Review
- Mystic Pangolin #1 - Fantastic First Issue
I
don't know why but when I first read about this zine I had a good feeling about
it. This is a real homerun of a first issue. It has a combination of useful
tables and articles with, on my first read thru, looks like a nice little low
level adventure.
Mystic
Pangolin ranks up there with the Tim Short's 'The Manor' but actually surpasses
it in size and more than doubles it with the inclusion of the 24 page zine
adventure 'The Reliquary of Thazar Zul'.
A
first glance through and the articles and tables were eye-catching. Each
articles is extremely well presented and contains useful guides for any DM
(useful for any system).
Casks
and Barrels - Terminology and Definitions, be it Puncehon, Rundlet, Kilderkin,
Pottle or Shook (there are a dozen different types defined) these were all new
to me and should spice up room descriptions and get player's asking ,
"What the hell is a Kilderkin and how much XP do we get from killing
it!"
Then
there is a wonderful lexicon of Hobo signs to spice up a city adventure (4
pages of signs and definitions ). A great idea for an underdark adventure as
well, where travellers leave various signs to warn of what may be lurking down
the foreboding passages and caverns beneath the earth.
Next
is a well illustrated article (with photographs) about manuscripts and scrolls
including 2 pages of random tables covering types of manuscripts, their medium
from clay, wax, bamboo and several materials I was unaware of to vellum.
Finally
there is a write-up of a small coastal community with as small map (I love
maps). A quick-read shows a nice amount of relevant detail that I can steal for
my own campaign (and I was just working on a nice little Viking adventure where
they sack a small Saxon village, very handy).
And
Finally, Finally, there is the 24 page adventure that says pull out but is
actually a nice stapled zine sized book in itself (I went for the A3 map as
well. I'm not sure if it is in every copy though the center of the adventure
contains a detailed DM's dungeon map).
The
Reliquary of Thazar Zul looks to be (I haven't run it yet) a nice low level
adventure (characters level 2-4 Swords&Wizardry, but easily converted to
1eAD&D, my game system of choice). I
see new monsters, a new magic item, challenges, rewards, twists and turns, and
a nice looking map.
This
is a hell of a first issue and I look forward to issue #2.
Thank you Jason! That's very much appreciated, I'm delighted you like the Pangolin, and humbled. Issue 2 underway.
ReplyDeleteAn extremely good bit of work put into your zine. It was a nice combination of useful detail material, setting work and the adventure made it fantastic.
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