thing I would normally do, but I felt it was warranted. I also went ahead and placed an order for two 6 mystery bag sets so I have some gift, giveaway, and loaner dice on hand. The shipping was free for an order over $40, so I know I'm getting a good deal.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/feeds\/4104127309834316700\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/2023\/10\/frugal-gm-review-mystery-dice-goblins.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4905516554909677599\/posts\/default\/4104127309834316700"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4905516554909677599\/posts\/default\/4104127309834316700"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/2023\/10\/frugal-gm-review-mystery-dice-goblins.html","title":"Frugal GM Review: Mystery Dice Goblins Mystery Dice Packs"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Christopher Stogdill"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/07831712020518883173"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEjq3Vpd7sy3SlsefR9bemOw0VdTch4gmk9NQTkT0_n7qMw6DDSEHloogtrxzLQnE_7Z8FiR76d6x60AT6U1C7IlQrVnKERdEpkk7YoO4exCAI2y9Ljlnw7Ke64pRaEeUiti8fZrPwZfUPQuHiFl-jKlrXhDAnSnUISHglBbo94Y6k0jTlPyWGW9qIL8YGxd\/s72-w200-h200-c\/MDG.png","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905516554909677599.post-5040191353679079178"},"published":{"$t":"2020-08-20T12:46:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-08-20T12:46:21.193-06:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"3d"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Admin"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Review"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Just a Little Appreciation for Tom Tullis \u0026 Fat Dragon Games"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEj89WfqQfLkXCPvtTzo1iydKqJ3ebgbBY7Rel1t6wv06qhNhSsLwR8tyQJA6sd0mcB3QL6KRb1B1gzfWMXnAsbwaKZ_9CdYlmtp8RqLCRjCFaNmP6-xKn-IWiEM_yMKAky98EIY3a4xdCgw\/s1600\/FDG_Appreciation.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Just a Little Appreciation for Tom Tullis \u0026amp; Fat Dragon Games\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"960\" data-original-width=\"960\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEj89WfqQfLkXCPvtTzo1iydKqJ3ebgbBY7Rel1t6wv06qhNhSsLwR8tyQJA6sd0mcB3QL6KRb1B1gzfWMXnAsbwaKZ_9CdYlmtp8RqLCRjCFaNmP6-xKn-IWiEM_yMKAky98EIY3a4xdCgw\/s200\/FDG_Appreciation.png\" title=\"Just a Little Appreciation for Tom Tullis \u0026amp; Fat Dragon Games\" width=\"200\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\nI've \u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003ENEVER\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E been shy about how great Tom Tullis and Fat Dragon Games (FDG) is. When I had first met Tom I had already purchased most of his paper terrain sets on CD and I was wanting to do a bit of a collaboration with FDG.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nI had just started heading up the HackMaster Association for KenzerCo and was in my initial drafts of writing a three-part tournament adventure. I'd already done one three-parter, but that was more for local use and this one I only had some rough outlines for, but it was going to be for the HMA Wurld Championship. Anyway, I thought it would be cool as a bonus to be able to provide pre-printed maps and even paper terrain. I didn't necessarily need anything special, but I wanted to get permission to use FDG terrain at up to eight tables and maybe.....maybe get a coupon code for a percentage off for the players\/GMs to purchase the files for the terrain used in the game.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nI'm not even sure Tom completely \"got\" what I was suggesting, because...come on, we're at GenCon and it's busy. I'm a fricken stranger and all I'm hoping to accomplish is to plant a seed, follow up with an email after the convention, and let Tom check with KenzerCo at his convenience to verify my backstory. I doubt I was nearly as eloquent as I could be here pounding away at this keyboard.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nDidn't really matter. Tom indicated that he knew I was trying to support a convention game and started handing me CDs clearly indicating \"\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;\"\u003ETake what you want.\u003C\/span\u003E\" I didn't actually take any CDs of terrain files 'cause I already had them all, but the fact he was so willing to support gamers\/gaming really sat with me.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThat's just a personal example from my past, but a more current example that \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/528423924186756\/permalink\/1253956221633519\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Eyou can see on your own here\u003C\/a\u003E: \"\u003Cspan style=\"font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;\"\u003EThe remastered DRAGONLOCK Dungeons Expansion Set 1 set has now been uploaded to DrivethruRPG. This is a FREE upgrade for anyone who bought their set from FDG (either our website\/DrivethruRPG or Kickstarter.) Just log into your DTRPG account and re-download from your account library. \u003C\/span\u003E🙂\"\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nNow Tom \u0026amp; FDG is currently in the middle of production of files to fulfill pledges and stretch goals for their most recent Kickstarter. To be spending time (\u003Ci\u003Eand money!\u003C\/i\u003E) going back and improving older, already paid-for products? Who does this? Evidently Fat Dragon Games does.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nI think most companies would update files to make things work\/print better, but to add content and just pretty up sculpts?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis is the kind of thing that makes Fat Dragon Games stand out to me. It isn't the only thing.....I'm a HUGE fan of their naming convention, which should be a 3d Printer standard, but if you don't have 160+GB of stl files like I do.....you might not notice."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/feeds\/5040191353679079178\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/2020\/08\/just-little-appreciation-for-tom-tullis.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4905516554909677599\/posts\/default\/5040191353679079178"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4905516554909677599\/posts\/default\/5040191353679079178"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/2020\/08\/just-little-appreciation-for-tom-tullis.html","title":"Just a Little Appreciation for Tom Tullis \u0026 Fat Dragon Games"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Christopher Stogdill"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/07831712020518883173"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEj89WfqQfLkXCPvtTzo1iydKqJ3ebgbBY7Rel1t6wv06qhNhSsLwR8tyQJA6sd0mcB3QL6KRb1B1gzfWMXnAsbwaKZ_9CdYlmtp8RqLCRjCFaNmP6-xKn-IWiEM_yMKAky98EIY3a4xdCgw\/s72-c\/FDG_Appreciation.png","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905516554909677599.post-7975801321204376645"},"published":{"$t":"2020-04-30T19:48:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-04-30T19:48:20.048-06:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Deal"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Minis"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"OSR"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Review"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Sale"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Supplement"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"VTT"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Frugal GM Review: Creature Feature Quarterlies Volumes 1 \u0026 2"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/307000\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Frugal GM Review: Creature Feature Quarterlies Volumes 1 \u0026amp; 2\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"576\" data-original-width=\"576\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEh2IQ1MICymfqed1SR0aMzGYH0Jkpl6Vu4kfg4jN-hnAHQ1y_98nRUojbi2jaBUSODbn66E9Ih4E8yachhfNbs-xWuQ8pvkS6eJu7n81wWQC9avyknDn5A60i4hdogrwwLX6uZOGN3_p9-4\/s200\/CFQ_4p5_Stars.gif\" title=\"Frugal GM Review: Creature Feature Quarterlies Volumes 1 \u0026amp; 2\" width=\"200\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\nIt's been years since I did a review, or at least it seems like years....probably has been.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nI've been playing a lot more BX lately and have been eye-balling a few different releases and the one on my radar right now is Old School Essentials. I haven't picked up the all-in-one \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/279183\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ERules Tome\u003C\/a\u003E they have available quite yet, but when these two \u003Cb\u003ECreature Feature Quarterlies \u003C\/b\u003E(\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/307000\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EVolume 1\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/307842\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EVolume 2\u003C\/a\u003E) were on sale for $1 each, I figured I'd check them out.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nRight off the bat......I don't think these Quarterlies are worth $6 each. That was my gut feeling before picking these up and reading them afterwards hasn't changed my opinion any. A buck though? Sure, why not....and afterwards no regret about the purchase. Well, actually $2 since there were two purchase, but still 16 new BX(ish) monsters for $1...sweet.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ctable cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" class=\"tr-caption-container\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;\"\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\n\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEipY1hyphenhyphenzVJ6NIw0ykT0aAFvi1sPCvhGqpijhZrUgXrWj1K1hxtYhoFDSwOHEkk_Vg1C2HTGl-_jorAA2-c9ahGH1fE33qmtvKaxMDFKCr5pSJokAewUG9vmkqyxURT8RJrqCzuEuvKKZ2wq\/s1600\/Astrayael+VTTT+113019.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"The Astrayael (from Volume 2)\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"500\" data-original-width=\"500\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEipY1hyphenhyphenzVJ6NIw0ykT0aAFvi1sPCvhGqpijhZrUgXrWj1K1hxtYhoFDSwOHEkk_Vg1C2HTGl-_jorAA2-c9ahGH1fE33qmtvKaxMDFKCr5pSJokAewUG9vmkqyxURT8RJrqCzuEuvKKZ2wq\/s200\/Astrayael+VTTT+113019.png\" title=\"The Astrayael (from Volume 2)\" width=\"200\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\n\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\"tr-caption\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;Astrayael\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\n\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E\nAh, but you do actually get quite a bit more than 16 or 32 new monsters for your campaign. You get your basic PDF book like you'd expect, but you also get print \u0026amp; play paper minis of each new monster as well as VTT tokens. You might need to tweak the tokens for your campaign, but that is a minor issue.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nA not-so-minor issue I found, and really worthy or deducting a star, is that there are no VTT tokens for Volume 1. Technically there are VTT tokens, but they are the same tokens used in\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/307842\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EVolume 2\u003C\/a\u003E. At first I thought maybe I just screwed up the download, but I deleted my files...several times....and re-downloaded the files. Yep, still the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/307842\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EVolume 2\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;VTT Tokens. Since the folder name is the same I think there was a simple mistake with the upload on the creator's end. Hopefully they'll have that fixed soon.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnother issue that I found particularly bothersome, and again probably should be deducting a star for, is that Volume 2 is missing the freaking cover.......seriously? For my copy I went and tweaked the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/307000\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EVolume 1\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;cover to make my own Volume 2 cover and hopefully Jeremy Hart will fix this issue as well. Had I a contact email I'd have fired off these details before putting together this review.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOne more additionally important note, for some....is that this product is sized for A4 sheets of paper, with the one cover being A5...er the other way around. You can see how familiar I am with European size paper. This actually makes sense because OSE comes from a European publisher. If you don't like it, just print out the PDF differently. You'll get some possibly odd margins, but since the Creature Feature Quarterlies are black and white.....unlikely you'll notice too much....I didn't.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nNow so far this review really hasn't been too kind and as I re-read this it feels like maybe I'm blowing off a few things that are problems. The thing is, at it's core this is a mini monster manual (two actually) and the over-riding factor for if this is a good or bad product is the quality of the entries. Each Volume has 16 monsters ranging from 2 HD to 20 HD, with the majority falling in the 4-8 HD range like you might expect. Each entry starts off with the name and a one-liner description, big \u0026amp; bold right up front. There is a condensed stat-block and then the rest of the page is some expansion of the creatures abilities. The next page is a nice black \u0026amp; white depiction of the monster, along with a man-sized silhouette to help show scale. The silhouette is a nice touch, but one of the cool things I liked is that it isn't the \u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003Esame\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E silhouette. Did they really need to do this.....no, but it's a nice detail.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEach monster entry also contains a couple more pages with better descriptions, ecology, lore, seeds, and loot. I'm particularly fond of the seeds paragraph because who doesn't need some more ideas?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEigo0-vDEQgJgmw1FDSOSnzZHTTRfACWKsNxHSfu4eR_d8xYDPD6UK5Uqu9akOGL7CxR-Cjx2VEOTM58BQYQxv_cnNzF6VQRQh3JCM-EUvRem3lOQjViNI0jMm3Qe0b3MRICwreMtanYjsE\/s1600\/4-Starsflash5.gif\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"204\" data-original-width=\"288\" height=\"141\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEigo0-vDEQgJgmw1FDSOSnzZHTTRfACWKsNxHSfu4eR_d8xYDPD6UK5Uqu9akOGL7CxR-Cjx2VEOTM58BQYQxv_cnNzF6VQRQh3JCM-EUvRem3lOQjViNI0jMm3Qe0b3MRICwreMtanYjsE\/s200\/4-Starsflash5.gif\" width=\"200\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\nOverall I really liked these two Volumes (\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/307000\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EVolume 1\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/307842\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EVolume 2\u003C\/a\u003E) of the \u003Cb\u003ECreature Feature Quarterlies\u003C\/b\u003E. While they are on sale for $1 I think they are well worth it....just keep your eyes open for those two updates to fix the missing cover and VTT tokens, or just make your own like I did.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EPS.\u003C\/b\u003E I'll be revisiting these titles in a month and will adjust my rating as needed, assuming these two issues don't get fixed.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u0026nbsp; \u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/feeds\/7975801321204376645\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/2020\/04\/frugal-gm-review-creature-feature.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4905516554909677599\/posts\/default\/7975801321204376645"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4905516554909677599\/posts\/default\/7975801321204376645"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/2020\/04\/frugal-gm-review-creature-feature.html","title":"Frugal GM Review: Creature Feature Quarterlies Volumes 1 \u0026 2"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Christopher Stogdill"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/07831712020518883173"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEh2IQ1MICymfqed1SR0aMzGYH0Jkpl6Vu4kfg4jN-hnAHQ1y_98nRUojbi2jaBUSODbn66E9Ih4E8yachhfNbs-xWuQ8pvkS6eJu7n81wWQC9avyknDn5A60i4hdogrwwLX6uZOGN3_p9-4\/s72-c\/CFQ_4p5_Stars.gif","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905516554909677599.post-7764198603037617610"},"published":{"$t":"2017-09-30T12:16:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2017-09-30T12:16:25.163-06:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Review"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Zine"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Frugal GM Review: Dice Roll Zine #1 "},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/222363\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Frugal GM Review: Dice Roll Zine #1 \" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"576\" data-original-width=\"576\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhmQH7nCiPEdUU77B_xWMgxXfFn1YAI5Zd-3Ot6oSxAinS9iojY03ippwDE2Kni5RxNkn1NWXrMzGT3IdCWkVxyE70B9VN0s6Ep8U3-KVsLGjd1-QRY4mORESlYV3hVlqsnvv0HN4wtKeUg\/s200\/diceroll.png\" title=\"Frugal GM Review: Dice Roll Zine #1 \" width=\"200\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\nLast night I was gifted with a download of Dice Roll Zine #1 and I have to say I was pretty impressed.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis 36 page zine came out originally in print (\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/dndborderlands.blogspot.com\/2017\/09\/dice-roll-zine-1-in-print.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E\u003Ci\u003Ewhich is available from this link\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E) it is \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/222363\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Enow available digitally from the likes of DriveThruRPG\u003C\/a\u003E for a measly $3 (l\u003Ci\u003Eooks like the regular price is $4\u003C\/i\u003E).\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n1st off, I was quite surprised at the digital offering because I expected a single PDF...anything above \u0026amp; beyond was just a bonus. included with the PDF were a number of files, mostly .PNG versions of the maps and an alternate cover.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nI do wish the .PNGs were larger full-page-versions of the maps, but they were rather odd sizes\/resolutions. Tweaking the files in Photoshop they came out roughly 300 DPI at digest-sized pages. I'd have preferred at least letter-sized pages, but these were pure bonus, so no big whoop.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe PDF also didn't come with bookmarks and it is locked-down, presumably from DTRPG. Normally I would mark down a rating based on the bookmarks, but that didn't feel quite right since this is a zine and not some other type of gaming supplement. My assumption is that this was fully intended to be printed out at home to enjoy, not to \"consume\" digitally. I'll be printing this off for my own use instead of keeping it just as a digital file.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nLayout is great and I loved the consistency in style through the various articles, which...unfortunately, isn't as common as you might think. The writing was pretty good too, I enjoyed the overall \"tone\" in this zine. I think I found a whopping 1 typo, but I wasn't really looking for typos...they just usually jump out at me when I'm on my second read-through.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThere are a wide variety of articles and I enjoyed almost every one of them. Not a huge fan of the adventure presented, but that is really because it just wasn't my style.....I didn't find anything wrong with it and thought it was presented rather well. I really liked a couple of new\/alternate game mechanics presented and my favorite article was just a few tables of random dungeon stuff. That one I haven't quite figured out yet (\u003Ci\u003Ewhy I like it so much\u003C\/i\u003E), but I'm not sure I need to do anything but roll with it!\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/222363\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Frugal GM 5 Star Review: Dice Roll Zine #1 \" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"371\" data-original-width=\"432\" height=\"171\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEgxhyphenhyphenFjdbM5fnbqyk-5Yj2Ajig9I1hzh3IMt4t_RUNFbctDfWO25-pr1XDnIbAO52XV42Bdq_ahnMLAiAZrKwMychYkHji3jDoQ-gS-pPpG2hrbdYV20r-KrenLj_vk0RUdPrYoBpN54RJH\/s200\/5-Stars6i-wide.png\" title=\"Frugal GM 5 Star Review: Dice Roll Zine #1 \" width=\"200\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003EOverall I think Dice Roll Zine #1 is definitely worth $4, so being able to \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/222363\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Esnap it up for $3\u003C\/a\u003E is a good deal. I'm looking forward to printing this off to read through a couple of more times. I'm looking forward to future issues.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/feeds\/7764198603037617610\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/2017\/09\/frugal-gm-review-dice-roll-zine-1.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4905516554909677599\/posts\/default\/7764198603037617610"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4905516554909677599\/posts\/default\/7764198603037617610"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/2017\/09\/frugal-gm-review-dice-roll-zine-1.html","title":"Frugal GM Review: Dice Roll Zine #1 "}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Christopher Stogdill"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/07831712020518883173"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhmQH7nCiPEdUU77B_xWMgxXfFn1YAI5Zd-3Ot6oSxAinS9iojY03ippwDE2Kni5RxNkn1NWXrMzGT3IdCWkVxyE70B9VN0s6Ep8U3-KVsLGjd1-QRY4mORESlYV3hVlqsnvv0HN4wtKeUg\/s72-c\/diceroll.png","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905516554909677599.post-7373960344157418469"},"published":{"$t":"2017-06-03T12:36:00.002-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2017-06-03T12:36:36.457-06:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Adventure"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"OSR"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Review"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Frugal GM Review: The Willowmere Vagabonds"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/206212\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Frugal GM Review: The Willowmere Vagabonds\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"576\" data-original-width=\"576\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEi8t1NKXYwEuW27Cjf5z6xkf5g6T-1ebIUl5BhFimck2qnt8nKf1W7XExfXcSyCld4mmuwzY3YtQCZEX-00sCU6h5Ibti3ch2tPi9xaz3oJ0umN5CYKX5_eV3lHbPabUBnB91Zu-APtCNNg\/s200\/Willowmere.png\" title=\"Frugal GM Review: The Willowmere Vagabonds\" width=\"200\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\nA couple of months ago I was asked to review \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/206212\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EThe Willowmere Vagabonds\u003C\/a\u003E from \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/browse\/pub\/11180\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EThe Merciless Merchants\u003C\/a\u003E. This adventure goes for $7 on DriveThruRPG and is currently on sale for $5.95. Designed for 4-7 PCs of 2nd through 4th level,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/206212\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EThe Willowmere Vagabonds\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is written for the For Gold \u0026amp; Glory ruleset, but will work fine for any OSR game.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOn my initial flip through a couple of things came up for me and on the more thorough read-through a couple more. Nothing was game-breaking or do-not-bother-to-pick-this-adventure-up, but some were things I'd not expect from an item at either the full or sale price point. The adventure is 62 pages long and is secured with a password, but this isn't an issue for this type of product.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca name='more'\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe biggest issue I had with this adventure boils down to the layout and artistic choices made. This adventure has an odd mix of line art, grey-scale, and color pieces that look like they had some editing, but maybe not enough....and all overlapped on pages with an unnecessary background flourish.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhJsthlblxhCYpSTB_uciihAnhEqprlloQVgu5C-D8ujjqOtlBp30_gGOdx62tFbTWaMv2WmqNp8b2wyV2Q61uvjF7h5TRRC5Z72vDB2oMKow2J1GUBkdO07zon-NDKsEkwSMDTw3A3Gxry\/s1600\/Example1.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"The Willowmere Vagabonds Art Example\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"637\" data-original-width=\"359\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhJsthlblxhCYpSTB_uciihAnhEqprlloQVgu5C-D8ujjqOtlBp30_gGOdx62tFbTWaMv2WmqNp8b2wyV2Q61uvjF7h5TRRC5Z72vDB2oMKow2J1GUBkdO07zon-NDKsEkwSMDTw3A3Gxry\/s320\/Example1.png\" title=\"The Willowmere Vagabonds Art Example\" width=\"180\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\nSince a picture is worth a thousand words, here is a snapshot of page 4 of the PDF. I've deliberately blurred the body of the text and added some orange bits for emphasis. First off you can see the background page art which I think makes it a bit harder to read the text. Maybe if it was very faint and subtle it would work, but I think it is just a bit busy and really doesn't work. You can also see where the background of the art pieces used on this page haven't been edited so they are visually jarring. If the unneeded white space was removed some of the text could flow around the art instead of being blocked off.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nNow this is just one page as an example, but in other places the text does flow around the art. Some pages have art that looks like it has been cropped more than it should have been, or re-sized (but not proportionately), or just not processed appropriately. If you look at the cover art you can see the low-resolution publisher logo and some white \"noise\" along the edges of the art. That shows on the DTRPG close-up preview.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nNow the maps are a whole different matter. There are eight pages of maps that are quite garish in their use of color. Three maps use square grids and five use hex grids and it looks like mostly inside maps are squares and outside hexes. Realistically these are not maps I'd want to print up for use at the table because they'd be ink hogs and not useful enough.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nMy last gripe when it comes to the adventure is still a bit artwork related. There are a lot of \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Widows_and_orphans\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ewidows \u0026amp; orphans\u003C\/a\u003E. In general the layout looks like it wasn't tweaked to make things easier to read. There wasn't a table of contents, which might have helped with a 62 page document, nor are there any bookmarks to help with navigation. There are a lot of full-page or half-page illustrations. Instead of the artwork helping fill-in empty space generated by making the sections flow better, it looks like they were just thrown in a bit.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nI realize that so far this review seems to be bashing on\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/206212\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EThe Willowmere Vagabonds\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;a bit, but I was asked to\u0026nbsp;give \"\u003Ci\u003Ea review and some feedback so that I can submit quality products to gamers.\u003C\/i\u003E\" So the artwork and editing can use some work. I actually did like the adventure and only found one thing that left me scratching my head.....something easily just ignored or hand-waved by the GM. This adventure doesn't have anything so system or game-world specific that you couldn't easily tweak it to meet your own OSR game needs, which is great.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/206212\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Frugal GM 3 Star Review: The Willowmere Vagabonds\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"600\" data-original-width=\"600\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhCrgmx7dGNvypgnlOCvaAn9RL2EW4JxZQZdcrX_L_ODrz8Zw3-apzYv86Pm8CfqvxdAcYSubZmvTs501rd6J_8eEmvISELOGJjCDucVmEwyY1oDtKLRHL40HRHGloFveuQb4C1BLVfJRS6\/s200\/3-Stars.png\" title=\"Frugal GM 3 Star Review: The Willowmere Vagabonds\" width=\"200\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003EThere is a new monster, a new spell, and a new PC template. All of these seem well-balanced and would be something I'd be willing to introduce to my own campaign.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe only peculiarity with regards to the writing I found (\u003Ci\u003Enot counting the minor head-scratcher\u003C\/i\u003E) is that there is one.....one read-aloud text box. Regardless of a GM's personal preference for read-aloud text I figure, from a writer's viewpoint, you either use them or you don't....just be consistent.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOverall I think\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/206212\/\u0026amp;affiliate_id=166251\u0026amp;src=FM\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EThe Willowmere Vagabonds\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;was a good adventure in need of some better editing and art direction. I don't think this adventure is worth $7 as-is, but with some clean-up and polishing, and new maps, it could be."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/feeds\/7373960344157418469\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/2017\/06\/frugal-gm-review-willowmere-vagabonds.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4905516554909677599\/posts\/default\/7373960344157418469"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4905516554909677599\/posts\/default\/7373960344157418469"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/www.frugalgm.com\/2017\/06\/frugal-gm-review-willowmere-vagabonds.html","title":"Frugal GM Review: The Willowmere Vagabonds"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Christopher Stogdill"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/07831712020518883173"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEi8t1NKXYwEuW27Cjf5z6xkf5g6T-1ebIUl5BhFimck2qnt8nKf1W7XExfXcSyCld4mmuwzY3YtQCZEX-00sCU6h5Ibti3ch2tPi9xaz3oJ0umN5CYKX5_eV3lHbPabUBnB91Zu-APtCNNg\/s72-c\/Willowmere.png","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}}]}});