An interesting product from Asparagus Jumpsuit, in a fairly original format. This "Series Bible" establishes the details of a specific campaign, centered around the eponymous Knights of Torque & Recoil and their nemesis, the Yellow Perilla Cult. It breaks down each organization and their goals, as well as important characters from each, and the types of roles that the players could play within the campaign. It has enough to go off of if you wanted to play this kind of campaign, but not so much that your own ideas can't be fully inserted into the premise. If you're dry for campaign ideas, it might be worth a look. It's nicely put together and evokes a pulp action premise well, if in a somewhat formulaic fashion (though that seems to be the appeal of pulp). This Series Bible is system agnostic, so you could run it using your favorite RPG.

Bad Attitudes is a quick and hilarious action movie cop roleplaying game. Using only d6s and keeping track of only one pool of points (and a few skills) you can play out the scenarios of movies like Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, where action hero types with the titular bad attitudes beat each other up and cause tons of collateral damage. The game can be easily summarized by just saying that there are cardinal skills like Shoot Guns, Kick Ass, and Drive Cars, and most everything else is Basically Worthless Stuff. There's an interesting set of random tables to quickly generate formulaic action movie cop scenarios, and this 7-page PDF is a nice thing to keep around in case half of your group failed to show up for D&D again.

My overall impression is that it's a slapped-together advertisement for the publisher's other products.

one page of flavorless tables that are trivial and uninspired at best, and inferior to the ones in any core book in general. one page of OGL license text.

table 1-1: coin, gems, jewelry 60% chance you get coinage averaging 25 plat -- half of the table's length merely changes what denomination. 25% of gems/jewelry who's lump value averages 137.5 plat -- not one detail on anything but sale value. the remaining % gives you rerolls on the above exciting options. whoopee.

(contrasted with: paizo/3.0: party level as an input factor; gems are tiered and named tsr adnd: lair types; tiered and quality-factored gems)

table 1-2: ranges from the lowly "1 magic item" to the epic "5 magic item". hint: there are five entries.

table 1-3: is as useful as taking table 1-2 and appending "coinage averaging 12.5 plat" or gems/jewelry worth 68.75 to each result. (it's the same currency entries as 1-1 divided by two)

table 2-1: roll on this list of publisher's other pdfs half are generic like "potion", the others are publisher specific: "Miscellaneous Magic A" through "E"

In contrast, a perfectly ready root loot table is in every DMG I checked, usually factoring in party level.

and that's all the tables there are.

If you have any book that this pdf could be paired with, you already have much better tools in hand.

Every once in a while, there is a little, low-cost gem thrown out into the RPG PDF sphere: and the Missing Magic series by Asparagus Jumpsuit is full of them. Potions is a great little book that does exactly what it claims to do.

Missing Magic: Potions claims to be a detailed look at 34 common potions for Pathfinder, and it delivers. The potions are common spells distilled into liquid form, and each has its appearance, taste and smell described. Some sound really nasty while some sound appetizing, but they all sound fairly realistic. What I mean to say is that they all sound like actual concoctions of some kind, and while the taste and smell is not always in agreement, one could easily use those clues…and make up their own based on them.

Each potion is a pretty useful spell in its own right, and It is really cool to see them done up with taste and smell. When a GM is running a dungeon crawl, these descriptions are a good way to give a PC something to see or smell before detect magic is cast. In fact, if you are consistent in your GMing, you could get players to recognize certain potions by those attributes!

The potions may not be as palatable as a fine wine, but they certainly sound like something someone might (or might not!) try to drink. If I were to learn that my player undid the stopper of something and smelled “beer and seawater,” I’d be hesitant for my PC to use it right away. Describing the tastes and smells is a really good idea, and makes the book well worth the $3.

I heartily recommend Missing Magic: Potions, and for the price you can hardly go wrong!

Another fine release from Asparagus Jumpsuit. The Forager's Guild represents a guild for your fantasy characters to seek membership in as a hook for different adventures and as a logic backstory and glimpse into the game world. The Guild can give your characters all sorts of assistance.

I am a little concerned that the Guild seems a bit apolitical as there are references to using the Guild as a place to hideout (without any real idea as to who you'd be hiding out from and why the Guild would help you with that...does it mean that you could kill the King and the Guild would hide you?). However, this give GMs the ability to tweak the Guild to meet the needs of their specific campaigns.

There are enough details to whet your appetite, and even a detailed description of the layout of the main Guild hall and what you might find there. An "official" map would have been an nice addition.

This is one of my favorite Pathfinder supplements from Asaragus Jumpsuit; probably because it provides enough to get your creative juices flowing and doesn't try to overwhelm.

In full disclosure, I do know the author even though we have never met in the non-digital world.

You either have one sitting in your dice bag, longing to be used; or you've been looking for an excuse to go and buy one...I'm talking about those rolly-polly 30 sided dice. This tome gives you 30 reasons to break out that die that rolls easiest (and might even move it up the ladder from least used to maybe even ousting the d12).

There are a lot of fun charts to roll on. Some are basic (current weather conditions), some are silly/fun (30 cliches turned into magic items), and some are just good to have in your pocket (30 things found at the side of the road). There is something in here for everyone.

In full disclosure: I am listed as one of the Dire Paladin's in the introduction of the book. Don't let that discourage you from checking out this book. Your d30 will thank you.

If you are starting out with the game, or have been around the blocks a few times, this log helps you track how your character changes over time. I wish it had was a section for keeping track of significant events that happened while reaching the new level. However, trying to fit the changes for a level onto one page, might make this a bit difficult.

In full disclosure, I do know the author in an online capacity. However, if you are a fan of Pathfinder, you might find this tool to be useful. It covers from level 1 to level 20.

Where was this when I played D&D? Is there one for Savage Worlds in the works? After using this handy log, you'll wonder how you managed your characters leveling up all these years without one.

Full Disclosure: Berin is a friend of mine. That said, I don't write review for products I don't use a/o believe are worth my time.

Another setting in the Official Series Bible line. Just the way I like it, no system required.

In a twist from the Percy Jackson craze, heroes and demigods aren't exactly hiding; they've taken up new management and are acting as super heroes. As you would expect from an Official Series Bible, there is enough material to provide some interesting twists and intrique into to the setting.

While the setting notes gets into the Christian deity, it does avoid trying to do much with that other than having some of the old gods working with the representatives of the new. It would have been interesting to develop the heroes of the Christian deity a bit more (perhaps that will be a future supplement).

Disclosure note: while I have never met Berin in meat-space, I have know him online for quite some time. I have enjoyed his writing for many years.

I got notification of this product and my first thought was, "Oh a knock-off of the 'Percy Jackson' school of thought." Was I wrong, and in a very mind-bending good way. Berin has taken the myths of the Greek gods and woven them into a global conspiracy/superhero setting.

Wow!

Full disclosure, though I have met Berin face-to-face once, he is my friend. That said, it is his writing that brought the two of us together. I'll be glad to say I knew him when...

This is a fun beer and pretzels sort of game. Everything you need, including random adventure creation. If you enjoyed cop/action movies (especially from the 80s), this is for you.

This was a joy to read; the whole game just oozes fun. The mechanics are simple and straight forward, with enough of a twist to keep it interesting.

Well worth checking out!

In full disclosure, while I have never met Berin in the flesh, I have read a lot of his words over the years. Bad Attitudes is a great representation of his work.

Jump on the hood of the bad guys car and hang on. This game was a blast to read through. Gonna run it for my teenagers tonight.

Another great system-less release from Asparagus Jumpsuit. In Knights of Torque and Recoil, you are given everything you need for a modern/pulp setting where an ancient organization plots revenge. In six short pages, you are given a brief history of the setting; provided with some factions who compete (or at least interact with) each other; given typical roles that players might fill; given some sample NPC style important people for the setting; and quite a few adventure starters (here's the situation, what will you do type of stuff. It is up the the GM to flesh it all out).

It should be noted that you will probably also want the Series Bible free book from Asparagus Jumpsuit as well. Some of the information provided uses labels such as "average" that might make better sense (or at least require a little less work for the GM), if you have read the Series Bible.

This is well worth the slim buck it will cost you. If you are like me and hate to charge anything less than $10, you can use this to pad out another order very easily. You wil probably be glad if you did.

In full disclosure, I do know the creator (even if we have never met in person), but I really enjoy books like this where you are given enough to go and do what you want with a setting and aren't tied down to a specific storyline. I believe that you will enjoy Knights of Torque and Recoil.

Very cool. The tone has just the right amount of quirk and I like the potential for blurring the line between the heroes' "real" exploits and their mass-marketed personae. Nice and pulpy with a modern edge, it's got sinister cults and their beastman minions versus two-fisted celebrity heroes with science(!) on their side and legions of blogospherical fanboys. It makes me want to play.

Wow! I can port this into Savage Worlds (my system of choice) pretty easily. Keep up the good work.