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Other comments left for this publisher: |
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Positives:
Flexible building options
Lots of options to spend resources
Lots of options for elements, including Force
Con-class seems to be handled well
I enjoy the flexibility for spell attacks and strikes
Neutral:
The Drained you get from Burn seems very, very risky, but that might be on purpose. a Drained 10 person is likely failing or critically failing every Con save.
Negatives:
Feels like you should start out with an Infusion
Gather Power and Safe Limit and such can be a bit confusing
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for your review! Ratings and reviews help other people know what's lurking in these books. Burn is meant to be a risky source of power beyond the first few levels, not to be reached for casually, so yeah, don't let that tick up! |
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While good at delivering the overall theme of pulp action, Tails of the City fails to give useful guidance on how to actually achieve this in-game. Some elements are poorly thought-out (the requirement of fortune points for a character's highest available spell creates really weird situations if, say you're level two and trying to cast mage armor or a 5e warlock at any point) or not fleshed out enough to be meaningfully useful. For example: under "Money in Modern Times", there is an inherent assumption that characters have middle incomes and can afford basic things like meals and regular equipment, which is fine--but what about if a character has a different income or the group needs to deal with expensive costs like buying a car? How does a DM handle gold conversions when allocating treasure? Why does the 5e portion say income can be modified with feats or powers and then not describe any at any point in the book?
A similar lack of guidance is given when dealing with how to actually go about building characters for this kind of setting. The gadget rules add some help in this, but its very surface level. There aren't even any real examples given--maybe like that guy with the robot birds who appears on the page (and in the kickstarter video)? How does someone go about building that kind of character? No idea.
The "Modern Society" section more or less boils down to "it's like Earth but slightly not", and doesn't give any useful advice like how to handle characters with day jobs or other modern responsibilities. "Classes in the Modern Day" just says that your class =/= job, and classes will require minor adjustments to fit with the setting... but then doesn't actually offer advice on how to do that. Magic's role is touched on a bit, but the way divine sources (or gods/warlock patrons in general) function in the setting is completely left out.
Oversights like this are present throughout the book and in some places even extends to hard content: PF2 backgrounds are offered but not any for 5e, and PF2 familiars options are given but not any for PF1. Guns are described, but not ammo, which is especially bad when the book has a racial power that relies on being able to calculate ammo costs to function.
There are also some odd... inconsistencies in what is written vs. what is shown in some places. Hugely Helpful members are describes as having some size-changing abilities, but this isn't represented on their stat block. Black Watch members are described as having a distinctive scarf, but the image used for its member doesn't show such an item. The image used for the Mascot enemy shows a possibly-human turning into a wolf mascot, which directly contradicts how the monster's curse works (and possibly the beginning of the book that says the setting has no humans). On its own, these would be negligible, but they're symptomatic of the lack of care/oversight/polish/whatever given throughout the rest of the book.
Lastly, the writing, while energetic, really needed another editing pass. Both for consistency (the opening pages say that the Rule of Cool will be outlined later but it never is) and for avoding a number of typos--mostly missing spaces between words but the Black Watch description actually cuts off halfway through a sentence. There are also some areas of just awkward writing, most obvious in the Darwinative Solutions description.
Tails of the City offers a lot of promise but fundamentally is an unpolished, shallow work that doesn't give DMs or players the necessary tools to realize its vision.
Edit: Minor spelling correction.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for your review. You clearly put some thought and time into it, and we appreciate it. I admit a little confusion at some of those parts, like if someone wants to buy something out of their means, it's time to look to the GM. I did neglect to make a rich feat for 5e though. I was intimidated at the time, due to 5e feats needing to be so much 'larger' than PF1 or 2 feats to be worth having. Classes require no adjustments, however, outside of magic and gadgets. You're a ranger, great, enjoy that. You may be a video store worker... who is a ranger. The two have naught to do with one another. The mascot, confuses me, what part of them is human again? Is it the basic shape? The people are basically human shaped. That's kinda how furries tend to work.
Thank you again! We'll do our best to improve. |
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Incredible, both for those who enjoy D&d and Pathfinder, and more casual types who might be more interested in the modern social commentary- my personal favorite being "Slippery Slope" the obstructionists who use red tape and legalism to stop the progress of the city. The book is versatile enough for dystopian, post-apocalyptic, to solarpunk and all kinds of other genres. Of course, I'm a bit biased for having invested in it but the descriptions of characters and organizations will make for incredible raw material for any adventure. Highly recommended.
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Pulpy, action-y, cartoony, modern, I look forward to running and playing in the City. Plenty here for "persons" of any type, I will be using monsters, mechanics, and items in other settings, too.
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This book is very well written and perfectly balanced for all three systems. I see that one or two people have complained about there not being enough 5e stuff in it, but there really is more for 5e than those one or two people have claimed. The setting itself is brilliant, and the stuff that you could do with this book is amazing! the characters that were put into this book via the kickstarter were all very well drawn and colored, the front cover shows exactly what you are getting in for, and the armory in this book was balanced very well.
A lot of TLC went into this book, and it clearly does show. :)
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Creator Reply: |
Aw, thanks! We'll keep on putting that love into the books. <3 |
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For full disclosure, I was one of the Kickstarter backers of Tails of the City, having an orginization and NPC created for inclusion as part of my pledge. Overall, I am quite pleased with this campaign setting and am satisfied with supporting its creation. Where if you are a fan of pulp fiction adventure and superheroes, as well shows like Ducktales or movies like Zootopia, then you may want to check this out. Being for the systems D&D 5e, PF 1e, and PF 2e, you will have rules and mechanics to add to your campaign for more modern adventures. With TotC including rules for more modern gear and weapons, which was a pleasant suprise since originally there was discussion of not including such. With different originizations and NPCs you can use to bring your city to life and effect the direction of the campaign. Allowing for many different characters with different strengths and flaws, which I do look forward to playing and making use of. Including the information and rules involving the many originizations.
You will need to check other reviews involving assurance on the balance of game rules and mechanics, yet I have followed the work of David Silver for many years now, with his Ponyfinder campaign setting, and have confidence in his abilities. Where David has very much come a long way from when he created the original version of Ponyfinder for PF 1e, and I haven't personally had any balance issues of note for his rules and mechanics. This even includes him having races able to fly at 1st level, which is a more contraversal and contentous point for many. Especially in D&D, but even Pathfinder.
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A wonderful start into this tabletop world. I was a bit hesitant to play Pathfinder or 5e, but once I got my hands on this book and got absorbed in the lore I knew I could do something with it. The art is wonderful and the setting has a nice mythos to it with some good winks thrown in if you know the source material. When it comes to the layout, things are in a nice, neat manner and it's easy to reference what can be done by what type of character. The amount of feats is amazing and can spur build ideas completely on their own. For me it was money well spent and I look forward to what other releases are coming in this setting.
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Covers all the basics. Both versions of Pathfinder and the new D&D.
Has magic, tech and everything in between. The perfect pulp starting point.
Plus Fatbergs. Who could want anything more? :)
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Speaking as a backer for this kickstarter project, I'm sad to say that it provides few options for 5e players, and fewer of them spark the imagination. I can't speak to the Pathfinder side of things, as I don't play either edition, but if you're coming to this for 5e options, I'd suggest you steer yourself towards other projects.
Buyer beware, it seems.
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Creator Reply: |
We have the person race, pulp heroes with properly dramatic boons and flaws to make them pop.
17 new spells.
14 new choices of equipment.
5 monsters.
10 antagonists (monsters with a purpose!)
And 6 new skills/proficiencies.
The fortune system for players to engage with the narrative in a new way.
This is all for 5e. We do hope 5e players have lots of fun with the wealth of options we're bringing to the table. |
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Love the format (including rules for all 3 systems in each topic), and the feat work is great. It looks like it'll be a blast to play.
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A nice addition to fleshing out the world of Everglow if your players are finding it difficult to use the native gods of 5e or Pathfinder. Contained within are some possible plot hooks and can serve as a background for why an area believes the way it does. Does this character follow the Moon Princess, here's what they would believe. Another fun addition to this book is the ability to pick Luminous Dragon as another choice players can take if they want to play a character that isn't a pony. I've used this book in my own campaigns when looking for something to entice the players in a call to action. This book is wholeheartedly recommended if your looking for something to add some life to your Everglow experience and give it some individual flavor.
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Creator Reply: |
Thanks for the kind words! We'd love to hear how the pantheon perched themselves in exotic new worlds. |
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I was looking for a way to add ponies to dnd and I didn't like the ttrpg Hasbro had put out themselves so I got Ponyfinder to have the same feel as dnd.
The similarities to MLP are clear if you know what to look for and some of it was bound to happen since unicorns and pegasi are common in fiction already, but Ponyfinder makes all of it its own and adds many more pony types to the standard three.
Pro: The book has both pathfinder 1st ed and dnd 5e versions.
Con: It's easy to look at the wrong section even with the color coding.
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This is a rather small book, but trust me when I say that every page is worth it.
Implementing Horror Elements into a heroic, powered-up game like Pathfinder is a challenge. I, like many GMs, have tried and failed on plenty of occasions, but it wasn't until I read this book that I realized what I had been doing wrong all along.
Jade is a game designer who I've often turned to for wisdom on how to run unconventional games or scenarios, and the first chapter is a fantastic example of why I trust his insight. The advice here for building, developing, and running slasher-based games is detailed and effective, running through everything that makes a slasher story work and how a GM can get the most of each of these elements at their table. The advice here is tailored towards horrific adventures in Pathfinder, but it can be extrapolated to writing adventures in any system and to writing horror in a variety of mediums. I particularly like the sense of player agency which this book advises be maintained, as horror adventures so often forget that a game is meant to be played and enjoyed by everyone at the table.
The book has less crunch than fluff, but the mechanics listed in the book are once again very effective and widely applicable. Several troublesome monster abilities have been reworked in this book to provide more player engagement at the table (the most obvious example being the replacement of grappling with Fool's Errand's Lock mechanic), and the resulting fixes do a great deal to streamline combat and make sure that everyone can get in on the fun of a slasher game. The two new templates (Slasher and Grim Slasher) are powerful in addition to being flavorful, with a variety of customizable abilities which allow for GMs to tailor their Slashers to their campaign (these templates also have some unique abilities that elicit a genuine "whoa" reaction from players). The numerous artifacts in the book provide some great plot hooks for Slasher villains and can once again be implemented into a variety of campaigns with relative ease (although they each can do very nasty things). The four sample Slashers provided in the book are all unique and incredibly flavorful without sacrificing much of their versatility.
The biggest crunch highlight of the book has to be the Massacre system, however, a mechanism which allows Slashers and boss monsters to become much, much more of a threat to a coordinated group of PCs. This system is rather simple but is broadly applicable and does a great job of improving the threat of individual creatures in combat. This is definitely a mechanic I will be implementing in many future games.
Overall, Hatchet Men: Slashers in Heroic Horror is a fantastic book with many applications beyond the advertised subgenre of Slasher Horror. If you are interested in running a Slasher Horror game in Pathfinder, I don't think you could find a more thorough and perfect guide to the subject.
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Initially I received the PDF of this as part of being a Patreon subscriber to Ponyfinder and I liked it so much that as soon as it became available as a print on demand book as well I made sure to buy a copy for myslef. For me the updeate to Hybrid Blood to Pathfinder Second edition was the main selling point but the new races in here are great as well. The book provides a great way of building and running anthropomorphic animal races which in some cases does mean furries. Personally I am using this as part of my own homebrew world to define the kinds of an ancestries I am offerening to players as a replacement for humanity. As far as third party support for what I consider the best version of D&D I have planned this book is a must have.
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A wonderful expansion on the divine entities of Everglow. A wonderful cast of characters, as much as background information about a setting. While I haven't had the opportunity to use the additional race options this book adds, I appreciate the options!
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