A manga that really didn’t manage to distinguish itself in my eyes.

Review Originally Published February 5th, 2002

WHAT IT IS

Bastard!! is a series of manga created by Kazushi Hagiwara and first published in Japan in 1988 in the pages of Shonen Jump. New episodes are still being published today, and over the years (as the success would imply) it has garnered a fervent fan base and continues to enjoy a high level of popularity.

In 2000, in Japan, Hagiwara began releasing the Bastard!! Complete Edition: This was a re-release of the original 1988 manga. Like the Special Edition of the Star Wars movies, this Complete Edition was retouched, redrawn, and variously improved. Viz Comics is now releasing this Complete Edition in an English translation (oddly credited as being translated by Kaori Kawakubo with an “English adaptation” by Fred Burke – I don’t know what that means).

The comic is subtitled (at least in English) as “Heavy Metal Dark Fantasy”. Based on this first issue, it’s a little difficult to see where either of those terms would apply: The general tone is more comical than dark; and Hagiwara’s Heavy Metal influence doesn’t seem to really enter the series until later based on what I’ve seen.

Basically, here’s the concept of the series: The legendary evil sorcerer Dark Schneider was imprisoned several years ago by the high priest of the kingdom of Metallicana. Dark Schneider’s personality was sealed away and his body transformed into that of a young boy named Lucien. The good priest then “adopted” Lucien, raising him as the younger brother of his own daughter, Tia Noto Yoko. Dark Schneider can only be released by a spell which requires, as catalyst, the kiss of virgin innocent. The high priest taught this spell to his daughter. It is known to no one else.

In the first issue, Metallicana is beset by an army led by an evil sorcerer. To save them from their peril, they are forced to call upon Dark Schneider. Dark Schneider, of course, is not only evil, he is also breathtakingly gorgeous – and Tia Noto Yoko is instantly attracted to him, despite the fact that’s he Pure Evil(TM). Of course, to add a little spice to the mix, every time she kisses him he transforms.

Much comedy ensues.

WHERE IT’S GOOD

Hagiwara is justly commended for the high quality of his artwork. Even in the more primitive forms and compositions present at this early stage of his career, it is easy to make out the seed of an immense talent. In addition to being simply gorgeous at many times, Hagiwara is also capable of simplifying his style and compositions when it serves the story and characters.

The other high point of Bastard!! for me was the humor. The tone is nicely set on page four, when the soldiers of Metallicana, standing before the oncoming horde, say: “Dammit! They’ve attacked when the king, imperial forces, and the priest are gone!”

What are the odds, right? That type of tongue-in-cheek satire is designed to warm the cockles of a fantasy fan’s heart. Hagiwara also gets some decent mileage out of the somewhat strange, mystically tainted love triangle of Tia, Lucien, and Dark Schneider.

WHERE IT’S NOT

Although one can make out the seed of Hagiwara’s talent, these early issues of Bastard!! still need a lot of work. The pacing is dizzying and inconsistent. Many of the compositions are too crowded. Some panels appear to have been simply rushed. In several instances Hagiwara simply drops the ball when it comes to telling the story he’s apparently trying to tell.

Nor is Hagiwara helped much by what I consider to be a sub-par translation. (Or, at least, I’m going to choose to blame it on the translator, rather than on Hagiwara.) All of the characters talk with the exact same voice. Most of the dialogue makes you simply want to wince. Worst of all, many things which you can see are meant to be jokes are translated so badly that the humor is lost. For example:

Tia Noto Yoko: I swear … you little ant! Don’t you have any feelings of frustration – of being pissed off, or of wanting to pulverize someone?! How can you be totally VOID of those kinds of emotions?

Lucien: Y-you’ve got more than enough for BOTH of us!

You can see the potential humor in those lines, but it’s lost because the translation of Tia’s dialogue doesn’t ring true. It’s like watching one of those bad sitcoms where you can tell the joke is being set up because all the characters have suddenly become mouthpieces of the writers.

Similarly, you have instances where the dialogue fails to rise to the dramatic quality of the action. Thus, not only do all the characters sound like each other, they sound the same regardless of whether they are having a quiet chat over breakfast or annihilating giants with mighty magicks.

A FEW CONCLUDING REMARKS

Having read Bastards!! from cover to cover, here’s my assessment: Slayers is better at RPG parody. Record of the Lodoss War is better at the RPG-inspired plot. Rumiko Takahashi is better at the bizarre love triangles complicated by strange magic.

Nor can I even say, based on this first issue, that Bastard!! earns the distinction of combining the three to any great effect. It doesn’t. Instead, Bastard!! simply seems to create an uninspiring mishmash.

I would suspect that I would enjoy this comic more if the translation were better at capturing character and conveying the humor. (There’s nothing more annoying to me than to read something and say to myself: “Wow, that would have been really funny if you’d just delivered the punch line correctly.) I also suspect I would enjoy Bastard!! more a year or two down the line – when Hagahashi’s talent has had a chance to mature.

Those of you who are big fans of Slayers, Record of the Lodoss War, or Rumiko Takahashi’s works might want to give this a shot, though: It would definitely be up you alley, and might appeal to you more than it did to me. I’ll probably be stopping back at this well from time to time myself to see if things have improved.

Style: 4
Substance: 2

Authors: Kazushi Hagiwara (Translated by Kaori Kawakubo; Adapted by Fred Burke)
Company: Viz Comics
Line: Viz Comics
Price: $3.95
Pages: 72

I received Bastard #1 as a review copy. I have absolutely no memory of how or why that happened. While I had some channels for receiving RPG review copies in 2002, I hadn’t done any work with comic books. (It’s possible this was somehow related to a letter I wrote that got published in a Punisher comic book several years earlier. My address had been published with the letter and several smaller companies sent me new comic books hoping that I would write back with letters they could use to fill their letters pages. I seemed to linger on some mailing lists for a while, but although I don’t remember the actual events, I don’t think that’s actually why I received Bastard.)

In any case, receiving a review copy it’s the only reason this review exists: This was still during the time when receiving review copies was such a novel experience for me that I felt honor-bound to review everything I received. For better or for worse, that’s not an ideal I can live up to any more: I’m simply too inundated with requests for reviews. When people ask if they can send me review copies, I tell them that the odds of getting an actual review from me are quite small. Even after getting the copy, the book has to intrigue me enough to read it cover-to-cover. Then, particularly if it’s a new game, it generally needs to be good enough to convince me to actually play it. And even then, it may still not get a review if I don’t have anything interesting to say about it.

The existence of review copies creates a surprising amount of distress for some people, which, to be perfectly frank, is mostly just amusing to professional reviewers, who know it’s  standard industry practice and always has been. “But you won’t review something honestly because then you won’t get more free stuff!” is a pretty common refrain, and there are some reviewers who think that way. But those reviewers don’t have integrity to begin with, so it doesn’t matter. The reality, particularly for professional reviewers, is — as I said — being inundated with more review copies than we know what to do with.

I do think it’s important to disclose when you’ve received a review copy. It’s an important facet in what brought you to the product. Something I try to be aware of is that receiving a book for free can have an impact on perceived value. This is also true of birthday presents, of course, but you subconsciously expect less from something that you got for free than you do for something you paid for.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

Dream Pod 9 has established a reputation of visual excellence, and delivers it strongly with their line of poster-size blueprint files.

Review Originally Published February 5th, 2002

Dream Pod 9 has earned a reputation of high excellence across its three lines of games (Heavy Gear, Jovian Chronicles, and Tribe 8 — and if you didn’t already know that, shame on you). One of the more innovative forms of supplementary product they’ve tapped in these product lines are the “blueprint files”.

Each of these files – including the Heavy Gear Blueprint File which is being reviewed here – comes packaged in an 8.5” x 11” white envelope. On the front of the envelope is the title and a sort of “table of contents” – which tells you that there are eight 19” x 15” (poster size) blueprints folded inside the envelope, and that these blueprints are of: A Hunter gear; a Jager gear; a Mammoth strider; a Vortex landship; a Khan landship; a CEF hovertank; and a Fury-class assault shuttle. In addition, each of the blueprints is presented in miniature on the cover – so if you have any question regarding what these blueprints look like, you can just take a quick peek at the cover and you’ll know.

Each blueprint comes with some background text on the design, plus various specifications and explanatory passages. They are elegantly suitable for either framing or for actual reference to the crafts in question.

The biggest drawback of the product can be summed up in a simple question: What the heck do you do with it?

Well, like I said, these blueprints are great display pieces: Frame ‘em, tack ‘em up, whatever. If you’re a gearhead like me, your favorite might find a place in your office. Even if you’re not, then you may find displaying them on the walls of your game room will help add ambience and atmosphere to your Heavy Gear campaign.

Speaking of gaming, these blueprints can also come in handy as props and hand-outs. This is particularly true if your adventures are based off of a landship – in which case the landship blueprints can become primary reference points for the campaign.

Other than that, though, I’m not really sure. I, personally, find them cool. Of course, I own a Heavy Gear keychain… judge me if you must.

In short: Take a look at the cover in the store. If it looks like the type of product you’re going to get some use out of, pick it up. If not, don’t. You’re not going to be missing anything.

Style: 5
Substance: 4

Publisher: Dream Pod 9
Price: $9.95
Product Code: DP9-058
Page Count: n/a
ISBN: n/a

The Heavy Gear keychain was solid metal and really cool. I used it for years and years until it broke. Afterwards, I kept it in one drawer or another for several years, but it appears to have wandered away at some point. I’d forgotten all about it, until rereading this review unlocked a core memory.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

In a word: Excellent. Easily one of the Top 10 D20 supplements released to date.

Review Originally Published October 13th, 2001

Let’s face it: When we look at the shelf in our game shop and see yet another D20 monster manual variant, our eyes begin to glaze over. “For the love of God,” we think, “How many cheesy fantasy monsters can these people crank out? Oh, look! It’s a geezlehopper. It just like an orc, except it’s neon pink! Ooooo! Wow!”

We’ve so thoroughly “been there, done that” that it makes the endless Energizer Bunny commercials look fresh and innovative. (Do you realize that there are children in sixth grade who have never seen the original Energizer Bunny commercials? One is forced to wonder what, exactly, they think of this inexplicable pink bunny – who, as far as they can tell, has always starred in some of the worst commercials imaginable. But I digress.)

That’s why I’m writing this review: To send up a bright signal beacon to the gaming world at large, while jumping up and down and screaming:

HEY! OVER HERE! THERE’S AN INCREDIBLY AMAZING, HIGH QUALITY CREATURE CATALOG OVER HERE!

It’s called Legions of Hell, and it’s published by Green Ronin (famed in the D20 market for their Freeport modules).

THE LEGIONS OF HELL

As the title should suggest, Legions of Hell delves deeply into the nine circles of the Pit, exploring the servants of Asmodeus, the King of Hell. The core of the book consists of roughly forty-five monster entries, detailing a wide-range of hellish creatures.

At one end of the scale, Legions of Hell contains the foot soldiers of hell: The Akop (an entire race tricked into servitude and transformed into shadows); the Bonedreg (constructs created by the Leviathan from the remains of his victims he is unable to digest); the Chamagon (gaunt, quick-footed infiltrators and magical saboteurs); the Darksphinx (corrupted gynosphinxes); the Distender (foul devils with the appearance of a bloated stomach, capable of attacking using the four classic humors); the Faceless (assassins who signal their success by wearing the face of their latest victim as their own); the Hellwardens (living scarecrows who act as guardians); the Spinders (monstrous-sized creatures who travel in swarm – a bane even to the devils of hell); the Soulsniffer (creatures capable of tracking escaped souls across the planes); and many others.

At the other end of the scale, Legions of Hell also presents a variety of unique creatures – primarily various Princes and Dukes of Hell. These include such notables as Balan, Master of the Infernal Hunt; Furcas, Duke of Rhetoric; Hadriel, Duchess of Domination; Iblis, Duke of Pride (a Fallen Solar); the Lich Fiend; Krotep, Pharoh of Axor and Nekhet, Prophet of Set (who believe themselves to be the son and daughter of Set); and others.

In addition to this core of material, Legions of Hell presents a number of prestige classes designed for the servants of Hell; templates for Fallen Celestials; information regarding the Angelic Choirs; and an overview of Hell itself.

STRENGTHS

Legions of Hell distinguishes itself in a number of ways:

1. There is a lot of material crammed into it. Not only does it present a plethora of material which can be put to immediate use, every page seems to have some new idea or adventure seed waiting for exploration.

2. Chris Pramas, the chief author of Legions of Hell, was also the author of Guide to Hell, the definitive AD&D reference for the infernal plane. (He is also known for the Origins Award-winning Death in Freeport.) He puts this experience to good use, exploring the complete spectrum of Hell – rather than just focusing on one or two features. Legions of Hell is made notable because it isn’t the same old stuff we’ve seen before – a lot of creativity and research has gone into making this product distinct and valuable.

3. The artwork is simply stunning. It includes work by Brom, Sam Wood, Raven Mimura, and Toren Atkinson (those of you who keep an eye on artist credits in this industry should recognize all of those names). There is, literally, not a single weak piece of art in the entire book.

WEAKNESSES

So, moving onto an actual weakness of Legions of Hell…

Oh, wait. That’s right. It doesn’t have any weaknesses.

CONCLUSION

Legions of Hell is just plain good. It’s subject matter is rich; the ideas it brings to the table are original and creative; the development of those ideas is solid and imminently useful; the lay-out and production values are exemplary.

There is, literally, nothing negative that I can say about this product. If you have even the slightest interest in having a demonic presence in your D20 campaign, this product is absolutely essential.

In short: You will never regret the money you spend on Legions of Hell. There can be no higher recommendation.

Style: 5
Substance: 5

Author: Chris Pramas (with Jim Bishop, Brian Kirby, and Erik Mona)
Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing
Line: D20
Price: $14.95
ISBN: 0-9701048-4-7
Product Code: GRR1005
Pages: 64

The Book of Fiends series was completed, then revised into a single hardback collection for D&D 3.5 and then again for D&D 5E. I’ve never stopped singing its praises. It greatly enhanced the Avernus Remix. I used it extensively for my In the Shadow of the Spire campaign, from whence its influence can be easily seen in the Chaos Lorebooks series. I’ve adapted its monsters to Mothership, Numenera, and other systems.

If you asked me what my favorite RPG bestiary of all time was, it would be a toss-up between The Book of Fiends and the AD&D 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

It’s like starving yourself for three days, and then eating a pecan. Kiraz makes you hungry for information, but leaves you unsatisfied when all is said and done.

Review Originally Published October 10th, 2001

Kiraz: The Lost City is the second adventure in the In Search of Panaga trilogy of modules. However, it is also a sourcebook for the lost dwarven city of Kiraz. As Crossby writes in his preface:

It was like this: Columbia wanted me to do Kiraz, and I wanted to complete the next volume of In Search of Panaga. Both modules were late. So, I thought, why not set the Horns of Ikarus in the Lost City?

I am largely unqualified to review the adventure portion of this product: I do not own either the first or third parts of the trilogy. However, I don’t feel this is a major impediment, because the bulk of the book is the sourcebook for Kiraz. And, in fact, the reason I bought the book to begin with was for the Kiraz source material.

Kiraz: The Lost City is comprised of three articles/modules: Kiraz (14 pages), Ushet (4 pages), and Horns of Ikaras (5 pages). There are also two pages of full-color illustrations (maps of the areas surrounding Ushet and Kiraz, as well as visuals of the entrances to each of them which can be shown to the players). There are also two blank pages labelled “GM Notes”.

KIRAZ

Kiraz is the oldest dwarven citadel in Hârn. A massive complex, it was once the pinnacle of dwarven civilization. Roughly six hundred years ago, however, Lothrim the Foulspawner laid siege to the city with his army of orcs. Kiraz fell.

Although the dwarves had their final vengeance upon Lothrim, the halls of Kiraz were sealed away forever – a grim reminder of the dark memories which were forged there. Today most of the halls stand deserted, although some of the lower levels have been broken into by orcs.

This section is really the core of the book: Brief detail is given of Kiraz’ history and the current area around the ancient city (3 pages). A cut-away map of the entire complex is given, along with a one-page summary of the major features of the city (2 more pages). After this one page summaries and maps are presented for several major areas of the city:

The High Halls: The Great Hall of Kiraz, the Royal Apartments, the Council Chamber – the High Halls once housed the royal family and government of the city.

Gallreda Complex: A residence for officers of the royal government. This includes the Hall of Galreda and the Hall of Zelanthu.

West Gate: The primary point of entrance to the city.

Ranzad Complex: The largest cavern in Kiraz, this was the marketplace and social center of the city.

Minehead: As the name might suggest, this was the point from which the mines were reached. Workshops, ore storage, and the like are all found here.

The Catacombs: Not only the communal graves of Kiraz, but also the Royal Tombs. The Hall of the Godstone (an ancient earthmaster site predating dwarven civilization) can also be found here – it is generally considered to be “the birthplace of the Hârnic Khuzdul [dwarves]”.

An additional page discusses ways in which the GM can develop the material presented here. Finally, two more pages give several artifacts and special locations which can be placed by the GM in whatever locations seem most appropriate.

Before I continue, let me make one point abundantly clear: All of the material which is found here is excellent. Beyond par. The maps are beautiful and superbly executed. The logic and detail of the city is meticulous: Crossby refuses to simply wave his hands in the construction of this city; instead insisting that the city make sense. By the time you are done reading through this article, you will have the sense that a place like Kiraz really could exist. This is, by no means, a small or unvaluable accomplishment.

The problem with this supplement is not the quality of what is present, but the vast amounts of information which is – quite literally – missing. This is, apparently, keeping in line with the intended design methodology – which is described as such:

In keeping with our long term policy, there is lots of room for the GM to customize his own version of the Golden City – even if a player should get hold of a copy of this module, it won’t help him much.

Folks, this just doesn’t cut it for me. The whole point of buying a supplement is so that I don’t have to do design work. Certainly keeping snoopy players on their toes is a laudable goal – but if I want to do that, I am quite capable of changing information. In fact, changing and rearranging information is vastly easier than being forced to create material out of wholecloth.

USHET

This is a four page article discussing the Rock of Ushet. Ushet was once a hunting lodge, connected to Kiraz via a series of spent mining tunnels. Following the Carnage of Kiraz, the Ushet entrance was sealed. In recent years, however, orcs have broken through those seals and taken up residence in the former hunting lodge.

The material presented here serves two purposes:

First, Ushet serves as the point of entry to Kiraz for characters playing through The Horns of Ikaras (see below).

Second, there are many former dwarven hunting lodges spread throughout the area around Kiraz. They are sites of conflict between the barbarian tribes (both orcs and humans) who remain in the area. Ushet serves as a generic template which the GM can use for any of these hunting lodges.

There’s nothing phenomenal in this section – but it’s all solid material, and very useful as either a specific or generic resource.

HORNS OF IKARAS

As I noted above, I am not familiar with the first part of the trilogy of which the Horns of Ikaras is the second part. With that being said, I am thoroughly unimpressed by what I see here.

Essentially what Crossby presents is a four-page outline of an adventure, rather than an adventure. A summary is given of what took place in the first adventure (1 page), the NPC who gives them the hook into this adventure is described at length (1 page), player handouts are provided (1 page), and the adventure is briefly summarized (1 page).

In short, the material presented here can be summed up with extreme accuracy by saying: “Several months have passed since the last adventure. The PCs should have heard some rumors about the Big Bad Guy’s activities (kidnapping three beautiful women, stealing some rare animals, and burning town officials in Aleath). They go to Kiraz – most likely gaining entrance via Ushet – where they need to find a key to gain access to the room where the Horn is kept.”

CONCLUSION

As I write this I currently have a D20 module in development: I have a general outline of events written down; about half of the maps completed; and rough notes quickly jotted to remind me what the keys on those maps mean. That’s what Kiraz looks like.

By the time I finish developing that D20 module I will have a text which presents the adventure in full to the GM, a complete set of maps, and a fully developed and descriptive key for all of those maps. That’s what Kiraz should look like.

Reading Kiraz feels like starving yourself for three days and then eating a pecan.

Having said that, however, let me go on to say that Kiraz comes with my recommendation: Although I take issue with the fact that so many things are simply left undeveloped, what is developed here is – quite simply – superb. For $15 this presents a solid value for your money, and anyone thinking of including a dwarven citadel in their own campaign could only hope to benefit from this book. Certainly anyone interested in Kiraz in and of itself as part of the world of Hârn should snatch up a copy of this book without a second thought.

Style: 4
Substance: 4

Author: N. Robin Crossby
Publisher: Columbia Games, Inc.
Line: Hârn
Price: $14.98
ISBN: 0-920711-28-6
Product Code: 5016
Pages: 28
Year Published: 1989

Rereading this review, I was somewhat surprised to discover that I’d given it a rating of 4 in Substance. Flipping through my copy of the book, though, I understand where I was coming from: It was a little on the pricey side for 30 pages of material, but there’s a lot of great stuff in here and the maps are truly spectacular. The problems aren’t what’s on the page; it’s the mismatch between the scope of the product and the scope needed by the subject matter.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

Where’s the dwarven beef?

Review Originally Published October 9th, 2001

Azadmere is a HârnWorld supplement, containing four Encyclopedia Hârnica articles: Azadmere (10 pages), Khuzdul (4 pages), Habe (6 pages), and Zerhun (10 pages). It also includes full-page Player Maps (black and white, unlabelled) and Common Maps (full-color, labelled) for Azadmere (the kingdom), Habe, Zerhun, and Azadmere (the town).

AZADMERE

The titular subject of the supplement, the article on Azadmere devotes one page to discussing the history, government, economics, and religion of the Kingdom of Azadmere. In short: Azadmere is ancient, predating human civilization on Hârn by several millennia. When the first humans (the Jarin) reached Hârn, a symbiotic relationship grew up between the two cultures – with the dwarves increasingly focusing on their mining and craft, while the humans farmed the surrounding land for food. Eventually some human families were adopted into the dwarven clan structure. This caused some problems, however, because the original city of Azadmere was forbidden to humans. To solve this, the Outer City was constructed outside of the mountain (while the original city, within the mountain, became known as the Inner City).

Following this extremely brief summary (figure it out – if less than a page is spent in the book itself on this material, there can’t be that much information left out of my summary of the summary) we are given a full page map of the Outer City. The next two pages give a key for every single building in the outer city (naturally, almost all of these descriptions are extremely brief).

From there we get an even briefer look at the Inner City: Four pages of maps reveal the three primary levels of the Inner City (in relation to the Outer City and with detailed maps of Levels 1 and 2). The description of these maps is summarily squeezed into a single page, leaving room for a one page chart showing the clans of Azadmere and their primary assets.

And that’s it.

All right, I’ll be totally up front with you: My primary reason for buying the book was for the dwarven city. I’ve got a major dwarven city adventure looming on the horizon in my campaign, and so I went looking for extant dwarven city resources to draw upon.

But I’ve got to believe that I would be underwhelmed by this even if it hadn’t been my primary interest in the book.

I mean, the maps are fantastic. No doubt about it. Not only are they gorgeous in the execution, the Outer and Inner Cities are just plain well-designed from the look of it: They make sense, as so many fantasy cities do not.

But I have to admit that I want more description: I want to know what these rooms on the map look like. I want to know more about the people who live here. I want to know more about the politics. I want to know—

You know what? I just want to know more, period. And it’s not that “wow, you’ve told me so much and I’m still hungry for more” feeling (which is a great feeling) – it’s that “uh, did you forget to print something?” feeling (which is a bad feeling).

KHUZDUL

The four page Khuzdul article which follows the Azadmere article didn’t do much to alleviate my trepidations. Again, we are given the lightest coverage seemingly possible for dwarven history, culture, religion, and economics (and at least some of this is repeated from the Azadmere article).

To put this in perspective: The article on the Khuzdul in the Harndex (one of the books which comes as part of the second edition of HârnWorld) is nearly a page long. I would guess that the amount of information has only been expanded by approximately a factor of 5. Maybe.

Actually, the Khuzdul article as it stands in this book would make more sense as the Harndex entry. Or, at best, the outline for a Khuzdul supplement.

HABE & ZERHUN

The last two articles in the book are slightly better. Zerhun, in particular, seems to give a fairly complete picture of its subject matter (a dwarven fort guarding the southern reaches of the kingdom). But this actually serves as a major tip-off to the larger problems this supplement faces: If you need 10 pages to adequately describe a fort and the small town which supports it, what on earth makes you believe that 10 pages will be adequate to describe an entire dwarven city (which is 30 times larger in population alone)?

Habe is a small town, the oldest Jarin settlement in Azadmere. This article is still a little lighter than it probably should be, but doesn’t fare too badly. The maps of the keep in Habe, in particular, are a valuable resource. The maps of the Inn, in my opinion, less so.

CONCLUSION

The problem Azadmere has as a supplement can be summed up simply:

Where’s the dwarven beef?

If this book did nothing except describe the dwarven city of Azadmere, it could most likely do justice to its subject of choice. Similarly, if this book did nothing except describe dwarven culture and history, it could almost certainly do justice to its subject of choice.

Instead, Azadmere chooses to spread its focus too wide – and ends up failing to do justice to any of the material it chooses to present.

What’s in the book is of high quality. But the book remains deeply flawed because of what isn’t to be found here.

I, for one, am disappointed.

Style: 3
Substance: 3

Author: N.R. Crossby, Tom Dalgliesh, and Edwin King
Publisher: Columbia Games, Inc.
Line: Hârn
Price: $15.98
ISBN: 0-920711-09-X
Product Code: 5004
Pages: 40

Does, “Where’s the beef?” still have any cultural cachet?

I was, in fact, hunting for a great dwarven city supplement that I could plug into my ongoing D&D 3rd Edition campaign. Azadmere was not, as I recall, my only disappointment. (I believe there was also a Moria supplement I sampled and rejected, among others.) If I could go back in time and offer a guiding light to my younger self, I’d point him in the direction of DL4: Dragons of Desolation by Tracy Hickman and Michael Dobson, which includes an incredible set of dwarven city geomorphs.

Looking back, I’m realizing that my younger self had, in fact, read that module, but only in a used copy of the DLC1 reprint collection which, vitally, was missing all the geomorphs.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.